In this respect also the Prophet Baruch hath it Stellae dederunt lumen in custodiis suis laetatae sunt ad jussum Dei The stars gave light in their watches and dâ—d rejoice at the Commandement of God Hereupon it came to pass that when this Spirit did fight for Josuah he made the Sun stand still at his pleasure He turned the Sun from light unto darkness at the passion of Christ By it the stars in troops were stirred up to fight in their order by theâ—r influences against Sisera So that it is easy to discern that as the heavens and stars were first framed and animated by this Spirit to serve as Organs to administer unto the natural Fabrick of this world so also beyond the common course of the macrocosmicall nature they may by the self-same Spirit that commandeth them and acteth in them as the soul doth within the body operate what when and how it lists and be diverted from the usual order to effect his will as well by altering the motion of his body as action of his light and influentiall Spirit Again touching the fixt stars Job speaketh thus in the person of this Spirit Canst thou restrain the sweet influences of the Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion Canst thou bring forth Mazaroth in their time Canst thou guide Arcturus with his Sons Knowest thou the course of the heavens or canst thou set the rule thereof upon the Earth c. As who should say that no man is able to know the courses of the stars or to discern the powers or vertue of their influences save only this divine Spirit and that man unto whom it shall reveal the true Art and rules of Astronomy or Astrology And therefore Salomon doth glory in that he knew the course of the year and dispositions of the stars and the change of the Solstices by wisdome Per Sapientiam saith he novi Solstitiorum mutationes anni cursum dispositiones stellarum c. If therefore the Astronomer wanteth this true Astrologicall foundation all will be faulty and fabulous as by the vulgar Astronomy which is for the most part erronious and uncertain it appeareth I proceed now downwards unto the Meteorologicall region to see how this Omnipotent Spirit worketh in the catholick sublunary Element for the producing of Meteors in divers shapes and natures As for the Act of this Eternal Actor or Operator in the ayre water and earth for the production of Meteors it is most evidently expressed in plain terms by holy Writ Saith Job Deus sapientia sua aptat pondus aëri appendit aquas in mensura facit pluviae statuta viam fulgetro tonitruum God by his Wisdome doth adapt a waight or pondero sity unto the ayre and hangeth up the waters in measure and giveth bounds or maketh a Law for the rain and prepareth a way for the lighting 's of the Thunders In which words he sheweth that this one Spirit of Wisdome in whom is the power as well of contraction or condensation as of dilatation or ratifaction can at his pleasure make the aire more thick and ponderous by condensation and so reduce it into a cloud or by rarifying it into a more thin and subtile consistence render it in the form of lightning and evermore the aire so altered receiveth his shape or figure from the Alterer according to the will of him who ordaineth all things And thus the clouds the lightenings the thunder the comets the frost hayl snow and ice are created daily by this operating Spirit But we have all this confirmed and acknowledged by many places of Scriptures Sapientiâ Dei eruperunt abyssi nubes rore concrescunt saith Salomon By the Wisdome of God the Abysse was broke open and the clouds were turned into dew or raine Again Ego sapientia sicut nebula texi omnem terram I Wisdome like a mist did cover the whose earth saith the son of Syrach in the person of this Spirit And again Ego in altissimis habitavi Thronus meus est columna nubis I saith Wisdome did dwell in the highest places and my throne was a pillar of clouds Deus nubes effecit sapientia saith Job God made the clouds by his Wisdome This Spirit maketh the clouds to asscend it causeth the lightnings with the raâ—n and it bringeth forth the wind out of his Treasury saith David And again Verbo suo quam celerrimè excurrente sermone suo in terra emisso edit Deus nivem sicut lanam pruinam sicut cineres dispergit coram frigore ejus quis consistat God by his Word passing most swiftly and by his Voice being sent out upon the Earth doth bring forth snow like wool and spreadeth abroad the frost like ashes Who is able to consist before his cold There are many thousands of other places which I can produce out of the book of Verity to prove that all Meteorology is founded on this Spirit But because I will speak of this point more at large in my last Book of this present Treatise where I do express the true History of the Meteors and open the errors and falsities of the Aristotelian Meteorology I will only conclude with this confession of the wisest Philosopher Salomon Novi saith he virtutes elementorum varietates temporum sive tempestatum ventorum seu spirituum vires nam omnium artifex me docuit sapientia I know the power of the Elements and the varieties of times and tempests and strength of the winds for Wisdome the work-mistress of all things taught them me Whereby it is evident that shee who was the maker of the Meteors and was by Consequence the most skilfull and best acquainted with their natures did instruct him in them I will now speak a word or two of Physick Concerning the excellent Art of Phyâ—â—ck or Medecine the Wiseman saith A Deo est omnis medela From God cometh every kind of healing or curing which being so it is certaine that the only Actor in healing and curing is immediatly from this all-working Spirit and therefore the Kingly Prophet hath it He sendeth his Word and healeth them and delivereth them from their graves And Salomon But the teeth of the venemous dragons could not overcome thy children for thy Word came to help them and healed them even thy Word O Lord which healeth all things for thou hast the power of life and death c. Mark well Even thy Word saith the Text which healeth all things Now this divine Word is the root and fountain of this eternal Spirit of Wisdome and therefore the Basis or foundation of healing is in him and consequently from him all the mystery of healing doth proceed which also agreeth with this of the Apostle There are divers gifts but one and the same Spirit there are divers operations but God is the same which worketh all in all but unto
you say and there may be a microcosmicall Magnes or Load-stone which may be selected and gathered out of the living man without any detriment or prejudice unto his life whose vertues both in regard of its monstrous and unnaturall generation being composed of unlike parents and being compacted of two substances different in kinde as the Mule is namely of an earthly Mercury and cholerick sulphureous human spirits as also in his manner of attraction of the spirituall Mummy out of the living man yea and what is far more admirable by the transplantation of it either to the animal or vegetable kinds it worketh after a strange fashion either sympathetically or antipathetically I know that these newes will streight way be esteemed by some who are apter to judge amiss than rightly to scan to be diabolicall And why Marry because they passe the sphear of their capacities And yet I know this to be true and know them which have put it in execution not without the wonderment of many yea I know this Microcosmicall Magnet and the use thereof the which when it is tryed by wise-men and well pondered by them will appear as naturall as the effects thereof will seem strange and the reason abstruse But if that which I have said before be well understood and seriously pondered the cause hereof will not seem so hidden as that it should exceed the limits of nature Of this kind of magneticall action as well sympatheticall as antipatheticall I purpose by Gods grace to discourse more at large in the third or last Book of this Treatise or History CHAP. V. In this Chapter is expressed the secret cause why and manner how as well the Microcosmicall as Macrocosmicall Load-stone doth operate ad distans and thâ—â— unto an unknown dimension or unlimited intervall MR. Foster hath sufficiently expressed the shallowness of his Philosophy where he averreth That because the light of the Sun and Stars cannot penetrate the thick clowds and opake bodies Ergo the formall essence of a man is not able to pierce and penetrate directly in his course without being stopped or hindred by Castles Hills Woods and such like But had he been a little more profoundly seen or immersed in the bowels of true Philosophy he would have known that the Etheriall sperm or Astralicall influences are of a far subtiler condition than is the vehicle of visible light Yea verily they are so thin so mobile so penetrating and so lively that they are able and also do continually penetrate and that without any manifest obstacle or resistance even unto the center or inward bosom of the earth where they generate mettals of sundry kinds according unto the condition of the influence as the antient Philosophers do justifie The subtlety therefore of this spirit Plotinus according unto Plato's minde doth fully expresse in these words Tanta est Aetheris tenuitas ut omnia corpora penetret universi tam supera quam infera cum ipsis conjunctus aut implicitus ea major a minime reddat quia spiritus iste interior cuncta opera eorum mole minima nullum prorsus augmentum recipiente alit atque conservat The tenuity of the Aether is such that it doth penetrate all the bodies of the world as well above in heaven as below on earth and this heavenly substance being joyned and mixed with them it maketh them not a jot the bigger for all that because this inward spirit doth nourish and preserve all bodies without adding any thing unto their weight or encreasing of their substance And by reason of this heavenly natures purity or subtlety the heaven or coelum is called by the wiser Philosophers and mysticall Poets the Husband unto the earth which they tearm Vesta yea and the very stars of heaven among the which the Copernicans ranck the earth are likened unto his wife being that they are extracted out of the aetheriall substance no otherwise than Eve was out of the side of Adam for they are defined to be the thickest portions of their orbs by reason whereof they are accounted as the members of heaven and consequently there is nothing so thin subtle and piercing as is that spirit from whence by condensation they are derived This is the cause that the true Alchymists do tell such wonders of their Coelum which they call their Quintessence arguing that by reason of its purity and subtlety it is able to penetrate all things And the Philosophers say that it is their nature which they define to be Vis quaedam rebus infinita omnia permeans entia cunctas generans res easque augens alensque ex similibus similia procreans A certain infinite power in things which penetrateth and passeth through all things ingendring every thing and augmenting and nourishing them and procreating like things of their like And verily if you will be pleased to consider really what I have spoken before you will remember how I told you that the angelicall vertue proceeded from the archetypicall emanations and are the types of the divine Idea Again that the aetheriall spirit was filled with the angelicall influences which had their essentiall root from God So that in verity it is not the starry light which penetrateth so deeply or operateth so universally but that eternall centrall spirit with which his divine and unresistable essence penetrateth all things both in heaven above and in the earth and waters beneath And all this the mysticall Philosophers seemed to verifie though darkly when they called Saturn which was the father also of Jupiter or the head of the catholick emanation the father of Coelum or Heaven arguing thereby that in the emission of the spirit of wisdom he produced created or informed the heavens according to that of Job Coelum ornasti Spiritu tuo Thou didst adorn the heavens by thy Spirit And David Verbo Domini fimati sunt coeli Spiritu ab ore ejus omnis virtus eorum By the word of the Lord the heavens were made and by his Spirit each vertue thereof And St. Peter Coeli erant prius terra ex aquis per aquas existentes verbo Dei The heavens were first and the earth of water and by the waters existing by the word of God It is certain therefore that the whole essentiall act of the aetheriall spirit is the divine emanation or the bright incorruptible Spirit of the Lord and therefore of necessity that spirit which is worthy to be the immediate vehicle of so unresistible and emanating influence must be conformable to it in purity and subtility which is the informer who is said by the wise Solomon to be Omni re mobilior subtilior attingere ubique propter suam munditiam innovare omnia implere orbem terrarum To be the most active and moveable and subtill of all things and to penetrate and pass everywhere by reason of his purity in essence and to renew and refresh all things and to fill the
the center be known and not the circumference being the circumference of all things is nothing else but what it pleaseth the center to make it And for this reason this divine spirit is termed rightly of the wise Philosopher Hermes The center of every thing whose circumference is no where but yet it comprehendeth all circumferences that are We may therefore collect out of the foresaid speech of Solomon that wisdom discovered unto him First all the abstruse mysteries which do concern the making of the world as she did unto Moses Secondly the nature and power of the Elements with the hidden act and miraculous generation of the Meteors framed out of an elementary stuffe and of their wondrous properties Thirdly the reason and manner how the winds are produced with the Astronomicall division of the year the scituation of the starrs in heaven and their Astrologicall natures Fourthly the necessaries belonging unto the art of Physick for he saith that wisdom taught him the nature of all living creatures the conditions of beasts the differences of plants and the faculties of roots c. Fifthly the secrets of all things occult and therefore of the Angels yea and of God himself by consequence and in this is the mystery of Theology comprehended But I wil prove this progression more particularly beginning with Theology Touching Theology which is derived of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deus or God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is sermo or speech quasi sermo de Deo the speech or teaching of God Solomon saith that Spiritus sapientiae transsert se ipsum in animas sanctas amicos Dei prophetas constituit Neminem enim diligit Deus nisi eum qui cum sapientia habitat The spirit of wisdom doth transfer it self into holy mens spirits and maketh them friends of God and prophets For God loveth no man that dwelâ—eth not with wisdom And again Sapientiam suis emittit Deus è sanctis coeâ—is à throno inquam gloriae suae mittit illam homini ut praesens versetur secum in labore ut cognoscat quid gratum sit apud ipsum illa enim novit omnia Gâ—d sendeth wisdom out of his holy heavens from the throne I say of his glory doth he send her unto man that it may be conversant and present with him in his labour that he may know what is acceptable unto him for she understandeth all things And in another place Except God had given wisdom and had sent his holy Spirit from the highest places what man could have known the counsell of God After this manner were the waies of such as lived on the earth corrected and men were taught the things which were pleasing unto God For this reason therefore Wisdom saith Ego illuminabo omnes sperantes in Domino I will illuminate all that trust in the Lord. Ego sum liber vitae testamentum altâ—ssimi agnitio veritatis I am the book of life the testament of the most high and the acknowledgment of the truth And Solomon Sapientiae concupiscentia conducit ad regnum perpetuum The desire of wisdom doth conduct unto the eternall Kingdom And again Sapientia doctrix est disciplinae Dei electrix operum illius Wisdom is the misiress of the discipline of God and she that maketh choice of his works And in another place he saith Per sapientiam habebo immortalitatem I shall obtain immortality by wisdom It would be tedious to reckon up the confirmation of the Theologicall doctrine which is declared and made manifest by this Spirit for verily it was this very Spirit in the fleshly Christ and his Apostles which made their corporall or bodily organs I mean their tongues to speak and their hands and pens to indite all that Theologicall wisdom and doctrine which the new Testment hath registred And it was this Spirit that spake in the old Testament by the mouths of the Patriarks and Prophets the essentiall marrow of Divinity and therefore let us look back upon them as being the literall fountain of Theology under whose typicall or graphicall instruction the hidden spirit doth lurk and may by the mysticall Theology easily be extracted I will proceed unto the next which belongeth unto the Aeviall world In ipso saith the forementioned place of St. Paul condita sunt universa in coelis sive Throni sive Dominationes sive principatus sive potestates In him are all things in heaven made whether they be Thrones Dominations or Principalities or Potestates And again elsewhere In Christo inhabitat omnis plenitudo divinitatis corporaliter qui est caput omnis Principatus Potestatis In Christ doth inhabit all the plenitude of the divinity coâ—porally who is the head of all Principalities and Potestates and in another place Châ—istus constituitur ad dextram Dei in coelestibus supra omnem Principatum Potestatem Virtutem Dominationem c. Christ is placed at the right hand of God in heaven above all Principality Potestates Virtues and Dominations c. By which places and many other authorities out of holy Writ which for brevity sake we omit at this time it is proved that there is no secret mystery comprehended among the Society of Angels either touching their creation essence properties or denominations but will be lively expressed by this superexcellent Spirit which only is able to disclose all in all because he is all in all and that in every thing I descend unto the next Step which is Astronomy Touching the essential nature of Astronomy it seemeth to consist on the Basis or Foundation of this eternal Spirit and therefore the wise son of Syrach said Sapientia in coelis fecit ut oriretur lumen indeficiens Wisdome made a never-failing light to arise in the heavens And it should appear according unto this Kingly Prophet's phrase that this Spirit did put his Tabernacle in the Sun howsoever some men are pleased by the corruption of the Text to interpret that place in another sense and that little to the purpose for the said Spirit speaking in her own person saith Ego sapientia gyrum coeli circuivi sola I wisdome did compass about the heavens alone that is in her sunny-Tabernacle and again David saith God in his wisdome doth number and count the stars and calleth them by their names whose wisdome is innumerable Whereby it is apparent that if in his wisdome or by this Spirit the stars were numbred and had their proper names it followeth that their vertues courses and properties must be best known unto him who hath created ordained and doth maintain them in the estate they are in For David affirmeth that every vertue of heaven doth proceed from the Spirit of the Lord and Esdras Stellae fundatae sunt in Verbo Dei qui novit numerum stellarum The stars have their foundation in the Word of God who knoweth the number of them
which words each Christian may discern how adverse the divine Philosopher Paul is unto the imaginary vertue and immediate act of either the Peripatetick's Daemons and Intelligences or of the starry bodies and influences or of the qualiâ—ies of his four Elements or of the Winds and other Meteors mentioned by their Master Aristotle And although they appear in outward shew that they act or work of themselves in this world yet our true Philosopher Paul teacheth us that by his Philosophy whose basis or ground is the true wisdom Jesus Christ he can discern no other Agent but one primary of whom are all things and the other secundary by whom are all things both which he acknowledgeth to be but one in essence for the one being an emanation out of the other doth onely and of himself operate all in all This is the perfect tenent of the essentiall Philosophy And therefore whatsoever the mundan and Ethnick Philosophy doth tell and by insinuating subtlety perswade us unto which is apparently contrary unto the true Philosophy we ought not in any case to believe And unto this the said divine Philosopher seemeth to consent in these words Though an angel from heaven doth preach unto you otherwise then that whâ—ch we have preached unto you let him be accursed If any man preach otherwise then that ye have received let him be accursed And therefore seeing that the Aristotelian learning is contradictory in diverse main points unto the positions of the essentiall wisdom or philosophy a true Christian ought not in the main points to believe it seeing that as St. James hath it the grounds and tenour of it are opposite unto the holy Bible which is the onely cabinet of truth and therefore is pronounced by him to be terrene animal and diabolicall Hereupon St. Paul writeth unto his schollar Timothy in this style Timothy keep that which is committed unto thee and avoid profane and vain bablings and oppositions of sciences falsly so called which while some professe they have erred concerning the faith In which words he seemeth to forewarn his Disciples that they be not entangled with the sophisticall allurements of the woâ—ldly Philosophy which contradicteth the truth and is not pacifick but troublesome and full of vain disputes and opposition pronouncing such kind of Philosophy to be not truly but falsly called a science as also all those sciences which depend on it And moreover insinuates unto his disciples that such Christians as profess it with too too vehement a devotion and confidence have by the meanes of it been subtilly induced into errors concerning the faith which is grounded upon the Anchor-hold of this invisible wisdome which is the spirituall Christ Jesus Again in this sense he giveth this Caveat before specified unto his Colossian disciples Beware that no man do deceive you by Philosophy and vaine fallacy according unto their adition of men according unto the Elements of this world and not according to Christ c. Whereby he admonisheth us Christians to eschew the false philosophy of the Ethnicks and to stick firmly unto the rules and doctrine of the true wisdome and therefore he saith in the same Text In Christo ambulate radicati et aedificati in ipso c. walk yee firmly rooted in Christ c. whereby he intendeth that Christ is the only corner-stone and ground work of the true Philosophy being that all creatures yea and the whole world is founded on it and consequently that the foundation of Paganish philosophy is sandy and of no validity whereupon the Apostle saith Fundamentum aliud nemo potest ponere praeter id quod positum est quod est Christus Jesus No man can lay any other true foundation but that which is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now that this is clean contrary unto the false grounds of the Ethnicks the said Apostle seemeth to intimate in these words Hoc dico ut non ambuletis sicut et gentes ambulant in vanitate sensus sui tenebris obscuratum habentes intellectum alienati in vita Dei per ignorantiam quae est in illis propter caecitatem cordis eorum c. I say this that you should not walk as the gentiles do in the vanity of their senses having their understandings obscured with darkness being alienated from the life of God by ignorance which is in them by reason of their blindnesse of heart I must now come to particularize upon the erroneous and false doctrine of the Peripatetick or Aristotelian philosophy that thereby I may the better lay it open unto the world by comparing the vanity thereof with the goodnesse and perfection of the divine and sacred Sophia or wisdome CHAP. V. Here the erroneous doctrine of the Gentiles Philosophy is set down being proved for certaine reasons herein expressed to be founded upon the wisdome of this world and not upon that which descendeth from God NOw me thinks I heare some sharp-witted Aristotelian reply and say How can he prove that the peripatetick Philosophy is not descended from above And why should not the foundation thereof be the true wisdome which came from God But before I come to the answering of this objection I beseech thee gentle Reader give me liberty first to apologize a little for my self Be thou therefore pleas'd in the first place to understand from my just and upright spirit that I acknowledge and confess this Prince of the Peripatetick Philosophy to be a personage of a profound speculation and that he had as deep an insight into the light of nature as any of the common ranck of Philosophers in his time Yea verily he had so sharp an ingeny and so subtill and refined a spirit that he not only allured by his worldly craft and humane invention the Gentilish Greeks whereupon he was termed by them Cacodaemon or a deceitfull spirit or seducing from the truth but also Christians themselves of every sect even unto this present Insomuch that they are so wedded unto his worldly wisdome that they admire each new proficient in Philosophy of their Universities to maintaine his actions and not to decline from his doctrine As for my self though I may be rancked in that number yet now I have collected my spirits and have by Gods grace attained unto that light of holy Scriptures whereby I am made able to distinguish and discerne their essentiall collours from this praestigious one of Pagans I must say with Cicero that Quaedam promissa sunt servanda nimirùm licita and on the other side Quaedam promissa non sunt servanda nempe quae sunt illicita Lawfull promises are to be observed but such as are unconscionable are to be violated Now God forbid good Christians should imagine that any oath which is made to derogate from the verity of the holy Bible should be perpetually confirmed for that were to rebell against the truth Wherefore my essentiall Motto in this my old age notwithstanding any alleageance which I have by
seeing that in him we live move and have our being as Paul saith we should by consequence and that without all question dispute or brabling-quarrels know and understand in our selves that summum bonum which truly-wise men seek after and with Tantalus his appetite do so fervently affect Doth not the Philosophy of Christ teach us that Regnum Dei sit intra nos The Kingdome of God is within us Et quod sit in nobis omnium mirabâ—lium operator And that the worker of all marvails is within us Et quod sumus Tempâ—a Dei Spiritùs Sancti And that we are the Temples of God and the Holy Ghost and that we are the members of Christ c. Which being so why should we be at strife disputes and brables about difficulties or ambiguities of questions or why should our riper senses be battered in peeces by foolish distinctions in which are the inventions of humane or diabolicall wisdome on set purpose to immerge and drown us deeper in the abysse of multitude or profundity of ignorance when the only indeavour of truth is to conduct us through those clouds of errors in which the foolish wisdome of this world hath involved our understandings unto the fountain of Unity and Concord which is the eternall Wisdome the spirituall Christ Jesus Thus we see how contrary the Greekish wisdome is unto that of the Apostle's for as much as the Greekish Philosophy is contentious litigious full of disputes brables and emulations for which reason it is pronounced by St. James to be terrene animall diabolicall and not from above whereas contrarywise that Philosophy which is grounded on the true wisdome which is from above must be first pure then peaceable gentle easy to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without judging envy or hypocrisy For this cause therefore our Christian Philosopher Paul admonisheth his Schollar Timothy to eschew all profane and vaine babling and opposition of Sciences falsly so called which whilst some profess they have erred concerning the Faith All such Christians as have their Anchor-hold too firmly fastned on Aristotles Philosophy should seriously ponder this that our eminent Master St. Paul seemeth to advertise them with such fervency that the observation of this Ethnick Philosophy which consisteth in contentions questions vaine bablings and opposition of Sciences which seeme such but are not so indeed though they are called so falsely is the occasion that well-intending Christians have been deceived and have erred concerning the Faith in the true Wisdome and only verity Jesus Christ. Again saith the Apostle James The wisdome which contradicteth the Truth is not from above but terrene animal diabolicall Now I am assured that all good Christians will maintain that the fountain of Truth and Verity is the holy Bible What will our Christian followers of Aristotle say if I will prove evidently that Aristotle's doctrine doth erre from the maine grounds of holy Writ which is the treasure of Verity and consequently from that wisdome which is the Father of Light It is a common phrase among our lip-learned Sophisters to say when any contradiction is found between some axioms of Greekish Philosophy and the sacred Assertion Oh this is true in Philosophy but in Scripture it is found otherwise I say to these that if there be found any contradiction between the points of the one and that of the other there is a foul error and falshood or contradiction in the one or other and therefore the one of the two must needs issue from a terrene and diabolicall or mundan and human wisdome Now judge each good Christian whether we should rather stick unto Gods Word which is the only Truth or the affirmation of Aristotle which deriveth his wisdome from the father of lyes I mean the mundan wisdom which is for that reason termed of the Apostle diabolicall or devilish Others say that men are so deeply conversant in the secrets of nature or naturall Philolosophy that they are become Athiests and will acknowledg no God They must needs understand of the Ethnick Philosophy and not point at that of Jesus Christ for that leadeth and directeth the understanding spirit of man even unto the Throne and Majesty of the true God and perswades him to forsake the multitude of this naughty world to betake and contract it self unto that blessed union from whence his bright Spirit was originally derived A third sort of men seem to repine and storm that any man should presume to mingle naturall Philosophy with Divinity or should dare or attempt to draw any axioms or Authorities out of Scriptures to prove or maintain the Principles or causes of Philosophy averring boldly but erroniously that the Bible doth onely teach unto man what belongeth unto Salvation that is to say how we should feare God and behave our selves unto our neighbours As who should say that the holy Scriptures had indited any thing in vain And yet it is plainly found in them that all the treasure of wisdome and science doth lie hid in Christ. And it is said in another place A me discetis omnia Ye shall learn all things of me And again Spiritus Sanctus vos docebit omnia The holy Spirit will teach you all things Are we not likewise taught that all men are vain that do not know the Creator by the creatures which he hath made and the invisible God by the visible things which he hath created Besides all this man shall find therein most lively described the three principles whereby God made all things namely the dark Abysse or Chaos which they call first-matter the second matter which they term water and the first Act or light which they call their form Also the true manner of generation of Meteors of condensation and rarefaction of generation and corruption of action and passion and of all things else which can be imagined in that kind of learning which the Aristotelians call naturall is rightly and not Sophistically expressed in this true Philosophy as also every other kind either Morall or Politick with all other Sciences both liberall and Mechanick as is already prooved What was all this I say vainly set down and expressed by the Saints of God which were in their inditings or writings guided by the Holy Spirit of Truth No verily but rather we may excuse these zealous accusers without true understanding and say that they meant of intermingling the false Aristotelian wisdom with that of the Spirit of God which is onely truth for would these persons but rightly understand that Philosophia in his originall sense importeth sophiam or wisdom they would acknowledge and confesse that the true and essentiall philosophy or sophia is nothing else but the sacred wisdom or holy spirit of discipline which is the ground of not onely that which animal men of this world tearm Naturall Philosophy but also of the whole subject of Theology So that if we consider the case rightly we shall plainly perceive
invisible waters the subtiler part whereof is the vast spirit of the aire and for this reason both Thales and Anaximenes do seem in some sort to agree in one subject And yet if we penetrate more profoundly into the businesse we shall perceive that these two did insist but upon the materiall or passive principle forasmuch as from it the substance of heaven and earth and every thing therein hath his existence or materiall beeing On the other side Zoroaster did not without reason make choice of fire for the primary beginning of all things in that it did proceed and appear in act before the waters or humid nature were made manifest no otherwise then action goeth before passion or the cause precedeth the effect And yet neverthelesse he erred in this his assertion because the active principle can in no wise rightly be considered but as it hath his relation unto a passive originall The Stoick Zeno therefore being more wary than the rest establisheth his opinion concerning the first Principle by a firmer tye or obligation saying That the substance of the fire being by the aire converted into water is the beginning of all things But Empedocâ—es would be sure to lay his grounds more surely as he vainly imagined than Zeno and for that cause did ordain the four Elements to be the radicall principles of all things whereof two of them are agents and two patients Now the main errour of these philosophers in their judgments concerning the principles was that they did not mark or consider that the divine puissance or sacred word was more ancient and of a greater Antiquity then were any of their foresaid principles the which if by a riper contemplation they had understood they would have confessed being instructed and directed by reasons produced from the eternall unity or essentiall point and beginning of all things that the divine light or sacred emanation which Scriptures entitle by the name of the holy Spirit of wisdom was the actuall beginning of all things as neverthelesse before it there was another property in one and the same sacred essence which was termed the divine puissance or potentia divina which did precede his act or emanation no otherwise than the Father in time order and being is justly said to exist before the Son or the Creator before the creature And thereupon the wise man hath it Omnium prior creata est sapientia Wisdom was created before all things And yet it is most apparent that some of the Greekish and Aegyptian Philosophers namely Plato Pythagoras Socrates Hermes c. did so instruct their understandings partly by the observation of their predecessors doctrine and partly through the experience which in their long travails and peregrinations they had gathered among the Aethiopians Aegyptians Hebrews Armenians Arabians Babylonians and Indians for over all or most of these Countries did Plato Pythagoras Hippocrates and others of them travell for the augmentation and increase of their knowledge as Historiographers that are worthy of credit have related that without doubt they did discern though afar oft and as it were in a cloud the true light in the humid nature And among the rest it is reported as also it appeareth by his works that Plato had the knowledge of the Word and had read the Books of Moses and for that reason he was called Divinus Plato the divine Plato In like manner the excellent Philosopher Hermes otherwise termed Mercurius Trismegistus expresseth plainly that he was not onely acquainted with Moses his books but also was made partaker of his mysticall and secret practise as by his Sermons which he calleth Pymander a man may plainly discern where he doth mention the three Persons in Trinity and sheweth the manner of the worlds creation with the elements thereof by the Word And therefore of all other antient Philosophers I may justly ascribe divinity unto these two But in this I cannot much commend them viz. in that they having had a view of Moses his labours which were indited by the Spirit of God did gather out and confesse the truth of his doctrine touching the principles of all things and yet would not in open tearms acknowledge their Master but altered the names of them but as Plato served his Master Moses even so was he dealt with by his schollar Aristotle who knowing that his Masters three Mosaicall Principles of all things masked under strange titles were but truth would neverthelesse arrogate his doctrine unto himself and for that cause did alter the assumed names of Plato's principles gilding them over with new denominations and did afterward rear up upon them a spurious philosophicall structure carved and framed out after his own inventions which may be therefore rightly compared unto a house of straw or stubble which though it be erected upon a firm rock or foundation yet because their stuff is Heterogeniall unto the truth and evilly compacted it will not endure a storm no not the least blast of truth but will easily be destroyed and cast down Thus may every good Christian discern how each of the Ethnick Philosophers have stolen their principles from Moses his grounds stolen I say because they expresse them under covert names without any acknowledgment of their Master which did arrogate his doctrine and learning unto the Spirit of God which did teach him it and did practically express the grounds thereof in the apparition which God made upon the Mount Sina For upon the grounds of these three Principles the true mysticall Philosophers or Theosophers did pronounce that as well the externall Law of Moses as the internall of Jesus Christ was erected which was not discovered or discerned by Aristotle how cunning soever he maketh himself which if it had been so he would not without all doubt have founded or built upon the true Corner-stone I mean the eternall Wisdome a bastard Philosophy which did differ in shape and essence from the true Foundation And although he was taught in some sort by his diviner Master yet was he as it doth appeare all together ignorant of the centrall truth thereof wherefore it was but a folly in him who is so vainly magnified for the Prince of Philosophers to make a privation where there was no precedent position or information being there was a Chaos before any thing else was created But it was no marvel being that he surmised the world and all things or Species thereof to be eternall that is to say without beginning and end which if it had been true indeed he then had said but rightly that the dark Abysse or Chaos in respect of its beeing without form was a Privation of some Act or form in an actuall pre-existent matter But that this is false the whole concurrent of the Scriptures do confirm being that it is said that God created the world of matter without form and that the heavens and the earth were first of waters and by waters and consisting by the word of God And that
ociosaque ad nihil respiciens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Nihil dicitur in quo statu Aleph tenebrosum dictitatur When the divine sapience was retracted in the abysse of darknesse resting still and quiet and respecting nothing it was esteemed as nothing and in that eâ—tate it was called dark Aleph In this contracted or rather sequestred or private estate therefore of the divine unity it operateth according unto this its negative pâ—operty or condition by his essentiall agent Cold which is proved therefore not to be an accident as the vain doctrine of the Peripateticks would perswade us being it is apparent unto each wise-man that no accidentall qualities are in or can be from God being that the divine Nature is meerly a simple essentiall and formall purity existing in himself and of himself and therefore he being but one essence is able to produce out of himself what essentiall property he pleaseth And for this reason the divine wisdom is said to be spiritus unicus multiplex one simple spirit in essence but manifold in respect of his essentiall properties Now that this essentiall property or nature of Cold is the formall instrument or instrumentall vertue whereby God doth operate in his hidden and potentiall estate for the resistance of heat and action or motion and for the deformity and destroying of that which he in his patent nature did effect by his Heat or active property it is made evident by effect for what the spirit of wisdom in its patent nature did operate by its hot spirit or blast from the south or easterly winde namely in subtiliating and raâ—ifying of the waters into thin aire making that which was gross subtle and making that which was opake and dark diaphan and invisible the self-same spirit again enduing his latent and cold property doth deform and undo For in blowing or breathing from the North the same thin and ratified aire is made thick dense and visible which was through raâ—ifaction made invisible and that which by dissipating of parts was made transparent light and diaphan is now by the Northern properties contractive vertue reduced into an opake or dark substance and no way perspicuous That which was active movable and lively by an addition of heat is now become stupid still and deadly by the invasion of cold That which was light and of no sensible weight is framed into an heavy and ponderous body or consistence as we see when the aire by the northern blast is turned into snow hail ice frost c. Now that it is but one and the same spirit in essence which bloweth from the four winds the Prophet Ezekiel doth testifie when he said Veni spiritus à quatuor veniis insuffla interfectos istos Come O Spirit from the four winds and breathe upon these slain persons c. Whereby he argueth that it is but one spirit though it endueth at his pleasure a four-fold property And now to confirm all this which is said to be true do but mark the words of the royall Psalmist Jehovah emittit nives sicut lanam pruinam sicut cineres dispergit deâ—icit gelu tanquam frusta coram frigore ejus quis conâ—istat Emittens verbum liquefacit ista simul ac efflat ventum suum effluunt aquae God sendeth forth the snow as wooll and scattereth the frost like ashes casteth out the ice like as gobbits who is able to withstand his cold He sending forth his word liquefieth all these northern effects So soon as he bloweth or breatheth forth his wind the waters do flow again that is the snow frost and ice do melt and are turned into water Out of which words we may observe many notable things namely first that God in his hidden or latent property doth by his essentiall action of cold contract unto the center those things which were before dilated towards the circumference Secondly that the property of cold is attributed or ascribed unto God in his northern action and therefore it is said Who is able to resist his cold For which reason it is evident that it is an essentiall vertue in the divine puissance Thirdly That it must be the act of unity in his dark hidden and privative property both because it darkeneth things that are diaphan transparent and light and then because it depriveth of life and motion that which did act move and live through essentiall heat And lastly because it is an utter enemy unto the action of heat which at tendeth on the revealed emanating and vivifying divinity Fourthly that the effects of cold are undone by the act of the revealed nature of God which is the word for the Text saith He sendeth out his word and resolveth or melteth all these namely the snow frost and ice Fifthly that all this is effected by one and the same spirit in essence but of divers and opposite conditions to perform the will of the Father which sendeth it forth Again that the cold property of the winde is the essentiall depriving vertue or stupifying and contracting act of God it appeareth by this of Job Deus fortis edit glacâ—em flatu suo flante Deo concrescit gelu The strong God bringeth forth the ice by his breath God blowing the ice is ingendered I conclude therefore that cold is the essentiall act of the divine puissance or eternall sapience shrowding it self in its mantle of darkness and therefore doth manifest the divine volunty in that estate of his by the effects namely in that it draweth from the circumference unto the center and therefore is the occasion of congregating of things as well hetero-as homo-geniall and by consequence the onely essentiall agent or efficient cause of inspissation contraction constriction fixation immobility ponderosity rest obteneration or darkness of mortification privation stupefaction and such like In the contrary divine property namely in this spirit's patent manifest and positive nature or as he is termed light Aleph wherein he moveth or sendeth out his emanation from the center towards the circumference and revealing himself upon the dark face of the Abysse maketh the invisible non Ens or potentiall Nihil to appeare in Act being first animated by his bright presence in the form of waters He is said by the Wiseman to be omnibus mobilibus mobilior ubique penetrans seu attingens propter munditiam ejus The most agile and movable of all movable things piercing through all things by reason of his purity So that as the other privative or Northern property did produce rest and vacancy from operation by attraction or contraction from the circumference unto the center so in this his positive or Southern and Orient property by dilating himself or sending out his active beam brightness or emanation from the center towards the circumference he doth beget and procreate motion being accompanied by the essentiall Act of Heat or calidity which operateth continually upon the effects of cold in resisting dissolving and
this kind of Angelicall vertue the divine spirit doth work his privative effects and acts of Inspissation and fixation in the sublunary Element causing terrestriall and earthly effects But contrariwise we find that by and in the Southerne and Easterly Angelicall spirits the all-Creating and operating power doth cause Rarefaction and Subtiliation in the said inferiour waters through their essentiall action which is heat And for this cause the said hot winds do undoe by rarefaction all that which the cold Northern winds did effect by congelation Hence therefore it commeth that of this potent Angell who is said by the wise Cabalists to be the President and Governour of the Celestiall Sun which some terme Michael quasi Quis sicut Deus of whom we will speak hereafter also touching his Angelicall organs in the 4. Corners of the earth by which he useth to do his will it is sayed The sonne of man will send out his Angels from the four winds of heaven and moreover we shall find in the place before mentioned that this imperiall Angell did rise from the Easterly angle of the world and did command the foresaid fowr Angels which had dominion over the four winds as vassals unto his will For the Text hath it And I saw another Angell come up from the East and cryed with a loud voice unto the 4. Angels unto whom power was given c. Hurt not the earth neither the seas nor the trees till I have sealed c. Whereby it is apparent that the 4. Governours of the winds are subject unto that great Angell who is the powerfull and potent Intelligence which moveth and ruleth not only the Sun but sustaineth all things by vertue of this word and this Almighty Angell is esteemed by some to be the same mentioned in the first Chapter of the Apocal. Who said I am Alpha and Omega Now that the Sun by vertue of this omnipotent Spirit whose immediate angelicall organ or instrument the Angell Michael is doth govern the airy spirit both of the lower and upper world the wise Solomon doth seem to acknowledge where he saith Sol lustrans cuncta in circuitu pergit spiritus The sun illustrating all things the aire or spirit moveth about For this reason also the Philosophers have called the winds Titanei filii the sons of Titan or of the celestiall Sun It appeareth therefore that the increated spirit which supereminently moveth in the angelicall creature Michael and therefore El or Deus fortis is annexed unto it is that self-same Princely Spirit specified by the Prophet Ezekiel as is already proved who dwelleth in the great Angel who rising up from the East commanded the 4. governours of the winds with their legions whereby it is manifest that they have all their act and power from it and are ordained to be employed onely at his will either to effect privation or position and consequently to produce condensation or rarefaction in the world at his pleasure namely position and information by his light and heat and privation or deformation by his dark and cold property And hereupon the kingly Prophet speaketh thus Angeli Dei validissimi robore efficientes verbum ejus auscultantes voci ejus ministri ejus facientes placitum The strong Angels of God which do execute his word and hearken unto his voice are his mâ—nisters to perform his will And again Qui facis angelos tuos ventos et ministros tuos ignem urentem Who makest thy angels winds or spirits for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ruach signifieth Ventus Spiritus Flatus and thy ministers flames of fire Whereby it is evident that the eternall Breath is that which animateth the Angels the Angels give life and vigour first unto the stars and then unto the winds the winds first informe the elements or rather alter the catholick sublunary element into divers natures which are tearmed Elements and then by the mixtion of divers windy forms in that one element they do produce meteorologicall compositions of divers natures according unto the diversity of the windy forms which alter it But that I may the more pertinently discourse upon these businesses and withall discusse many difficulties and scruples which have not a little troubled the Philosophers and Theosophers of our age touching the principle tabernacle of this all-acting and creating Spirit in the world Before I passe any further in this my story of Condensation and Rarefaction I will expresse mine opinion touching that point at large because the enucleation of it will be very pertinent and necessary for the opening of this main businesse forasmuch as in it not onely the world's creation but also the emperiall government of the worlds Spirit and the formall manner of production of Meteors doth consist CHAP. III. What the cavills of this our age hath been touching the seat of the all-creating and universall inacting Spirit in this world And herein also it is proved that Jerom's translation upon this Text of David Posuit tabernaculum suum in sole God put his tabernacle in the sun is according unto the true sense of Scriptures And lastly the reason of the errour in our latter Translations is herein according unto the Author's capacity expressed I Confesse there hath been a great controversie whether Jerom or Tremellius or Pagnâ—ne and some others have erred in their translation of the fore-mentioned Hebrew Text for Jerom being of greater antiquity howsoever he found the nature of the Hebrew which he translated interpreteth the first verse of the nineteenth Psalm of David Posuit Deus tabernaculum suum in sole God hath put his tabernacle in the sun Pagnine making use of the same Text but perchance corrupted and altered from the Originall copy and therefore construeth the Hebrew thus In coelis posuit Soli tabernaculum He made for the Sun a tabernacle in the heavens And Tremellius expounds it Soli disposuit tentorium in iis He made the heavens a pavillion for the Sun Verily if we consider all things rightly we must imagine that either the Text must be altered and corrupted from that Originall copy which St. Jerom had or else the reverend Jerom's worth must of necessity be called into question for so grosse a mistaking Touching the petson surely the whole Christian Church in his days would not have made election of a man of mean skill in the Hebrew language to undergo a task of such importancy being for the main good of the whole Christian Church as was the translation of the Bible out of Hebrew into Latin It would not I say have relied upon a man of small cunning either in the Hebrew language or mysteries of divinity to judge of the likelyhood or coherence of the Scripture's Harmony and therefore the ability of the person unto whose charge so great a business was committed and consequently the fruits of his labours could no way be undervalued being compared unto either Pagnine or Tremellius Again that he was held for a person
did build a temple and city in the honour of the Sun Wherefore the chariot and horses of the sun which the ignorant Jewes had set up before thâ—â— gate of Gods temple were justly puâ—led down which distinguished not the Creator from the creature This errour which to this hour cleaveth it self unto the Aristotelically learned of this world is delineated in its true characters by that Evangelist who did assure us that all life is in the Word This word or lighâ— saith he is in the world and the world was made by it and the world did not know him But as many as did receive or acknowledge him namely that he made all and was all and in all were numbred among the children of God Wherefore all true Christians ought to understand that he filleth all vivifieth all sustaineth all operateth all in all for without it they cannot be esteemed the legitimate children of God they ought not to be so ignorant of the Creator in the creature being that his glory shineth forth of them and may be perceived by them more of lesse thinking that he is absent even from the most beautifull creature of the world who is present with all for it is said that he filleth all and that not virtually or accidentally as some worldly wisemen by their Ethnick distinction distorting by that means the truth of the Scripture will have it but in essence being in plain tearms it is said in one place Christ is in all and over all in him are all things But Christ which is the true wisdom is the vertuous or essentiall emanation from the Father and therefore no accident In another place The incorruptible Spirit of God is in all things but that Spirit which hath no corruption in it and preserveth from corruption and giveth really life is no accident but a perfect essence In another place Of him by him and in him are all things therefore this is meant essentially and not accidentally In another place God is all in all And again the Apostle Of God the Father are all things by our Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things All which cannot be meant otherwise than by Gods essence which is in and over all because that in himself he is onely essentiall and therefore no accidents can be attributed unto him and consequently we may conclude that Gods Spirit is essentially in the creatures and for that reason we ought simply to consider him and acknowledge him in his works For that person which professeth himself a Christian and doth not know this is but a Christian in name and consequently vain and miserable And this is partly confirmed by the words of St. Paul and partly out of those of Solomon before mentioned The anger of God saith St. Paul is revealed from heaven upon the impiety and iniustice of those men which do detaâ—n the verity of God in unrighteousnesse because what is known of God is made mâ—nifest unto them for God hath revealed it unto them For the invisible things of him are discerned of the creature of this world by those things which are understood by creation as also his everlasting vertue and divinity So that they are inexcusable because that when they knew God they did not glorifie him or give him thanks but did fade away or vanish in their own imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned and therefoâ—e in saying that they were wise they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the similitude of a corruptible man and of birds and of four-footed beasts and of serpents c. Whereby he argueth first that God ought to be pondered and known in his creatures and that we ought to acknowledg and ascribe all the glory and vertue of them unto his Spirit or divinity in them and not to mistake the Creator for the creature For he seemeth expresly to argue and signifie that his everlasting vertue and divinity is in the creatures and that it appeareth out of them For his words import that the invisible things of him are discerned by the things that are created as also his everlasting vertue and divinity And why not being that in the Word is and was from the beginning life or the vivifying Spirit but life is in the creatures Ergo the Word and by consequence the incorruptible Spirit But Solomon confirmeth the above mentioned place in this All men are vain by nature who are ignorant of God and cannot understand him that truly is by such good creatures of his which they behold nor acknowledg the workman by the consideration of his works Wherby he argueth that divinity in the creature may be perceived in and by the aspect of the creature Wherefore it is evident that the Prophet said rightly when he did affirm that the heavens did declare the Glory and Majesty of God by the beauteous apparition of that glorious Spirit which did inact them and adorn their beauteous Eie I mean the Sun with such divine vivifying and illuminating vertue which in aboundance doth possesse and inhabit it And therefore I conclude that the Prophet said rightly and instructingly unto the ignorant world that the bright Spirit of God did dwell in the Sun of heaven as in a Tabernacle and did impart and distribute his gifts of form life vegetation and multiplication unto every creature out of it And yet I will not acknowledg with Aristotle that Sol homo generant hominem That the Sun and man do begeâ—â— man but rather that the vivifying Spirit which is potent in the Sun and not weak in every specifick creature is onely he that vivifieth all things sending his spiracle of natural Heat and life by an ordinary course out of the Sun to help and assist the creatures to live and multiply and yet he is not inclusively in the Sun but worketh also all in all as well within as without it being that it filleth all things And this is good doctrine which arrogateth all vivifying actions as well immediate as mediate soly unto him who wholly acteth and effecteth all things and consequently not unto the created organ in which and by which he operateth for in doing the contrary we shall derogate from the Creator to ascribe that which indeed is not unto the creature As for the later interpretation which saith Soli posuit tentorium in coelis He made the Sun a pavillion or tabernacle in the heavens What profit I beseech you can that doctrine bring unto man The first Interpretation teacheth man that the Spirit of God is in this bright creature of heaven and therefore teacheth us to adore the Lord and not the palace being that the ignorance of the divine Spirit 's being in the beauteous creatures hath been the occasion of infinite errours in the world And therefore it is an interpretation of especiall moment and instruction The Second is a thing so triviall that it needed no such curiosity of expression to signify that
visible things and therefore the seas and the earth were first made or produced out of things not visible that is to say aeriall or heavenly For it is one universall aire that filleth the vast cavity or vault of the world which by reason of its levity tenuity or invisibility is called Heaven as contrariwise the earth and seas are so termed because of their gravity density and visibility Since therefore it is evident that the catholick sublunary aire is the main materiall ground and substance of that which the world calleth elements and that it is altered and changed from one estate into another by the Word or divine Spirit Ruach Elohim I mean by the eternall wisdom let us consider with our selves how this potent Spirit doth effect in that one and the same homogeneall invisible thin water or aire such Protean trans-mutations whereby there is an evident rotation made in it out of one nature into another which are therefore tearmed distinct elements We must therefore consider in the first place that this was that vivifying Spirit which the Prophet called from the four winds saying Veni Spiritus a quatuor ventis insuffla interfectos istos ut reviviscant And therefore this one Spirit Ruach Elohim was the royall commander of the four winds and by consequence could contract the aire by his windy organs and again dilate it at his pleasure and therefore it was he and no other that doth animate the four winds and agitate the Angels that are his under-governours of them to alter and change the invisible aire into visible shapes when and how be listeth And first touching his generall act in ordering the aire into divers shapes it is said Deus ventos depromite thesauris And again Aer subito cogetur in nubes ventus transiens fugavit eos Sapientia aptat pondus aeri appendit aquas in mensura ligat densas nubes ut non findantur facit pluviae statuta viam fulgeâ—ro tonitruum God draweth the winds out of his treasury The air is thickned into clouds and the wind that passeth-by doth drive them By wisdom he giveth weight unto the aire hangeth or ballaenceth the waters in it by proportion and measure bindeth fast the thick clouds so that they cleave not giveth lawes unto the rain and maketh a way unto the lightnings of the thunders By which words we may conceive that the invisible aire is the main subject on which the all-operating Spirit of God worketh and bringeth forth the fore-named visible effects and that onely by Condensation or Rarefaction which is insinuated by giving weight unto the aire For by Condensation he converteth the invisible aire into visible clouds and then by a profounder degree of thickening those vaporous clouds are condensed into raine and the thicker and more unctuous part of the cloud is concreted into a hard stone or earth So that out of the invisible aire we see evidently by condensation produced three degrees of visible substance namely a vaporous aire a thick visible water which is rain and a dense and ponderous earth which is the stone called Lapis cerauneus or Thunder-bolt ingendred by the Spirit of God in that fight which is made in the conflict between the liquifying nature of the fire and congealing disposition of the cold water Again on the other side by rarefaction the aire is converted into fire namely into lightning and all these receive their severall forms and changes from the catholick nature of the invisible aire into those shapes in which after the alteration they abide So that you may by this perceive that all that which the antique Philosophers have termed Elements are nothing else but a four-fold changing and mutation of one and the same catholick element or humid nature unto the which according as they in their changes do appear various have divers and sundry names namely of fire water and earth imposed upon them Now the principal organs by the which and in the which this Spiâ—it moveth and acteth by a diversity of property in turning and changing this catholick aeriall subject into a four-fold nature that is to say out of one thing into another are the angelicall winds which he hath ordained to blow from the four quatrers or angles of the earth in a diverse property For as before I told you out of Solomon's doctrine that this wise spirit was one simple thing in essence but man fold in property or operation so doth he being but one Spirit for it is said Veni spiritus à quatuor venus act after a four-fold manner by his four-fold angelicall winds in the catholick element of aire for when he bloweth or breatheth from the North he contracteth the common element into an earthly body namely into frost snow hail and ice And therefore David saith Deo emittente sermonem suum in terram quà m celerrâ—mè excurrit verbum ejus qui edit nivem sicut lanam pruinam sicut cineres dispergit dejicit gelu suum tanquam frusta coram frigore eius quis consistat Emittens verbum suum liquefacit ista simulac efflat ventum sâ—um effluunt aquae God sending forth his word upon the earth it runneth swiftly who bringeth forth the snow like wool and disperseth the frost like ashes and casteth down his ice like lumps who is able to resist against his cold Sending forth his word he liquefieth or melteth all these so soon as he bloweth forth his wind the waters do flow forth c. Out of which speech we may gather first that it is but one word or Spirit of God which both by a northern contraction doth change the sublunary element into an earthly condition and hard and visible consistence namely when he bloweth from the North and therefore saith Ab Arcturo egreditur frigus flatu suo edit Deus fortis glaciem latitudinem aquarum coarctat From the North commeth the cold the mighty God doth bring forth ice by his breath and coarcteth or straightneth the latitude of the waters and also by a southern blast doth melt and undo those terrestriall effects which by his northern spirit it did produce and cause Secondly that the subject in which and on the which it did operate was the aire which it did metamorphose and change from a soft tender light volatil transparent thin and invisible substance into a hard rough heavy fix opake thick and visible masse Thirdly that the word there is taken for the essentiall spirit of the wind in generall and therefore it is used as well to contract the aire into snow ice or frost as to dilate it Again the Psalmist saith Angeli Dei faciunt verbum c. Again when he breatheth from the south then this generall element becommeth vaporous airy humid and hot and will easily by the concourse of the northern fortitude though in never so small a measure be changed into clouds for the southern blast is ever apt to undo the effects
Lightnings into rain and bringeth the wind out of his Treasury Or in this manner Thunder is the multitude of the sound of waters or the voice of the clowds being effected by the coruscations and Lightnings of the Almighty Or thus Thunder is a sound of the multitude of waters being troubled fearing and bâ—aying at the bright aspect or presence of JEHOVA In which description the materiall Organ of the voice is the clowds or waters being as it were afraid and troubled at the emission of the Lightnings whereupon they give a loud voice or sound by reason of that penetrative power which the bright and shining or fiery presence of JEHOVAH who is the worker of wonders doth effect Whereupon the royall David as is said prae fulgore in conspectu ejus nubes transierunt grando carbones ignis intonuit de coelo Dominus At the brightnesse of his presence the clowds did move or pass their way hail and coales of fire the Lord did thunder from heaven And again Viderunt te aquae Deus timuâ—runt turbatae sunt abyssi multitudo sonitus aquarum vocem dedeâ—unt nubes vix tonitrui tui in rota The waters have seen thee O God and were afraid and the abysse was troubled a multitude of the sound of the waters the clouds ecchoed forth a voice the noise of the thunders wheeled about c. Also the formall cause is explicated in that it was made by a great noise and Lightnings The efficient cause seemeth to be the Lightnings from God or rather the fiery aspect of God animating the Lightnings and directing them unto a determinated mark So that it appeareth that the Lightnings are as it were the Instruments of God in his Wrath no otherwise then a sword is the instrument of the man that striketh when we say that it is this or that man which did strike and not the sword And for this cause I say with the Apostle that as it is onely God who is the sole Actour in things So also is he the Father of the Thunders who sendeth out his Lightnings as arrows from his throne Lastly I say that the finall cause expressed in them is to accomplish the divine will of the Creator To conclude it may be defined thus Thunder is the voice speech or eloquence of the Almighty or a sound going out of the mouth of JEHOVA which is directed under the whole heavens with light dispersed over the face of the earth after the which there followeth a loud noise or rumbling or God thundereth with the voice of his excellency the which when it is heard is not found Audite saith Job cum tremore vocem seu loquelam vel eloq â—um abore ejus egrediens quod sub â—oto-coelo dirigit lucem super terminos vel oraâ— terrae Post eum rugit sonitus tonat voce excellentiae suae non investigatur cum audita fuerit vox ejus Hear with trembling he directeth the voice speech or eloquence proceeding from his mouth under the whole heavens and his light over the ends of the earth After him roareth a sound he thundereth with the voice of his excellency the which when it is heard is not found To conclude it is most apparent by this which is already said that the opinion of the Peripateticks as well Christian as Ethnick is most inconsiderate and erroneous in averring that the lightnings are hot and dry exhalations extracted out of the earth and elevated on high even unto the middle region of the aire by the attractive vertue of the Sun and that they being included into a clowd and kindled partly by the collision or knocking together of other clowds and partly by the coldness of the place do by the eruption of their flames cause the thunders I would have every wise Christian to observe duely by what hath already been said whether the mystery of a tempest and whirl-wind do consist and stand upon a thing of so small moment and poor esteem as Aristotle would make us believe or if it arise not out of a far more profound and inscrutable abysse or profundity seeing that the lightnings are reported by truth it self to be such fiery lights of God as issue or proceed from his throne and the thunders are justly termed the voice word and eloquence of JEHOVA And for this reason JEHOVA reprehending the boldness of these kind of worldly Philosophers which presume so far to censure his inscrutable actions or to dive into the depth of his mysteries touching the essentiall causes of these meteors without the warrant and assistance of Gods Spirit and falsly to make the world believe that his hidden and abstruse secrets are effected after their vain imaginations which vanish in the conclusion and become as nothing because indeed they are grounded on nothing else but foolish and self-conceited phantasies and vanities seemeth to utter unto them these speeches Auribus percipite considerate mirabilia Dei fortis Nosti cum disponat Deus de illis cum splendeat lux nubis suae Nosti-ne de libramentis densae nubis mirabilia Dei perfecti scientiis Quaenam est via qua in partes dissilit lux Cujus utero egressa est glacies Aut pruinam coeli quis genuit Quanam via itur ubi habitat lux tenebrarum ubi est locus Perceive with your ears and consider the marvellous works of the strong God Dost thou know when God disposeth of them when the light of his clowd doth shine forth Dost thou understand the marvails of God who is perfect in sciences touching the ballancing and pondering of the thick clowds Which is the way in which the lightnings do skip forth being divided into parts Out of whose womb doth the ice proceed or who hath begotten the frost of heaven Which is the way that directeth oâ— leadeth unto the habitation of lâ—ght and which is the seat of darknesse This saith JEHOVA I say the strong God in checking of the vain-glorious wise-men of this world for their presumption and especially he pointeth at the bold Peripateticks who presumptuously profess that they of themselves without the teaching of the true wisdom do know all these things And yet the wisest amongst men speaketh thus Animadverti totum opus Dei non posse hominem ass qui illud opus quod sit sub sole quam laboriose homo quaerat non tamen assecutum esse quinetiam si cogitet sapientissimus cognoscere non tamen posse assâ—qui I observed every work of God that man is not able to attain unto that work which is under the sun how laboriously soever he seeketh Yea verily if the wisest man thinketh to know it he will not be able to attain unto it By which words Solomon pointeth at the insufficiency of man in himself that is to say without the conduct of the spirit of wisdom to attain unto the knowledge of Gods mysteries which also he doth seem to intimate in these
words Quis hominum cognoscit consilium Dei nam ratiocinationes mortalium sunt timidae instabiles cogitationes eorum Infestum enim corruptioni corpus aggravat animam deprimit terrena habitatio mentem plenam curis multis vix conjicimus ea quae in terra sunt quae autem in coelis sunt quis investigavit consilium tuum quis noverit nisi tu dederis sapientiam miseris sanctum Spiritum tuum è locis altissimis sie enim correctae sunt eorum quae in terris sunt semitae itaque sapientiâ fuerint salvati What man doth know the counsell of God for the reasonings of mortall men are doubtfull and unstable are their cogitations For the body being subject unto corruption doth aggravate the soul and an earthly habitation doth depresse the mind which is full of cares And we do scarcely guesse at the things which are upon the earth who is then able to find out the things which are in heaven Or who can know thy counsell unlesse thou shalt give wisdom and send thy holy Spirit from above for by that means were the waies of such men as were upon the earth corrected and amended and therefore were they saved or preserved by wisdom c. Out of which golden words I gather first That the heathen men were ignorant in the mysteries and abstruse operations of God because they wanted the true spirit of wisdom which God revealeth unto his Elect by the vertuous infusion and influxion of his holy Spirit Next that for this reason the subject of true Philosophy is not to be found in Aristotle's works but in the Book of truth and wisdom forasmuch as it is a copy of the revealed Word Thirdly that it is a great folly for Christians to seek for the truth where it is not to be found I mean in the works of the pagan Philosophers and that is made manifest forasmuch as it contradicteth altogether the verity of Scriptures and therefore it is pronounced by St. James to be terrene animal and diabolicall Verbum saepienti CHAP. XIII A conclusion of this work including an admonition unto all good Christians to beware of the Ethnick Philosophy and to stick and cleave fast unto that which is taught us by the Scriptures and that for reasons herein set down LEt it now be lawfull for me in the concluding of this Section O ye Europaeans who seem so seriously and zealously to spend your daies in the Christian Religion to turn the sharp edge of my pen and the rougher file of my speech unto you who being too too much seduced by the fals doctrin of Aristotle do think and imagine the meteors but especially lightning and thunder to be a common natural thing of little or no estimation at all as being onely produced of nature by reason of a hot distemper of the air I would request you as a true Christian ought unto his brethren to observe well and attend with diligence this admonition which I will for a Farewell bestow upon you beseeching you not to scorn or reject my precedent assertion whith hath told and sufficiently proved unto you that the lightnings and thunders yea and all other meteors are the immediate works of Gods hand being that by this endeavour of mine you may not onely bring a comfort and consolation unto your soules when you hear the terrible voice of the Lord and make you to call to mind your passed sins and iniquities and to pray him heartily to pardon you and not to call your offences unto an account in his anger but also give the honour and glory unto him who thundering from above worketh marvellously I would have you therefore to know that the worldly wise-men of this our Christian world who are as it were pages or followers of the Ethnick Philosophers have hitherto blindly or after the manner of lunatick persons erred in their imaginations forasmuch as they being instructed in the blind wisdom of this world by their Ethnick tutors and doctors will not be brought to believe that God doth work immediately all things in heaven and in earth onely by his word but mediately namely by other necessary natural or supernatural means as essential efficient causes when as the holy Text doth in plain terms instruct us that it is one the self-same essence which doth act and operate all in all by his word using each creature onely as his organ or instrument wherein and by the which he moveth and worketh his will Is not this their tenet or assertion I beseech you altogether opposite and contradictory unto the divine authority which saith Though there be that are called gods whether in heaven or in earth as there be many gods and many lords yet unto us there is but one God which is that Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him But every man hath not that knowledge c Out of which words we may gather that though we worldlings attribute this or that work unto angels or stars or winds or a created nature according unto the doctrine of the Ethnick wisdom yet such true Christian Philosophers as St. Paul was dâ—d acknowledge but one God of whom proceed all actions in this world and one Word by which onely and not by any creature in the world each thing is immediately effected in this world All which although unto reall Christians it seemeth verity and truth yet unto the Philosophers and wise men of this world this kind of doctrine issuing from the heavenly wisdom is rejected and derided And why Forsooth because as the Text doth teach us every man hath not this knowledge and the reason is because they respect more the wisdom of this world which is terrene and animal and as St. Paul saith meer foolishness before God then that which is from above namely from the Father of light Et sic evanuerunt in imaginationibus suis And so they did vanish in their imaginations I heartily wish you therefore which are brought up and made familiar in the holy Bible and nourished spiritually and guided by the law of our Lord Jesus Christ to conceive seriously and perpetually to revolve with your selves that God created the first consistence of things namely the humid and fluid waters by his word and they remain in the word and by the word in the self-same humid or moist estate as they did even unto this very day Also he framed out of this catholick water the heaven and the earth by his word as St. Peter saith Again he did produce by his said word the light in heaven the Sun the Moon the Starrs the day the night and all other creatures and did ordain them to serve for divers Organs by the which he might variously act or operate his volunty as well in heaven above as in the earth and waters beneath All which do move and work in and by the Word
them lines others sorts on which the virtue of things do depend They erre not much in this saying onely in appearing to divide the Godhead into diversities of gods but they seem to excuse themselves of that error in saying that all those gods had relation unto one Jupiter and so by that word relation they preserve the continuity and indivisibility in the Soul They agree therefore with Scriptures in that their meaning is that this divine essence is in all things For as Scriptures acknowledg that the catholick Spirit of Wisdome is one simple Spirit and yet it is tearmed by Solomon multiplex or manifold in respect of his multiplicity of action or property in creatures which it animateth for it is said to fill the universe And the incorruptible Spirit of God to be in all things and to give life and motion unto all forasmuch as it is omni re mobilior more movabâ—e and sprightfull then any thing and being but one thing it is able to do all things it being permanent in it felf and therefore doth animate all being that it is in all and every where For this reason also the Poets say Omnia Jovis plena that all are full of Jupiter That is to say the essentiall beams of this Eternall Jupiter or JEHOVA are in every particular place of the world making things to live and exist by a different property And for this reason they conclude that omnia diis plena as is said all things are full of gods I come unto the third The Platonists and all those Philosophers which partake with them differ in nothing from Orpheus Democritus and the rest saving that those call that the Soul of the world which the other tearm Jupiter and the Gods which possesse all things they nominate peculiar souls or mentall beames which depend and have a continuated relation unto the Anima mundi as the incorruptible Spirit of the Lord that filleth each particuler is not discontinued from that humid fountain which filleth the universe It is evident therefore by this which is already said that all the subsequent opinions of the Philosophers touching the Anima mundâ— may be fully confirmed and maintained by the self same reasons and therefore I will say no more touching this point at this instant I conclude therefore thus that seeing the Soul of the world hath for his internall act the bright emanation of the eternall Unity and the subtile catholick created Spirit for its humid Vehicle or materiall Organ which is its externall in which and by which it operareth in all and over all We must acknowledg that there is a kind of contrariety in the very catholick Soul for else would not action and passion be in the created Soul which is so called because it is made of alterity that is of two namely of a creared passive which is an off-spring of the dark Chaos and therefore apt to move unto darknesse by a naturall inclination and of an increated active which seeketh to Deify this Spirit if it do adhere or incline unto it and to exalt its light Hence cometh it that by reason of this Spirit 's divers inclination there are good or bad passions ingendred not onely in the heavens and earth of the great world and their creatures as well celestiall and elementary as animall vegetable and minerall but also in the little world which is man as shall be expressed in the first Chapter of the next Book But first I deem it most fit to open unto you the true mystery how the peculiar Soul of the little world and then how all other Souls as well animal vegetable and mineral do proceed and spring from and afterwards are preserved and multiplied by this catholick Soul of the world which is a doubt not fully decided by the best Philosophers even unto this very day And therefore ought this discourse of ours not to be slighted or lightly regarded even of the learnedest of this our Age. CHAP. V. How all particular Souls are said to spring forth or proceed and then afterwards to have their preservation and multiplication from this generall Anima mundi or Soul of the world and first to begin with that of the moâ—â— noble which is of the little world or Man HErmes called also for another reason Mercurius Trismegistus said rightly that the world was made after the similitude or Type of God and therefore as the one is tearmed Archetypus so also the other is said to be Typus For this reason therefore in another place he saith Scio mundum à Deo atque in Deo hominem vero a mundo in mundo consistere principium autem comprehensioque omnium Deus I know saith he that the world is from God and in God and that man is of the world and in the world But God is the beginning and the comprehension of all things And again he speaketh thus else where in a generality Deus est Cosmi Pater cosmus vero eorum quae in Cosmo cosmus quidem Dei filius jure Cosmus appellatus est quia omnia veritate generationis exornat necnon indesinenti vitae operatione perpetua necessitatis celeritate elementorum commistione ordine genitorum Cosmus quaecunque ab ipsa origine suscepit à Deo perpetuò servat God is the Father of the world the world is the father of them that are in the world and the world is the off-spring of God and it is rightly called Cosmus because it adorneth with verity every kind of generation and also with a never ceasing operation of life and a perpetuall celerity of necessity in the commixtion of the Elements which by order are brought forth c. In all this he varieth not from Scriptures For that in the beginning God is said to have made the world of a matter without a form and to have adorned his humid nature or the heavens with his vivifying Spirit which filleth and operateth all in all as I have told you before and that from the breath of the self-same Spirit of life all the creatures of the world are animated and from the substantiall Elements in the world they receive their matter So that as God by the pouring forth of his bright vivifying and all-acting Spirit did make the humid and passive nature of the world to operate and that so animated Spirit which is mixed secundum totum in qualibet ejus parte in all and every part with his increated Animatour is rightly called the Soul of all the Universe So we ought to make no question at all but that every particular Soul in this vaulted machin of the world doth depend and is procreated preserved and multiplied from that catholick Soul because it is an axiom infallible among Philosophers that the whole doth comprehend each part and again each particular hath his existence and being from the whole But the world's catholick materiall Spirit is inacted and preserved by the catholick Eternall Spirit
we see that as well there are good beams or benigne spirits which by a secret and hidden Emanation do stream forth from the fountain of the winds namely those which are poured out by JEHOVA's benigne Attributes as are El by Jupiter Eloach by the Sun Sadai by Venus and then Michael Raphael Gabriel c. do by their Legions execute God's Will And there are bad and corrupt or privative emission of spirits of a contrary fortitude from the winds which have their Originall from Elohim Elohim Gibbor and Adonaia which make Saturn Mars and the Moon their store-house neither would I have any one to wonder that I should derive the multiplicity of the good and the bad properties which are effected by the winds from one Divine essence which imparteth his Will by the diversity of his lively properties unto the 4 Archangells since the Prophet saith Vem spiritus à quatuor ventis insuffla interfectos istos ut revivi scant Come O Spirit from the four winds and breathe on these slain persons that they may live again Here the Prophet acknowledgeth that it is but one essentiall vivifying Spirit that effecteth all this and consequently that the four opposite properties in the four Angells which are the Governors of the winds are the influences or essentiall beams of one and the same Spirit of life in essence By reason of these spirits of a contrary fortitude in the aire sometimes good and propitious events befall the creatures of this lower world namely when the good spirits raigne and wholsome winds do blow which happen when the benign starrs and Planets have dominion in heaven and consequently their influences below and again somtimes bad and dysastrous accidents armed with privative and destructive effects befall the creatures of this Elementary region by reason of severe emissions of beams from the winds which animate those evill spirits that in infinite multitudes do hover though invisible in the aire who are rejoyced and revived at the blasts which issue from the stations of their cruell Princes and are as it were summons and all-arms to stir and excite them unto wrath and to blow the coles of their sleeping malice All this we may gather from this speech extracted out of Joseph Castaliensis A terra usque ad firmamentum non est locus vacuus sed omne plenum formis ex illis purae ex illis capaces gratiae ac mâ—serationum sunt infernis multae effigies foedae noxiae tentatrices omnes commorantes volantes in aëâ—e Et non a terra usque in coelum locus vacuus quin totum sunt species ex iis ad pacem ex iis ad bellum ex iis ad bonum ex iis ad malum ex iis ad vitam ex iis ad mortem omne id in habitatione inferiori in qua nos sumus From the earth unto the firmament there is not a void place but all is full of forms Of the which some are pure and some are capable of grace and mercy and there are beneath many foul hurtfull and tempting shapes and of all these do abide and flie up and down in the aire And from the earth unto the heaven there is not one sparâ— place but all is full of forms whereof some are enclined to peace some to war some of them are given to goodness some to naughtiness and some of them are Agents to life and some unto death and all this chanceth in the lower habitation in the which we are c. Whereby he signifieth that the whole air is replenished as well with spirits of darknesse as with spirits of light And therefore there is a continuall conflict made here below betwixt these spirits of opposit conditions Whereof the one do attend upon their Prince of darknesse being alwaies ready to accomplish his behests and consequently are very familiar unto the humid nature or matter of the world which is the child of the dark Chaos and for that cause have naturally a great dominion and power over it which by reason of its inclination unto darkness is easy to be tempted and allured from the Society of formal Light And hereupon the materiall world the flesh and the Devill are joyned together as also Satan is termed by the Apostle the Prince of the aire which is the off-spring of the waters from whence the materiall substance of the world was taken The other do wait on the Prince of Light their Master who is the eternall Wisdom which springeth from the bright word of eternity And these two dignify the world with life and do employ their greatest care to animate vivify and preserve it with such salutary beams as they receive immediatly from the eternall Emanation or fiery Word in which is the essence of life and being By this means therefore namely from the opposition of these two spirits of a contrary fortitude all the passions in the spirit and consequently of the Soul yea and body as well of the great world and all the creatures therein as of the little world have their immediate beginning namely the good passions as are joy charity hope confidence misericord humanity in the little world which are caused by dilatation of the heart and concord appetite Sympathy desire or concupiscence delight audaâ—ity jucundity caused by dilatation from the Center unto the circumference and by consequence Anâ—ipathy in the great world And again the bad passions in the little world's spirit as are sadness hatred desperatness timidity anger furor and bashfulness which arise from the contraction of the heart and in the great world and his creatures as are stupidity or congelation discord hatred irascibility fear c. and in conclusion Antipathy which comes by contracting from the circumference unto the Center All which are certain passions either well affecting and reviving the vital spirits with comfort by dilatation of those spirits with the beams of a kind of joy and delight or else choaking or suffocating them with the gloomy fog of darkness by contracting of those spirits with the mist of grief or privative sadness CHAP. V. What Actions in the Spirit or Soul in generall do produce Sympathy and what Antipathy How Sympathy or Compassion proceedeth from a certain dilatation of spirits in two or more particulars or an emitting of their internall beams of life or essence positively and benignly from the Center unto the Circumference attempting thereby to make a concord or union betweâ—â—â—wo or more like or homogenial natures and contrariwise Antipathy by contracting the said beams from the Circumference unto the Center moveth after an opposite manner namely by division or discord that is quite contrary unto the beams of the other which are emitted I Have signified unto you first in my precedent discourse that two properties were Archetypically or Ideally and after a complicite manner comprehended in one radicall Unity or Essence namely the one effected by its Nolunty the other by its Volunty Lo here
out of order and in a destructive war with one another were it not for the presence of this Lord of misrule Thus as you see will Dyscracy and Antipathy reigne by their turnes in the neather region of the world when the tye of the elements are loose Thus will friendship be quickly changed into hatred when JEHOVA is pleased to send forth his altering winds and to corroborate and animate by his influence from above the ministers of his wrath here below against the sublunary creature Now come I to prove that all sympatheticall and antipatheticall effects do proceed from the secret and occult actions of the ministring spirits of this world That there is a mighty difference amongst the Angels no man of wisdom can deny for though all Angels were at the first united unto the divine Unity yet by reason of the rebellion and ambition of Lucifer that knot of union was broke and then the waters were divided from the waters that the good Angels might be separated and distinguished from the bad by the interposition of the firmament as a Diaphragma or middle bar between each of their habitations So that the dark Angels were enclosed in the lower or dark fecall and dreggy waters and the light Angels were lodged in the higher waters which were illuminated and dignified by a super-celestiall light and glory Thus you may see that the very Angells of heaven forasmuch as they are created of aire or the humid spirit of the world which is their externall and the bright emanation from Unity which is their internall are subject by reason of their materiall subâ—tance which participates of both extreams unto affections or passions as well sympatheticall as antipatheticall and consequently they aâ—e able by reason of their contrary pâ—operties to produce both sympatheticall and antipatheticall accidents in the spirits of the elementary creatures As for examples sake we will compare the catholick sympathy and antipathy which is in the soul of the great world unto that peculiar soul or spirit which is in man being that every particular was framed out of the universall We ought therefore to understand that the whole essenâ—e of the soul or spirit of man though it be invisible extendeth and manifesteth it self by her vertues and faculties for by her irascibility it contemneth and hateth and by her concupiscibility it doth covet and desire and by her rationability she distinguisheth and discerneth between them both And verily the whole effect of the souls essence consisteth in these three powers whereof the first is compared to the action of the lower waters which is apt to jar and disagree and is the region of Lâ—tigâ—um or the Prince of darkness The second is referred unto the nature of the firmament which is the region of life and salutary love and the last unto the angelicall and intellectuall heaven which doth discern between things that belong unto the lower heavens or regions of the world Whereupon it appeareth that from her rationall property every sense belonging unto the soul of man doth proceed as from the other two every affection motion or passion of the minde doth arise and spring Now there are known to be four affections of the soul whereof two do proceed from her concupiscible power namely Joy and Hope for at that which we love we rejoyce and are glad or we hope for and expect that which shall rejoyce us or make us glad and the two other issue from her irascible faculty or vertue namely Grief or Dolour and Fear for now we grieve at that which we hate or we fear that which would make us grieve or be dolorously affected And verily we shall after a due inquisition find that these four affections of the Microcosmicall soul are not onely the beginnings and common matter or subject of all morall vices or vertues but also the originalls of Metaphysicall or occult and Physicall or elementary and apparent sympathy and antipathy as well in the little as in the great world and every creature thereof For I would not have you ignorant that being the soul in man is derived from the vivifying emanation dwelling in the words spirituall vehicle it must follow that that soul in the great world must needs have in it the faculties which the little worlds soul hath for Quod facit tale est magis tale But these faculties in the soul of man were derived from the great world and the eternal soul that vivified it Wherefore it followeth that there is a rationability a concupiscibility and an irascibility in the soul of the great world though not made manifest unto us First because that it hath attributes of irascibility and displeasure for from his Attribute ELOHIM Gibbor he sendeth down by the port Geburah the fiery beams of his displeasure by his Archangell Samael into the globe or sphear of Mars who is for that cause President of the irascible faculty of the greater world wherefore his influences do cause wrath and angry effects in the aire and earth as thunder lightnings comets and other wrangling accidents which as Scriptures tell us are the arguments of Gods wrath and vengeance also war famine and pestilence and augmenteth the angry nature and spirit of men and beasts And again Gods Attribute IEHOVA Sabaoth poureth down the beams of concupiscibility by the Arch-angell Anael upon the globe of Venus according to Philosophers and Astronomers who for that reason being moved thereto by experience and observation have made this star the president and rectrix of the concupiscible faculty As the Attribute EL doth pour out the beams of reason justice and religion yea and naturall vegetation and life into the sphear of Jupiter But principally this naturall faculty is rained into the soul of the world by the Attribute IAH through his port Sapientia or Wisdom The second reason is because the great world hath an intellectuall or rationall heaven and a concupiscible property manifested in every creature and an irascible which is apparent also by reason of hatred and horrour which appeareth between one thing and another Also that there is an irascible quality in the elements that deadly hatred which is betwixt the fire and water and the aire and earth doth manifest That also there is a love and concupiscence between things it is evident because one nature rejoyceth in his like and therefore by a naturall inclination every thing doth move and convert it self unto his like by all possibility but especially it is most inclinable unto it self So we see that fire doth naturally affect and move unto fire water unto water and earth unto earth But above all the vivifying spirit of every living thing which is celestiall and therefore exceedeth the place of the elements doth with fervency affect and thirst after his like and is rejoyced at the presence and concurrency thereof And for this cause this passion of what creature soever will be the more truly sympatheticall and the sympathy between things will be so much the
which he draweth or attracteth from the circumference unto the center and so congealeth inspissateth and hardeneth soft spirits by contraction and coarctation of those parts which before were porous and dilated But some will perchance reply and say How is it likely that the emanation or emission of spirits from the port of Binah under the Attribute of ELOHIM or the streaming forth of the breath or blasts from Boreas and his two collateralls can harden by contraction or suck and draw in spirits from the circumference unto the center when their emissions are straight from the north southward and make no reflexion whereby any such motion à circumferentia ad centrum should be made I answer That this is effected after a wonderfull fashion and worthy to be pondered by the choisest wits We must consider therefore in the first place that the property of the Attribute ELOHIM was before all beginning ordained to indue the negative or contractive nature of the eternall Unity's Nolunty namely of darkness for when God will not shew the light of his countenance he reflecteth his light in himself that is he withdraweth it from the circumference to the center and leaveth onely darkness unto the creatures This property of God is antipatheticall unto such parts of the world as also unto all such creatures as have their life from a naturall heat which heat had its beginning from Gods benevolent emanation that is from the act of unity by an emission or dilatation from the center unto the circumference I mean from unity into multitude It followeth therefore that though the emission of winds from the north be streight yet their essentiall property proceeding immediately from Gods angelicall organ is contractive and attracting from the circumference unto the center seeing that it is an emission which by the divine Spirits emanation and action in the nature of ELOHIM is cold dry coagulative or congealing and apt to rest and is therefore antipatheticall and oppugnant unto the disposition of the air forasmuch as it is hot and moist and consequently is animated by the dilative action which the catholick spirit sendeth or breatheth out of the celestiall Sun and other vivifying stars as are Jupiter and Venus And for this cause it followeth that when the Boreall spirits are sent forth into the aire it must needs succeed that at the antipatheticall contract of these cold spirits the naturall heat or life of the aire flyeth or with-draweth it self from its circumference unto its center and so partly by that contractive motion in it self caused per antiperistasin or by reason of the antipatheticall occurrence or meeting of his contrary and partly by mingling of a new terrestriall form it is congealed and falleth to the earth as if it were dead because unmovable in the form of snow hail frost and ice In like manner we see that the aery life in other creatures whose formall beeing consisteth of Gods dilating property is forced to fly from the circumference unto the center leaving the externall parts chil cold and apt to a deadly congelation or lethall repose which we observe not onely in animal creatures but also in vegetables seeing that their blood as I may tearm it or vitall suck is congealed by the winter and northern cold and is as it were liveless untill by the vivifying and dilative sorce of the ensuing Vernall or Springly and Australl vertue it is resolved and melted again and the severe tye or icy knot of the northern nature undone For this reason therefore you may discern that there is but one catholick element which is partly subject and obnoxious unto the privative and dark contracting and consequently attracting property of Gods Spirit and partly capable to endue his positive and light dilating disposition and that this common subject is the spirit or aire of the sublunary world which by lesse inspissation or contraction caused by the west winds is made water and by more compression and constriction caused by the northern and winter blasts becommeth snowy or icy earth And contrariwise by lesse dilatation and subtiliation is made aery or vaporous caused by the spring season and south wind and by a greater rarefaction and exaltation it is made fire by the dominion of such spirits as are sent out from the east and summers heat and both these main two-fold divided properties belong unto one and the same Spirit as is before related Verily this common demonstration can deceive no man being that the very unreasonable creatures are moved by a naturall inclination either to sympathize and rejoyce with the clemency and comfort of the one property or to fly from or eschew the severer assaults of the other which do antipathize with their nature But to our main business It is manifest by that which is already said that the northern breath is contractive attractive inspissative and apt to darkness immobility and rest and that the south-winde or rather the winde from the Aequinoctiall is contrary in nature unto it as being ready to undo all that the north winde did effect namely to dissolve the congealed aire which was made snow frost hail ice into water and water into aire to make transparent that which was dark and render thin that which was before thick And therefore between these properties there is no more sympathy then I have shewed you to be between the Load-stones Aequinoctiall and the Pole And again that both these opposite natures proceed and spring from one and the same divine and catholick spirit which operateth all in all every where and consequently as well in earth as in heaven this testimony of the true Philosophy doth manifestly confirm and import Deo emittente sermonem suum in terram quam celerrimè excurrit qui nives emittit sicut lanam pruâ—nam quasi cineres dispergit dejicit gelu tanquam frusta coram frigore ejus quis consistat Emittit verbum suum liquefacit ista simul ac efflat ventum suum effluunt aquae God sendeth forth his word it runneth forth most swiftly upon the earth who produceth snow like wool and spreadeth abroad the frost like ashes and casteth down the ice as it were pieces Who is able to resist against his cold He sendeth forth his word and melteth or dissolveth all these so soon as he breatheth forth his wind or Spirit the congealed waters begin to flow and move Whereby it appeareth that the Word or Spirit of God congealeth by one property and dissolveth by another and consequently as God is all one in essence so it is one and the same Spirit that effecteth these four-fold alterations in one catholick spirit of the world which are by the Ancients called distinct Elements because they cuold never as yet throughly determine what was the essentiall form of the Elements But if they had well considered the four Elements of the which they spake so much and as it should seem understood essentially but little or had they well conceived that
earth with his presence This therefore was it that made some even of our Christian Philosophers to break forth into these speeches Deus est Natura Natura Deus God is Nature and Nature is God Whereby they ment that the naturating or radicall informing nature was the eternall emanation which made and informed the humid nature of the world which for that reason was called Natura naturata or the Nature which was made naturall namely by the presence of the Naturating nature or Spirit of the Lord which moved upon the waters and imparted unto them of his fiery informing Vigor or Essence as we may find partly by Sacred Testimony and partly by the confirmation of St. Austin We must therefore after a due consideration of this which is said infer that if the influence be compleatly animated by the incorruptible Spirit of the Lord then must it be indued with the properties of that Spirit or Divine Nature and consequently it must be the most subtill quick movable and penetrating of all spirits and in that respect will be able to pass through all solid bodies without resistance and also to ingender augment and nourish all things and being incorporated or specificated it procreateth like individualities of their like and again it hath in regard of our capacity an infinite extension and therefore cannot be limited All which I purpose by experience or ocular demonstration to demonstrate in this manner We find in practice that the Load-stone by virtue of his subtill spirit which doth internally animate it is made so potent through it in his attractive virtue that it is able without resistance to display and transmit the beams of his active virtue quite atravers the hardest stones the most solid and finest grained wood through thick plates copper tin silver or gold yea and to penetrate quite through the impenetrable glass it self and other such like compacted stuff which have no sensible porosity or spiracle which is an evident Argument that this spirit is of a far more peircing and subtill nature than the sublunary aire forasmuch as it is denied passage through the slightest paper-skin or bladder In the like manner man's inward or celestiall spirit which is the vehicle of this vivifying beam is so subtil in it self that nothing is able to resist it when the inward mentall beam doth aime at any mark how far or how inaccessible soever it may be esteemed in the fleshly mans conceit For being this celestiall or aethereall spirit in man is made after the pattern of the Divine Image which it beareth it must also resemble it in its actions Now the subtilty of the Divine act in man's spirit is expressed by Hermes in these words Quicunque hac Dei Naturà fulti sunt intelligentià suâ cunctà complectuntur quae in terra sunt in mari siquid est praeter ea supra coelum atque adeo scipsos erigunt ut ipsum quoque bonum intueantur Who soever do rely on this Divine Nature may comprehend by their understanding all thingâ— whâ—ch are upon the earth and in the seas yea and besides all this any thing that is in heaven above and also they may elevate themselves in such a manner that they may behold the face of goodnesse it self c. Whereby he signifieth the all-sufficient act of penetration which is in the mentall beam by whose unresistable action the celestiall influence doth penetrate and operate without any intermediate resistance in and through all things By which it is evident that as every inferior specifick creature is indued with this essentiall spirit and doth consist and is as it were founded and edificated on it as on an essential Corner-stone or Foundation so the emission of his beams is not to be limited by any setled Sphere of activity as the unadvised and more sensuall then intellectuall Philosophers have defined it to be being that it is Vis in rebus infinita An infinite virtue or nature in things and therefore not finite or determinable For look how far it shineth or emitteth his active spirit out of the Center of the celestiall star even so far is this Centrall terrestriall bright Spirit able to make his Semidâ—ameter of extension So that as the heavenly starr's beamy influence doth penetrate downward unto the Center of the earth even after the very like manner doth each terrestriall star peirce unto the Center of the celestiall star from whence it was derived and the more rich and exalted is the starry form in the creature the nearer it approacheth unto the nature of the most exalted star in heaven and maketh his extension the more forcible Now as we see that every Astrall influence in the creature doth by a naturall inclination and that Sympathetically aspect the star or celestiall Fountain from which it did spring and likewise that star in heaven by a paternall respect doth send down his influences to feed and nourish his like filiall fire or form in the creature here below and both of them by a mutuall relation do rejoyce together at the spirituall presence of each other whereupon it is said Naturá natura laetatur naturam continet O natura coelestis veritatis naturas Dei nutu multiplicans Nature is rejoyced in nature and containeth nature O celestiall nature which by the Will of God doth mulâ—ply natures so likewise each kind or species which is indued with all one influence doth because of his likness to another send forth by a sympatheticall consent beams of one nature making an harmonious Symphony in the concourse of their beams by which they do agree in union of love And for this reason the axiom of the Philosophers before mentioned runneth in this strain Natura ex similibus similia procreare solet Nature doth use to procreate like of like And this is the cause why each specifick Form doth rejoyce in its like and is ready to produce his kind and doth not use to passe the limits of his kind as for example A Man's nature produceth a Man a Horse a Horse a fenel-seed fenel a bean a bean wheat produceth wheat c. And also the nature of each thing so created is most amiable unto the nature of his like and sendeth forth the amiable and Sympatheticall beams of his affection to concurre with the like beams which are emitted from his like so that both of them do easily consent and rejoyce at each other and by contraction of beams they indeavour to cause a union For this reason therefore the Load-stone rejoyceth at the aspect of its like for if one Load-stone meeteth with another each will aspect the other by their Saturnine Sulphureous spirits and embrace each other For by their applications they will Centrally suck and draw the one to the other with a Sympatheticall imbracing Also because that the Iron is subject unto the self-same constellation and hath his Centrall star in all points correspondent unto the Load-stone for which essentiall consanguinity
is evident that the beams of his affection did in the absence of his Master not forsake his Master's beams which guided him unto the unknown place so directly that he found him out Is it not also a wonderfull Sympatheticall Emanation that the Pigeon called the Carrier doth make unto the place or dove-coat wherein he was bred and fostered Which for that reason it doth so dearely affect and love that though he be conveied 500 miles from his noursery in an enclosed basket yet he will fly directly back again with a letter about his neck Which is an evident Argument that it is justly and straightly guided by the emitted beam of his affection which is contiued after a spirituall manner with the place it doth most delight in What shall we say in two persons whereof the one doth love and affect without all reason and therefore prosecureth with the beam of his affection his beloved though she or he altogether either abhorring or neglecting and not corresponding with the like beams of affection doth not reciprocally embrace but rather refuse and avert the beams of his or her Love But where two do joyntly affect by a Sympatheticall Union there the action will spiritually be furthered at a far greater distance as when two starrs of heaven send out their beams semidiametrally and concur in one harmonious point of affections Nay verily as we behold being taught by experience that there will be a great Antipathy between the slain bodie 's contracted spirit and the murtherer insomuch that the lively spirit of the dead being contracted after death by cold into its Center doth through an angry Antipatheticall passion move again from the Center unto the Circumference as it were to resist the deadly enemy and doth cause the congealed blood to flow and move as if it would meet with and assault afresh the murtherer's emitted spirit So we must surely confess that where one spirit concurreth in Sympathy with another of the like nature the power must be the greater and the action performed at a larger distance as is evidently expressed in the abstruse operation which is in the Magnetick cure effected between the weapon or ointment and the wounded person of which I have spoken so much in that hot encounter which hath been between Mr. Foster and my self in the Book where I was provoked to squeeze his Sponge and farther do purpose in this present Treatise to enlarge my self a little better touching that point by way of a comparison made between the Magneticall virtue in Man and that of the Load-stone The Argument of Mr. Foster consisteth upon the impossibility of that operating virtue at so large a distance as is propounded by some to be effected by the Ointment or rather of the lively blood's Emanation and emitting forth of his exciting spirituall beames or influences unto the dead or congealed blood which impossibility if it were true indeed in the Animal kingdom which is the most dilative and less bound with bodily bonds I wonder that it should not be far more impossible and unfezible in the mineral bodies by reason of the firm and close solidity of them which are therefore apter to retain their influentiall beams then the bodies which are made lax and porous Besides all this the Animal body is hot and fiery and consequently the readier to dilate and send forth his virtue the further but the minerall is cold and therefore the less active and powerfull in sending forth his beams And yet for all this experience teacheth us that the Loadstone looketh towards the North-star sendeth forth his spirituall aspect unto it as also the star doth at the like distance send out his beams unto his Northern minerall mark at an unmeasurable distance as is said before which being so why should not I beseech you the Animall star derived from his celestiall Fountain send out also his beams unto the frozen and chill blood in his unctuous earth I mean the Weapon-salve or unto the blood 's invisible spirit sucked into the Iron by his attractive Sulphureous nature For experience teacheth us that though no corporall blood be found on the Iron yet if the place of the weapon that wounded the person be anointed it cureth by a like Sympatheticall aspect For country-Chirurgions have made tryall when they durst not search the wound with the Probe and found by experience namely by putting the weapon into the fire that the part of the sword or weapon will discover it self which wounded the party being that it will change colour from the rest whereby they perceive how deep the wound is by the observation of that part of the weapon which did penetrate And therefore this is an evident argument of the ingression of the bloody spirits into the wounding instrument and consequently it argueth that there are essentiall spirits which emanate or issue forth of the blood quite forsaking the body whereby also it is expressed against Mr. Foster that if the grosser spirits of the blood are able to pierce the close-grained steel it s finer and more subtil spirits are able to penetrate without any resistance all other things in manner of an influence But wee 'l approach a little nearer to our purpose and will remove ouâ— argument from the minerall demonstration unto the vegetable that thereby we may express like by like in our animal subject I will therefore insist upon the Grain of Wheat which being dead and putrified in the earth is suscitated by the beamy influences of the Sun For like doth draw his like by a magnetick power and like rejoyceth in his like and like is suscitated and revived and quickened or evoked from his rest or center by his evoking and alluring or embracing like and by this means the beamy spark or atom of sunny influence in the grain being idle and doing nothing in the center thereof is stirred up by his externall like to act and operate his own delivery out of the elementall mire or the slimy band of the elementary compound And therefore as it was before contracted from the externall cold into the center it is now by the presence of fresh solary irradiation from above exsuscitated as is were from death unto life and so by the assistance of those celestiall beams it passeth beyond the limits of the corrupted grain and soareth above the earth and seeketh by all means to ascend unto his native region from whence it descended but being cumbered in his ascent by the sublunary substance of the importunate elements which enclose it on every side it is beset with the volatil salt of the aire and insteed of mounting into his desired place it is contented to multiply in his kind and to have companions namely other graines procreated like it self In like manner the microcosmical Sun of life raigning as Scriptures do teach us in the blood doth emanate and send out his spirituall beams which are inseparable by continuity joyned unto and continued with the spirit of the congealed
abolished being no man can justly determine of the extension of the solar influence of whose nature the beam in the grain doth participate no otherwise than one small Load-stone cut out of a great one hath his parts or poles and circles in every respect corresponding with those of the great one Man hath a most subtle influence or vivifying spirit of life sent down and infused into him by divine inspiration in which is the property of the four winds as the Prophet Ezekiel telleth us and consequently the Idea of every nature but the essence of this spirit is indivisible and therefore the vivifying spirit sent from it into man hath all the properties of the spirit that infused it no otherwise than a lesser Load-stone cut out of the greater hath in every respect the property of the greater And consequently the spirit of the one is no more divided from the other â—han the Sun-beams can be divided from the Sun But the Spirit of the Lord filleth all things as Solomon hath it and maketh the dimension of his operation in man more or less according unto his will and therefore will admit no such phantasticall limited sphear of activity as the wisdom of mans invention I mean the subject of the pagans Philosophy which is folly before God would inferr For this reason therefore Hermes saith Anima mente Deoque plena intima mundi replet complectitur extima vitamque haec omnibus suggerit The soul or vitalâ— spirit being full of divinity filleth the world and embraceth externall things and this giveth life unto all things without it giveth life unto the great and perfect animal the world and breathing unto each thing that liveth within it And again elsewhere Naturá incorporeâ— nihil est capacius nihil velocius nihil validius aut potentius Sic iterum à te ipso incipiens meditare atque animae tuae praecipito quae citius quam praeciples evolabit Jubeto inquam ut transeat in Oceanum illa priusquam â—usseris ibi erit indenbi nunc est nequaquam discedens Jubeto iterum ut in coelrm volet nullis pennis egebit nihil ejus obstruet cursui non solis incendium non aetheris amp iâ—udo non vertigo coelorum non syderum antiquorum corpora quin penetrans omnia ad supernum usque corpus transcendat Quinetiam sivolueris Globos omnes transire coelâ—rum quodque supeâ—ius est investigare id quoque tibi licebit Adverte quanta sit animae â—uae potestas quantae celeritas There is nothing more capable than the incorporeall or spirituall nature nothing more swift and quick or nimble nothing more strong or powerfull Again Beginning thus with thy self do thou meditate and command thy soul what thou pleasest and it will flye sooner than thou commandest Command it I say that it pass into the Ocean sea and it will be there before thou bidst it Again command it that it flye into heaven and it will want no wings nothing will hinder her or stop her in her course no not the heat of the Sun nor the vast largeness of the heavenly or aethereall vault nor the wheeâ—ing about of the starry orbs nor yet the bodies of the other starrs but peircing all these it passeth quite through even unto the highest body Moreover and if thou wilt have her to pass â—ver the celestiall Globes and to search out whatsoever is above thou maist do it also Mark therefore how great the power of the Soul is and how swift and quick it is in its execution c. thus far the wise Hermes By both which places we may observe first that the Soul in generall and therefore in particular is full of Divinity and consequently that it is this Divine Essence that worketh in this soul all in all in the world and every member thereof as the Apostle saith and therfore the said Philosopher in the place before Anima mâ—nte Deoque pâ—ena c. Secondly that this Divinity in the catholick created spirit filleth all things in an Angelicall existence that is indueth the mantle of the vast worldâ—s spirit And this agreeth with Scripture which saith that Spiritus Dei implet omnia The Spirit of the Lord fâ—lleth all things Spiritus incorruptibilis inest omni rei The incorruptibe Spirit is in all things Deus vivificat omnia God vivifieth all things and consequently is the essentiall act and life of the world as I have proved fully in the first Book of this Treatise wherefore Hermes in another place saith thus Animae universâ— per omnem mundum ab una mundi totius anima profluunt tanquam dâ—stributae circumferentes The universal souls throughout the whole world do proceed as it were distributed concurrentâ— from one soul of the whole world which is all one with that which we have said before namely that all Souls in this world are certain beamy streams proceeding from that catholick Emanation which issued from the eternall Fountain of the illuminating act to some more copiously and to some more spâ—â—ingly and therefore Man â—s said to be in dignâ—ty little less then the Angells by reason of the large portion of Light bestowed upon him Spiritus Dei fecit me saith Job sed inspiratio Omnipotentis fecit me â—melâ—igere Thirdly That in the very twinckling of an eye it is able to penetrate quite through all things and that at what distance it pleaseth and consequently will not be limitted by any imaginary Sphere of activity But Mr. Foster and his complices will reply that the spirit which should operate in the blood and from the blâ—od to the Ointment is a naturall spirit and not this Divine Spirit This Objection maketh me to smile As who should say that this act of vivifying yea and of every other faculty belonging unto man's spirit doth not move from one and the same Divine Fountain when the Apostle saith In him we move we live and have our being Again it is said that in the blood is the soul or spirit of life And St. John saith In Verbo erat vita in the Word was life I will tell you therefore what a true Philosopher saith touching this point Anima saith he ad similitudinem totius sapientiae facta omnem in se gerit similitudinem est que spiritus intellectualis semper vivens semper in motu secundum suâ— operis officium variis nuncâ—paâ—ur nâ—mâ—nibus Dicitur vita dum vegetat spiritus dum contemplatur sensus dum senti animus dum sapit mens dum intelligit ratio dum discernit memoria dum recordatuâ— dum vult voluntas ista omnia non sunt nisi una anima proprietate diversa sed essentia unica The soul of Man framed after the similitude of all wisdom doth beare in it self the likness of all things and it is an intellectuall spirit ever living and ever in motion and it is termed by divers names and appellations according unto the office of the work which it
that all these are lies I reply That it was a learned Philosopher and famous Theologian that relateth them who no doubt would if he lived tell him That he should learn to understand the hours of elections the stars that have dominions on the earth and their times of exaltation or fortitude on the earth And lastly over what creatures in the three compound Kingdoms they have their proper influences For my part I know admirable secrets in man and beasts for the which the Peripatetick Philosophy can yield no reason as for example That the Pike or Jack-fishe's guts dried should mightily provoke urin the sucking of blood from a Mole whose nose is cut off for the same purpose will cure the falling-sickness and that after the taking of it it maketh the party exceeding sick as experience hath taught us by the cure of a Lady in Kent who was cured thereby Also that it being burnt unto powder it should by an occult nature expell the cholick That the heart and liver of the Frogs should be approved for the falling-sickness That a Snake's skin should accelerate and hasten a woman's delivery That the menstrues in a woman should cause a Leprosie That the Toad dried should stench blood as also the Spider being applyed unto the nostrills of him that bleedeth as I have often tried As for other occult miracles in stones mettles herbs and animals the true schollars unto Solomon I mean Hermes Plato Albertus Magnus Diascorides and such like are full and doubtlesse they would not prove so sottish and indiscreet to publish lies and to write things of impossibility averring them to be effected in their knowledge and so by that means lose that reputation which they have gained in the world by their wisdom But as concerning the practise of our main businesse which is touching the sympatheticall and antipatheticall respect that is between the different Mummy which is in mans body and the ocular demonstration thereof produced from the Loadstone I purpose in this next Book to shew and prove more unto you than any one hath done before me unto this present as I may imagine The Third BOOK Which toucheth many practicall Proofs and experimentall Conclusions to confirm the loving Microcosmicall Attraction or sympatheticall Coition and antipatheticall Expulsion or hatred by the magnetick and expulsive property of the Macrocosmicall Load-stone The Argument of this Book The Author's Proem unto this present Book wherein he briefly and in few words reciteth what is said before I Have related to you in my precedent discourse and made sufficient proof of it that the spirituall Christ the divine Word or eternall wisdom is the true basis or foundation of the essentiall Philosophy as is proved by the Apostle's testimony forasmuch as he is the sure and never-failing corner-stone on which every creature is builded and in whom it consisteth seeing that in it is life and that life is the essentiall light which vivifieth all things and consequently operateth all in all as the Scriptures do sufficiently testifie For if the Spirit of the Lord doth impart unto the creature life and inspiration and all things And if again that Spirit doth replenish the earth and be in every thing as Solomon confesseth then must we also acknowledge that this centrall Spirit of every specifick thing is that Divinity wherein the essentiall root of all magnetick sympatheticall attraction and antipatheticall expulsion in every kind consisteth For being it is the catholick love which imparteth it self unto every particular existence to give it action and motion to attract his like nature for a convenient nourishment assistance and consolation so also it maketh the organ in which it acteth to resist and expell all such emanations as either in order quality or essence do disagree and are opposite or harmfull to the specifick existence or conservation For this reason therefore it endueth the creature with a double affection namely with a concupiscible desire and an irascible hatred whereof the one doth rejoyce or sympathize with his like and therefore allureth or draweth it unto him to consolate and assist him in his beeing the other doth eschew and drive away by an antipatheticall and odious aspect that which may be harmfull and noysome unto it And this is the act of that all-creating and sustaining Wisdome which made each creature by a kind of successive preservation which it sucketh from his like in the world to be and exist and consequently hath given it an irascible faculty to defend it self from that which is contrary unto it Whereby we may see how this vivifying spirit doth moderate all things with an unpartiall hand insomuch that though it hath framed all things by opposition namely light and darknesse and therefore in mans regard both good and evill yet he ordained that each individuall should have the faculty to eschew with an irascible and antipatheticall disdain that which unto it is contrary either in order or nature or both untill the time be accomplished in which after he is exalted he shall expell all contrariety and discord out of this world by making a sympatheticall union amongst all things which also St. Paul doth argue in these words Cum evacuaverit omnem Principatum Potestatem Virtutem Oportet autem eum regnare donec ponat omnes inimicos sub pedibus suis novissima autem inimica destruetur Mors Omnia enim subjecit pedibus ejus Cum autem ei subjecta fuerint omnia tunc ipse filius subjectus erit illi qui subjecit sibi omnia ut sit Deus omnia in omnibus When he hath evacuated every Principality and Potestat and Virtue For he must raign untill he put all his enemies under his feet the last enemy death shall be destroyed For he shall subject all things under his feet And when all things are made subject unto him then also the Son shall be subject un-him who hath made all things subject unto him that God may be all in all Whereby it is evident that the catholick Magneticall virtue which resideth in God's eternall Spirit shall at the last be exalted after his glorious victory and draw all things unto him and all things shall be one in him and he in them and consequently all Discord and Hatred being banished and laid apart Love Peace and Vnity shall erect the perpetuall and never-dying Trophy of this hallowed Victory This universall Magnetick Virtue is acknowledged by the Spirit of Christ in these words Si exaltatus fuero à terra omnia traham ad meipsum If I shall be exalted from the earth I will draw or attract all things unto my self that is I will by mine attractive or conjoyning Vnite all things and as it were ingraft them into mine own Nature So that in the beginning all things came from one Unity as comprehending in it implicitly all things which are explicitly unfolded and comprehended under two contrary Principles So in the end all things
matrix yea that out of the Magnet body the perfectest Iron or Steel is extracted it ariseth from the consideration that the Martiall and Saturnine spirit of the Load-stone sucketh and attracteth from his center the body of Iron unto it drawing forth of it his formall beams as it were his spirituall food but because the Iron-body will not forsake so easily his inward spirit it followeth and is suâ—ked unto it And again the Iron finding the like spirits in the Load-stone doth covet as fast to be possessor of them by an equall coition or desire and so a conjunction or union is made no otherwise between them than between man and wife But because the Loadstone is fuller of the Saturnine stony Mercury than the Iron which is purified from it by fire and consequently more near unto the property of the male therefore it sucketh not the Load-stone so greedily unto it as the Load-stone doth the Iron For it is an old confirmed axiom That Matter doth desire and long after Form and as eagerly doth draw and allure it as the female doth the male But that the Iron is in lieu of the male it appeareth in the strength that it addeth unto the Load-stone for if the Load-stones pole be capped with steel it doth so far animate it beyond his own proper nature that it causeth it to draw unto it a far greater proportion of Iron then otherwise it was able This therefore being rightly considered we may with the greater facility collect what that microâ—osmicall Load-stone should be that is able to extract the microcosmicall spirit without any dammage or debilitation of the body If therefore we would attempt to effect this excellent exploit we must do it by such a corporall Magnet as shall be taken out of the Microcosm or Man whose production and generation must in every respect accord and agree with that of the macrocosmical or terrene mineral Loadstone which is mentioned before the which I purpose onely by circumloâ—uâ—ion and not in plain tearms to expresse unto you that thereby so great a secret as this key to unlock the balsamick cabinet of mans Mummiall nature may be hidden from the unworthy and yet sufficiently made manifest unto the worthy and religious Philosopher by evident circumstances for if that such hidden mysteries in nature were vulgarly discovered there would be no difference had between a wise man and a fool And therefore Solomon did teaeh us Quod sit sapientis celare rem It is the part of a wise man to hide the thing And the wise Philosophers in their Writings did so considerately express the secret of nature that they might hide it from the ignorant and uncapable vulgar and yet speak plainly to such as are the children of art and sons of true learning But this is not all for I would have you to understand that the property of the magnetick microcosmicall work is so universall that it sheweth the way as well to infect the Mummiall spirits of man with a venomous and pernicious antipatheticall nature as to extract it in its wholsome and sympatheticall condition whereby it may be employed in good and salutary usages And for that reason namely because evill-minded persons as well witches and sorcerers whom the devill hath instructed in the abuse of this excellent mystery as also wicked minded-men I mean incarnate devills may do great mischief in the world by the publick revelation thereof for most men are proner unto mischief than inclined to do goodness I think it to be the wisest part not to name the internall microcosmicall Magnet openly but onely to express it in more generall tearms I would have therefore each wise man to understand that the magnetick nature as well antipatheticall as sympatheticall of all things consisteth onely in the sulphureous vertue of the vitall spirits which by reason of their incarceration are apt to attract their like unto them by contracting of it self from the circumference unto the center Even so the animal vegetable and mineral salt which is the immediate receptacle of this sulphureous spirit that by reason of its pure Saturnine Mercurial earth sucketh and draweth by the act of the included spirits their like from the circumference whereby they vegetate and multiply both in their airy volatill salt which by a Saturnine or northern condition is like snow or frost condensed and in their aetheriall or celestiall fire And again the sulphureous spirit flyeth back or reflecteth his beams into its centrall salt after it did emanate unto the circumference of the body by northern accidents namely by externall cold as it appeareth by the fiery or heavenly seeds included in the aire that is retained within the Weather-glass which when the north-wind bloweth is contracted by reason that the expansed spirits of the celestiall sulphure or the heavenly fire which is in it flying from his cold opposite betaketh it self unto the center of the aire compassing as it were it self with a clowd or making it a house to resist the northern blasts inclemency For as hereafter I will shew you in my magnetick demonstration that the sulphureous Aequator is an enemy to the cold Mercurial poles Also in mans body when a northern or stupid fear possesseth it the sulphureous spirits contract themselves and leave the externall aspect pale blewish and wan and in so doing contract the internall spirits of the body unto the center but this motion is antipatheticall and caused by unnaturall passion Again those sulphureous included spirits being at liberty they dilate and expanse themselves into the open aire as having no evident magnet to attract or contract them into a narrower room To conclude therefore the microcosmicall Magnet must issue and be ingendred from the microcosmicall sulphureous spirits in his proper salt which is his form from a more strange Mercury which by his vicinity and propinquity is most familiar with it and as it were akin unto it by adoption and this is his passive matter Wherefore of these two microcosmicall portions I mean the formall and materiall our secret Magnes is framed by the which the spirituall Mummy is extracted out of the living man by means whereof admirable cures and pernicious harms may be effected as well ad distans or afar off as near at hand or by an immediate contact or administration Moreover the same internall Magnet or attractive salt in man in whose interior the sulphureous vivifying spirit doth dwell and of whose condition and root our foresaid microcosmicall Magnet is will perform the self same salutary effects and many other rare experimentall conclusions if it be conveyed into the blood by transplantation from the alive person by an effluxion or in the nails and hair separated from him to another subject There is also another microcosmicall Magnet which is taken from the dead man by the means whereof the spirituall Mummy may be drawn out of the living man and applyed for mans health as well by an immediate administration as by
into a hole made in the root of a Hazel-tree and close up again the hole with the bark of the same Tree and afterward cover it with earth assuring me that it hath been tried that as the Tree groweth so will the member prosper But above all he wished me to observe the due order of the heaven and such secret and proper constellations as he hath instructed me in for without them the cure or amendment will be the lesse effectuall II. Another Magneticall Experiment to confirm the precedent Johannes Rhumelius Pharamondus cureth the Gowt by the very self-same manner of transplantaion in this manner He cutteth off the hair from the feet legs and thighs and also he pareth off the nails of the feet Then he maketh a hole in an Oke even unto the very Center or pith of the body and pulleth into it the hair and the nails and afterward he stoppeth up the hole with a peg or pin framed out of the same Tree and lastly he daubeth it without with cow-dung This Author saith that by this Magneticall experiment onely he hath cured many But if it chance saith he that the Gowt shall for all this return again within the space of three months then it is an Argument that the Oke is insufficient to draw Magnetically and then he proceedeth thus namely he boreth another like hole in a second Oke and after this he taketh the peeces of the Oke which fall out in the boring of the hole and bruiseth them and sticheth them in a little bag and applieh it unto the dolorous or infected member And this he doth three daies before the New-Moon Then in that very hour that the New-Moon is in he removeth the bag from the part affected and thrusteth it into the hole of the same Tree and stoppeth it with a pin of the same wood as before And he affirmeth that by this second practice when the first hath failed he hath cur'd many But if it happen for all this that the pain doth return within three other moneths then he cutteth of the hair and pareth the nails the second time and tieth them upon the back of a Crab or Crab-fish and so casteth it into the running waters and the sick will be cured He concludeth there that he hath cured many by the first many others by the first and second and many by the first second and third Experiments A third Experiment tried by the same Author The same Author doth verifie that by this very manner of transplantation he hath cured many of the Rupture or Hernia and his practice is after this manner He taketh a new laid Egge piping hot as they say and he rubbeth the Gowty place with it often but gently then he taketh away the bark of a good big tree and with a great auger he boreth a hole so big as that the Egge might easily enter into it then doth he lay on again the bark as before stopping well the hole thereof with it and anointing or daubing it with tree wax or caement All which businesses must be effected in due order and time And he telleth us that when the barks of the tree do grow together then also will the Hernia and rupture also close up But if it happen that the Hernia be not cured within one moneth then bore a hole in an Oke and take the pieces that fall from the hole bruise them and stick them in a small bag and apply it to the grief as is said about three daies before the new Moon and then about the hour of the new Moon put it into the hole and do in all things as is told you before He telleth many other observations as well touching the time namely if the Hernia's first increase were in the Moon 's increase or decrease which for brevity sake I here omit Lastly if the Hernia be not for all this so dered or glued up then he boareth a hole in the Oke and puts in the nail and hair of the Patient's hands and feet as also the hair of his privy parts stopping it as is before said For he affirmeth that when the hole will be grown up the Hernia will be also closed There also he sheweth the reason that he is forced to use more or less of these operations in his cure according unto the nature of the Hernia namely to the incipient Hernia one operation will serve to the inveterate more will be required And he saith that in this cure is chiefly to be obserued the time the measure of the tree and the depth or profundity of the hole Another Experiment by him Also he saith that if we take the nailes of the feet and hands of an Hydropick person and transplant them on the Crey-fish of the river and bind them unto the back of her and cast her into the river it will cure the Dropsy Whereby you may plainly observe by approved experience that the marrow and strengh of the foresaid Proposition is in every respect confirmed and again if we do but burn the nails and hair and scrapings of the skin and take by an alimbeck without a bottom the fume of it we shall find a kind of Balsamick oyle to issue from them which is very attractive drying and agglutinating of wounds And therefore it appeareth that there is a Balsamick virtue in these kind of Excrescences though unto the ignorant they appeare but of little value But this Magnetick virtue of these Excrementitious parts may in some sort be also demonstrated by the property of the Minerall Load-stone As for Example IV. A Magneticall Demonstration We may rightly compare the mass of these superfluous Excrescences unto a lesser Load-stone capped with steel For when it is transplanted into the Plant it becommeth of a greater force of attraction For as the Iron being added unto the pole of the Load-stone though it be but weak yet it doth fortifie it and maketh it able to attract a far greater weight for the Iron giveth it strength In like manner if Magnetick Excrescences be grafted in the body of the Magneticall Tree then that Tree will suck and draw his like namely the spirit of defective limbs more strongly unto it making them to become vegetative and to increase and grow which before did pine and wither For the spirit sucked and continued by dilatation from the member unto the vegetative nature of the Tree doth indue the like nature and doth by a continuity animate the fading spirits in the member to increase and vegetate or prosper in his growth Now to prove this Magneticall relation I will produce certain Problems touching the nature of the Load-stone 1. Problem There is a strong Union in a Load-stone armed with steel and heavier weight may be by it taken up than if it be not armed Application The reason is because vis unita est fortior for the Iron addeth force unto a Load-stone that is weak as is confirmed by this Problem 2 Problem If there
virtue As for example Let there be a long Load-stone prepared and directly in the middle upon the aequinoctial B where the Axis runneth plant an incited needle and it will look directly unto the North-pole A. Also if within the Orbe you place another incited needle without the Stone in C it will also look directly upon the said Pole whereby we may discern the long distance which is between the aspect of the Magnet and that of the incited body namely 90 Degrees Again each part or fragment that is divided from the Magnet be it animal vegetable or minerall hath therefore the self-same dimension because it is as well indued with his polar virtues as the whole And this is sufficiently testified by this Problem 5. Problem If Magneticall subjects be divided or any piece be broken off from it by any means every part so broken off from the whole will have an end as well Septentrional as Meridional as well as the whole had As for example If a smaller part or piece be taken out of a greater Load-stone it will be indued wich the same life and vigor which the whole Magnet had no otherwise then the child will touching his life wholly correspond with the Father in life parts and it will be as it were a new creature and will have his poles and aequinoctial as well as the whole Stone had Also if an Iron-rod as is that of the Curtain be hung up and have his position North and South without being touched for being to god North and South it will indue those properties namely the polar virtues and move in the aire being hung up by a thread or put into a boat on the water unto the North and South If I say a small piece of the rod be broke off from the North part it will have his North and South-pole as well as the whole rod of Iron from the which it was broken Whereby it is apparent that if every portion or fragment of the Load-stone or Iron have his pole as well as the whole then the spirit which is within hath his relation or application with the Northern pole-star of the great world and doth also behold the Southern Virtue with his South-pole for except there were the Scintil of the Anima mundi which is in it and operateth in it according unto the small proportion of it no otherwise then it doth in the great world it could not aspect each Pole as it is observed by experience to do and consequently as the actions of the Anima mundi are so catholick that they cannot be limited so are the spirituall quintessentiall or astralicall Emanations I prove it further thus 6. Problem If you take an Iron rod made of good Iron and hang it up in the aire on a thread as if it were touched with a Load-stone c. The Experience is this Take a straight piece of Iron or steel of six foot long and a finger thick hang it up in a close chamber into the which there cometh no wind and therefore this experiment ought to be tried when the aire is calm and the day not windy and must hang on a silken thread which is not twisted but woven and the Iron must hang directly equilibrous or in an equall ballance and you shall discern it slowly to move and by little and little to attain with his extremities or ends of the points of North and South no otherwise then the needl's do in the Dialls which are touched with the Load-stone Moreover we shall find that the Load-stone or any thing else that is touched or excited by the Load-stone will direct their aspect being planted in small boats on the needle on his vertical unto the North-pole The Conclusion Wherefore it is made manifest that the extention of the Load-stone's spirituall or formall Emanation as also that of other Magneticall bodies is not to be limited being that they do act and apply their beams unto the very state of the Pole-star and the Pole-star by his like emitted influences doth operate reciprocally and apply unto or aspect the Load-stone and so make a continuated Spirituall union betwixt them being that we ocularly discern that both it and the Iron doth diligently and with a manifest Sympathy aspect and actually move unto the said star And then after this is well considered let us but think and ponder the distance which is between the Pole-star and the Magnet namely betwixt the eighth Sphere and the earth and he will perceive it to be in a manner infinite and incommensurable and consequently the emitted beams of the Load-stone cannot by any phantasticall Sphere of sensible and sensuall Philosophers be comprehended or limited But if the act of the Pole-star on the Magnet be denied And Fracastorius his opinion with that of many other learned men be received namely that the Load-stone the Iron and the needle touched do tend unto the North-pole by reason of the attraction of certain Rocks of Load-stone which are in the Hyperboreal mountains if this opinion I say were admitted to be true yet may we see by it that the act of the Magnet and the actuall respect which the Magneticall body beareth unto it is not to be limited being that so they will be observed to co-operate from the aequinoctiall unto the Northern Hyperborean Rocks But this opinion hath been proved false by us in another place and shall hereafter be demonstrated by us to be so We will now come to our Application touching this first Article Application The first and second Problem teacheth us that there is such a celestiall or astralicall subtle spirit in all magneticall bodies of the earth as is in the heavenly ones and consequently that the beams of each of them may penetrate as far though they be not discerned by sense as the beams of each star By this therefore we may be assured that mans heavenly spirit being of a more pure and subtle a stuff than is that of the Load-stone may send forth the astralicall beams of his vertue not onely to the mark that the Load-stone aimeth at but also unto the highest throne of divinity Again hereby it is argued that the spirit in the transplanted blood is able to operate at any distance on the wound and the beamy spirit of the wound again to co-operate and have a continuated union and respect unto one another The third instructeth us that though the oyntment and blood in it do not appear mobil or movable at a far distance yet they may co-operate and be conjoyned with the spirit of the wounded at an unknown proportion of space By the fourth and fifth we learn that the extension of the northern bloods aspect unto the southern may be so far as the aequinoctiall is from the pole namely 90 degrees But I say that as the northern and southern emanation of the soul of the world filleth all the cavity of the world so also by it and in it may this act of
that soul in man extend it self far beyond the capacity of flesh and blood and therefore is onely intellectually to be understood By the fifth that each particle of mans blood or spirituall Mummy being divided from the whole hath all the parts or proportions in it ideally described that the whole hath and therefore doth operate as well with a northern as southern aspect and consequently draweth down from the heavens a like property as occasion is given For so this one Spirit is said to come from the four winds and yet it is but one spirit in essence though four-fold in property for it was by the vertue of it that the dead mentioned by the Prophet did rise again And therefore so far as the north wind or south winds extension may be so far is this spirit in man able to send forth his spirituall beam I will come now unto the proof of the second Touching the second Article which sheweth the acute penetration of this spirit and that it is effected without any impediment contrary unto some ignorant persons opinion who think that castles stones woods hills and such like may hinder the penetration of this subtle and all-penetrating spirit The proof is made by these problematicall demonstrations Demonstrations confirming this Member's second Article 1 Problem Neither fire nor water nor earth can hinder the ingressive action or piercing vertue of the Load-stone upon the Iron being it is proved by experience that it sucketh and draweth it unto him quite through them as for example If a candle or flame of fire be interposed between the Load-stone and a small piece of wyer you shall find the piece of Iron will leap quite through the flame unto the Load-stone In like manner the Needle on his turn-pin will for all the interposition of a flame turn unto the Load-stone and that with the same celerity that it would do in the open aire So that you may see by this experiment that the coition of these magneticall bodies are not hindred by fire Also if water or earth be interposed between them it will do the like There is another Problem which expresseth the unresistable penetrative vertue of this more effectually in these terms 2 Problem Iron is allured onely by an immateriall act or an incorporeall process which doth operate and is conceived in an Iron subject as in a continuated homogeniall body and therefore it hath no need of large or wide passages And for this reason the Iron is moved and drawn by the Load-stone it self and again the Iron doth draw the Load-stone it self and a concourse or a meeting together in a unity is made by their beams although that thiâ—k bodies be interposed as sticklers between them So that you see that the putting or applying of thiâ—k subâ—tances between the Iron and the Load-stone cannot hinder the coition of spirits which is a token that the influentiall or formall spirit cannot be impedited in hiâ—â—otion And therefore â—his subtle spirit whiâ—h hath his beginning from the soul of the world is said by the wisest Philosopher Omnia permeare entia â—o pass or travers all things But yet more plainly 3 Problem The Load-stone without any frication or rubbing or being exsiccated by heat or perfused with moysture in the aire in the water doth provoke and allure unto it magneticall subjects and also solid as well-compacted bodies as thick boards or tables of stone or grosse plates of mettle as silver gold or brass being put between And Ridley saith That although such substances as be not magneticall be placed between the Needle and the Load-stone yet they cannot hinder the orbe and proceeding of the magnetick vigour As for example If a Load-stone should be placed in a box of wood stone tinne silver or brass yet the Loadstone will extend his magneticall orbe Application I conclude therefore by this typicall expression that the emissions of mans vitall spirits are so subtle and so piercing that no interposed bodies are able to hinder it in its motion to his pretended mark nor yet the magneticall blood in the oyntment being excited can be hindred in his concouâ—â—e oâ— union with the same southern â—r vivifying spirit and that especially because the formall spirits of the one is continued and homogeneal unto the other I proceed now unto the sixt Member of the foresaid Proposition The sixt Member of the Proposition with the Proofs Sixtly that after a Body be it Animal Vegetable or Mineral is made by a transplantation of another bodies spirits magneticall or a magnet unto that other body it doth by attracting of its beloved's spirits unto it impart unto them of that vertue and property which appertaineth unto it self insomuâ—h that as the lover doth participate with the nature of the beloved so also the beloved doth partake and share with the lover's condition especially if they be homogeneall in kind and reciprocall in affection Certain Problematicall Demonstrations to confirm this member of the fore-said Proposition 1 Problem Quodlibet corpus cui Mummia viva in alio homine propinatur illicò fit magnes Every body to whom the lively Mummy from a man is given or administred is forthwith made a Magnet Application This Problem is animal and not mineral but it inferreth that by the transplanting of mans bloody spirits into the oyntment the oyntment is forthwith become magneticall and attractive even as before I told you that the hair and nails being planted or grafted on the Oke make it forthwith by communicating of the spirits of the one with the spirits of the other attractive and magnetick 2 Problema Magneticum The Load-stone hath nothing neither can do any thing which the Iron being excited cannot do and that not onely by contact but at a reasonable distance Application Neither can the live man's spirit perform any action that the dead blood transplanted in the Salve by the Magneticall assistance of the Salve cannot perform yea verily it goeth yet further for it inspireth into the wound a Sanative influence 3. Problem Iron being touched doth recreate another Iron and instructeth it unto Magneticall motions so that it draweth unto it a third As for example The Load-stone being applied unto A it draweth unto it the piece of wier B and also after B it draweth C and after C it draweth D. Application The Iron B is compared unto the spirits that are first animated by the lively spirits in man and that animates the Oyntment's spirits which are of a Microcosmicall nature by reason of Uzneas volatil salt which is the receptacle of such vegetating and vivifying Spirits as give life unto man save onely they are of a Northern property and as it were dead These spirits in Oyntment are referred unto C which work and operate being so excited in D which importeth the emitted spirits of the wounded man so that we see that it is but one and the same continuated Spirit which putteth into action the three severall Subjects
So is the translated northern blood rightly compared unto the Load-stone and the Oyntment to the capping or arming with Iron For by uniting the frozen blood unto the Ointment the attractive power and Magnetical force is far the greater and is able to suck and draw strongly unto it the Southern spirit of lively blood in the wounded I prove this better by this Problem following 7. Problem If two Load-stones armed with two teeth a-piece be set before us the one being strong the other weak or much less whose Axis or Diameter betwixt the teeth is equall and of like length then set the teeth of these together that came from contrary Poles and parts and the stronger will apprehend and lift up the weaker and the weaker being united and incorporated with the stronger by the virtue that it receiveth from the stronger will lift up from the ground and retain the stronger and greater very firmly although he be much heavier then the weight which the small stone doth ordinarily lift up Application By this Minerall type we are taught by changing the measures of weights into proportions in vigor of spirit that the frozen evacuated and transported bloody spirits being capped and armed with the Oyntment whose nature is as near as the blood unto the spirits is made a Magnet so puissant that it is able to attract unto it self the bigger and stronger bloody nature by applying to it the lesser Magnet's Northern nature and as it were his Northern-pole unto the bigger Magnets Southern nature for by that means in the mineral kingdom a natural Union is made as is proved by this Problem 8. Problem There is a naturall Union and a violent and depraved Union and the naturall is when the coition is made by contrary Poles as by the North pole and the South Again that the strongest attraction is from the North-pole this Problem doth confirm 9. Problem The North-pole is the most strong and vigorous pole to all Magnetick intents and purposes if he have the quantity that the South hath Application Whereby it is evident that the Northern nature which is in the unctuous Magnet and his influentiall spirit is by far more attractive than the Southern or warm spirit neither can the Southern or aequinoctial draw unto it but as he participates of the Northern nature by a naturall concurrency unto his like and that is the reason that the naturall Union is said to be where a concurrency is made of opposite polar natures For from them is the strongest attraction made because that it is the nature onely of cold to contract as contrariwise heat doth dilate This polar force therefore is conclusively maintained by this Problem with the which I conclude this Article's proof 10. Problem The Load-stones that be capped take and apprehend at the Pole onely Application As who should say that the Northern or congelated Mummy capped or armed with the Ointment of his own nature and the Southern or lively Mummy capped with flesh do apply Magnetically unto one another at the Poles namely the lively Mummy at the Southern or aequinoctiall and the weak and frozen at the Northen and therefore the manifest attraction is from the unctuous Magnet and his imbibed Agent I now come unto the second Article or Particle of this Member Demonstrations confirming the Contents of the Member's second Article or Particle As concerning the second Article of this member which sheweth that the spirituall Mummy of the transplanted blood is the director and guider of the Oyntments Magneticall force or vigor unto the wound at what distance soever I demonstrate it by these problematicall assertions following 1. Problem The Load-stone doth guid and direct Magneticall things which do conceive vigor and force from it not onely in the extremities but also in their interior and veiny marrow As for example So soon as a piece of Iron is apprehended it is accited Magnetically into the end where it was touched and that very force so bestowed upon it penetrateth quite throughout even unto the other end or extremity not onely superficially but also centrally Application By this Example it is proved that the formall Mummy of the blood operateth in the very like manner with the Oyntment which is to it as the Iron is unto the Load-stone so that as the Load-stone by touching the Iron maketh it after the imbibition of his spirituall vigor a Magnet So also after the imbibition of this bloody spirituall Mummy the unguent becommeth a Magnet Forasmuch as it is throughly animated with a Magneticall vigor And doth by virtue of this Mummiall soul direct his beam and Balsamick force unto the fountain from whence that Mummiall spirit did arise I prove the direction to be true by these other Problems following 2. Problem One Load-stone doth dispose of the other one doth convert the other and reduceth it in his order and guideth and directeth it into his Concordances and when they are met and joyned together they do mutually adhere firmly unto one another The example is evident For if you take two Irom wiers of a length being excited at the ends by contrary Poles and thrust them through round corks as big as Hazel-nuts and put them to swim in the water you shall find that they will by little and little order themselves and the Northern spirituall contact of the one will first direct his axil-tree and after draw the South-pole unto it untill both meet one another in the manner of two Tilters or Hors-men with their speares The Demonstration Application The spirituall Mummy in the transplanted blood is one Load-stone which doth dispose the Oyntment in such a manner that it becometh a Magnet also and this Magnet is directed by the spirit of the Mummy into the concordances of the spirituall Mummy which breatheth forth of the living wounded man which iâ— attracteth and uniteth and partly participateth with his vivifying force and partly communicateth with him of his Balsamicall spirit which by reason of his continuity with the wound it doth easily though invisibly transfer unto the wound I proceed now unto the third Article or Particle of this Member Demonstrations confirming the Contents of this member's third and last Article or Particle As for the third and last Article of this Member which sheweth that a weak and impotent spirit operateth but weakly of it self but by the assistance of a stronger nature it is recreated and becommeth vigorous And lastly again it is also confirmed by many sufficient Problematicall conclusions which are produced from the Load stone's properties 1 Problem A Load-stone loseth his attractive vertue and doth as it were decay with age if it be long exposed unto the open aire and not kept and put into the filings or scales of Iron Application Also the life-blood so soon as it is effused out of his warm mineral veins and tasteth of the cold aire loseth his active vertue and becommeth dead and congealed except it
he operateth on the left hand yet shall I not see him he will cover the right quarter of the world and yet shall I not behold him So that what Pagnâ—nâ— maketh the orient angle of the world Tremellius maketh the face or fore-part of the world and so-forth Whence it appeareth and that as I think without further controversy that the direct disposition of man according unto the situation of the great world is when his face is disposed unto the orient or east angle of the earth And for this reason are the two eyes of man disposed in the frontispice of his fabrick as also of all other creatures that they might after a long nocturnall darknesse behold with delight the orientall Sun that by the presence thereof they might adore the Creator thereof in whose power it is by his golden aspect to banish the presence of the gloomy night and consequently to salute it as being the visible type of the eternall Sun 's invisible beauty who also as Scriptures hath taught us will appear at the last day from that easterly point to renovate and purifie by fire the corrupt world If followeth therefore that mans right hand or right part must respect the south as his left hand the north All which are by so much the more apparent by how much they agree and concord with Philosophicall reason For the Liver being on the right side of man doth most conveniently sympathise with the southern nature being that it engendereth by its vertue warm aery blood and sendeth it forth by the channells of the veins every where over the microcosmicall earth to make it to vegetate even as the southern wind produceth tepid or madid showers to water the microcosmicall earth that thereby the plants and heâ—bage which groweth on it may encrease and multiply by vegetation The left side or left hand is rightly compared unto the worlds Boreal quarter or the Arctick pâ—le for as in that angle the aire water or earth is cold and dry apt to congelation of a contractive and stiptick or restrictive nature so also we find that the spleen which lyeth in the left part of mans body is the receptacle of melancholy or congealed cold black sowre and earthly humours and as the northern blasts of the macroâ—osmicall or great world do obscure and mask or eclipse oft-times the fair sun-shine of the east and by that means do procure an obscure darknesse over all the hemisphear even so in the little world the flatuous fumes sent forth from this northern splene contracteth the heart and instead of wholsome and bright passionâ— namely of joy mirth and gladness which the beauteous sun-shine of life procureth unto man it bringeth forth dark passions as are sadness fear dispair and such like yea and causeth the heart to suffer the effects of syncopes and palpitations Thus therefore you see the two opposite poles of the little world to concur in effect and that in all respects with that of the great world counting the southern pole from the Aequinoctiall For if we divide the Load-stone in the middle that part in the Aequinoctiall which is next the north-pole will serve and stand in place of the South Pole and if again that half be divided in the Tropick of Cancer the division about the Tropick of Cancer will be his South Pole But to look more internally yet into the little world we find that it consisteth on that spirituall Corner-stone by which the world was made and the earth sustained and consequently in which the world and every point thereof was ideally delineated from the beginning before it was made after the manner of the earth which is said to be full of the Spirit of Wisdom Hereupon it is termed the Temple of God the body and members of Christ and the habitacle of the Holy Spirit as is said before For this cause therefore we must think that there are secret Poles circles and starrs assigned unto man as well spirituall as corporall no otherwise then there is unto the earth and every Magneticall portion thereof So that in man is the properties of the Macrocosmicall winds and consequently in it may passions be bred and produced which are as well Antipatheticall as Sympatheticall Now verily if in the second place we shall duly observe the nature of the Load-stone we shall not a little admire at the rare and singular properties thereof yea truly we shall find it almost to passe man's reason and understanding that a hard mineral stone unmoveable and stupid should neverthelesse be possessor of such spirits which are able insensibly to display and transmit their occult faculties and virtues quite through or a travers the hardest stones the most solid and closest grained wood the thick and intranspirable plates of mettal yea the impenetrable glass it self and other such compacted stuffe which have not any sensible Spiracle or porosity and that it should work on it self and on Iron and that it should behold the Pole Arctick at so long a distance as there cannot be a greater in our regard namely from the earth unto the highest heavens or the eighth Shpere the which is almost incommensurable I mean unto the Pole-star I dare boldly say that all the Schoole of the Peripateticks who made profession to give a reason of all things and to be ignorant of nothing that toucheth the most occult and intimate secrets of nature would find themselves much troubled and puzzeled and as it were inclosed in a confused Labyrinth of phantasticall imaginations and Chimerian surmises before they could discusse and unvaile this misty business or unrip the fardill of so profound a riddle that is to say ere they could hit the mark or attain unto the wished end of this inquirie which is onely pointed at and demonstrated by the finger of a far truer and diviner Philosophy whose main Subject of all actions and power is the spirituall Corner-stone Jesus Christ in whom is the plenitude of Divinity as St. Paul teacheth us Is it not wonderfull that this spirit can pass like that celestiall one in Man where the aire is not able to penetrate Is it not an evident Argument that it is of an aethereall race which is able to operate these effects quite through such solid bodies Wherefore let not Plutarch make his brags as he hath done where he striveth to undo this intricate Gordian knot or tye reputing it a shame and defect in such learned men as have medled herein and have not dived into the depth thereof being that at last he himself sheweth palpably herein his error after he had made so strict an inquisition For he concludeth that the insensible emanations or emissions or effluxions which issue out of the Load-stone and produce his attractive effects are gross and flatuous whereas if he had a little better considered the businesse he would have found that the subtilest and most rarified aire is not able to find any porosity or spiracle to breathe through thick
compacted boards or smoothed and polished stones or plates of silver and gold much less can any passage be admitted unto gross and flatuous spirits to breathe or expire through But to return again unto the straight line of our History CHAP. IV. Of a double attractive disposition in Man and how the one agreeth with the nature of the Load-stone and the other is different from it Herein also the Reason why the dead carcass of a Man is indued with a Magnetick power or attractive nature is discovered AS in the dimension of the Load-stone there is observed to be a multiplicity in kinds or manners of attraction for the attraction of it is otherwise effected at his Poles namely perpendicularly than it is on the Aequinoctial which is flatling so also there is a great difference between the attraction which is made in man For the Spleen being of the property of the North Pole sucketh unto it by the Ramus Splenicus his like namely Melancholly or terrestriall juices directly by a Saturnine virtue and the Gall attracteth by a Martiall Sulphureous or fiery terrestriety choller unto it and the Liver by a Southern or Aequinoctial dilatation disperseth the blood which it hath rubified by veiny channells through the whole Microcosmicall earth But first it attracteth by his porous Organs the like unto it from the guts All which manner of attraction it would never effect were it not by the incitation of naturall heat which though in it self it rather dissipateth by dilatation then attracteth by contraction yet it inciteth and animateth certain corporeall instruments ordained by nature for attraction's cause namely to draw and suck by contraction and to dilate again by relaxing or dilating of themselves And for this reason is the Heart the Stomack the Intestines or Guts the Veins c. made or compacted of fibers direct for attraction transverse for retention and oblique for expulsion Again the attraction of the aire by the Aspera Arteria and nostrills could not be effected but by the aid of the Pulmones or Lungs the which would not move or work but by the animation of a dilating and vivifying heat so that in this case all attraction of externall aire which is made by the Pores into the fleshy parts and by the Lungs into the Heart and by the nostrils into the brain proceedeth from the dilatated action of heat and is effected by instruments and that properly by the lungs and heart Even as we see that the Syringe or Squirt being pulled out attracteth or draweth aire but being thrust in it emitteth or expelleth it again and yet both these opposit actions in one Organ or instrument proceed from one dilated humane spirit which acteth We must understand therefore as I have expressed before that man is composed of Matter which is his Patient and Form which is his Agent and as matter did first proceed of the watery Subject which did issue out of the dark Chaos and therefore is of it self inclinable unto a Northern and privative disposition namely to rest cold mortification and immobility so it is this Matter that maketh contraction as well in the heart and consequently in the Pulse's motion as in the other parts of the body that is to say the naturall inclination of Matter in man is apt to contract spirits from the Circumference unto the Center when contrariwise Form being derived from Light is busie in dilatation and therefore in animation and exagitation of Matter which would otherwise be sopified and as it were mortified by her mother's Northern cold And this is the reason of Systole and Diastole in the hearts motion which commeth of that action and passion or operation and resistence which is made between the Light heat or Aequinoctial form and the dark and cold or polar matter in man's composition whereby it is apparent that as the great world is said to be composed ex lite et amâ—citia of hatred and friendship so also the little world is rightly averred to be compacted of contraries namely of the children of Light and Darknesse Now in this therefore a live-man's attractive power differeth from that of the Load-stone because the Load-stone is not so appearing lively as man is but may in some sort be esteemed dead because it is divided from his ferruginous vein in the earth and again he attracteth not by any dilatation made of a vivifying heat through any organicall Substance or assistance but by an earthly and Centrall contracting disposition And for that reason his greatest power of attraction consisteth in the Pole The live man's attraction proceedeth therefore from a dilatation of lively heat from the Center unto the circumference which causeth materiall instruments ordained as well for attraction as retention or expulsion to effect their office and yet sometimes it operateth chiefly to contraction that is in motion from the circumfereâ—ne unto the Center when it receiveth by the permission of God the beams of a privative Emanation as when the heart is contracted whereupon bad passions as sadness melancholy dispair envy fear and such like do follow as we have told you before Sometimes the naturall heat reflecteth for the Senses repose and rest his beams inwardly as in the action of sleep which is a type of death and darkness but contrariwise it dilateth its self from the Center unto the circumference when it will have the animal spirits to watch and operate in their functions By this therefore we may imagine that the Load-stone's attractive nature is from the circumference unto the Center being as it were to man's externall view half dead and by that manner of attraction it draweth unto it his like namely spirits out of the Iron or steel which by reason of its refination and homogeniety in nature as being cleared from all his stony Mercury which was heterogenious unto it we may compare unto a live man which is replenished with lively emanating or dilating spirits For I would have every man to know that there is not a creature on the earth which hath not his Astrological or starry influence which though we cannot discern it doth shine forth and maketh his aspect unto the like of his kind namely unto such creatures as are of condition with the starrs of heaven from whence the creature's influence doth descend But if the two creatures be dissonant in nature then the one doth Antipathetically divert or reflect his beams from the other The Iron therefore like a vivified mass meeting with the Load-stone doth easily emit his beams of love unto the Load-stone who doth as greedily suck or draw them by means of his inward earthly Martial Spirits even unto her Center and by the attraction of the Iron 's formall beams draweth with it all the Iron body that possesseth the starry or Martial influence In like manner a strong Magnet is as it were a female unto a weaker No otherwise is it with a live man and the dead carcass of another For though that many