it is bounded with no limites and for this reason it is said the Spirit bloweth where it listeth and that without resistance that this spirit can conuert it selfe from an actiue and liuely power into a potentiall congealing c deadly property in the Creature by withdrawing his actuall beames from the circumference of the Creature whither it did emit them for liuely actiuities sake into the centre that is within it selfe where it doth in respect of the Creature rest and so depriueth the Creatures spirit by congealation of the motion act and life which by his spightfull Actiuity it did impart vnto the naturall spirits to make blood fat flesh and bones For this reason therefore I say namely because of the presence of this incorruptible spirit in the blood of the creature God in any case forbids the Israelites to eate of blood because saith the Text the life of the flesh is in the blood Here therefore obserue that the Spirit of life is from God who viuifieth all things the life of the blood and fat is in this spirit and of this Spirit wherefore it is written in another place Sanguinem adiâ—…em omnino non comedetis you shall by no meanes eate the blood and the fat for the life of the flesh is in the blood and the life of the bones is in the flesh It is easily therefore to be discerned what a concatenation heere is of members in succession which deriue their liues from one and the same radicall essence or spirit and are made by it to sympathise with one and the same harmony in the creatures composition being that he hath made of one blood all man-kinde as S. Paul doth fitly and consequently being all flesh and bones are made of one blood there must be a great relation betweene them and mans blood in generall and consequently betweene the blood and the oyntment which is made of them These things therefore being rightly pondered as infallible grounds wee conclude thus In the Question proposed wee are to obserue these fiue obiects namely first the wound secondly the blood which issueth from the wound thirdly the manner of conueyance from the oyntment to the wound at any reasonable distance fourthly the nature of the oyntment and lastly the manner of operation whereby the cure is effected First therefore concerning the wound it is a violation of the worke which the spirit of life did effect namely an effusion of blood in which the spirit of life is carryed and moueth a hinderance and dâ—…erting of the course of the naturall humors a diuision and solution of the fat flesh and other such like parts from their integrity and continuity an offence vnto that peaceable act of life effected by that incorruptible spirit of God which by this his property or attribute is apt to viuifie all in all For this cause therefore is this radicall acting spirit interessed in this businesse or vnnaturall action as finding his worke hindered and his essentiall action disturbed by the wound or violence offered For wheras the blood is the vehicle of it and his viuifying act was to circulate in the organicall blood and to cause transmutation of it into flesh and other parts for vegetation multiplications sake and for the preseruation of the induiduum Now is the same blood slused out at the mouth of the wound and made inutill and of none effect the body for the animating of the which this secret spirit is euer diligently enclined is debilitated and made drooping Wherefore as the incorruptible and viuifying nature hath intended to rectifie his humane spirit by her liuely actiuity so verily is she ready to oppose all violence offered and to correct repaire againe all that which violent irruption hath caused much like the wise Spider who when her web is made imperfect and in part broken doth her diligence to bring it againe to its wonted perfection Secondly the blood as it is the vehicle of the spirit of life though it be by the wound voided out yet retaineth in it this spirit of life but in another property for it doth not now act to liue that is to say it doth not send forth his beames from the centre to the circumference to cause life but contrarily being as it were displeased with the violence of the act contracteth it selfe from the circumference into the centre that is from action in the circumference of the creature into it selfe being contracted into the centre thereof where it seemeth to rest and so leaueth his bodily and ayery vehicle as congealed stupfied and dead and here is that mystery discouered namely the reason why the murtherer being brought before the murthered the spirit centrally resting in the blood doth miraculously emanate and flow forth and make fluent againe the blood as being stirred vp by the like spirit antipathetically acting and agitating from the blood of the murtherer For as I said before this spirit in his irascible property is as apt to hate as in his concupiscible to loue For this reason the Text teacheth vs that the blood of a slaine man is required not onely of the murthering man but of the beast if it be shed by it And againe the blood of any thing must not be eaten which were but superficiall if the spirit of life did not after the effusion of the blood rest in the blood as also the reason that the blood of such animalls as were slaine in hunting or hawking should be buryed in the earth would proue of little validity For this cause it is said in another place Sanguine insontium commaculata terra expiari non potest nisi per eius sanguinem qui alterius sanguinem fuderit The earth being commaculated with the blood of the innocent cannot be expiated but by blood of the other To conclude Why should it be said that the blood is the seat of the spirit of life if it did not participate with it after it is effused out of the wound congealed and as it were dead and rest in the centre of it yea this spirit doth entirely leaue and forsake the flesh of the dead being that his life as it is said is in the blood nor yet the very bones forasmuch as they participate of the nature of the most earthly part of the flesh Hence was it that when certaine theeues had cast the body of one whom they â—…ad murthered into the Tombe of Eliseus the murthered person did with the onely touch of the Prophets bones rise againe to life which could not haue been effected if as well his diuine as viuifying nature had not participated with his bones and vpon this it is sayd that after death Eliseus his body prophesied and that hee did wonders in his life and in death were his works maruellous To conclude the learned and wise Philosophers speaking Enigmatically of this spirit say that in the body there is a little bone called Luz which will remaine with man till the
latter day and cause him to rise againe but wee must vnderstand this after their owne sence and not vulgarly Let this I beseech you be remembred that the touch of Eliseus his bones caused the dead to rise from death to life In the third place I come to the manner of conueying of the blood from the wound vnto the oyntment The blood is taken from the liuing fountaine of blood in the wounded eyther as it is smeared on the weapon that did the deed or as it is fastened on some sticke Iron or other thing and so conueyed vnto the oyntment at any reasonable distance Now a reason is to be shewed how it is possible that there can be any certaine relation betweene the wound and the oyntment For as Mr. Foster saith there may be Castles hills walls and grosse ayre betweene the oyntment and the wounded which may hinder the cure First wee must remember that wee haue expressed in our precedent discourse the excellency of the animating spirit in whom is all the vertue and each property of the foure winds and being it is the spirit of spirits Et spiritus spirat vbi vult What I pray you can hinder his act or operation And with what distance can his actiuity be limited being that it is the spirit of the winds and the soule of the lightnings and the essence of the Sunne and starres of heauen which by his animation doe cast their beames periferically vnto euery angle of the Horison or Hemispheare Can this spirir because contained in mans blood not penatrate many hundred miles by emanation out of his bloody vehicle as it doth out of his cloudy Tabernacle in the forme or rather vehicle oflightning or out from his Phoebean Palace in golden beames whereupon it is said In lumine numen in numine lumen In light is diuinity and in diuinity is light so saith the Psalmist Amictus lumine quasi vestimento Hee is clothed with light as with a garment I tell you this is all one spirit which is in man and that which operateth in the wings and therefore it was said Come O spirit from the foure winds This spirit cannot be diuided into parts It filleth as Salomon saith the whole earth and hath his seate in heauen and therefore resideth in mans body and spirit as is said Esdras speaking of this spirit saith as before The spirit of God Omnipotent hath made all things and searcheth out all things in the bowells or secret places of the earth Whereby it appeareth that this very spirit by which man breathed cannot be limited in his penetrating and extensiue dimension nor yet hindred in his passage by any intermediate obstacle To conclude that man that beleeueth and relyeth on this spirit may effect what he desireth For euen by the true knowledge and vse of it the Prophets and Apostles did wonders as well in curing as effecting matters of greater admiration This spirit therefore which is called intellectuall as hee maketh to vnderstand Inspiratio omnipotentis saith Iob facit intelligere Vitall in respect of his viuification Spiritus Dei fortis fecit me saith he spiraculum omnipotentis viuificauit me And naturall in respect of vegetation and multiplication visitatio tua saith hee else where conseruauit spiritum meum doth act and shine forth by secret beames v to that obiect of the dead blood which is carryed from it vnto the oyntment in which amputated blood lurketh a portion of spirit resting without action Now the nature of the one is reioyced in the nature of the other forasmuch as both doe sympathise together being that they are all of one consonance or degree or vnison in vitall loue as for example I take two Lutes or Vialls or any other such like instruments I set one of them at one end of the table set the other at the other end I put a small straw vpon one of the strings of the one Lute which importeth A-la-mi-re or De-la-sol-re and then striâ—… the Gam-vt of the other Lute and the straw will not once stirre because theydoe not sympathise in one sound and proportion of wauing ayre therefore haue they not a relation one vnto another so also if the blood be carryed vnto an oyntment heterogeneall in nature vnto the party wounded it will doe nothing in this cure but if you put a straw on the Gam-vt or A-re of the one and strike the other on Gam-vt or Are being vnisons you shall perceiue the straw presently to leap of the other string by reason of the ouer great vibration or louing actiuity and like formall proportion which he sympatheticall harmony betwixt each strings causeth to other in the aire yea this effect wil happen though there be put boords or other such like obstacles as may hinder the direct line of the vibration in the aire or medium betwixt the two Lutes In which experiment you may note that the string strucke is aptly compared vnto the blood of the wounded being stil animated in his body who doth by a secret emanation or emission and that by a naturall inclination and sympathy cause in the selfe-same tone a secret communication between the still and occult spirit in the congealed blood which is in the oyntment which I compare to the string which the straw hath on it so that the string though it be of it selfe still yet at the acting of that other chord which is really moued with the actuall spirit of the chord strucken by meere concent stirreth vp the still chord to act also and by action to send backe againe a salutiferous harmony vnto the acting spirit which is as neere vnto his owne still or potentiall nature as the tone of one Lute acting or strucke vnto that of the other not strucke For as both are but one spirit though they seeme to differ in distance as doe the chord of both Lutes so likewise are those two tones but one tone though they seeme to differ and therefore make but one vnisone But because the one spirit cannot essentially be separated from the other no more then can diuinity effentially be diuided into parts as also the one tone cannot be essentially distinguished from the other therefore it doth liuely extend it selfe à termino à quo ad terminum ad quem from the wound vnto the oyntment as being all one spirit continuated euen as wee see one thred extended from one end of a Chamber vnto the other Now being this spirit requireth a spirituall vehicle like it selfe it is carried quasi super alas venti as it were vpon the wings of the wind in the hidden spirit of the blood which seemeth as a vehicle no otherwise then the essentiall spirit of the wind is carryed by the ayre and obserueth no limited distance neyther is hindred by mountaines woods or walls to worke his effect as wee see the Northwind doth produce in Lumbardy frost Ice snow c. Although the high Alpin mountaines
piercing the very clouds are interposed But I will bring a more familiar example of the graine of Corne which being considered in himselfe without his mother earth seemeth no way to act for his vitall spirit doth lurke in the centre and not operate to the circumserence eyther by way of vegetation or multiplication The fountaine from whence the vegetable soule comes by multiplication is the sunne of heauen which worketh life in all vegetable things by the vertue of the foresaid Catholike spirit of life which did put his Tabernacle in the Sunne giuing a naturall increase of life and vegetation to euery thing For though this spirit in it selfe be Catholike yet as it entreth into any specificall creature it conuerteth his property vnto the viuification mulâ—…plication and generation of that very species yea euen vnto mankinde Whereupon Aristotle saith that Sol homo generant hominem the Sunne and a man doe engender a man As for example it hath multiplied by the successiue influence of this piercing spirit in a graine of Wheat being resuscitated as S. Paul saith after death and putrefaction in his proper earth from one to twenty and afterwards moueth vpwards in his ayery vehicle with his strawie stalk towards the fountaine of his being and draweth by a sympatheticall or magnetike vertue his like from aboue by the medium of the Carholike ayre But it is obserued by husbandmen that the better the ground is in temperature wherein the graine is sowed and the neerer vnto the nature of the graine the better doth the graine prosper and multiply in vertue Now the fountaine of the graines life namely the Catholike spirit of vegetation doth chiefely reside in the Sunne of the great world compared vnto the heart in man or the little world which is vitâ—… principium the beginning of life the graine is fitly compared vnto the little blood which is gathered from the bloody tree of life mouing in the veynes and arteries as in the strawy stalke or huske the stalk growing still with the other graines on it is referre vnto the whole masse of blood in the veynes which doth remaine in manifest act The amputed grâ—…ine to the amputed blood for which although they both doe remaine without any manifest act or life yet neuerthelesse they haue the spirit of life and multiplication in them centrally contracted and therefore it remaineth in them onely in potentia agendi able to act but as yet acting nothing except it bee euocated and put in action by his like acting and viuifying nature or rather by the same continued spirit emanating vnto the graine from the Sun or vnto the amputated blood from the spirâ—…t in the wounded body The in ward inuisible spirit of the blood in which the Spirit of lise doth moâ—…e to the oyntment from the wounded is compared vnto the Etheriall or heauenly Spirit in which the incorruptible spirits influence doth moue from the Sunne downe vnto the graine by the common medium or vehicle of them both in which the Etheriall Sprit moueth also from the Sunne downeward vnto it's like or rather it selfe in the graine being now buried in the earth or from the fountaine of life vnto the dead graine or blood in the oyntment the which medium is the common Element of Ayre The oyntment is the good ground in which the bloudy graine doth dye and rise again which I will now speake of The fourth to be considered is the ointment and his nature Who but a meare Ideot can deny that like doth desire his like or that one Nature being stronger doth cherish foster and releiue an other that is weaker and the weaker reioyceth in the aide and comfort it bringeth The ancient Physitians and Philosophers haue obserued that lungs nourish lungs and braines nourish braines that are weake the spleene helps to fortifie the spleene for weak gutts wee make Glysters of boyled gutts the stomacke of a cocke helpeth digestion the very spittle voided by the Phtisic all lungs are said to cure thâ—… lungs wormes mortified and dryed to pouder destroy wormes The stone of the Kidney or blather rightly prepared cureth the stone In conclusion it is certaine that simile agit naturali inclinatione in suum simile like worketh in his like Natura enim laetatur suâ naturâ natura naturâ gaudet Nature reioyceth in his nature Nature is glad at the presence of his nature Now if wee looke into the composition of this medicince we shall find that it is of a wonderfull consonance with the blood of man for â—…s before I haue signified vnto you That the blood is the seat of the spirit of life and that the life of the flesh is in the blood and also that the spirit of life is immediately as well in the fat as in the blood and therefore these two are forbidden to be eaten but are to be reserued a part for a sacrifice due vnto God and being that the life of the bones is in the blood and flesh and therefore doe communicate with the spirit of life and consequently haue in them a balsamick marrow which is full of spirits and affecteth wholesomely the other parts Therefore without doubt there is the selfe-same relation of vnison betwixt this ointment with the blood in it and the wounded mans nature as is between the string of one lute that is proportioned vnto the other in the same tone And for this cause will be apt to euibrate quauer forth one mutuall consent of simpatheticall harmony if that the spirits of both by the vertuall contact of one anothers nature be made by conueying the indiuiduall spirit of the one into the body of the other that the liuely balsamick vertue of the one may comfort and stir vp the dull and deadly languishment of the other no otherwise then the actiuity of one lute string struck doth stirre vp the other to moue which was before still and without life or as wee see the graine of corne being put into the earth which hath beene well manuâ—…ed with the dung of horses that haue fed on the same graine is quickly animated by the Sun beames and made to moue and ascend towards the fountaine of his acting Spirit For euery spirit doth by a naturall instinct or inclination tend vpwards vnto his natiue Country To conclude I must now come to the reaping vp of this mysticall operation of curing Master Foster saith it cannot be accomplished by any vertuall contact being it is out of the limited spheare of actiuity Doth hee or his sharpest witted Masters know the certaine limits of actiuity in euery thing that hee concludeth thus boldly Foelix qui potuit rerum talium cognoscere causas But I am sure I can discerne no such felicity in his reuelations or prescriptions of limits vnto naturall agents much lesse vnto that spirit which acteth and operateth all in all and ouer all Qui quicquid vult facit tà m in virtutibus Coeli quà m in habitatoribus terrae which effecteth what
God from the earth nor the sudden reuiuing of the dead blood in the murthered at the presence of the murtherer which could not happen without this Viuifying Spirit did participate with and lurke in the blood though without action till by the murthering spirit it was excited vnto action c. But I will bring you to an ocular experience It is most certaine vnto such who haue applyed themselues vnto the art of distilling that mans Blood and Bones doe containe an admirable deale of volatile Salt in which there is so excellent a Balsamick diâ—…position that it doth by reason of the propinquity of nature suddenly appease dolours of the Gout and intolerable Aches cureth Wounds healeth such as are affected with the Mother and Falling-sicknesse and in fine experience hath made manifest that the Volatile Salt and Oyle of the Blood is an excellent Cordiall Againe that the Oyle of Mans Fat is a great appeaser of the Gout and other Dolours and a healer of Wounds and a present dryer vp of all manner of Excoriations often experience hath taught as well my Masters as my selfe Doe we not see that the dropping of a Candle will in one night heale vp an Excoriation And euery Ostler will certifie you that a Horses heele being wounded or cut with a stone or shoo with the anointing of a Candles end that Hogs-grease Deeres-suet are esteemed good and necessary ingredients for a healing Salue there is not a Chirurgion but will confesse And whence doth this sanatiue property in them proceed what from the benigne act of God or from the Deuill If from it is from that curing and viuifying Spirit which first made those Members and gaue them that vertue or it could haue no healing property Spiritu ab ore Dei saith Dauid omnis procedit virtus From the Spirit of the mouth of God proceedeth all vertue Ergò from that Spirit had the Fat Flesh Blood and Bones that vertue of healing or not at all and by the presence they hold still that vertue of it euen after their separation or amputation from the liuing body that it receiued from it whilest they were Members in the liuing Body onely this is the difference that when they were in the liuing Body their vertue was actuall but being separated it is onely potentiall and will not be reduced vnto act vnlesse it be incited by the 〈◊〉 viuifying and actuating Spirit euen as we see that Grease or Tallow is fixed with the cold and will not flow but with the act of naturall heate or fire it will forthwith melt and flow What of all this may our Sponge-bearing Author say Must therefore the Spirit of life be in this for without it there can bee no sympathising betwixt this and the Hypostaticall Balsam residing in the liuing Man I must haue this Inquisitor know that as it was but one Spirit that was called by the Prophet from the foure Windes to breathe life vnto the slaine so there is but one Spirit that giueth vertue as well to the liuing Blood Flesh Fat and Bones as to the other that seeme to vs to be without life or in puissance to act It is but one Spirit but in diuers properties that congealeth and as it were killeth the Spirit of the moueable Element of Ayre and fixeth it by his Northerne blast into Snow Frost Ice and Haile and againe reuiuifieth it by a Southerne blast Neither will it serue our Opposites turne to exclude this Spirit from the Fat Blood Flesh and Mosse of Bones that are in the Oyntment for the Wise man saith That the incorruptible Spirit is in all things Ergò in this Oyntment We haue therefore the Balsamick Salt in all of these ingrediences and in that Salt lurketh the actiue Vertue which being stirred by his fountaine of action flowing and acting à termino à quo doth reagere or act againe à termino ad quem that is from the end to the beginning This is the reason that this Oyntment cureth not onely by a Reall but also Virtuall Contact namely by reason of that vertue which it holdeth from his first Creator As who should say that an herb or roote should lose all their sanatiue vertue because they are gathered from the plant namely a Graine of Wheate or an Apple gathered from the Straw or Tree should haue no Balsamick nourishment in it because they are now past growing and yet the contrary is manifested in that they haue still in them their vegetating and multiplying Spirit For being put into the Earth the very Atom of life lurking in them doth manifest it selfe and maketh them grow againe and multiply in their kinde Neither are the flesh of Beasts destitute of their nourishing property though they seeme dead and are seuered from the liuing Creature For the Scripture saith Anima carnis est in sanguine The life of the flesh is in the blood which if it were not so it would not nourish or bee conuerted into mans bodily substance namely Blood Flesh Fat and Bones as also if the viuifying Spirit did not lurke in the flesh of the dead Carkas it were impossible that it should be conuerted into wormes by the exposition of it vnto the beames of the Sunne as shall be told hereafter Lastly I could shew this deepe Philosopher that this viuifying Spirit in the volatile Salt is abundantly inbred I could shew him ocularly how it sucketh downe the forme of life from the Sunne insomuch that of a cleare aëriall volatile Salt as white as Snow or chrystalling vnctuous fluent liquor it wil in few houres become as red as a Ruby by exposing it to the Sunne-beames Such is the sympathy betwixt it and the forme of the Sunne and in the selfesame kinde is their reciprocall appetite as is betweene the Patient and the Agent or the Female and the Male. I could shew him also in a short space the admirable power this vegetable Spirit hath to cause vegetation in all things And I haue proued it to be a soueraigne Balsam to cure wounds and to take away aches and therefore it sympathiseth with the Hypostaticall Balsam of man For else it would not be conuerted into the same Image namely into Blood and Flesh and Fat and Bones and much more therefore the very Blood Flesh Fat and Bones of the selfesame species being that simile magis nutritur à suo simili like is nourished more by his like Doe we not see mans blood yea the blood of euery creature to consist of such a volatile Salt If it were nothing but the vrine which is the whayie excrement of the blood it would witnesse so much being that it is passing full of salt Armoniak or volatile Animal Salt and by reason of the Balsamick nature thereof mans vrine is so proper to mundifie and cure a slight greene wound as also the Yellow-Iaunders is cured at such a distance from the patient as is already declared You see therefore with what ease and that by
Spirit of God by whom wee liue moue and exist All this Mercurius Tresmegistus that diuine Philosopher seemeth to confirme in these words Anima hominis in hunc vehitur modum mens in anima anima in spiritu spiritus in corpore Spiritus per venas arteriasque sanguinemque diffusus animal vndique ciet Mans soule is carried in this manner the mentall beame is carried in the soule the soule in the spirit or ayre the spirit in the body The Spirit being dispersed through the veynes and arteryes doth stirre vp and moue the liuing creature in euery part These things being thus euidently proued out of holy writ we will now proceed vnto a greater mystery concerning the double propertie of this Spirit of life in both worlds that thereby we may demonstratiuely come by little and little vnto the very point or perfect resolution of the question in hand That eternall Lord God who is all one and the same Spirit because of an indiuisible Essence is he that viuifieth the Creature and againe taketh away the life of it at his pleasure as hath been prooued already for that he operateth all in all according to the Apostles words and meruaile not though I say hee worketh contrary effects although he be but one indiuisible Essence for these are the words of Salomon Spiritus Disciplinae sanctus est vnicus seu simplex multiplex c. The Spirit of Wisdome is one and simple and yet manifold simple in himselfe but manifold in operation And doth not Dauid acknowledge so much when he saith Deo emittente spiritum suum recreantur Creaturae abscondente faciem suam conturbantur recipiente Spiritum eorum exspiâ—…ant c God sending forth his Spirit recreateth the Creatures but at the hiding of his face they are troubled and when he receiueth or taketh vnto him their spirit they dye c. Touching the first member of this axiom of Dauid he proueth it else-where thus Vita aaesâ—… beneuolentiâ Iehoâ—… Life proceedeth from the benignity of Iehoua Vitae restaurator est Iehoua Iehoua is the Giuer of life Vitae meae Fontes omnes à Deo all the Fountaines of my Life are from God Vitae prolongatio est Benignitasâ—… Iehouae the prolongation of of Life is the Benignitie of Iehoua Whereupon it is euident that the Spirit of God is the immediate Creatour Actor Preseruer and Multiplier of Life As for the second Member thus much Deus malos relinquit abscondit faciem sâ—…am ab iâ—…ys vt obveniant â—…s mala multa angustiae God leaueth the wicked and hideth his face from the impious that euill and necessity may encomber them Sic increpare solet mortales in lectulo thus doth hee chide and punish mortalls in their beds as Iob hath it Thus did hee send his plagues vpon the Egyptians Thus made hee Ieroboams hand to wither Thus did he strike with leprosie Miriam Arons Sister Thus did hee afflict with the Hemorrhoides the Ashdedomans Thus laid he the plague on Ezekias namely by hiding or with-holding his Spirit And againe by emitting his beames of life he recouered him And therefore saith Dauid Vitae hominis spatium est miserum absque benignitate Iehouae The space of a mans life is miserable without the benigne Presence of God For hee that is sicke seemeth to be still dying Now to the last clause of the aforesaid text of Dauid God said when hee perceiued the wickednesse of men Non permanebit spiritus meus in homine in aeternum quia caro est eruntque dies illius centum viginti annorum My Spirit shall not remaine perpetually in man because he is flesh and his dayes shall bee an hundred yeeres and twenty And Iob saith as before Hominem const ituit Deus super terram apponens ad â—…m animam suam si spiritum seu flatum eius ad se reciperet vel traheret deficeret exspiraret omnis Caro simul homo in cinereâ—… reuertetur God made man vpon earth giuing vnto him his soule or life if hee should receiue or draw to himselfe his spirit or breath of life all flesh would faile and dye and man also together with them would returne vnto ashes And againe Spiritus Dei fecit me inspiratio omnipotentis â—…ficauit me The Spirit of God made me and the breath of the omnipotent did viuifie mee For this reason therefore the aforesaid action of Dauid shall be the maine foundation on which I will rely as well in my proofe as also to shew the various properties of this diuine and incorruptible essence in the spirit of both the worlds and I will prooue vnto you euidently that as this spirit worketh in the greater world so also in euery respect it bringeth foorth the like effects in the lesser Wee finde that it is but one spirit in the great world though in a contrary propertie that animateth foueefoldly the foure winds which are sent from the foure corners of the earth to blow and thus I proue it Deus edit glaciem flatu suo flante Deo concrescit gelu seu glacies coarctatur superficies aquarum God by his breath procureth Ice when hee bloweth from the North hee maketh the Ice to congeale and grow together and doth contract or straighten the superficies of the waters into Ice And the Kingly Prophet more pertinently Deo imittente sermonem suum in terram quà m celerimè excurrit verbum qui niues dispergit sicut lanam pruinam quasi cineres deâ—…cit gelu suum tanquam frusta coram frigore eius quis consist at Emittit verbum suum liquefacit ista simul ac 〈◊〉 ventum suum effluuntaquâ—… God sending forth his Word vpon earth it runneth swiftly which spreadeth the snow as wooll vpon the earth and the froâ—…t like ashes and casteth downe the Ice as gobbets who is able to resist his cold hee sendeth forth his Word and melâ—…eth these congealed bodies againe so soone as hee bloweth foorth his Wind the congealed waters moue and flow againe Here it is euident that the diuine Spirit is the essentiall actor in this Northern blast which is an enemy to the act of life For as God did emit and send forth the beames of his light from the infinit fountaine of his being to chase away cold by dilatation of spirits and to breede a hot humidity in the spirit of the world thereby to inact it with life and motion and to make those spirits fluent and actiue which before were congealed with the power of his contracting property that is opposite vnto the other so againe by the priuatiue Agent or his Boreall attribute and property which is cold hee contracts dilated spirits and maketh them of moueable fixe of light transparent dark and opack of liuely spirits substances without life of liquid and fluid vnmoueable and congealed and in conclusion motus is so turned into quies motion I say into rest actus
according vnto the viuacity of the acting Spirit which is in it and yet neuerthelesse wee see that if the blast of any strong wind doth encounter the emitted spirit of the Creature it dilateth it mightily from his centre or plant and maketh a wonderfull large spheare of actiuity and that greater or leâ—…er according vnto the power of the wind The case is apparant and found most true by such as trauaile by sea neare Spaine For when the wind is Easterly they can discerne the Aire thirty Leagues off the shore to bee filled with the sweet odour of Rosemary which groweth abundantly in those parts of Spaine And euen in the very like manner about Guiana and Virginea at the same or greater distance the odoriferous scent of the Sassaphras with other fweet woods is scented by the nauigatours vpon those shores and that somtimes before they can discerne any land What shall wee then say of the same spirit which a cteth in the little world or man when his insensible breath or emanation tendeth affectionally towards the homogeniall place of his owne nature I meane vnto the ointment inwhich the selfe same indiuisible nature either in the blood adhering to the weapon or hauing penetrated in the weapon without any signe of external blood is bathed Shall wee not beleeue that by his emanation it can carry along with it in the Ayre the occult spirit of the vegetating nature of the wounded person included secretly in a volatile salt to act in the oyntment vnto the reuiuifying of the sopified spirit in the oyntment No mary saith Master Foster For the Sassaphras woods odoriferous spirit and that of the Rosemaries are knowne by sense and so cannot the breath of such an emanating spirit with his volatile vehicle of vegetation be perceiued An excellent Argument in an externall and sensible Philosopher who with Saint Thomas will beleeue nothing but what he toucheth smelleth or tasteth But intellectuall men may easily gather that there is nothing that is externall and visible but was first internall and inuisible Neither can it be conuertibly said that what was internall was externall For there are an infinity of inuisible and internal actions performed by God in the closet of Nature which falleth not into the spheare or capacity of the sensuall or naturall man but are onely by faith to bee beleeued And for this reason the Apostle saith Through Faith wee vnderstand that the world was ordained by the Word of God so that the things that wee see are not made of things which did appeare By which it is euidently proued that all things were first inuisible before they were by sense to bee discerned And consequently it is the property of an externall and carnall man to beleeue nothing but what hee perceiueth by sense and to say that if any thing appeare to sense which was not knowne before it is diabolicall and not of God when the aforesaid text doth attribute all reducing of inuisible actions to the visible sense by the Word not of the Deuill but of God All Philosophers therefore haue accorded that it is one spirit of life which onely operateth in mans body But this spirit according vnto his diuersity of distinct offices indueth a diuers appellatioâ—… and therefore it is tearmed by them in one respect Rationall in an other Concupiscible and in a third Irascible By the first it is apt to be illuminated to vnderstand things that are aboue it beneath it and in it and with it selfe For by this his propertie or faculty it knoweth God aboue it selfe the Angels which are ranked with it selfe and whatsoeuer is comprehended in the whole circle of the heauens beneath it selfe such is his spirituall act of centrall emanation by reason of that powerfull vertue allotted her by God By the second and the third it is inclined either to desire and affect a thing or to eschew and flye from it that is either to loue or hate c And by this propertie of hers she doth exercise herselfe about the Sympathy or Antipathy of those things which are either proper or dissonant vnto her specifick nature And therefore in this her office she worketh mightily in and about the effects of this Weapon-Salue being that from these two later operations in her proceedeth euery affection For as of Concupiscibility proceedeth all ioy and hope because Natura laetatur in sua naturâ c and therefore by the vnion of the liuely emanation the dead or congealed spirit in the Salue is quickned and viuified So contrariwise the liuing soule or naturall Spirit in which the supernaturall Spirit doth act is of it's owne nature obnoxious vnto a kind of spirituall dolor and feare by reason of the Weapon that vsed violence vnto it the which passions belong to and are affected by the Irascible spirit for asmuch as it either greiueth or is made dolorous already at the violence offered or seareth to bee greiued or made dolorous by it These foure affections of the spirit of man are the beginners and as it were the common subiect of all vertuous and vicious actions which befall vnto man Now to expresse the large extension of that centrall spirit which doth radically operate in the vitall spirit the wisest Philosophers affirme that it seeth it selfe in it selfe to the end that it may rightly vnderstand it selfe in it selfe And when it will know God it eleuateth it selfe aboue it selfe by it's mentallbeame it penetrats all things it beholdeth all things as well present as absent it is when it pleaseth beyond the seas and searcheth out things that are hidden yea and in one moment it directeth and sendeth forth his beames vnto the farthest limits of the whole world and searcheth out the secrets of it it descendeth downe vnto the deepe and mounteth vp againe from thence vnto heauen and cleaueth fast to Christ and is made all one with Christ. And must the infinite vertue of this all penetrating spirit according vnto Master Fosters tenent bee limited by any imaginary spheare of actiuity assigned by the vaine Philosophy of the Ethnicks which as the Apostle saith is framed out after the tradition of man and the world and not by God Doth he not warne vs to beware that wee be not deceiued by such philosophicall doctrine which doth disagree from the rules of Christ in whom is the plenitude of the Godhood bodily And must we now to obey Master Fosters phantasticall Idaea breake the Lawes of the Apostle to be deluded by his false Philosophy But to returne vnto our purpose All this which is aboue mentioned being well considered namely the Catholike Nature of the Spirit which breathed life into the creatures tâ—…e indiuisibility and indiuiduality of the giuer and the gift which is giuen nam Essentia diuina est indiuidua The diuine Essence is in diuisible and vndiuided and therefore the diuine Spirit imparted vnto the creature is continuated and vndiuided from him that giueth it his infinity of extension for asmuch as
it pleaseth and therefore at what distance it listeth as well with the vertues of heauen as with the dwellers on the earth If this great Aduersary to the Weapon-Salue-Salue would but consider the wonderfull operation that this Catholicke spirit produceth in this cold and contracting facultie as when he moueth from the North and maketh snow frost and Ice by the contracting of the thin spirit of the world into a thick body and sucketh vp the fountaines of the earth on high all which is done by contracting his action from the circumference vnto the center or emission from the center to the circumference causing the common element to alter from a dilated spirit to a contracted body And againe from a contracted body to a dilated one for by an alteration quite opposite to his Boreall act or Northerne disposition it vndoeth in his dilating property and resolueth all that it did effect by his cold condition in mouing and making aliue againe the waters that were congealed rendring them diaphanous or transparent and spirituall or inuisible things though they were before thick opack dark corporall and visible And againe if he with discretion would consider how it doth depresse and strike downe into the earth the fountaines by his presence in his Sunny tabernacle which by his cold propertie were raysed out of the eartâ—… If I say hee would well ponder with himselfe how the â—…unne being now in the South beyond the Equinoctiall doth subtilitate there the thick Ayre and dissolue the frosty snowy and Icy effects which the cold did make in that Hemispheare whilest the Sunnes presence in the Northerne world did worke â—…ere contrary effects and how on this side the Equinoctiall by his contractiue faculty it partly sucketh vp the fountaines of the Southerne world out of the earth and partly by his dilatiue action depresseth on that side the said fountaines appearing in the Northerne Climats Then would he not call the action of this most potent spirit in question or limit it according to the phantastick opinion of some men within an imaginary spheare of actiuity being that this spirit is from him who filleth all and operateth all and in all and therefore consequently effecteth the great works of contraction and dilatation which are so apparant in euery Angle of the world Will he circumscribe this action of eleuating fountaines and againe depressing them within any spheare or orbe except it bee that of the round world Will hee thinke that this action made betweene the potentiall habit of priuation or cold and that of life and position which is heate requireth a small interuall to make the two extremes so farre distant from each other as the North is from the South to meete and concurre in a Symphoniacall proportion The hotter and more intemperate and consequently the more dilatiue the one Hemispheare is the colder and more contractiue is the opposite And therefore the more depression of fountaines there is by extreme heate in the one Hemispheare the more are they sucked drawne vp out of the earth by the attâ—…actiue vertue of the extreme cold of the other This I can and will be ready to demonstrate to any one that doubteth of this point by an ocular conclusion or demonstration It is euident therfore by this which we haue produced that this magneticall kind of cure is Donum Dei the Gift of God according vnto Paracelsus his opinion and not the act of the Deuill as Master Foster most vnchristianly hath published attributing against reason and conscience that vnto the Deuill the worst and foulest of spirits whose office is onely destructiue and wounding and not constructiue or healing which is the onely property of this best fayrest or purest of all spirits on whom attend all good Angels to doe his will as the Deuill hath his bad angels to destroy You may therefore see by this Gentle Reader how life is breathed into the creature by Gods good Spirit of life how his seate or vehicle in which he moueth is the blood how that fat flesh and bones haue their life and vegetation from the spirit that moueth in the blood how this spirit operateth priuatiuely by contracting his beames of life from the circumference vnto the center of the Creature where it resteth or rather ceaseth to operate the effects of his office of life as it is made manifest in the dead congealed blood or graineof wheat and againe it operateth positiuely to life by which it reuiueth that which was dead by sending out his act from the centre to the circumference of the creature as it doth in the graine of Wheat buryed in the ground or the congealed blood cleauing eyther to stick or weapon conueyed to the oyntment as his most naturalest earth I shewed you how the spirit is all one and vndiuisible and therefore that this which resideth in the salue and that which operateth in the body are concatenated or continuated essentially one to another as being all one spirit though it commeth from the foure winds not diuided I say in essence but onely differing in property for it worketh contractingly by eold dilatingly by heate also that there is but one common vehicle which carryeth this spirit in the Etheriall substance of the blood And lastly that because the oyntment is made of mans blood mans fat mans flesh or mummy and the fumous excrescence of mans bones called vznie or the mosse that groweth on the skull according vnto my receit and for that the nature of the Catholike spirit thus specified is in the oyntment though not working and is stirred vp to operate by the vnion which it hath now from the beames of the liâ—…ely and operating spirit of the wounded no otherwise then the Sunne doth operate on the earth in which the dead graine of Wheat lyeth and with it calleth or stirreth vp the centrall spirit occult in the dead blood to operate as the Sunne beame doth the atome of life which is in the graine Therefore the mixtion of these two spirits now operating in one viuifying vnion makes them to tend vnto the fountaine of life as the graine rifing out of the earth would carry also his like which was clad in earth vpward toward his natiue home did not the heauy coats of the elements hinder his further ascent But because this earth or salue is more spirituall it sendeth out his power vnto the blood by that harmony which the continuation of spirit doth effect namely as it were by an vnison by reason of the vniformity of the specifick spirit belonging vnto man by the vnion whereof the foure discordant elements and euery member of mans body are vnited vnto a fympatheticall harmony adopted to the vse of life in the creature yea also forasmuch as the blood flesh fat and bones in all other vnreasonable creatures are framed out of one kinde of elementary forme and fashioned alike by the same operating spirit it is no maruell if his blood being brought vnto the
Bones Nerues and giueth them Life Action and Motion all which the patient â—…ob expresseth thus Thou hast powred mee out like Milke that is in the forme of sperme thou hast coagulated mee like Cheese thou hast endued me with Skin and Flesh thou hast compacted mee together with Bones and Sinnews thou hast giuen mee life by thy mercy and by thy visitation thou hast preserued my spirit but all this thou hast hidden in thy minde but I know all this to bee from thee Whereupon it is euident that God operateth all beginning radically in the blood and for this reason the Apostle saith rightly In him we liue we moue and haue our being I conclude therefore that here againe is all the Sponges validity so squeesed out as hereafter I hope it shall not be able to digest any great matter nor yet to bite any longer vpon the Marble Rocke of Truth CHAP. III. In the which it is proued contrary vnto our Spongy Authors opinion that spirits doe reside in the separated Blood Doctor Fludds naked Text. In the Blood is the spirit of life and with the bright soule doth abide and operateth after an hidden manner Master Fosters Collection In the Blood reside the vitall spirits in the vitall spirits the soule in an hidden manner The act of his mundifying Sponge Thirdly I deny that any spirits reside in separated Blood and Casman is so confident in this that in parts separated from the body remaine no spirits and saith that the very Deuill cannot beget or conserue any in them The Sponge squeesed Here you see that this fresh-water Souldier hath nothing to maintaine his Tenent but Ipse dixit If that faile farewell all further expectation But I will proue that this his and his Masters assertion is erroneous by three manner of wayes namely first by Philosophicall reason for being that euery amputated creature euen from the liuely stocke of his growth is filled with a Balsamick Salt of the nature of the Tree or Plant from which it sprung by which it doth exist such as indeed it is it is not possible but that it should haue of the spirit of his wonted life in it although it doth not act but rest in its Center Next by Holy Scriptures for as is proued abundantly before the blood spilled and flesh killed is full of liuely spirits though they remaine potentially in them or else why should the Israelites be commanded not to eate the fat and blood For it is said because the blood is the seate of the soule or spirit of life For if that spirit of life were fled from it what sinne had it beene to haue eaten it But the text saith for it is the seate of life and therefore it is commanded that they should powre it out on the Earth Againe let Parson Foster answer this The incorruptible pirit of the Lord is in all things Ergò in the effused blood flesh fat and bones separated from the whole And lastly by common experience for we finde that fat and blood and mummy haue singular properties of healing which they could not haue if all the spirits which they did receiue from the liuing body were exhaled but it is the office onely of the incorruptible Spirit and Word to heale and therefore being these ingredients haue an healing property they must needs in this their existence participate or communicate with this good Spirit whose nature is to expell and take away all corruption and sicknesse and other vnnaturall impediments Verbum tuum saith Salomon curat omnia thy Word cureth all for in it onely is life Ergò the viuifying spirit Moreouer I know and with mine eyes haue seene abundance of spirits which by the aâ—… of the least fire haue beene excited out of the essence of corrupted blood and fat in so much that with the naturall heate of the hand they in forme of little Atomes haue beene obserued to dance and caper in the ayre which is an euident token that there is the spirit of life lurking in the dead blood though it appeares but potentially in the essence of the dead thing in respect of vs. Againe if this were not is it possible that dead blood flesh and fat could nourish the liuing being that like is nourished by his like which could not be if in the blood flesh and fat there did not lurke naturall and viuifying spirits to maintaine their like in the liuing creature and therefore will one kinde of flesh nourish both a Man a Beast a Fish and a Fowle because all those naturall spirits are of one kinde and condition Is it not I pray you apparent to the vulgar that flesh and fat hung vp in the Sunne will bee quickly conuerted into liue Wormes or Magats Which were impossible except the spirit of life did lurke in the flesh and fat after the creature was dead yea I haue seene a whole dead Crow which I hung vp in the Sunne for a certaine purpose to be wholly sauing bones conuerted into verminous animals An euident argument of the viuifying spirits presence in the dead flesh blood and fat Yea verily I haue obserued that the Balsam of Wheate so aboundeth in it that if it bee put into Raine-water in a short space it produceth long Wormes of a white colour The same effect produceth flesh after putrifaction It is most certaine therefore that the spirit oflife is in the dead flesh and fat yea and in the graine which though it operateth not except it be stirred vp by the viuifying spirits acting property working in such an organicall body as is the Sunne the fire the liuing creature and such like yet is it most certaine that it is in the amputed blood fat flesh and bones c. You may discerne by this gentle Reader how Casman and his compleat disciple Foster haue erred But wee must excuse them modestly seeing that Humanum est errare Why I pray you should I esteeme these men more Catholick in knowledge then Bernard But Bernardus non videt omnta And yet blinde Bayard is subiect to iudge and censure any thing though vnto himselfe vnknowne Wherefore let Master Foster put vp his authority in his Pouch for I esteeme it not hauing naturall reason the testimony of Holy Writ and lastly vulgar experience or ocular demonstration to proue the contrary And whereas his Master Casman teacheth him that the very Deuill cannot beget or conserue any spirit in them I wonder how the Deuill then can worke this Weapon-Salue Cure being that the Oyntment hath no spirits of it selfe nor yet the Deuill can beget or conserue any in the ingredients thereof And if he saith that the Deuill is of great experience and doth this with other herbs or simples I would haue him to tell me why should herbs or other simples being also after they are gathered but dâ—…ad as it were and without spirits by Master Fosters owne rule serue as meanes vnto the Deuill for the working
the blood drawne from the body it is most euident by the example of witches The Deuill sucketh blood from them this blood remaining with the Deuill participates of his maligne nature and hauing recourse by the spirits thereof vnto the Witches body maketh all their blood sympathise with that the Deuill hath and so the blood changeth the Witches nature and they become maligne and Diabolic all Here againe you may see that hee wresteth my Text beyond his true intended sense But I will yeeld him his desire and will please the Gentleman in his humour The act of his neate wiping Sponge vpon this Text. The Doctor proueth it by the example of blood sucked by the Deuill from Witches which remaining with the Deuill and sympathising with the blood in Witches bodies changeth their nature and makâ—…s them become maligne and Diabolicall O profound example Here Master Doctor 〈◊〉 a ground of his Argument which neither true philosophy nor orthodox Diuinity will giue vs leaue to assent vnto The Witches blood remaining with the blood-sucker the Deuill sympathiseth with the blood of the witches body How can this be How can blood a substance corporeall remaine with the Deuill incorporeall c Here this his Sponges validity is squeesed out O wonderous wit of our Sponge-bearer O light and spongy vnderstanding of so weighty a conception But if indeed Angels as he saith were incorporeall how could meate and drink a substance corporeal remaine with the Angels which Abraham entertained if they were incorporeall or if they assumed bodies accidentally could they eare and drinke with them naturally or was Abraham so senselesse to offer counterfeit shapes meat and drinke Surely a man so profound in diuine mysteries would not haue beene so absurd as to haue offered them his food if he had knowne that it would not naturally haue nourished them The same absurdity might iustly haue beene imputed vnto Lot Verily it is aboue the reach of Worldlings to scan rightly or discouer iustly this doubt But suppose it be granted that Angels and Deuils be not corporeall but spirituall creatures yet he confesseth elsewhere that the Deuill can indue and put on an organicall body namely of a man a Dog or Cat and consequently those Angels indued humane shapes I pray you when a squirt or syrynge or boxing glasse draweth is it the organ or the spirit in the organ that draweth Man operateth not with his body but with the inward spirit neither doth blood act any thing of it selfe but by the occult viuifying spirit which acteth in it Mans throat and tongue serue as organs of voyce but it is the Spirit that acteth If the Deuill enter into a body as he did into the Swine and humane bodies did he not make vse of the organicall voyce of the Beast and those men to speak vnto Christ But it was the spirituall act of the Deuill which did mingle it selfe with the aëry spirit of the Beast and man possessed and made it to answer according to the will of the Agent so I say that by the ayde of the creatures mouth and spirit which it indued it did suck the blood not that the blood in his grosse nature did abide with the Deuill in his spirituall substance but I say that the spirituall substance in the blood which participates of ayre is easie to ioyne and make an vnion by the contract with that of the Deuill euen as we see that Amber when it is burnt sendeth forth his spirit which vniting or mingling it selfe with the ayre infects it with his odoriferous nature and so there is an actuall communication made betweene the ayre and the fume betweene the spirit of the one and the other betweene a Priuy-house or plaguy Botch infecting and the spirit of the ayre infected the which ayre communicateth also that infection vnto the spirit of the smeller Againe doe we not see in one infected with the plague that first it was a corrupt spirit which by the virtuall contact ofit did infect not the blood onely but the inuisible spirits in the blood And doe we not see also that the same inuisible spirit so infecting doth inuisibly also infect the inuisible ayre about it and though it be in part exspired out of the body and blood yet it hath such communication with the blood that for all that the inuisible fume infecteth abroad not leauing neuerthelesse his persecution at home If therefore the Botch of the Plague in one man which the Prophet Abaku ' termeth the Daemonium or Deuill of the South doth infect the spirituall blood of another it is not the bodily Botch that doth it but the infected spirit in it The corporeall Boâ—…ch therefore we compare to the body assumed by the Deuill and the corrupting spirit vnto the Deuill Wherefore as we see that after the Botch of the one hath touched the person of another the spirit easily by reason of the reciprocall similitude of them communicate with one another so that although the party that hath the Botch departeth neuer so farre yet neuerthelesse the malignant spirit 〈◊〉 with the blood of the last infected and conuerteth it absolutely into his malignant nature Is it then impossible that the spirituall maligniâ—…y of the Deuill by a contactuall sucking of the blood should contaminate with the malignity of his spirit the spirit of the blood of the party sucked and leaue it so infected and changed vnto his owne nature as the venemous spirit of the Plague into a plaguy disposition Did not the Deuill worke the very same feate with Iudas his spirit when it was said 〈◊〉 Diabolus in cor 〈◊〉 vt traderet Christum hee sent or put it into the heart of ludas to betray Christ That is hee infecteth his spirit first and those spirits corrupted his thoughts or vnderstanding for without the helpe of a medium the Deuill being expelled from Heauen can not attempt the heauen of mans vnderstanding But to answer Master Foster at his owne weapon I meane that quick-sented Gentleman that so soone can smell a Rat What doth he thinke that Deuils haue not tenuia corpora Yea verily for he hath for it as he sayeth authorities of Scripture Counsels Fathers and Schoolemen to confirme so much But by the way he saith The Doctor who impiously attributes composition in God dareâ—… falsly attribute corporeity to Deuils In the first place M. Foster hath the Deuill the father of lyes for his Foster-father who can both foster and father vntruth vpon any one But as I haue said before the simple Frier Marinus Mersennus saith so namely because I auerred that the Spirit of the Lord filled and animated the heauenly Spirit Ergò saith he Fludd maketh God a part of Composition and therefore Master Parson holding the Friers words as an Oracle without pondering the sense of the businesse blundereth out like a Parrat these very words of the Frier The Doctor doth impiously attribute Composition vnto God But if I say that God is
clouds or stopped by walls or mountaines it is a power essentiall proceeding radically from God who animateth it mouing alwayes in an airey medium Doe not you acknowledge so much when with the Apostle you say In â—…od wee liâ—…e moâ—…e and haue our being But to proceed The fire is the most raging agent of all but a fire of 10. miles compasse cannot burne heate or warme a man at two miles distance Truely Master Foster I can scarce beleeue you For I am sure you would find a larger spheare of Actiuity in such a proportion of fire then your bodie would be able to endure without roasting For if Vis vnita sit fortioâ—…r if I say force added to force produceth a greater force will you haue a fire of ten miles compasse not to heate nay not to scortch burne two miles â—…ff Againe pardon mee Sir for I say your artificiall fire is not the most ragingest Agent of all For the lightning of heauen is more forcible in it's operation then our artificiall fire for though it bee a of lesser compasse then the hundred part of 10 miles yet it so inflameth the aire for many miles compasse that it maketh the Creature to sweat againe with heate Moreouer the Olympicke and starrie fire excelleth this so farre that it pierceth many degrees further then the Elementall fire can doe for though the Elementall fire be full of Actiuity yet it is cloathed with so thicke a spirit in which it is carried that though it be subtile and of the fountaine of celestiall Fire in it selfe yet by reason it cannot mooue but in his medium or thick vehicle namely the artificiall fire beneath without the thick fume or smoake of the thing combustible and naturall elementall without the clouds and aire in which it is carried it is for that cause impedited or hindred for making so great a spheare or Diameter in his Actiuity because the vehicle being thick cannot without some resistance of the Aire penetrate into the same But the celestiall fire which is the fountaine of the fire of life by reason of his subtile spirit which is his Aetheriall vehicle pierceth all things being nothing else but a subtile influence which according to the best Philosophers aduice doth pierce without any resistance thorow rocks and stones euen to the very center of the earth as experience it selfe doth witnesse For else say the Philosophers this Influence could not by little and little produce in the bowels of the earth the formes of metalls and precious stones more or lesse noble according to the worthinesse of that starrie spirit which sent downe that influence and purenesse of that mercuriall vapour which it animateth But yet the life of man I meane that refined spirit by which man liueth is more subtile pure and exalted then it And therefore of a greater Actiuity as shall be manifested hereafter The Starres celestiall excell all sublunarie Agents the Sunns light goeth through the world but yet a little cloud obscureth the light and abateth the heate The earth keepeth the light from the Antipodes The body of the Moone eclipseth the sunne c. If the starres celestiall excell the sublunarie Agents then was Master Foster to blame to say before that the terrestriall fire was the most ragingest and powerfullest Agent of all But in this hee commeth to me for if the celestiall Agents be more potent then the sublunarie it argueth that it hath a greater spheare of Actiuity and can send out his Diametrall beames further then either Loadstone fire or such like sublunarie things in which though the agent celestiall be yet it is so cloied and encombred with a grosse spirit or compacted body that it cannot operat as in the graine of corne it appeareth whose internall and centrall fire except it be set at libertie will not moue from the superficies of the Earth vp toward heauen and multiplie But to the purpose what a story doth our Author tell vs of the Sunne the Sunns light the Eclipse the Interposition of the Earth betwixt the Sunne in our Horizon and the Antipodes the impediting of the Sunns light by the interposition of a cloud Verily it is more to shew his small skill in Astronomy and Philosophie then to touch truely any thing that is material to our argumeÌ„t For I am sure he is not ignorant that there are two things more besides light which are exactly by Philosophers to be considered to wit motion and influence If he will say that influence can be stoped by clouds by interposition of starres by aire by water or by earth he erreth and knoweth no Philosophy motu lumine influentiâ operantur stellae non solo lumine The starres operate by motion light and Influence not by light onely The visible light may bee obscured to vs but the Influence will flow without resistance And to this purpose speake the wisest Philosophers Now then shall terrestriall agents by distance or interposition be totally and celestiall be partly hindered and shall this Weapon-salue worke from the weapon to the wound at all distances Shall the interposition I say neither of ayre woods fire water walls houses castles cities mountaine c hinder the deriuation of the vertue of it First I say that the originall act in this cure issueth from the wounded person to the ointment and not as he saith from the ointment to the wound Next I told this busie Gentleman before that makes so much adoe now about nothing that for asmuch as this spirit proceedeth from a celestiall influence animated by God therefore it hath no such stopps and rubbes neither is this subtill of all subtill creatures any way impedited in his descent to feed nourish that species vnto which from the creation of the species it was ordained but we must know thus much that before it came downe it was Catholicke and generall but after it did penetrate into bodies it endueth a specificall and particular nature and hath an especiall Sympathie with a nature like it selfe and for this reason the wounded mans spirit penetrateth through the vehicle of Aire in which the bloud is conuayed vnto the ointment and naturally affects the oyntment so much the rather because that bloud was ayre and ayre is dilated bloud in his internall and that I can ocularly demonstrate and also the principall ingredient of the oyntment was of the bloud wherefore as we see the Sunne by his beames doth send out his spirit into a graine of corne in the Earth and hath his liuely influence or essentiall beames of Emission continuateÌ„d with his like nay the very same that lurketh in the dead and corrupted graine and so by little and little reuiueth that which was as it were dead and buried in corruption making it to thriue and vegetate with multiplication euen so and no otherwise the Sunne of life in man liuing and mouing yet in man as the Sunne in the great world hath his liuely beame
Thy Wâ—…rd O Lord healeth all things And Saint Iohn hath it that In the Word was life c. Ergo all healing and viuifying power commeth from him as ordained by him the speaker or Creator from the beginning to informe viuifie and create all things Whereas contrariewise in the Diuell is Death and Destruction for the Prophet doth testifie that he was created to destroy Ergo nothing but afflictioâ—… and wounding with sicknesse death and destruction are to be expected of him in his created property and that especially after his fall But I know Master Foster will reply that it is true he is Causa primaria principalis the prime and principall cause of all things but there are many sâ—…balternate efficient causes which operat by themselues that according to their owne inclinations some to good and some to euill To this I â—…swer that it is granted if he meaneth organicall causes and not Essentially Efficients for such are the Angels the starres the winds the Elements the meteors or imperfect bodies and the perfect or compounded Creatures But it is most euident that onely God worketh essentially in them and by them all And I proue it by many places of holy writ harmonically agreeing in one sense As for example Ego Dominus saith the Lord by the Prophet faciens omnia solus nullus mecum I am the Lord who operate and act all things alone not hauing any one to helpe or assist me in mine action or operation And againe Iuxta voluntatem suam facit tam coeli virtutibus quam c. Hee doth what hee list as well with the vertues and powers of Heauen as with the dwellers on the earth and there is not any that can resist his hand Whereby it is most euident that onely God alone without any Co-assisting Creature doth essentially worke in each organicall Subiect as in an Instrument created for him to operate his will and pleasure by as well in Heauen as in Earth and that the creature without that act is as a dead stocke a plaine inane vacuum without all vertue act and operation being vnable to doe more then the pipe without the blast of the piper And to this effect speakes the Prophet thus Consilium meum stabit omnis voluntas mea flet c. My counsell shall stand and my will shall bee accomplished calling a bird from the East Quarter of tâ—…e world and a man of my will from a remote Countrey I haue said it and I will bring it to passe I haue created it and I will doe it whereby it is euident that as the Spirit of his mouth which hee hath sent out for the animating of euery Creature moueth which way the will of the Creatour or inspirer pleaseth So the Spirit of the Creature which is partaker of his Power and Will is immediately obedient and bringeth his bodily case or instrument along with it to performe his Creators Will which is irresistible according to that other place Deus quodcunque voluit hoc facit what God would haue done that he effecteth And this operation of God as well by himselfe as in his created Organs doth extend it selfe not only vnto vulgar manifest actions and effects but also vnto arcane or hidden yea and to such as are miraculous wonderful euen as this cure by the weapon-salue appeareth to be vnto the fantasies oâ—… worldly men making them to admire and wonder at it as a company of birds doe at an Owle in an Iuie bush censuring after the wisedome of this world diuersly and that according to euery mans imagination Some boldly and presumptuously proclaiming it to be the work of the Diuell Some auerre it to bee a maine fopperie and vaine imagination in too credulous persons who by hauing only a good opinion of the thing are cured Some condemne it as a superstitious and abominable manner of healing for as much as the election of ingredients must be done by an Astrological obseruation And others approacâ—… nearer the truth terme it a Naturall Magia or a Magneticall or secret act of Nature And some more essentially grounded and religiously obseruing the prescribed order of holy writ doe as true Christians are bound to doe referre both this miraculous and wonderous act in curing euery other wonderous worke besides vnto that glorious God who hath made both heauen and earth and assigned to them by his spirit as well those vertues which worke in the eyes of worldlings miraculously or wonderfully as others which appeare more familiar vnto their sense according vnto that of Dauid verbo Domini firmati sunt coeli spiritu ab ore eius omnis virtus corum by the Word of the Lord the heauens were established and by the breath of his mouth each vertue or power thereof And their maine ground and foundation for the maintainance of Gods right and the abolishing or taking away of all such miraculous and wonderfull power as is falsely by blind worldlings ascribed vnto the Diuell is prescribed them out of this diuine and truth-telling hymne of the Royall Prophet Blessed bee the Lord God of Israel who onely and by himselfe worketh mâ—…ruailes Or as he hath it in another place Praise the Lord for his mercie endureth for euer who onely doth great meruailes And consequently not any Diuell nor Angell nor man nor medicine but God onely performeth it by that spirituall Gift of healing he hath imparted vnto man and his creatures in their creation and continued it in them from generation to generation It is manifest therefore that onely God operateth all in all essentially and not any created organ bee it spirituall or corporall and consequently not the Diuell who is the organ of darknesse ordained and animated or agitated to effect onely deeds of darkenesse as are sicknesse and destruction and not to be conuersant in goodnesse and especially about deeds of light as are life healing and preseruing As who should say that God acting and operating essentially in all and ouer all had not created good Angels or spirituall Organs to bring to passe and effect the gifts of life and health which hee hath of his mercy imparted vnto his creatures but hee must make election of that spirituall Organ to performe such good deedes whom he created for a cleane contrarie purpose as shall be forthwith proued Gods purpose and will as well in his Creation as after it cannot be withstood that is there cannot be produced an effect contrarie to his will or decree But Gods will and purpose was to make the Deuill his instrument or minister to punish and afflict with diseases sickenesse and death Ergo this his purpose as well in the Deuils creation as by ordination after his fall cannot bee withstood or contradicted by any effect which is contrarie vnto that first will and decree of God Now for the confirmation of the Major we find it thus written Deus iuxta voluntatem suam
diuell was ordained for another vse quite contrary vnto the pious and mercifull act of healing The Minor is proued by that which is said already as also the words of our Sauiour are very efficacious for this our purpose For when he had cured one that was both blinde and dumbe and possessed with an euill spirit so that as the Text saith He that was blind and dumbe could see and speake The Pharises said This man casteth out diuells no otherwise then by Belzebub the prince of diuells But Christ answered Euery kingdome diuided against it selfe is brought to naught and euery house or citty diuided against it selfe shall not stand so if Satan cast out Satan hee is diuided against himselfe Whereby it is cleare that being all diseases as well internall as externall are by Gods decree inflicted by the diuell and his angels as being created ministers by which and in which God vseth to execute vengeance and to punish mortall creatures It were a wrong vnto the Office assigned vnto him in or immediately after his creation to worke violence against his owne subiects by casting them out or curing the harmes they haue effected Wee haue many places in holy writ to confirme that Satan and his angels are contrary to the Art of curing and are alwayes ready to hurt with sicknesses and afflict with death but we câ—…not find one to testifie any curing faculty in him As for example It is sayd that there was power assigned vnto the foure Angells which were by God made presidents of the soure Windes to hurt the earth the Sea and the trees Now euery one of these were Princes of many Legions of euill and wounding spirits Againe the Prophet saith God commeth from the South the heauens were couered with his glory and the earth was full of his praise at his feet was death or as S. Ieremy haâ—…h it Egredietur diabolus ante pedes eius the diuel â—…ill goe forth before his feete but other interpreters say the pestilence went before him and the contagion raging and destroying in the South And Dauid saith Doe not feare the plague raging in the South as some interpreters haue it But S. Ierome saith a Daemonia meridiano from the Dâ—…on or spirit of the South We find that it was Satan that was Gods Instrument or Organ by which hee wrought his will on Iob and thereupon hee said to his Creator Lay thou but thy hand vpon him c. by which words it may be signified that he vsed more reuerence vnto his Creator in that his acknowledgement then Mr. Foster doth in making this Organ of sickenesse a peremptory and absolute actor as well in the effect of healing as destroying namely of himselfe and not as hee is onely the Organ or Instrument by which God doth essentially worke his owne ends of vengeance against offenders This therefore was he that wounded patient Iob with a foule botch or vlcer and incited in his spirits a fiery feauer which made him thus to cry out in his anguish The arrows of the Omnipotent are grieuous against mee their poyson drinketh vp my spirits and the troubles of God which are sharply set against mee doe oppose mee where hee attributed all vnto God and not vnto Satan who is his wounding Organ Also Dauid saw the destroying angell of the Lord betwixt heauen and earth with a naked sword in his hand extended against Ierusalem who strucke a great many with the pestilence Also Iehoua sent the killing angell into the campe of the Assyrians who destroyed euery valiant man at armes in one nights space Also Moses by the destroying Organ of God vsing in steed of the weapon-curing-salue which was contrary to his office art and skill the aspersion of an infectious powder afflicted the Egyptians with vlcers and pustules Now that it is not the Angelicall Organ but God himselfe in the Organ which doth essentially act and strike it apppeareth by this place where Iehoâ—…a saith Circa mediam noctem ego egressurus ero in medium Aegypti morietur omnis primogenitus about midnight I will goe out into the midst of Egypt and euery first borne shall die But in the next Chapter it is said Iehoua transibit praeter portam illam non sinet interfectorem seu percussorem seu vastatorem domos vestras vastare God will passe ouer that dore and will not suffer the destroyer to strike or hurt your houses Whereby it is apparant that the essentiall Act of God is present with the organicall destroyer and doth act in it Lastly to shew you that it was wicked spirits which by the agitation of their Creator did cause these diseases in Egypt the Kingly Prophet argueth in these words before mentioned Immisit in eos iram in dignationis suae iram tribulatinem per malos angelos Hee sent amongst them the fiercenesse of â—…is anger wrath and indignation by euill angells I can prooue this by many more examples of holy Text namely how God doth punish and plague with sickenesse diseases and death by these his destroying ministers or organicall causes which hee created of set purpose to performe his will in this afflicting manner but it cannot be prooued that hee did imploy them in the contrary office namely in that of healing and curing For when he is pleased to cure or heale he hath an infinity of good Angels to performe that office all which are concluded vnder the dominion of the Archangel Raphael which therefore hath that name Quasi medicina Dei as who should say the medicine of God I must therefore conclude that as the onely act of God is as well to wound as to cure so hath he ordained Instruments or Organs to serue his turne in the execution ofboth these operations which are so contrary one to the other in condition as light is to darkenesse or good to euill Now that it is the act onely of God as well to heale by his good Organs as to strike and wound by his destroying Organs wee learne out of many places of Scripture Si plaga afficiet Iehoua Aegyptum qui plagis afsecit sanat cum conuersi fuerint ad Iehouam If God will afftict Egypt with plagues hee that â—…leth with diseases can againe heale the afflicted when they turne vnto him And yet Dauid confesseth that he did afflict them with euill angels and Iob saith Deusest qui vulnerat medetur percutit sanat It is God that woundeth and cureth he striketh and healeth and yet it was Satan which was Gods hand to act Iobs misery And in another place Ego occidam viuere faciaâ—… percutiam sanabo non est qui de manu mea possit cruere I will kill and I will make to liue I will strike and I will heale and there is not one that can escape my hand And Salomon Tu vitae mortis potestatem habes deducis ad portas infâ—…ni
and as the Creatour did send out his Spirit which moued vpon the waters and did informe animate and viuifie them so that as St. Peter saith of them and by them were the heauens and the earth framed and by this spirituall Word established vnto this day euen so mans heauen and his earth are fashioned out by the same eternall spirit of life on which it relyeth and continueth in his specificall succession euen vnto this very day And therfore is it said Ye are carued out of one and the same Spirituall Rocke and that In him wee line wee moue and haue our Being and that we are the Temples of the Holy Ghost and the Members of Christ and that We are in God the Father and by our Lord Iesus Christ as it is rehearsed before and that Regnum Dei sit intra nos The Kingdome of God is within vs Neither let vs ascribe this Gods goodnesse to our selues alone since that it extendeth it selfe to euery Creature besides though not so abundantly For in Verbo erat vita in the Word was life and Iudith saith in her prayer Seruiat Dcâ—…omnis omnis Creatura quia dixisti factae sunt misisti Spiritum tuum creatae sunt Let euery Creature serâ—…e thee O Lord because thou spakest the Word and they were made thou didst send forth thy spirit and they were created And the Prophet saith Haec dicit Deus creans coelos extendens eos firmans terram quae germinant in ea dans flatum populâ—… qui est supraeam spiritum calcantibus eam Thus saith the Lord who hath created the heauens and extended them and fastned the earth and all things that grow out of it who giueth breath vnto the people that is vpon it and spirit to those Creatures that tread vpon it And King Dauid Deo dante Creaturis colliguâ—… abscondente faciemsuam perturbantur recipiente spiritum eorum exspirant emittente spiritum suum receantur God giuing to the Creatures they receiue it hiding his face from them they are troubled taking back againe from them their spirit they dye and sending forth his spirit they are recreated or reuiued And Iob hominâ—…m constituit Deus super terram apponens ad â—…am animam suam si spiritum seu flatum eius adse reciperet deficeret exspiraret omnis caâ—… simul â—…omo in cinerem reverteretur God made man vpon earth giuing vnto him his soule or life If he should receiue or draw vnto himselfe his spirit or breath of life all flesh would dye and also man would returne to ashes By all these authorities we are taught that the life forme and nature of euery Creature doth essentially spring and proceed from God and therefore what gift of healing is found to proceed either from compounded or simple medicines be they Angelicall Celestiall Elementall or of an Animall Vegetable or minerall composition it proceedeth from their Creatour as being either bestowed vpon them in their Creation for that wholesome purpose or else miraculously and beyond the common course of Nature imparted vnto some Creatures to effect And therefore man ought not rashly to condemne a medicine because it worketh after an other manner then the vulgar doth For God hath allotted vnto some medicines occult hidden properties and therefore worke they not by an externall and euident elementarie qualitie And this occult vertue is called by some wise men Angelicus actus qui est tanquam inter Deum Naturam virtus media à quâ fiunt operationes in rebus quâ—…s natura earum vel non faceret vel sic faceret quas alij dicuut prouenire a proprietate occulta alij quia tales An Angelicall act which is as it were a middle vertue betweene God and nature whereby operations are effected in things which the elementarie Nature of them could not performe or would so bring to passe as they which are said by some to proceed of an occult quality and others quia sunt tales And such was the effect in curing by the water of the poole of Bethesdas not that the manifest elementary quality of the water did it But the Act of the Angell which mooued it In like manner can no man expresse any naturall reason that is manifest for the attraction of the Iron by the Loadstone or of straw by Amber or why the Loadstone looketh towards the North or why the Laurell or Baytree preserueth from the harmes of lightning and thunder and likewise how directly this cure is effected c. The causes of these things are occult and hidden vnto the common philosopher but to come a little neerer to the point It is apparant then that the incorruptible Spirit is in all things but most abundantly next vnto the great world in the little world called man For as in the great world God is said rightly by Ierome his translations leauing the corruption of others to haue put his Tabernacle in the Sunne from whence by a perpetuall and neuer dying motion hee sendeth forth life and multiplication to euery member and creature of the great world and by the agility of his Spirit for Salomon saith It is omni re mobilior the most moueable of all things hee moueth and giueth life vnto the whole Spirit of the world which also the same wise man doth iustifie in these words Sol gyrans à meridie flectitur ad Aquilonem lustrans vniuersain circuitu pergit spiritus The Sunne mouing from the South bendeth toward the North illuminating the whole world the spirit or ayre of it doth moue circularly Whereby hee argueth that the spirit in the Sunne animateth and giueth motion life and spirit vnto the ayrall spirit of the whole world for without his assiduall motion and act as Aristotle and all other Philosophers confesse the ayre would soone be corrupt and be as it were dead and of no validity for the reason heereof the holy Text concludeth that the Holy spirit of discipline filleth the whole world So also and in the very like manner the same incorruptible spirit filleth the little world est enim Templum Spiritus Sancti it is the Temple of the Holy Ghost and hath put his Tabernacle in the heart of man in which it moueth as in this proper macrocosmicall Sunne in Systole and Diastole namely by contraction and dilatation without ceasing and sendeth his beames of life ouer all the whole frame of man to illuminate giue life and circular motion vnto his spirit And thereupon the Apostle reciprocally saith of this little world as in another place of the great one In Deo viuimus mouemur sumus In God we liue moue and haue our being also as this abstruse spirit doth giue heate by his actiuity and essentiall motion vnto the great world the very same it doth effect in the little world and all things else when it doth not quiescere or in se delitescere that is not rest or withdraw
his owne act within it selfe as shall be expressed forthwith This therefore being well considered in the first place we proceed thus As this Principall and centrall mouer in the spirit of each world doth radically and soly act and moue essentially in and ouer all namely from the centre to the circumference his Primum mobile or first moued in the great world is the principall Aetheriall region or spheare by the circumrotation whereof the Sunne which as Dauid saith is a vessell full of the Glory of God is wafted about the earth in 24. houres that thereby the whole spirit of the world may be recreated with life vegetation and multiplication And therefore this Spirits first and most worthy spheare in which it centrally doth moue is the Quintessentiall or Aetheriall spirit of life which by his presence is viuified and animated and this Aetheriall spirit being the immediate vehicle of that incorruptible spirit of life is carryed in the grosser elementary or sublunary ayr by which medium it penetrateth into animall vegetable and minerall bodies by inspiration or exspiration in animals partly occult as by the pores of the body partly manifest as by the lungs in vegetables and minerals occultly and only to be perceiued with intellectuall eyes and so giueth life multiplication to euery thing As this emanation came from God into the world the Prophet said Vestitur lumine quasi vestimento hee is clothed with light as with a garment and so Verbo Domini facti sunt Coeli spiritu ab ore eius omnis virtus eorum by the Word of the Lord the heauens were made and by his spirit all the vertues thereof among the which vertues life forme vegetation and multiplication were the chiefest As hee tooke possession of the Etheriall or starry heauen the same Prophet saith Posuit Tabernaculum suum in Sole hee made the Sunne his Tabernacle Againe as hee endued the grosser vestiment of the ayre so the Prophet saith Densa Nubes tigurium eius qui vehitur super alas venti Hee made the thicke and darke cloud his dwelling place who is carryed on the wings of the wind Againe he spake in thunder and lightning went from his nostrills as hee entred into the little world or man so the Apostle saith Vos estis Templum spiritus sancti Yee are the Temples of the holy Ghost Vos estis membra Christi Yee are the members of Christ. And againe Aperiatur terra pariet Saluatorem Let the earth open and it shall bring forth a Sauiour as hee penetrated into the earth so the Wise man saith Spiritus sapientiae implet orbem terra rum To conclude as to create viuifie and sustaine each creature hee put on all things so hee saith Spiritus incorruptibilis inest â—…nibus and againe Spiritus Dei implet omnia whereby it is euident that this diuine and incorruptible spirit by which wee liue moue and haue our being is in man for without it hee is dead a snuffe a nothing his place therefore or the heauen wherein it moueth is out Aether or heauenly spirit which acteth inuisibly in our ayeriall vehicle the grosser and courser part whereof is blood as well vitall or arteriall as naturall and venall Hence came those especiall ordinances or legall precepts which were giuen by God touching the blood not only of man but also of beast For as much as it was the seat of the spirit oflife Sanguinem saith God sedem vestrarum animarum requiram I will require your blood which is the seat of your liues or soules and againe Sanguinem hominis qui effuderit per hominem sanguis 〈◊〉 effundatur quoniam in imagineÌ„ suam fecit Deus hominem whosoeuer sheddeth the blood of man by man let his blood be shed because God made him after his owne Image whereby is argued that by reason of the diuine spirit which dwelleth in mans blood by the which we are fashioned after the Image of God God himselfe hath giuen an especiall charge to haue a respect vnto the blood For this reason therefore did the 〈◊〉 of the blood of Abel cry out for vengeance against the homicide Cain Yea so precious was the Blood euen of common Animals or vnreasonable Creatures that their blood was prohibited to bee eaten with their Flesh. And againe Hee that eateth the blood of the creature shall die the death And in another place he sheweth the reason Qui comedcrit sanguinem obfirmabo faciem meam aduersus animam illius quia anima carnis in sanguine est ego dedi illam vobis vt super altare in eo expietis pro animabus vestris sâ—…nguis pro animae piaculo sit Whosoeuer shall eate the blood of the Creature I will set my face against his Soule because the life of the flesh is in the blood and I haue giuen it vnto you that by it you may expiat on the Altar for your selues and that the blood may serue for an Oblation for your soules And for that cause man is by God commanded that if he in the chase or otherwise kill a wild beast hee should powre out his blood on the earth And againe Sanguinem omnis Animalis non sumetis in cibo Thou shalt not eate of the blood of any liuing Creature Sanguis cum Carne non edendus The Blood is not to be eaten with the Flesh. Sanguis hominis etiam à bestia requiritur The blood of the man is required of the beast Sanguinem Adipem omnino non comedetis You shall wholly abstaine from eating the Blood and Fat. Sanguinem non comedat omnis anima evobis Let not any man amongst you eate of blood Sanguis animalium pro anima est minime comedendus The blood of all beasts or animalls in Generall are not to be eaten for their soules or liues câ—…se Sanguinem 〈◊〉 Animalis tam â—…ndi quam immundi non comedes sed effundas super terram qâ—…asi aquam Thou shall not eate the blood of any liuing Creature bee it cleane or vncleane but shalt powre it out as water vpon the earth And the reason is because the Blood is the seate of the Soule or vitall Spirit which is inspired by God and therefore it is said Sanguinem Sedem animarum vestrarum requiram I will require of you that shed blood your Blood F r as much as it is the Seate of your Soules or Liues As who should say I haue animated the internall Spirit of your Blood with my Spirit of Life and therefore be carefull of it By all these places therefore we may easily discerne how the vitall spirit of man not onely of manâ—… but of beast also is contained in that ruddie vehicle of the blood as the Etheriall Spirit in the Airy and that the essentiall mouer and guider of the sterne in this Spirituall barke of man is the incorruptible
into potentiam act into puissence positio into priuationem position into priuation But contrariwise when he meanes to reuiuifie and as it were cause the dead spirit of the world to rise or reuiue againe he sendeth out a Southerne spirit or blast of a cleane contrary property namely a wind whose nature is hot and moyst and therefore in the consequence of the foresaid Text it is said he sendeth out his word and melteth all these so soone as hee bloweth forth his wind the waters and spirits which were made dead spisse fixe congealed and opack are beocme aliue moueable fluent subtill and diaphanous or transparent If Mr. Foster like none of these testimonies I will yet goe a little further and make an ocular demonstration to proue it thereby the better to perswade him if hee will be pliable vnto her who is the mother of fooles namely experience Let him but looke therefore vpon the Kalander glasse an Instrument commonly knowne amongst vs here in England called by others the weather glasse and hee shall see that the ayre contained in it will be contracted and thickned by cold and to proue thus much hee shall finde the water to be drawne vp by so many degrees in the neck of the glasse as the externall cold hath dominion in the ayre which proueth euidently that cold doth contract the dilated ayre in the glasse from a larger roome into a straighter and consequently that the ayre is thicker and neerer to congelation fixation and rest then it was before Contrariwise hee shall finde that the ayre included feeling the heate of the externall ayre by little and little to get dominion ouer the cold will dilate it selfe and by dilatation is made more mobill subtill and liuely and therefore requireth a larger capacity as is ocularly proued thus namely because the water is strucke down by so many degrees lower by how many the externall heate doth vanquish the cold in the ayre But perchance my aduersary will say What haue we to doe with this These are naturall conclusions and not belonging to Gods act or property And how proue you that the other winds are the essentiall acts of God To this I say That if God operateth all and in all then this operation in the glasse much more that in the winds is the act of God and as wee finde that the incorruptible spirit doth moue and operate two manner of contrary wayes namely from the center to the circumference by â—…manation and dilatation by the which meanes it stirreth of it selfe who is the center of all things whose circumference is no where but comprehendeth all circumferences or bodies and maketh them to exist and liue so also this vniuersal centre contracting it selfe in it selfe maketh ' all things in act potentiall of a liuing creature a dead carcasse of an agill and mobill thing a stupid and vnmoueable one Lastly of an actuall positiue something a potentiall priuatiue nothing Wee see it plainely persormed according vnto the precedent Text of Dauid in the spirit of the world for as much as it is altered from one forme to his opposite according vnto the variety of the property or wil of him which is the internall agent of all the world The incorruptible spirit of the Lord saith Salomon is in all things If in al things then as it is the most worthy and of the highest digty and the most mobill and operatiue spirit of all spirits it worketh centrally and moueth all the externall wheeles of the whole machine of the creature in which it is and consequently operateth à centro ad circumferentiam If it doe quiescere in centro rest in the center all the externall wheeles haue lost their life For it is in him it liueth in him it mooueth and in him it existeth And therefore without he act all is stupid and dead like a senselesse stone as Dauid and Iob haue taught vs. Now to proue that it is this spirit of God which doth agitate and animate the winds we haue many other expresse Texts of Scripture to confirme it The whirle wind saith Iob commeth out of the South and the cold from the North wind at the breath of God the frost is giuen and the breadth of the waters is contracted Againe Ventus profectus a Iehoua abreptas coturnices à mari disseuit ad castra c. A wind proceeding from Iehona did scatter the Quailes which it brought from the sea in the camp Againe Vento tuo flauisti operuit eos mara Thou didst blow with thy breath or wind and the sea couered them Againe flatunarium tuarum coaceruatae sunt aquae The waters are accumulated and heaped together by the blast of thy nostrills And againe Iehoua adduxit ventum Eurum seâ—… Orientalem and God brought an Easterly wind Againe ventum Occidentalem vehementem immisit c. he sent out a vehement Westerly wind Againe ventus procellosus efficiens Verbum Dei the stormy wind doth effect the Word of God Wee doe not say that the wind is the reall breath of God but a created spirit or ayre animated by the increated spirit of the Lord who according vnto the will of him that sent it fooâ—…th doth sometimes contract his vertue in himselfe from the circumference of the creatures spirit and then the creature is dead and vnmoueable and starke cold for want of the warme and comfortable act of this spirits emanation from the centre to the circumference according to the words of Daâ—…ids former Text Deo abscondente faciem suam à creaturis conturbantur recipiente spiritum coruâ—… expirant God hiding his face from the creatures they are troubled and resuming his spirit againe they dye that is if in part he contracts himselfe or hides the viuifying beâ—…s of his countenance they are sicke and troubled but if hee withdraw the spirit of life wholly from the circumference of the the creatures spirit into it selfe who is in the centre and euery where vnto the circumference they dye or expire Master Foster may reply what is all this to the purpose of man who is the maine subiect wee haue in hand or what haue wee to doe though God by his Spirit worketh a priuatiue property in the spirit of the world by congealation or contracting it from the spirits circumference vnto the centre leauing the spirit cold destitute of heate congealed immobile and as it were dead and without life and that in his Northerne nature what doth this concerne our matter or what is this to the nature in man or how can it touch the act of curing in our Weapon-Salue I answere that as the selfe-same spirit is the cause of a foure-fold nature in the spirit of the great world and as it causeth death and priuation by his Northerne and congealing blasts and contrariwise life and position by the opposite or the relenting nature of his Southerne property euen the selfe-same operation it affecteth in the created
spirit of the lesser world or man For the selfe-same spirit that viuifieth the ayre in the great world after a foure-fold fashion bringeth forth the very same effects in the lesser which I proue in this manner The Prophet saith A quatuor ventis adueni ô spiritus perflato interfectos istos vt reuiuiscant c. Come O spirit from the foure winds and breath vpon these flaughtered persons that they may liue againe and the breath came into them and they liued and they stood on their feet By which words wee may gather these foure things First that it was one onely Spirit which was indued with the property of the foure winds according to whose variety in properties the foure winds were animated with contrary natures that they might worke after a foure-fold manner in the Catholike element of the world to effect the will of the Creator in any manner whatsoeuer Next that this Spirit which is the essentiall actor and mouer in the winds was that incorruptible spirit of the Lord by the which hee vseth according to that of the Apostle to viuifie all things and vnto that of the Prophet dare â—…atum populo spiritum calcantibus terram to giue breath vnto the people and a spirit to all that trace on the earth or vnto that of Iudith emittere spiritum creare omnes creaturas to send foorth his spirit and to create by it all creatures or according to that of Esdras Spiramine suo facere omnia serutinare â—…mnia in absconditis terrae to make all things by his breath and to search out by it all things that are in the bowells of the earth or according vnto that of Iob Apponere homini animam suum cuilibet creaturae nam fi spirituÌ„ seuflatum suuâ—… ad se reciperet veltraheret omnis caro expirato giue man his spirit of life and to euery creature for if God should receiue or draw vnto himselfe his spirit all flesh would expire And therefore in this place when the dead bodies should arise againe hee commanded the Prophet to say Come spirit from the foure winds as if hee should say Come O thou Catholike and Vniuersall spirit of life of the world and doe thy office in viuifying and making the dead to liue againe Thirdly that this same spirit is it by which the Apostle doth acknowledge that God worketh all in all sometimes giuing life by taking away the killing Northerne cold and dissoluing the deadly or immobil congelation of spirits which did stupifie them as it were with the sleepy and restfull enchantment of Morphaeus by his Southerne or Easternely properties which is to liquifie resolue and giue a new motion and life to spirits congealed and stupified by the Northern property and therefore Dauid saith in the foresaid Text Emittit verbunâ—… liquefacit ista simul ac efflat ventum suuÌ„ effluunt aquae Hee sendeth forth his Word and melteth them as soone as hee bloweth forth his wind the congealed and as it were dead waters â—…oue and flow againe whereby we ought to obserue that it is Gods Word or his incorrupble spirit which animateth the winds Fourthly that the very selfe-same spirit which viuifieht and giueth life and motion vnto the great worlds spirit and at his pleasure by a contrary property killeth stupifieth ceaseth to act by life motion congealing mortally doth performe the very selfe-same office when the will of the Father is in the Catholike spirit of the little world or man yea in euery creature And therefore Iob saith It is God that wounâ—…eth or striketh and it is he that cureth the reason heere hee sheweth in the place before mentiened as also wee may find in Deuteronomy I will kill and I will make aliue againe and Salomon saith Thou hast the power of â—…fe and death in thine hand Thou bringest vnto the graue and bringest backe againe and the Sonne of Syrach Vita mors bonum malum à Deo sunt Life and death good and euill are from God Wherefore as this secret and mysticall spirit hath breathed into the dead a blast of life so that very blast or breath is essentially of the nature property and Will of the Breather which was to make aliue by a quickning and not a stupifying spirit and thereupon created spirits which were before congealed and mortified became now quickned and liuely and were closed in an externall body and in an ayery or bloody vehicle which by vertue of this quickning blast his spirit did moue in the channels or veines and arteries being animated by the vertue of that spirit of life And this is the reason that God did ordaine so strict precepts touching the blood of the creatures as is said before namely that it should not be eaten as is aboue related because in it is the spirit of life or the soule of the creature in which is the spirituall vertue of the foure winds For in this action of life hee exerciseth the very same property in the heart of the creature or little world as hee doth in the heauenly sunne of the great world For as the Sunne is hot operating by rarefaction and exciting vnto motion and therefore reuiuing and multiplying as well in vegetation as in generation graines plants and other animated things of the earth powring downe from aboue the beames of life and light vnto the inferiour creatures euen so this incorruptible spirit or blast of life thus infused into man is the spirituall Sunne of the little world who maketh the heart which represents the body of the celestiall Sunne his Tabernacle from which by the arteries and vaines he sendeth forth his beames and animateth the vniuersall spirit of mans fabrick and maketh the blood agill fluent and liuely euer mouing and operating vnto the nourishment and preseruation of the members as well with naturall as vitall spirits cauâ—…ng both corporall and spirituall vegetation and multiplication of parts in euerie specificall bodie But now that I may in this place touch in few words though somewhat allaterally Master Fosters Aristotelicall limited spheare of Actiuity which the old Schoolemen haue so tumbled and tossed in their externall Phantasies without any centrall regard vnto this true and essentiall viuifying and vegetating spirits dilatiue or contractiue power I would faine know whether any worldly philosophicall Axiome can conclude or limit this princely spirit of the foure Winds which bloweth and breatheth as well in the great world as little when where how farre and at what distance it pleaseth I will first giue an example of his action from each wind in the great world and shew you how it commandeth carrieth and dilateth the spirit of the vegetable Creature Wee can gather and collect the virtuall operation of the vegetable ad distans by no meanes but by the scent as for example Rosemary and Sassaphras c Doe emitt their spirit into the Aire at a proportionated distance more or lesse
same oyntment doe also cause health in the wounded creature being it doth generally tend to life which is proper to all bloody creatures no exceptions had vnto each specifick difference Whether this therefore being well conceiued and pondered euen by the very zealous with little vnderstanding can appeare an act of the diuell and not the blessed gift of God I leaue it to the scanning of such as can better iudge of this matter then my selfe But now Courteous Readers that I may conclude this Theo-philosophicall member with a better tast or relish vnto the pallats of your riper iudgements and well seasoned conceptions I purpose to fall from this Theoricall or speculatiue course of demonstation and betake my selfe a while vnto a more practicall or experimentall way of direction whereby you may the better enter into the plaine and direct trace of truth touching the resolution of the foresaid question and I will diuide this my practicall discourse into three seuerall chapters whereof the first or fourth shall teach you by an euident experience that the agent or internall principle in this cure is in the blood or body of the liuing man that is wounded and consequently the diuell must needes be excluded from being any agent or actor in it The second or fift shall expresse diuers true histories touching this cure as they haue beene acted heere at home amongst vs in England The third or sixt shall disco or the true ground why our aduersary wrote this booke And the last shall tell certaine manner of sympatheticall cures which will appeare sarre more strange and more surpassing the capacity of our Sponge-carrier then that of the weapon-salue Of these therefore in order thus CHAP. IIII. Here are expressed certaine practicall obseruations concerning this cure whereby it is made apparant that the internall agent in this cure is centrall contained in the blood and consequently Master Fosters diuell must be excluded out of this wholesome businesse for a wrangler IF it were indeed as Mr. Foster would haue it that the diuell is the sole author and actor in this cure and that hee performeth it craftily and sophistically by other medicines to delude the simple Mountebanks then is it not likely that there can be any agent â—…in the blood that could resist or hinder this his cure which also appeareth to be the more probable because that the nature of the wounded person is apt and inclined by all meanes possible to put off all languishment and desireth to haue her Tabernacle in a wholesome and sound estate And for this reason wee see that by the application of salues balsames or inward physicke the naturall spirits and internall actor of life doth helpe and assist the medicines in their cure or else they would not effect any such matter For this reason is the Physician called Adiutor naturae The helper of nature Now that the principall agent of this cure is comprehended in the body of the wounded I proue it in this manner It hath beene auerred and will be maâ—…ntained by persons of great knowledg no Babies but of a farre greater maturity both in learning and iudgement then our Sponge-carryer that in their manifold experience they haue obserued and found it most true that when the wounded person hath sent his blood on a sticke yron or weapon to the place of the oyntment and that thereupon hee hath beene in a good way of healing if in the time of his cure he hath to doe with a menstruous woman immediately the curatiue power in the oyntment is lost and it will doe him no good also they haue oftentimes obserued that if the wounded person happen in the meane season to haue an issue of blood out of his nose the curatiue property will be quite taken away and it will profit nothing after this whereby it is apparant that this happeneth because the act and secret emanation of the internall spirit of life in the wounded is diuerred from his application or aspect vnto the weapon-salue And therefore leaueth the one to operate in the other which are so immediate vnto it and the body euen as in heauen we see that agreater aspect or more potent application of one planet vnto another doth drowne and take away the lesser There is another admirable experiment tryed by a noble personage of whom I wil make mention more at large in the sixt chapter of this member for one of his men hauing deeply cut his finger and that about the ioynt with a sith as he was mowing of grasse his finger bled still and could not easily be staunched Wherefore this Earle wished them to knoke off the Sithe from the handle and to bring it vnto him that hee might anoynt it the wounded fellow went about it himselfe and at the very first knocke that hee gaue the weapon that had wounded him the blood stanched and he bled not one drop more And verily he acknowledged that though there were not a iot of blood to be discerned on the weapon yet if hee anoynted the place of the instrument that made the wound which oftentimes he confessed he was forced to doe by guesse hee did performe as well the cure as if the blood had stucke vpon it Out of which reuelation or derection I gather that all the mystery of this cure consisteth in the secret and inuisible spirit which is within the blood as well remaining still and operating in the wounded body as that which hath penetrated inuisibly into the weapon for else without the presence of the visible blood it could not operate yea and out of that obseruation namely that the Sithe or weapon being strucke the blood did forth-with stanch there is as great a mystery opened as when the presench of the murtherer doth cause the congealed blood in the murthreâ—… to flow and runne againe all which is effected partly by the contracting property of the occult spirit in the blood and partly by his dilatation as is said before Hereby it is made cleare that it is not the deuill that by externall application worketh any thing in this cure but it is by the centrall emanation of that spirit in the wounded that giueth him life which operateth ab interno as by these experiments it is made euident I come to the next Chapter of experimented cures CHAP. V. Wherein certaine Histories touching the effecting of this Cure are expressed NOw will I relate vnto you the stories of certaine homebred cures which haue beene effected by this Weapon-Salue that thereby wise men may deeme or gesse vprightly whether the Deuill hath a finger in this cure yea or no. There is a Knight dwelling in Kent a man iudicious religious and learned called Sr. Nicholâ—… Gilbourne one I say with whom I both am and haue beene long familiar For he married my Sister This Knight hauing good acquaintance with one Captaine Stiles for asmuch as in times past he was his tenant was with the said Captaine in the Company of very good
vnto the Diuell Doe I thinke you doe amisse Was it not I pray you for these very words of Paul that in his Sermon at Athens Demetrius and his crafts men were so much offended with him The Lord saith he who hath made heauen and earth dwelleth not in Temples made with hands netther is worshipped with mens hands as though he needed any thing seeing he giueth to all life and breath and all things and hath made of one blood all mankind c For in him we liue and moue and haue our Being for wee are also his generation For as much then as wee are the Generation of God wee ought not to thinke that the Godhead is like vnto gold or siluer or ston◅ grauen by art and the inuention of man c. This angred Demetrius and his company namely to say that the Godhead is not like vnto gold or siluer grauen by art which if they had suffered no body would haue bought the images of Diana framed by them In like manner this Chirurgicall faction decryes the Weapon-Salue fearing that few wounded persons would trouble them for their cure being that frustra fit per plura quod potest fieri per pauciora it would bee but vaine for a wounded man to bee tormented by flashing eating corrosiues incisions and dolorous tentings of Chirurgions besides great bargaines and compacts for the cures and perchance also little attendance when the immediate Act of God doth operate the ◅ure gratis gently without dolorous tents or grieuous incision and that honestly without an ill conscience seeing that it is Gods Spirit which doth operate as well in the blood as salue For I beseech you obserue the words of Saint Paul which if they moue in some degree the Ephesian siluer-smiths they will much more nettle such couetous Chirurgians as would suffocate and smoother this excellent and diuine vertue in the Weapon-Salue whose originall is ofblood The which words that you may with the better solidity conceiue you must gather or collect out of them these three seuerall things First that the Lord of Lords is hee who hath made heauen and earth whereupon wee collect tha the which hath made heauen and earth is the guider and operatour both in the spirit and body of both the great and little world called man and therefore neither Hag nor diuel can work to the health sustentation or preseruation of either as the consequence shall confirme For the Text saith Hee giueth life breath and all things Next hee hath made all mankind of one blood and spirit And therefore he operateth all in all in mans blood in generall as well to life as health And againe the spirit of the dead mans bones and consequently their excrescence which issued originally out of mans blood in the which in part lurketh Gods Spirit of life hath an homogeniall reference vnto the liuely blood of man for as much as the Text saith that all mankind is made of one blood onely and therefore this vnion of symphoniacall or sympatheticall harmony is not easily to bee limited by Master Fosters phantasticall spheare of actiuity For the text following vnto the Athenians is In him wee liue and moue and haue our Being And lastly that wee are the Generation of God and for that cause Christ did not disdaine to call vs his Brethren and the Sonnes of God Neither is it sufficient to say as these precisians doe that this is ment onely of the Beleeuers and not of the Infidels For Saint Paul at that very time when hee preached this doctrine spake vnto the Idolaters and such as worshiped vnknowne gods and he did let them to know th◅s much namely that they liued moued and had their being in the true God and that this Lord of Lords giueth life and breath and being and that they were all of Gods Generation All this hee truely taught that thereby they might leaue their false gods and betake themselues vnto their right Lord only God from whom by whom in whom they exist and persist in their being as hee declareth else-where Let therefore Demetrius his Goddesse Diana be forgotten and let Fosters healing diuell be depriued from all his imaginary power practice in curing of wounds And lastly let all couetuous Chirurgians expectations be thorowly quashed and disanulled by this inuiolable assertion of the Apostle Though there be that are called Gods whether in heauen or in earth as there be many gods and many lords yet vnto vs there is but one God which is that Father of whom are all things and wee in him and one Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him but euery man hath not that knowledge Let M. Foster mark this as who shouldsay though the Ephesian Demetrius with his complices did attribute all power vnto the false Goddesse Diana and Foster the secret maruellous power of healing by the weapon-salue vnto the diuell as the prince of this world without any consideration vnto this Text yet it is certaine that it is God the Father of whom are al things and consequētly this act in curing and by our Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things and therefore each blessed gift of healing For Salomon auerreth that it is the Word that cureth all things But saith the Text Euery man hath not this knowledge c. Wherefore Mr. Foster is the more to be blamed to professe the name of Gods Minister and to be ignorant in this point Or at the leastwise if he knew it hee is to be blamed both before God and man to speake so bluntly and against his conscience for any pruiuate companies cause or worldly affection yea it may appeare that hee was troubled in his conscience when hee writ so staggeringly and vnaduisedly touching the originall cause of this cure For first of all pag. 8. he saith that it is not the salue that cureth but the diuell by the secret applications of other medicines In another place namely pag. 17. hee acknowledgeth that the act of curing is the salue but concludeth it to be magicall by reason of the superstitious obseruations in the collection or gathering of the ingrediences and in the anoynting of the weapon Then pag. 39. hee seemeth to auerre that it is the bathing of the wound with Vrin and the keeping it cleane which doth effect this cure whereby hee taketh away all vertue from the salue and acting power from the diuell But pag. 7. hee saith that it is onely God that cureth at such a distance for as much as his essence is infinite and is omnia in omnibus and not any Angell The Gentleman you see is in many minds God amend him and make his head-piece more setled and of a more solid consistence and constant nature or wee shall be troubled heereafter with many words but little substance appertaining to the right matter I heare he threatneth me with a volume of some impieties and I know not what which hee hath found in
my works I am sure hee will proue but Mersennus and Gassendus his Ape or Parroket For hee professeth them his Masters and therefore I will quickly serue and afford him the same sauce or answer I haue bestowed on t hem Let him appeare when he dareth and take the best assistance his home-bred setters on can afford him I feare neyther him nor them nor Mersennus nor Lanouius nor Gassendus his papisticall Masters For I haue I hope the buckler oftruth for my defence I will now passe vnto the next Chapter wherein I will expresse certaine histories of certaine magicall cures which in mine opinion are farre more admirable then this of the weapon-salue CHAP. VII In this Chapter certaine Magneticall or Sympatheticall affects are expressed which appeare farre more admirable then this of the weapon-salue SIr Nicholas Gilbourn relateth in his letter vnto mee these words The last time saith he the Lady Ralegh was at Eastwell at the Countesse of Winchelsey her house wee falling into some discourse concerning the Sympatheticall oyntment shee told mee that her late husband Sir Walter Ralegh would suddenly stop the bleeding of any person albeit hee were farre and remote from the party if he had a handkirchers or some other piece of linnen dipped in some of the blood of the party sent vnto him If this were done by the diuell I presume that so wise a Personage as was Sir Walter Ralegh would haue lest or at least-wise not haue vsed that Trade of curing or stopping of blood There are foure histories more that I wil tell you whereof the two first are forraine and the two last were acted at home namely here in England The first of the forraine Stories was acted in Italy and hath beene there so famous and remarkeable that vnto this present it is as well in the natiue countrey-mans mouth as in the report of such trauellers as haue passed thorow the countrey yea and there are authors of credit that haue enrolled it in their written monuments It was thus There was a certaine Lord or Nobleman of Italy that by chance lost his nose in a fight or combate this party was counselled by his Physicians to take one of his slaues and make a wound in his arme and immediately to ioyne his wounded nose to the wounded arme of the slaue and to binde it fast for a season vntill the flesh of the one was vnited and assimulated vnto the other The Noble Gentleman got one of his slaues to consent for a large promise of liberty and reward the double flesh was made all one and a collop or gobbet of flesh was cut out of the slaues arme and fashioned like a nose vnto the Lord and so handled by the Chirurgion that it serued for a naturall nose The slaue being healed and rewarded was manumitted or set at liberty and away he went to Naples It happened that the slaue fell sicke and dyed at which instant the Lords nose did gangrenate and rot whereupon the part of the nose which hee had of the dead man was by the Doctors aduice cut away and hee being animated by the foresaid experience followed the aduice of the same Phisician which was to wound in like manner his owne arme and to apply it to his wounded and mutilated nose and to endure with patience till all was compleate as before He with animofity patience did vndergoe the brunt and so his nose continued with him vntill his death What Must wee esteeme this worke the act of Gods spirit in man or a deceitfull and prestigious operation and trumpery of the diuell Verily it must needes by wise men be adiudged to proceed from that good act of Gods viuifying spirit which did operate by way of life and vegetation in them both Is it not strange therefore the one liuing about Bolongnia in Italy and the other being in Naples that according to Master Fosters tenent neither the tall Hills of Hetruria nor yet the high Appenine mountaines could stop the concourse and motion of these two spirits or rather one spirit continuated in two bodies as a line being stretched out from two extremes of so farre a distance Surely M. Foster will say this is Magicall and diabolicall The second forraine Story was this I was whilest I did soiourne in Rome acquainted with a very learned and skilfull personage called Master Gruter hee was by birth of Swisserland and for his excellency in the Mathematick and in the Art of motions and inuentions of Machins he was much esteemed by the Cardinall Saint George This Gentleman taught mee the best of my skill in those practices and amongst the rest hee deliuered this magneticall experiment vnto me as a great secret assuring me that it was tried in his Country vpon many with good successe When said he any one hath a withered and consumed member as a dried arme leg foot or such like which physicians call an Atrophie of the lims you must cut from that member bee it foot or arme the nailes haire or some part of the skin then you must pierce a willow tree with an Auger or wimble vnto the pith and afterward put into the hole the pared nailes and skin and with a peg made of the same wood you must stoppe it close Obseruing that in this action the Moone be increasing the good Planets in such a multiplying Signe as is Gemini and fortunate and powerfull ouer Saturne which is a great dryer The selfe-same effect said hee you shall finde in you take the nailes and haire which is cut off the member and close them in the roote of an hasle tree and shut vp the hole with the barke of the tree and after couer it with the earth and said he it hath beene tried that as the tree dayly groweth and flourisheth so also by little and little will the patient recouer his health But you must with diligence obserue the motion of the heanenly bodies and especially the places of the Sunne and Moone when this is effected And to this intent he did disclose vnto me the time and seasons when the preparion vnto such a cure should be effected But alas What haue I done Now hath Mr. Foster enough to cry out that this is Magick indeed here is superstition in the highest degree For did not he say pag. 17. that it is an astrologicall and therefore superstitigus obseruation to collect any ingredient or to doe any thing by attending and expecting when the Moone should bee in such or such a house of heauen and that by Scriptures Astrologers Magitians and Sorcerers like birds of a feather are linked together A worshipfull exploit in in this demure Gentleman His blindnesse leadeth him in this as in the rest For first hee concludeth that all Magick in generall is damnable and diabolicall because one species or member of it is iustly to be banished from Christian mens remembrance as if there were not a naturall magick by which Salomon did know all the mysteries in
a triple consideration this dull Sponge of M. Fosters is squeesed and how vnreasonable and vnprobable is his foresaid proposition I come therefore to the examination of the second question which ariseth from it Touching the second question which is Whether a Horse haue a Balsam sympathising with that of man Master Foster saith There is no such sympathy betweene Horse and Man Hee saith much but proued little or nothing As who should say M. Fosters wil is so and therefore stet pro ratione voluntas his wil must stand for a law He imitateth exactly in this his bragging M. Mersennus But I wil be so bold as to instruct him better in this matter and shew him that the bodily nature of the one doth easily sympathise and communicate with that of the other For the Flesh Fat and Bones of the one and the other are of blood in a naturall generality yea and in speciality of bloods though in number they vary For I beseech you doth not the selfesame Flesh Fat and Blood of the Beast nourish the like in man Is not the one transmuted into the other Nay doth not the Scripture speake this in a generall sense meaning all blood namely that the soule or life of the creature is in the blood and that the life of all flesh is in the blood and that for a diuine respect of that Spirit of life in the blood we are commanded not to eate of the blood of any creature And againe the blood of man in a reciprocall respect is to be demanded of the Beast that shed it All which being rightly considered who of wisedome can make any doubt and not absolutely conclude that the Beasts bodily nature doth sympathise and correspond with the parts of mans body I confesse that the Intellectuall nature of man maketh it to differ from that of a Horse for as much as he is said to be Animal rationale and the Beast Animal irrationale but these properties are onely seene in the specifying spirit and doe neither concerne or touch any action of life or vegetation or multiplication or healing I will therefore discourse in this manner God hath endued man with a double gift whereof the first is the spirit of life which he hath imparted not onely vnto him but also to all other creatures and againe he hath bestowed on him more then on any other liuing creature for he hath giuen him vnderstanding and yet the Giuer of this double gift is but onely one Spirit And thereupon Iob saith Spiritus Deifecit me inspiratio Omnipotentis viuificauit me The Spirit of God made me and the inspiration of the Euerlasting gaue me life Now as I haue said this very same benefit was giuen vnto all other creatures in all one property and office whereby it is said Deus viuificat omnia God viuifieth all things And Iudith Misit Spiritum creauit omnia He sendeth forth his Spirit and createth all things and the Prophet Isaias Deus dat flatum populo spiritum calcantibus terram God giueth breath vnto the people and spirit to euery creature that marcheth on the earth Wherby it is plaine that the same spirit of life is proportionably though diuersly in number measure and proportion powred out on euery specifick Animal and therefore there must be an admirable sympathy of nature betweene the parts of each Animal which are by vegetation and multiplication produced through the operation of the same spirit of life infused into the blood and so by the way of animation vnto the Fat Flesh and Bones And this is the reason and no other that like is conuerted into his like namely blood into blood flesh into blood and flesh and fat into his like and bones and marrow is made of both Is it not most palpable that any flesh or blood or fat of dead Beasts will be conuerted by mutation of concoction into the substance of man which it could neuer doe but that they egregiously doe sympathise in nature together and doe vnite the Balsamick nature or calidum innatum humidum radicale of the one with the other and transmute the substance of the one into that of the other which originally is the blood as well manifest as occult But touching the other extraordinary gift it is said by Iob in another place In homine est spiritus sed inspiratio Omnipotentis facit eum intelligere In man is the spirit of life but the breath of the Omnipotent maketh him to vnderstand Vnderstanding therefore is a gift a part which maketh man to differ from the Beast but not the spirit of life What then resteth more to be done Marry the Doctor must remember c. saith M. Foster And what must he remember For so strict an admonition of a wise man must import some thing of weight Hee must saith he remember his Horse-leechery And what Horse-leechery Namely that a Horse pricked with a nayle may likewise bee cured A wonderous piece of worke And was it for this mighty businesse that the same memoriall should be repeated in this his glorious Spongy piece of seruice to wipe that Assertion away Let vs therefore see the maine subiect of his commenforation which is this For saith the Doctor which I aduised him to remember if the nayle which pricked a Horse be put into the Oyntment-pot the Horse shal be cured I say There is no such sympathy betwixt Horse and Man Ha ha he Risum teneatis amici Because he saith so therefore it is so stat pro ratione voluntas Hee sayes it and though he proueth nothing yet hee must be beleeued But this mans Assertion shall be proued ridiculous as wel by a common and vulgar obseruation as the manifold practicall experience of the Nobleman or Earle which I mentioned in the 6. chapter of the 2. Member of this Treatise Touching the common vulgar obseruation we see that the flesh of all creatures as I said before be they Birds or foure-footed Beasts and therefore of a Horse is easily conuerted after it is digested in mans stomack into his blood flesh fat and bones which is an euident Argument that there is a manifest sympathy betweene a Horse his flesh and blood and that of a man yea and that there resideth in a Horse the like Balsamick nature or Radicall moysture which is in a man and that consequently the same Balsamick nature doth sympathise with the hypostaticall Balsam remaining in man The case is apparent for quod facit tale est magis tale and therefore if the blood or flesh of a Horse were not of such a nature as that of man it would neuer be conuerted and made one in vnion with the blood and flesh of man But that it is so euery Sot doth perceiue practically Whereby it is euident that the Balsamick nature of the one doth most exactly agree with the other or else they would neuer proue so homogeneall as to include one nature Againe if they
did not sympathise but Antipathise the nature of the one would abhorre the nature of the other which experience proueth false Againe that there is a Balsamick nature in a Horse sympathising with that in a man the effect proueth For the effect of a Balsamick nature is to agglutinate wounds and to incarnate and breed flesh and that by a secret vertue of vegetation But the flesh of a Horse doth render his Balsamick suck or iuyce vnto the liuer of a man where it so sympathiseth with the nature thereof that it condenseth it selfe by a homogeneall transmutation into blood and becommeth as fibrous and well compacted as the other humane blood and in conclusion is made all one with it and after that by apposition vnion and assimulation that I may vse Galen his owne words it becommeth mans flesh An infallible argument that the Balsamick nature of these two creatures do consent and sympathise for else they could not make one vnion Thus our sharp-witted Remembrancer may see that I doe not onely say after his fashion but also proue and demonstrate my case so palpably that euery simple person may feelingly perceiue it I come now to such priuate experiments as the Noble Earle aboue-mentioned hath made vpon Horses whereof some haue beene pricked and some wounded or hurt otherwise He was pleased to tell me of many of his Cures as well on his own Horses as on others which by the vertue of this Oyntment hee had performed Now would I faine know whether any person of worth or discretion would rather beleeue that which this Nobleman affirmeth and auowed vpon his owne knowledge and manifold experience or else the threed-bare assertion of M. Foster who would perswade the world and that by his meere asseueration onely without any other proofe or practice that Castles may be builded in the Ayre What shall wee say then shall we call a conuocation of these turbulent incredulous and all-iudging persons to haue it decided whether the Deuill did this Cure to gaine the Horses soule or no Alas their demure worships wil after the due pleading and scanning of the cause finde that his blacke Lordship would not bestow the paines for a soule which is so fading transitory and not immortall as is that of a man after which he so eagerly thirsteth and gapeth But if they reply that he doth it to delude the credulous Mediciner and by that couert meanes to gaine his soule I answer that Frustrà fit per plurâ—… quod fieri potest per pauciora The Mediciner cured many reasonable persons before and would not that suffice the Deuils turne to gaine him but hee must assist him also in curing vnreasonable creatures to make the Obligation for the Practitioners soule the surer I would perchance giue more credit to these bold and high thundering Iudges or condemners and vilifiers of Iehouah's power by attributing that vnto the Deuill which appertaineth vnto him if one man had many soules to lose but who is so foolish to cast the Dice twice for that he hath surely wonne at once By this therefore each wise and iudicious Reader may plainely discerne that M. Fosters Sponge is herein also squeesed for as much as it is most certaine that the naturall Balsam of one Animal doth sympathise with his like in the other by reason that they haue both but one and the same acting vertue and one generall Balsamick spirit in nature and condition which is common vnto euery specifick CHAP. II. Wherein is proued contrary vnto the Sponge-carriers Tenent that mans Bones proceed originally from Blood The naked Assertion of D. Fludds text The Blood is mingled with the Mummy or Flesh the Fat or the Vsnaea or Mosse of the Bones which Blood was the beginning and food of them all M. Fosters Collection These ingredients haue their beginning and aliment from the Blood The act of his mundifying Sponge Secondly I deny that Mans Bones haue their beginning and aliment from Blood For Physicians and Philosophers sâ—…y that they haue their beginning from the grosser seminaryparts and their aliment from Blood or Marrow or both Here the Sponge is squeesed I wonder that my Confuter like the Comediant parasiâ—… sometimes denieth and againe with the same breath affirmeth For first hee denieth that Bones haue their aliment from Blood and then he concludes that they haue Well wee will passe this staggering error and come to the point Mans Bones saith he haue their beginning of the grosser seminary parts ergo not of Blood The consequence is erroneous For if he will â—…ucly looke into the nature of the Sperme he shall finde it to bee nothing else originally but the purest part of Blood strained from a double kinde of vessell whereof the purer or internall part issueth from the arteriall vessell the grosser and externall from the venall vessell What needs M. Foster to looke on Bauhines Notes or Galens Opinions and those of many other differing from them and so make Ipse dixit his whole strength when his eyes will teach him if he euer knew Anatomy as perchance his Father did that the fountaine of sperme is the Blood of two natures namely Arteriall and venall for the preparing seminary vessels that alter it purifie it haue their issues and heads out of the great artery and vena Caua Which being so I would faine know of M. Foster whether hee thinketh that the spearme doth not proceed from the Blood as original thereof for as much as the vessels from which it floweth be full of nothing else but Blood I care not for ipse dixit when in euery mans ocular experience it appeareth the contrary For some men will haue the substance of the seed to come from the braine and other some from the subtile parts of the whole body and some will haue it spring from the purest part of the foure humours which is all one to say that it proceedeth from the Blood which is composed of the foure humors though the element of ayre hath the dominion But most sure it is that the Blood is his fountaine and appeareth by ocular demonstration Which being so I pray you good M. Foster what error is it in me to say that Blood is the beginner of Bones when your selfe doth confesse that their immediate being is of sperme whose immediate existence is of Blood Againe we are taught that the â—…eat of life is in the Blood if therefore sperme doth bring forth life it receiueth that gift of life from the Blood To conclude it is euident by this that the viuifying Spirit of the Lord which is the animater of the foure Windes from whence the Prophet Ezechiel called it to animate the slaine moueth and operateth radically in the spirituall Blood and that the sperme is animated and moued by this spirituall Blood which is the spermes internum which Philosophers call semen in whose Centre the viuifying Spirit of the Lord acteth and then this Spirit in the seed framed Skin Flesh
else the body and soule would neuer abide together but warre against one another being that they are as contrary in nature as fire and water But vnlesse the spirit of ayre were put betweene these two contrary elements to ioyne them together they would neuer agree nor abide in their spheares no more would the soule and body without a spirituall meane Now as we see that the Heaven of the great World is composed of light and spirit proportioned and as it were glewed together by the eternall Spirit which is the Infuser of life in them both so also is the spirit in man so firmely vnited vnto the soule by the spirituall Word which is the tye or glew of life that it is not possible to be separated the one from the other except it be by that Spirit which did ioyne them together And this may easily be gathered out of these words of the Apostle Viuus est sermo Dei efficax 〈◊〉 omni gladio ancipiti pertingens vsque ad diuisionem animae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Word of God is liuely and effectuall and more piercing then a â—…edged Sword and attaineth euen to the diuision of the soule from the spirit Whereby it argueth that the life consisteth of soule and spirit and that these two are so vnited together by the tye of the Word that nothing but the composer or binder can make any separation of them And for this reason wee may see that there is a strong tye as well betweene the spirit and the soule as betweene the soule and the body And therefore as the soule is more worthy then the spirit so the spirit excelleth in dignity the body and consequently the spirit is by proportion interposed betweene the soule and the body no otherwise then the Ayre betweene the Sunne and Earth Wherefore it is an absurdity in the Peripateticks to deny this tye and vnion and more absurd for Master Foster to make such a poore excuse as to say that the body was generated for the soule and the soule created for the body and therefore that there needeth no bands to faften them A poore conclusion I say of so eminently appearing a Philosopher and Theosopher as who fhould say two extremes could more be ioyned together without a medium or middle tye or intermediate spirit to conioyne and vnite them then the two extremes of a Diameter in a Circle without a middle point or Center And more absurd it is in him to say that there can be a reciprocall desire of two extremes and contrary opposites to come and dwell together at the 〈◊〉 when they are so contrary that the Wise man saith Corpus infestum corruptioni aggrauat animam terrena habitatio deprimit mentem multis curis plenam The body which is subiect to corruption doth ouerburthen and aggrauate the soule and the earthly habitation doth depresse and keepe vnder the minde that is full of cares Is it not strange and vnnaturall that any captiue spirit should not desire his freedome and liberty especially the bright soule which is captiued in her darke bodily prison For this reason therefore Iamblicus saith that Anima dormiat in corpore humano The soule sleepeth in mans body And Porphyrie hath it That it is alwayes 〈◊〉 in the body And Mercurie Trismegistus That the body is vnto the soule a veile of ignorance Whereupon it is certaine that there is a spirit which keepeth it in this his darke prison By this therefore you may see what goodly doctrine this is of Master Fosters But to mend the matter he proceedeth thus And they endeauour after vnion so to keepe together c. It is true if he speaketh in the behalfe of the darke body who is â—…oth to leaue the bright soule which is his treasure But as for the soule we see how many there are that to escape the fetter of this prison doe sluce out their owne blood or destroy themselues and many as well amongst the Elect as by Scriptures we finde it as among the common Worldlings desire earnestly of God as being weary of this World to be dissolued and to passe out of this life Cupio dissolui esse cum Christo saith the one c. Whereby it is apparent that the soule doth not desire to liue in the body or with the body as Master Foster concludeth And when she departeth she cannot leaue her body without the spirit so firme is their vnion as the Apostle sheweth in the text before mentioned neither can the spirit wholly forsake that relation it hath to the body as is said I conclude therefore â—…at against Master Fosters assertion that the soule doth with a strict vnion depend and rely on the spirit and reciprocally the spirits rely on the soule no otherwise then the Agent can not be esteemed as an Agent without the Patient nor the Patient without the Agent And therefore they must both of them be vnited in one And consequently as an essentiall Agent doth act from the Center vnto the Circumference euen so it is to be conceiued that the agile soule is contained in the spirits as the Agent in the Patient or soule in the body or lightning in the cloud And thus farre haue we proceeded to squeese out all Master Fosters Sponges validity touching this matter I come vnto the next CHAP. V. The Authors essentiall Carrier of sympathetical vertue giueth in this Chapter vnto our Sponge-bearer but Iack Drummes entertainment for calling him Tom Long the Carrier Reade and you shall see the manner The naked assertion of D. Fludds Text. VVHereupon it is manifest that 〈◊〉 spirituall Line being inuisibly protracted or extended in the Ayre betweene the places of the wounded person and the Box or Pot of Oyntment doth carry along with it his animal forme the which soule or spirit of life is no lesse to bee diuided from his whole or integrality contained in the body of the â—…unded then the beame of the Sunne is from the Sunne Therefore as the beame of the Sunne swimming in the 〈◊〉 of the world is as it were a Messenger betweene Heauen and Earth euen so this animal beame is the faithfull conductor of the healing nature from the Box of the Balsam vnto the wounded body and this medium or directing and carrying Line namely that which conueyeth the wholesome and salutiferous spirit by meanes of the soule or spirit of life is that spirit which is inuisibly extended or drawne out in the ayre the which vnlesse it had beene in a hidden manner figured and fashioned forth the vertue of the Oyntment would euaporate or sluce out this way or that way and so would bring no benefit vnto the wounded Master Fosters Collection The spirit of the bloodshed is carried by the ayre which is the carrier of the spirit of euery thing vnto his body this spirit going by this ayre in a direct inuisible Line carrieth the sanatiue vertue from the anointed Weapon to the wounded party For the
in composition I meane it not as a part compounding but as the sole Compounder in composition Againe if he were absent from composition the word could not be said to be incarnated nor the Incorruptible Spirit to be in all things neither could God by the Apostle be said to be ouer all and in all But leauing this paratticall or parasiticall garb He bringeth the authorities of Scripture And what are they Saint Paul hath this We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spirituall wickednesse or euill spirits in high places And therefore Christ said Handle me and touch me for a spirit hath not flesh nor bones as yee see mee haue But Deuils can not be handled Therefore they haue no bodies Here is a stout Argument because Deuils as they are in their thinne aëriall bodies cannot bee handled Ergo they haue not any corpulency I would faine know of this acute Arguer what organicall body for speech this spirit had when hee in reciprocall words and speech did tempt our Sauiour Doth he thinke that the very ayre which is the externall of the Deuill as shall be proued is not a spirituall body when it may be felt heard or vnderstood though not as flesh and bones Doth not the Apostle make mention of a spirituall or heauenly and thin body and an earthly or grosse and thick body It is most true that there are some of the Fathers and Schoolemen who are of opinion that the Angels are absolutely incorporeal as Damascene Thomas Aquin Denis and so forth But there are as many yea and more of the learneder sort who giue a contrary sentence touching the bodily existence of these spirits and say flatly that an Angel is a corporeal substance and consequently that Angels may without any error be termed bodily creatures and amongst this number of the Fathers are ranked Basil Origen Gregory Augustine Isidorus Peter Lombard and of Philosophers Mercurius Trismegistus with all the Schoole of the Academicks And as for S. Augustine he saith in his Booke vpon Genesis in expresse words quòd Daemones sunt aërea ignea animalia that the Daemons or Angelicall spirits are aëry and fiery Animals and consequently assigneth vnto them aëry bodies Againe he affirmeth in another place that the Angels had in their creation aëry bodies to wit framed and fashioned out of the purer part of the superior ayre made more apt and proper to act then to suffer and hee auerreth that the euill angels were by reason of their fall changed as touching their bodies or externall being into the nature of the grosser ayre that they might be the rather made to suffer the torments of fire And Fetrus Lombardus saith Angeli corpora in quibus hominibus apparent de summo aëre sumunt solidamque speciem ex coelesti elemento induunt vt humanis obtutibus manifestiùs demonstrentur So that it is euident that Augustine and he agree in one Also Basil doth teach vs what manner of bodies the Angels haue when he saith they are thinne aëry and pure Spirits Againe Arteplius that wise man saith in his great Key of wisedome That the externall of the Deuill is ayre but his internall is fire For the which reason he sheweth that it is easie for him namely in regard of his externall or body to insinuate and communicate with the aëry and bloody spirit in man and consequently to engender in him hot and fiery diseases But why should we rely onely as Master Foster doth on bare Authorities I will come vnto plaine Philosophicall proofes to shew and demonstrate that Angels haue soules and bodies or externall and internall First you must know that if they were Identity that is of all one simple formall being they would be all one in essence with God their Creator who is called Identitas or absolute and simple vnity but for as much as they are compounded of two namely of light which is the beame of God which they receiue to informe them and make them creatures and spirit which as polished Looking-glasse receiueth the glory of that diuine light they are called Alteritas or Alterity that is composed of two And this is most liuely expressed by Saint Denis when he termeth them Algamatha that is most cleare Mirrours or Looking-glasses receiuing the light of God And therefore he defineth an Angel to bee the Image of God the shewing forth of bid light a mirrour pure and most bright And Damascen saith That they are intellectuall spirits hauing light as their soules from the first Light And Salomon describing the Prince of all Angels which as Ecclesiasticus saith was ante omnia creatus that it was candor lucis aeternae speculum sine macula Maiâ—…slatis Dei or the brightnesse of eternall light and a glasse without spot of the Maiesty of God Whereby it is euident that the Angels internall and as it were his soule is the brightnesse of Gods emanation his polished or pure aëry internall is his 〈◊〉 body which receiueth this light For we must note That in the beginning Heauen and Earth were made of water and by water consisting by the Word as S. Peter speakes And therefore the whole World was composed of an internall or inuisible which is the soule or spirit animated by Gods Word and an externall and visible earth and water which is the body So euery creature must needs be compounded of an internall or actiue soule and an externall or organicall receptacle of that soule which is the body Is it not apparent That when the Spirit of the Lord did moue vpon the waters the water was the Catholick Patient and the spirit the internall Agent For Saint Augustine super Genesim saith Spiritus ferebatur super aquas igneum â—…s vigorem impertiens The Spirit moued on the waters imparting vnto them a fiery vigor or vertue that is a viuifying nature So that the spirituall created Catholick waters were animated by the spirituall increated Catholick breath and light of life whose Spirit in euery creature is the Spirit of life and therefore their centrall soule and the creature animated is the body Wherefore as the purest and most spirituall part of water or ayre is the externall of the Angell so his internall is the lucid act of Gods Spirit Now I conclude thus If the externall substance of the Angel be ayre for either it must be of spirituall water or else of the substance of God which is meerely formall and not materiall then wee know by the rules of Philosophy that ayre subtiliated is fire and againe ayre inspissated is a vapour a mist a cloud and so by inspissation ayre inuisible becommeth a visible substance yea and a bodily vocall organ too as it appeareth by lightning the which soule of the cloud except it haue his cloudy organ or bodily instrument will not speake in thunder We finde therefore out of Holy Writ that God is said to speake out of his organic all cloud And
for that very cause the Text calleth it in one place latibulum Dei in another tigurium Dei and in another vehiculum currus â—…ehoua so that if lebâ—…ua maketh this organicall Tabernacle of ayre to vtter vnto mortall eares his voyce as Scriptures in many places doe testifie it is no sinne to say that his inferiour spirits haue for their externall bodies aëry substances which being granted what should hinder spirits by contraction of this their external substances to appeare when they please visibly and organically to talke with a person as the tempting spirit did to Christ and againe by an immediate dilatation of the same externall aëry spirit to become inuisible no otherwise then a smoake by dilatation vanisheth or a cloud or mist made of a compacted and thickned ayre doth oftentimes without the appearance of any drop of raine passe away inuisibly Was it not strange that Christ himselfe that had flesh and bones should appeare etiam clausis ianâ—…is and then immediately to vanish And yet if we consider that after he was risen he did put on a spirituall body euen that body for that cause could deponere Tabernaculum suum visibile tangibile and become by subtiliation and dilatation as subtile and impalpable as the voluntie of him who hath the spirituall body pleaseth and so can appeare and vanishat an instant It is an admirable speculation to ponder and consider duely how God worketh in this world by contraction and dilatation by priuation and position by darknesse and light by apparition and disparition as we see when his Spirit moueth from the North the common ayre is by the contractiue nature of that spirit turned from inuisibility to visibility from transparency to opacity from ayre to Snow Haile Frost Ice from leuity to ponderosity from agility and mobility to fixation and immobility Contrarywise by his blast from the East or South the said bodies are altered againe into water and water into ayre and ayre into fire by dilatation and in conclusion corporeity terrestriall into corporeity aëriall or celestiall hardnesse into saltnesse grossenesse into subtility opacity into transparency fixation into mobility rest into action darknesse into light And to conclude contraction caused by this Spirit of God into dilatation visibility into inuisibility What shall I say more If Angels of all kindes haue their externall from the aëry spirit of the World and their internall act from this externall viuifying spirit in whom is the property of the foure Windes and therefore the Prophet said Come O Spirit from the foure Windes whereby he did argue that this one Spirit as being the essentiall actor in the foure Windes had the properties of the foure Windes in himselfe by the which he acted all things whereupon the Prophet called it from the foure Windes wee ought not to make any question but that by vertue of that internall act and the substance of that their externall ayre they may contract themselues from a spirituall fiery and aëry inuisibility vnto a nebulous or watery yea and earthly visibility or snowie or Icie nature especially the grosse malignant and darke spirits which by their fall haue indued the grosser ayre as Augustine saith and therefore is Satan called by the Apostle The Prince of the ayre And this is the reason that the Deuill or euill spirits do in their contraction conuert themselues into solid or firme shapes of man or beast and appeare in touch to be so excessue cold according to Master Fosters confession namely because the spirit by which they liue contracting it selfe from the Circumference of dilated ayre into the Center of contracted earth leaueth the externall or aëry compacted composition chill and cold like Ice For it is by his emanation or dilatation from the Center vnto the Circumference that kindleth naturall heate in the externall of euery creature To conclude against those that affirme that spirits haue no corporeity It is most certaine that where there is rarum densum thin and thick there consequently is corporeity either thinne or thicke For whatsoeuer is in his substance transmutable vnto a thinner or thicker body must needs bee bodily though not a visible body So is a Starre of Heauen called Densior pars sui orbis that is The inuisible â—…thereall spirit or thin body of Heauen thickned into the visible body of a Starre So also may fire be condensed into ayre and ayre into water and water into earth And againe that earth may be rarified into water and water into ayre and ayre into fire For such is the naturall rotation of elements Now the externall of Angels must be created of the spirituall substance of the higher world or not at all according vnto Basils tenor and consequently it is bodily though of a thinner or thicker consistence according vnto the dignity of the Angell Doth not also Dauid acknowledge thus much in these words Qui facit Angelos spiritus seu aëra 〈◊〉 Ministros ignem vrentem who maketh his Angels spirits or windie ayre and his Ministers flames of fire And therefore it is a shame that such mysteries as these which are most apparent to the considerant should by the ignorant bee derided and esteemed not workes and operations of the Spirit of God in the common element of the world but of the Deuill and so through their blindnesse mistake euill for good darknesse for light of which sort of people the Prophet meaneth in these words Woe vnto them that speake good of euill and euill of good which put darknesse for light and light for darknesse that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Woe vnto them that are wise in their owne eyes and prudent in their owne sight Thus iudicious and vnpartiall Reader you may perceiue by that which hath bene expressed in this Member how vnable mine Aduersaries Sponge hath beene to wipe away the least tittle of that naturall value and diuine vertue which in my mysticall Anatomy I haue ascribed vnto the Weapon-Salue And therefore for all I can see hee may inuent some more substantiall meanes then is this windie Sponge an expresse argument of a light braine or fantastick wit to subuert a Medicine of so weighty an importance and admirable power in working Hee must haue I say strong Cable-ropes in stead of a light Sponge to remoue the foundation of verity and yet I feare they will cracke too before they will be able to draw wise men to beleeue that the good gifts of healing in this Weapon-Salue should proceed from the Deuill and not from God and his benigne mercies which is the onely giuer of health and goodnesse And now I must remember you by the way of one absurdity in our Sponge-bearing Author For he saith first that this manner of cure is Diabolicall and afterward hee seemeth to attribute the effect of it vnto the vrine of man His words are these Doctor Fludds directions are that the Weapon be left in the Vnguent-pot till the