and imbibes all the flatulent gross juices and bloody matter and as it were incorporates it into its self so that it becomes one Body and the less water such flesh is Boiled in the more impure gross and fulsom the Pottage is the more water the better it is both for the Flesh and Pottage too Now this cleansing liquid Element doth by an innate disposition purge cleanse and draw forth as is said before all the frothy slimy evil juices of the flesh and leaves it more clean and the Broth is thereby endued with all the malignant qualitys and the more such Pottages are Boiled the worse and more stagnated gross and heavy they become for Fat 's cannot be altered changed or purged from their original impurities as Vegetables can The Oily Sal Nitral qualitys are so knit together that there is no art can alter or change their forms or purge them from their grossness Besides Fat 's or Oils will not admit of Boiling for the longer they are Boiled the stronger grosser and heavier they become as the Tallow-Chandlers and Melters of Fat observe and therefore they Boil it as little as possible but run it off as it melts and rises in the Copper and that which rises up first is the cleanest and finest and the Candles made thereof are better and Sold for more than the other that comes up last and for this cause they Boil as little as they can only as much as will dissolve the matter for if they should not try and separate the watry crude grosser parts the Candles would not burn clear and the Light would not only be dim but they would run and sputter And if you would be farther satisfied what vertues and vices Flesh-Pottages do contain then look into the bottom of Tallow-Chandlers Melting Coppers and take notice of the black contaminated sulphurous substance called Greaves which many buy to give their Dogs with the very same all your Fat 's and Flesh you eat is as plentifully furnished as the Tallow and some of it much more for Candles for the most part are made of the cleanest of the Fat viz. that which is called Suet great quantitys thereof being eaten in Pudding Now there are several parts of the Creature where the flesh is much more unclean and foul than Tallow or Suet as the Neck Sticking-piece and the Head that contains great quantities of black Blood and glandulous Matter which many People make Pottages of such Broth doth never fail of conveying all those stinking bloody voracious unclean qualifications to the Eaters which generates Nourishment of a heavy slow dull melancholly nature and operation the Spirits proceeding therefrom are impure glimmering morose and churlish the Complexion and all the Inclinations and Dispositions are followed and endued with a proportionable Nature Also all Pottages made of Flesh are the very Channel Sink and Common-shoar that dreans and draws forth or attracts all the unclean dregs or bloody stinking matter which the flesh is endued with or subjected to For this cause all Flesh-Pottages do prove unhealthy to all People but more especially to the Sick and therefore the Eastern Physicians forbid the Diseased all Flesh-Broths or Pottages and eating of Flesh. And it is not to be doubted but in all places where most of Peoples Food is Flesh that the Diseases for the most part take their birth from their gross unclean juices so that there can be no greater evil than to eat those fulsom dregs and lumpish Pottages which cannot but by simile increase and encourage the Disease by augmenting the offending matter and all this is done for want of understanding and distinguishing the Principles Fountain-spirits cleanness and uncleanness of things and their respective Operations both in the Macrocosm and Microcosm and the concatenation of things how every thing works and joins forces with its likeness which is the highest joy and satisfaction of all Beings Nor can any Man make an happy choise of things till he can distinguish betwixt the intrinsick and extrinsick vertues and vices of our selves and all other things and no sooner is the Divine Eye opened but immediately Man sees that Meats and Drinks are the very substance of our Bodies Souls and Spirits and that all the Dispositions spring from thence Now on the other side there are a great number of clean Pottages made of Grains Seeds Fruits and Herbs which are all noble and fragrant viz. Water-gruel Rice Conju Wheat Chocolate and various sorts of Candles made of Wine Ale Beer Cyder Oatmeal and Sugar likewise divers Spoon-meats made of Milk and Water and such as these may have Butter mixed with them viz. Gruels and Paps which is many degrees finer than the Fat of flesh not only as it is the noblest Fruit the Creature affords to Mankind without any manifest pain violence or oppression to them but it is also far cleaner than other Fat and will endure and keep longer and will likewise bear more Boiling than other Fat 's that is such as we Eat and make Candles of The Sal Nitral Vertues or oily Body in Vegetables is not only more clean sweet and fragrant but much easier separated in the Stomach and doth administer both dry and moist Nutriment in a clean and easie Method begetting their Similies and doth with the highest diligence withstand all the encroaching Powers or Humors for such as is the Food such is the Body Soul and Spirits Cleanness and Equality begets Children like themselves And the more simple and equal your Meats and Drinks are the more equal are your Humors also the calmer and purer is your Blood which is the Source whence the Spirits are Generated and from the Spirits as we said before arises Dispositions Imaginations Inclinations Words and Works both equal or unequal according to the foundation or first matter This being granted what great care ought Mankind to have in all the methods of Life for Meats and Drinks being the radix of all Nourishment both dry and moist are by the curious Art and Chymistry of Nature higher graduated from whence all the nobler faculties take their Birth wherefore we urge the grand necessity of Prudence in the choice of our Foods because hence are the Generation of all Essences Forms Dispositions and Temperaments and thence the Seed in Man doth arise proceed and take its Birth and Generation And this Seed contains the true Nature and Properties of the whole and so becomes a compleat Image and Epitome of all Forms and Powers and as the Qualitys Forms and Powers are in the Father either equal or unequal so they are in the Seed and as they are in the Seed so they are in the Son For this cause Unclean and Bestial Bloody Gored Foods and such as are procured by violence do contaminate and sully the very Original of Man so that the unclean violent evil Essences are conveyed from Generation to Generation and therefore it is no wonder Mankind grows worse and more violent and unclean in
equality or inequality of the Earth or Ground it is Sowed in and the Cultivation of the Husband-man whether managed with Prudence or the contrary And as it is with the Beasts and Vegetables even so it goes and the very same is to be understood in the Humane Ground a strong thing cannot arise and proceed from a weak one nor an equal from an unequal or a healthy from a sickly every Seed Fruit or Son carries in its central Bosome all the Qualifications Degrees and Temperaments of the original Stock or Father this being the very Ground and principal Cause why so many cruel Diseases that attend Mankind cannot be Cured neither by Medicines nor wholsome temperate Methods of Life Now if this Ground or true Foundation of Wisdom and Philosophy were well understood the Physician would be capable of giving good Advice and Precedents of Life and likewise others would be careful cautious and temperate both in the quality and quantity of their Meats and Drinks being sensible that from the Body and Spirits of each of them our Bodies and Spirits are continually Made Created and Generated and according to the degrees of Equality and Inequality Temperance or Intemperance such is the Humors such is the Blood such are the Spirits such Imaginations Dispositions Words and Works every thing according to its original Constitution and whatsoever Form hath obtained the Dominion in the central Fire always is generating and creating its own Species or Son who does in all particulars contain all the Properties Principles and Powers of the Father as is hinted before so that the Essences of each thing we Eat and Drink in order to support and continue our Bodies and Spirits do never depart but advance and confederate with their Similies and Likenesses and according to their goodness grossness cleanness and uncleanness such a Man is created generated or made This being the eternal and unalterable Law of the Great Father of all Powers and Creator of all Beings which no Man can withstand or obliterate therefore Equality Cleanness Order and Temperance are as it were the Originals of a Sound Healthy Body Harmonious Mind and a Pious Sober Clean temperate Off-spring For all things in the Good and Evil observe their Original Law every thing in its own way according to its Dignification in Evil or Good Equality or Inequality such a Child Son or Fruit it Brings or Widwifes into the World for this Cause Cleanness Temperance and Order have been so highly celebrated and commended by all the Seeing and Distinguishing Men both of former and latter Ages so that it is plain and manifest that most of those cruel and incurable Diseases that now reign in the Microcosmical World have been conveyed and entailed by their Progenitors or Parents and if Mankind should now take up and live on simple innocent Meats and harmless Drinks and free himself from Violence Uncleanness and Opression it would be two or three Ages before Man would be Healthy and Sound either in their Bodies or Minds so deeply are they wounded Which miserable and melancholy State or Error can never be mended neither in the Stock Branch Fruit nor Son till it be seen and known to be so and that the Eye of Wisdom be opened in Man's Mind by which he sees understands and distinguishes between the Intrinsick and Extrinsick Virtues Vices Cleanness and Uncleanness of their Food and Drink and all other things they join or communicate with Now as Fevers are more tolerable or violent according to the Form or Power that Operates Agitates or Invades the natural or central Fires for Fire is the root of motion and the true Strength and Pleasure of Life when it burns gently and calmly but when it is agitated or too violently awakened or stirred up then presently as with a rapid and turbulent motion it seizes the radical moisture and sweet Oil which is the true Life and Original being of the Fire but Burning too violently it consumes this Oily Body and violently attracts the thin Spirituous Airy Qualities or Powers unto it self for all heat or fire of what kind soever naturally and with great Ardency attracts or draws unto it self the Air it being its Life for without it it can neither burn nor subsist The Air thus drawn doth always carry in its Bosom the watry Spirit or Element which gives unto the Fire its bright clear shining Lustre but the Central Fires being thus agitated or awakened do in a moment destroy and consume both the radical Oily Body and also the Airy and Watry Spirits and Natural Powers which do presently as it were stagnate and prevent all the circular Motions and in a great measure stop the Vessels and Parts both Internally and Externally so that the Blood becomes thick gross hot and frothy and the Pores of the outward Members and Parts becomes hot narrow or stopt which doth prevent the Penetration Ingress Egress and Regress of the fine thin Spirituous Vapours of the Air from without So that if the fiery Spirit be violently awakened it breaks and destroys all the Circulations and Correspondence of the whole Body all the inward faculties being in an Agony or a tumultuous State and Operation and thereby the Life is sunk or destroyed as it were in a moment if some powerful Food or Medicine does not timely prevent by opening the doors and porous passages and to advance the Circulation of the Blood Spirits and all the Airy Motions and Faculties for should the healthiest and strongest Person 's External Pores be stopt but one Quarter of an Hour such a one would be seized with a Fever immediately For the fine thin Spirituous Vapours of the Air that do penetrate the Body on all sides and by the attractive qualities are sucked or drawn in by way of Pores which do refresh uphold increase and support all the natural Motions and Circulations of the Blood and Spirits and their fine thin Spirituous powers of the Air do never fail to carry and convey the transparent thin moist Vapours or Spirits of the Element of Water for as the Fire cannot burn nor subsist without the Airy Spirit so neither ean the Air continue its brisk lively motion without the support of the Fire which incorporates its self and dwells in the moist Vapour or Spirituous quality of the Water which Watry Spirit gives Life both to the Air and the bright shining light of the Fire one cannot subsist without the other For this cause if any Person is employed abroad in moist wet Weather and in or about Waters or Rivers sides such People have for the most part stronger and sharper Appetites than in dryer Seasons and Places for the Air being in moist Seasons provided there be not too much wet Weather filled or impregnated with the fine moist Spirits of the Water which doth give such a powerful life to the Air that both becomes rarified by which it more powerfully penetrates the whole Body through all parts and Members to the very
the Father and Mother the Son or Fruit cannot but must partake and bear a Simile of its Parents whence it proceeded for if the Foundation of any Creature be Evil the end must centre in the same for most of the great Out-rages Evils and Calamities that fall on and attend Mankind do arise and proceed from his acting and living under the Government of the disunited and self-ful Principles and Powers of his own Composition as was hinted before Therefore that Man should have the Knowledge of future Events either of this World or of that which is to come it would be a great addition of Evil and Misery to him seeing he transacts the Affairs of his Life under the conduct of such violent evil Principles and mischievous Methods Traditions and Customs But if Mankind had but one grain of true Wisdom and did see ever so little into themselves or own Magia then a Man would easily guess what Events such violent oppressive Methods of Life would produce and bring to pass both in the Evil and also in the Good for Nature and God's Law is always one and the same and true for ever for every Principle and governing Quality begets and brings forth Children like it self and endues them with all the Qualifications of the Father both in Body and Mind Soul and Spirit and where he is willing to presage or promise unto himself or Posterity any Good he must Live first and transact all the Methods of his Life in harmlessness and innocency avoiding Violence and all sorts and kinds of Oppression either to Man or Beast using all the Creatures to a good end and purpose and above all not to do or enter on any Action of Life without applying ourselves and taking the Advice of that Divine Power Principle and Advocate that dwells in the Centre of every Man's Soul whose Rule and Prescriptions if obeyed will render our present Momentary Lives comfortable and Dying-Beds easy and our future State most Happy My Dear Friend I doubt not when we shall meet in the Heavenly Regions but that we shall have a most undoubted Confirmation and Illustration of those Truths and wonderful Mysteries we have discoursed of in our Writings which the Ages to come will have cause to Praise God for who is the Giver of Gifts and the Revealer of Secrets to the Sons and Daughters of Wisdom from whom this Knowledge hath proceeded which undoubtedly in future Times will draw many into the innocent Method of God's Law which if Mankind Lived in would quickly ease the Soul of that great dread and fear of what shall happen after Death for nothing can hurt or perplex that Soul that hath lived a harmless Life neither in Time nor Eternity all Dread Fear and Srrrow comes in at the Door of Violence and Hurtfulness as also our not governing our selves nor the Creatures according to the Right of Nature and the one only Original Law and this great violent tormenting Monster doth first take its Birth in Man's Meats Drinks Exercises and Employments Words and Works are the Fruits that are generated from the central Powers and natural Spirits so that those evil Principles and Qualities are conveyed from one Generation to another the Children being Essentially endued with all the Principles Dispositions and Qualifications of the Father and that which makes another considerable addition to those Grand Fountains of Evil Violence and the breaking of God's Holy Union is the evil and preposterous Education of our Children and the wicked Examples and Precedents of Fathers Mothers and all concerned in Bringing them up so that what evil Qualifications are wanting in the Seed are made up and compleated in their Education which hath and doth take such deep root that every Generation are more and more Wicked notwithstanding the continual Preaching Teaching and Admonishing of the Clergy of all sorts and their threatning the Evil-doers with eternal Damnation and Happiness to those that do well and the Severity of the Magistrates too nevertheless all will not do because Precedents Examples and the continual practise of all Violence and Wickedness do take deeper root and make far greater Impression than Words and Precepts What great matter can be expected for Men to hear two or three hours Discourse of the excellency of Virtue and at the same time both Teachers as well as the Hearers do practise Evil and Violence all the Week Now when these things are understood and well considered how is it possible that Mankind can arrive at the Haven or Port of Rest or what satisfaction can that Soul have whose Methods of Life hath been in opposition to true Innocency and Virtue having lived and acted by and under all selfish violent and tyranical Spirits and Customs and though many of them be tolerated by Religion Laws and Tradition as those supream and highest Evils are viz. The Oppression and Killing those of our own kind and all the rest of the innocent Inhabitants of Heaven and Earth and Eating their Flesh too those violent Practises of Life the poor Soul can never excuse it self of or get over at the hour of Death when all the Natural or Spiritual Powers must be separated and the Soul left Naked to its Works which attracts a new Body to cloath it self with there can be no true satisfaction or content in that Soul that hath lived in Oppression and whose daily Practise hath been to break the Union both in himself and in all other things The Customs of Nations Laws of Princes and Ignorance will not obliterate those Evils that diametrically oppose God's eternal Law both of the Creation and his Divine Providence of Preservation whence do arise in Mens Minds and Souls in Sickness and at the hour of Death great Horror Trouble and Anxiety and through Blindness and Ignorance do place the cause of their dissatisfaction on some inferior Evil which they are guilty of too as was mentioned before Therefore he that would Live well and Die in Peace must first know God his Law and himself secondly do no Hurt thirdly do all the Good he can fourthly Live and Sustain his Life with harmless and innocent Meats and Drinks fifthly practise all innocent Employments sixthly observe the Rules of Justice Mercy and Clemency seventhly to Educate their Children in all Submission Honesty and Innocency and give them no Examples of Evil Violence or Oppression for in their tender Age the true and lasting Foundation of Unity true Virtue and innocent Methods of Government and Life are laid it being impossible for Mankind or any particular Person to act in a true and regular Method in Inclinations Words Works and Employments if he be ignorant of God's central Law planted in himself and the Qualities and Principles he is made and compounded of If this great and necessary Knowledge be wanting and not distinguished this Secret and wonderful Mystery of our selves being not known all Thoughts Inclinations Words and Works of Life are either done by chance or proceed
this great Sense of Life viz. the Feeling is universal and no part of the Body can subsist without it not so much as one moment and therefore when this Sense is Disordered or any Obstruction or Distemper invades it the whole becomes heavy dull and melancholy and Death quickly ensues so on the other side when it is in order the Motions and Circulations of the Body and Members are free from Obstructions then it is the true Pleasure of Life and all the other Senses are Subservient to this and rejoice in its Prosperity as being their Prince and King the Industry of all the others is to support and maintain this For if this Sense of Feeling sink none of the others are or can be well by the Innate Power of this Mankind and all Creatures viz. Animals distinguish between Joy and Sorrow Grief and Pain Sickness and Health Temperance and Gluttony also Hunger and Fullness Heat and Cold Weight or Lightness Hardness and Softness Fineness and Courseness Smoothness and Roughness Thickness and Thinness in a word in this Sense is apprehended and comprehended all Pleasures Touches and Embraces and as it were the very Centre of all natural Enjoyments both of the Body and Mind and therefore the great various and wonderful Powers of the whole Bows before it and with all endeavours each in its respective place to serve it with the highest diligence for the Life and Centre both of Joy Sorrow Pain and Pleasure is in this universal Sense Therefore all Powers yield their Obedience to it for this cause whensoever this Sense is Encountred or Invaded by any universal Disorder Intemperance or Uncleanness the Life of that part that suffers the Disorder immediately Perishes This the Learned call the Dead Palsy and several other Names they give this Disease which of all others is one of the most Dolorous and Melancholy which do attack and invade many Persons through disorderly Living and Intemperance Drinking and Eating both in Quantity and Quality such things that are too gross hard spirituous and of a strong fulsom Composition and Preparation from whence Juices of a proportionable Nature are Extracted which do infallibly generate thick gross Blood and impure Spirits which do as it were narrow stop and swell the Highways and natural Roads viz. The Porous Passages of the Body and the Nerves do by these thick Juices become stiff and Glewy so that the Blood and Spirits being touched with these Diseases and Infirmities cannot have their free Ingress Egress Regress and Circulation but are waylaied and stopt according to the degrees of these Obstructions the Diseases and the Distempers are more or less Now all Fumes and Vapours that many thousands of People especially Women are subject to as the Gout and all Obstructions Falling Sickness and several other cruel Maladies they are procured and likewise transferred from one Age to another for want of Wisdom Temperance and Cleanness in the Methods of Life for every Person does desire and incline to such and such Meats and Drinks Exercises and Communications according to the ruling Qualities and predominant Humours and their Equality and Inequality and the Nourishment Humours Blood Spirits and Dispositions are in proportion whence the Seed is Generated as being the Essence of all the natural Properties and Powers for this cause most or all the variety of new and old Diseases are transferred conveyed and intailed on their Posterity c. Therefore there is hardly found any Medicine capable to Câ—… them being so deeply rooted in the very Centre of Nature Now as these Diseases have encreased since Trade hath advanced so likewise have improper Compositions and Hetrogenial Preparations gotten great footing in the World bâ—… which every Age doth produce a new Off-spring of Diseases 〈◊〉 known or hardly heard of before as in this Nation since Stroâ—… Beer Ale and Wine became common Drinks and our comâ—… Foods compounded and mixed with Spices Sugar Spanish Fâ—… and several other Ingredients we say since this there aâ—… great number of cruel Distempers started up in Man's Body 〈◊〉 were not heard of before for every sort of Meat and Drâ—… hath the Key in its self to seek embrace and feel out its own likeness and hath an Innate Power in its Bosom or Centre to generate an Off-spring of its own Nature in proportion to the Nourishment such a thing affords as the Gout Stone Rhumatism Rickets and many Leprous or Scabby Diseases which within 70 80 100 or 200 years have been Midwifed into our Nation Now it is to be observed that all the other four Senses when they have gratified themselves and taken Pleasure even to the highest degree of Luxury Do slip their Necks out of the Collar as the Proverb has it leaving all their evil Works and Deeds of Darkness to this poor and most deplorable Sense of Feeling who is bound under the Iron Gates of various severe and intollerable Diseases all their malignant Influences the Taste Smell Hearing and Seeing shut their Gates and take their Rest but the Feeling is rarely ever quiet or easy Sleep and Rest gives them Resurrection and a new Life but the Feeling remains uneasy every Member and Joint akes and the whole Body is Indisposed Sleep being nothing else but a Transitory Death or an Occultation to a Renovation and therefore no Man nor other Creature can Subsist and Live except they Die near or altogether a third part of the time that is alotted them So that our Lives are a constant or continual Dying this being Matter of Fact why should Mankind be so fearful and timerous of Death seeing he that Lives 100 years is Dead more than 30 of it which time is an unaccountable to him as those that are really in Eternity where there is neither Time nor Place Near and Far off being altogether the same and no Man would be more concerned to Die than he is to Sleep if he had not broken the Law of his Maker by invading and bringing Desolation on all the Host of Heaven and Earth which is the Secret and Original of Mankinds Fear and the true cause of his Uneasiness and Perplexity for in this World there is no Creature that Lives without a continual Dying or becoming as it were Invisible Do not all the Herbs Fruits Seeds and Grains and whatever else appears in Bodies Shapes and Forms They we say do daily Die that they may be capable to reinvest themselves in new vigorous Bodies and do not all the Beasts of the Field every moment as it were enter into Death that they may be able to maintain a short Momentary Life though the Beasts do not enter so deeply into Death as Man Their Sleep being but a kind of waking in comparison of Mans for what Creature in the World is so drowsy and heavy as Man Nor is there any thing that sleeps so sound and deep or do require so much as he except some few that are called by the name of Sleepers whose Nature Original
of Unity whereby the Virgin Birth is obtained Let this serve to whet your Appetite after the improvement of Wisdom and Knowledge and remain a Memorial of the unfeigned friendship of Your Humble Servant T. T. LETTER XIX Of Flesh-BROTHS SIR I Have received yours wherein you desire my judgment of Flesh-Broths or Pottages their Nature Operation and Nourishment and likewise Pottages and Gruels made of Vegetables as Fruits and Herbs without Flesh and which of the two doth afford the best finest cleanest and healthiest Aliment to the Body and Mind This Question we have answered in several of our Writings nevertheless shall endeavour to gratifie your curious Philosophical Mind and longing desire after Wisdom And first shall give you an account of Pottages made with Flesh and of the Fat Gravy and Blood of Animals THe flesh of all Animals and Beasts is gross succulent and full freighted with many impurities and uncleannesses as we have demonstrated in our Book Entituled The Way to Health c. And to say nothing of the Bestial and revengeful passion of their Mind which after Deaths painful stroke centers in the Blood and Spirits and those violent incroaching Spirits do never fail to incorporate with their Similies in the Eaters it being the natural Law of God and the way of Nature which no Art can prevent For as Man is the compleat Image and Likeness of all things Creatures and Powers on the other side all Created Powers are an Epitome and likeness of Man so that in one Degree or another Man answâ—…s to all things and all things to him and as all Meats and Drinks are made and compounded both of Body and Spirits even as Man so from our Foods our Bodies and Spirits are continued made and sustained all according to the goodness badness cleanness or uncleanness of our Meats and Drinks for from the body of the said Foods Mans Body always is Created and made and from the Spirits Mans Spirits are from time to time generated and supported and so Nature still goes on for from the Spirits are made and do proceed Inclinations Dispositions Words and Works and they better or worse clean or unclean according as the Meats and Drinks and their respective Natures and Originals are Qualities always maintain and generate their like for the Children cannot but partake and be endued with the Principles Forms and Dispositions of the Father that begot them and from whence they proceeded and though they may alter as to the degrees some stronger some weaker yet are they the compleat Image of the Father which is the eternal and unalterable Law of our great Creator So that there is nothing more clear and manifest than that all Meats and Drinks are endued with an influential Vertue and Power to generate strengthen and maintain their own form and quality having in their own Bosom a Key to open all the secret Doors and Cabinets of Nature and there to incorporate joyn and reinforce all such forms principles and powers as are most agreeable to themselves So that it is the highest degree of Blindness Ignorance and Depravation for Man to imagine and think that there is little or no difference in the Nature and Operation of Meats and Drinks and that one thing is as good as another which deplorable and miserable Estate and Condition of Mankind is much to be lamented and highly pityed for so long as this Blindness and deepest Stupidity overwhelms People there can be no inclination to true Vertue Innocency and Regeneration viz. to be made better for all things both in Body and Spirit are better or worse vitious or vertuous according to the materials of which they are made and compounded To this all Men agree that a clean thing cannot be generated or proceed from an unclean nor a strong thing from a weak This is generally understood by every Man in his own Science Art Trade and Employment and in particular this is wonderfully demonstrative in Husbandry Painting and Manuring the Earth Yet this great and valuable Truth is not understood nor at all regarden in the Cultivation and Manuring their own Earth viz. their Bodies Souls and Spirits What a strange and unheard of Paradox is it that he who preâ—…nds to have Skill and Judgment and to manage and govern the World and all things therein should be so ignorant and know so little of himself or of the powers and principles of his own Composition Will not the Husbandman tell you that such and such Land or Earth will bring forth and bear such and such Grains Seeds Herbs Trees and Fruits better than others And will not the Lime-makers and such as are Skill'd in Mortar and Building tell you that strong Lime cannot be made of Chalk and that a strong thing cannot proceed and be made of a weak one but strong binding Lime must have a strong firm Original that is hard strong Stones wherein the Sal Nitral qualities of Saturn and Mars or the original Forms are powerful And will not the Husbandman tell you that if you will have your Cattel or Horses endued with the greatest strength and agility then you must give them the finest and cleanest Foods and such as by the Sun and Elements are purged from their gross flatulent juices for in such Foods the Spirits are clean free prompt and ready not being overwhelmed and drowned in gross matter and of all such Corn hath the first place And will not Drivers and Keepers of Horses tell you that dry clean Foods will enable them to go through more Labour without damage and hurt than Grass And do not Butchers and Tallow-Chandlers agree that Cattel fed with Corn and Hay their Flesh will take Salt better and keep longer and the Candles made of such Fat will not only burn best but also endure longer and are harder and more firm The like is to be understood in all other things every particular Species carries along even through all things its original Seeds both of vertue and vice strength and weakness always enduing their Children or Off-spring with their own original qualifications so constant so true are the ways and methods of Gods Law in Nature and who dares deny these Grand Truths Now my Friend if you understand and distinguish what here we have hinted at then you will easily make a judgment between Flesh-Pottages and those made of Herbs Fruits and Grains However for your satisfaction I shall give you a more particular account of them Flesh-Broths or Pottages are various better or worse according to the sorts they are made of and the season of the Year and the Food the Creature is fed with which our Writings give a particular account of as touching that Therefore I shall not enlarge The Fat Blood Gravy or Juices of all Beasts are exceedingly crude full of gross matter and dull heavy purblind Spirits with contaminated dolorous Species and when it comes into Boyling Water the Water immediately penetrates the whole substance and naturally draws forth
Center which by a Sympathetical Agreement reinforces all the material Motions causing a powerful and lively Circulation both of the Blood Spirits and all the Aliments from whence doth arise and proceed a lively brisk Motion Strength Agility and strong sharp Appetite for the more free and open the Trade and Commerce is between the outward and inward Elements or between the Microcosm and Macrocosm the better is the state and condition of Health both of the Body and Mind For this cause the oftner and more any Person doth expose his Body to the open Air and Elements the stronger the Appetite and Digestive Faculties of the Stomach are and such Persons are more strong and lively likewise they are more hardy and more free from Colds and Obstructions which are nothing else but a Condensation or a stoppage of the porous Passages from whence cruel Colds and a thousand Diseases proceed therefore it is not good to Cloath the Body too Warm but of the two Cold is to be preferred to heat provided it be not too much and that it be born with pleasure or without pain For the inward Virtues of the Elements of Air and Water are curious living Powers which do sustain and preserve all the wonderful Beings in this great World but in what Creature or Thing soever these living Powers and the thin penetrating moist Spirits and Vapours become stagnated or thickened then that Creature or Thing becomes dull heavy and full of Indispositions and Crudities Now when in any Creature the fore-mentioned central Fires Burn too violently attracting and drawing all the moist Spirituous Vapours both of the Air and Water consuming and destroying as is before mentioned then immediately the Pores are in a manner stopt and the Forms and Properties do press and as it were rub against each other by which the Fire Burns more intense and fierce like two sticks rubbed hard against each other the Internal central heat is thereby stirred up and awakened and so fiercely kindled that this Fire which lay hid and captivated in the very Center doth by this agitation and fierce motion burn up and destroy the whole Body in a moments time the Fire being the Original of Motion and the true pleasure of all the other Elements when it burns easie or gentle but when it loses its power in any Creature or Thing all becomes cold dull heavy congealed and as it were frozen in that Creature or Thing in which the Fire is impotent and that thing stands near the House of Death and the Melancholly Regions And though this Noble Element the Fire be as it were the Life and Original of all lively Motion and the Well-being of every Creature and when it incorporates or equally mixes with the other Elements burning gently notwithstanding its Excellency wonderful and various uses yet most of the Distempers of the publick State and also the Diseases incident to Mankind are as it were Originally occasioned by this Element and also most of the Outrages that are committed in the great World from Man to Man and likewise the greater part of the Diseases that so terribly torment and afflict Mankind which if Man observe with a clear Eye and Understanding he will then see and find that this great Evil hath fallen upon him for his great and deep Degeneration and Separation from the Unity of Gods Holy Powers and his not knowing and distinguishing the Powers and Principles of God in himself Now Man having lost his way and being sunk into Darkness and Ignorance he takes hold and uses the gross fiery sulphurous and Brimstone Spirit which Governs in Man as he stands in Self-fulness and separated from the Divine Fountain of Benignity or Holy Union not being mixed incorporated or allayed with the sweet Water of Eternal Life in Jesus Christ. This Spirit or Fire before mentioned as it stands divided from the Union is a high lofty exalted Power the Original of all Pride and a domineering Spirit and in what Creature soever it obtains the Government that Creature becomes proud and of an insulting Nature Now the chief and principal cause or reason is that this proud fiery domineering and as it were consuming Spirit of Fire hath obtained and gotten such an Ascendant in the Hearts and very Souls of Mankind and also that the exalted and predominating power in most Diseases is this fiery brimstone or sulphurous quality of Fire Now as any Form or Property obtains the chief Government in the Heart immediately this very quality doth Sign or Stamp its Character and as it were lay its Commands on the imaginative Power and so Signs the Inclinations Dispositions Words and Works from the Government of this lofty fiery Power and Spirit from whence proceeds all Vain-Glory Pride high and lofty Imaginatioâ—… Inclinations and Desires after base slavish violent oppressive Employments as also ardent and longing Desires after unclean gross Foods and high lofty strong Drinks for every Mouth will be fed with agreeable Food the Attraction Desires and Inclinations do always arise and proceed from the ruling Quality and Man being divided from the Union of God and his own Composition into Disunion the fiery envious spiteful Powers exalting themselves cause a direful Appetite in Man And from these very Qualities the violent oppressive Trade of Killing one another and Eating the flesh of the Undergraduates or Beasts having taken their Original Birth for every Spirit Principle and Power doth desire and is supported and maintained by its Similie so that it is most clear nothing being more manifest than from those high exalted fiery Spirits and Powers in Man have sprung such violent and direful Appetites and strong Inclinations after the Blood of their own Kind and to eat the Flesh and Blood of the Beasts likewise to drink hot fiery exalted Liquors so that there is a Concatenation between the Imaginations Inclinations Natural Spirits Dispositions Words and Works Communications Employments and the Diseases Man is most subject unto Now as all the fore-mentioned qualifications do arise and proceed from a fiery ground which do with great power and strong vigour attract proportionable Foods and Drinks therefore most of our Diseases cannot but be Signed with the Character of Fire for every Principle Form or Quality whensoever it hath gotten or attained the Ascendant in any Man it goes on in a streight regular constant Method to do its own Work viz. to nourish support and encrease its own Spirit and Power whether it be in the Good or in the Evil. Hence it is no wonder that Mankind is so frequently seized wounded and destroyed by so many sorts of fiery Diseases viz. Fevers when any thinking Person considers what Powers Principles and Qualities rule and govern in his Heart and Soul there being a Sympathetical Agreement and Inclination between the governing qualities in Mens Minds and their Meats and Drinks and likewise their Diseases all follow one another in a direct Method or Line Now the power and influence Meats and Drinks
have on all the Faculties of Nature no Wise man will or can deny as is before sufficiently demonstrated besides there is still another Ground and deep Original for the conveyance and generation of a great multitude of Diseases but more especially this fiery Distemper viz. the Seed being the compleat Image or Epitome of all the Properties Forms and Powers both of the Body Soul and Spirit and for this cause Man is called the Son or Off-spring of God or his Image The same is to be understood of Man when he Generates a Child is he not his Son and doth he not bear the Image and true Signature of his Father is he not endued with all the principles and powers of Body Soul and Spirits and if the Seed did not contain the true Nature and Property of the whole Father then the Fathers power or part thereof would not have an Essential Being in the Son neither would the Son be his true Image this being true as no Wiseman can doubt Then by the same rule Virtues and Vices of all Kinds are Sowed in the Seed and according as the Father and Mother are qualified and tempered in their Order Sobriety Temperance or Intemperance in their Meats Drinks and Employments Communications Imaginations Inclinations Dispositions Words and Works such is the Seed and the Fruit that is Generated Begotten and brought forth and is in Body Soul and Spirit the very same in all the principles and powers This being true what Conduct Temperance and Order what Cleanness Self-denial and Wisdom ought Parents to be endued with seeing they entail all their Virtues and Vices on their Posterity Now Mankind hath so far estranged himself from all those fore-mentioned Virtues by his gross Evils Violences Oppressions and Uncleannesses that he is run into the deepest degree of Depravity Blindness and Ignorance so that most do live under and are governed by the divided powers and forms of their own Composition where every quality and principle are at Enmity with each other so that he is hunted out of one evil into another Fierceness Violence and Oppression being his chief Delight and as it were the Pleasure and Pastime of most Men viz. Great Men study how they may destroy ruin and kill those of their own Kind and Species and the lower Ranks in hunting oppressing and killing the inferior Graduates and all the innocent harmless Inhabitants of the four Worlds and in Conformity and Proportion to these rapacious Employments are the principal Foods of Man so that there is a Concatenation and Sympathetical Agreement and Concurrence of all sorts and kinds of wrathful fierce Violence contrived and managed by the inbred fierce encroaching spiteful envious Powers which have not only sullyed but as it were obliterated the Noble light of Understanding and hath sunk Man into the deepest and darkest ignorance of himself and all that is good so that he neither sees hears nor understands any thing as he ought and thereby becomes subject to and is acted and governed by the fore-mentioned tyrannical Spirits Now there is no way or means to prevent those violent Diseases and other Distempers but by the wholsom rules of Order Temperance and Cleanness in Meats Drinks Communications Employment Words and Works which doth oppose all the fore-mentioned Customs as much as Light doth Darkness or the Day the Night by which the Observers may obtain a better Seed which will produce a Healthy and Virtuous Off-spring viz. The Foods material and suitable for this purpose are as followeth Bread and all Foods made of the Flour of Corn have the first place both for Cleanness Virtue and good Nourishment as Bread and Water-gruel Flour-pap boil'd Wheat boil'd Barley Hasty-pudding boil'd Bread and several sorts made of the Flours of Seeds and Corn Next to these are Milk Butter Cheese Eggs and a great number of other Exhilerating Foods made thereof The principal Drink alotted and ordained by God and the Law of undefiled Nature is pure clean Water Next to these are Communications which have great power over the Imaginations Inclinations Dispositions Words and Works either to encrease or advance Virtue or Vice and these Employments are very material viz. All such as are Humane free from Oppression or Violence either to Man or Beasts likewise all sorts of Husbandry or any Business in the open Air more especially such as is on or near the Water and to Travel in rainy moist Seasons Thirdly Thin or moderate Cloathing airy clean sweet Houses and Beds observing a mean in all things for Temperance and to understand the proper Measure both in Quantity and Quality are the Sinews of Health both of Body and Mind which to distinguish and understand in a Man's self is the Spring-head of all Blessings for whatsoever may or can be understood of God and of his unalterable Law is compleatly and entirely contained in Man Therefore the greatest Calamity the most miserable melancholy and deplorable Condition in the World is for a Man to be Ignorant of himself not to understand and distinguish the Powers of God and his own Composition for want of this inward true Knowledge he Judgeth of all things as a Blind Man doth of Colours and a Deaf Man of Musick all is done by Chance Trade or Custom so great and so deep is the Depravation of Man SIR Yours to Command T. T. LETTER XXIII Of EDUCATION SIR I Réceived yours of the 20th instant wherein you desire me to give you an Essential Method of Educating and Bringing up your Children they being all Young and of tender Age by which they are rendred capable of being taught and moulded into any Form Method and Government First I referr you to our Book entituled A New Method of Educating Children which I desire you would Read However I shall endeavour to gratify your Desire with those Talents the Lord hath given me not doubting but they will be thereby improved by your Prudent Conduct therefore please to observe these following Rules and Methods 1. YOU ought to understand and endeavour to be sensible that our Creator hath made Man in his own Image and a compleat Epitome of all Principles Qualities and Powers both of the Corporial and Incorporial Worlds all things have an Essential Being in Man's Soul viz. Virtue true Light and Darkness Love and Hate and if Men once come to be sensible of their own Composition and to distinguish between Good and Evil Virtue and Vice and from what Principles each takes its Birth they would hate and lament their ill Conduct both of their own Methods of Life and the bringing up of their Children it is impossible any Man should be capable to avoid the Errors of Educating Children if he doth not distinguish the two Grand Fountains of Good and Evil in himself and how the various Powers Qualities and Inclinations which do all arise and proceed from these two Fountains are to be Qualified Allaied and United for all sorts and kinds of Knowledge and Learning though it
any sort of Business or Employment one hour for some sorts and two hours for others and as near as you can make all their small Affairs Arts or other things they learn delightful and let them not be put on Business when they are sleepy or otherwise Indifposed Eighthly Above all observe the Rules of Temperance and Moderation both in the Quality and Quantity of their Foods also Times and Seasons for Eating viz. At eight in the morning some sorts of Spoon-meats again at twelve or one and at five or six in the evening the smallest Meal ought to be in the middle of the day let all your Meats and Drinks be simple and of a harmless Nature and Operation made of Vegetables and Fruits and Water for Drink let them eat nothing that cannot be procured without the Dying or Destruction of one of your fellow Creatures consider all things and what great Power and secret Energy Mercy Compassion and Innocency do carry with them and with what excellent Virtues they endue all those that live in and under their Government for in them is comprehended all the Good that Man is capable to obtain both in Time and Eternity I could say much more but having sometime since published a small Book called The New Method of Education to which I referr yâ—… where you will find some unvulgar Directions for the Bringing up of Children which please to Peruse Thus with my Love and Respects I remain Your Faithful Friend and Servant T. T. LETTER XXIV Of the Nature of SMELLS SIR I Have received yours of the 20th of July 1697 and shall endeavour to give you some satisfaction and likewise an account what Smells or Scents are good wholsom healthy and the contrary and in order thereunto we must first give you an account of the Five Senses and of their government and power in the Corporial and Visible World being the five Centinels that keep the Gates of the Microcosmical City so that no intelligence neither of good nor evil pass into the City but only by the Leave and License of these Centinels or Guards each having its peculiar Office viz. THe Sight is that noble and great Sense that lets in or conveys all Bodily Forms Figures and Species of all Corporial Objects to the invisible Mind or Intellectual of Man both in good and evil either to his Preservation or Destruction The like is to be understood of all the other Senses they do not Act one for another but each doth its own work appointed by the All-wise Creator as for Example no Objects Bodies Figures or Forms hurt or insnare the Mind or intellectual powers of Mankind if he doth not behold or see them The Smelling Tasting Hearing and Feeling have no power to convey the Objects or Forms of things to the Central Powers or invisible Man but only the Sight in whose Province it consists and stands The very same is to be understood in all the other Senses each is confined by the Eternal Law of the Creator to keep within the bounds of its own Circle and in all particulars to do its own work so wonderful and miraculous are all things made and compounded so that it is most clear and manifest that nothing hath power to wound or hurt the Mind and Soul of Mankind but only those things that these great Powers or Senses admit or suffer to enter in and through one or more of these five Gates and by the permission of those Centinels which doth verifie that old Proverb that is what the Eye never sees the Heart never â—…es which we have treated of more at large where we discourse of the Five Senses and their Uses therefore shall proceed to Particulars viz. Scents or Smells disagreeable and unhealthy are as followeth First all such as proceed from the putrifaction of Animals as Bloody Slaughter-houses Butchers-shops and all other places where are Sold the Dead Corps of the Creatures likewise Fish-Markets and Shops Tanners Yards Hog-styes and the like places Next to these are Houses of Easement close Chambers or Rooms where the Air hath not its free influences the Airs of such places are very pernicious and haueful also the Airs of Cities and great Towns where there is a Composition of evil Scents or Smells proceeding from Slaughter-houses Shambles Tallow Chandlers-shops and Melting-houses the breathings and fumes of all sorts of Flesh and Fish Cooks-shops and the Dressing or Cooking of all such things the reliques or putrifaction thereof running through the Streets which fumes and breathings do incorporate with the common Air all being mixed or compounded with the Smoaks proceeding from numerous Chimneys which doth stagnate and becloud the fine Spirits of the Air so that it becomes of a heavy dull Nature and Operation and is most injurious to young People and Children by reason of their tender fine Spirits which are much more hurt or wounded than those of greater Ages and Strength and likewise to such as are subject to Obstructed Natures The Cures for such are fine sweet pleasant Airs and clean thin Foods and small Drinks It is likewise to be noted that there is nothing more hurtful to all Peoples Healths but more especially to some than the Air of Houses both Publick and Private where many People are Congregated or met together where the refreshing Briezes of the common Air are prevented and where the variety of breathing from Distempered Natures are compounded and mixed with the Air and so is drawn into the Body again and again which ought to be remedyed on peril of your Health For the Air being the Life and consisting of a thin Spirituous substance it penetrates to the very Center of all Bodies and therefore when it is mixed or compounded with the putrifaction that ariseth from the Animal Kingdom and from things where the fine Spirits and sweet Vertues are destroyed and the Original Forms of Saturn and Mars do govern all such Forms do mightily infect and spoil the common Air with a violent poysonous Property or Disposition which doth powerfully beget their Similies every thing hath a Key in its self that can open all the secret doors of Natures Cabinets and wheresoever it finds its likeness there it confederates and exerts its own form and property so that Complexions are begotten and by degrees appear and become strong which in the Original were weak and impotent and on the other side that property that is powerful in any Persons Complexions may by degrees be made weak and faint by the use custom and practice of the other qualities if Nature and the varietys of Properties were not capable of being encreased and diminished evil Scents and pernicious offending Fumes could never be made familiar nor evil Company draw Men to Vitiousness it being the chief pastime delight and pleasure of all the wonderful variety of qualities and principles of Nature to encrease and confederate with that which in all things is most suitable and agreeable unto its Temper and Complexion And these
or as it were unknown Operation Mankind is changed either for the better or for the worse all according to the nature and ruling Property or Complexion of those things they work in or communicate with so that most or all Men immerse or plunge themselves into many great Troubles Vexations and Miseries and all for want of Understanding and distinguishing the variety of those Forms and Principles they are made and compounded of which is the highest degree of Depravation and a Calamity much to be Lamented for what evil is greater than for any person to lessen the true use and to be ignorant of himself and consequently is blind and ignorant of all other things for true understanding and distinguishing takes its Birth within his own Circle he being an Epitome of the whole Creation and of the variety of all the wonderful Beings therein contained that is the Original and Grand Principles and fountain-Fountain-spirits are Essentially in him and he is the very Thing or else Man could not contain the true Nature and Property of all visible and invisible Powers or obtain the name of being truly stiled or called the Likeness and Image of the Great Creator who is All in and through All. Now Scents and Smells that do advance Health and preserve the finer Spirits both Externally and Internally are as followeth viz. Of all Scents and Smells clean sweet Airs such as are free from the Commuâ—… the crouds of Men and more particularly those by running Rivers and hilly dry Fields that lies or joins to them where Flowers Trees and various sorts of fragrant Herbs send forth their most pleasant and oderiferous Scents and Smells which do incorporate with the fine Spirits of the Air and by the thinner Fumes proceeding from the Powers of the Element of Water impregnate or endue such Airs with a powerful and penetrating Virtue which Persons do find by Experiencing a lively Briskness and sharp Appetite The like is to be understood in all moist Seasons provided there be not too much Rain but moderate which when the moisture is temperate doth with its natural Key gently and softly open the inward and secret Gates of each thing freeing the finer Spirits so that they are thereby on the Wing rendring them capable to incorporate with the common Air impregnating it with its fine refreshing Virtues the truth of this all Persons do find when Exercised in the open Air in such Seasons and therefore all such as are troubled with or subject to any kind of Obstructions of the Breast or to Languishing Consumptive Diseases may be relieved and the Diseases in a great degree remedied by a constant Exercise of Walking and the like by River-sides or in such Seasons or whether the Air being the most sublimest of Elements and as it were the true Original of Life and therefore the finener and more free it is from Defilements the greater are the administring Virtues and Powers both to the Health of the Body and Mind the Magick Spirits and invisible Powers are the true and original Life of all Bodies according to the fineness thinness and unity of the Spirit And so on the contrary such is its Body and it hath its Form Figures and Qualifications from thence and the Element of Air being the finenest and thinest of all others as was mentioned before so the inward Virtue and Spiritual Powers thereof are in proportion more especially when it is defiled by Uncleanness chiefly such as proceed from the Putrifaction of the Animal Kingdom which is the grossest and more pernicious than any that proceed from the Vegetables more particularly from Slaughtered Beasts likewise the Airs of Gardens and Fields where Flowers and Herbs of various kinds grow are filled with the sweet odoriferous Virtues and Fumes of them and such places are thereby made very pleasant healthy and wholsome Now the best Perfumes and Sweets are such that grow in our own Climate and under the Elevation and Influences of our own Stars and Elements all being most agreeable to our Constitutitutions some being more suitable having a nearer Affinity to one Person than to another even as it is in Eatables or Foods the Complexions of Smells or Scents are as various and there is as great a variety in them as there is in Complexions Forms and Inclinations of Mankind by which means all Scents and Smells are agreeable to one or another and disagreeable to others all according to the degrees of the Sal Nitral Virtues or Magick Spirits so that what is a pleasant delightful Smell to one is a distasteful unpleasant Scent to another which is only to be understood in the Vegetable World and not in the Animal all is gross there and it is very rare that their Slaughtered Limbs do send forth Scents that are pleasant except to such as have their Senses depraved by the Use and Communication of gross things for the Scent or Smell of the best Flesh or Fish when prepared by Fire which opens all the Body and sends forth the inward Virtues as one may call it are strong and fulsome except to those as was mentioned before who are used to the eating of them whose Spirits and Bodies are daily made subsist and are continued by them but to others who do Live on cleaner Foods their Smells and Scents are no better than a strong stinking Fume or Vapour more especially when the Housewife or Cook hath not Judgement or doth not distinguish the Operation of things and the Method of preserving the Spirits and the contrary which is very rarely done by Preparers of Foods And it is to be noted that as all or most of the Animals and the Foods made thereof do naturally send forth gross loathsom Smells Scents and Fumes so on the contrary all or most of the Vegetables do as naturally breath forth sweet pleasant delightful Smells more especially all Eatables and many other of most delicate and fragrant Scents therefore they have been called by the Honourable Name of Angelical Food not only from their Fragrancy but Innocency of Birth and harmless Operation both on the Body and Spirits Cleanness and Fragrancy being two of the most valuable Virtues which Uncleanness and Depravity have almost Banished out of the World now Herbs that are pleasant and their Smells or Fumes most healthy are these viz. Southern-wood Hysop Tyme and Mother of Tyme Winter-savory Mint Penny-royal Sage Bawm and several other Sweets but these are the principal the next Sweets are Flowers some of the material are as followeth Pinks Gilly-flowers of several sorts Carnations Jessemy c. likewise a great number of Field Flowers which are less sweet but more Virtuous as to the Fumes sent forth into the Air as the Blossoms of several sorts of Grains and Fruit-trees which do fill or impregnate the Air with odoriferous Fumes There are likewise several other sorts of Herbs whose Smells and Scents are very delightful to some and healthful to all as Tansy Worm-wood Featherfew and all other bitter
Inclination to continue a miserable Life doth not only proceed and arise from the sense Men have of Sin and the breaking of God's Law for which eternal Punishment is threatned though this seems to be sufficient cause to be the Root of each Man's fear of Death which doth not consist in his Transgressions but from that eternal Life and invisible Spiritual Power that supports and dwells in the Body which in all Creatures doth with the highest diligence imitate that Fountain from whence it proceeds 〈◊〉 it is not to be doubted that if a number of Men should be Educated and 〈◊〉 up and under Custom and Methâ—… that did not teach 〈◊〉 believe the Immortality of the Soâ—… 〈◊〉 Rewards for Virtuâ—… nor Punishments for Vice neverthelâ—… the fear and dread of all Violence Oppression and Death would be the same as now it iâ—… and with other Creatures for God's eternal Laws in Nature are the same yesterday to day and for ever or from Eternity to Eternity and Man makes Laws and imitates Customs that are varied and changed out of Evil into Good and out of Good into Evil but God's Law and 〈◊〉 in all the Operations of the Spiritual Powers are in a consâ—… fix'd Method and it is clear that the greatest Evil and 〈◊〉 thing that can be done to Man or any other sensible Creature is to put a Period to the Life before it hath obtained its highest Limit and this sort of Violence doth in all its Circumstances Diametrically oppose the Creating and likewise the Preserving Power of God and the greatest breach of Unity Now that which will make Death and the Thoughts thereof easiest is a clean harmless sober temperate and innocent Life Living within the Compass and Bounds of God's Law that is to do unto the whole Creation and Creatures as a Man would be done unto and if this was done nevertheless every one would Live eternally in this World if they could because the Spirit which is the Life of the Body hath an eternal Original and would be cloathed with a proportionable Body for no Spirit nor Spiritual Power can be known to it self or be a Self-subsisting Individual Creature or be capable of Joy or Sorrow neither in this World nor in that which is to come if it be not comprehended within the Circle of a Body and therefore the Philosophical Apostle Paul tells us that if the Dead rise not or if there be no Resurrection that is new Bodies they were the most miserable of all Creatures which is as if he had said that if after the Death of these Mortal Bodies if the Eternal Spirit or Immortal Soul did not obtain or cloath it self with a suitable Body that is an Immortal one then their Works and good Deeds could not follow them neither could the Holy Men and Saints be capable of enjoying those eternal Blessings promised to all those that observe the Laws of their Creator and keep his Commandments for if there be no new Bodies then the Soul and all the Spiritual Powers that circled and dwelt in this gross Body must of necessity at Death mingle themselves into and with the eternal Fountain and thereby be eternally Annihilated â—…s to Individuality or of being known to it self and consequently not capable either of Joy or Sorrow And note that according to the Disposition and Complexion of the Spiritual Powers such Bodies they are cloathed with and therefore it is not to be doubted but that every Man in the World to come shall be cloathed or obtain a suitable Body proportionable to the Spirit and Soul and such as in the time of the Body did freely immerse and enter into all kinds of Fierceness and Violence Killing those of their own kind and all under-graduated Creatures their new Bodies shall obtain a Figure or Form in proportion And therefore the Scripture doth say and speak of the Heavenly City and Angelical Powers without the Gates are Bears and Dogs for the Spirit is the Original of the Body and not the Body of the Spirit and according to the Equality or Ineâ—…ality of the Spirit or Spiritual Powers such a Figure or Form that obtains for the great and wonderful variety of Forms of Bodies and Figures of things do arise and proceed from the variety of the Spirits and Spiritual Powers which could not have been manifested but only by means of the Body nor be known to themselves It is likewise further to be noted that Death doth at once obliterate and put a period to the five great Princes or Councellors called Senses in which by and through whom the living Powers and Spirits of Eternity do manage and transact all material things in this Visible World or Corporeal Body and at the same time Buries them in the great Abyssal Mystery separating the loving Husband from the affectionate and tender Wife and all other visible things that are near and dear to the Senses and innate Affections and all that claims an interest to the outward Corporality the sensitive Body and Spirit of this World have a right unto and are necessitated to plunge or leap into the grand Mystery of Eternity and that which doth increase and multiply the fear and dread thereof and makes it so exceeding timerous to pass through or over this Sea into Eternity is First Mens living and acting contrary to Gods innocent Laws of Nature and the embracing of evil Customs and Traditions most of which do diametrically oppose all the innocent uniform Powers and Laws of Concord the ignorances thereof being the greatest evil in this World for it is almost impossible for any Person to obtain the Unity if he doth not distinguish the Power of God in himself and the Principles of his own Nature and Composition and for this cause many of the Justest and best of Men that have noâ—… only been soberly and religiously inclined but have as it were transacted all their Affairs with softness and equity according to the settled Religion and Custom of the Nation and Place they are Educated in nevertheless those great and unnatural Evils Violences and Oppressions most or all Nations commit against God and his Holy innocent Law do so strong and powerfully spring and boil up in the center of Mans Soul so soon as the Eternal Spiritual Powers do see and feel that their body or circle of Corporality shall be taken away or they separated from them 〈◊〉 there is a great and wonderful Consternation or Tumult all the Centers Powers and Principles being awakened and as it were grating or rubbing one against another occasioning great Disorders and Agonys between the Nature Spiritual Powers and Principles all being unwilling to shift or quit their Body or natural â—…tation and be put to seek a new one and being as is mentioned before altogether ignorant of then doth arise in the Center of the Soul various Accusations of their not doing this or the other thing or of some mis-spent time or neglect of the â—…mon Duty of
any perswade a Turk to become a Christian after 20 years of Age Or on the other side a Christian to be a Turk and so of all others by which this great Truth doth appear over all that Customs Examples and Living Precedents have far greater power and influence over Mankind than the Constellation any Person is Born under Besides the wonderful and amazing Varieties both of the Animal Vegetable and Mineral Kingdoms are such that the Births of all Created Beings are in one degree or other manifestly unlike many Men have been curious in this matter but no Man could ever find two things in all Circumstances alike or of one dimention or complexion And the original cause of this Wonder is hid from the Eyes and Understanding of the greatest number of Men the blindness ignorance and wickedness of Mankind is so great that the Sons of Wisdom are forbid discovering of this secret Wisdom for the Unlearned would not only trample Pearls under foot but also make an ill use of them no Man doubts but according to the old Maxim of Wisemen and Naturalists that Man in Soul Body and Spirit is a compleat Epitome or Image of the Great Immense Creator and Father of all Beings and therefore in him is contained the true nature and property of all material Things or Elements and he may be fitly and properly likened or compared with the Earth in which are the Seminary Seeds and powers of all Herbs Grains Fruits and Trees of which there is amazing variety even beyond Humane number only this difference is to be understood the Sal Nitral forms and four grand qualities stand in their several respective degrees in some things one form and quality is strong another weak which doth occasion the great difference of Earths which by the understanding Husbandman and his Cultivation can be made capable to bring forth all kinds of Herbage Corn Seeds Fruits and Trees by his encreasing and decreasing of qualitys which by his Dressing Dunging and Manuring he changeth the complexion of the Ground by his apt mixtures making weak qualities strong and strong properties weaker Now can any understanding Man imagine but that there will be the like great difference in the Humane Nature for Mens Employments together with their Communications are able to vary their Complexions abating and lessening their sanguine tractable Tempers and advancing their fierce invading Tempers which before their conversing with things of the like nature could hardly be seen or known so that there is nothing more true than that every particular Trade Employment or Practice doth incircle all such that enter into such Business having a Key that opens all the secret Doors and Gates and the Complexion or Nature of that thing is never satisfied till it hath found out its Similie which in a little time and practice doth strengthen and advance by which weak Dispositions and fainty Inclinations become strong and powerful and on the other side strong Inclinations and Dispositions are mightily weakned and grow languid and drooping as if they had a Consumption Now if every Man and Woman did not contain the true nature and property of the whole then this could not be done for every particular thing must have a Friend or a Confederate in the Humane Nature or else it could have no power to encrease decrease strengthen or weaken Forms Principles and Qualitys and mould them into their Natures by impressing their Dispositions and Inclinations in a great degree alter and chang them Now if this be true of Exercises and Employments which are but External and managed with the motion of the Members of the Body then what power and influence must Meats and Drinks have on the Soul Spirit and Body which are as it were the Original or Seminary Seeds and Substance of the Humane Nature whose Operations are all Internal from which are generated Blood Spirits Inclinations Words and Works either clean or unclean better or worse all according to the nature of the Foods If Mankind and those skill'd in the Astrological Science did understand and had Wisdom to distinguish these things they would be far more afraid of the malignant influences of the Stars and Constellations that rule in that part of the Globe called the Earth that is evil Education unclean Meats Drinks Exercises Trades Employments Communication Tradition wicked Customs and Examples than from the Male Configuration of the Heavenly Bodies not but Men do by their Uncleanness and Sinful Methods most powerfully attract and draw the venemous Nature and Dispositions out of all the Stars Elements and all Undergraduated things for as is mentioned before Man is like all things and all things like him and so he is rendred capable to influence all things and all things have power to influence him either for better or worse So wonderful hath our Blessed Creator made all Creatures and Beings enduing them with an influential Power and Energie and more particularly the Humane Nature for it is not to be doubted but that Mankind is endued with an innate Power and thereby is not only rendred as capable to move and influence the Starry Coelestial and all the powers of the Elements as they are to move and influence him to that or the other thing whether it be Virtue or the contrary for the Princes Governors Magistrates of all kinds together with the Priests Prophets and Advocates are the great Stars Planets and Constellations that Govern and under whose influence all Men and other Creatures and Things are subjected to in this Sublunary World there being nothing more true and manifest that they are the Lordâ—… of every Mans Ascendant for by the power and vertue of their Commands Laws Customs and Traditions they make all bow before them let them be of what Constitution Nature or under what Constellation soever all Configurations both good or ill must yield Obedience to their Methods as we have before shewed by the Memorials Laws Customs Traditions and Religions of all Nations for this cause that which is esteemed true Virtue and Religion in one Country is Evil or Vice in another Now can any Person that wears Eyes in his Head be so ignorant as to think or believe that the powers and influences of the Coelestial Bodies are the prime Cause and Promoters of those vast Variety and Difference there is in the Religions and Manners of Mankind no no the true Original of all this amazing variety of Sentiments and Methods are the Orâ—…cles Prophets and Gods each Country doth Observe Adore and Worship be they either good or evil all both the Wise and the Simple fall Victims to their power Would not Swearing as is mentioned before and all other evil Words be they of what nature soever be as unknown and altogether as hard and impossible as for Children to learn Hebrew Greek or any other Language they never heard any speak no the Coelestial Stars and great illuminated Bodies whose Orbs or Circles they move by our demonstrative Guesser The
silent only giving the Tutor an account of what he shall discourse and act and within the limits of the fore-mentioned time of a year or two the Learner shall be able to Speak properly easily and readily with a true Accent or Pronunciation as tho' he had been bred up in that Country whose Language he learns Thus briefly and with my wonted freedom I have given you my Thoughts of this Matter but how far they may concur with your Judgment and Inclination is wholly to your self only I desire you to believe they are sincerely intended for your Benefit by him who is SIR Your affectionate Friend and very humble Servant T. T. LETTER XXXI Of Times for EATING SIR YOurs of the 18th of August is before me and am heartily glad of you and your Familys good Health and Welfare and in particular take notice of your Question which when you was in London we had some discourse about viz. The best and properest times of the day for Eating our common Meats and the Natural and Physical Reasons thereof which you desire more fully This Question we have in our Way to Health and some other of our Writings given an account of to which we referr you however the Talents the ever Blessed Creator and Preserver of all Beings hath given me are always Devoted both to the Publick and Private which please to take as followeth THE goodness or badness of Concoction of Foods doth cheifly consist in the strength or weakness of the natural Spirits and according to their Degrees and Powers so is each Person 's Digestion better or worse quicker or slower the Root and Centre of a strong Stomach stands in the Fire therefore all such as are dignified with strong heats such are likewise endued with brisk lively Spirits and consequently with their respective Virtues and Vices cleanness or the contrary so is each Person in Health Strength Sickness and Weakness likewise the times of the day for Eating and Drinking do also add or diminish to each Person 's Health Strength Briskness or dull cloudy Heaviness for this cause we have in several of our Writings given Direction for the times that is to Eat about 8 of the Clock in the Morning and about 3 or 4 in the Afternoon Now the natural Reasons for it is First The length of time between 4 in the Afternoon and 7 or 8 in the Morning is considerable and more hours than half the Day and Night by which the Digestion of the Meats and Drinks are compleatly Concocted and the Stomach freed and as it were cleansed from all superfluous Matter and thereby is rendred fit and capable to receive proper Meats and Drinks and though the Appetite so early in the morning be not so sharp and craving as it is in the day after Labour and Motion in the open Air occasioned by the heat of the Bed and Stilness or gentle Motion but this kind of Dulness that most have so early proves a Benefit rather than the contrary for both craving or sharpness of Appetite doth frequently centre in a kind of Gluttony from whence the old Proverb did take its Birth Too long Fasting and too sharp an Appetite makes a gluttonous Meal and the like is to be understood in too great Drought both being a kind of Distemper and never passes off without leaving behind some signal Evil or at leastwise sowing Seeds and laying sure Foundations for Diseases But the indifferency and cleanness of the Stomach and Appetite in the morning prevents this sort of Gluttony and yet at the same time the Meats and Drinks find a well-prepared Stomach and a Ware-house where there is sufficient place and room to stow the Foods without prejudice to Nature whereas great hunger and strong or too sharp Appetites is in many Persons apt to continue the pleasure of the Palate in Eating and Drinking much longer than the conveniency or necessity of the Stomach and therefore most after such Meals do Experience a heavy hot cloudy Indisposition Secondly Sleep and Rest from action and motion are the principles from which the natural Spirits take their Birth and are hereby continually recovered and sustained and on the other side Motion Exercise and Action are means and methods that waste spend and weaken Now it is clear that in a Morning every Persons Experience doth witness a more brisk lightsomness and that the Body and Mind are more able and fitter to perform all actions of the Body and likewise to exert the Functions of the Mind far exceeding what they are in the Afternoon or latter part of each day and as each Person is more capable and better prepared for all the Actions of Life in the first part of the Day or Morning The like is to be understood of the Actions of the Stomach because all the power of Concoction and Digestion consists in the strength weakness goodness and badness of the natural Spirits for this cause it always proves an evil for any Person to consume or waste the natural Spirits too much either by Labour Fasting or any other Motion or Exercise before Eating because Meats and Drinks do require as strong Spirits and many for the Concoction and Digestion of Foods as Labour Motion and the brisk actions of Life do or rather more as most can or may experience for the cloudy heavy hot weariness and unnatural Disposition that follows after such great Meals of Food and strong Liquors which do overfill and stock the Stomach or Natures Magazin with too great quantities and of contrary qualities proves far harder to bear and of more dangerous consequence than either hard Labour motion or action of the Body for this cause every Person ought to Eat and Drink before the brisk lively natural Spirits are too far spent either by motion labour or too long Fasting by which they are preserved so that such a one shall be capable to go through the fatigue and business of the day with ease and pleasure and thereby free Nature from various Indispositions and from Sowing of Seeds for future Diseases for these reasons all Persons will find by experience after a little use and custom that an early Breakfast as we call it of some sort of Pottages within half or one hour at the most after they rise always Drinking a Draught of Small Ale or Beer before they eat that is so soon as they are up will prove of far more advantage both for Health Pleasure and performing all the actions of Life and Business than a Breakfast about 9 or 10 of the Clock and a Dinner about 12 1 or 2 as the Custom is which doth for the most part prove burthensom all the last part of the day and prejudicial to Nature For this is to be noted that the Meats or Foods after they come into the Stomach do not afford nor distribute their nutritive Vertues under the length or time of 5 or 6 hours or at leastwise that a Person can be sensible or feel a refreshment proceeding
property that governs the Creature so that as soon as the Body of any thing is opened it may thereby be distinguished what Form or Principle ruled in the Center of Life and he that has the true Use of this Faculty may easily discern the Complexion of any Creature It is an invisible Power it s Body is the Air which in a very short time will convey the Scent to a considerable distance and is received into our Bodies by the Assistance and Mediation of the Air which is a thin Spiritual Body penetrating into all parts doing good or harm according to the respective Qualities that have the Ascendant incorporating with great Vigour with every thing it finds like its self upon which account gross stinking Foggs Scents and Vapours are unclean and extreamly hurtful to the Mind and Body being continually drawn into the Central parts and Wound the Health 〈◊〉 a Spiritual and Invisible manner The contrary is to be understood of good Smells and clean thin sweet Airs c. Now every Scent or Smell whether good or bad clean or unclean does by custom and continual communication beget and strengthen its Simile by which the grossest and most impure Airs become easie and familiar otherwise several stinking Trades and Employments would not be tolerable nor in any degree Healthful for as Gods Love is one and the same in all things so is his Handmaid Nature which uses all possible Endeavours to provide and Arm her self against the Assaults of her common Enemies Custom and Habit begetting their own properties and rendring those things easie which would otherwise never be endured Moreover such troublesom gross Smells are naturally more agreeable to some People than to others as being endued by their Constitutions with greater talents of suitable matter whereby they live as healthy as those who are accustomed to clean and finer Airs Nay some Mens Natures and Complexions are so agreeable to these gross Scents and thick Vapours that they find themselves Disordered when they come into more pure and subtile Airs as is evident in such who Live and are Born in Cities and great Towns A Consideration is also to be had to the Meats and Drinks any Person feeds on which prepare the Body to a better bearing of Scents or Smells whether clean or unclean for Food is the substance of each Mans Body and Spirit and for this cause London and some great Cities are as healthy and as few Dye in them as in the Country in proportion to the number of People notwithstanding the cleanness and goodness of the Air Besides the Foods in many Countries of England are grosser and worse prepared than in great Cities great part of them living on Hogs Flesh ill Ordered and Cooked eaten fresh or very little Salted also penning them up in close Sties during the time of their Fatning is very prejudicial to the Flesh which subjects the Eaters to a great number of unclean Diseases in their Bodies as Mangy Scabs Sores and Boils these things ought to be well considered because they do very much Affect the Body in order to the manner of its receiving the impressions of Airs Scents and Smells Again there is not the same likeness and affinity between the Countryman's Food and Air that he lives in as there is between the Citizens the Country Air being fine and full of Brisk Lively Spirits and the Cities the contrary neither is there the same Agreements in the Methods of living whereby the fineness of the Air is rendred of little value or benefit to them for what the one Builds up the other Destroys Now the Sense we are discoursing of is the common Officer that communicates these Airs and Scents to the whole Body whether they be good or evil and the Body nor the Mind cannot be hurt with them if this Sense will powerfully withstand and oppose them and not suffer them to enter for each Sense hath a Gate which it can open or shut as it pleases and therefore when any Person is among gross and unclean Smells he can hold his Nose But the best way is if he is forced to stay there any considerable time to draw the Air into his Mouth and expell it again the same way by keeping it open by this means a Man may in a great measure avoid the Injury which such Smells would otherwise do for neither the Taste Sight Hearing nor Feeling can be Afflicted with any evil or good Smell not communicate the evil of the bad nor the vertues of the good to the Central parts of the Body nor Affect the natural Spirits each must do its own Business they cannot Act for one another Nevertheless there are some Scents and Smells so highly graduated in the dark direful nature of sullen Saturn and fiery Mars which neither the Temper nor Constitution of Man or other Animals are able to sustain or endure They are of such a vehement subtle and resistless operation that they surprize and destroy all the Faculties and Powers of Life in a Moment Their Motion is so quick as admits no Guard or Prevention There are no Antidotes against their force neither in Foresight nor Physick Italy and Spain can give many fatal Demonstrations of this Truth who are so exquisite in the mixing preparing and compounding of Scents that they have dominion over the very Air to what Extent or Limit they please Nay they will force the Air to Conspire with their Black Designs and retain the Infection till their Mischiefs are Compleated Likewise there are several sorts of Minerals and Metals that in the Melting Refining and Separating send up such Mortal and Inimical Vapours that no Use or Custom in the World can ever render familiar and healthful the more crude and foul any Metal is the more gross and poysonous are its fumes when it passes the fluxes of the Fire as Quick-silver Lead and many other Metals On the other side the higher any Metal is in its Nature Refined and Purged the finer sweeter and more pleasant are the fumes it sends up from the Fire when Melted and Refined and consequently more healthy and agreeable to the Workman The very same is to be understood of the Fat of Beasts or other Animals 't is better or worse clean or unclean according to the Graduation or Birth of the Creature which is declared by their Shapes Forms and Figures to the distinguishing Eye also the Cries and Tones they send forth Likewise when the Flesh oâ—… Fat is Burned and the Centre of the Body opened the fume oâ—… smell informs you what property of Nature had the Principle Government in the Creature the scent of the Dung or Ordure of most Creatures will afford a manifest Discovery of their originaâ—… Qualities whether clean or unclean c. This is apparently evident let a Hog eat the same Grass Corn or Food as Sheep Oxen Cows c. yet the Swines Breath Urine and Dung will never have the same Scent or Smell with the other so that
their Post and Defend the Microcosmical City from her Enemies For the use and office of the Palate is to distinguish whether our Meats and Drinks be equal or unequal that is whether the Bitter the Sweet the Saltish Astringent or Sour and which of these have the Governing or Predominancy in the said Foods and Drinks For these four Qualities are the very Centre and original foundation of all the wonderful and amazing Varieties not only of Tastes but of the Complexion of every individual thing or Creature both in the Animal Vegitable and Mineral Worlds or Kingdoms and according to the degrees of their Government such a Form Shape and Signature Qualification and Nature they are of either good or bad vertuous or vicious from which foundation and ruling power each Creature obtains the name either of good or evil Therefore no Man can pretend to know or understand the general nor particular Nature Effects and Operation of any thing or Creature if he be Blind and Dumb as to the Signature and distinguishing these four Grand Qualities or Mighty Powers that are as it were the very Centre and Composition of all things for if the Musician do not understand the wonderful Power and Energy of the Seven Notes which are the Basis and Central powers of Equality and Concord nor the Mathematician the true uses of the Nine Figures the first can make no Harmony nor the last cannot penetrate into the Secrets of that wonderful and demonstrative Science by which so many Wonders and Useful Trades Callings and Employments have been Midwifed into the World to the great benefit of Mankind For he that does not understand the Proportion nor the Qualities and Parts things are made and compounded of cannot have any true or certain knowledge neither of himself nor of any other thing but do speak and judge by chance and not from any intelligable or Central Knowledge or Understanding The five outward Senses are the Materials Man is Compounded of as to the Elements of the Body and which are the true House and Corporality of the five inward Mental Senses or Spiritual Powers the outward being as so many Kings and Princes who have under their Command many Officers and Centinels that have several Posts by whose Vigilancy and Diligence all the common Roads and Passages might be kept safe and free from Tumults and Disorders for the outward Senses are the Carriers or Presenters of all Objects and things to the sleeping Magick Powers of the Mind or inward Senses and therefore it is of great and infinite moment for every one to regulate and keep the five outward Senses in due order viz That they be not defiled nor adulterated by Intemperance Uncleanness and Disorders neither in Meats Drinks Employments nor Communications And therefore this great and Noble Sense the Taste or distinguisher of all Qualities Forms and Complexions is wonderfully and aptly placed in the Mouth or grand Gate or inlet that leads into the very Center of the Microcosmical City which Gate or Passage is double Guarded as is mentioned before that it may be able to bolt or shut out whatsoever shall be offered that is not profitable nor good either for the Support or Substance of the Body or Mind But if this Sense of Tasting be sâ—…llyed and most are rendred incapable of distinguishing Vertue from Vice or natural Preparations from Hetrogenials to judge better of the Nature and true Operations of Foods and Drinks than Blind Men can of Colours or Deaf Men of Musick for having lost the true use of this Noble Faculty and Precious Jewel a Man is left destitute of all conduct and there remains but one thing by which he is rendred in any degree able to resist the great Enemies of Nature Gluttony Uncleanness and Disorder viz the will and desires can by its innate Power command the Gates the Teeth and Lips to be shut and barred up to defend and keep out all Invading and Incroaching Powers that continually attempts to storm the Health and Preservation of Man Therefore it is a Vertue of great Value to command the Mouth to be shut and to deny himself the Tasting of improper Meats and Drinks and to keep the Mouth shut against the beloved Apple for by Eating Mankind is preserved both in the Harmony of his Body and Mind and by Eating he is likewise sunk into the deepest Misery and Depravity as Witness our first Parents Eating is a great Misery which few or none understand if they did there would be more Care and Caution in it then there is It was not without great Reason and inspired Thought that the Learned Moses tells us that our first Parents Fell and Degeneration came on them by eating of the Forbidden Fruit what that was we will not undertake to decide however it is not to be doubted but that it did arise and proceed from the evil Powers and divided Forms that is from the disunion of the Principles and Qualities of their own Composition for whosoever doth Eat and Drink without the Eye of Wisdom and distinguishing of God and of Nature in themselves must of necessity Eat the Forbidden Fruit for in whomsoever the Powers of the violent wrathful Spirits are stirred up and awakened the Mouth of the same black Principle is opened and with its highest diligence desires and seeks out a suitable Food this was the dark or gloomy Door that all the great â—…wils and Cruelties came in at for when the Central Blood-Hounds have gotten the Scent and tasted Blood and Wounds then all the noble Faculties the Senses especially that of the Taste becomes depraved and the Will and Desires arises and are continually Generated from the dark Magia then there is no distinction between Cleanness and Uncleanness Violence and Vertue that Form that is awakened in the sullen Magia forms the Thoughts Desires and Wills which Rules and Commands over all the Inferior Officers and Powers and Nature bows before this violent fierce and fiery Spirit as Iacob did before Esau. Now Meats and Drinks are of the same Lump and in them are contained the compleat Nature and true Property of Man be they of what kind soever every sort and particular hath its own Complexion and its whole Business and Inclination is to advance that Property which is strongest in it and doth use all Industry to subject all Forms and Powers to its Government be it either Good or Evil Violence or Patience Anger or Love for so soon as Mankind loses his Way and distinguishing Faculties then immediately a crowd of Usurpers throng in upon him in a hostile way and call for their Similes or Assistance for every sort of Food and Drink when it comes into the Stomach is presently turned to Blood Spirits Dispositions and Inclinations and if the Forms be divided and Disunion begotten then Wrath Fierceness and Violence obtains the Government and then all Meats and Drinks are changed and Converted into their own Nature and Property whether they be clean or
but the consideration thereof wiâ—… afford you some Benefit LETTER IV. Of the Sense of Seeing SIR BY the Receipt of yours I find you have a great desire to have my Iudgement of that most Stupendious and Wonderful Sense of Seeing in Answer whereunto I shall according to my Talent endeavour to Explicate the Variousness Virtues and Powers of that most amazing and admirable Faculty NOW as that wonderful Eye of Heaven the Sun is the very Centre of Light of all the numberless numbers of Creatures being the Foundation and Well being of them all who by its illuminating Beams Communicates Life and Light to all the Host of Heaven and Earth without which all would be a dark Chaos of Misery and Confusion Words are too short to set forth the Uses and Excellencies of this Sun of God in which the Preserving and Divine Power is understood and manifested And as this high illuminating Spirit and Power is the Eye which doth enlighten and preserve every Member and Part of the Great World being its Soul or Centre The like is to be understood of the Sense of Seeing in us for as the Sun is the Eye of the Macrocosm so is the Sense of Seeing the Light of the Microcosm which doth enlighten every Member and Part thereof for Man is a compleat Image of God and his Handmaid Nature and doth contain the true Nature and Properties of the whole and therefore is called a Little World or an Extract from the Great and as this high and mighty Power the Sun doth enlighten direct and conduct all and by whose Power and illuminating Beams all this wonderful variety of Beings and Creatures are understood and distinguished And as the World would be a miserable Chaos if the glorious Eye of Heaven were withdrawn but one moment even so it would be with Man for this Sense of Seeing is both in the Great and the Little World the true Guide of all Action and Motion and in this Sense or Light is contained the Secret or Central Fire which by Motion and continual Circulation of contrary Qualities becomes manifest warming and preserving the whole being the Root and Original of Vegetation and the true Father of the Light for Fire and Light are inseparable they dwell eternally together for this cause where the Light is weak or but little there the Fire is as impotent as is most manifest in all the Northern parts of the World most part of the Year being terrible-Cold Frosty Weather the Elements being Congealed for want of Heat The contrary is to be understood in the Southern parts of the World where there is Light Heat is always at hand and in what thing soever the Central Fires are potent there the Light is also strong powerful and lasting there being always a proportionable Nature between the Light Fire or Central Heat of each thing both in Animals Vegetables and Minerals for this cause Children and all Young People have a clearer and more penetrating Sense of Seeing than those of Age because their Light burns clearer and all their Humours are clean vigorous and free from dull cloudy Vapours the Elements of Water and Fire being thin and more pure do rarify each other by which the Oil of Life or Salnitral Vertues are clean and free from gross obstructing Matter from whence the Fire hath its bright clear shining Quality so that in Youth all the Operations of the Elements are more brisk lively and powerful than in Age as appears not only in the Sight but in all the Actions of Life For as the Natural and Central Fires decay the Light equally grows weak some sooner some later according to the degrees of the Decay or Weakness sometimes this decrease of natural Heat is Universal and when this happens the whole Body doth quickly dwindle and fall into Death but very often this Decay of the Natural Heat happens in the Intelligible part the Head by some accident of Obstruction the Vessels or Optick Nerves becoming stiff or as it were glewy the Porous Parts or Vessels being narrowed or small which does prevent the free Ingress Egress and Regress of the fine thin rarified Spirits that are generated thro' the whole Body which every moment doth ascend by certain Circular Motions into the Head or most Intelligible Part which if at any time the whole Road or common Passage of those fine thin rarified Spirits be stopt or obstructed the Person so Afflicted immediately falls and nothing but Death follows and that in a moments time this being the Original occasion of sudden Death so that many Sound Healthy Persons by such like Obstructions fall into Death who otherwise might have Lived many Years as being free from Diseases For this cause Temperance and Cleanness both in Quality and Quantity of Meats and Drinks are as it were the Spring-head of Health and the Generater of fine clean nutriment good Blood pure Spirits noble Dispositions and Inclinations whatever Cormorants and unclean Belly-gods may Dream to the contrary Nature and God's Law is always true and cannot lie Every thing under the Government of the glorious Eye of Heaven doth arise proceed and follow its first Matter and carries in its Bosom or Centre a Key that can readily join and unlock all the secret Doors of Nature's Cabinet and finding out and incorporating with its Simile encreasing and strengthening the same which is the highest Joy and Solace of all Corporal and Incorporal Beings For this cause as any Persons Meat Drink Employment and Communications are either from the dark cloudy Root clean or unclean so the Humours Blood Dispositions Inclinations Words and Works all proceed and go on in a streight Line or Method therefore to be either too much in the Sun or Shade begets Complexions for Meats and Drinks are the Centre and Substance of our Lives and in them are contained the true Nature and Property of all Qualities Principles and Dispositions enduing the Eater with their Qualifications If this were not true Man could not Subsist or have his Life continued whatever the unthinking do or may imagine to the contrary every thing knows its own Voice and Cries after its own Dam or Mother and the Senses are the Officers Carriers or Conveyers of all things to the Central parts and Understanding so that all the hidden Powers and Qualities are awakened each Quality having its peculiar Appetite do direct and draw unto its self both Corporally and Spiritually not intermeddling with the Business of its Neighbour So this wonderful penetrating Sense is the only Guide of the Body and capable Power to present unto the Understanding and Judgement the Forms and Signatures of all things in the Animal Vegitable and Mineral Worlds by which an enlightened Philosophical Mind can in some degree by the Form and Signature understand the Complexion of each and consequently their Uses It is this Sense that doth likewise present unto the Intellectual part of Man all delightful and pleasant Prospects serene Airs and agreeable clean
Constitution and Disposition compels them to it But most Beasts Birds and Fish their Rest and Sleep is nothing but a continual waking in comparison of Man's deep and dead Sleep The principal cause why the Creatures are not so drowned in this drowsy Death is they have not broken God's Law but live more intire and according to their Original their Meats and Drinks being more suitable to their Original Natures whether they be clean or unclean for to Unclean Creatures unclean Food is suitable and agreeable to its Qualifications and to the Clean clean Foods are in proportion suitable and therefore all the Beasts are not only more wakeful and less subject to the Sleep of Death than Man having all their Senses more ready lively brisk and at all times more at command for they rarely gratify the four Head Senses to disturb and torment the Sense of Feeling and therefore are not so terribly pestered with such a number of cruel Diseases as Man therefore it is most clear that all the great Powers called Senses are dull heavy and as it were half Dead when sleeping but when waking are brisk and lively all according to the Meats Drinks Employments Communications and Exercises for Mankind by rapacious unclean Meats and Drinks makes himself of another Complexion and his Constitution is another thing than originally it was nothing being so deplorable and so great an Evil as to act and live in a contrary Method to its own Creation and this is the greatest Curse that can fall upon any Creature this is Man's greatest Fall and Misfortune which can never be cured except he again enter into Resignation or Self-denial viz. Into Equality or Union that is into Temperance and Cleanness and live according to his Original State and Constitution But so long as he oppresses the Creatures and violates their Well-being and Quiet he can never have reason to expect to be freed from far greater than the inferiours and therefore this Feeling Power is rarely free from Trouble and Perplexity as being subject to all kinds of irregular Courses both of the Body and Mind there is no Disorder or Intemperance but does fall on it as all our Labour Care Love Hate Hope Fear Hunger Cold Heat evil Communications and all Words and Works this Sense is the Centre or House both of Joy and Sorrow both in Time and Eternity For this cause Mankind ought to be on his Guard at all times and Seasons being beset on all sides both within and without with a great number of Temptations and evil Customs the Degeneration of Man is such that all things he meddles with is a Share to him being deprived of the true use of the Powers Qualities and Principles of himself and being in the Dark he uses all his Senses to a wrong purpose so that all those high and noble Intelligences are sullyed and made subject to the gross inferiour unclean Powers which doth continually load and lay as it were intollerable Burthens on this universal Sense every Action and Motion of Life Inclination and Disposition doth influence that it being the Touch-stone which doth demonstrate from what Principle or Root each Action and Motion of Life doth proceed and take their Birth whether from the Evil or Good Now this Sense is the Judge both of the Body and all its Actions and also of the Desires and Inclinations so that Man hath no occasion to look abroad for Councellors or for a Judge they all dwell in himself he is the Thing viz. The great Mystery wherein all the Treasures both of Time and Eternity are to be understood and therefore the Apostles might well say that whatsoever could be understood or known of our Great Creator and of his great Powers in Nature was manifested in Man and as clear to be seen as the Sun at Noon but who can see the Sun if he be Blind Is it not a most miserable and deplorable Condition Mankind hath fallen and sunk himself into that he hath lost the Understanding and distinguishing Power of his own Composition and of his own Senses and that he hath not the use of them to that degree as the Beasts have as we shall demonstrate when we treat of the Common Animals for it is not possible for any Man to understand the whole if the parts of the Things or Qualities it is compounded of be not distinguished this is most clear and manifest in all Sciences Arts and Trades which do all arise and take their Birth from Man and the Mystery contained in his Microcosm for if all Sciences Arts and Trades yea a thousand Mysteries and rare Inventions that have are and will be found out and brought to light had not been originally Essential in the very Centre of Man then it had been impossible to have brought them to light What great Pity and Lamentation is it that Man who is endued with so many great noble and worthy Faculties and in whom is contained all the great Mysteries of Time and Eternity and made to live in and under the Operation of the United and Illuminated Powers of God's Law should suffer his Will and Desires to enter into the dark Magick of Discord Fierceness Wrath Violence Intemperance Uncleanness and Oppression of all the innocent Inhabitants of the Earth and at the same time to plague and to torment himself for the Groaning of those Creatures that suffer Pain never fail to procure Misery to the Actors thereof It is farther to be noted that that thing which is Pleasure to the Sense of Tasting and a Delight to the Sense of Seeing doth often prove a torment to the Sense of Feeling as in Gluttony and Drunkenness which do frequently distemper the Body and perplex the Mind The like the Sense of Seeing doth bring on this Sense by presenting curious Objects to the Intellects whicâ—… puts Man on the Rack till he hath obtained his desires and wheâ—… that is done there is no more satisfaction than before for iâ—… Wisdom be obliterated then there is nothing can give satisfaction for such do all things by Custom Tradition and President asking no question Now if Mankind hath lost the use of those grosser Powers how can he then be capable of the more Intellectual and Divine Operations of Gods eternal Law and Holy Light The first foundation of this Stupidity Blindness and Erroâ—… was gross Eating Drinking and Uncleanness for nothing hath so much Power and Authority on the Body and Mind 〈◊〉 Meats and Drinks which do sustain and support both Body aâ—… Spirits and according to their respective Virtues or Vices they nourish and incline to this or the other thing so that nothinâ—… hath so great power to preserve the intrinsick Vertues and gooâ—… Properties in Man as Sobriety Temperance and Cleanness and on the other side nothing doth so much fully the worthy and iâ—… telligible Faculties as Intemperance Disorder and Uncleanness This is clearly manifest in that noble Sense the Smelling whicâ—… is as we have said an
invisible Power whose body is the Air This is the Sense by whose directions all the Beasts and Creatures who have kept Gods Law do distinguish and choose their Foods viz. what to eat and what to forbear this Sense penetrates to the very Center of each thing and doth distinguish the good and evil Qualities and presents them to the Judge and if good they embrace them if evil they refuse them this all the undergraduated Creatures do perform without touching oâ—… tasting which noble distinguishing Power Man hath least of anâ—… thereby the Sense of Feeling is wounded by receiving Meats and Drinks that produce Diseases and Pains for all the Disordeâ—…s Intemperances and Errours of the other four fall or centre oâ—… the Sense of Feeling whence springs such a multitude of Diseases in the Body and Mind This Sense is a faithful Centinel or Guard that presents all Comers and Goers to the distinguishing Powers and Judge which gives certain and true Judgment if it be not corrupted and blinded by degenerate Courses and unclean Methods of Life otherwise it is capable to determine by its Touchstone the Complexion of each thing if it be cold as a stone then it turns it by as unfit for communication because of his weight and hardness the Central fire being locked up in the cold Watry Coâ—…lation or strong Bond of the Saturnine property and thereâ—… it is only good for such uses as Building to withstand the wrath of the Elements and to shelter Man from their fierceness also if any thing be presented in which the strong fierce heat is kindled it puts that by and tells its various uses for which it is good and the contrary the Truth of this may be further demonstrated by several Arts Trades and Employments The judgment whereof chiefly depends on this Sense of Feeling for by handling it is known whether work be welldone and compleat It s smoothness closeness thickness thinness c. are represented to the Understanding and determined according to what it finds whether it be good or evil It is likewise farther to be noted that this Sense of Feeling is the ground or original to all Corporality for though the Mind or Soul do contain all Principles Forms and Powers which do all lie in the sleeping or silent Magia even as all forms and qualities of Nature do in the Earth which could never be known or become manifest if the Husbandman by Manuring and Cultivation did not stir up and awaken the innate Powers and Qualities which do as it were stir up and wrestle with each other from whence proceeds a lively brisk motion of heat and vigour which is called growing or vegitation and then the hidden or incorporeal Forms and Qualities become visible being manifested in corporeal and individual Bodies for none of the Magical Forms and Powers can be known before they become Cloathed with suitable Bodies For every Spiritual Power or Quality when it is stirred up or agitated by circular motions and the russling or rubbing together of contrary Principles which do generate and open the Gates of heat and moisture which lie hid under such Spiritual or Magical Power and Form and is capable to attract proper and agreeable matter for a Cloathing or Body and according to the Governing or Predominant quality in the Spirit or Magick fire whether it be the bitter sour salt or sweet such a Body Shape or Form that thing obtains and is accordingly Vitious or Vertuous For in all Corporal Beings the Flegm or Body is the House wherein the hidden or Spiritual Beings become manifest and therefore so soon as the Spiritual substance that is surrounded and skinned over hath obtained its highest limit then there is no longer a Progression or Vegitation but all falls into Retrogradation Now the Flegm or Body doth by degrees dye and the inward power strength vertue and spirit of the thing loseth its House or Cloathing and so sinks into its Original and becomes again mingled with the hidden Powers and Spiritual Beings of the Elements and so much difference and variety you see in the Shapes Forms and Colours in the Animal Vegitable and Mineral Kingdoms which is beyond all human numeration The same variety there is in the Complexions of the Spiritual Powers and Qualities each Spiritual matter that hath the Government gives the Shape and Colour and as the Operations of the hidden Nature are in the Creating Generating and bringing to Manifestation the deep and wonderful Powers of the Vegitable and Mineral Kingdoms The very same is to be understood in the Animal Kingdom there being no difference but that the last is higher graduated The Body of Man is the human Ground or Earth which is as it were a Circle in which is contained all the Spiritual Powers Forms and Principles of Nature if this were not so Man could not nor ought not to be stiled or called the Image or Likeness of God so that in Man lyes hid all the wonderful Mysteries and Magick Powers of things even as they do in the Earth Now the Will is the Husbandman who can and doth by the assistance of the five great Powers and Councellors the Senses stir up and awaken the sleeping Magick Powers unto a sensible Feeling Tasting Seeing Smelling and Hearing of each other And this is Sensation or a stirring feeling Power For all the hidden inwardmost Principles and Powers of the Body are Magical Spiritual and Invisible the Body is but the Flegm or Cloathing of the said Powers as the gross body of Vegitables are the Cloathing or Covering of the Spiritual Sal-Nâ—…tral Virtues and Powers and keeps the said Virtues from evaporation For no Spiritual Power can be or ever is contented or satisfied when once it is awakened or stirred up out of its silent Magia or quiet Rest till it obtains a body without which it cannot become manifest to its self nor to the rest of the Corporal or Visible Powers for all the hidden Principles or Qualities are not satisfied till they are invested with proportionable bodies that thereby they may obtain an individual Being Therefore from Words each Man doth proceed to Actions or Works which doth compleat all the gradual proceedings and birth of Nature by which they become essential and substantial so that Principle Quality or Power that was in its first original ground a Naked or Magick thought is by the working moving Powers and contrary Qualities brought into a visible substance or Corporeal Body so that from the Nothing or invisible Spiritual Powers the Visible and Corporal Bodies and Substances of all things have taken their birth and therefore it was well and truly said by the ancient Seers and Wisemen that God made all things out of nothing For the original ground or unchangeable and incomprehensible Being is a Nothing in comparison to Corporality or Corporeal Bodies and therefore no Magick Powers or Spiritual Being can be manifest to its self or become individual as before mentioned till it Cloaths it self with
Delight and in its stead is felt trouble and pain So that this Sense is not only the Center of both Joy and Sorrow but of all the other Senses and natural Powers and therefore whensoever any of the other Senses commit any evil or uncleanness the smart thereof falls on this Sense of Feeling Likewise when the Mind is by evil principles influenced or misled on which there do often follow great troubles or perplexitys This Sense by Natures Law must bear and endure all So on the other side this Sense doth enjoy all the pleasures of Temperance Cleanness Wisdom Innocency Charity Order and Union This is the House wherein all the good and evil influences do dwell and inhabit This Sense first felt the miserable Fall and Depravation of Mankind the Eating the forbidden Frâ—…it the Disâ—…ion within and amongst the intelligible Powers immediately puts the Body and the natural Powers and Spirits into Disorder and puts out the Divine Eye and then the invâ—…ding wilfull fierce wrathful Powers command all the great Guides and Councellors the Senses all the qualities and properties of the Body and Mind to obey and observe their Laws and Edicts which were all Created and Coined from the disunited forms and fountain Spirits who had obtained the chief government in the Heart and Soul then the eye of Unity Temperance Cleanness Order and prudent Conduct was blinded or as it were quite put out So that all the intellectual and also the outward Senses lose their Native Right viz. their distinguishing faculty so that most or all things are either done by Chance or ignorantly This was the original Fall and is the present state of Mankind at this day which most or all Men feel by woful experience and this lost state of Union and being divided from God cannot be again felt seen heard smelt and tasted but only by undoing all that our forefather Adam and we his Children did and daily do commit viz. by the turning the eye of Mankinds Will and powerful Desires into Temperance Cleanness Order Humility Charity Justice cleanness in Meats and Drinks Inclinations Dispositions Words and Works by which Holy Vertues Man may be again reinvested and render himself capable of knowing and distinguishing all the operations of the great and wonderful commanding powers of his own composition which is called and truly stiled the knowledge of a Mans self and then and no â—…before this great Power and Sense of Feeling will again obtain its primitive state of Purity true Pleasure and Unity 〈◊〉 likewise all the other four which will then be again installed in their proper stations and rule command and direct-accordingly The Innocence and true Harmony of Mankind did Originally and doth chiefly consist in the unity of this Sense called Feeling both Corporeal and Incorporeal The first false step that Adam made or any of his Posterity hath and doth at this day make the evil Influences are felt by the disharmony this Sense falls into and on the other side this is the Sense that all the sweet Influences and harmonical Operations of all the other Senses and great Powers both of the Body and Mind can center and there are no Passions committed either in Love Hope Fear or Hate but the Effects and Fruits thereof center and fall into this great Magazine and Store-house The Sense of Feeling and the chief business and work of all the other fourSenses is to raise up ripen and collect all its works and productions and fix them on this Sense that they may thereby obtain the Lost unity for in the divided operations of the Sensual Powers there can be no Pleasure for in this state one Form Sense Property or Power doth use the highest industry imaginable to strengthen it self and to invade all the Provinces of its neighbouring Princes which do perplex and break the Union of the whole And therefore many great Evils and Mischiefs fall on Mankind for want of true Wisdom and distinguishing Understanding for if Man hath lost the Knowledge and Divine Sight of himself then he cannot penetrate nor distinguish between the two roots from whence Pleasure Pain and Trouble take their original birth so that each Sense Form and Power both of the Mind and outward Senses do all things in a blind self-ful method and use all ways and means to obtain the unity in the use and practice of extreams and each particular Property doth imagine to be self-subsisting and compleat without being concerned with its Brethren or at least consulting them by way of Advice For if the great inward and outward Counsellors or Senses be blinded or corupted then all the Incorporeal Powers of the Soul and Mind are likewise misled into all Errors and gross Stupidity So then if any of the Senses represent any Object or material thing to these purblind intellectual Powers and blind Principles of the Soul and Mind which do draw or attract the use of them so Powerfully that the disunion of the Microcosm Man is more and more increased and by this means that which was intended by God's Law as a Blessing and if used as it ought would have been so has produced an Evil or Curse as Instance that noble and wonderful Sense the Sight beholds a curious Beautiful Creature or Object whose place and office is to represent the same to all the invisible intellectual Powers Principles and Qualities which by this glance or Ray of Light the Mind Will and desires are so kindled and as it were wounded with this Object that all the still sleeping Magick Powers are in a moment stirred up and awakened so that the disunion and disquietness of the Mind is encreased notwithstanding the Fruition of the desire be obtained The like is to be understood in all the Operations of the other Senses when they bring or present their Fruits to the unthinking blind Intellect or Mind which comes to pass by this means viz. all the inward and outward Guides and Powers of Life and Understanding as is mentioned before having left their Primitive Light and Unity each Property doth with the highest industry imaginable strive to obtain a particular fierce exalting power aiming at nothing else all this while butt hereby to obtain its lost Pleasure and Union which it misseth and instead thereof falls into a greater disunion and disturbance never considering this great truth that Concord cannot be accomplished but only by the Agreement of all the Principles and Qualities the thing or Creature is compounded of It is likewise observable that every small Passion or pleasuâ—… that doth in any degree exceed the limits and bounds of Tempâ—… rance Order and Innocence do produce and multiply a greâ—… deal of pain disorder trouble and perplexity so that whatsoever doth endeavour to encrease any of the Pleasures of thâ—… Senses by indulging and advancing any one of them doth at thâ—… same time augment and multiply displeasure perplexity paiâ—… and disorder even to an hundred degrees and according to thâ—… Proverb for a
another End and Service 〈◊〉 take their Birth and proceed from the Dark and Stygian Deâ—…neracy and Separation from the Divine Power and Union 〈◊〉 from the Uniting Power and Eternal Love of God by whose Virtue all things were made and preserved this same Holy Principle became Flesh and Dwells in every Creature and is the Light and Life of Man This is the Voice of Wisdom that crys in the Gates of Man's Microcosmical City against all Violence to Man and Beast and is the Reconciler of Man's Soul to God bringing it into an Equality and Union This is the true and natural Effect of God's Love and whoever has attained to this Blessed State will esteem the Killing of an Ox as the Slaying of a Man as the Scriptures testify Man is called the Temple of God that if when Men have given up their Will and Desires to 〈◊〉 Governed and Guided by the Holy Principles of God's Eternal Light and Love in Jesus Christ which Inhabits the Centre of all Mens Hearts by which they are rendred capable of recovering that Union again from which they are Degenerated so thâ—… when the Souls of Men are once reinstated by this Blessed Foâ—…tain of Benignity into the equal Operation of those Principle and Forms whereof he is Compounded they will readily set their Seals to the Truth and Certainty of the above-mentioned Scripture But others who do not Live under the Influence and Conduct of this Holy Government are by the Operation of the Envious and Spiteful Powers betrayed into the Commission of such Enormities and violent Cruelties as are equally abominable to God and all good Men generally such is the Original Composition of Man that the Customs of Countries Religion and particular and formal Education will mould it into any Shape or Figure being Susceptible of all Qualities And this is the Grand occasion of Maâ—… so violently pursuing the ways of Wickedness and Evil as if it were their chiefest Good not being at first rightly Instituted nor wholly brought under the Power and Government of God's Holy Light and Love and withal living in a continued and wretched Degeneracy and Ignorance of their first Fall and Separation from the Holy and Peaceful State of Union in which they were Created This I say is the Foundation of all the Outrages Villanies and Violence we see so commonly Practised Ignorance giving them encouragement in their ways of Sin Therefore if God at any time permits Man to commit any Evil or to do any Injury to Man or Beast this Permission issues forth not from the Fountain of Benignity but from the dark and bitter Fountain of Spite and Vengeance separated from the Uniform Powers and Divine Vision as it is said Is there any Evil in the City viz. Man's Heart and am not I in the midst thereof For the Lord fills Heaven and Earth with his Divine Essence and Presence and where he is not in his Love there he is in his severe Fierceness and Anger Hence it is undeniably apparent that the Love and Light of God in Jesus Christ which is the true Redeemer and Reconciler of Man's Soul to God cannot commend Evil in Man it being its own Genuin Nature Inclination and Disposition to act like it self viz. Uniformly disposing and inclining Men to Holiness of Life and to the Exercise and Observation of all other â—…oncomitant Virtues as Cleanness Order Temperance Patiâ—…e Love and Mercy But the plain Truth is Men have gâ—…n 〈◊〉 themselves their Wills and Desires to be Captivated and â—…ed by the Fierce Violent and Angry Powers of the Fountain of Wrath from whence all Irregular Inclinations Words Works Commands and Permission doth proceed and derive their Original Birth and Being These Trâ—…s you ought strictly and daily to Examine and Consider 〈◊〉 earnestly desire that God would give you an Enlightned and Divine Understanding to distinguish rightly between these two Grand Fountains and their Operations which is the greatest Blessing Human Nature is capable of Enjoying in this Life and which will make it entirely Happy to all Eternity in that which is to come Yours in the most unreserved Respects T. T. LETTER XV. To the Honourable Colonel KENT Of a Soldier 's LIFE SIR I Received a Letter from you the last Campaign Dated from Bâ—…sels some time before the opening of the Treaty of Peace which brought along with it the welcome News of your Health and some Scruples concerning the Lawfulness of your Profession occasioned as you declare by Reading a Book of Ours Entituled The Way to Health c. I greatly Congratulate the happy Fortune of its faâ—… into your hands and am apt to believe it was some good Providence that directed you to it not imagining there could be any Treatise of such a Nature as that is in so Quarrelsome and Contentious a Country I confess it is a Discourse very unsuitable for a Soldier unless he could wholly dispossess himself of the Prejudice his very Profession subjects him to and bring an Unbyassed and Impartial Disposition to the Realing of it INdeed I must acknowledge Colonel that I have often admired what could possibly be the reason that Men of excellent Parts both Natural and Acquired of sound Sense and good Education should as it were Hand over Head voluntarily without any Necessity or Compulsion thrust themselves headlong into Arms as if a Life of Incessant Fatigue Hardship and Hazard were desirable and a Man's chiefest Glory did consist in having a Commission to Destroy his Fellow Creatures But now I find by your Letter that your Understanding is alarmed your Eyes opened and that you begin to doubt the Justice of your Undertaking I am very well satisfied you may make the Scruple without the least Imputation of Cowardize having already given unquestionable Evidences of an undaunted and fearless Spirit through the whole Course of the late Campaigns Therefore since you desire my Judgment of the Matter I shall endeavour all I can to advance your Conversion and set you right in your Nâ—…tions It must be considered then from what Grounds or Principles this natural Disposition to Revenge Blood and War doth arise surely all the Commands of God and Man do proceed from the two Grand Fountains of Good and Evil and according to the Predominancy Rule or Government of either of these Principles in the Heart or Centre of Life are all a Man's Actions Influenced and Denominated If the Harsh Fierce Oppressive Spirit obtains the Dominion all kinds of Evil are tollerated and become Lawful especially if the Teachers justify it and the Prince commands it for now a-days and in former times the main Business of those sort of People is to Study Reasons to support and approve the Actions of their Prince for let his Methods be never so Irregular they are obliged to Assert and Justify them and in the most plausible Dress their Rhetorick can Invent recommend them to the People being hired thereto by vast Revenues and particular Priviledges and Immunities so
long as Ignorance Blindness Selfâ—…ood Pride Vain-glory Covetousness Envy Fierceness Violence Tradition and Customs govern Mankind Nothing better can be expected Sir This being what offers from Your ready Friend to command T. T. LETTER XXI Of CORPULENCY SIR I Have yours of September the 20th 1696 and take notice that you are troubled with and subject to Corpulency or Fatness and other Concomitant Diseases and that you would have a proper Medicine to give you some Relief and Ease You likewise say you have had the Advice of the most Learned in your parts and that all Prescriptions and Medicines have proved ineffectual and that your Disease encreaseth upon you I have no inclination to be dabbling with youâ—… Purse but shall give you a plain wholsom method of Life in Meats Drinks and Exercises which if you observe will with the Blessing of God make your Life tolerable if not wholly Cure you NO Fatness can be Cured except such Persons do withdraw the Fuel and forbear such things both in Meats Drinks and Exercises that maintain and support it being a Disease that seldom goes alone but is attended with a black train of other evils their natural heat is seldom potent enough to support and digest their Foods besides the Liquor or Menstruum of the Stomach is rarely free from Crudities so that great part of their Foods and Drinks are turned into gross impure Juices which for want of warm brisk and lively Spirits and thin Blood great store of Flegmy Fat is generated in all the Members and likewise in the Vessels and Passages so that the whole Body becomes glewy and as it were stagnated which prevents the thin Juices and Humors from their free passage and circulation for all the inwardmost or central parts of Mans Body are like Spunges or fine Strainers by which the fine Humors or Spirituous Vertues of our Food and Drink pass and repass which is called a free circulation of all the Juices that serve for Nourishment for there are no large Pipes or Currents for conveyance of Nutriment as some do imagine but all the parts are like Glass that lets in the Light by reason of its transparency The like is to be understood of the passing repassing and circulation of the Nutrimental Humors Juices Blood and Spirits through the whole Body the Bladder being as it were the Sink or Bag to receive all the thin Juices or Urine which a natural motion and secret attraction Drains viz. the Superfluous or Excrementitious moisture from all parts of the Body and notwithstanding the great quantities that fall into this Bag or Sink there is no Pipe Vessel or any thing like it that conveys or carries this Liquor or Urine but all is done in a Mystical or Wonderful Method viz. by the attractive Power of that part as being its Disposition and Office to draw the thin moisture from all parts of the Body and the Bladder being Spungious the Urine penetrates through all parts of it as by way of Pores much like Sweat that is occasioned by Labour and many other ways which by motion and agitation of the Natural heat do easily penetrate through all the parts and such as Sweat much do make so much the less Urine provided the Liquors taken into the Body be in proportion The like is to be understood of most of the conveyance of all Humors and Juices from one Member or part of the Body to another so that whensoever any Member or other part becomes as it were fixed and the porousness of any of them be stopt that the fine thin Juices Blood and Spirits cannot penetrate or freely repass then presently is felt a pain or some disorder and if the Obstruction be much then that Member or part swells and is full of pain or the Distemper called the Dead Palsie falls on that part or Member but more often this sort of Obstruction proves the Gout for the Airy Windy quality in the Body which does continually penetrate and with a quick and powerful circulation run through the whole as being the central Life of the Blood which if wounded penn'd up or its circular swift motion any way hindred or obstructed then great pain or swelling attends that Member The Obstructions of this thin light airy Spirit or Quality in the Body is the Original of a great number of cruel Diseases And it is farther to be understood that all salt strong hard gross Foods that generate thick or tough Juices thick Blood and impure Spirits do mightily stop the glassy transparent or porous Vessels which do not only occasion gross Flatulent Humors and Crude Juices to lodge in several remote Members and parts but penns up and stops the circulation of this Airy quality from whence springs the Gout and all other evil windy and gross Distempers which rarely any Medicine Cures Likewise it is to be noted that the Diseases arising from those evil Obstructions are various and of as different Kinds and Natures as Complexions and Constitutions are in one it gives the Gout in another the Stone and Gravel in another a gross Flegmatick Humor and Fatness all according to the Original Humors in each Man Also these Obstructions do in many People occasion Fumes and Vapours to fly into the Head and to perplex other parts of the Body likewise some others there be that from the ill Habits of their Constitutions even from their Birth as it were Born with Obstructed Natures which they derive from their Parents ill Habits Obstructed Natures and Ill Livings for no Man of Understanding doubts but that the Seed is a compleat Image of and doth contain the true Nature and Properties of Man so the Seed becomes better or worse all according to the good or ill Habits Temperance or Intemperance Order or Disorder of the Parents so that Wisdom Understanding Temperance and Order are not only the Spring-head of Blessings to Mankind but likewise to all their Children and Posterity which is of great moment and ought to be considered by all People that pretend to fear God and keep his Laws Now the Original of those hard tough Humors and mortiferous Diseases take their Birth from the Disorders Intemperanâ—…es Gross Heavy Unclean Foods and Strong Drinks for such as the Spirits and Juices of each thing are such Humors such Blood such Spirits such Flesh such Dispositions such Inclinations such Words and Works they Generate and Maintain together with the Airs they live in and Employments and Exercises they follow Therefore such as have a mind and would be Healthy Cured or lessen the Distempers that have already invaded them must observe an orderly regular Diet and the nature of the Food they eat whether gross clean or unclean simple innocent and the like as to their Employments and Airs or else none can obtain their lost Health or make their Lives in any degree easie for every thing tends to its Original and never sails to exert its own power on all occasions and considerations with that
which hath the nearest affinity to it Now if the truth of what we have said be considered understood and distiâ—…guished then such a one will know that Temperance Order and Cleanness are the Spring-head of all Virtues and as it were under God the Original not only of Health but of every good Work and Action so great so powerful and so wonderful are the Laws of God and the innocent Methods of Nature they Crown their Observers with the Blessings of Time and Eternity I do not doubt but when you have well considered of what I have already said as to your Distemper and what I shall say but that you will incline to observe the Methods I shall propose for the Cure of your ill Habit of Body and the Diseases attending you Now the Meats and Foods that are most suitable for the preventing your Fatness and other Evils are all such as are clean in their own Nature having no manifest quality too highly exalted for every sort of Food that is unequal doth increase your Maladie and leave a Wound behind it You may eat and probably with some success too Bread Butter Cheese Herbs Roots Fruits Gruels Chocolate Paps Milk-pottage and various sorts of other clean innocent Foods but it will be better for you not to spread your Table too large but confine your self to a less compass viz. to Bread Butter and Cheese Water-Gruel and Flour-Pap only with Salt and no Butter in it and let this be your Method viz. in the morning a Pint of thin Water-Gruel with a small piece of good well Baked Bread a little toasted bite your Bread and sup your Gruell the like when you eat Pap always drinking a quarter of a Pint of Water after it presently and forget not before or after you eat your Gruel to take a walk of a Mile or two in the most clean airy place you can or by running Rivers side for all Airs are much â—…ner by running Waters than else where for by the curious moist thin Spirituous Vapours that such Rivers do send or breathe forth incorporating or mixing with the common Air it both becomes rarifyed and thereby is made more transparent thin and Spirituous so that it easily penetrates into the very center of all parts of the Body opening all the passages and moving Obstructions causing the Circulations of all the Humors Blood and Spirits to pass more freely if this were not so People that walk by such Rivers sides and others that work on it would not have such pressing sharp Appetites even far greater than those that are exercised on the higher Grounds but if any Man Swim or go into such Rivers to wash themselves or do any other thing of that nature it will sharpen and increase the Appetite to a higher degree Now this comes to pass by the fineness of such Airs and the thin Spirituous Virtues that penetrate to the Body on all sides whichare sucked in by the Pores giving a certain recruit to all the natural Spirits in the Body It is likewise to be noted that such as travel or work in Windy Rainy Weather do thereby obtain a shâ—…rper and a stronger Appetite than by the like Exercises in dry Seasons and such a one will not so often want supplys of Drink because such seasons and places do afford them a much finer moisture and more agreeable to Nature You may take your walk before or after you have eaten your Gruel and Bread then Fast till Dinner about one or two of the Clock eat a small Sallad raw made of Parsley Spinage Sorrell and a few Onions with them and eat them with a little Salt and Vinegar no Oil but with Bread and Butter or Cheese and sometimes only with Bread drink with them fresh small Ale or good Water the last being Superior to the first then fast till Supper and about Seven of the Clock eat a Pint of Water-Gruell or Pap with a little piece of Bread toasted and once or twice a week take a walk of 5 6 7 8 or 10 Miles or more as you shall find your self able and as you grow stronger increase your walks to 20 30 or 40 Miles And you must always go till you be weary but not till you be Faint for Nature will not encrease her strength if you do not in a moderate degree exert her Faculties and put her to a little Hardship for it is an undeniable rule and it always holds true that Nature endeavours to strengthen and arm herself against all Affronts and invading Powers for this cause the more you Labour the more you may and the easier it becomes to you which most attribute to Custom which is true in a Sense but give me leave to tell you so soon as you put your self to any unusual Exercise or Labour Nature useth all her endeavours and powers not only to withstand such Labours but to overcome them that she may be a Conqueror with ease and therefore if any particular Member be more used in this Trade or other Employment whether it be a Leg or an Arm that Member or part in a little time grows more potent and strong than the other and for this cause after Tradesmen have done their common days Work most of them can walk and exercise themselves in many other things with delight and not feel half the dulness and weariness as they did at their Customary Employments or Labours which had worn out or dull'd the natural Spirits that supported those parts most employed and did undergo the greatest part of the labour of that Employment or Trade But all this while other Members and parts of the Body that were not so intent or employed in the said Labour remained as it were fresh lively and full of Spirits so that when such a one comes to another sort of Exercise or Labour wherein those Members or parts were not so much concerned as is said before then they do readily lend their Aid and Assistance by which a Man does exercise himself in another Employment for some time with ease and delight notwithstanding he was weary at his usual Trade or Employment The principal cause and reason of this is every part of the Body hath its particular Offices and the natural Spirits that support and supply it with strength and vigour which lyes as it were still and doth not exert its strength nor powers till that part or Member comes to be employed This being the original Cause that a Man after he is weary and dull at the long continuance of Labour in one thing and the whole Body seems to be tired yet at another Employ or Work he shall be as was said before fresh and lively which is by the supplies of the lively Spirits that centered in such Parts and Members whose supporting Strength and Powers were not called forth in the foregoing Labour For this Cause and Reason variety of Exercises and Employments are best and least burthensome to Nature being much easier performed and with more
pleasure If this were not little weak Children could never go through a days Play with such might and vigor as they do for they are not conducted by Reason nor Interest for the obtaining a days Wages or greater Gain but follow Nature and so soon as they are dull and weary at one Sport or Pastime they presently fall to another never reasoning the Cause or studying the Point but go out of one thing into another so that when night comes they have tired all their Members and Parts of their Bodies and have left no Spirit uncalled It is therefore a grand Mistake in all Parents and Tutors of Children being a wrong Notion viz. To let their Children Play to refresh and make themselves more agil and lively whereas the very contrary is to be understood for nothing does so much unfit dull and becloud their brisk lively sporting Spirits as such various Sports which unfits and renders them uncapable for all sorts of Learning Whereas they ought to be Methodiz'd by their Tutors and Parents that is to be appointed several sorts of Learning for the day not exceeding one hour at a time for one sort of Art and though the same sort might come in the afternoon as in the morning yet they should spend but one hour at a time by which they might learn six several sorts of Arts and Sciences in one day viz. Language Writing Singing or other sorts of Muâ—…ick some useful parts of the Mathematicks and Gardening â—…itting or Sowing the meaner Arts to spend the less time in by which the whole day would be nothing but a Play or Diyersion Of all Exercises Walking or Going is one of the most strong and healthy for as we have demonstrated most Employments Trades or Arts when a Man hath Laboured all day at any of them yet he leaves some Member or Part of the Body as it were unwearied so that a Man may as it were with some kind of Delight and Pleasure exercise himself in another but Going or Walking hard does at once tire and weary all the Parts of the Body and though some are more weary and tired than others because more exercised or more weak yet all will be wearied or tired after hard Walking So that if a Man after such Going doth exercise or labour at any other thing he will presently find himself disabled and no Member or Part can supply him with fresh and lively Spirits which doth shew and clearly manifest that Walking or Going is one of the best and most natural as well as equal Exercises and for that very reason it begets the best Stomach and Appetite and is the principal Employment for Health and the encrease of good Blood strong clean Spirits and vigorous Nerves and particularly for all fat gross phlegâ—…tick People and such as are apt to be so And the more such use Going the more they may and the greater the Journeys are the better provided they come to it by degrees there being no Trade or Employment so beneficial natural and healthful though all Exercises are beneficial and good for most or all People And if going on foot were esteem'd genteel and customary many would receive great Advantages thereby and notwithstanding it is so natural so healthy and gives the Practisers thereof such strength and pleasure of Appetite nevertheless few there are that chuse it for their own sakes or the Benefits it endues the Practisers withal Riding is a good Exercise and of much motion and passing through various Airs begets good Appetites and is healthful but not to be compared with Going on foot as not being so natural nor employing the Members and Parts of the Body so equally and genteel so that Riding cannot encrease and beget such Strength nor so many powerful Spirits Indeed it is an Employment or Exercise of great motion but very unlike Nature being the motion of the Horse and not of the Man which is altogether contrary to the natural habits and motion of Going and all other Motions that Men are subject to or ever practise and as this Riding Jolting Turbulent Horse-motion is altogether contrary to any Motion or Gesture that belongs to Men or that they are subject to so it cannot be made easy but by custom and such as do not accustom them selves to Riding when Young can hardly ever make it easy in Age the greatest Use of it is that it is expeditious and genteel and Going on foot seems Poor Beggarly and Despicable even as almost all the usefullest and most innocent things in the World are a Horse is a high lofty proud Creature and may in some measure influence his Rider with such Dispositions but Going on foot is innocent simple natural and contemplative free from care having but one to take care for the fewer we have in Family the less is our Trouble Your Friend T. T. LETTER XXII Of FEVERS SIR BY yours I am inform'd of your present ill state of Health and that you are very subject to a Fever or much Indisposed by Heat which attacks you on every side and upon every small Disorder of Meats Drinks and Exercises and that you desire my Iudgment of the Original of those hot Humors and by what Method to prevent them which I shall readily do the Gifts and Talents God hath bestowed on me are all at the Service of true Seekers of Wisdom that being the end for which they were given FEvers are as various in their degrees as they are in their Natures all according to the Meats Drinks Employments Venus and Airs together with the Intemperance of the Stock or Parents this last is the most dangerous and deepest rooted of all others and hardest to be Eradicated for every Fruit is better or worse according to the temperance equality or inequality of the original Forms of that Thing or Creature both in the Animal Vegitable and Mineral Worlds or Kingdoms for the Fruit of each thing is the compleat Son or Image of all the Principles Qualities and Powers of the Father that Generated or Begot it so that all the Intemperances or unequal Methods of Life be it Meats Drinks or any other thing do centre in the Seed which contains all the Species and Essences of the Disorders both of Body and Mind and do rarely fail to engraft and entail those incroaching Properties and unequal Powers Many of these Diseases thus procured lie hid during the time of Youth or so long as Nature is vigorous and strong but so soon as Age comes or any other concurring Accident or Intemperance they start up and appear in their own Forms for which there is hardly any Medicine found that can make them tolerable Is not this most clear and manifest in all the Beaâ—…ts and Vegetables of the Earth and are not all the Young ones or Off-spring of this wonderful and amazing variety of Beings better or worse sound or unsound healthy or unhealthy strong or weak according to the temperaments and goodness of the Seed and the
of Candle which doth make a Sick and Dying Bed still more uneasy and burthensom more especially when the Sick Person shall think and consider of the Methods of his Life great Agonies do arise and spring up in the Soul feeling its self almost naked or uncloathed of all the Pleasures of Life most of which Perplexities are Originalliy occasioned by the vain Educations and wicked Customs of Natons more especially among the Christians What vain empty frivolous Discourses do all Mothers Nurses and Maids use to their Children the first 6 or 7 years of their Age always discoursing between Jest and Earnest great part thereof Childish Banter with a hundred odd Tricks and Postures which doth take such deep root awakening their Similies so that those Vices become essential that neither Time nor Correction is ever able to obliterate them Is it not common where 5 or 6 Children are with a Mother Nurse and Maid the whole House is filled with a great noisom Crying others Laughing their Governesses Whipping and Threatning of them and it is but little amended when they come to 18 or 20 years of Age when 6 or 8 of these meet what a strange variety of Notes are heard as loud Obesence Laughter Jesting Lying and Jeering one another each endeavouring in vain talking to move that vain and ridiculous posture of Laughing nay our Gray-Hair'd Senators are not free from these Vanities it being common for ancient People to please and delight themselves in telling long Stories of their Youthful Wickedness and Follies and that too in the hearing of young People and in the presence of their own Children for Histories tell us that Christ never Laughed whilst he was Cloathed with the Humane Nature and to this day it is esteemed a very odd thing for any Person to Laugh in the Eastern Countreys Nowthese things considered no marvel that most Men on Dying Beds are under such perplexity and horror of Mind which doth occasion thousands to make Solemn promises to the Lord to amend and redeem their times if he pleases to continue their Lives for a very little season longer which very few do perform for those grafted evil Methods do quickly get head and there the evil Powers become strong and potent which doth verify that Proverb That which is bred in the Bone will never out of the Flesh Few or none ever consider that those Childish Evils or Venoms most suck in their Childhood and Youth do naturally improve in riper years even to old-Age as all Trades Sciences and other Learning do so that most or all Man's days are worse than trifled away The truth of this appears by the general Conversation of Mankind go amongst a hundred sorts of People of all Pretences and Religions and observe their Converse and Discourse their Nature and Tendency and upon the whole a Man shall not hear one word among many that is edifying useful and proper or that tends to the benefit of Mankind neither in the observation of that which makes them Men and is the support of the Body Soul and Spirit or the knowledge of God first in our selves and then in all other Creatures or how Mankind may render himself capable of discharging that great duty to his Maker viz. to govern himself and all the undergraduated Creatures in Good-will Love and Harmony which is the true method of doing unto all Gods Creatures as a Man would be done unto no no not a word of any such necessary Truths but most or all frothy vain and fantastick Now if Mankind spends all his Childhood in sucking in and learning Vanity and their strength of years in the practice of those Evils and Intemperances which often cuts Man off betimes when these things are considered it is then no marvel that the Dying or Sick Bed becomes so uneasy there being hardly any sort of People in the World that their Disciples do Dye with that great trouble or pain of the Mind and Body as the Christians more especially that part called the Reformed which comes to pass for the reasons before mentioned The Eastern People in General Live and Dye peaceably and easy more especially the People called Bannians who perhaps are some of the strictest Observers of Gods Law viz. doing unto those of their own kind and to all inferior Animals and Creatures as they would be done unto having a severe and particular regard to maintain Unity and Humanity that they may in the Resurrection or next World when New Bodies shall be given them arise in Humane Forms and Shapes for it is their undoubted Faith that if Man lives in Gods Law and leads an innocent harmless Life shewing Mercy Love and Compassion to all the sensible Creation that then they shall not only obtain an Angelical form of Body but have an Eternal Blessed Unity to live with God and his Holy Angels in the spangled Regions of Eternity But on the contrary those that live in the practice of Violence Oppression and Killing whose Minds Spirits and Souls are precipitated into those furious fierce Principles they shall be Cloathed in Eternity with suitable Bodies for without the Unity or Holy City of Innocency are Dogs Bears Lyons and the like Beasts of Prey saith St. Iohn in the Revelations there being nothing more true and certain he that breaks the Unity both in himself and in all other Creatures doth immediately divide himself from God and breaks forth into Discord Perplexity and Trouble let his Religion Custom and Laws of his Countrey be what it will And on the other side that Person that keeps the Unity in himself unviolated by living in innocent harmless methods has Peace both in his Living and Dying It is a Proverb amongst the Eastern Philosophers and Bannians that nothing makes the Life of Man pleasurable and the Dying-bed easy but an innocent Life and to imitate God who is the Creator of all Beings and the Preserver of all his Works This they say is the true Worship of God and joins them to the Fountain of Benignity Innocency hurts nothing nor nothing that those Eastern Sages or Philosophers have great Veneration for Silence is one of the most necessary and useful Vertues because most Men know but very little and therefore they ought to talk or discourse in proportion to their Understanding for this cause where there is much talk there is a like proportion of Ignorance and Folly uttered as the Wiseman saith A Fool is known by his much talking Therefore Pythagoras and many other Eastern Philosophers taught their Disciples and Scholars Silence as the first and principlest Precepts which the People of those Countreys do observe to this day time and practice hath made it easy and natural to them so that amongst them when several Ages are together viz. Children Young Men and Women middle Age and Old Age there is not any noise as talking altogether but all stand silent and sedate each Age speaking in their turn according to their Degrees which doth not
from thence but rather the contrary and therefore most do from the 1st 2d or 3d hour after Eating find a kind of dulness or heaviness more especially if the Foods were hard of Concoction or if they exceeded in quantity And this common method of Eating about 12 1 or 2 of the Clock proves the more prejudicial in hot Seasons and Climates for first the Mornings Labour or Exercise spends great part of those brisk or winged Spirits which by rest were at the rising up powerful are weakned and then the Breakfast together with the motions and exercises between that and Dinner do set going great part of what remains as also the Sun or great Vital heat of the World being in or near the Meridian or full South which doth make a considerable addition for the Evaporation or spending and weakning of the natural Spirits so that it is no wonder most People after Dinner are so hot indisposed and drowsy and that which doth mightily encrease this great Inconveniency is that the Dinners are Foods for the most part compounded of strong gross suckulent things of hard Concoction so that it lies as it were frying or boiling in the Stomach 4 5 or 6 hours calling for Liquor to quench the unnatural Heats and Fires it awakens through the whole Body and no Member is free from those burthensom Inconveniencies whereas altogether the contrary is to be understood and experienced by an early Breakfast of some sort of substantial Pottage and drinking a good quantity of small Liquor as before hinted for the morning Labour Motions or Exercises are performed by the lively strong natural Spirits that have been not only recovered but Generated by the true Concoction of the late Dinner or Supper and Rest and these Spirits are all the morning supply'd by fine Spirits of the Pottage for all such Foods do more easily concoct and steal or Insinuate their Virtues than hard gross Foods so that there is a Support all along and for this very cause from 11 of the Clock to 3 or 4 when most People are hot weary and indisposed those Persons that Breakfast early are cool lightsome and pleasant and in a word free from these burthensome Indispositions for that Food and Drink affords the best Nourishment and adds the greatest Strength that is the least felt in the time of Concoction or Separation and that causes no Heat Indisposition nor calls for the aid of the liquid Regions therefore those Foods are the most agreeable in which the four Elements are most equally mix'd or compounded that is where the Fire or natural Heat doth not over ballance the Element of Water the Equality and Inequality of those Elements in Foods are always felt in the time of the Concoction for heat after eating is occasion'd by Inequality which Physicians and every other Person ought to understand in the compounding of each thing for that Person that is quickly droughty and that his Appetite calls for Liquor is a true and sure Indication that the Qualifications of the Foods were unequal therefore upon the whole Matter our most natural and kindly Pottages are the most friendly they being properly compounded and prepared do as it were at once answer all the ends of Food and gratify Nature far beyond all strong hard salt high prepar'd or relish'd Foods leaving behind them no droughty or hot burthensome Indispositions and if you or any other Person would know the Verity and Truth of what we have here and also in several of our Writings endeavoured to make Mankind sensible of each Person must fall into the Practice for there is no other way or method to make it Essential for so long as Mens Knowledge and Philosophy remains in the Magia Notions and Words such Wisdom as they call it is altogether uncertain and unbounded passing and repassing through the aâ—…y Fancies unlimited and therefore all or most such Notions become altogether obliterated and changed into other Notions of differing Qualities and Natures never fix'd neither indeed can they be because they were not founded on the Principles of Nature nor by Practice made material And for this cause all Imaginations and Knowledge that reside in the Fancy or in Notions are Incorporeal or Invisible Powers and consequently not demonstrated and they do remain almost as unknown to them that talk of them or others that would understand them as the invisible Powers Imaginations and Thoughts of one Man is unknown to another and therefore every one that would understand and know the Truth must retire and go home and practice and then every Notion becomes as it were Mathematical that is demonstrable and without these material motions of the Body no Knowledge Notion nor Imagination can be made a Man's own nor become Essential to him so great is the necessity of good Methods and a prudent Practice of Life to which I referr you for true Knowledge Wisdom and Understanding cannot be obtained but only by a proper Method viz. The same way that Arts and Sciences are that is by Labour and a continual Practice which by degrees opens and unlocks all the secret Doors and inward Cabinets of the Intellect and thereby the invisible Powers become manifest and visible which is strangely and as it were wonderfully done and perform'd in all Sciences Arts and Trades so that by and through the Motions and Actions of the Body and Members the Magical Births of the Imaginative Faculties and Thoughts become manifest and material and so that which was Incorporeal becomes Corporeal and therefore Motion Action and Practice is endued with a most wonderful Power and Energy it commands the unbounded Fancy and encircles the wandring imaginative Power fixing and limitting those high lofty Spirits that lead most Men into Delusions and Errors and all this and a thousand more Calamities and great Miseries attend Mankind for want of a true Method and Practical Life and the true fixing all things on their Basis and Principles from whence true distinguishing Knowledge of the Signature of each thing arises and proceeds which we recommend to you and to all Mankind with our hearty wish of yours and Familys Well-fare desiring a Line or two the next Ship that is bound for England In the interim I Subscribe Your Friend and Servant T. T. LETTER XXXII To a Planter of SUGAR SIR IN our foregoing we have laid down some Methods how you may preserve your selves and Posterity to which I shall add something more which if put into practice will not only advance and encourage your Plantations but render the Inhabitants extreamly happy both in the present and future Ages and stem the Current of Groans Sighs Melancholly Lamentations and Turmoil of your Servants into a pleasant calm serene Life of happy Employments and the Masters of each Family shall enjoy many degrees more quiet and be freed from those continual troubles and cares they now labour under and do and will unavoidably encrease upon your selves and Posterity if some other more easy and
Skill and Cleanliness in working brown Sugar into white and surely the more Sugar is freed from its Grossness and Molosses the more compact and harder is its Body and the more Spirits and Life there is in it and will perform all the uses in Housewifery to a greater perfection is of a finer Taste of a more excellent Complexion and causes all things wherein it is mixed to be more wholsom and pleasant so that our Scruplers may assure themselves that the Sparklings and Grain and hardness of white Sugar is not at all occasioned by any mixture of Lime but by its own fineness as being freed from the grosser part of Molosses quality which is soft gross and of a black or dull â—…mplexion as is already noted Besides the Sal nitral Powers and Vertues that imbibe and give themselves forth â—…nd incorporate with the Water are invisible and spirituous Qualities as much unseen and unknown to Mankind as the Powers and Vertues that dwell in the Center of all vegetative and animal Creatures which give them a lively Birth and Complexion and tho' we know each Creature increases grows and multiplies that the inward Power from whence this proceeds remains a Mystery and altogether invisible to us now for the Satisfaction and better Information of such as persist in a Belief that there is some Trick of the Workman in preparing a Compost or Mixture of Lime or some such thing in white refined Sugar Let them take common Water as that of the Thames or River which for the most part is not very fine not clear into which let them infuse such a quantity of slacked Lime as Refiners do and in a short time the Compost or dusty Body of the said Lime will sink to the bottom and the Water will become as it were purged or rarified from all its Impurities and thereby be rendred much finer and clearer than other Water that comes from the same Spring besides the Lime-water will keep sweet and free from all kind of stinking Foulness a considerable time longer than any other common Water that is entire or without this Ingredient of Lime Now it is with this clear and fine Water that both brown and white Sugars are boiled up and that which endues both sorts with its sparkling lively Grain and brisk spirituous Body and without which no Art could raise it to such a compleat and useful Commodity and become so lively and brisk in Operation unto which most or all the best and exhilerating Cordials made by Physicians Apothecaries and Housewives owe their Original also so that let them believe or not it is manifest there is no such Mixture of Lime Allum or the like thing in our Refiners white Sugar Farther whereas there are many Arts and Trades that are Preparers both of various sorts of Meats Drinks and Medicine that do adulterate each particular thing in their Preparations and Methods for Gain and Interest I need not name any that is not so with the Refiners of Sugar for they have a powerful Circle that surrounds them I mean their own Interest also which is said never to Lie whereby they are confined from using or practsing any ill Methods in the Operation of Sugars be the same what it will for if they do themselves are the Sufferers and for this means they use all the regular ways they can to make and advance their Commodity to the higest degree of Whiteness Fineness and Clearness as appears by what I have already said Towards the beginning of this Letter concerning nine Pounds of the Juice of Canes making but one Pound of brown Sugar and one of Molosses and if you consider that an hundred Weight of this brown Sugar makes but about thirty three Pound of single refined white Sugar and that thirty three but fourteen of double refined Sugar it 's next to a Demonstration of what 's above asserted Then as to the various degrees both of Colour and Goodness of brown or Muscovado Sugar it proceeds from three Causes First from the Goodness or Badness of the Land the Canes grow on Secondly from the good or bad Seasons and Times of the Year it is made in And thirdly from the Art and Skill of the Chief Workman Boiler Note that Muscovado Sugar which is of a lively whitish and bright Yellow with a sparkling Grain has the first place the next is that which tends towards an Ash Colour having a large sandy Grain or Body and is a good Sugar for Refiners so is the first also but being dearer by 3â—… 4 s. per Cent. than the other it 's a better sort for Grocers and therefore Refiners generally work the second The third is of a darkish sad Colour and of a good Grain or Body being proper for refining but somewhat inferiour to the other two besides which there are several other sorts and degrees of goodness in this Commodity the worst of all being of a kind of a deep reddish Colour having generally a soft weak Grain and Body and makes the poorest work in refining both in Quality Colour and Quantity so that the value of Muscovado is always in proportion to its Colour and Strength There is another white Sugar of various Colours exceeding our Muscovado called Lisbon Sugar because it came first from Brasil but since our Settlements in the West-Indies great Quantities have come from Barbadoes altogether as good as the Lisbon Sugar tho' most of our Housewives do mightily esteem this last named calling it a fat Sugar as supposing it endued with a better sweetning Quality than our Refiners white Sugar and therefore will give four or five Shilling per Cent. more for it whereas ours is much whiter dryer and cleaner but such is the fondness of our Women for Brasil Sugar that our Grocers have frequently sold our moist Barbadoes clayed Sugar for Lisbon And now since I have mention'd clayed Sugar it will not be improper to give some Account of it in this place this sort therefore is made white by an Operation they call Claying the Pots of Muscovado Sugar wherein they take a kind of whitish Clay somewhat like Tobacco-pipe-clay and temper it with Water for that purpose to about the thickness of a Pancake Batter or thereabouts they pour it with a Ladle on the Sugar in the Pots near an Inch thick which Clay has a strong I may say a wonderful Operation and Power over the Sugar to purge the grosser flatulent or treacly Substance downwards and to cause the Pot of Sugar which generally contains about half an hundred of brown Sugar to become much less in Quantity and of several Colours and Goodness viz. In that part of the Pot which is next the top towards the Clay for three or four Inches deep the Sugar is very white near the whiteness of our refined Sugar and so the whole Pot is in degrees till you come to the battom every degree downwards growing worse and worse for which reason the Makers and Clayers of this Sugar
of several Things as that of â—…t Beer or Ale also of Grounds and Bottoms and the like Materials together with unskilful and unexperienced Workmen So that being inferiour both in respect to the goodness of the Ingredients and Skill of the Operators to that made in France which by the way was was not then near so good neither as 't is now it grew more despisable Not that I would intimate thereby that the French are better Workmen than we for certainly there are no better Artificers or Improvers of curious Arts in the World than the English It will be needless to multiply Instances but I only say that tho' as we are young in the making and managing of Sugars and yet out-do all Mankind therein witness our incomparable double and treble refined Sugars so our Skill we attained to in the Art of Distillation according to our Materials is not to be parallel'd But to return to the next sort of Spirits or Brandy distilled amongst us it 's that from new Ale made of Malt which is many degrees preferrable to the other and in proportion to its Original but as this Ale is full of gross thick Lees and raw heavy dull unclean and earthy Matter so the Brandy made thereof partakes of its Nature and therefore is not so clean as some Brandy made of our own Fruits The third better sort is that made of Cyder whereof there is two kinds the best distilled from good sound Cyder half a year or a year old being free from all Sharpness and Acidity and being also clear fine and well setled which is the best of any Braudy made of our own Growth and comes but one degree behind the French Brandy or Spirits drawn from the Juices of the Grape but the other is meaner made of new Cyder and nohing so good as the former the Matter or Juice being not so well cleansed or purged from the thick Lees and gross Substance as the other and therefore the Brandy made thereof is of a proportionable Goodness The next to this is Brandy distill'd from Molosses that comes from our Sugar Plantations which is a very lofty noble clean Brandy far exceeding all the former both in Cleanness and Goodness Another is made of our Refiners Treacle which is drained and purged from white Sugar which is somewhat better than that from brown the next superiour to this is Brandy being made of brown Sugar which is every degree finer and better than the former Another is Brandy which may be made of white Sugar that is still finer according to the Materia from whence it is extracted and indeed this last does as many degrees exceed all other Brandies or Spirits as Light does Darkness being the Highest and Noblest Cordial that can be made of the Juices of any Fruit or Vegetable Moreover there are several Spirits or Brandies made of Honey and Spanish Fruits which are better or worse according to the goodness or badness of the Fruit and newness or oldnest of the Honey as also of the Herbs and Flowers the Bees extract it from Now Honey makes very good Brandy or Spirits but it is foul for if Honey were to pass thro' the Art of Refining there would not be above one part in five or six so clean as Sugar or the Syrup of Sugar but the best Honey comes from Alicant where the Bees extract it from Rosemary-Flowers and other Blossoms of a proportionable Fragrancy and Virtue the Climate of the Country whether hot cold or temperate has also an Influence thereon Now Honey next to Sugar makes the greatest quantity of Spirits because 't is higher graduated in the sweet quality of Nature than any of the Fruits Herbs Seeds and Grains from whence Brandy or Spirits are extracted or distill'd for by how much a compleater and more entire Sweet any thing is endued with so much Brandy or proof Spirits may be drawn from the thing or very near if it be handled by a skilful Artist Now the heat of the Season or Climate does mightily advance or quicken Fermentation for which reason all sorts of Juices that are intended for common Drinks in hot Countries will ferment much quicker and stronger and the Drink will precipitate it self into Fineness Clearness and Raciness and be better for Use in five or six days than any of the like Ingredients will be in cold Climates in eight or nine weeks therefore hot Countries do as it were forbid the drinking of fermented Liquors and Drinks and Custom hath done the same they having found by many years Experience that such Drinks proved extreamly prejudicial to the Healths of the Natives Strong and spirituous hard Drinks have the same Operation and produce the like Effects in colder Climates tho' not to the same degree hence it is and upon no other Account that the Torturing Gout and Cruel Pains of the Stone have not spread their Venoms amongst the Natives that constantly keep to the drinking of Water and the eating Food of a proportionable Nature of which I have elsewhere written more at large For all Liquors or Juices that have passed thro' any degree of Fermentation do thereby divide themselves that is the four Grand Qualities from their still Rest or sleeping Magia by which Motion or Fermentation there arises a moving boiling Strife and as it were a justling or wrestling with each other for the Mastery whereby they render themselves capable of being separated one from the other and of being changed and transmuted out of one form into another so that by the powerful Operations of the two great Elements of Fire and Water and the Assistance of the Artist the separate powers of these four great Qualities are brought into their original or central Circle from whence neither Nature nor the Assistance of Art can promote or advance a further Motion or Progression but the same must remain in their fiery Circle or Region for ever It 's further to be observed that fermented Liquors which by the forementioned Motion open so powerfully the Bodies of the said Qualities and by a concatenative Power tend towards a spiritual Kingdom and so by degrees move towards their original Principles and become finer and racier and fit for drinking But when any fermented Liquor be it what it will arrives at this pitch of goodness it can neither by Art nor Ingredients be commanded to stand still but on it goes and the Motion continues either quicker or slower being never contented nor satisfied till it obtains its Center but phlegmy gross watry Qualities are so strong in most or all such Drinks that they cannot obtain a clean fiery Body without the Assistance of the spagirick or fiery Art of Distillation but they run and transmute themselves into a Sharpness or Vinegar Quality and in such a Case all the Skill and Art of the ablest Distillers can never bring back or make a Cordial Spirit of such Liquors saving that call'd the Spirit of Vinegar which yet is of another nature and
Operation altogether contrary to the former and of but little Use and Virtue except in some particular Medicines But when any such Drinks are weak and the sweet Quality has but a small share or government in them they aâ—…ter they have attained to the highest Degree and Ripeness for drinking which they do in a shorter time than those Liquors wherein the sweet Quality is strong very frequently fall into a Flatness which is called dead Beer whereas where this great sweet Quality is prevalent the original Salts are in proportion and consequently the principle of Heat and Fire is powerful which appears as soon as the Bodies of such Fruits are opened or put into Motion by the Art of Fermentation But to confine my self as nigh as may be to the two main Things I mean Sugar and Brandies intended by this Letter give me leave to tell you Sir all sorts of Sugar are so highly graduated both by Nature and Art that the same is become the greatest Preserver and the best Cordial in the World there being nothing found that will so long preserve Crude or raw Fruits Herbs Liquors and many other things as Sugar more especially the first and second sort Sal Nitre or common Salt coming short thereof so that it seems to have obtained the Ascendenâ—… over all other things in the Vegetable Kingdom And as to its Sweetness or Operations in many sorts of Foods it is endued with many charming Properties whereby it mollifies and as it were unites all the unequal Motions and predominate Powers of the other three-domineering Qualities I mean the Asâ—…ringent or Saltish Bitter and Sour and melts them down unto a degree of Equality so that by the help hereof many Crude raw Fruits and others otherwise in a manner useless become beneficial of which there are made many brave wholsom exhileratings Foods and Liquors too tho' by the by I am to observe that such Foods wherein Sugar is mixed or compounded ought not to be frequently eaten more especially not by Children or young People since it never fails to operate and act like it self I mean to heat and warm the Blood generating many powerful brisk Sprits that for the most part prove of no small prejudice to them whereas on the contrary to most that are of advanced years the proper Mixture of Sugar in some part of their Food especially spoon Meat mightily inspires them with a chearing warming Quality giving as it were a youthful Life and Vigour to aged drooping Natures and heavy dull Spirits and are to be preferred before all spirituous Cordials and strong Drinks whatever which most aged People affect and which seldom fails to pinch and heat the Ureters to obstruct the Passages as also the free Circulation of the Blood by drying up and consuming the thin moist Vapours and dewy Qualities which old Age generally wants in a great proportion the Preservation and Support of which depends most upon spoon Meats which sweetned as already â—…entioned 〈◊〉 more suitable and homogeneal than any of those Liquors taken for that purpose And as Sugar used in Meats and Preserves is thus so very excellent the Spirits or Brandies made thereof are no 〈◊〉 so and must have the first place allowed it of all others in a manner upon all accounts tho' I must say all Brandies are useful and have as it were a kind of Operation which is an hot fiery warming restoring reviving and penetrating the whole Body with its powerful and rapid Motion which is the innate and unnatural Disposition thereof These Liquors being as it were spiritual Powers by Art divested from their natural Cloathing or crude phlegmy Bodies and therefore at the very first intermission of them into the Body penetrate to the very Center of all the Principles and Powers of Nature and joining and incorporating with the original Fire and natural Spirits makes the Person the same moment he drinks to feel a brisk lively Fire to kindle which upon some occasions proves of great Benefit as in fainting Fits Swoundding over Dulness of the natural Spirits also after hard Labour and so forth and here give me leave to note that those Brandies that are thin and less Cordial such as are distill'd from thin small Wines and old clean Cyder are more penetrating and digesting as proceeding from a meaner thinner and weaker Original and therefore their Operations are good and may be taken on Foulness and Surfeits to as good purpose as that made of Sugar but the Sugar or Treacle Brandy is more Substantial fuller and more Cordial and therefore the drinking thereof does not so soon wound and decay the Drinkers of it nor cause them to dwindle into Consumptions as the drinking of French Brandy does and this has been observed ever since both sorts have been become a common Drink for Enterment especially in the Sugar Islands and other Parts of the West Indies That when any one took to the drinking of French Brandy his Friends and Acquaintance condemned him to a short Life of Course whereas if any took to the drinking of that made of the Spirit of Molosses or Juices of Sugar-Cane they would cry he would hold out For tho' the common drinking of one or the other be a sin against God yet 't is certain the sipping of that made of Sugar does not so soon wound and destroy the radical Moisture and Digestion of the Stomach as the other does which comes from France whose thin hungry Leanness is manifested by putting a raw Piece of Flesh into it and another the like Piece into Sugar-Brandy where you will find the former as it were eaten to pieces and destroyed much sooner than that in the latter than which nothing can better set out the Eagerness Thinness and Acidity thereof For by how much the more eager thin and hungry any Liquor is the less Cordal Sweetness its Body possessed with the more it seeks after Matter breathing as it were violently with open Mouth to devour all Substances that come within its Circle or Province And further to illustrate this with an Example if you put Eggs or any other the like thing into Ale Beer Cyder Wine or Vinegar you will find that put into Ale to have the first place of keeping that of the Beer if mild next and so on so that that which is sharpest you see devours or eats up the thing first whereas the mildest fullest and most Corpial Body or that wherein the four Qualities are most equal will preserve the thing so put into it longest because all its parts are more equal But Sugar Treacle or Molosses are not useful only in the forementioned ways but also upon many other Accounts too long to be inserted And I hope Sir you are satisfyed by this time of their Natures Distinctions and different Operations and the preferrence due to Sugar both to Foods Drinks and otherwise whereunto Molosses cannot pretend to arrive For having passed thro' the several Fluxes and Operations of the Refiners and