and all sensibles except fishes CAP. 6. IN the beginning the Waters conteined all were conteined of none but teemed in darkenesse The heauens were of olde And the earth that was of the water by the Word of God VVherefore the world that then was perished by water The heauens and earth which now are bee kept in store by the same Word vnto fire The first matter of all things is water and therefore the first cleansing is by and with water The last perfection of all things is spirit and the last cleansing is by fire which is the violence of the spirit consuming all matter imperfectible and leauing in an immortall bodie that which is pure cleane and perfectible In which triumph of the spirit all shall burne sauing the perfect seede of them that scaped in the waters For nothing that is vncleane commeth to the last and second perfection of the fire not hauing beene washed and depured in the first of water But how the earth was of water whether by separation of the lower waters when the drie land appeared or by subsidence of the heauier part of the Chaos in the rarefaction caused by the spirit moouing is a matter of great and necessarie consequence doubtlesse it was by both as wee see in depuring of liquors and Chymicall extractions And so the second world is of the diuiding of fire as in spagiricall mysteries wee may plainelie see This is true in that we seeke after which is more easie to vnderstand if we consider that heaâ—e the forme or essentially inseparable from the forme of fire was made by the spirits mouing vpon the waters and that the life and fewell of fire is aer The waters as being most spiritual had the first ornament of distinction and forme in all degrees first light which some thinke to comprehend Angels and therefore fire But that thought hath many great aduersaries and may imply matter of strong heresye as though they had beene Coadiutors or agents in the following dayes of creation Therefore they doe best which vnderstand the creation of Angels to be in the sixt day in which man himselfe also was created besides many other sound reasons Then heauen followed the diuider and mediator of the waters aboue froÌ„ theÌ„ beneath next vegetables c. as before where note that before any sensible creature was created in the water or earth the better part that is the superior waters and the heauen had all their furniture of light with the whole hoast of heauen of innumerable starres and their offices And lastlie Angels a little before man For though it bee not defined when Angels were created yet their residence beeing in heauen and their Indiuidualitie immortall it cannot bee doubted that they were before and neere the perfectest forme of the ruling creature And the light of Angels in origination must differ infinitely from the inaccessible light of God And as they could not suffer by water so they that continued in their originall light shall not perish nor suffer by fire as all other things shall euen the heauens themselues The heauens and earth which are kept by the same word in store and reserued vnto fire c. 2. Pet. 3. Psa 102.25 Thou hast layed the foundations of the earth the heauens are the worke of thine hands they shall perish but thou shalt endure Euen they all shall waxe olde as doth a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall bee changed 2. Pet. 3.12 Eccl. 17.31 c. The heauens beeing on fire shall bee dissolued and the Elements shall melt with heate c. VVhat is more cleere then the Sunne yet it shall faile Yea the heauens and starres though insensible bee farre more excellent then the sensible creatures of the earth and inferiour waters Not concerning their forme but concerning their composition perfect mixture and pure matter of corporalitie All which cause their permanent indiuidualitie Such is the substance of our question The starres are vncleane in his sight How much more man euen the Sonne of man Iob 15.15 which is but a worme c. The heauens are not cleane in his sight how much more Man For man is of the earth And heauen is the congregation of waters In which they become fixed permanent which cannot bee without the action of their spirit of light and fire For though euerie one haue their part of all foure Yet wee finde the earth and ayre patible and as it were Nurses or rather Seminaries and very wombes of corruption diseases and death From which not speaking of them in their regenerated bodies no sacrament either diuine or naturall is taken And in from and by which all things both macrocosmicall and microcosmicall haue their Morbificall exhalations But the other two water and fire bee the cleansers and naturall renewers of all which as they decay not in themselues so doe they preserue For the fishes were not brought into the Arke but were preserued in their own proper Element And by the way we may obserue one notable doctrine That the more pure cleane and subtile any thing is in the materialitie of his primitiue nature the more irreuocable is the ruine and destruction if it suffer violence aboue or beyond that number waight and measure in which it was created So wee see the fall of Angels eternally iudged and vitrified substance bee irreducible And this in naturall things naturall causes is also true But to proceede after in the creation of sensible creatures the waters were first serued with fish soules which are attributed and appropriated vnto the waters because ayre commeth by rarefaction of waters and is extended vnder the hollow of heauen Lastly was Man being the Epitome and Abridgement of the whole Creation and therfore rightly called Microcosmus a little world for whose vse and seruice all other things were created For the good or bad vse whereof he shall account to his and their Creator God Almighty The order of proceeding heerein we see to be from the most simple and vniuersall to the most compound and speciall or particular So sensibles are more compounded then vegetables Man more then other sensibles minerals lesse then vegetables and all concerning their materiality of the first Chaos partakers of the essentiall corporality which conteined all in darknesse CAP. 7. IN this Chronicle of the creation there is very excellently taught the condition of all Creatures their composition and state of their naturall life There are two corporal or bodied Elements Earth and Water of which all things vnder heauen are materially compounded The spirit of life in euery thing is his naturall heate ioyned therewith by the meanes of the ayre which is here called the rarefied waters first created by the motion of the spirit and made able to multiply it selfe in any fit and prepared subiect This heate is chiefly in the light which was first brought out of the Chaos and dwelleth in the rarefied waters as in their proper
decayed and generally in minority of all things that belong to their naturall being or well being and shall not be restored vntill the general restauration of the vniuerse Say vnto a woman which trauaileth 2. Efdras 5.52 wherefore are not they whom thou hast now brought forth like those that were before thee but lesse of stature And she will answer thee some were born in the flower of youth others were borne in the time of age when the wombe failed Consider now that yee are lesse of stature then those that were before you and so are they that come after you lesse then they as the Creatures which now beginne to be old and haue passed ouer the strength of youth CAP. 8. OF these two kinds of essentiall causes generall and particular corruptible and incorruptible all sublunary things consist and haue their being and existence in matter and forme body and spirit And are in possibility to such end as naturally follow these beginnings corruptible or incorruptible transumtable or permanent And nature naturally proceeding euer intendeth the greatest naturall perfection in all her workes and the preseruation thereof But because in the excellent ornament and beauty of Gods glorious workmanship consisting of innumerable variety of seuerall species and perticularities in nature all participate not alike of the incorruptible causes nor be alike tempered by the digestion of their compounding Elements many things of necessity are of shorter continuance then other more subiect to change and corruption This change corruption being properly the death of euery particular body commeth not by vtter destruction or annihilation of any essential part but is only a disorganizing of the spirits tenement and a separating of these said parts each returning to his place vnder the measure of generall time Neither do any of thē so perish but that their mortall immortalitie vnder the said commēsuration continuing vnto the worlds end is manifest For those things which in their indiuiduall bodies haue not this immortality as wee see the heauens gold precious stones to haue are preserued here by succession as it were of immortall seede For all men came out of Adams loynes And his substance by propagation continueth to the last end of al natural things In contemplation wherof the Greek Philosophers affirme that in all seedes there is somthing wonderful proportionable to the Element of Stars But if we consider the regeneration of this body in his digested purified Elements though it be aboue the compasse of common reason and seeme miraculous yet no doubt wee may therein contemplate and most notably discerne the complement of Nature in the immortality of euery particular which before was shadowed in succession Nothing can proceede infinitely in change therefore there must bee some end or period of particular times wherein changes happen The whole memorie of Nature being the Image of God cannot bee blotted out and destroyed Therefore after the determination of number to auoide infinitie there shall be an immortality of particular things Not by the ruine of Nature but by the full acted accomplishment of the whole possibility and satisfying the appetite of all causes If it bee demaunded whether this shall also bee in other sensibles vegetables and minerals the answer requires modestie for it is not made certaine vnto vs Et praestat dubitare de occultis quà m litigare de incertis For my selfe I rather thinke of the Negatiue My reason is The whole vniuersitie and frame of the creation is the Image of God And this whatsoeuer is epitomized in Man conteining most exactly the whole harmony and discord order and confusion of all causes and effects according as he standeth or falleth to God his master And so is the true and real storehouse of al Gods workes and his most perfect Image the Image of his glorie if hee stand of his wrath and iudgement if he fall Alt hings were blessed for his sake vse the same were cursed for his sinne and abusing the creatures contrary to commaundement hee shall account to God as his Steward for all and in him they shall be perfected to immortality not distinctlie in their present shapes but as hauing in him that they are For after the regeneration man hath no more vse of them either necessary or ornamentall And so the cause of their natural and distinct being ceaseth So the whole creature is immortall that is the generall causes of matter and forme of which all things were in an elementall body perfectly tryed digested depured inseparably vnited and as it were fixed in the highest perfection which is Man In whom all naturall bodies of which wespeake concurre and rest as al riuers run into the sea making one deepe And if the exposition of Dionysius Carthusianus be not receiued peraduenture this may agree with the meaning of S. Paul in the 8. Cha. to the Romanes from the 19. verse to the 24. To this purpose we may further cōsider how God in all his workes euer abhorred multitude tending to diuision making all things conspire in vnity of most accomplished perfection In the creation of the second day it is not said And God saw that it was good Not that the Creatures of that day wanted his blessing but to teach vs the danger of diuision which beginning in the first defection from vnity endeth in confusion and is neuer restored but by returning againe from the tumult of multiplied duality and conspiring in the vnited goodnesse of all good things to receiue the vndiuided blessing of rest and quietnesse in the mysticall Septenarie So God saw all that he had made and loe it was very good It is not said he saw them and euerie of them and they were good Duo two as the number of diuision had no blessing but in 6. being vnitiuely tripled according to the first vniuersall causes it was ioyned to the number of all as one of in and with them without diuision for them and so rested in the perfection of vnity sanctifying the creature in 7. And as all things natural are of three vniuersal causes so on that roote is squared the last preparation of them which is Man receiuing perfection in 10. by which 9. returneth into vnity the first and last perfection of all perfections For 6. and 9. be the numbers of preparation and motion 7. and 10. the numbers of rest and perfection in nature CAP. 9. NOW let vs enquire whither it bee possible in nature to produce such a compounded substance tempered of the Elements in which after exact digestion the predominancy of the spiritual causes shall be manifested in true figure of regeneration So that the appetite of this matter being fully satisfied it shall bee capable of no greater natural perfection nor subiect to change in it selfe but like the superior waters mixe it selfe with the spirit of life in euery natural thing work in it restauration preseruation in such measure as the naturall predestination of that thing wherwith it is
mingled with spermaticall superfluity as is said of the other two kinds 2. Next whether it be to be gotten onely in the earth before the mettall perfected or lie hid also in the complete body and may be found by art in dissolution and regresse from composition to simplicity 3. And if so then whether it be some particular substance by decision or any other meanes naturall or artificiall to bee separated from it or els onely a power in it selfe intensiuely to receiue exaltation and thereby enabled to giue out of this exuberance vnto others the perfectiō of his first specifical degree 4. Whether this seminarie subiect be alike pure and homogeneall in the totall and separated substances of euery metalline bodie These things beeing thus deliuered and vnderstood that which remaineth in the necessarie demonstration of this generall substance will bee plaine without any difficultie CAP. 13. THe instruments of nature in breeding procreation are the effects of Spirit In number three Motion Heat Light And that which we most looke after is Heate which neuer is nor can be in any naturall subiect without the other 2. nor any of them without the rest Vbi motus talis ibi calor talis lux talis Vbi calortalis ibi motus talis lux talis Vbi lux talis ibi calor talis motus talis Heate is of two sorts In ward or naturall of the seede or substance the second outward or instrumentall of the matrice and body wherein the matrice is or of that which is in stead thereof By this outward instrumentall heate the inward naturall heate is stirred to actiuitie and from the sleepy power or bability which onely it had brought vnto and continued in actuall working vntill the effect be perfected Therefore outward instrumentall heate must be so fitted that it serue onely to this exciting of the inward naturall heate in most exact degree and proportion This may be familiarly exemplified in egges which often are ripened and out of them birds hatched by diuers manners of heate Not onely by incubation and sitting of the same hen or any other of the same species whose egges they were but of some other fowle and also by any other like heate be it of sand ashes c. being continued in equall adaptation That which is spoken of the heate of mans bodie as vnder his arme-pits or any other part is senslessee for the vncertaintie of temper with variety satiety want of meate and drinke and sleepe and passions alters the heate both subiectiuely and in degree almost euery momēt Besides the sweattie perspiration passeth the shell and causeth putrefaction Nature hath giuen vs the first experiments of this reason as in the Amphibials before spoken of Iob 39.17 and in the Ostrich which leaueth her egges in the earth and maketh them hot in the dust forgetteth that the foot might scatter them or that the wilde beasts might breake them he sheweth himselfe cruell vnto his yong ones as they were not his and is without feare as if he trauailed in vaine c. Too much heate roasteth whereby the spirit of life in the seede is destroied and the substance is as it were vitrificat Too litle heat makes no perfect mixture of the agents patiēts produceth no reciprocal actiō passion whereby the work begun proceedeth not but the matter rots the spirits decay A discōtinued heat breaketh off natures worke so that the naturall heat beginning to work in the seed to propagatiō dieth in it selfe can neuer be restored againe because the spirit of life in the same seede also dieth And so the matter being of easie mixture and composition putrifieth without life or power of life to an vnprofitable end But it is not so in the things of stronger mixture compositiō being neerer to the simplicity of the first materialities of bodies cōpounded And therefore not so easily subiect to destractiue putrefaction Because their very corporal cōpounding parts be symbolizing neere the degree of the prime symbolizing bodies not altered out of the circle latitude of the species digested or cōcocted except there be addition of something extraneall in the mixture For then the whole cōpound cōcerning specification yeeldeth to the predominance of the virtuall predominant in the mixture Yet still is preserued within the denomination general essēce of the next immediate genus of that species not exceeding that circle or latitude except it be directed to our known period of vniuersality The matrice being open or not perfectly closed the spirit of life with his heate and light of life flyeth away vnto the Catholike fountaine of all naturall spirits Heate and Light and so leaueth the matter dead as in Mines of mettals if there be any vent or passage by which the mineral spirit may vapour out or flie that neuer cometh to perfection experimentall obiections be made against this but none grounded on reason A radice mineralitatis metallicae An open stomacke neuer digesteth well But herein is a difference obseruable betweene Animals Vegetables and Minerals For in Animals the seedes and spermes doe vtterly perish nay euen the formed Embryons by the opennes of the matrice and the formed chickens in the egge either by discontinuing the heate or a little cracke in the shell Of Vegetables we see seedes lying on the face of the earth on stones and wals to shoot their rootes stalkes burgeons and leaues which die afterwards for want of nourishment after they haue spent in corporall augment that natural humidity and nutritiue substance which the seed in his separable matrice conteined But in Minerals wee finde that though some part of the matter exhale and flye through the opennes of the matrice yet that which remaineth may bee brought afterwards to his full specificall perfection if the matrice be closed againe And this is a good and obserueable ground to inuestigate the true seede of all mettalles the manner of ripening them their generation regeneration and exuberation Also to confirme the doctrine of homogeneitie of that which is most perfect in the metalline predicament also of the symbolizing of the corporall metalline Elements before spoken of Being vnderstood it is a key opening the doore of many mystical vestries in Hermes temple And so wee see that it is impossible for any thing to attaine naturall perfection more then it hath without naturall motion such as nature vseth in generation augmentation Therefore in all times and in all matters the cautions heere deliuered must be carefully obserued That the seede may bee brought to such motion and enabled to receiue the benefit of such naturall exaltation The reasons causes why euery thing is particularized in his birth are two The first because it is kept and bred vp in a matrice where it is fed and nourished with nourishment by a specificated bodie which in things not hermaphroditicall wee may prooue true by monsters begotten betweene male and female specifically differing The second
because the feede and spermaticall matter is so straightly enclosed in the matrice that the elements cannot bee enlarged to any vnbridled circulare motion by which onely is acquired that last excellent perfection of which wee speake One probable argument of this is that minerals bee more generall and powerfull in effect then either Vegetables Animals or any other superterraneals And the heauens more then they For the Elements so communicate in their symbolicall qualities that they neuer cease ro worke each on other The earth striuing to ouercome and transmute the water and to bring the fire in accord therewith likewise the ayre with the water and fire water with earth and aire fire with aire and earth And finally all with all to make one c and if it happen the combate of Elements to be in a matter hauing the properties of life before spoken of though it liue in a dead house and that in a matrice or receptacle where they cannot be dispersed nor the spirits flie out Their Ambition of victorie and transmutation must needs end at last and determine in some naturall compounded bodie which shall not be specificated to any kinde Animall Vegetable or Minerall But that in application it may be aboue them all such as this generalitie of matter must needs produce For where the matter is the most simple pure mixture of Elemēts indefinite indeterminate and this matter continued in naturall motion without dispersing the elements or spirits without any adition of other matter It is impossible that the action of the actiue and passion of the passiue should euer cease so long as the causes continue that is any inequalitie in the formalities of these elements By which meanes there must needs be produced a bodie of most exact and absolute temper wherein no element is predominant such is the ninth temperament of which Galen speaketh and of late writers is called the temperament of iustice which they denie not to be at some time really in some Man but allow it not to continue any time because of the momentany alteration which that bodie suffereth by reason of the triangular specification If therefore they will grant this in such a market of meates and sallets as man is why may wee not boldly require it much more in such a bodie as we speake of which hauing gotten his perfection in the fire by the naturall triumph of all elements in a quintessentiall bodie must needs hold this exact temperament and the dowers thereof inuiolably against all elementall forces For if this exact measure of digestion bee compleate in a substance not yet restrained from the latitude and indifferencie betweene generall and specificall the cause of such momentany alteration is taken away especially if in the choise of the roote the number of the angles bee answerable And then it must needs bee reduced vnto and rest in an homogeneall substance of most perfect naturall vnity more permanent in being and victorious ouer all elements then any minerall euen gold it selfe remaining in his metalleitie In which worke the thing produced exceedes not in quantie the first spermaticall substance because there is no attraction of nourishment But the moist is foode to the drie the cold to the hot the dry to the moist and hot to the cold So they change and are changed vntill they bee all in equall strength and proportion geometrically anatised inseparably vnited in one body And before the matter comes to this point it is neuer properly said to be one or vnitie For as a true vnitie suffereth no diuision either in descending into fractions or ascending to warring dualitie so this substance beeing more transcendent then any naturall substance of Aristotles predicament and hauing no heterogeneall parts of different composition mixture and temper neither any notion of such difference is and must needs be the most perfect absolute vnitie of all naturall sublunare compounds The like whereof nature alone and of her selfe could neuer produce being hindred by the foresaid causes of specificall definitions but requireth the band of Gods image and then is able of her selfe to effect that which before shee could not adapt For man being so much aboue nature by how much hee is more then others illumined and formally essensificated of a diuine intellect doth in many things helpe nature to proceede naturally farther by many degrees then shee could without that helpe and so in the excellence of nature either exceedeth or greatly inricheth nature in the production of naturall effects But whether nature alone hath produced and left inclosed in any naturall bodie this mysticall transcendent and reall existing predicament it is a great question Doubtlesse shee hath in a certaine number and masked vnder a definition of determinate vses in the philosophie of generations But she hath not neither euer shall per se without the help of our science and art act and produce it in the number which we admire nor vnmasked in the glorious triumph ouer Animals Vegetables and Minerals beeing in a high freedome of generalitie indifferent to all Genus generum and Forma formarum naturalium And so we may truly say that this matter whereof wee speake at which so many good Archers haue bent their bowes is a naturall thing brought forth in his vnueiled glorie by the helpe of art yet is it neither naturall nor artificiall but hath a nature and essence exceeding common capacitie And to know in what forme or bodie this strange sonne of the elements shall arise and in what attire hee shall be presented to the world at his first natiuitie wee must consider the sphericall scale or ladder of naturall things wherein wee shall finde an admirable beautie and proportion The last of which sphere being Man a reasonable Creature standeth in place and nature next vnto spirits and they both next vnder God transcendēt aboue the sphere of Creatures Betweene these two we finde things in descent lesse noble then spirits more noble and perfect then Man concerning his elementall dowry and durability of his body In ascent lesse noble then Man concerning that forme whereby hee is called Man and a fellow seruant with spirits more noble then the spirits concerning their immediate application to natural things for perfection These bee the heauens with all their parts and distinctions the Elements Minerall Plantall Animall whereby it plainly appeareth that those things whose vse is most generall to the perfection before spoken of elementall naturall bodies are farthest from the simplicity of spirits But those things which be farthest from the simplicity of spirits haue in their naturall being least shew and apparence of the effects of spirit And where the effects of spirit in thenaturall body be most apparant that body is in the sphere remoued by most differences and specifications from the Elements So is Plantall farther then Minerall and Animal then Plantal and in the Animal kind though humane agree with the rest as hauing the natural life in blood yet it goeth
beginning of nature and naturall causes No doubt whatsoeuer is elsewhere necessarily or probably deliuered is either directly taken from hence Or else is but a shadow of this substance and a deriuation of this light CAP. 5. EVerie worke and action of God expressed or implied in his Creation hath as a necessary cause produced some created effect and established it vnder the law of Nature with time still to continue By his Power in the beginning he created that voide and vnformed Chaos which because it was void vnformed had power and hability alike to euerie thing or forme And because nature that is the Creature is the Image of the Creator as being Relatiue to him There is in it a naturall will and appetite vnto perfection which is the naturall Good and Goodnesse of euery creature which is manifested by distinction in instruments parts c. That the heauens may declare the glory of God and all his works magnifie his holy name The third cause in the creature was yet wanting that is spirit the formall cause of motion in euery Creature which likewise answered his proper cause distinct from the other as is said in their effects relatiuely but not in their vniuersall subiect nor in the Prototypal being whose Image they are Three in One and One in Three or rather Trinity Coessentiall in Vnity and Vnity in Trinity The spirit of God moued vpon the waters The spirit mouing vpon the waters created in them spiritualnesse and naturall motion in such proportion as might most absolutely answer the excellency of the Creators disposition and harmony in the innumerable variety of all his particular creatures and be a most sure ground to informe the contemplation of reason by exact dependence of effects vpon their causes The whole Chaos conteined two parts Water and Earth In this there is diuersity of positiō aboue and beneath The Water was aboue the Earth therfore lighter and more capable of actiuity The Earth was vnder the waters and therfore heauier naturally more passible The spirit mooued vpon the surface of the waters which then thereby became more spirituall actiue stirring from thence the other waters in that deepe receiued their dower in the like vertues in proportion euen to those that were contiguall to the earth The Earth in it selfe hath no power of spirit or motion but mediatly by the Waters and that likewise in exact and graduated proportion sufficient for the agreeing diuersity of al bodies This spiritualnes or naturall spirit being but potentially in the waters could not in naturall course which God had now established be acted but by a meane The Spirit was moued Motion breeds heat Heate causeth rarefaction or subtilty subtilty is the perfection of spirit in euerie kind And of all spirituall things light is most subtile which therefore was the first Creature actually distinguished in and out of the confused Chaos And that which before was the confused power of all things void and without forme by this appeared the vniuersall matter of all bodies informed with light the most vniuersall of all formes And as in the darkenesse nature trauailed with the burthen of this wonderfull birth in her wombe and as it were sate hatching her egges so now in this light shee was deliuered of her first borne and after disclosed her other chickens formed and well shaped out of the shell of darkenesse And here the waters were endowed with Spirit Motion Heat and Light as is aforesaid which light was not actually in the inferiour waters as nights Mantle prooueth But shewing the neerenesse of water vnto light by transparence the easie reception of light their easie rarefaction by the worke of heate the child of Spirit doe giue good testimony of lights materiality But this is not so proper to the vniuersall light of which we speake by which the superiour waters bee continually illumined and illustred without any shadow of the night of our lesse generall time yet it may serue in neere similitude to illustrate The next distinct Creature named the Expansion Firmament or Heauen which a certaine Wiseman calleth the heauenly Ayre had in the very instant of his calling and creation an office appointed most generall To diuide the waters aboue from the waters below And heere is no mention made of Ayre and Fire but of Motion and Light which are neuer without heate the most proper passion or forme of that which wee commonlie call Fire Also of the vpper Waters and their rarefaction which agreeth with the Ayre of common Philosophie in the efficient and subiect But whether those names be proper or no concerneth not this place and I haue elsewhere paradoxally handled Of the substance composition of heauen many heads haue brought forth many hornes and arming their reasons with fantasticall imaginations haue pushed at each other so long till they be all galled It is sufficient for vs to consider their vse and office that is to deuide the waters aboue from the waters below and how being composed of the common Chaos water and earth more pure then things beneath them lesse pure then things aboue them they be solid fixed permanent and as it were of an immortall substance patible onely by fire Iob 37.18 And therefore it is said the heauens are strong and as a molten glasse For when the Spirit getteth the vpper hand in a pure and cleane body and that bodie afterwards of the Spirit in the second coniunction not by incrassation of the spirit but by subtilation of the body the whole compound becommeth quintessentiall then all is permanent and as you would say fixed spiritually Then there is no naturall alteration nor corruption I know that some writers make two distinct materialities or materias primas first matters in this beginning of creation one containing the water of heauen aboue the other a confused masse of earth and water the corporalitie of all sublunarie bodies But that opinion seemeth to draw a tayle after it of many absurdities incōueniences that goldē chaine of Participation of Symboles which linketh heauen and earth together cannot abide two materiall principles of one creature Neither can such duality subsist with that Talmudique mysterie of light shining out of darkenes which is figuratiuely verbū Dei in nobis Then there is no naturall alteration nor corruption but mens sana in corpore sano a pure spirit in a perfect bodie Next after the firmament and this diuision of waters followed the separation or parting of the waters beneath the firmament from the earth whereby sea and land were made In all this relation and respect are manifest darkenesse and light aboue beneath and diuider or meane betweene extreames Water Earth Sea Land wet dry Motion Rest c. Then in order followed In the earth Vegetables In heauen starres and their offices In the waters Fish and Foule In the earth againe sensibles commonly called Brutes or Irrationals Lastly Man with appointment of meate for himselfe
subiect So the whole composition consisteth of foure two patient and materiall respectiuely inferior water and earth two agent and formall respectiuely superior water and heate or light which if we call ayre and fire in the compound it shall be indifferent for it matters not what names or words be vsed so the thing be vnderstood These foure Elements or parts of composition must be considered two waies particularly and generally Considered particularly they euer concurre to the composition of things corruptible but generally of things incorruptible To which purpose let vs consider that there is a generall light made before the heauens of and with which the Elements and euery elementary compound doth communicate more or lesse and thereby hath in it some sparke of incorruptibility and possibility to attaine it according to the primitiue natural predestination of his first creation which also it might and should enioy were it adapted to fit digestion and fermentation of it selfe where all the Elements should neuer cease from their circular labour vntill by equall proportion and temper that subiect could no more be altered of which there is some neere example in Gold and pretious stones There is also a generall Heauen not made to distinguish times and seasons but to diuide and to bee as it were a Land-marke betweene the Waters the interpretations of the Hebrew Maim and the Comments of the Aerial Expansion may haue their truth not opposing this diuisor which generall heauen giueth generall influence from the Waters aboue by meanes of the generall light into the inferiour Elements and elementarie compounds and also spirituall fixation continuing and preseruing the cause of their incorruptibilitie beeing an actiue Spirit of life able to worke by digestion and fermentation as aforesaid There is also a generall and vniuersall Time and that of diuers degrees When the Chaos was created Time was created with it And as the matter of all things being then in this Chaos is incorruptible in it selfe though diuerslie passible in his indefinitenesse to all formes so is that time with it created in it selfe abstractiuely vnderstood vndiuided though communicated vnto Elements and Compounds and measuring in them no other thing then the incorruptibility of their matter Besides this there is another generall Time measuring the generall and incorruptible matter which slept in vnreuealed darknesse And as the first measureth in the Elements and elemental bodies the incorruptibility of the matter so this measureth in them the same of their formes to the preseruation of one generall forme in one generall matter of naturall transcendence The third generall Time began with the Firmament which time measureth the third order of naturall Being from the Chaos and the second order of distinction from the generall light That is the diuision of waters and therefore it is in the first degree of composition alterable by generation and corruption for in it the foure elements were perfected of all naturall sublunary things This time is the first of all vnto which our speculation reacheth concerning the naturall estate of things corruptible and generable for the other two come neerer the last dissolution when al things shal stand adorned in one light or fall confused in one darknesse And these vniuersall and incorruptible causes Matter and Forme are really according to their natures in the elements and euery compound and either shall with them in their present estate continue vnto the last possibility of their predestination or alter them that they may so continue or else being seuered from them returne to their proper place vnder the commensuration of their proper time till all things be restored in the incorruptible regeneration of an immortall spring So is their particular matter and forme separable corruptible in respect of the composition and measured by particular times in which generations and corruptions do happen of all things thereunto subiect The particular light began with the Starres and that of so many different effects as there be varieties in their motion receptions of light irradiations and whatsoeuer else in true Astronomy can bee said of them This is the particular beginning of time and times and the proper measure of all specifications and particularities Yet some would haue the measure of specifications to be in the time of the vnstarred heauens and of particularities as is here said It is no inconuenience to agree with them both haue their speculations but agree in the issue of particularities If it be obiected that this being true vegetables be incorruptible because they were created before this light and time of the Stars I say it followeth not For they are made of earth and inferiour waters earth being predominant which imply matter and forme separable and by consequent corruptibility of the cōpound not withstanding the concours of the other two elements aforesaid They were giuen for food to man and all other animals except Fishes which were made after the Stars and therefore doe communicate in nature with them And though they were made before the light and time of generations and corruptions yet they were not then absolutely perfect For neither had they then increased their species with succession of indiuiduals nor attained their last end in which al perfection is consummate that is to be meate for man and beasts made in the light and times of generations But therein we may note that all things made before this time being generable and corruptible be in their generations hermaphroditicall and therein differ from the other more multitudinary and angulare And from this place a good cabalist may gather something of the immortalitie of the flesh and by consequent of resurrection because their foode is of that which in the first creation concerning time and light is incorruptible amongst which there is a tree of life What then shall we say of meate and medicine made of that which in creation preceeds these in his particular bodie is durable with the heauens lesse compounded and angulare then any vegetable But to returne moreouer the earth and all things therein receiued the curse and became hereunto subiect by Adams fall and cannot without sweate and labour eate their bread that is enioy the predestination of the spirit of life which is in them But if they were helped and cherished by some matter like and connaturall to that spirit of life which they haue of the vniuersall light and the vpper waters measured by the vniuersall time of the vnstarred heauen noe doubt they might endure farre beyond that time they now doe if peraduenture not to the worlds ende which in their present estate is impossible for many causes and by reason hereditarie corruption hath taken so great and deepe roote as one though to another end saith Damnosa quid non imminuit Dies Aetas Parentum peior auis tulit Nos nequiores mox daturos Progeniem vitiosiorem Wherein the whole world and euerie part thereof haue their part both in quantity diminished life shortned naturall vertues
ioined is able to receiue and so be Genus generum and forma formarum most vniuersall to all elementate compounds I say a naturall perfection and naturall change meaning so great and high degree as the possibility of this world hasting in speedy fluxe to an end can suffer and beare For I know that when the pure heauens and perfect elements doe burne melt and shall bee purged with the powerfull fire in the last complement of Nature that then also all things of or vnder them consisting shall much more suffer the same Such things therefore as we speake of be commonly diuided into animals vegetables and minerals vnderstanding each largely to comprehend all the particular Species of their owne kind also all errors whether by abundance or defect of matter strength and weaknes of causes c. amongst these we also comprehend lithophytes transplanted from a vegetable roote to a minerall body and zoophytes which for the most part haue in neerest agreement an animall body and a minerall house For a ground and principle heerein we assume that which with common consent is receiued in euery sect of Philosophy Nature not hindered in her actions doth produce that wherein she laboureth in the greatest perfection that may be This we see to be true in all indiuiduall things in the specification of their birthes in their proper and naturall matrices as also in vnnaturall issues from vnproper and vnnaturall matrices and in Monsters of superfluity defect c. In all which nature frameth somthing as neere to the specifical perfection of the seede sowen as the matrice matter causes and adaptation thereof will suffer Also in equiuocall generations things animated by fermentation putrifaction c. And this also in Vegetables as in graffing where a Crab-stocke feedeth a Pippin In transplantation as of wheate into Rye c. In culture both of degeneration and exaltation as in garden fruits double flowers c. Likewise in minerals as is sufficiently declared by good Authors and daily experienced by such as vse iudgement in searching digging and vse of Mines Also in spagyricall maturation of vnripe Mines and of vnperfect minerals by cohobating imbibition of fit minerall waters c. The second seruing to this point is no lesse euident and common Euerie effect is the effect of some cause and therefore answerable vnto it And of this followeth a third There is no reall cause actually being without his effect in actus all existence Else should nature labour in vaine and consume her selfe about nothing with lesse profit then a mountaine calling a Midwife to bee deliuered of a Mouse This being graunted let vs remember what is before prooued of the difference of causes Generall and Particucular not taking away the subalternate dependence of all for the whole beeing of subiects with their inherent vertues and applications as they now are to themselues and others By particular I meane not indiuiduall but that which is put vnder or beneath the vniuersality of Natures indefinitenesse by being appropriated to any inferior or subalternate kind of specificatiō General causes working in themselues produce generall effects but receiued in particular subiects work according to euery particular kind in Animals Vegetables and Minerals This barre or repulsion from generality commeth by specification and specification from the concourse of particular causes hindering nature from her generall worke The matter is indifferent to all because it is generall and more incorruptible and desiring a forme most naturall to it selfe must needs be best satisfied with generality Take away the particular specificating causes and this generall effect must needs follow as the light of the Sunne is altered according to the colour of any Glasse wherethrough it passeth which glasse being taken away it appeareth in that generall brightnesse which is proper to it selfe If therefore it bee possible to continue in nature the action of the generall causes not hindered by subalternation of particularity vnto the last digestiue fermentation of this matter no doubt there wil be produced an effect generall a reall existing substance indefinite indeterminate to al specificated substances being spirit of naturall life in all perfection to euery one in his kind of which it shall be receiued as aforesaid As the honour and authority of a King continuing in his owne absolute power vndiminished giueth honour and authoritie to all kinde of his subiects to euery one according to his place degree and office And to his subiects is as it were Genus generum and Forma formarum so matter beeing in it selfe indifferent to all and informed in the first light of Nature with the most vniuersall forme of simplicitie in composition naturally desireth the most generall forme which is possible for any elementate compound to haue Yet notwithstanding is specificated according to the subalternate causes working therein As we may say a King in his officers is coarcted into a Chancellor a Treasuror an Admirall Iudge Iustice Constable c. CAP. 10. THe possibility of this general vnspecificated substance appeareth and more a very necessity thereof lest Nature should worke in vaine hauing the concourse of all necessary causes not corrupted Let vs therefore search further how and of what this may bee done in any sublunary matter compounded of the elements animall vegetable minerall largely taken as aforesaid First let vs consider the state of innocency in which all things were absolutely perfect each in his owne kinde so that the measure of the generall causes in them was not hindered from their actions by any seed of corruption or clog of grossenesse but free in their owne libertie to worke and produce effects answerable to their proportion in euery body For all bodies in their naturall being are not alike perdurable but graduated with more or lesse as the concourse of particular causes and agents is more or lesse in them And those whose composition is most simple and least remote from the Elements by subalternation are of all others least subiect to corruption in their specificated naturall bodies as minerals But to returne where we left this primitiue and genethliacal perfection by Adams fal was impaired and ouerueiled as it were in a shadow of death so that those things which God saw to be good were now infected with the fruite and iuyce of that tree in which the knowledge of euill grew and being poysoned by Adams taste were with him cursed Neither was there any way left for him to enioy their goodnesse seuered from euill but by labour and trauaile Cursed is the earth for thy sake In sorrow shalt thou eate of it all the daies of thy life In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eate thy bread vntill thou returne to earth This sweate and trauell to eate bread is not tyed to the table of meales nor to plowing and sowing but is generall to the fruition of euery naturall thing in his vse of vertue and goodnesse Was not the water made sweete with wood Ecclus. 38. that
THE SEARCH OF CAVSES CONTAINING A THEophysicall Inuestigation of the Possibilitie of Transmutatorie Alchemie By Timothie Willis Apprentise in Phisicke LONDON Printed by IOHN LEGATT 1616. To the Reader THE cause of this Presse is rather compulsory then voluntary Indeed an extorted will proceeding first frō my facility in copies and thereby from too much liberty in some who of amanuensed transcripts peraduenture not perfect gaue mee iust suspition of an ignorant exposing Which to preuent I haue sent to the worlds view this whatsoeuer being occasioned by discourse and arguments at a supper betweene diuers learned Gentlemen some yeares past My selfe am so litle ambitious thereof that I shall thinke it well if it scape without taxe specially virulent hauing entertained no thought of reply to gainsayers An incky Duell about naturall opinables should proceed like faults escaped in the printing Mend and say nothing The search of Causes conteining a Theophysicall Inuestigation of the possibility of Transmutatorie Alchemie CAP. 1. THE knowledge of trueth reuealed vnto the first friends of God and by succession from them continued vnto vs their children is more perfect then the wisedome of any Philosophy Philosophers seeke for and require reason and necessarie causes in all things But we are taught and assured that the beginning was without any such cause as they seeke after or wee can comprehend For nothing is more true then that all things were made by an infinite power of an incomprehensible Creator in that beginning of which we haue no perfect knowledge And because we are taught that so perfect a cause can do nothing not answerable to it selfe we must beleeue that all his workes be most perfect in absolute order of Number Weight and Measure created made and preserued in and vnder an vnchangeable law of created Nature answerable to the archety pall and chiefe exemplary cause of their being and preseruation Wherefore to vnderstand so much as our imperfection may comprehend it is necessarie that wee consider the degrees of this excellent wisdome to and in his Creatures whereby all things are and continue And how the essentiall causes depend and abide inuiolably the same vnto the last determination of all time and times CAP. 2. BEfore this creation there was nothing of this naturall world eyther in actuall existence or potentiallie Neither Forme Matter Spirit Bodie Substance Accident Time Place Order Confusion Positiue Priuatiue Absolute Relatiue Abstract Concrete Agent Patient Negation or Affirmation But one onely the Ineffable and Incomprehensible Iah diuine Essence Eternal without beginning or end whose name then was and in his abstract Essence euer shall be I Am. And since the Creation as hee is God the Creator and preseruer c. Emanuel God with vs which Vs is man conteining in him somwhat by proportion from the Sonne of God and man and from Angels to the insensible Center of the earth CAP. 3. THe difference or distance betweene Being and absolute not being is infinite And therefore cannot be mediate or filled but by an infinite Power But there is nothing infinite in Power sauing onely the vncreated Power without beginning or ending Of whose counsels we may not require cause or reason because they exceed reason and cannot by vs be comprehended This power because it is infinite is alwaies the same without change Wherefore it is simply without respect or relation Good and Goodnesse from which all created Good and Goodnesse commeth and on it dependeth And this created Good and Goodnes to it selfe and euery particular creature is respectiue and relatiue The first absolute Power infinite and infinitely Good with his will eternally decreed a creation and with his infinite action and spirit effected the same Infinite in the Creator though determined and finite in the Creature Ad modum Recipientis So we finde in this workmanship of the Almighty three causes which are a rule intellectual and ideall law in and to the creature Power Will Spirit being three coessential in one God and three distinct in the Creature concerning his operations though one in the vniuersality of their subiect much more in the cause whereon they depend For what Creature soeuer shall doe any thing must haue Power to effect Will to work and instruments of action which is Spirit giuing motion and this is common to all creatures vnder what degree of substance soeuer they bee particularizied For the Philosophers power meerely passiue concerneth only a supposition of naturall disposition and appetite to a processe A non Ente tali ad ens tale But except they will imagine it to bee with priuation of action in the patible or passiue subiect which is absurd they must needs grant this power to effect CAP. 4. IN the history of the Creation we finde thus In the beginning God made heauen and earth c. as there followeth Where note that the word Deep Abyssus or Chaos was that which is heere called heauen and earth being yet one confused heape or masse vndiuided without forme void oueruailed with vniuersal darknes which darknes was not the priuation of light because no created or relatiue light had then bin 2. Esdras 6.39 But without any voice the darknesse was on euery side with silence From this matter Time and Place only beginneth the search of reason vnderstanding and created wisedome vnto which all Philosophy in the highest Metaphysicks must be reduced For no reason can be giuen or inuestigation made of that which was not And not any thing euer was but in some time and place which haue no vse but onely to measure and conteine But before this beginning their neither was measure nor thing measured Conteiner nor thing conteined And therefore no time no place But both had being and beginning in and with this creation beeing themselues creatures and concluded vnder the law of Nature which here in this Reshith with them tooke beginning I am not ignorant that a late writer laboureth much about Principium increatum In which he would haue this darke and silent mother the common wombe this Chaos of possibilities this all changeable vnformed to bee and receiue beginning or more explicately to be with it Coaeuall But that is too Chaldaicall and implieth an eternitie and infinite forebeing of Matter Time and Place which agreeth not with the infinite contradiction and contradictorie predications of Deus and Non Deus And there is nothing definible demonstrable or consequent out of any principle of naturall wisedome which this beginning of Matter Time and Place doe not as certainly auerre as the supposed eternity of them Besides that it is more orthodoxall Except his phrase and sentence can beare construction of that Word which was in and from the beginning by which all things were made And receiue the construction of Saint Paulssermon to the Athenians Now therefore let vs see what riuers run from this sea Conducts from this wellhead and what principles of Philosophie wee are necessarily tyed vnto by this most certaine and true
they that are of the waters shall returne into the sea In Iob it is briefly toucht yet more plainly then elswhere in one continued place The dead things are formed vnder the waters Job 26.5 or neere vnto them This sheweth truely the materiall element of the purest minerals 〈◊〉 8.1 And againe The siluer hath his veine and the gold his place where they take it Iron is taken out of the dust and brasse is moulten out of the stone God putteth an end to darknesse and hee trieth the perfection of all things He setteth a bound of darkenesse and of the shadow of death The floud breaketh out against the inhabitant and the waters forgotten of the foote being higher then man are gone away The stones thereof are a place of saphires and the dust of it is gold There is a path which no fowle hath knowne neither hath the Kytes eyeseene the Lyons whelpes haue not walked it neither the Lions passed thereby Hee putteth his handes vpon the rockes and his eye seeth euerie precious thing He bindeth the flouds that they doe not ouerflow and the thing that is hid bringeth to light But where is wisedome found and where is vnderstanding c. Not prophaning the diuine application and sense of this place consider as a chimicall natural Philosopher in these verses what is ment by dead things waters veine place darknesse shaddow of death floud inhabitant bread fire turned vp dust vnknowne path Kites eye Lions whelpe Lyon Rockes Mountaines and then you may boast that you know the beginnings spermaticall substance and true generation of mettals And for your better helpe in this search take with you one thing out of Paracelsus beleeue it as an article of your naturall creede Heate is life and cold is cause of death The effect of heate and life is opennesse of the body and fluidnes congelation and immobilitie is of cold and death Whatsoeuer tinckteth into a white colour hath the nature of life and the property of light and power causing life on the other side whatsoeuer tinkteth into blacknesse or maketh blacke communicateth in nature with death and hath the nature of darkenesse and power to kill The coagulation and fixation of this corruption is the earth with his coldnes The house is euer dead but that which dwelleth therein liueth But to proceede in our intent wee seeke not to make or haue produced by nature single or helped by the hand of her seruant art any such irregular monster as is contrarie to any law or commandement in the assertion of vnitie or against the naturall and shamefaced chastitie of naturall specifications as by the issue shall appeare We search a substance of naturall equalitie of Iustice exalted in Hermaphroditicall fruitfulnesse of it selfe aboue the three forenamed kindes that it may bee to euery of them generally applicable and with their indiuiduals be made specificall to all and each wherein wee offer no vnhallowed violence to any thing And therefore wee say As it is not perpetually necessarie that the thing produced must euer answer the kinde of that whose seede it was but may be and often is traduced particularly as is said So also is it as infalliblie true that of a spermaticall matter may bee made naturally a transcendent vniuersall and generall substance Genus generum and Forma formarum of such propertie vertue and efficacie as hath beene spoken of And this resteth for vs further to prooue CAP. 11. IN euery of the three kinds whereof wee speake Animals Vegetables and Minerals this thing must bee sought But we must resolue of the neerest It is easier for nature to make aire of water then of earth And the caruer chooseth not the whole truncke to make his images but a peece of timber fit and readie squared where there is no superfluitie but that which filles vp the hollownesse which hee is to engraue No defect but of the forme which hee must make c. In each of these three kindes there bee considerable The whole entire or integrall perfected indiuidualles Their partes Their vnprofitable excrements their spermes and spermaticall substance Against all which Nature in this work doth wholly except sauing onely sperme or spermaticall substance The whole body is concluded vnder all the confluence of specification and Nature hath therein done all that she intended and so motion ceaseth as before said in the next precedent Chapter The like reason is of partes In excrements many haue either beene mired or drowned altogether with what successe themselues best know with what reason other men can iudge though neuer taught by ill sauoured experience The elementall proportion of euery thing is knowne onely to Nature not to man Wee must neither part nor ioyne but continue the application of Natures instruments vntill all the Elements appeare to our sight cleane in or vnder one Element For then hath Nature in that one Element weighed and measured all the Elements whereby their specificall Nature is wholly changed from that which it first was into a generall substance If the foundation of this building bee laide vpon offals and excrements which haue no vse but for the draft and cannot bee handled without offence of nature nor spokē of without a Preface of reuerēce surely we are inclosed in an il fauored straight That which is vnfit for norishment of others vnwholsom to the body wherein it is conteined intended of Nature to no other vse but that which it hath already attained excrementitious not onely to the body from whence by excretion it is cast but euen in it selfe in temperament and digestion shall such a scorne of all things bee the cheefe flower in Natures Garland or beare the key of her treasury What though such a matter bee full of strong spirits able to poyson a man or choak a dogge that vrgeth nothing for we hope to bee beholders of great wonders without perfumes or need of much water to wash Nature loues cleanlinesse because God hath made nothing profitable for man to the attaining whereof he shal be compelled to any dishonest or vnseemely thing It importeth not what constructions bee made in this behalfe from the shadowes of good Writers nor what Orator this opinion hath he teacheth nothing but the old repentance of yong men Beleeue him not though he haue fiue hundred on his side So for vs there is nothing left but the seminall matter in some of the three kindes For the more simple the composition of any thing is the neerer it is to the first causes and communicateth more aboundantly with the generall beginnings of all things because subalternate causes authors of specificatiō be fewer But the sperme or seede of euery thing Animal Vegetable Mineral is more simple in composition and tyed with fewer subalternate causes of specification then the body or perfect indiuiduall whose seed it is And therefore euery seede is neerer the first causes and communicateth more abundantly with the generall beginning c. And of such a