be a thin plate of Steel or Iron held or fastned unto the neather pole of the Load stone between the Load-stone and the weight then the Magnet will lift up double and sometimes decuple or ten times so much again And from this practice came the capping or arming of the Adamant with Steel or Iron after divers manners Application By the like correlation If that the animal Magnet be armed with the vegetable power it will more forcibly attract unto it spirits from the greater animal Magnet or rather the animal Iron Also this Problem following is worthily to be noted 3. Problem Every Body unto the which the lively Mummy of another man is administred or drunk up doth forthwith become a Magnet and will be armed to attract his like Application And therefore the lively Mummy of the decaying member being in part included in the nailes and hair thereof and afterward conveyed into the vegetable body that vegetable body which receiveth them is made forthwith magneticall and draweth to it the spirits of the member and doth impart unto them of his vegetable power And also the magnetick Mummy in the hair and nails though of themselves they are but weak yet are they made more strong and forcible by being planted in a stronger magnetick vegetable so that the one doth fortifie and enable the other This is demonstrated by this Problem 4 Problem A weak Magnet being rubbed at one of the poles of a stronger will be bettered by it in his vigour and vertue Demonstration Also set a Magnet of small force that can be perceived upon a Load-stone of a good strength and vigour especially upon the poles and he will shew a vigour as if he were as strong as the stronger Stone is whereunto he is united Application So by the like reason we may transplant the superfluous excrescences in which there appeareth but a small signe of any magnetick vertue upon a stronger vegetable Magnet or magneticall plant and especially in his pith or axil-tree and he will shew forth a magnetick vigour equall unto that of the plant which appeareth in this namely because it doth direct by his beams the vegetable power unto the decayed member Now that the reference between the tree and the member is caused by a spirituall continuity it is made plain by this magneticall Problem 5 Problem If a long Iron be conjoyned unto the pole of the Load-stone and unto the end of this another be laid and at the end of that a third and so forward the Adamant will by vertue of his beamy emanating spirit hold them all or most of them according unto the vigour thereof all touching one another and cleaving together like a linked chain Application Whereby it is evident that as the spirit of the Load-stone is continuate and by his continuity is apt to fasten and joyn bodies in a union from his center unto his spirituall circumference even so by the emanation from the double Magnet united in one from their center unto the weak line or member there is caused and ingendred a continuall succession of vegetation in it by degrees Now that two Magnets uniting their forces in one do emit a more vigorous emanation and are endued with a greater magneticall force it is proved in the second Problem of the third Demonstration of the second Chapter before mentioned CHAP. VI. Herein is proved that vegetables contain in themselves magneticall spirits by means whereof they do sensibly attract as well from the Animal as Vegetable and Mineral kingdom And it is first expressed by two Propositions and maintained by divers experimentall Demonstrations The first Proposition THere is a magneticall vertue as well in the vegetable as in the animal and mineral which doth operate and act attractively both on his like in the vegetable and also in the animal and mineral The first experimental Demonstration The experience hereof is manifold and by that which hath been related in the precedent Chapter that the magneticall relation or union which is made between the vegetable and the animal is sufficiently expressed and shall be more at large enucleated hereafter Again if one that hath an Ague do take the herb called Iberis namely a handfull thereof and put it into either of his shoes and walketh upon it untill he wax very hot he will find that it will draw a great deal of waterish matter downward and cure the ague But saith my Master that taught me it is not to be cast in the way that man or beast doth pass for the animal that treadeth on it will be infected and be aguish This Christopher Schufzen a German did affirm that he had tryed this and found it to be true 2 Experience Joannes Carfmanus delivereth it for a truth that warts are taken away out of the hands and other places by taking of strawes and cutting the knots in them and he prepareth in that manner two for every wart and the strawes must be of a fingers length which being thus prepared you must put two sections of the knots in this fashion X upon every wart so that the nodes do touch directly the warts and they must strongly be pressed down and this must be done unto every wart with a double straw as is already said Then take those strawes and dig a hole under a spout or gutter and cover it with a stone and you shall find saith he that as the strawes do rot so also will the warts consume away 3. Experimentall Demonstration Mr. Balthazar Wagner saith that he hath often tryed this magneticall cure in the inflammation and redness of the eyes most true he taketh the root of the common Mallow when the Sun is in the middle of Virgo and applyeth it backward unto the nuke or nape of the neck binding it fast thereunto averring that it will attract and draw unto it with efficacy all the cause of the redness 4. Experimentall Demonstration As there is a kind of Load-stone called Evax which Pliny doth affirm to have a Magneticall power to attract flesh unto it So also in another place he telleth us that there is another kind of Magnetick Stone called Saâ—da which hath a property to draw wood unto it so strongly that they cannot be separated from one another except the wood be cut off from it But leaving these things as uncredible I will relate unto you that mutuall love and sympatheticall affection which to my knowledg hath been found between the Vegetable and the Minerall 5. Experimentall Demonstration There are divers men which do work in the Mines in Germany of which a couple were imployed about the Silver-Mines in Wales who do use to gather at a due season a forked rod of the Hazel-tree and holding in either hand one of the two twigs in such manner that the part where the fork beginneth to be perpendicular c. there is so great a sympathy between this vegetable and the Mine if it be rich that the
and power as they appear now onely puissant in words being hindred from the good fruit which accompanieth true wisdom by the erroneous doctrine of their seducing Master I know that this good perswasion of mine will make the followers of worldly wisdom to storm and to say of me as the Stoicall and Epicureall Philosophers did to Paul in Athens What will this babler have or what doth he tell us of a new way of learning I answer That it is not I but the word which they follow that teacheth them if they will be pleased to mark it well and sequester themselves in the mean time from the rules or documents of their Ethnick Master But I will come unto my nearer proofs whereby I will most evidently shew that the doctrine of Aristotle is a manifest enemy and opposite or contradictory unto the truth which being so it is by the Apostle James condemned for a branch of that wisdom or philosophy which is terrene animal and diabolicall It appeareth and shall be hereafter proved out of the Book of verity that the vertue whereby God doth manifestly operate in this world is expressed either by attraction from the circumference unto the center or expulsion from the center unto the circumference namely Contraction or Dilatation For after this manner is produced Condensation and Ratification whereby the heavens and the earth and elements with compound creatures as well Meteorologicall or unperfectly mixed as such as are compleat in their composition were created and made And again by it he operateth in this world either sympathetically that is by a concupiscible attraction or antipathetically that is by an odible expulsion Since therefore that all things are effected in this world by attraction or expulsion let us see what is Aristotle's opinion touching the cause of attraction and then afterward examine whether it accordeth with the tenour of truth The Petipatericks being perswaded thereunto by their Master Aristotle do accord in this namely That the Winds the Thunder the Comets the Clouds and other such like Meteors are made and caused by the attractive heat of the Sun and other Stars which draw up vapours and exhalation out of the water and earth and elevateth them into the regions of the aire And therefore Prout saith Velcury according unto the mind of Aristotle magis minusve calidi sunt vapores ita altius aut humilius elevantur sursum à solis calore aliorumque astrorum sicut videmus in sole bâ—bente attrahente aquam As vapours are more or lesse hot so are they elevated higher or lower by the heat of the Sun and other Starrs as we see that the Sun doth drink up and attract water unto it Hence therefore hath that palpable errour been introduced into this world namely that fire and heat do suck and draw unto it vapours and fumes when it may be made most palpable and evident unto the simplest so that he have but human sense about him that the heat of the Sun and fire doth rather discusse and expell from it by dilatation than allure unto it by the way of attraction As for example if the fire did draw vapours unto it then would it not permit any smoak to go from it but the contrary is seen viz. that it discusseth by dissolution and expelleth and seperateth by rarefaction the subtill from the grosse not with a desire to draw or attract the vapours made by rarefaction unto it but to expell and disjoynt it from the whole grosse body it worketh upon for which cause we see the fumes and smoaks to fly away and to be inforced to avoid the action of the fire without any inclination of the fire to retaine them also if we apply a wet handkercher unto the fire we shall see that the watry substance in it will be subtiliated by the heat into a reaking vapour but as for the fire it is so farre from attracting of it that the reaking smoak will be seen to rise up in the house at randome without any evident attraction of the fire In like case it happeneth with the Sun 's operative faculty for it subtiliates or ratifieth the water or humid substances by his heat and consequently it draweth nothing at all unto it but discusseth rather that which was thick into thinner portions Now the reason that water or grosse humid substances being rarified do ascend upward is not any attractive faculty in the Sun or Starrs but a naturall inclination in the thing it selfe for it is a common axiome that omne leve et subâ—ile doth by a naturall sympathy or appetite tendere sursum and therefore it is of his own inclination being so subtiliated that it soareth upward toward his naturall and destinated region or place as we see in Fumes Smokes and such like Contrariwise omne grave doth in like manner tendere deorsum all that is ponderous doth descend by a naturall desire towards the Centre But that I may more exactly and assuredly display this errour of the peripateticall attraction of exhalations and vapours by the Sun Starrs and fire I pray you that you will but observe our Weather-glasse or experimentall Machine and we shall there finde by practice that all attraction from the circumference unto the center is caused of cold and not of heat for by cold the water is drawn or attracted up into the neck of the Glasse and that is effected by the inspissation of the aire and reduction of it into a straiter room when contrariwise we note that if the Sun do heat the head or boul of the Mattras or if the warmth of the hand do but touch it the included aire dilateth it self and forthwith flyeth away from the heat and is so far from being attracted by it that it precipitateth and depresseth the water downwards Which being thus as ocular experience the mother of fools hath taught us let our Christian Peripateticks but duely observe the subtle wisdom of their Master whom they have hitherto followed and let them see and consider how grosly he hath erred in the main argument pillar or prop of his Meteorology which being so what can be more expected then that the whole fabrick of the same should fall before the eyes of each wise contemplator To be brief these such like errours of his have forced divers of his discreetest disciples naturalists to dissent and start from his doctrine as well touching his opinion of the Winds and the Thunder as of the originall of Fountains being perswaded and allured unto this their relinquency by a tâ—uer spirit For Johannes Fregiâ—s a very learned Naturalist and a man who hath taken great pains in searching out the truth of naturall mysteries according unto the documents of Aristotle as it well appeareth by that his large volume entituled Quaest ones Physicae hath this Quaâ—quam tota dâ—sputatio de Ventis sicut de aliis me coris plena est admi abâ—â—â—m operum Dei quorum mille firmae sufficientes
and positive nature are proved to be the immediate causes of both those alterations in the generall Element of Waters I Have made it as I imagine most plain and evident unto your understandings as well by the testimony of the antique Philosophy and infallible wisdom of holy Writ as by ocular demonstration that the common or universall matter and subject of all things was the Waters which were inacted and created by the bright Spirit of the Lord before all things Which being so and for that all Condensation and Rarefaction do regard a subject or materiall substance wherein it should be performed or effected it followeth therefore that the onely matter which doth endure or suffer the act of either of them must be water or a humid and moist nature being it is the onely substantiall stuff which filleth all the vast cavity of the world and consequently the materiall existence of which both Heaven and Earth and all things therein are framed and were originally shaped out This is therefore that main subject of Condensation and Rarefaction by the means whereof all things in this world are made to differ from one another and are disposed and ordered by God according to weight number and measure in their proper rancks and places that is they are placed in a higher or lower region according unto that dignity which the catholick or eternall Actor hath bestowed upon them in their creation The common matter therefore of incrassation and subtiliation being thus made manifest we are to finde out the universall actor or operator in this work And I did signifie unto you before that it was the sacred emanation of that divine splendour which did operate from all beginnings and doth at this present operate and shall hereafter work all that which hereafter shall be effected in the heavens above and the earth beneath which assertion of mine accordeth well with this axiom of the Apostle oftentimes and that not without a just occasion repeated by me Deus operatur omnia in omnibus God worketh all in all And David In sapientia omnia fecisti Thou hast made all things in thy wisdom And Solomon Sapientia operatur omnia Wisdom worketh all things And the Apostle in another place Christus portat omnia verbo virtutis suae Christ beareth all things by the word of his vertue And St. Peter The heavens were of old and the earth of waters and by waters consisting by the word Again St. Paul saith that Christ is in all and filleth all And in another place Christus omnia est in omnibus Christ is all and in all Now this holy spirit of wisdom is said to be omnibus mobilibus mobilior more swift and movable than any movable thing And therefore he must needs act all in all according unto his will and pleasure Again when he is pleased to withdraw his actuall beams within himself he seems to rest and the act of the creature doth cease and then death doth ensue namely cessation from the activity of life Now being he is the most agil and moovable of all things the vertue of heat doth evermore accompany the motions of his light yea and are essentially united unto the actor even as we see in the Sun which Sydrach the wise-man compareth with Divinity saying that the body is likened unto the Father the the beams or emanation unto the Sun and the active heat which issueth from them both unto the Spirit that the beam is continuate unto the body of the Sun as the emanation from the divine fountain is one individuall essence with the fountain of eternall light and the virtue issuing from the Sun and his beams is in like manner unseparable in essence from the other two even as we find that the holy Spirit which is emitted from Father and Son is one in essence with them both For this reason therefore the divine Philosopher Hermes saith Mens ab essentia Dei nequaquam divisa sed illi potius eo modo connexa quo solis corpori lumen The mentall beam is not at all divided from the essence of God but rather joyned and knit unto him after the same manner that the light is continuated unto the Sun Whereupon it is evident that the vertue of heat is essentiall unto light as the act of motion is never absent from the emanating brightnesse I conclude therefore that Rarefaction is nothing else but the dilating of water by heat which was first contracted by cold and Condensation on the other side is a contraction or sucking and drawing together of those watry parts which were dilated or dispersed by heat So that the subject of both these actions is water and the fountain as well of the privative as positive agent is the Nolunty or Volunty that is to say the negative or affirmative will of that one eternall Unity who is that all-informing and operating Spirit which acteth and accomplisheth his pleasure in all and over all by his divers organs as well angelicall as celestiall and elementary which according unto their diversity in disposition are moved by this internall act to operate in this world the will of the Creator both positively and privatively as shall be told you in the Chapter following CHAP. II. How this Divine spirit or Ruach Elohim being but one in Essence worketh both by his Angelicall and Astrall organs in this sublunary world after a four-fold manner THe Eternall spirit of wisdome who is the initiall principle of all things and in whom and by whom as the Apostle teacheth us the Angels Thrones potestates and dominations were Created doth operate by his Angelicall Organs of a contrary fortitude in the Catholick Element of the lower waters both the effect of Condensation and that of Rarefaction And to verifie this out of the holy Bible's testimony we read first that this one spirit is the arch Lord and Prince of the 4. winds or else the Prophet by the commandement of God would not have said Come O spirit from the 4. winds and make these dead Carcasses to live againe Now that this one spirit worketh in and by spirituall and Angelicall Organs in the execution which is effected by the property of the 4. winds it is proved out of the Apocalyps where we find these words I saw 4. Angels stand on the 4. Corners of the Earth holding the 4. winds of the Earth that they should not blow on the Earth neither on the Sea c. By which it is evident that these Angelicall Presidents over the 4. winds were the Ministers and Organs by and in the which the spirits or blasts of the winds were emitted or retained according unto the will of that eternall spirit which guideth them when and where he list But we find by daily observation that the essentiall vertue in the Northern spirit is cold and therefore contractive or attractive from the circumference unto the centre and by consequence a causer of congelation and condensation By
descendeth from above even from the Father of light But to proceed unto the doubt which is Whether according unto Aristotles intention the originall matter of the wind be of the earth and his first motion from the earth into heaven A man more learned and wise by far in the mysteries of nature than Aristotle ever was answereth in this manner Venti viam saith he ignorat homo ignorat homo opus ipsius Dei qua via faciat haec omnia Man knoweth not the way or path of the winds man knoweth not the work of God namely by what means he effecteth these things But Aristotle was a man yea and an Ethnick man and therefore could so much the lesse judge rightly of such abstruse things as are these wherefore JEHOVAH seeming to deride the boldnesse of such a worldling and as it were in reprehending of him speaketh in these words Nosti nè ubinam sit via in qua dividitur exhalatio quae spargit ventum super terram Knowest thou where is the way wherein the exhalation is divided which spreadeth the wind upon the earth Arguing hereupon the impossibility for a worldly mans capacity to conceive or understand these things unlesse he be taught and instructed by the Spirit of wisdom who teacheth all things the which Spirit is bestowed by God on whom he pleaseth And yet Aristotâ—e seemeth impudently to answer God and say I know it well for the way of this exhalation is from the earth upward unto the middle region of the aire where partly by an Antiperistasis caused of cold driving it downward again and partly by other exhalations which are successivly ascending the exhalation is compelled to move laterally upon the face of the earth c. But I will shew the impossibility of this reason by that which followeth immediately hereafter To the second and third part of this clause I say that the medium by the which the winds are carried or moved is by far more vast and large then that which Aristotle assignes unto it for the winde doth not blow and act onely in the lower but also in the middle yea and in the upper region of the aire If therefore the winde do blow in the middle region of the aire then will the vigour of Aristotle's definition be taken away forasmuch as the efficacy thereof doth chiefly consist in this namely that such a hot and dry exhalation as is the cause of the wind is not permitted to penetrate the middle region of the aire but is reverberated precipitated and beaten down again by the vertue of the middle region's cold which resisteth the heat of the sublimed exhalation Now if there be any wind in the middle region of the aire this cause of the winde will be taken away forasmuch as then the exhalation will not be repelled downwards into the lower region where it should meet other ascending exhalations to make a noise and to be dispersed laterally on the earth for the exhalation which causeth a wind in the middle region will not be driven down by the cold but is observed to blow and to move the clouds and thunders in the middle of that sphear yea it is made manifest by daily experience that as well the upper or higher clouds which are white and yellow and therefore more light and subtle by reason of their fiery brightnesse as the lower which are grosser and more obscure are driven and pushed by the winds from any quarter of the world unto the opposite for except the winds were also present in that region they could never move as on the wings of the winds in that manner Do we not also observe that the south-wind bloweth from the southern horizon and another from the next which is northern so that both winds have dominion in either of the horizons at all one and the same time whereupon it often happeneth that great and dark clouds moving from each opposite quarter by four of those contrary angelicall spirits do meet in the point of each Horizon and cause one masse or huge sea of clouds serving as a Tabernacle unto the great spirit of wonders which worketh or causeth these things whereupon there followeth great lightnings and thunders by the concourse of opposite angelicall natures being the messengers ministers and voice of the Almighty which never could have been effected unless the winds by the will of the Almighty had moved impetuously the one against the other in the middle-region of the aire And this we have also confirmed out of Scripture where it is said Ascendit fumus e naribus IEHOVAE carbones accensi sunt ab eo inclinavit coelos descendit caligo sub pedibus ejus ascendit super Cherubin volavit lapsus est super pennas venti Posuit tenebras in circuitu suo latibulum cribrans aquas de nubibus coelorum prae fulgore in conspectu ejus nubes succensae sunt tonabat de coelo Dominus c. Smoak ascended out of the nostrils of IEHOVA coales are kindled by him He inclined or bowed down the heavens and descended and darkness was under his feet and he ascended upon the Cherubin and did flie and glide upon the wings of the wind He put the darknesse round about him to serve for to hide him sisting out waters from the clouds of heaven before his face for at his presence the clouds were set on fire and the Lord did thunder from heaven c. Out of which speech we gather that not only the Clouds and Thunder and Lightnings are moved by the windy ministers or Angels of the Lord but also that Divinity it self being compassed about with dark clowds in the middle region of the aire is carried upon the airy Cherubin and useth the wings of the winds as organs to move on Whereby each wise man may easily perceive that the worldly wisdome or Peripateticall Philosophy is plain foolishness being that it would falsly perswade the world that such essentiall Acts as are the Angelicall winds whose inward essence is the bright Spirit of the Lord are caused accidentally and are moved and stirred up by externall violence when by the doctrine of the true wisdome it is evident that they are indued with most essentiall internall Agents and therefore do move where and when they list according unto that before-mentioned of St. John For saith he Spiritus spirat ubi vult The Spirit bloweth where it lists Which being so as is apparent that the wind hath actum formam principium internum An essentiall and inward act form and Principle at the motion whereof it is moved or caused which way the invard mover pleaseth and therefore the Text saith Spirat ubi vult It bloweth where it will and consequently it is indued with a volunty or will whereby each man may see how extravagant from the Truth is the Peripateticks reason touching this point who admit no essentiall and internall form unto the Winds but make it a thing meerly
in its simple and separated estate Damascene seemeth to define it thus Anima est subâ—tantia spiritualis a divinis fontibus emanaâ—s simplex indissolubilis immoâ—â—alâ—s libeâ—a incorporea indivisibilis quantitate figura pondere colore carens The sâ—â—l is a spirituall sâ—bstance flowing from the divine fountains simple indâ—ssolvable immortall free incorporealâ— indivisible wanting quantity figure waight and colour Unto this also Bernard seemeth to consent And Augustin defineth it thus Est mens divâ—na omnia intelligens omnibusque se assimilans It is a divine Spirit that understandeth all things and doth câ—nform it self unto the shape or lâ—kenesâ— of all things And for this reason certain Philosophers say that it is made after the likeness of the Spirit of Wisdome which is known to be the Image of God For it beareth the likeness of every thing in it self Wherefore it is defined by them to be the similitude of all things And verily it hath in it self this power to apprehend and find out all things Again it is like unto all things being that it is one in all There are some of the â—â—viner sort of Mysticall Philosophers that seem to conclude mans soul more fully in this definition Anima est lux quaedam divina ad imaginem Verbi causae causarum primi exemplaris creata sâ—bstantia Dei sigilioque figurata cuâ—us character est verbum aeâ—â—num The soul is a certain divine Light created after the Image of the Word the caâ—se of causâ—s and the first exemplaâ— or image c. Another defines it thus Est res incorporea omni decore adornata Sanctae Trinitati â—ssimiâ—ata 〈◊〉 nae gloriae coaquata It is an incorporeall thing whâ—ch is adorned with all virtue likned to or resembâ—â—ng the Holy Trinity and coâ—equated unto eternall glory Some do describe it thus Est Spiritus intellectualis semper vivens semper in mâ—tâ— sâ—cundum sui operis efficâ—â—m variis nuncupatur nominibus Dicitur vita dum vegetat spiritus dum contemplatur sensus dum sentit animus dum sapit mens dum intelligit ratio dum dâ—scernit mem ria dum recordatur dum vuli voluntas at isla omnia non sunt nâ—si una essentia seâ— proprietate diversa It is an intellectuall Spirit alwaies living alwaies in motion and in respect of its divers operations in the body it hath divers appellations assigned unto it For it is called life in regard of its vâ— vificative and vegetative property It is called a Spirit as it is conversant about contemplation and is a spirituall substance and breatheth in the body it is called sense as it is imploied about the Act of sensation it is termed Animus when it operateth in Knowledg and Wisdome and it is named Mens in regard of its Divine Understanding and Memory as it doth remember again as it is affected to will any thing it is called Voluntas and all these names decipher but onely one Anima or Soul in essence but divers and sundry properties or faculties c. And these later descriptions are assigned unto this vivifying Spirit as it is conversant with the body Now if we shall duly examine all these delineations of the essence and properties of this Anima as well in her freedom from the body as when it is included in it we shall find it not to vary one jot from the tenor of my precedent assertion For first we shall observe it to be in its essentiall virtue the off-spring of the eternall emanation which came immediatly from God for the inacting of all things and then that it hath for its substantiall Vehicle the thin subtile created spirit of the world which maketh it alteritatem or a composition of two namely of the bright emanation from the eternall Fountain and therefore in the foresaid definitions it is tearmed in regard of this its interior in the first a Spirituall Substance flowing from the divine Fountain in the second mens divina in the third the Image of similitude of the divine Wisdome in the fourth a divine Light after the Image of the Word the substance of God whose character is the Word in the fifth the similitude of the Holy Trinity coaequated unto the divine Glory Secondly it participates of the mundane spirit and therefore it is by the sixth and seventh tearmed in regard of its substance a spirit that breatheth in the body and it is the Vehicle of the formall act which is in truth the divine mentall beam being considered in it self as the substantiall and materiall spirit in its simple nature it is that which participateth with the created spirit of the world The union of these two is called anima so that anima includeth mentem and spiritum or the divine and created nature in one which filleth all and animateth and vivifieth all things according to the assertion of such Gentile and Ethnick Philosophers as I have cited before which I will prove no way to dissent or vary from the testimony of the holy Text. And to make this the plainer I will compare them in order And first I will begin my relation with the Cabalists great Angell whom they call Mitaitron which by interpretation is Donum Dei the Gift of God which as they say is the catholick intellectuall Agent from the which all peculiar forms do descend The Apostle saith that the Lord doth vivifie all things And Solomon saith that the Spirit of Wisdom is the tree of life and the fountaiâ— or beginning of life and if this Spirit be the fountain of life then the Son of Syrach effudit Deus illam supra omnia opera sua supra omnem carnem secundum datum suum God poured it out upon all his works and upon all flesh in his measure And this was that catholick angelicall Spirit which God sent out as a Spirituall Messenger from himself and out of himself in the form of an emanation to move upon the waters and to inform and vivify them and give life and being not onely to the great world but also to every particular thereof and the emanation was this Word of God by whom all things were made and vivified forasmuch as in it was life I mean that Christ which filleth all things who is all in all as the Apostle saith who in the beginning made the earth and the heavens were the work of his hands and after his creation of all things he doth as St. Paul telleth us portare omnia verbo virtutis suae bear up suffer and sustain all things by the vivifying virtue of this Word Which also David confirmeth in this Verbo Domini firmati sunt coeli Spiritu ab ore ejus omnis virtus eorum By the Word of the Lord the heavens were framed and setled and by the breath of his mouth all the virtues thereof namely the life preservation and being The Apostle therefore seemeth to conclude thus Deus non aliquo indigens
abolished being no man can justly determine of the extension of the solar influence of whose nature the beam in the grain doth participate no otherwise than one small Load-stone cut out of a great one hath his parts or poles and circles in every respect corresponding with those of the great one Man hath a most subtle influence or vivifying spirit of life sent down and infused into him by divine inspiration in which is the property of the four winds as the Prophet Ezekiel telleth us and consequently the Idea of every nature but the essence of this spirit is indivisible and therefore the vivifying spirit sent from it into man hath all the properties of the spirit that infused it no otherwise than a lesser Load-stone cut out of the greater hath in every respect the property of the greater And consequently the spirit of the one is no more divided from the other â—han the Sun-beams can be divided from the Sun But the Spirit of the Lord filleth all things as Solomon hath it and maketh the dimension of his operation in man more or less according unto his will and therefore will admit no such phantasticall limited sphear of activity as the wisdom of mans invention I mean the subject of the pagans Philosophy which is folly before God would inferr For this reason therefore Hermes saith Anima mente Deoque plena intima mundi replet complectitur extima vitamque haec omnibus suggerit The soul or vitalâ— spirit being full of divinity filleth the world and embraceth externall things and this giveth life unto all things without it giveth life unto the great and perfect animal the world and breathing unto each thing that liveth within it And again elsewhere Naturá incorporeâ— nihil est capacius nihil velocius nihil validius aut potentius Sic iterum à te ipso incipiens meditare atque animae tuae praecipito quae citius quam praeciples evolabit Jubeto inquam ut transeat in Oceanum illa priusquam â—usseris ibi erit indenbi nunc est nequaquam discedens Jubeto iterum ut in coelrm volet nullis pennis egebit nihil ejus obstruet cursui non solis incendium non aetheris amp iâ—udo non vertigo coelorum non syderum antiquorum corpora quin penetrans omnia ad supernum usque corpus transcendat Quinetiam sivolueris Globos omnes transire coelâ—rum quodque supeâ—ius est investigare id quoque tibi licebit Adverte quanta sit animae â—uae potestas quantae celeritas There is nothing more capable than the incorporeall or spirituall nature nothing more swift and quick or nimble nothing more strong or powerfull Again Beginning thus with thy self do thou meditate and command thy soul what thou pleasest and it will flye sooner than thou commandest Command it I say that it pass into the Ocean sea and it will be there before thou bidst it Again command it that it flye into heaven and it will want no wings nothing will hinder her or stop her in her course no not the heat of the Sun nor the vast largeness of the heavenly or aethereall vault nor the wheeâ—ing about of the starry orbs nor yet the bodies of the other starrs but peircing all these it passeth quite through even unto the highest body Moreover and if thou wilt have her to pass â—ver the celestiall Globes and to search out whatsoever is above thou maist do it also Mark therefore how great the power of the Soul is and how swift and quick it is in its execution c. thus far the wise Hermes By both which places we may observe first that the Soul in generall and therefore in particular is full of Divinity and consequently that it is this Divine Essence that worketh in this soul all in all in the world and every member thereof as the Apostle saith and therfore the said Philosopher in the place before Anima mâ—nte Deoque pâ—ena c. Secondly that this Divinity in the catholick created spirit filleth all things in an Angelicall existence that is indueth the mantle of the vast worldâ—s spirit And this agreeth with Scripture which saith that Spiritus Dei implet omnia The Spirit of the Lord fâ—lleth all things Spiritus incorruptibilis inest omni rei The incorruptibe Spirit is in all things Deus vivificat omnia God vivifieth all things and consequently is the essentiall act and life of the world as I have proved fully in the first Book of this Treatise wherefore Hermes in another place saith thus Animae universâ— per omnem mundum ab una mundi totius anima profluunt tanquam dâ—stributae circumferentes The universal souls throughout the whole world do proceed as it were distributed concurrentâ— from one soul of the whole world which is all one with that which we have said before namely that all Souls in this world are certain beamy streams proceeding from that catholick Emanation which issued from the eternall Fountain of the illuminating act to some more copiously and to some more spâ—â—ingly and therefore Man â—s said to be in dignâ—ty little less then the Angells by reason of the large portion of Light bestowed upon him Spiritus Dei fecit me saith Job sed inspiratio Omnipotentis fecit me â—melâ—igere Thirdly That in the very twinckling of an eye it is able to penetrate quite through all things and that at what distance it pleaseth and consequently will not be limitted by any imaginary Sphere of activity But Mr. Foster and his complices will reply that the spirit which should operate in the blood and from the blâ—od to the Ointment is a naturall spirit and not this Divine Spirit This Objection maketh me to smile As who should say that this act of vivifying yea and of every other faculty belonging unto man's spirit doth not move from one and the same Divine Fountain when the Apostle saith In him we move we live and have our being Again it is said that in the blood is the soul or spirit of life And St. John saith In Verbo erat vita in the Word was life I will tell you therefore what a true Philosopher saith touching this point Anima saith he ad similitudinem totius sapientiae facta omnem in se gerit similitudinem est que spiritus intellectualis semper vivens semper in motu secundum suâ— operis officium variis nuncâ—paâ—ur nâ—mâ—nibus Dicitur vita dum vegetat spiritus dum contemplatur sensus dum senti animus dum sapit mens dum intelligit ratio dum discernit memoria dum recordatuâ— dum vult voluntas ista omnia non sunt nisi una anima proprietate diversa sed essentia unica The soul of Man framed after the similitude of all wisdom doth beare in it self the likness of all things and it is an intellectuall spirit ever living and ever in motion and it is termed by divers names and appellations according unto the office of the work which it
secret peculiar included spirit which worketh the feat and to make men to give credit to their tales they have dyed the common water in the vessell with Vardegrease or such like stuffe I must give you to understand that all their prattle is but deceit and that plain dealing is a jewell As for the accidentall part of this Machin being it is framed and composed in a diverse fashion I will not graphically delineate or draw it out unto your view being that the pictures will be chargeable and the matter being done will serve you but to little purpose CHAP. IV. Wherein are Expressed the sundry properties with the usage of this demonstrative Instrument I Divide as well the property as the use of this Instrument into two kinds whereof I call the one generall and I make the other more peculiar As for the generall property of it by the one it contracteth and condenseth namely when the included aire is animated by the externall cold and by the other it dilateth and rarifieth to wit if the included spirit be excited by any externall heat And therefore through his constrictive nature or action which is made evident by the contraction of the aire we may easily discern the universall reason of the inspissation and condensation of things that wâ—re thin And again by his dilatation we may scan or decipher the cause of rarifaction of such things as were thick For by the speculation we shall find that there is nothing in the whole Empire of Nature which can be rarified and made subtle except it be by the action of light or fire whether it be visible or invisible and the essentiall effect of that action is light And on the contrary part nothing can be condensed or inspissared where darknesse hath not dominion forasmuch as darknesse is the essentiall root of cold which is the immoderate act or in condensation The particular properties with the uses thereof are manifold for first The nature of it is to discover the temper of the externall aire or catholick element in heat and cold for the higher that the water doth climbe in the neck or pipe of the Matras it argueth that the firmer stronger is the dominion of cold in the aire so that by this means we may daily judge of the increase or decrease of cold in the aire and by consequence we may guesse at the proportion of heat in the sublunary spirit of the world by the descent of the water Ceâ—tain Experiments worthy of observaâ—ion and approved by many of this City touching this Experimentall Glasse If the water in the pipe of the glasse which before was highly mounted doth fall on the sodaine by some degrees it will be an undoubted signe that raine will immediately ensue If the water in the space of one night doth descend it is also a signe that raine will come not long after If the South or East wind do blow immediately after a North or Westerlie wind the water will fall by certaine degrees but if the North wind or cold Westerlie wind do blow after a Southerne or Easterlie wind then will the water be forth with exalted If the water doth attaine unto the figure 1. it argueth that the Ayre is in a moderation between heat and cold as when the Sunne is in the vernall Equinoctiall or as the naturall temper of the Spring useth to be But if the water mount higher then it argueth that the disposition of the Ayre is by so many degrees more of Northen or Boreall nature as the water is mounted towards the bolts head for you must conceive that the degrees from 1. unto the uppermost 7. are belonging unto the winter Hemisphere and therefore are the degrees which note the augmentation of cold So that if the water do mount up unto 2. in the Northern or higher part it is an argument that cold hath dominion over heat in the externall Ayre only by one degree If it mount unto the 3. of the same Hemisphere it doth foretell a slight frost but if it ascend unto 4. or 5. it pretendeth a hard and solid frost if it come unto 6. and 7. it argueth great ice but if it mount yet higher it sheweth that a hard Ice is likely to surprize and cover the whole river of Thames On the other side if the water descend from 1. unto 2. of the lower ranck of degrees which importeth the Summer or hot Hemisphere then it argueth heat hath gotten dominion over cold by one degree But if it descend unto 3. or 4. it importeth a greater distemper of the Ayre in heat if it descendeth unto 5. or 6. it demonstrateth the ayre to be exceeding hot but if the water be beaten downe unto the lower figure of 7. it sheweth that extreame and Sultry heat causing Coruscations and lightnings hath dominion in the Aire So that we may discerne how great a reference or relation there is between the externall ayre or universall sublunary Element and the Ayre included in the instrument But I will in better termes expresse the Consanguinity and Sympatheticall relation which is between the one and the other in this subsequent Chapter CHAP. V. Here it is proved evidently notwithstanding any objection which may be made to the contrary that not only this experimentall Organ hath a relation unto the great world but also the spirit included in this little modell doth resemble and imitate the action of that which is included in the great or macrocosmicall Machin BUt before I will proceed in any further comparison between the spirit contained in the small modell with the properties of the agents and patients in it and this of the great world I do think it to be necessary first to answer unto a certain doubt or objection that may be made the which unlesse it be resolved and taken away such a relation or comparison may appear unto the ignorant either improper or altogether impossible I know therefore that not a few will object and say that no convenient comparison can be made between this our small artificiall Machin and that naturall fabrick or organ of the world forasmuch as the spirit in our Glasse is every where inclosed and strictly included in his vessell and therefore may easily be incited by force to move according unto the regular figure or fashion of the glasse But the case is far otherwise in the spirit which is contained in the vast cavity of the world for in it the aire or spirit doth use at every impulsion to move freely this way and that way as we are instructed by daily experience in the blowing of the winds from each quarter of the world Unto this I answer That it is the self same reason of motion and relation from a thicker or denser nature unto a thinner and in like manner from a thinner or rarer unto a thicker or denser in a small subject that is in a greater so that the like respects be had and that by an equall weight
and proportionate measure in cold and heat Yea verily and I averre boldly that the whole World or worldly Round is as well and compleatly stuffed or filled with spirit or aire as is this our artificiall vessell or experimentall Machin which if it should not be it would consequently follow that vacuity would be admitted into the nature of things the which would be but an absurd thing in a Philosopher to credit Wherefore we may boldly conclude that the spirit is in the like quantity weight and proportion in the concavity of this instrument considering his magnitude as it is in the great or little world But experience teacheth us that the self same nature be it hot or cold which useth to reigne and have dominion every quarter of the year in the cosmicall or worldly spirit doth produce the self same effects in rarifaction and condensation of the aire included in our artificiall vessell as it useth to procreate in the aire of the world all which is fully demonstrated before For by how much the more the state of the aire doth abound in heat or cold by so much will the water contained in the neck of the glasse be depressed by reason of the included aire 's subtilation And again by how much the more the inclemency of cold doth vegetate and abound in the air by so many degrees higher will the water be exalted And this is the reason as it is already told you that by the observation of this Weather-glasse the temper of the aire in the great world is so exactly discovered unto us And therefore by this it is evident that the foresaid doubt or scruple is abolished and taken away I would in this regard have each discreet Reader to understand that when he beholdeth this Instrument's nature he contemplateth the action as it were of a little world and that it hath after the manner of the great world his Northern and his Southern Hemisphear plainly to be discerned in it the which two are divided exactly by an Aequinoctiall line in effect which cutteth the Degree signed with the character 1. Also it hath his two Tropicks with their Poles onely we take the Southern Pole and Hemisphear to be hot in regard of us because the breath which commeth from it is from the Sun which in our respect is Southernly disposed and therefore we term that Pole the Summer-Pole or Hemisphear and the other the winter-Pole or Hemisphear And we have demonstrated that the degree in the neck of the Glasse 1. doth correspond exactly unto the place of the Aequator because that if the Northern or Winter Tropick be imagined to be the Basis of one Triangle whose Cone shall end in the centre of the Northern Tropick then it must follow that where the intersection is made by these two imaginary Triangles the Aequator must of necessity passe As for example Vide Med. Cathol 26. And we tearm the place of the Aequinoctiall the Sphear of equality because when as the Sun is in Aries or Libra which are the vernall and autumnall intersection of the Aequinoctiall the daies and nights are equall so also the temper of each Hemisphear in heat and cold is naturally observed to tend unto a mediocrity or equality Even such also will the temper of the micro-cosmicall aire or catholick spirituall element be unto the earth when the water in the Glasse is drawn up half way I have sufficiently described unto you as well the fabrick as the nature of this Instrument and therefore since I have prepared it to serve me for ocular demonstration instead of an Herculean Club in this combate which I undergoe against our insulting Peripatetick Adversary and that I am provided of sufficient naturall reasons instead of a trusty armour and that this armour is well tempered and made as it were musket-proof at the least by Authority drawn out of the whole Harmony of the sacred Bible Why should I fear the number of mine enemies when it is Tâ—uâ—h's owne cause which I undergo If God be with me I care not who is against me being that verity which conquereth all things will I am well assured fight for me and defend me though but onely one against a multitude Why should I expect any favour from them in telling the truth and condemning their errours since that they do Satyrically censure and deride my honest endeavours when I hold my peace and say nothing unto them It is an easier matter for malitious carpers and back-biters like temerarious and rash Cynicks to find fault with a thing than with moderate and judicious spirits to judge amend and correct it with equity In the first namely to condemn before the case is heard or understood it is an argument of envy cloked with wilfull ignorance In the latter namely to teach a man his errours a token of learned zeal and Christian charity The Second Book of this Treatise touching Philosophy in generall The Argument of this Second Book of the First Section THis second Book importeth That the Philosophy of the Ethnicks is false and erroneous both in regard it is founded upon the wisdom of this world which as St. Paul teacheth us is but meer foolishnesse in the eyes of God and then because it contradicteth the truth and consequently is not issuing from the Father of Light which is in Heaven but from the Prince of darknesse who reigneth beneath Wherefore this kind of wisdom or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is termed by the Apostle James Terrence animal and diabolicall And for this reason St. Paul that most excellent and sacred Philosopher or lover of wisdom doth warn us that we be not deceived by this kind of Philosophy which he tearmeth Vainfallacy built and framed out according unto the traditions of men and after the elements of this world and not having its foundation upon the true corner stone Jesus Christ in whom dwelleth all the plenitude of Divinity corporally BEfore we dive into the bottomlesse abysse of the essentiall Philosophy whose main foundation is the true wisdom the which is a thing so difficil to be put in execution that nothing but the swift and nimble-winged soul or spirit of man is able to bring to effect it will but concur with reason that we should in the first place consider and observe the Etymology of the name or word whose naked essence we hunt after that thereby we may in the second rank descend more securely and with a better understanding unto the definition or description thereof and so proceed with a surer confidence unto the division or differences of the main subject we have in hand to the intent we may directly point at the truth and distinguish it from falshood Seeing therefore that Philosophia or Philosophy is the main scope or businesse of this our Treatise it is meant commonly and understood in a generality for Sapientia or Wisdom but by a more proper and peculiar signification it is interpreted Amor or Amicus sapientiae
are my seat and the earth my foot stool And Jeremy Coelum terram nunquid impleo Do not I fill the heaven and the earth Now that you may know more particularly how this is done hearken unto David In sapientia saith he omnia fecisti repleta est terra possessione tua Thou madest all things in wisdom and the earth is full of thy possession or riches he meaneth with his Spirit which replenisheth inacteth and informeth all things And therefore saith the son of Syrach Sapientiam effudit Deus super omnia opera sua super omnem carnem secundum datum suum God powred out his wisdom upon all his creatures and upon all flesh according unto the measure that he bestoweth it That is to say The Spirit of wisdom is more or lesse in all things according as it pleased God to impart it unto this or that creature And for this reason Solomon in another place Sapientia operatur omnia Wisdom worketh or acteth all things Which agreeth with this Text of the Apostle Deus operatur omnia in omnibus Why should we not infer then that this spirit is essentially and presentially in every thing To conclude therefore this general discourse of the true Philosophy Moses teacheth us that after the foundation of the Heavens and Elements every creature that was framed or composed of them and lived and moved in them did exist and was preserved by the self-same spirit namely the Sun Moon and other Starrs in heaven the seeds trees herbs and such like vegetables and the creeping and four-footed beasts of the earth and fishes of the seas And lastly Man was created by one and the self-same spirit but God imparted unto him a greater proportion of his Spirit that thereby he might excell in perfection all other creatures It were too infinite to expresse and set down the main scope of this businesse in writing as Scriptures do at large recite it for look into the works of Moses the books of Joshua and Judges the history of Kings or Chronicles the reports of Job the Psalms of David the Proverbs Ecclesiastes Cantiques and Wisdom of Solomon the monuments of the Prophets the subject of Ecclesiasticus and Maccabees and lastly the relations or stories of Christ and his Apostles and we shall find that this sacred wisdom with her essentiall vertues and acts in the vast cavity of this world both above and beneath is the ground and firm foundation of all their doctrine and science as well concerning naturall as supernaturall businesses or rather touching the acts of God in his naturall Tabernacles or watry and humid mantles which he assumeth or putteth off at his pleasure as Scriptures do testifie And yet I would have no man so far to mistake me as not to think that as God is not excluded from the creatures so he is not included by any of them I will now descend unto particularities and shew you how this eternall wisdom is the fountain or corner-stone first of the higher Arts namely of Theology Physick or the art of Curing Astronomy Musick Arithmetick Geometry Rhetorick and after that how the Meteoro-logicall Science onely dependeth on his act then how true Morall learning and Politick government is derived from the instructions and directions of this onely wise Spirit And lastly how all mysticall and miraculous Arts and discoveries are effected and brought to light by it confirming that place in Scripture where it is said Caeterae sunt ancillae hujus All sciences are but the handmaids unto this wisdom Of each of these therefore in order CHAP. III. In this Chapter it is proved that the true Sophia or wisdom is the ground of all Arts and therefore it being revealed or discovered unto man he may be taught and instructed by it as by the onely wise and essentiall School-mistress in all science and knowledge IN Christo saith the Apostle sunt omnes the sauri sapientiae scientiae absconditi All the treasures of wisdom and science are hid in Christ. And Solomon Sapientiam dat Dominus ex ore ejus prudentia scientia The Lord giveth wisdom and from his mouth is prudency and knowledge And Ecclesiasticus Thesaurabit super virum scientiam intellectum justitiae Wisdom will treasure up in man science and the understanding of justice And again Ego doctrinam quasi prophetiam effundam relinquam illam quaerentibus sapientiam I will powre forth doctrine or learning as prophesie and I will leav it upon such as seek wisdom And the incarnated Word or Christ Jesus said Spiritus sanctus vos docebit omnia The holy Spirit will teach you all things And again Cum venerit ille Spiritus veritatis docebit vos omnem veritatem When that Spirit of truth shall come it will teach you all truth Esdras tasted of that materiall wisdom in the form of a fiery drink and he was so full of sapience that he indited books of science and wisdom for the space of forty daies together which his Scribes did register as he uttered it by word of mouth And Solomon saith Sapientiam optavi data est mihi invocavi venit in me spiritus sapientis I wished for wisdom and understanding was given me I invocated and the spirit of wisdom came into me But lest the captious of this world should say that these words of Solomon were meant in another sense than in the conceiving of such sciences as are comprehended under Philosophy called Naturall I wish them for their better direction to listen unto Solomon who doth in this case sufficiently interpret himself and that to the simplest mans capacity in this sense Spiritus sapientis mihi datus est ut cognoscerem constitutionem mundi vim elementorum principium finem mediumque temporum solstitiorum mutationes varietates temporum seu tempestaium anni circuitus stellarum situs naturas animantium animos seu iras bestiarum ventorum seu spirituum vim cogitationes hominum differentias plantarum radicum facultates etiam cognovi quaecunque sunt occulta manifesta omnium enim artifex me docuit Sapientia By the spirit of wisdom I came to know certainly how the world was made and the power of the elements and the beginning end and middle of times the changing of the Solstices the variety of times and tempests the compasse or revolution of the year the scituation of the Starrs the natures of living creatures the dispositions and angry conditions of beasts the strength of the winds or spirits the cogitations of men the differences of plants and the faculties of roots Also I knew both what was hid and manifest for wisdom the work-mistresse of all things did teach me Out of which words we gather that by the revelation of this divine spirit he attained to the knowledge of all things For since wisdom is the center root or corner-stone of all things how should
In this respect also the Prophet Baruch hath it Stellae dederunt lumen in custodiis suis laetatae sunt ad jussum Dei The stars gave light in their watches and dâ—d rejoice at the Commandement of God Hereupon it came to pass that when this Spirit did fight for Josuah he made the Sun stand still at his pleasure He turned the Sun from light unto darkness at the passion of Christ By it the stars in troops were stirred up to fight in their order by theâ—r influences against Sisera So that it is easy to discern that as the heavens and stars were first framed and animated by this Spirit to serve as Organs to administer unto the natural Fabrick of this world so also beyond the common course of the macrocosmicall nature they may by the self-same Spirit that commandeth them and acteth in them as the soul doth within the body operate what when and how it lists and be diverted from the usual order to effect his will as well by altering the motion of his body as action of his light and influentiall Spirit Again touching the fixt stars Job speaketh thus in the person of this Spirit Canst thou restrain the sweet influences of the Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion Canst thou bring forth Mazaroth in their time Canst thou guide Arcturus with his Sons Knowest thou the course of the heavens or canst thou set the rule thereof upon the Earth c. As who should say that no man is able to know the courses of the stars or to discern the powers or vertue of their influences save only this divine Spirit and that man unto whom it shall reveal the true Art and rules of Astronomy or Astrology And therefore Salomon doth glory in that he knew the course of the year and dispositions of the stars and the change of the Solstices by wisdome Per Sapientiam saith he novi Solstitiorum mutationes anni cursum dispositiones stellarum c. If therefore the Astronomer wanteth this true Astrologicall foundation all will be faulty and fabulous as by the vulgar Astronomy which is for the most part erronious and uncertain it appeareth I proceed now downwards unto the Meteorologicall region to see how this Omnipotent Spirit worketh in the catholick sublunary Element for the producing of Meteors in divers shapes and natures As for the Act of this Eternal Actor or Operator in the ayre water and earth for the production of Meteors it is most evidently expressed in plain terms by holy Writ Saith Job Deus sapientia sua aptat pondus aëri appendit aquas in mensura facit pluviae statuta viam fulgetro tonitruum God by his Wisdome doth adapt a waight or pondero sity unto the ayre and hangeth up the waters in measure and giveth bounds or maketh a Law for the rain and prepareth a way for the lighting 's of the Thunders In which words he sheweth that this one Spirit of Wisdome in whom is the power as well of contraction or condensation as of dilatation or ratifaction can at his pleasure make the aire more thick and ponderous by condensation and so reduce it into a cloud or by rarifying it into a more thin and subtile consistence render it in the form of lightning and evermore the aire so altered receiveth his shape or figure from the Alterer according to the will of him who ordaineth all things And thus the clouds the lightenings the thunder the comets the frost hayl snow and ice are created daily by this operating Spirit But we have all this confirmed and acknowledged by many places of Scriptures Sapientiâ Dei eruperunt abyssi nubes rore concrescunt saith Salomon By the Wisdome of God the Abysse was broke open and the clouds were turned into dew or raine Again Ego sapientia sicut nebula texi omnem terram I Wisdome like a mist did cover the whose earth saith the son of Syrach in the person of this Spirit And again Ego in altissimis habitavi Thronus meus est columna nubis I saith Wisdome did dwell in the highest places and my throne was a pillar of clouds Deus nubes effecit sapientia saith Job God made the clouds by his Wisdome This Spirit maketh the clouds to asscend it causeth the lightnings with the raâ—n and it bringeth forth the wind out of his Treasury saith David And again Verbo suo quam celerrimè excurrente sermone suo in terra emisso edit Deus nivem sicut lanam pruinam sicut cineres dispergit coram frigore ejus quis consistat God by his Word passing most swiftly and by his Voice being sent out upon the Earth doth bring forth snow like wool and spreadeth abroad the frost like ashes Who is able to consist before his cold There are many thousands of other places which I can produce out of the book of Verity to prove that all Meteorology is founded on this Spirit But because I will speak of this point more at large in my last Book of this present Treatise where I do express the true History of the Meteors and open the errors and falsities of the Aristotelian Meteorology I will only conclude with this confession of the wisest Philosopher Salomon Novi saith he virtutes elementorum varietates temporum sive tempestatum ventorum seu spirituum vires nam omnium artifex me docuit sapientia I know the power of the Elements and the varieties of times and tempests and strength of the winds for Wisdome the work-mistress of all things taught them me Whereby it is evident that shee who was the maker of the Meteors and was by Consequence the most skilfull and best acquainted with their natures did instruct him in them I will now speak a word or two of Physick Concerning the excellent Art of Phyâ—â—ck or Medecine the Wiseman saith A Deo est omnis medela From God cometh every kind of healing or curing which being so it is certaine that the only Actor in healing and curing is immediatly from this all-working Spirit and therefore the Kingly Prophet hath it He sendeth his Word and healeth them and delivereth them from their graves And Salomon But the teeth of the venemous dragons could not overcome thy children for thy Word came to help them and healed them even thy Word O Lord which healeth all things for thou hast the power of life and death c. Mark well Even thy Word saith the Text which healeth all things Now this divine Word is the root and fountain of this eternal Spirit of Wisdome and therefore the Basis or foundation of healing is in him and consequently from him all the mystery of healing doth proceed which also agreeth with this of the Apostle There are divers gifts but one and the same Spirit there are divers operations but God is the same which worketh all in all but unto
coldness of the middle region of the Aire as thou seemest to averre Canst thou restrain the sweet influences of the Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his time canst thou also guide Arcturus with his sons Knowest thou the course of heaven or canst thou set the rule thereof upon the earth And why not For thou professest by thy Peripatetick Philosophy to understand the causes of everything and he that truly knoweth the mysteries of things can do wonders For by that means my servant Josuah made the Sun to stand still And for the religious Hezekias his sake my Spirit did cause the Sun to move backward Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds that the abundance of water may cover thee Canst thou send the Lightnings that they may walk and say unto thee Lo here we are If the grounds and principles which thou hast invented be essentiall and substantiall all this and more maist thou effect For such of the Elect into whom my Spirit of Wisdome who hath assigned true principles unto the essentially wise hath inspired this knowledg are able to effect all these things as my servant Elias after a long drought caused the clouds to moisten the dry earth and my Prophets Moses and Samuel dâ—d by the power which I did assigne them produce Thunder and Lightnings unto the terror of their enemies Dost thou know who hath put wâ—sdome in the reins or who hath given the heart understanding And darest thou being led by the frivolous effects of thy inventions which are grounded on the Elements of this world and not upon my Spirit which is the true Wisdome ascribe my works who am the sole Creator of all things unto the creatures Is this to learn to strive with the Almighty he that reproveth God let him answer unto it Thus seemeth our great God to speak unto Aristotle and such like Philosophers of this world who being too much elated in their own conceits presume thus over-boldly on their terrene and animal wisdom and would check and contradict the vertuous actions of God by their phantasticall surmises I could wish therefore that these mundane Philosophers would turn from this their worldly wisdom and humiliate themselves before the onely Creator of heaven and earth and answer with the patient Job in this manner Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth I know that thou canst do all things I have spoken the things I understood not even things too wonderfull for me I have heard of thee by report but now mine eyes behold thee in thy creatures And for this cause I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes acknowledging that there is no true wisdom but that which is from thee who art the Father of light by the vertue whereof thou workest all these wonders And therefore we confesse that the wisâ—om of this world is meer foolishnesse and such as wholly addict themselves unto it are deceived forasmuch as they do neglect the divine wisdom Christ Jesus in whom all the treasures of science and sapience are hid Thus have you briefly understood the duplicity of wisdom and by consequence the bi-forked or contrary nature of philosophy that is in this world and how all good Christians contrary unto the custom of this our age ought to leave and forsake the one and with fervency and zeal to love and embrace the other And now in this Book following I purpose to set down those Mosaicall principles on which our sacred Philosophy hath erected the whole bulk or substance of her fabrick The third Book of the first Section touching the essentiall Principles of the Mosaicall Philosophy The Argument of this third Book IN this present Book the Author teacheth in a generality the true and essentiall principles of the divine Philosophy and in particular he expresseth how various and differing the Ethnick Philosophers have been in their opinions concerning the beginnings of all things where he proveth that the wisest amongst those Pagan Naturalists did steal and derive their main grounds or principles from the true and sacred Philosopher Moses whose Philosophy was originally delineated by the finger of God forasmuch as the fiery characters thereof were stamped out or engraven in the dark Hyle by the eternall Wisdom or divine Word And sheweth that although the foresaid pagan philosophers did usurp the Mosaicall principles unâ—o themselves and the better to maske their theft did assigne unto them new Titles yet because they were not able to dive into the centrall understanding of them nor conceive or apprehend rightly the mystery of the everlasting Word they erected upon their principles or foundations but a vain and worldly wisdom carved out not from the essentiall Rock of truth nor relying on Christ the onely corner-stone but framed after a human invention and shaped out according unto the elements of this world much like a Castle of straw or stubble which though it be planted on a Rock yet it is subject to mutation and is easily shaken and tottered at every blast of winde In conclusion here our Author doth set down what the true Mosaicall principles are namely Darknesse Water and Light Then that all plenitude and vacuity in the world doth consist in the presence or absence of the formall principle which is Light And lastly he sheweth how the two apparent active properties namely Cold and Heat do issue from the two fore-said fountaines of Darknesse and Light as the two passive natures Moysture and Drought do challenge their originall from the said active CHAP. I. Wherein is set down the uncertainty of the antient Grecian and Arabian Philosophers in their opinions touching the principles or beginnings of all things IT is an evident Argument that the Ethnick philosophers were not well setled upon the grounds of their philosophy but did waver in their imaginations touching the true principles of nature being that among each sect of them there was maintained and upheld a variety yea and sometimes a plaine contrariety of opinions concerning them as for example Thales Milesius who was inrowled amongst the number of the wise men of Greece had his opinion that Water was the beginning of all things But Anaximenes and his disciples affirmed that an infinite aire was the first cause or originall of every existence And for this reason also Anaximander did esteem this catholick aire to be God Again on the other side Zoroaster will have all things to take their beginning from Fire and light as also the Pythagoreans say that there is one universall Fire in and over all things in this world And verily each of these opinions if they be duely considered will be found to approach and have a near relation unto the Mosaicall truth for a divine fire or light issuing forth of darknesse or the dark abysse did suddainly by its bright presence reveal and make manifest the hidden and
the Originall or primary womb from whence the waters were extracted which were the materiall stuff whereof all things were framed was this dark and deformed Abysse or Chaos and therefore had the beginning of their formall being from the Father of all-informing and vivifying light and essence But that we may directly shew unto you the egregious theft of the foresaid Philosophers from Moses his Principles That Principle which Moses termed darknesse the darke Abysse or potentiall Principle Aristotle doth call his Materia prima or first matter which he averreth to be something in puissance or potentially only because it is not as yet reduced into act Again he seemeth to term it privation but falsly being that no position did precede it On the other side Plato calleth it Hyle which is esteemed to be nothing forasmuch as it is invisible and without form Also he compareth it to a dark body in respect of the soul and spirit As for Hermes he intitleth it by the name of umbra horrenda or fearfull shadow Pythagoras maketh it his Symbolicall Unity From in this its estate it hath relation unto nothing else but it self which is mere Unity and consequently it acquireth not so much as the name of a Father because it doth not by an emanation respect or attempt the production of a Son Hippocrates will have it named a deformed Chaos or an universally troubled mass without form or shape Again as touching the first inacted passive Principle or the primary passive matter out of which all things were carved That which Moses called waters Aristotle doth intitle by the name of Second matter forasmuch as it was begotten and derived out of the bowels of the first-matter or Chaos or dark abysse which also Plato termeth the Spirit and Hermes the humid nature Hippocrates with Anaximenes the vast and universall aire of this world Pythagoras pointeth at it Symbolically by the number of duality which is the mark of imperfection for it argueth thereby the imperfect estate of matter being destitute of the formall character of Unity which maketh three and therefore the ternary number is esteemed amongst the wisest Philosophers for the root of all perfect numbers To conclude that vivifying and animating Principle which Moses called light proceeding from the Spirit of the Lord Aristotle maketh his formall beginning Plato the act or soul of the world Pythagoras delineates it by the number of three and Hippocrates calleth it that immortall heat the which when all things were troubled in the beginning by contention did sore up unto that upper region which the Ancients do call the Aether or Heaven Is not this therefore a notable kind of Robbery amongst the choisest Ethnick Philophers thus fasly to ascribe and attribute the Principles and Doctrine unto themselves which were revealed by God's Spirit unto the wise Prophet Moses and that of pupose to make themselves great and eminent not only in the eies of the Gentiles but also by subtill allurements or false and fading suggestions laid on those foundations to distract Christian men from the Truth And yet as for Plato and Hermes I must excuse them being that they do both of them acknowledg in express terms with Moses that the matter or substance wherof the heavens and the earth were made was a humid nature and the internall form or act which did dispose of it into diversity of figures or forms was the divine Word as you may find most plainly expressed in Plato's works and in the Pimander of Hermes or Mercurius Trismegistus But amongst all the rest Aristotle hath sored highest upon the wings of his own conceited imaginations and built the structure of his worldly wisdome upon the typicall form of the Mosaicall grounds thinking thereby to assume and purchase unto himself in the regard of this world the name of an absolutely wiseman though in the conclusion he appeareth far otherwise in the eyes of God for as much as he doth assigne particular essentiall actions which appertain really unto God unto the creatures with more obstinacy then the rest affirming that they operate essentially of and by themselves when in Verity it is only God that operateth all and in all and that immediatly as the Apostle Paul doth intimate unto us And this is the reason that they give not unto God the only Creator the glory of every action in this world as they ought to do but rather to a created nature and unto Angels and Stars and Elements and compounded creatures which were made and are still sustained and maintained by the all-creating Spirit or word of the Almighty And this is the originall occasion of the multiplicity of Idolatry which hath and doth hitherto raigne in this world namely of the worshipping of the Sun Moon and starres of sacrifices offered unto Idols or false Gods and deceiving Devils of the Veneration of Isis and Osiris of the adoration of Saturne Jupiter Mars Venus and Mercury of the immolations or offerings unto Caelum Vesta Ceres Proserpina Vulcan Pluto and Neptune with many other errours and absurdities whereby ignorant men are rather seduced from the knowledg of the true God than any way induced unto the understanding of him rightly And this very same Doctrine relying on the invention of man hath been the occasion that the world hath erred concerning the divine Word and through blindness have not perceived the operations and properties of the holy Spirit in the creatures yea verily it hath been the occasion why some of our Christian Philosophers themselves have neglected the research of Gods Actions in his creatures as well visible as invisible they are I say so wedded unto the Aristotelian Philosophy that they do voluntarily avert their eies from the true and certain Science of the Meteorologicall Science revealed by the Scriptures which are the fountains of Wisdome to follow the uncertain and scarce-probable doctrine of their Ethnick-Master touching that admirable subject And this is the reason that they will not acknowledg any true Meteorologicall Philosophy to be taught by the Spirit of Wisdome in the said holy Book but only matters belonging to the health and salvation of man when indeed it is most evident that whole pages or leaves as well of the books of Moses Job Psalms and the Prophets as many places of the New Testament are full of that subject All which is expressed in the book of the true Wisdome that thereby we may admire the wonderous works which the Creator hath from the beginning effected and daily doth produce in this lower world to witness his eternall power in his creatures But leaving all allaterall discourses I will proceed now unto our main Subject which concerneth the true Mosaicall Principles with their effect CHAP. II. What were the Mosaicall Principles or beginnings in generall How they were produced and extracted out of Nothing Then what is meant by that word Nothing And lastly the first Principle which is the dark Abysse or Chaos without form is particulaerly described THe
which are extant For this reason also Renclin speaketh of the beginning by the mouth of the mysticall and learned Rabbies in these words It is written in the book of â—ahir Nihil est principium nisi sapientia haec est infinitudo ipsa trium summarum cabalisticae arboris numerationum quas vos tres in divinis personas appellare consuevistis quae est absolutissima essentia quae cum sit in abysso tenebrarum retracta immanens ociosaque vel ut aiunt ad nihil respiciens idcirco dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est Nihil sive non ens ac non finis quia nos tam tenui erga res divinas ingenii paupertate mulctati de iis quae non apparent haud secus atque de iis quae non sunt judicamus At ubi se ita ostenderit ut sit aliquid reverá subsistat tum Aleph tenebrosum in Aleph lucidum convertitur scriptum enim est Sicut tenebrae ejus ita lux ejus Nothing is the beginning but wisdome or sapience and it is the infinity of the three highest numerations of the Cabalisticall tree which yee are accustomed to call the three persons in divinity the which is an absolute essence which whilest it is retracted in the abysse of darkness and resteth still and quiet or as they say having respect unto nothing is for that cause termed of the Hebrewes Ain that is to say Nihiâ— or nothing or no entity Because that we being affected with extreame shallowness or poverty of wit and capacity in the conception or apprehension of divine things do judge of those things which do not appeare as we are accustomed to do of such things as are not at all But when it hath shewed forth it selfe to be somewhat indeed and that it doth really in human apprehension exist somewhat then is dark Aleph converted into light Aleph for it is written As his darknesse such is his light or the expresse words of the Prophet are Tenebrae sunt ei sicut ipsa lux darknesse is unto him as Light Whereby it is Evident that though darknesse or invisibility do appear unto our sense to be nothing in regard of that which is made manifest in light yet in verity all are reall and essentiall before God and therefore that nothing or deformity in regard of our weak capacity out of which the waters which is the materiall principle of all things were originally extracted seem unto him in whose divine puissance they remain a materiall existence For as much as nothing is in God but what is essentiall reality or a something in being but of him by him and in him are all things as we are taught by holy-Text wherefore as well the dark matrix or womb of the waters as the watry infant or humid nature which sprung out of the belly of the gloomy abysse or Chaos were really in God before they appeared to sight that is to say they remained in the Almighties puissance or volunty and were to be disposed of by him as he pleased no otherwise then the number of things to be builded was first in the mind of the builder But that this is so namely that the world was framed and made of such a matter which was said therefore to be without forme because it was invisible we find it proved and maintained by this Authority of Scripture before mentioned which Tremellius interpreteth thus Omnipotens manus tua creavâ—t mundum ex informi materia which Jerome translateth ex invisa materia ô Omnipotent thy hand hath Created the world of a matter without forme or as Jerome speaketh of an invisible matter Now that this generall matter was waters which the presence of the all-informing spirit of the Lord did vigorate and inact in a generality and termed them by the name Shamaim and that the waters were the first materiall principle of which the world was made no otherwise then out of a rude masse of Clay a great pallace is fashioned or framed the Text of Moses doth seem evidently to confirme first for that it doth mention the waters on which the spirit of the Lord was carried and that immediatly after he had nominated the confused Chaos under the Title of the dark abysse and Terra inanis vacua or the void and deformed earth and that immediatly before the first day's seperation Whereby it is plainly argued that waters were the materiall principle being created or inacted by the spirit of the Lord or Elohim Ruach Forasmuch as they were nominated before the first dayes work Secondly that it was the said eternall wisdome or spirit Elohim who acting as it were the part of a mid-wife did deliver and bring forth this birth and gave it act and form Again we may learn out of the same Chapter of Moses that the waters were the Subject of that separation which was effected by the Spagirick or fiery-vertue of the said Spirit or divine word Thirdly that the heavens above were made of the purer brighter and more worthy waters and the Elementary world beneath of the grosser darker and viler sort of waters and that there was a midle kind of them which participating of both extreames was termed the firmament whose main office was to devide and seperate the water from the waters Then out of the lower waters by the same word or spirit were the Elements proportioned and placed their severall regions namely the Aire the Seas and the dry Land So that we see how the spirit of the Lord did fabrick the whole world and every member thereof out of this humid spirit or aquatick nature which also is most plainly verified by this Text of the Apostle Peter Coeli saith he erant prius et terra de aqua et per aquam existens verbo Dei The heavens were First and the earth of waters and by waters existing in and by the word of God But the world is composed only of heaven and earth and therefore it followeth that the whole world is made and existeth of the waters and by the waters consisting by the word of God Now therefore since the Starrs of heaven are esteemed nothing else but the thicker portion of their Orbes and again every Creature which is below is said to be compacted of the Elements it must also follow that both the Starrs in the higher heaven and the compound-Creatures beneath in the Elementary world be they meteorologicall or of a more perfect mixtion namely Animal vegetable or minerall must in respect of their materiall part or existence proceed from waters the which as they were brought unto light by the divine word So also do they eternally consist and are in their being sustained in and by the same Spirit as shall be plainly manifested unto you in this Chapter following Thus therefore I have sufficiently expressed unto you and evidently proved by holy Authority that the originall Catholick matter of all things was Water
this kind of Angelicall vertue the divine spirit doth work his privative effects and acts of Inspissation and fixation in the sublunary Element causing terrestriall and earthly effects But contrariwise we find that by and in the Southerne and Easterly Angelicall spirits the all-Creating and operating power doth cause Rarefaction and Subtiliation in the said inferiour waters through their essentiall action which is heat And for this cause the said hot winds do undoe by rarefaction all that which the cold Northern winds did effect by congelation Hence therefore it commeth that of this potent Angell who is said by the wise Cabalists to be the President and Governour of the Celestiall Sun which some terme Michael quasi Quis sicut Deus of whom we will speak hereafter also touching his Angelicall organs in the 4. Corners of the earth by which he useth to do his will it is sayed The sonne of man will send out his Angels from the four winds of heaven and moreover we shall find in the place before mentioned that this imperiall Angell did rise from the Easterly angle of the world and did command the foresaid fowr Angels which had dominion over the four winds as vassals unto his will For the Text hath it And I saw another Angell come up from the East and cryed with a loud voice unto the 4. Angels unto whom power was given c. Hurt not the earth neither the seas nor the trees till I have sealed c. Whereby it is apparent that the 4. Governours of the winds are subject unto that great Angell who is the powerfull and potent Intelligence which moveth and ruleth not only the Sun but sustaineth all things by vertue of this word and this Almighty Angell is esteemed by some to be the same mentioned in the first Chapter of the Apocal. Who said I am Alpha and Omega Now that the Sun by vertue of this omnipotent Spirit whose immediate angelicall organ or instrument the Angell Michael is doth govern the airy spirit both of the lower and upper world the wise Solomon doth seem to acknowledge where he saith Sol lustrans cuncta in circuitu pergit spiritus The sun illustrating all things the aire or spirit moveth about For this reason also the Philosophers have called the winds Titanei filii the sons of Titan or of the celestiall Sun It appeareth therefore that the increated spirit which supereminently moveth in the angelicall creature Michael and therefore El or Deus fortis is annexed unto it is that self-same Princely Spirit specified by the Prophet Ezekiel as is already proved who dwelleth in the great Angel who rising up from the East commanded the 4. governours of the winds with their legions whereby it is manifest that they have all their act and power from it and are ordained to be employed onely at his will either to effect privation or position and consequently to produce condensation or rarefaction in the world at his pleasure namely position and information by his light and heat and privation or deformation by his dark and cold property And hereupon the kingly Prophet speaketh thus Angeli Dei validissimi robore efficientes verbum ejus auscultantes voci ejus ministri ejus facientes placitum The strong Angels of God which do execute his word and hearken unto his voice are his mâ—nisters to perform his will And again Qui facis angelos tuos ventos et ministros tuos ignem urentem Who makest thy angels winds or spirits for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ruach signifieth Ventus Spiritus Flatus and thy ministers flames of fire Whereby it is evident that the eternall Breath is that which animateth the Angels the Angels give life and vigour first unto the stars and then unto the winds the winds first informe the elements or rather alter the catholick sublunary element into divers natures which are tearmed Elements and then by the mixtion of divers windy forms in that one element they do produce meteorologicall compositions of divers natures according unto the diversity of the windy forms which alter it But that I may the more pertinently discourse upon these businesses and withall discusse many difficulties and scruples which have not a little troubled the Philosophers and Theosophers of our age touching the principle tabernacle of this all-acting and creating Spirit in the world Before I passe any further in this my story of Condensation and Rarefaction I will expresse mine opinion touching that point at large because the enucleation of it will be very pertinent and necessary for the opening of this main businesse forasmuch as in it not onely the world's creation but also the emperiall government of the worlds Spirit and the formall manner of production of Meteors doth consist CHAP. III. What the cavills of this our age hath been touching the seat of the all-creating and universall inacting Spirit in this world And herein also it is proved that Jerom's translation upon this Text of David Posuit tabernaculum suum in sole God put his tabernacle in the sun is according unto the true sense of Scriptures And lastly the reason of the errour in our latter Translations is herein according unto the Author's capacity expressed I Confesse there hath been a great controversie whether Jerom or Tremellius or Pagnâ—ne and some others have erred in their translation of the fore-mentioned Hebrew Text for Jerom being of greater antiquity howsoever he found the nature of the Hebrew which he translated interpreteth the first verse of the nineteenth Psalm of David Posuit Deus tabernaculum suum in sole God hath put his tabernacle in the sun Pagnine making use of the same Text but perchance corrupted and altered from the Originall copy and therefore construeth the Hebrew thus In coelis posuit Soli tabernaculum He made for the Sun a tabernacle in the heavens And Tremellius expounds it Soli disposuit tentorium in iis He made the heavens a pavillion for the Sun Verily if we consider all things rightly we must imagine that either the Text must be altered and corrupted from that Originall copy which St. Jerom had or else the reverend Jerom's worth must of necessity be called into question for so grosse a mistaking Touching the petson surely the whole Christian Church in his days would not have made election of a man of mean skill in the Hebrew language to undergo a task of such importancy being for the main good of the whole Christian Church as was the translation of the Bible out of Hebrew into Latin It would not I say have relied upon a man of small cunning either in the Hebrew language or mysteries of divinity to judge of the likelyhood or coherence of the Scripture's Harmony and therefore the ability of the person unto whose charge so great a business was committed and consequently the fruits of his labours could no way be undervalued being compared unto either Pagnine or Tremellius Again that he was held for a person
visible things and therefore the seas and the earth were first made or produced out of things not visible that is to say aeriall or heavenly For it is one universall aire that filleth the vast cavity or vault of the world which by reason of its levity tenuity or invisibility is called Heaven as contrariwise the earth and seas are so termed because of their gravity density and visibility Since therefore it is evident that the catholick sublunary aire is the main materiall ground and substance of that which the world calleth elements and that it is altered and changed from one estate into another by the Word or divine Spirit Ruach Elohim I mean by the eternall wisdom let us consider with our selves how this potent Spirit doth effect in that one and the same homogeneall invisible thin water or aire such Protean trans-mutations whereby there is an evident rotation made in it out of one nature into another which are therefore tearmed distinct elements We must therefore consider in the first place that this was that vivifying Spirit which the Prophet called from the four winds saying Veni Spiritus a quatuor ventis insuffla interfectos istos ut reviviscant And therefore this one Spirit Ruach Elohim was the royall commander of the four winds and by consequence could contract the aire by his windy organs and again dilate it at his pleasure and therefore it was he and no other that doth animate the four winds and agitate the Angels that are his under-governours of them to alter and change the invisible aire into visible shapes when and how be listeth And first touching his generall act in ordering the aire into divers shapes it is said Deus ventos depromite thesauris And again Aer subito cogetur in nubes ventus transiens fugavit eos Sapientia aptat pondus aeri appendit aquas in mensura ligat densas nubes ut non findantur facit pluviae statuta viam fulgeâ—ro tonitruum God draweth the winds out of his treasury The air is thickned into clouds and the wind that passeth-by doth drive them By wisdom he giveth weight unto the aire hangeth or ballaenceth the waters in it by proportion and measure bindeth fast the thick clouds so that they cleave not giveth lawes unto the rain and maketh a way unto the lightnings of the thunders By which words we may conceive that the invisible aire is the main subject on which the all-operating Spirit of God worketh and bringeth forth the fore-named visible effects and that onely by Condensation or Rarefaction which is insinuated by giving weight unto the aire For by Condensation he converteth the invisible aire into visible clouds and then by a profounder degree of thickening those vaporous clouds are condensed into raine and the thicker and more unctuous part of the cloud is concreted into a hard stone or earth So that out of the invisible aire we see evidently by condensation produced three degrees of visible substance namely a vaporous aire a thick visible water which is rain and a dense and ponderous earth which is the stone called Lapis cerauneus or Thunder-bolt ingendred by the Spirit of God in that fight which is made in the conflict between the liquifying nature of the fire and congealing disposition of the cold water Again on the other side by rarefaction the aire is converted into fire namely into lightning and all these receive their severall forms and changes from the catholick nature of the invisible aire into those shapes in which after the alteration they abide So that you may by this perceive that all that which the antique Philosophers have termed Elements are nothing else but a four-fold changing and mutation of one and the same catholick element or humid nature unto the which according as they in their changes do appear various have divers and sundry names namely of fire water and earth imposed upon them Now the principal organs by the which and in the which this Spiâ—it moveth and acteth by a diversity of property in turning and changing this catholick aeriall subject into a four-fold nature that is to say out of one thing into another are the angelicall winds which he hath ordained to blow from the four quatrers or angles of the earth in a diverse property For as before I told you out of Solomon's doctrine that this wise spirit was one simple thing in essence but man fold in property or operation so doth he being but one Spirit for it is said Veni spiritus à quatuor venus act after a four-fold manner by his four-fold angelicall winds in the catholick element of aire for when he bloweth or breatheth from the North he contracteth the common element into an earthly body namely into frost snow hail and ice And therefore David saith Deo emittente sermonem suum in terram quà m celerrâ—mè excurrit verbum ejus qui edit nivem sicut lanam pruinam sicut cineres dispergit dejicit gelu suum tanquam frusta coram frigore eius quis consistat Emittens verbum suum liquefacit ista simulac efflat ventum sâ—um effluunt aquae God sending forth his word upon the earth it runneth swiftly who bringeth forth the snow like wool and disperseth the frost like ashes and casteth down his ice like lumps who is able to resist against his cold Sending forth his word he liquefieth or melteth all these so soon as he bloweth forth his wind the waters do flow forth c. Out of which speech we may gather first that it is but one word or Spirit of God which both by a northern contraction doth change the sublunary element into an earthly condition and hard and visible consistence namely when he bloweth from the North and therefore saith Ab Arcturo egreditur frigus flatu suo edit Deus fortis glaciem latitudinem aquarum coarctat From the North commeth the cold the mighty God doth bring forth ice by his breath and coarcteth or straightneth the latitude of the waters and also by a southern blast doth melt and undo those terrestriall effects which by his northern spirit it did produce and cause Secondly that the subject in which and on the which it did operate was the aire which it did metamorphose and change from a soft tender light volatil transparent thin and invisible substance into a hard rough heavy fix opake thick and visible masse Thirdly that the word there is taken for the essentiall spirit of the wind in generall and therefore it is used as well to contract the aire into snow ice or frost as to dilate it Again the Psalmist saith Angeli Dei faciunt verbum c. Again when he breatheth from the south then this generall element becommeth vaporous airy humid and hot and will easily by the concourse of the northern fortitude though in never so small a measure be changed into clouds for the southern blast is ever apt to undo the effects
would mount and soar upward towards the heaven were it not that the spirit so set at liberty is detained by the elementary stuffe which hinders it in its ascent and yet neverthelesse it is so dignified after its corruption that its vertue is augmented by many degrees as it appeareth in the abundant multiplication which its dilated spirit doth produce through the abundance of that incorruptible spirit which it endueth As touching the other resurrection which is unto a temporall life it is by reason that the body is not corrupted neither is there a loosning of elementary ligaments by dissolution whereby the spirituall body may be purified and clean separated from and have no commerce with the elementary dreggs which do issue out of the lower waters so that the occult spirituall body cannot be at liberty to embrace the spirit of life with eternall tyes Of this kind of resurrection was that which Christ effected on the widow's son which was carried to be buried when he said Young man I say to thee Arise and he that was dead sat up Also he caused resurrection in the like manner to the dead daughter of one of the Rulers of the Synagogues crying and saying Maid arise and her spirit came again and she rose up straight-way Unto such a temporall life also Lazarus was raised up Again by the prayer of Elijah the widow's son was raised again for the Text saith that at the voice of Elijah the soul of the child came into him again and he revived Whereby we ought to note two things first that these bodies were not wholly corrupted I mean the Elements of the composition were not devided by resolution and therefore though the Spirit returned into them yet it brought their bodies but to a temporall life And although it might be alledged that Christ's body was not corrupted and yet it had Resurrection from death unto eternall life I answer that the Text saith that he would not suffer his Holy one to see corruption and by that reason he had Resurrection the third day after he died being that his body was without sin and therefore void of corruption But I leave this mysticall doctrine to the research of the learned Theosophists Secondly we are to note that it is the presence of the vivifying Spirit of God which causeth Generation and Resurrection from the death And again it is the absence thereof which induceth death and corruption For the Scriptures say that it was the soul of the child which came again into the child to make it alive again And the other Text saith her spirit came again and she revived And therefore Job said in the place above mentioned If God should draw his Spirit or Spiracle of life from the creature all flesh would expire And David If thou takest away their breath they die If thou sendest forth thy Spirit they revive or are re-created Now if we shall compare this our principle of Generation and Corruption with that of the Peripateticks we shall find as great a confusion in the one as there is a plain explication of the other for they define Generation to be mutatio materiae à forma substantiali pristina in aliam formam substantialem A change or mutation of matter from its wonted substantiall form into another form Also they will have Corruption to be mutatio amissio formae substantialis quae prius inerat materiae sed nunc non inest eidem The mutation or loss of a substantiall form which was first in the matter but now hath forsaken it Thus you see how they nominate a substantiall form but what it is and how it commeth into the body to cause Generation or after what manner it departeth from it again to cause death and corruption they relate not and therefore we have ignotum per ignotius when in verity it is the Spirit of God which informeth and vivifieth all things causing by its presence as well Generation which Aristotle observed and Resurrection which he never knew or could discern by his worldly Philosophy as corruption privation and death by its absence So that in this change or passage of the creature from one estate unto another we shall find that as it was made and all things else out of one dark and deformed potentiall principle by the shining forth of actuall Light which informed and by information created all things of Nothing making them to live and exist so also by the absence of that all-informing Light each thing becommeth dark dead and destitute of their essentiall form untill a new Light do manifest it self after a manner which doth alienate the watery Subject from the form and shape it had at the first So the body or carkasse of a dead man is in the state of a deformed chaos in regard it hath lost its wonted human substantiall form or act no otherwise then if the Lord did take away his Spirit from the world all things would return again to Nothing or a deformed chaos or dark abysse as it was at first But when the effectuall act of a new form doth break forth out of the dead carcasse causing the whole Mass thereof to become verminous or full of worms then may we say that the Corruption of the one is the Generation of the other which evermore holdeth good when the Elementary stuff is still present So that Privation is the mean between them both and as it were a vacuity a Nihâ—l or non entity between two formalities But I will demonstrate the mystery of Generation and Corruption after this Manner Now therefore that the progression or ranks of the worlds Creation and his simple Members is shewed you which consisteth of four ranks in which estate the world must as I said indure till it be refined with fire I will make my progression from these simple members of the world's existence and proceed unto the order of degrees in composition which have their beginning and foundation from them namely from the first degree or rank in Generation or Composition unto the Complement thereof And as between the beginning of mixtion and the perfection thereof there must intercede a medium or mean which must be imperfectè mixtum or an imperfect mixtion so betwixt a simple Element and a perfect body an imperfect composition must needs intercede namely such a one as is that of a Meteorologick nature As for example in the generation of a man the beginning which is founded on the catholick watery Element and taketh his place in the first rank is Sperm for it is a watery or fluid Substance but little altered and as in the water the whole Fabrick of the world and seeds of all things was complicitly conteined and yet nothing did appear externally but water So in the seed or Sperm though nothing do appear in the first degree explicitly but Sperm yet the whole man namely the bones flesh blood sinews and such like are complicitly conteined and will
Ventus Nubes c. The Sun Moon Starrs Lightnings Winds Clouds c. do obey the Will and Command of God that is they are incited by his Word and of necessity provoked to effect his pleasure It followeth not therefore that he that commandeth must be constrained to do or act in that imperious manner being that he doth it as a first mover who hath not any other actor before it or co-eternall with it and consequently doth operate of a free will which is radically grounded in himself And hereupon the Apostle Voluntati Dei quis resistat Who is able to resist the will of God And the Prophet Consilium meum stabit omnis voluntas mea fiet My counsell shaâ—l stand and my will shall be accomplished And Job Deus quodcunque voluit hoc facit What God would have done that he effecteth And therefore he doth not act involuntarily or of necessity but voluntarily and according unto his free Will We conclude therefore that seeing what is Necessarium or necessary is that which cannot happen otherwise but must of necessity be so So that which is contingent may happen or be effected otherwise as is that thing which is either fortuit or voluntary Now that the Acts of God in this world are voluntary and therefore cannot be tied up with the bands of Necessity it is proved in this namely because it may happen otherwise then it is accustomed to be by the laws or rules of nature As when the will of God was that the Sun should stand still or move retrogradingly or that it should be eclipsed when the Moon was in none of the points of the animall intersection that is neither in the head or tayl of the Dragon c. The fifth BOOK of this present Section The Argument of this Book AFter that the Author had expressed the Originall nature of the two essentiall properties namely of Heat and Cold and had proved the main effects thereof to be Rarefaction and Condensation whereby the Heavens and Elements were framed He proceedeth now in this Book unto the mystery of Meteorologicall impressions being the first degree of Composition shewing that their Fabrick is the act of the Divine Spirit effected in the catholick Element of the world's lower region and consequently do not proceed from such accidentall and externall grounds or beginnings as the Peripateticks do fasly surmise For this reason therefore he hath compared the Meteorologicall doctrine of Aristotle with that of the holy Scripture And finally by producing the Pagan Philosophy touching these aiery impressions unto the Lidian tryall or touch-stone of Truth he findeth them to prove false spurious metal yea and meer dross in respect of the golden Truth CHAP. I. Herein you shall find in few words a Repetition of the precedent Discourse Also an Exposition upon the word Meteoron or Meteor And lastly the Method which the Author intendeth to observe in this Book is expressed IN my precedent discourse I have briefly pointed at first the Principles of things namely the Root of every thing that was viz. the Dark or potentiall unity from which sprung forth the Light or actuall unity And I told you that both of them were but one thing in essence forasmuch as Light was unto the eternall unity all one with darkness though unto our weak capacities they are opposite in property Then I signified that out of the first obscure unity by his other manifest property waters did appeare arguing thereby that of or from this unity by this unity and in this unity are all things After that I shewed how waters were the materiall or passive Principle of all things as the illuminating and formall Spirit was the actuall and informing beginning of every being both which issued as I said before out of one Root which for that cause is rightly said to be all in all Then I expressed unto you how that Cold was an essentiall adherent unto privative rest and the stout of-spring and Champion unto darkness As contrariwise Heat was the immediate issue and companion unto essentiall action or motion and the inseparable Champion or Assistant of Light And then I told you how Humidity and Siccity had their Originall from the mutuall presence or absence of the foresaid two active vertues or essentiall properties Cold and Heat Lastly I declared unto you the reason and manner of Condensation and Rarefaction and that the main matter or Subject thereof was the waters but the catholick Actor was and is the Word or Spirit of God who acteth first in his Angelicall Organs by the Starrs and especially the Sun in Heaven above and winds beneath upon the generall sublunary Waters or Elements according unto his volunty altering of it after a four-fold manner through the formall properties of the four Winds and that either by Condensation or Subtiliation into divers shapes and dispositions Now in this Book I will open unto you after a true and infallible manner forasmuch as it shall in all points agree with the contents of the holy History how the blessed Word or sacred Spirit of the Lord doth by Condensation and Rarefaction produce and bring forth in this our catholick sublunary Element all Meteorologicall bodies But before I enter into this my discourse it is fit for me to tell you what the Antients do mean by this word Meteor Those Apparitions which are seen in the aire are by the Greeks called Meteora not in regard of their naturall essences but by reason of their sublimity in position Others tearm them more naturally Impressions forasmuch as they are shaped and imprinted above in the catholick element called Air. But in respect of their essentiall consistence they are properly called Corpora imperfectè mixta aut composita Bodies that are imperfectly mixed or compounded and that either because of their unexpected generation being that they are procreated and appear suddainly and at a short warning or else because their composition appeareth not to be according unto the mutation or change of substance or alteration of quality or else in regard they are not so exactly composed as other animated bodies which are perfectly mixed Or lastly these impressions are so called forasmuch as they have not attained unto any perfect form neither seems there to be in this kind of composition any great alteration of parts seeing that the members of the element so altered are confused with one another Howsoever it appeareth that such names are assigned unto this kind of impression after the fancy or conceit of this or that Philosopher when in verity they are magnalia Dei a mysticall body I say framed and fashioned by the finger of God out of the bowels of the catholick sublunary element to effect his will upon the earth either to judgment or mercy as shall be more at large expressed hereafter So that in this sense they may rightly be tearmed the characters or signes of Gods benignity and misericord or vengeance and severity upon the earth
his abode or entertainment being that the australl hemisphear is not sufficient to receive his dilated body For this reason it is forced to pass a-traverse the Aequinoctiall and to visit by a successive motion the northern hemisphear and at its entrance therein to make a windy noise by reason of the thickness and coldness of the aire which resisteth the hot vaporous and lately dissolved or rarified aire which is animated with the southern light from whence it receiveth his agility And this aire thus animated and forced by the divine act in the Sunny tabernacle to fly from the south unto the north is that which we call the southern winde which for this reason happeneth so frequently among us in the beginning of winter namely immediately after the Sun hath passed the Aequinoctiall that is to say through Libra into Scorpio This is the reason that the southern winds I say are so plentifull among us in October November and December and consequently that we are saluted with such southern showers by reason that the northern coldness doth condense the fugitive southern aire into clouds as shall be told you in the description of the clouds All this is demonstrated out of the Weather-glass for at the heat of onely a mans hand being placed on the head of the Weather-glass the included aire is rarified and so dilateth it self and flyeth to an opposite Pole namely unto the heat of the cold water the which it beareth down before it On the other side the northern winds and the ice and snow which are more frequent in winter are caused by that breath or spirit which is sent forth from God in his potentiall and privative nature the which he doth exercise or put in execution in this world when the treasure house of his actuall power is farthest and therefore he hath ordained the Magazin or store-house of his cold in the poles of the world being farthest off from the Aequinoctiall For this reason it is said in Scriptures that cold commeth from the north and that before the cola of God who can consist and that the breath of God maketh ice and frost And again Hast thou come into the treasure-house of the snowes or hast thou any knowledge in the treasury of the hail Neither is Gods actuall light severed or distinguished from him though he breathe at his pleasure from the north in his potentiall or privative property for darknesse unto him is as light And for this reason also when he is displeased he breatheth from the north as well in lightning and thunder as in snow and hail Whereupon Ezekiel said Behold a whirl-winde came out of the north and a great cloud involved with fire c. And yet both the cold snow hail and frost and the lightnings and melting heats proceed but from one and the same spirit though divers in properties which as I said was by the same Prophet called from the four winds that is to say one and the same word in essence but multi-form in property Of which the Psalmist God sending forth his word upon the earth by it he poureth down snow on the earth like wool and disperseth the frost like ashes who can resist against his cold So soon as he sendeth out his word it doth liquifie them so soon as he bloweth forth his winde the waters begin to flow and the snow frost and ice to melt Whereby it is evident that God is ever one in himselfe wheresoever he be namely be he in the north where he operateth privation or in the Sun in which he doth expresse his actuall glory Yet doth his Volunty as well as his Nolunty that is his positive property as well as his privative accompany the unity of his essence As for example His negative property in his positive was discerned when he made the Sun to stand still at Joshuah's prayer and to go backwards or become retrograde for the confirmation of Hezekia's belief And his absolute privative when at the death of our Saviour he contracted his manifested bright glory into the center So that the Sun became as black as pitch I conclude therfore that when this potentiall property of the Divine Spirit doth move or act in the aire the aire is sucked towards the pole or center and so is made Frost Snow c. In which space our experimentall Instrument sheweth a nature quiâ—e contrary from the precedent For after the imitation of the aire in the great world it is contracted and sucked up into the bolts-head as to the cold pole and this then demonstrateth that the catholick externall aire doth also work after the same fashion It appeareth therefore that the reason of this emitted Spirit is occult and not known unto any of us that are drowned in the abysse of Ignorance but onely is made known unto him who hath been so happy as to be instructed by the true Wisdome of God which Solomon confesseth to be the worker of all things and therefore the most faithfull Schoole-mistress to teach all mysteries But I will proceed further in the search and inquiry of this Ethnick Peripatetick man's skill in the Science and knowledg of Meteorology And first I will see what he can say touching the Generation of the clowds and the rain CHAP. V. How Aristotle's Doctrine touching the Generation of the Clowds and production of the Drops of Rain is found to be altogether contradictory unto the true Wisdome's Institutions WE will now come unto our inquiry and examination of Aristotle's skill in the watry Meteors and because that the causes of mists called Nebulae and thinner clowds termed Nubeculae are comprehended under the title of Nubes or Clowds I will onely insist upon the Mystery of the clowdy impression For I purpose not to make any great Volume of words to weary your eies with reading them over but onely to touch with brevity such kinds of principall Meteors as may in their generality include by their descriptions every speciality that may be comprehended under them I will therefore briefly begin with Aristotle's opinion and then compare it with the Testimony of holy Writ that thereby the essence of it may be examined with the fire of verity to see whether it will indure the Test or withstand the tryalls of Truth 's touch-stone or no. His opinion therefore with that of his Christian followers is that A clowd is produced of a vapour which is elevated from the earth and water into the middle region of the aire by the attractive power of the Sun or Starrs where it is contracted and as it were congealed into the consistence of a visible clowd by vertue of the extreame coldnesse of the place the which clowd is afterwards partly by the heat of the Sun and partly by the force of the winds carried or forced this way and that way through the middle region of the aire Lo this is the Substance of the Peripateticall definition of a clowd Now that we may
the better gather and understand the truth of this business and find out whether Aristotle be a true or a false Prophet in this his description Let us here consider what the Book or Bible of verity shall teach us concerning the Generation of a cloud and how the members or clauses of this our definition do agree with the intention of it which that we may more distinctly and with the exacter method effect we purpose in this place to compare their minds and senses together that each person though but meanly literated may easily judge and determine of the case as truly it standeth In the precedent Definition he maketh the efficient and procreating cause the heat or act of the Sun saying that by the attractive vertue thereof the vapour which is the matter or substance of the clowd is drawn out of the earth and water and sublimed into the middle region of the aire averring also that partly by the motion of the Sun and partly by the winds it is moved this way and that way Again he surmiseth that the cause of the contraction or condensation of the vapour into the consistence of a cloud is the coldness of the middle region of the aire So that unto the consistence of the clowd he faineth that two Agents quite contrary in nature and condition unto one another do concur and meet together namely the heat of the Sun and coldness of the middle region of the aire but he assigneth no internall cause of motion unto the clowd esteeming it as a thing dead and without an active spirit For this cause therefore there do offer themselves unto each wise-man's consideration sundry doubts in this Definition to be throughly resolved and determined of before he will be able rightly to judge the verity thereof namely first whether the heat of the Sun do draw and attract vapours out of the earth and waters into the middle region of the aire for the composing and shaping out of a clowdy Meteor Secondly whether the coldness of the middle region of the aire be the occasion of the condensation or thickning of a thin vaporous substance into the consistence of a well compacted clowd Thirdly whether the clowds be only moved by externall efficient Agents namely by the winds and Sun as being destitute of any internall active principle or centrall Agent or else if it be moved and animated by an internall Spirit Unto either of these three questions or doubts I purpose here to answer in order as they are proposed Unto the first Objection therefore I say That it is a most false and erroneous Tenent of the Peripateticks that the Sun Starrs or fire do draw unto them any vapours or exhalations For it is proved by experience that they rather expell and dissipate from them such things as are rarified by them than draw and allure them unto them neither is it true as most men falsly dream and surmise that the Sun draweth fumes upward or that the fire sucketh the vaporous substance of the attenuated water unto it but their office is to rarify and subtiliate the waters and to reduce the moister part of the earth into vapour And then it is naturally incident unto those light Substances of their own inclinations to ascend and mount upwards without any other externall agent But all this we have plainly demonstrated by our experimentall Instrument For if you set your hand upon the bolts head or round glasse on the top the aire will dilate it self and presently fly away from the rarifying agent that dilateth it and therefore much less will that agent suck or draw it unto it self By which it is evident that whereas it seemed in the eies of worldly wise-men that because a vapour or fume ascendeth upwards therfore that motion from the Earth must needs proceed from the attractive vertue of the Summer heat now in the conclusion it is proved to be stark false and erroneous being that the nature of Heat and Light are clean contrary unto the attraction forasmuch as they expell by dilatation and do dissipate and enlarge which is contrary unto the condition of attraction gathering together and condensation which are the properties of cold as is mainfested by our experimentall Machin But now to prove that Aristotle's grounds are most extravagant unto the Truth who affirmeth that the clowds are made of a vapour drawn or elevated up into the middle region of the aire we must understand that the Opinion of the holy Scriptures is flatly adverse and contrary unto this clause or member of his definition or description being that first it is easily to be gathered by this Text of St. Paul That we ought to believe by Faith that things visible were first made of such things which were not seen and therefore it is neither the visible earth nor water that can be the Originall of the clowds but rather the invisible aire And this is also maintained by divers plain Testimonies of Scriptures Deus sapienti◠su◠aptat pondus aëri appendit aquas in mensura Ligat eas in densis nubibus facit pluviae statuta viam fulgetro tonitruum God by his Spirit of Wisdome doth give a weight and proportion unto the aire and hangeth or ballanceth the waters by measure tieth them in the thick clowds giveth laws unto the rain and assigneth a way unto the Lightning of the Thunder In which speech the wise and patient Job doth seem to confirm First that God is the Father and Head from whence this work and all other doth radically proceed and the eternall efficient instrument by which he acteth is his Spirit of Wisdome which also accordeth with this of the Apostle Nobis est unus Deus Pater à quo omnia unus Dominus Jesus Christus per quem omnia To us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and one onely Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things Secondly That the aire is the main Subject as well of the watery as fiery Meteors for by thickning or condensing of it it giveth a consistence unto the clowds and such-like Meteors which are easily afterward resolved into water and rain and then by attenuating it extreamly it becometh lightning Not that I say that the act of Lightning is of the Substance of the aire but is rather an admirable Light clothed with the aire as with a vestiment And in the very same sense the Text saith Indutus lumine quasi vestimento He is endued with light as with a vestiment And again the wise Philosopher In lumine numen in numine lumen So that the thinner the aire is the hotter it is and consequently the richer in coelestiall fire whose centrall act is divinity Now that the aire is the substance or materiall subject of the watry Meteors the precedent Text beareth it in these words God by his Wisdom assigneth or setteth by proportion a weight unto the aire that is he thickeneth it into clowds
the inspissation or incrassation of the thin and invisible aire into a thick dense and visible clowd according unto the before-mentioned place of Job Subitò aer condensabitur in nubes transiens ventus fugabit eas But then I was a little troubled when I remembred that mountains and high rocks cannot by their resistance and stopping of the fugitive aire be alwaies the cause of the clowds being that we find that clowds do every where appear yea in the plain deserts and open seas where no hills are Whereupon after that I had a little while considered and well pondered this objection with my self I did quickly conceive an infallible answer and resolution of this doubt considering that there is not a winde that bloweth in the heavens with dominion but hath some opposite or transversall winde which bloweth with it though it be not discerned by reason that the mightier winde doth darken or obscure the action of the weaker even as in the open Sun a candle is scarcely to be discerned Now that at one and the same time two or more winds do blow I will prove it by common experience for being often on the seas I have observed that when the predominant winde hath fallen a little in his force by fits and hath urged the sayl of the Ship but weakly an opposite winde hath immediately bewrayed it self and moved the sail the contrary way untill the other rising again did replenish and fill up the sail towards our determined mark which made for our purpose But we have also Scriptures to testifie that opposite winds do often blow at one and the same instant for first the self same Spirit was evoked from the quarters of the four winds by Ezekiel and Daniel Ecce quatuor venti caeli pugnabant in mari magno Behold the four winds did fight together in a great sea And Zacharias Isti quatuor equi sunt quatuor venti coeli qui egrediuntur stant coram Dominatore omnis carnis These four horses are the four winds of the heaven which goe forth and stand before the Lord of all flesh Whereby it is evident that not one or two winds but many winds may blow in the heavens at once for by their opposite blasts clowds whirl-winds tempests lightning and thunders are commonly effected All which the profound Poet Homer seemeth to include in a few Verses translated thus into Latin Tantus coelesti rumor percrebuit Aulà Cum saeva alterni ruerent in praelia Divi Neptunum contra bellabat Phoebus Apollo Adversus Martem certabat Pallas Athenae Great noise was raised in the Elisian hall When gods with gods did enter cruell wars Phoebus Apollo there with Neptune jars Pallas of Athens foul with Mars doth fall Where he understandeth by the gods the opposite angelicall spirits which issue from the winds who at their meeting in the open aeriall sea do fight and tempestuously strive with one another according unto the sense of the precedent text of Daniel For by Neptune he meaneth the president of the occidentall winds which are cold moist and waterish and by Phoebus he intendeth the orientall president whose blasts are hot dry and fiery but by Mars is signified the thunder and lightning Also Ovid doth most notably expresse the combat which is effected amongst the winds in these verses speaking in the person of Boreas or the north-winde Idem ego quum fratres coelo sum nactus aperto Nam mihi campus is est tanto molimine luctor Ut medius nostris concussibus insonet Aether Exiliantque cavis elisi nubibus ignes When as I meet my brethren in the aire Which is my field I wrestle with such ire That middle heavens do Eccho at our fare And hollow clowds do vent forth flashing fire Where by Fratres Boreas or the North-wind understandeth the Southern blast and the other cardinall winds the which when Boreas meeteth in the aire do produce by their contentious struglings and wrastlings thunder whirl-winds and such like tempestuous storms And therefore we ought not to make any doubt but that two or more winds do blow at one and the same time either oppositely or transversally in the open aire whereby the intermediate invisible aire is by compression thickened or condensed from the existence of a mean aire into a scarce visible vaporous substance and so unto a more visible misty corpulency and lastly into a most apparent and visible clowd the which clowd neverthelesse is pushed and driven forward by that wind in the heaven which hath the greatest dominion and denomination for his power confirming in every point that which is spoken by Job and cited before Subito aer condensabitur in nubes ventus transiens fugabit eas The aire will suddenly be thickened into clouds and the winde which moveth in the aire will drive them before it So that it is easily to be gathered that a clowd is framed of the aire after this fashion The aire filling the whole vaulty heaven and therefore the sublunary world is violently forced to move before the breath of one winde and being encountered in its flight by an opposite winde unto the first though of a weaker force it resists the chased aire in its motion and by that resistance aire being joyned unto aire doth thicken by degrees even as I told you the steep mountain or rock denying passage unto the aire which flyed and eschewed the persecuting winde was the cause of his condensation This therefore being rightly considered it is apparent that the Peripateticall assertion is unjust and erroneous forasmuch as it averreth that a vapour raised out out of the earth and water up to the middle region of the aire is by the coldnesse of the place metamorphosed or changed into the form and substance of a clowd the which also as is already proved is most improbable because the southerly winds which are the chiefest parents of the clowds and rain in abundance seeing that they are hot by reason of the places temper from whence they are sent would rather qualifie as is already said by their warmth the coldnesse of the region through which they march or passe and therefore would either disannull the effect of that property of cold or else so weaken and dull the power of it that if it produced any clowds they would prove more thin and small ones then any other of the cold winds as also the winde Eurus would effect the same by reason of his great heat And yet we find all this quite contrary by experience for the southerly winds do incrassate and produce clowds that are in generall more moist and thick then any of the other are accustomed to do yea verily the south winde doth so condense the aire by his presence that as Isidorus doth affirm it maketh objects appear greater unto the sight then indeed they are I come now unto the Resolution of the third Doubt Touching the third and last doubt which is Whether the
and windy Angels as the Seraphins are fiery Spirits and so moveth upon the wings of the wind or aire which his Angelicall Cherubin doth animate So that in and by the windy Organ he is said to blow when and where he list It is I say the Eternall Spirit of Wisdome which is in brightness and vertue more noble then the Sun of Heaven as Solomon testifieth For as much as it also giveth life and splendor unto the Sun And therefore it is said to excell the Sun in brightness which is the onely efficient cause or formall and essentiall Agent in this business and consequently neither the Sun or any other of the created host of Heaven It is I say again the all-creating Spirit and not the created which is the generall act and onely formall mover in the Meteors whom his Angelicall Ministers which do ever stand before this Lord of all the earth that I may speak with the Prophet Zachary are ready to assist as Organs or instrumentall causes to execute his will It is I say the essentiall wind or Spirit which bloweth from the center of the cloud and moveth or inciteth his spirituall created Organs according unto his will For by it his Spirit also moveth in the Angels and winds causing them to effect his Command according unto David's assertion Wherefore we may see by this which is said how incongruous is this opinion of the Ethnick Peripatetick unto the Truth and how far it derogateth from the right of God's Word and consequently what an errour it is in our Christian Philosophers to follow and imitate his learning with such a devotion and fervency as if they were Theodidacti taught by God himself when in verity his doctrine doth rather disswade Christians from the knowledg of him in his works then instruct them therein being it perswadeth them that things are effected both in heaven above and in the earth and in the waters beneath by vain waies and accidentally that is to say meerly by naturall causes onely and so would blemish the honour and reputation of Him who in verity is all in all and operateth all in all and that not by constraint as the vain Peripatetick imagineth but according unto his Will as it is proved before CHAP. VI. The true and essentiall Definition or rather description of a Cloud is set forth in this Chapter WEll then will they reply Let us understand how you can better define or describe the nature of a clowd according unto that holy Philosophy and true Wisdom which you seem to profess To the which I answer that I am willing and that after a divers manner though agreeing in one unity of Essence A clowd is the revealing and making manifest of the invisible mundan spirit which is hidden in the treasury of God namely the heavens by the centrall operation of the divine wisdom and his windy ministers being incited thereunto by the will of God into a vaporous heap or clowdy substance which the said spirit of wisdom erecteth for his secret place or vehicle to move in and for the effecting of his will as well in heaven above as in the earth and waters beneath Or after this manner A clowd is the reducing of the invisible aire into a visible thick and gloomy consistence which is by the will of God effected through the concurrence or meeting together of opposite or transversall winds for the accomplishment of his secret will and pleasure Or else thus A clowd is a certain visible condensed heap of aire the which the Spirit of wisdom being expansed every wheâ—e doth make and compose as it were of nothing that is to say of an airy invisible somewhat which it extracteth out of his mysticall treasury to do and effect the will of God as well in heaven as in earth In which definitions or rather descriptions the materiall substance seemeth to be a coagulated mist or condensed masse or heap of aire the formall cause is set out in the shape and form of the clowd the efficient cause or centrall agent is the essentiall act of the divine wisdom who employeth and exciteth his windy ministers to work externally by the way of compression We have also the magazine or treasury out of which the substance of the winds is produced namely the heavens or aire which is termed Arca Dei thesauraria The chist or cabinet of Gods treasures To conclude the finall cause is manifested in this that the clowd is ordained to bring forth the effects as well of Gods clemency and benignity as of his severity and anger Now for the defence of the first part of these descriptions we find it thus written Deus sapientia suâ apt at pondus aeri appendit aquas in mensura facit pluviae statuta viam fulgetro tonitruum c. God doth by his wisdom proportionate the weight of the aire and hangeth the waters or clowds in measure assigneth lawes unto the rain and maketh a way unto the lightnings of the thunder That is to say according unto the will and ordination of the divine Spirit the aire or substance of heaven is changed from a lighter or thinner estate or weight unto a heavier or thicker the degrees of which mutation are expressed in the words following for first it was aire then clowds then rain or vulgar water Also the Text doth seem to make the lightnings internall or formall light of the clowd which is not revealed but by the violation or ruption of the compound and ablation of darkness Again it is said by Job as is already related Aer condensabitur in nubes ventus transiens fugabit eas The aire will be thickned into clowds And touching the clowds of snow Congregatio spiritus aspergit nivem The aire being gathered together doth scatter the snow on the earth Touching the efficient cause it appeareth to be God or the eternall Wisdom and therefore in the precedent Text it is said Deus sapientia sua aptat pondus aeri appendit aquas vel nubes in mensura God by his wisdom hangeth or ballanceth the waters or clowds in measure And again Nubibus densis obtegit Deus coelos God covereth the heavens with thick clowds But all this is sufficiently expressed before As for the finall cause set down in the foresaid definitions it is confirmed by Scriptures in this fashion Pro irrigatione fatigat Deus den sam nubem dispergit lucem nubis suae quodcunque praecipit illis faciendum in terra sive ad flagellum sive ad faciendam beneficentiam efficiet ut presiò sit God wearieth the thick clowd for the watering of the earth and he disperseth every where the light of his clowd whatsoever he commandeth them to be done upon the earth whether it be for a scourge or else in favour and benignity he maketh them to be ready to accomplish it And Baruch saith When God commandeth the clowds that they passe over the whole earth they
words Quis hominum cognoscit consilium Dei nam ratiocinationes mortalium sunt timidae instabiles cogitationes eorum Infestum enim corruptioni corpus aggravat animam deprimit terrena habitatio mentem plenam curis multis vix conjicimus ea quae in terra sunt quae autem in coelis sunt quis investigavit consilium tuum quis noverit nisi tu dederis sapientiam miseris sanctum Spiritum tuum è locis altissimis sie enim correctae sunt eorum quae in terris sunt semitae itaque sapientiâ fuerint salvati What man doth know the counsell of God for the reasonings of mortall men are doubtfull and unstable are their cogitations For the body being subject unto corruption doth aggravate the soul and an earthly habitation doth depresse the mind which is full of cares And we do scarcely guesse at the things which are upon the earth who is then able to find out the things which are in heaven Or who can know thy counsell unlesse thou shalt give wisdom and send thy holy Spirit from above for by that means were the waies of such men as were upon the earth corrected and amended and therefore were they saved or preserved by wisdom c. Out of which golden words I gather first That the heathen men were ignorant in the mysteries and abstruse operations of God because they wanted the true spirit of wisdom which God revealeth unto his Elect by the vertuous infusion and influxion of his holy Spirit Next that for this reason the subject of true Philosophy is not to be found in Aristotle's works but in the Book of truth and wisdom forasmuch as it is a copy of the revealed Word Thirdly that it is a great folly for Christians to seek for the truth where it is not to be found I mean in the works of the pagan Philosophers and that is made manifest forasmuch as it contradicteth altogether the verity of Scriptures and therefore it is pronounced by St. James to be terrene animal and diabolicall Verbum saepienti CHAP. XIII A conclusion of this work including an admonition unto all good Christians to beware of the Ethnick Philosophy and to stick and cleave fast unto that which is taught us by the Scriptures and that for reasons herein set down LEt it now be lawfull for me in the concluding of this Section O ye Europaeans who seem so seriously and zealously to spend your daies in the Christian Religion to turn the sharp edge of my pen and the rougher file of my speech unto you who being too too much seduced by the fals doctrin of Aristotle do think and imagine the meteors but especially lightning and thunder to be a common natural thing of little or no estimation at all as being onely produced of nature by reason of a hot distemper of the air I would request you as a true Christian ought unto his brethren to observe well and attend with diligence this admonition which I will for a Farewell bestow upon you beseeching you not to scorn or reject my precedent assertion whith hath told and sufficiently proved unto you that the lightnings and thunders yea and all other meteors are the immediate works of Gods hand being that by this endeavour of mine you may not onely bring a comfort and consolation unto your soules when you hear the terrible voice of the Lord and make you to call to mind your passed sins and iniquities and to pray him heartily to pardon you and not to call your offences unto an account in his anger but also give the honour and glory unto him who thundering from above worketh marvellously I would have you therefore to know that the worldly wise-men of this our Christian world who are as it were pages or followers of the Ethnick Philosophers have hitherto blindly or after the manner of lunatick persons erred in their imaginations forasmuch as they being instructed in the blind wisdom of this world by their Ethnick tutors and doctors will not be brought to believe that God doth work immediately all things in heaven and in earth onely by his word but mediately namely by other necessary natural or supernatural means as essential efficient causes when as the holy Text doth in plain terms instruct us that it is one the self-same essence which doth act and operate all in all by his word using each creature onely as his organ or instrument wherein and by the which he moveth and worketh his will Is not this their tenet or assertion I beseech you altogether opposite and contradictory unto the divine authority which saith Though there be that are called gods whether in heaven or in earth as there be many gods and many lords yet unto us there is but one God which is that Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him But every man hath not that knowledge c Out of which words we may gather that though we worldlings attribute this or that work unto angels or stars or winds or a created nature according unto the doctrine of the Ethnick wisdom yet such true Christian Philosophers as St. Paul was dâ—d acknowledge but one God of whom proceed all actions in this world and one Word by which onely and not by any creature in the world each thing is immediately effected in this world All which although unto reall Christians it seemeth verity and truth yet unto the Philosophers and wise men of this world this kind of doctrine issuing from the heavenly wisdom is rejected and derided And why Forsooth because as the Text doth teach us every man hath not this knowledge and the reason is because they respect more the wisdom of this world which is terrene and animal and as St. Paul saith meer foolishness before God then that which is from above namely from the Father of light Et sic evanuerunt in imaginationibus suis And so they did vanish in their imaginations I heartily wish you therefore which are brought up and made familiar in the holy Bible and nourished spiritually and guided by the law of our Lord Jesus Christ to conceive seriously and perpetually to revolve with your selves that God created the first consistence of things namely the humid and fluid waters by his word and they remain in the word and by the word in the self-same humid or moist estate as they did even unto this very day Also he framed out of this catholick water the heaven and the earth by his word as St. Peter saith Again he did produce by his said word the light in heaven the Sun the Moon the Starrs the day the night and all other creatures and did ordain them to serve for divers Organs by the which he might variously act or operate his volunty as well in heaven above as in the earth and waters beneath All which do move and work in and by the Word
And in conclusion God by his Word doth exactly and soly operate all in all as the Apostle saith which being so I would fain know where is this Physicall nature of the Peripateticks unto the which they assign an essential form of action of it self and by it self Verily it is most apparent that there is no such catholick actor as the Peripateticks do fain But it is one onely Word of God one catholick Christ which filleth all things one eternall Sapience which replenisheth the world one incorruptible Wisdom which is in all things that onely worketh and effecteth immediately all in all And therefore it is apparent that without it nothing can exist and act Forasmuch therefore as the aire is a part of the celestiall consistence it followeth that it was made by the Word and that it doth as it were swim in the Word Forasmuch as it comprehendeth all things as in many places of Scripture it is expresly set down and it is moved and guided by the Word yea verily and in the aire being it is the universall Treasury of God there are many peculiar cabinets out of the which by his Word which is effected by his strong and powerfull Angels as David telleth us he doth produce divers kinds of Meteors as is proved before which are committed unto the government and presidentship of divers Angells or Spirits the which also are created of aire and exist in the aire by the Word and therefore move and act in the Word or in and by one and the same divine Spirit which the Prophet Ezekiel called from the four winds to make the dead to live again by whose administration the Word moving them and operating in them all Meteorologick species or kinds are brought forth and procreated in the aire yea and all those wonderfull tempests which happen in the world are effected or produced And hereupon it is said that he made his Angells winds and his Ministers flames of fire Again Dei curruum duae sunt myriades multa millia Angelorum Dominus cum illis est Dominus Sinai in Sanctuario habitans There are two myradâ— even many thousands of Angells the Lord is with them the Lord of Sinai inhabiting in his Sanctuary Where he meaneth in his apparition in a tempest as he did upon the Mount Sinai These spirits therefore which in regard of their externall were made or created of aire and with the aire do exercise their office or Ministry in the aire and are by Gods Ordination conversant about the directions of Tempests Clowds Rain Snow Hail Frost Lightning Thunder Comets Chasmus Floods or Inundations Heat Cold Moysture Drowth and all other Accidents which do appear in the aire And hereupon it is insisted by the Revelatour that by the Ordination of God four Angells were appointed as Presidents over the four winds of the four corners of the earth unto whom it was assigned to hurt the earth and waters and trees and fruits But there it is said that they had not any power to execute their harmfull or tempestuous violence on the earth and waters till the imperious Angell had excited or moved them unto it But as all thâ—s was unknown unto the Ethnick Philosophers so hath it been altogether neglected or rather rejected by their Christian disciples because that in their mouths and writings the lying and false spirit of Aristotle hath taken too deep a root or possession and challenged unto it self the prime and superiour place Although therefore that this my admonition may seem unto such as are wedded unto their will and hood-winked with Aristotle's subtill documents to be but wild ridiculous and of little or no esteem yet I would have them know that it is a thing of great importance and high consequence being that it concerneth and toucheth the honour of God For by it true Christians may fundamentally know and understand the reall and essentiall causes of tempests and other acts and operations which do thereunto belong and thereby perceive that they happen not by case fortuit neither operate by any act of their own as the phantastick Ethnicks have devised or fained in their writings but are traduced out of the holy Treasuries by the Divine Providence and are sent down here below by the operation of the Word and execution of his Angelicall Ministers either to afflict and scourge the wicked for their offences or by putting them in remembrance of their sins that they may by the fear thereof be driven to repent So that when they unto their terrour shall hear the voice of the Lord in Thunder from above and behold the fiery flashes of his wrath and indignation or shall see the dreadfull inundations caused by abundance of Snow or Rain they might be induced to repentance and be humbled and incited to invoke their Creator unto their aide and to pray him heartily to avert all dangers from them and to mitigate his Tempests and to pacify the fury of his fiery or watery Ministers and to grant them them milder and more benigne weather with gentle and fertill rains and to bless and save the fruit of their lands and to preserve their cattle which feed upon them as also their houses and other such like necessary additaments from the violence of his tempestuous Angells or Spirituall instruments contrariwise who neglecteth this doctrine which is founded on the true Wisdom and wallowing as it were with the Sow in the mire betaketh himself unto the rules of that Wisdom which is but meer foolishness before God and consequently will imagine all these Meteorologicall marvels to proceed by chance and accidentally and without the act of any internall principle and for that cause will neglect them as esteeming them onely things naturall and therefore will neither dread them as indeed they ought to do nor yet acknowledg him who is the true Author of them and immediate Actor in them is justly to be numbred among those men at which the Wiseman aimeth in this speech All men saith Solomon are vain by nature in whom is the ignorance of God and who cannot understand him who is by such things as are made nor yet conceive the workman by the consideration of his works The Epilogue unto this Section THus Judicious and Christian Reader have you understood the main difference that is between the wisdom of this world which the Apostle affirmeth to be but meer foolishnesse before God and that which descendeth from above and issueth from the Father of Light which is the essentiall and true Spirit of Sapience or Discipline And consequently you may easily discern how the Ethnick Philosophy that is grounded upon the worldly wisdom forasmuch as it relyeth onely on the Traditions of men and Elements of this world is but a vain â—allacy or Prestigious Figment and therefore onely that of the Patriarcks Prophets and Apostles which is founded upon the Catholick Christ or Eternall Spirit of God in whom is the plenitude of Divinity is onely true
protinus evolans alta petit Aer quoque levis spiritu parens mediam regionem inter ignem aquam sortiebatur â—erra vero aqua sâ—c invicem commixta â—acebant ut terrae facies aquis obrutâ— nusquam pateret Tunc Pimander ait Lumen illud ego sum mens Deus tuus antiquâ—or quanâ— humida natura quae ex umbra effulsit mentis vero geâ—men lucens Dei Fâ—lius c. Pimander being the mentall exceâ—lency of the divine puâ—ssance did change his form or shape and on the suddain revealed the universe for I did discern that all things were converted into a pleasant and delectable light which did rejoyce me to behold A little after a feaâ—full shaddow or darknesse did glide downwards by an oblique revolution and was converted into a humid or moist nature which was exagitated or stirred up by an unspeakable aspect thereupon a gâ—eat fume or smoak made a noise out â—f that noâ—se proceeded a voice which I did imagine to be the voice of the light out of this voice of the light the word which was made was utteâ—ed but this word joyning it self with the humâ—d naâ—uâ—e did nourish and animaâ—e it Out of the bowells of this humid nature the light element of fire doth fâ—y and soareth on high also the thin aire possesseth the middle region between the fire and water bâ—t the earth and the water were intermingled after such a fashion that the face of the earth was no where over-flowed by the waters Then Pimander said I am that light the mentall spirit that is thy God of a greater antiquity then is the humid nature which did shine out of the dark shaddow but the brightsome germe of the mentall spirit is the Son of God c. Whereby it is evident that by the mentall unity is meant the absolute divine Monady in it self without any respect had unto creation By the Divine Puissance is understood the dark principle beginning or Chaos out of the which light or the divine emanation did spring At the issuing of Light the word was made manifest out of the dark and deformed Chaos from which also the humid nature or the Abysse of waters did spring or proceed into action by the creating emanation this humid Mass was nourished and vivified by the word and framed in the Elements as is said before And therefore it is apparent that the darkness the light the word the waters and Elements were complicitly contained all in the mentall puissance and abstruce reservation of the sincere Identity of Pimander or God in himself before they were created But I will yet pass a little further and confirm all this more rationally and demonstratively by the authority of Holy-Writ Job saith Revelat Deus fundamenta è tenebris educit in lucem umbram lethalem God revealeth the foundations of the world out of darknesse and he discovereth or bringeth forth into light the deadly shadow c. Where by the foundations he understandeth the waters which were secretly contained in the dark and misshapen abyss of the which afterward the heavens and the earth and consequently the whole world was framed by the Word according unto the Archetypicall pattern So that we here perceive that two principles of a clean contrary nature do issue or proceed from and out of one and the same Identity or Unity in Essence namely a deadly darkness and as it were the shadow of death and an admirable vivifying light whereof the one was the matrix or receptacle of form And the deformed bowells of the other contained that matter without form whereof afterward the world was framed and therefore the wiseman saith Manus omnipotentis mundum ex informi materia effecit The hand of the Almighty hath made the world of a matter without form And according unto this tenent also Job in an other place Aquilonem extendit Deus super inane vacuum suspendit terram super nihilum God stretcheth forth or spreadeth the North upon emtpyness and inanity that is to say on a thing that was void and destitute of shape and hanged the earth upon nothing In which speech by inane or vacuum and nihilum he meaneth misshapen darknesse and deadly shadow of which he spake in the before-specified place or that matter without form mentioned by Solomon the which whilst it was in Potemia Dâ—vina or the Divine Puissance was meerly nothing in man's weak capacity being that it was not as yet actually created or informed for it is form onely that giveth name and essence as all Philosophers do confesse By this therefore we may discern how all things are essentially comprehended in this eternall and radicall Unity Forasmuch as being one he is infinite and being infinite as well in his dimension and essence as power he must of necessity comprehend in himself all finite things whatsoever He is in all and filleth all and yet he is beyond all as he that surpassing and compassing all is onely in himseâ—f and yet neither absent from his creatures which he hath framed out by his Word according to his Will For first from his Volunty did proceed his Word Fiat and it was done Now that we have the privative principle namely deadly darknesse and deformity drawn from the infinite center of all things whose circumference is no where to be found We will dive into the nature of that formall and lively Light which did also issue from the self-same Originall Root and most antique beginning of all things that thereby we may with the best colours of our understanding paint out and describe that excellent formall Essence which redeemed the humid matter or watery substance out of the captivity of the deadly and misshapen darkness or shadow of death that I may speak in Job's language by which all things have their being and beauteous existence CHAP. III. How that amiable and bright emanation of vivifying Love shone forth from the Fountain of all goodness and displaced Litigious and odious darknesse from the Throne of the obscure Chaos or dark Abysse that thereby a World might be made of nothing that was actuall and beautified by the formall presence thereof IT is a wondrous thing and passing all humane understanding that out of one Unity in essence and nature two branches of such an opposite nature should arise and sprout forth as are Darknesse which is the seat of error deformity contention privation or death and Light which is the vehicle of truth beauty love position and life It is not for nought that the Sect of the Manichaeans did so stifly hold that there were two coeternall principles whereof they made one to be God whom they termed the Prince of Light and the beginner and Author of life health and all goodnesse the other they attributed unto the Devill whom thy entitled the Prince of Darknesse and the originall and principle of opposition death sicknesse and all evill And they esteemed the Devill or Prince of Darkness
there is not any bodily substance that is viod of a soul and that the world and every part thereof doth consist of a body therefore there is an intermediate spirit betwixt this soul and body which they neither call a soul or a body but a mean substance participating of them both to reduce both extreams together into one The wiser sort of Alchymists do make the Soul a certain infinite nature or power in all things which doth procreate like things of their like for this nature doth engender all things yea and multiplieth and nourisheth or sustaineth them and they also style it the Ligament or bond of the elements since by it they are fastned together with the Symphoniacal accords of peaceable harmony although of themselves that is in regard of their matter they are dissonant Also it is termed the true virtue that mingleth and proportionateth every thing in this sublunary world allotting unto each specifick creature a convenient and well agreeing form that thereby one thing might be distinguished and made to vary from another and in conclusion the mysticall Rabbies do averre that this occult fire is that Spirit of the Lord or fiery love which when it moved upon the waters did impart unto them a certain harmonious and hidden fiery vertue without whose lovely assistance and favorable heat nothing could be generated of them or multiplied in them Thus you may discern the manifold opinions as well of Christian as Heathen Philosophers touching this Anima mundi or soul of the world which will appear to vary little or nothing at all from the tenent of Holy Scripture in sense but in words onely Neither are these their opinions so hainous or abominable as some more superstitiously zealous than truly understanding Christians of this our Age will make them if they will scan the matter wisely and with moderation for then they shall really perceive that it doth concurre with the Bible of Truth And to confirm what I now say my purpose is in the first place to expresse unto each learned and well minded Reader the harmony of the Scriptures touching this point and then I will compare every one of the foresaid opinions with the sense and grounds of the said harmony that each wise man may thereby the better conjecture and guesse at the truth of the business before he shall rashly enter into the censuring of that deep and profound mystery which concerneth the Divine action in naturall effects I told you in my precedent discourse that the Eternall Unity which is the God of gods and Beginning of beginnings did cause by a double property in one essence two divers principles to issue out of himself whereof the one was potentiall and no way as yet inacted by the brightnesse of his emanation and in that respect is termed Darkness privation Nolunty opposit to Light and a friend unto death and rest The other was actuall and nothing else but a pure catholick form and brightness which is tearmed Light Position Volunty and in nature opposit to Darknesse and a friend unto life and action or motion And then I signified unto you that by the bright appearance of Eternity or the Eternall Spirit of Wisdom which I termed with the Scriptures the radiant emanation or effluxion from the Almighty which is all one with him in essence the deformed waters were inacted and made manifest out of this dark Principle or Chaos that is reduced from Potentia Divina or the Divine Puissance without form in which they abode into Actum Divinum the Divine Act and because all the humid and passive catholick nature of which both the heavens and the earth were framed did issue from this Mass of watery matter which the Poets call Pana or the second birth of Chaos we must imagine it to be that spirituall matter of the world which was made fertill and multiplicable by reason of that hidden active and formall Light or invisible fire which this increated emanation imparted unto it immediatly before the creation of the heavens and the earth Whereupon the holy Text hath it Spiritus Domini serebatur super aquas The Spirit of the Lord moved or was carried upon the waters And as St. Aâ—gustin addeth to it igneum illis vigorem impâ—râ—ieâ—s Bestowâ—ng upon thâ—m a fiery vigor or formall and actâ—ve vertue Now as we see that Man which is called the little-world is composed of soul and body whereof the soul is his heaven or spirituall part or as we may say the superiour and higher waters and the body with the humours thereof as it were the lower waters is the earth and gâ—osser humouâ—s and each of these two are informed united and vivified by the Spirit of life which God inspired into it even so we may observe that the heaven or spirituall humid nature of the great world is animated by the eternall emanation or spirit of the supernaturall wisdom of God to give life and figure unto the world And forasmuâ—h as it is eaâ—ie to discern that the macro cosmicall heavens are of two sorts namely composed of upper spirituall waters which are called Aeâ—her or heavenly and of the lower spirituall waters which are called Aer or elementary no otherwise than in the lesser world or man the receptacle of the heavenly spirit is known to be Aer so that Physitians distinguish by reason of this difference between the vitall or aetheriall spirits and the naturall or elementary body So we ought to consider that this materiall humid spirit of the heavens in both worlds which are the subtlety of the waters are in themselves dead but in respect of the super-celestiall emanation into them which informeth and vivifieth them they live move and are thinner or thicker according unto that more or less formall grace which the all-informing Spirit doth allot them for the more the sacred Spirit of life doth abound or really act in this or that region of the universall aire the more that sphear is thin subtle active worthy and noble Doth not Scripture seem to verifie that Deus sapientia sua aptet pondus aeri appendat aquas in mensura fecerit terram in fortitudine sua preparaverit orbem in sapientia sua prudentia sua extenderit coelos appenderit aquilonem super inane suspenderit terram super nihilum In coelorum structura cum Deus stabiliret fundâ—menta terrae ipsa aderat cuncta componens And again Wisdom saith Ex ore altissimi prodii primogenita ante omnem creaturam in initio ante seculum creata sum usque ad futurum seculum non desinam habitatione sancta coram ipsum ministravi In coelis â—eci ut oriretur lumeninde ficiens sicut nebula texâ— omnem terram In altissimis habitavi thronus meus in columna nubis coeli gyrum circuivi sola profundum abyssi penetravi in fluctibus maris ambulavi in omni terra sâ—eti Feci Arcturum Orionem converti in
dat vitam inspirationem omnia God needing not the assistance of any giveth life and breath and all things unto every creature But each Philosopher cannot but acknowledg that Anima is nothing else but that which doth animate or vivifie a body or spirit why then should not the catholick divine Spirit which filleth all and operateth all and in all be tearmed the fountain of the worlds life by which it liveth moveth and hath its being and consequently the essentiall life and Centrall or mental soul of the world moving the created humid spirit thereof no otherwise then the spirit which God breathed into Adam did move and operate in and by the Organ of the created aire What shall the eternall and vivifying Spirit of Wisdome which is said to fill all and to be in every thing which hath the nature of the universall catholick and first created Angell For Ecclesiasticus hath it prior omnium creata est Sapientia Wisdom was created before all things shall it being that it is as it were the catholick soul of the world or life of all things forasmuch as it is the emanation of the brightnesse of the Omnipotent and the splendor of the eternall Light and the pure mirror of the Majesty of God and the Image of his goodnesse being one simple subtil permanent in it self and the most piercing or movable of all things All which are the properties assigned by St. Dionys unto an Angell and by the learned Fathers before mentioned unto a separated soul shall it I say be in all things and fill the heavenly spirit of each world I mean of the great world and the little one called Man and shall it not operate and act the vivifying and multiplying effect of his nature but be idle and vacant in the creature Did God send forth his operative Spirit to be still and not to act Yea verily the Father operates in it by his Voâ—unty and he effecteth the Volunty of his Father in the creatuâ—es spirit which it possesseth animateth and guideth which way it pleaseth And for this reason Judith saith Deo serviat omnis creatura quia dixisti facta sunt misisti spiritum tuum creatae sunt So that the great world may say and confesse as well as man that it was made after the Image of the Archetype or God and that in him it liveth moveth and existeth According to that of the Apostle unto man which is the little world Thus you see that the Cabalist's Mitatiron or Donum Dei whom they make the catholick intellectuall Agent is nothing else but that universall Spirit of Wisdome which God sent out from this Throne or as the Text hath it even out of his own mouth as the greatest gift and token of his benignity unto each world and the members thereof to reduce them from deformity and non-existence into act and formall being and to endue them with lively feature and to tender life and being unto them explicitly which before was but complicitly included and comprehended in the dark and gloomy shadow of death I mean out of the deformed Chaos into a beautifull shape out of deadly sleep and dark rest into a lively action and motion out of obscurity into Light And this therefore was tearmed rightly in the eies of wise men Mitattron or Donum Dei catholicum which reduceth the universall Nothing into an universall Something But that I may the better expresse unto you by a Philosophicall Demonstration the Angelicall nature of this supream intelligence called Mitattron and consequently of the soul of the world I would have you in the first place to know the true manner how the Philosophers do demonstrate the harmony of the world and his spirit The Platonick's Heptachord the which he did invent and adapt for the demonstrating of the soul of the world did consist of seven strings or proportions partly even and partly odd namely 1 2 3 4 8 9.27 The which proportions although Porphyrie and Proclus have drawn forth in one line nevertheless it appeareth unto me that Adrastus and Calcidius have more fitly expressed and adapted it unto the sides of a Pyramis or Triangle in this manner In the summity or top whereof namely where both lines meet in one point the figure of 1. is expressed with Unity because it participates both on the side with the materiall existence and on the other it hath a commerce with the formal emanation it is apparent that this point or Unity from whence both these different lines or streames do issue in the fountain as well of matter as form and therefore it is as well Synesius's as other Theosophers opinion not disagreeing in this point from Holy Scripture That Deus sit omne quod est quippe à quo per quem in quo sunt omnia Quod sit mas faemina vel ut Mercurius Trismegistus ait utriusquae sexûs faecundâ—ssimus quod sit potentia actus quod sit forma quod sit materia Imo vere nihil est quod ipse non existit God say they is every thing that existeth being that from him by him and in him are all things He is male and female as Synesius saith or as Mercurius Trismegistus will have it He is most abundant in each sex He is puissance and act and finally he is form and he is matter And verily they conclude that there is nothing which he is not All which seem not to differ from Holy Testimony which is that God is all and in all and above all and that in him are all things and in his Spirit and Word all things consist c. The six other figures which do correspond unto one another from the materiall side unto the formall namely the even numbers that regard directly the odd namely the materiall number 2. regards the formall 3 the 4. the 9 and the 8. the 27. do most lively expresse the generall kinds of all creatures with their harmony And in the first place it deciphereth the Symphoniacall Degrees of the Soul of the world as shall be told hereafter For first after the example of the Archetype from 1. issued 2. which is termed by the Pythagoreans the confusion of Unities and therfore it is the radicall or incipient imperfect number which is in respect of his confusedness and imperfection in the same relation unto Unity from whence it sprung as the bright eternall Unity is unto the dark Chaos which is rudis indi gestaque moles a rude or confused and indigested heap And it is rightly tearmed Imperfect because that the eternall emanation which is all perfection had not as yet made it perfect and for this reason also the watery matter that issued out of it is of it self imperfect no otherwise then the number of 2. is esteemed in regard of that of 3. because all perfection consisteth of 3. tearmes namely a beginning a middle and an end So that if you take one of the
therefore doth all life consist ex caliâ—o essentiali humido radicali of essentiall heat as the masculine or active and radicall moisture as the female or passive This region therefore is referred unto the vitall soul in man and hath relation unto the square as well of form as matter which is in the midst between the cube and the root The third part of the Tabernacle was the Sanctum sanctorum and doth represent the super-celestiall or intelligible soul or emperiall spirit forasmuch as his substance is almost light and fire and it is thought to be the seat of the Angells which are the ministers of their great Prince the Lord of light And this is argued by the presence of the two Cherubins or fiery Angells which with their wings do shadow the propitiatory This heaven hath his relation unto the intellect in man which the Hebrews call Nessaniah and the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latins Mens or the mentall beam which hath the dominion in mans soul. So that we may discern that in the great world the angelicall heaven being most formall and fiery is as it were the soul of the aetheriall heaven for by it and from it this region receiveth his life's motion and being as also by the like proportion the celestiall or aetheriall heaven is the soul or agent of the elementary region For by means of the Sun Moon and Starrs which dart down their beams and influences upon the earth as arrowes against a butt the earth and water and all things therein do act and live and generate and multiply so that the heavens are esteemed by all Philosophers to be the Male and the earth and other elements the Females between the which all generations are made in and upon the earth and in the sea for the earthly body cannot operate without a heavenly touch yea even man himself requireth for his generation the heavenly act and aid and therefore Aristotle concludeth that sol homo generat hominem the sun and man doth ingender a man Again all Philosophers in generall agree in this namely that superiora agunt in inferiora more maris in foeminam the superior bodies do operate upon the inferiors as the man upon the woman And the Maxim of all such Cabalists as are conversant in the mysticall Theology averr that omnes res inferiores sunt representativae superiorum sicut fit inferius sic agitur superius All inferiour things are representours or images of the superiours and such as the inferiours are such also are the superiours And in verity a notable person and well seen in this abstruce learning doth aver that the aeviall or angelicall heaven is framed after the pattern of the eternall and ideall world and the temporall elementary heaven or region is the image of the celestiall or aetheriall so that the images and the actions of the darker world have their ideall shapes in and from the lighter and starry world and the starry world's shapes and actions were first delineated in the intellectuall or angelicall one and they again proceed originally from the radicall pattern without beginning in the Archetype I conclude therefore that both Theology and the mysticall Philosophy do consent that God is well pleased with the holy ternary which is the first odd number in the Arithmeticall progression for we Christians honour a Trinity of Persons in one Deity and Aristotle saith That we are instructed by a naturall kind of instinct or habit to honour God after the number of three and he speaketh in this but reason being that in the ideall world there was three properties extracted out of one unity after whose example the reall world was afterward made so that the Trinity in Divinity was the root of all the worlds formall composition For by the root 3 the intellectuall or angelicall world was deciphered by the square 9 the celestiall world and by the cube 27 the elementary as by the Platonick learning we may gather But as for the Cabalisticall Rabbies they consider the quantitative proportions of this Ternary after another manner for as the cube of three consists of three 9 so they take these three 9 order them in this ternary position 999 which makes nine hundred ninety and nine So that after the rule of Algorism the first 9 towards the right hand is a simple digital number which because of its simplicity formality and essentiality is attributed by them unto the nine orders of Angells which belong unto the intelligible world The middle 9 importing so many Tens doth seem to partake one way of form or simplicity and on the other hand of matter and therefore they allot it unto the nine orbes or sphears of the starry heaven The third 9 which is the place of Hundreds importeth a deeper and more materiall composition belonging unto the elementary world all which do at the last terminate in Man who is as it were a passage after the figure of unity from them unto celestiall things and from thence unto intellectuall To conclude unity in whom the Philosophers Leucippe did place the soveraign good and happinesse being added unto the three novenaries will make a compleat thousand which is the cube often and the end of all numbers according to the Hebraick calculation Also the square of 3 which is 9 by addition of Aleph which is 1 produceth a Denary or the number of 10 beyond the which as Aristotle averreth no man hath ever found any number After the foresaid type therefore or image the antient Law did make a partition of the fruits and goods proceeding from the earth ordaining the centenary number as being more material and grosse unto the Laicks and proâ—ane persons the tenths it ordained allotted to the Church-men Priests or Levites but the unity or denary it reserved for Gods portion who as is proved before being all is nevertheless but one even as from the trunck of a Tree do issue many branches and from those branches again many sprigs and yet are all continuated and undevided from that one trunck from which they have their life and being or as from one body of the Sun an infinity of beams do spring not separated from the essence of that Sun But to return unto our purpose The said Cabalists have adapted and fitted the name of their great Angell which they take for the soul of the world unto this very triple ternary or formall proportion namely 999. arguing thereby his radicall his square and his cubicall extention or emission of his divine form unto the profundity of matter and consequently that he is Aâ—pha and Omega the vivifier of all and present in all and through all For the Letters of the name Mitattron sar hapanim which signifieth the Prince of Faces which is taken for the soul of the world after the calculation of the Hebrewes amount unto 999. and therefore this name with Letters befitting do import this number and yet neverthelesse with this
consideration that the etymology of the word by interpretation may import donum Dei or the gift of God for what greater gift could God impart unto his potentiall creatures and in generall unto the great world then his eternall Spirit of wisdom or his onely Begotten to make them of somewhat nothing and to take away all deformity and nullity from the water and to shape out of them a Heaven and an Earth and to figure out in them all the creatures thereof and to preserve them in existence essence and lively being This was therefore indeed the true catholick donum Dei or gift of God whose incorruptible nature is in all things and filleth all things and as it is the most movable of all things so it operateth all in all according to the will of him that sent him And therefore in regard of the office and as he was an emissive Spirit so was he not unworthily named by them the great or catholick Angell had not Scriptures in plain tearms seemed to intimate so much I could also demonstrate that the world and his soul or life was shaped after the image of the Archetype in this manner From 1 which was all light in whom is no darknesse did 2 issue which was quoad nos darknesse or the dark Chaos so called because unity did not as yet shine forth to inform them Betwixt these two extreams is 3 interposed as a peaceable or charitable unity between meer light and darknesse or the Spirit of divine love who resting in the midst between these two principles uniteth the divine formall fire with the humid materiall nature or spirit of darknesse making a union of two opposite natures so that both natures do remain in one sympatheticall concordance and therefore this formall ternary is called Ligamentum elementorum litem amicitiam concoâ—diae vinculis connectâ—ns The ligament of the elements tying together hatred and love with the bands of concord I expresse them thus Deus 1 Lux. Coelum 3 Sphaera aequalitatis Terra 2 Tenebrae This excellent harmony of the soul of the world is else-where most fitly expressed by me by two equall Piramidicall shapes whereof the one is formall the other materiall the basis of the formall is the immediate act of God or the infinite and onely bright Unity and it importeth the emanation of the creating and informing Spirit so that his Cone doth penetrate unto the very center of the dark earth or abysse And contrariwise the basis of the materiall or watry Pyramis is in the earth or center of darknesse and the Cone ascendeth unto the center of the basis of the formal Pyramis in this manner Now where the intersection is made between the two principal concurrences I have framed a piece of a circle which circle because the portions of the formall Pyramis and materiall are there equall we therefore with the Platonists do call Sphaeram aequalitatis or the Sphear of equality or as they in another respect tearm it the orbe or sphear of the soul of the world which is just in the midst of the starry heaven called for that reason Aether quasi igneus aer a fiery aire as who should say an equall portion of the spirit of the waters and of the formall fire descending from God or Unity as I have expressed before And therefore as we placed in the precedent demonstration the 3 in the center or middle of the line between the divine illuminating unity 1 and the dark Chaos or deformed duality 2 so in the world was the spirituall body of the visible Sun of this typicall world placed in which the invisible and increated Sun of the Archetypicall world did put his Tabernacle and for this cause it is rightly tearmed of the Platonists the sphear of the soul. And verily by effect we find that all vivification doth potently spring from the solar or Sunny influence and as for the excellent beauty of the creature as also in respect of the vivifying act thereof it is an evident argument that it aboundeth with the blessed sparks or vivifying beams of divinity Again that it is the bright organ by which he that vivifieth all things doth impart and pour forth the showre of his benignity or divine Nectar of life continuall experience teacheth even the meanest plowman Now that this most excellent and perfect concord of life doth remain principally in the midst of the line drawn from unity or the fountain of form to the earth or duality which is the fountain of matter I prove it thus by the accords of Musick The perfectest consonance in Musick is Diapason and of all the other symphoniacall accords it approacheth nearest unto the sacred Unity in Divinity for it is half unison and therefore it is rightly compared unto the blessed emanation of life which came from unity and for that reason it is rightly tearmed the Idea or image of a unison And as the unison like one essence in Divinity doth comprehend three Persons importing the three accords in the Archetypicall harmony So also the Diapason comprehendeth in it the two other accords besides it self namely Diapente and Dâ—atessaron Now that this most perfect consonant of Diapason is planted in the midst of a unison and doth as it were beget in it self two perfect chords or Diapasons which be contained within it self I prove it thus Take a Lute or Bandora and strike any of the strings open and then stop that same string exactly in the middle of it and each half will sound a Diapason unto that open unison so that the unison which is made by the striking of the whole string open will be divided into two Diapasons or most perfect consonants unto the whole which is an evident argument that the perfection of the Diapason is in the seat of the Sun and consequently that the formall and lively accord of all the world is no otherwise in that centrall or middle place then the heart which is the seat of life is in man And yet by the beams of the Sun this life of the world is made catholick and filleth all no otherwise than the vitall blood doth universally expanse it self in the Microcosm by the channells of the arteries But I fear I have followed this point too far to prove and maintain the soul of this world wherefore I leave it to come directly unto the point being that in my Mosaicall Philosophy to wit in the fourth book thereof I have fully proved and maintained that Translation of Jerom to be right namely Posuit tabernaculum suum in sole he put his tabernacle in the Sun I will proceed therefore unto the second opinion of the Philosophers The ancient Philosopher Democritus Orpheus with the Pythagoreans do judge that all things are full of gods and again all these gods they referre unto one Jupiter where by gods they â—ntend the divine virtues infused into things which Zoroaster called divinos illices Synesius the Bishop Symbolicas illecebras others tearm
them lines others sorts on which the virtue of things do depend They erre not much in this saying onely in appearing to divide the Godhead into diversities of gods but they seem to excuse themselves of that error in saying that all those gods had relation unto one Jupiter and so by that word relation they preserve the continuity and indivisibility in the Soul They agree therefore with Scriptures in that their meaning is that this divine essence is in all things For as Scriptures acknowledg that the catholick Spirit of Wisdome is one simple Spirit and yet it is tearmed by Solomon multiplex or manifold in respect of his multiplicity of action or property in creatures which it animateth for it is said to fill the universe And the incorruptible Spirit of God to be in all things and to give life and motion unto all forasmuch as it is omni re mobilior more movabâ—e and sprightfull then any thing and being but one thing it is able to do all things it being permanent in it felf and therefore doth animate all being that it is in all and every where For this reason also the Poets say Omnia Jovis plena that all are full of Jupiter That is to say the essentiall beams of this Eternall Jupiter or JEHOVA are in every particular place of the world making things to live and exist by a different property And for this reason they conclude that omnia diis plena as is said all things are full of gods I come unto the third The Platonists and all those Philosophers which partake with them differ in nothing from Orpheus Democritus and the rest saving that those call that the Soul of the world which the other tearm Jupiter and the Gods which possesse all things they nominate peculiar souls or mentall beames which depend and have a continuated relation unto the Anima mundi as the incorruptible Spirit of the Lord that filleth each particuler is not discontinued from that humid fountain which filleth the universe It is evident therefore by this which is already said that all the subsequent opinions of the Philosophers touching the Anima mundâ— may be fully confirmed and maintained by the self same reasons and therefore I will say no more touching this point at this instant I conclude therefore thus that seeing the Soul of the world hath for his internall act the bright emanation of the eternall Unity and the subtile catholick created Spirit for its humid Vehicle or materiall Organ which is its externall in which and by which it operareth in all and over all We must acknowledg that there is a kind of contrariety in the very catholick Soul for else would not action and passion be in the created Soul which is so called because it is made of alterity that is of two namely of a creared passive which is an off-spring of the dark Chaos and therefore apt to move unto darknesse by a naturall inclination and of an increated active which seeketh to Deify this Spirit if it do adhere or incline unto it and to exalt its light Hence cometh it that by reason of this Spirit 's divers inclination there are good or bad passions ingendred not onely in the heavens and earth of the great world and their creatures as well celestiall and elementary as animall vegetable and minerall but also in the little world which is man as shall be expressed in the first Chapter of the next Book But first I deem it most fit to open unto you the true mystery how the peculiar Soul of the little world and then how all other Souls as well animal vegetable and mineral do proceed and spring from and afterwards are preserved and multiplied by this catholick Soul of the world which is a doubt not fully decided by the best Philosophers even unto this very day And therefore ought this discourse of ours not to be slighted or lightly regarded even of the learnedest of this our Age. CHAP. V. How all particular Souls are said to spring forth or proceed and then afterwards to have their preservation and multiplication from this generall Anima mundi or Soul of the world and first to begin with that of the moâ—â— noble which is of the little world or Man HErmes called also for another reason Mercurius Trismegistus said rightly that the world was made after the similitude or Type of God and therefore as the one is tearmed Archetypus so also the other is said to be Typus For this reason therefore in another place he saith Scio mundum à Deo atque in Deo hominem vero a mundo in mundo consistere principium autem comprehensioque omnium Deus I know saith he that the world is from God and in God and that man is of the world and in the world But God is the beginning and the comprehension of all things And again he speaketh thus else where in a generality Deus est Cosmi Pater cosmus vero eorum quae in Cosmo cosmus quidem Dei filius jure Cosmus appellatus est quia omnia veritate generationis exornat necnon indesinenti vitae operatione perpetua necessitatis celeritate elementorum commistione ordine genitorum Cosmus quaecunque ab ipsa origine suscepit à Deo perpetuò servat God is the Father of the world the world is the father of them that are in the world and the world is the off-spring of God and it is rightly called Cosmus because it adorneth with verity every kind of generation and also with a never ceasing operation of life and a perpetuall celerity of necessity in the commixtion of the Elements which by order are brought forth c. In all this he varieth not from Scriptures For that in the beginning God is said to have made the world of a matter without a form and to have adorned his humid nature or the heavens with his vivifying Spirit which filleth and operateth all in all as I have told you before and that from the breath of the self-same Spirit of life all the creatures of the world are animated and from the substantiall Elements in the world they receive their matter So that as God by the pouring forth of his bright vivifying and all-acting Spirit did make the humid and passive nature of the world to operate and that so animated Spirit which is mixed secundum totum in qualibet ejus parte in all and every part with his increated Animatour is rightly called the Soul of all the Universe So we ought to make no question at all but that every particular Soul in this vaulted machin of the world doth depend and is procreated preserved and multiplied from that catholick Soul because it is an axiom infallible among Philosophers that the whole doth comprehend each part and again each particular hath his existence and being from the whole But the world's catholick materiall Spirit is inacted and preserved by the catholick Eternall Spirit
sent out from the Fountain of life to inact and vivify all things Which increated Spirit of life is indivisible in essence and therefore as it doth actually from his immense fountain of life send down or breathe forth the influences of life after the manner of an infinity of beams from one Sun unto an infinite sort of creatures to inform them and make them live So are those beams of life thus sent out no less continuated and indivisible from that fountain or spiritual and indivisible Son of life then the visible beams can be divided from the visible Sun Neither was it sufficient for Adam to have indued a Microcosmicall body namely a masse of earth for his materiall had not this exalted formall essence sent by God into the world as not divided from divinity added a lively force and activity by breathing his Spirit of life into him And therefore Hermes spake not amiss when he said that the world was the Image of God and man the image of the world being that as God created and vivifyed the watery Spirit of the world by adding unto it his creating Spirit of life so that Spirit of life which is all one in essence with the Father being sent into the world and filling the Spirit of the world doth vivify multiply and preserve not onely man but also every other animal vegetable and minerall that is in the world This being therefore in the first place to be considered I proceed thus The variety of the Species upon the earth did radically proceed from the very act of creation when the word Fiat was spoken and immediatly the will of the speaker was accomplished by his Son which by the way of emanation was sent into the world to do the will of his Father And there are some that will not shrink to say that all the Species or kinds of creatures were expressed in and by the 22. Hebrew letters not those externall ones which are vulgarly painted out with Ink or Art which are but shadows but the fiery formall and bright spirituall letters which were ingraven on the face or superficies of the dark hyles by the fiery word of the eternall Speaker in the beginning and therefore they are tearmed originally Elementa quasi Hylementa or Elements as engraven in the forehead of the dark abysse or Hyle and by reason of the essence of that divine Word which received the mystery of the Typicall creation and did trace it out after the Archetypicall patern and delineated it in characters of formall fire the language which was framed out of it was called Lingua Sancta a language I say much spoken of by the learned Rabbies of our age but little known or understood by them and yet of an infinite importance for the true enucleation as well of sacred Mysteries as of all true Cabalisticall abstrusities But to proceed According to the tenor of the divine Word and his formall characters the effects whereof passed unalterable into the world each species or kind was framed and again every individuall of each kind was made divers and distinct from others as well in shape and proportion as condition and and property Now as I said that this Spirit of the Lord did effect the will of his Father in creating every thing thus differently being in it self but one and the same essence So also did it and doth still continue and keep every one of these Species or kinds by multiplication or generation in their successive estates and preserveth every individuall during the time of his being as well by an elementary as aethereall kind of nutriment which according to his spirituality doth descend as it were from heaven to nourish the spirits of each individuall according unto his kind For you must understand that as the catholick soul of the world is generall unto all So is the aire made the chest or closet of his golden treasury or spiritual food which while it swimmeth occultly like a golden vapour showred down from heaven in the aire filling and replenishing all So whilst it is yet in the open aire it is as apt to sustain and multiply the life of a serpent a sheep a fish or a foul an oake a herb or such like as of a man For so soon as the magnetick power or virtue of the creature which causeth every minute a refection from this heavanly Nectar hath drawn in a portion of this catholick Spirit or nature it leaveth his catholick or generall nature and worketh specifically that is to say according unto the individuall nature of that kind which receiveth it that is to say it converteth it self being in a dog into his nature in a whale into his nature in a man into his in an oake or myrtill into his in wheat into the proper nature of wheat and so in all other kinds and consequently it is the cause that every creatures spirit is nourished and sustained it it self For this was the Creator's Ordinance that by what spirit the creature was first created in his kind by the same it should be maintained preserved and multiplied Hence it was that the Philosopher breaketh forth into this speech Est in aere occulius vitae cibus The hidden aliment of life is in the aire Whereby he means that quint essentiall food which we receive from the generall Spirit of life in the world which by the appointment of God hangeth ready and in every part of the aire to strive for the spirituall food of life unto every elementary creature the main virtue whereof consisteth in the eternall vivifying Word and Spirit of all things and therefore the Text saith Deus dat vitam inspirationem omnia God giveth life and inspiration and all things And again Visitatio tua conservat spiritum meum Thy visitation doth preserve my spirit Vita adest benevolentiâ IEHOVAE Life is present by the benevolence of IEHOVA Vitae fons penes Deum est The fountain of life is with God Vitae prolongatio benignitas ejus The prolonging of life is the benignity of God Quem visitavit Deus salute sua fruetur bono Whom God doth visit with his salutiserous nature he shall be partaker of goodnesse Deo dante creaturis colligunt aperiente manum suam saâ—iantur bono abscondente faciem suam conturbantur recipiente spiritum corrum exspirant emittente spiritum suum recreantur God giving unto the creatures food they receive it when he openeth his hand they are filled with all goodnesse If he hide away his face or abstain from giving them their daily spirituall bread they are troubled and wiâ—l be sick if he take away from them their spirit they exspire and die but if he send forth again his Spirit they are recreated and refreshed again We are taught also by Christ in our Pater-noster to pray for our daily bread and it is called there Panem super-substantialem the super-substantiall bread as Jerom interpreteth it And our Saviour meaning of
in the animals it is easie to know how blood in the animals body is transmuted from a white chylous substance into a rubicund and ruddy blood By reason of his vegetation and multiplication in substance it is an easie matter to guesse the manner of augmentation and vegetation and also of the quantitative multiplication by way of generation of the animal For verily I have observed so worthy an experiment in this vegetative salt in the Wheat of which the blood of man by eating of bread is full that we need not to make any doubt but that it is the onely substance of vegetation as well in the animall as vegetable For on a day when I had cast away the faeces or superfluous part of the substauce out of which I did draw the salt liquor into a large Pipkin and covered it with a thin plate of iron within three weeks or a months space I found it to have struck up out of the pot quite through the plate of iron and to make above a thousand blades like an iron-coloured saffron to grow up out of the superficies of it which argueth the admirable vegetative property that it hath in it But letting this suffice to expresse the occult puissance of this secret fire of God in nature in all vegetables mineralls and other animals I will now convert the file of my speech onely unto that wondrous act and operation which this admirable Spirit effecteth in the little world or man The spirit of life was by God so inspired into man that he was made a living creature no otherwise then when Elohim Ruach was breathed on the waters they were animated and vivified and became a great world which the Platonists for that reason called Magnum animal A great living creature But as the world was made after the image of God before man was made and afterwards man by the same Spirit in the world was framed by the Word after the pattern of that Spirit of life and the substance of the waters which were in the great world Therefore we must conceive that man hath the vivifying means of his sustentation preservation and multiplication by generation from the soul of the world and his elements Wherefore Hermes doth not unadvisedly expresse the descent and ingression of the worlds vivifying spirit into man after this manner A er est in corpore anima in aere mâ—ns in anâ—ma in mente verbum Verbum verò est eorum pater The aire is in the body the soul or life is in the aire the mentall Spirit is in the soul the Word is in the mentall Spirit and the Word is the Father of them all And he concludeth in that place Quod Verbum sit imago Dei mens verbi anima mentis aer animae corpus aëris That the Word is the Image of God the mental beam the image of the word the vitall Soul the image of the mental beam the aire of the vitall Soul and the body of the aire Whereby we may discern the admirabletie which every portion of each dignity in the great world hath unto other in the composition of the little world and therefore it is made evident that the purest portion of elementary matter is aire the purest sublimity of the aire is the vitall form in which is the mentall beam and in it is the Word which is God and we must observe that by mentem or the mentall Spirit is meant the vivifying Spirit of Wisdom which filleth all things whose fountain as Ecclesiasticus doth teach us is the Word of God as if I with Hermes should say the bright and eternall Spirit of life in the quintessentiall Spirit maketh the Soul the Soul in the aire is conducted into the body where it operateth the effects of vivification and internall multiplication of the Species and therefore he saith in another place Anima hominis in hunc vehitur modum Mens in ratione ratio in anima anima in spiritu spiritus in corpore Spiritus per venas arteriasque sanguinemque diffusus animal undique ciet The Soul of man is carried into his body after this manner The mental beam is the reasonable spirit the reasonable spirit is in the Soul or ethereall spirit the Soul or ethereall spirit is in the airy spirit and the airy spirit is in the body which moveth through the veins and arteries and being dispersed over all the blood doth agitate and move the body on every side We must therefore imagine that the aire which is drawn into our heart by inspiration is full of that divine treasure of life the which residing in the heart of man sucketh and draweth his life into it by a magnetick force and virtue For nature coveteth and rejoyceth at the presence of its like as is said And again that the heart is the precious store-house of the active treasure of life we may collect out of this speech of Solomon Cor tuum custodi supra onâ—nem observationem quia ab eo procedunt actiones vitae Gard with the best diligence and keep charily thy heart seeing that from it proceed all the actions of life The nature and instruments by which the Spirit attracteth magnetically and expelleth after attraction that of the humid vehicle of aire which is inutil and superfluous in this Being that without the sparks of life and generation which swimme in the aire no creature amongst the which we esteem Man to be the chiefest can live scarsly a moment of time it is most necessary that they should be drawn and sucked in by the creature every minute for without this necessary act with the salutary effect thereof the animal will forthwith be suffocated or strangled for by the deprivation of the aire the soul will soon cease his vivifying operation forasmuch as it is nothing else but a portion of eternall light in the soul of the world which is composed as I proved before of the divine emanating virtue and the subtil humid nature of the world whereof the first affordeth the Calidum innatum or natural heat of life and the last the humidum radicale or radical moisture unto the creatures existence and therefore by the inspiration of aire this double virtue is every moment renewed and refreshed in the creature This Spirit therefore the Animal and by consequence man inspireth or sucketh into the left chamber ventricle or region of the heart by the contraction of the straight fibres of the heart when the transverse and oblique fibres will be relaxed whereby the heart will be dilated or opened and this action is called of the Physitians Diastole In the time thereof or interval of this motion the heart doth draw into his left vessell by the Arteria venosa or veiny artery out of the lungs whither it first was conveyed by inspiration through the aspera arteria or weesell-pipe a portion of the airy store-house of nature with his vitall treasury contained in it being as is
said ordained by God for vivification and spiritual and seminal generation's cause that is to say for the nutrition of the vital and internal generative Spirits no otherwise then the liver is accustomed to suck and draw the chylous juice of the gross nutriment for the engendring and fosâ—ering of the naturall spirits which are ordained for vegetation or encreasing of the bodily parts Again after that nature hath received and drawn-in into her well-adorned and subtilly adapted still-house or laboratory I mean the heart this aereal Spirit with his concealed or occult treasure she beginneth in it to anatomise and sift or search the bowels of of this attracted aire and separating the celestiall nature or true vitall treasure of the invisible fire of life from the grosser and most inutil portion of the aire it reserveth onely the purest which is nothing but a subtile volatile salt adapted to serve as a vehicle for the divine fire of life or true vivifying Spirit in the aethereal and quintessentiall nature and then as for the selected Spirits of life she encloseth them in her large arteriall store-house called Aorta or Arteria magna the great Artery sending immediatly the more superfluous fuligions and inutil part of the aire back again the way it came by exspiration And this expulsive action is effected by the contraction of the transverse fibres of the heart and the relaxation of the straight for by this means the heart is also contracted or compressed which action of motion is called by Physitians Systole And we must understand that for the better preservation of this golden treasure of life within his arterial treasure house God in nature hath so ordered that there is a triple valve or gate like three half-moons to close it in and to keep it securely for the bodies necessity lest it should fly away by the passage it came in and therefore this three-leaved gate is fashioned after such a manner that it doth open within and is closed without so that what gets into the great Artery cannot return back again as in like manner at the mouth of the venal artery there is a double gate compacted of two valves and they do open without and shut within so that fresh aire may easily enter but the treasure included after the expulsion of the fuliginous vehicle or superfluous aire may be retained Now will I 'm few words expresse unto you the action of this heavenly Spirit After it is thus included in the arteriall trunk it is certain that it doth dilate it self through the branches or divided channells thereof over all the body For by those branches called Charotides a refined portion of it doth ascend unto the brain by those smal conduicts I say the super-celestiall part of this Chymicall extraction forasmuch as it is in dignity the most super-excellent of all the fountain of life doth challenge unto his seat and possession the noblest and loftiest region of this micro-cosmicall palace and as it were his Emperiall heaven for hither soareth the mentall beam in his rationall vehicle electing this place for its chief tabernacle or coelum coelorum yet so that the beames of his power are reflected unto every branch of his divided Arterial cabinet For this reason therefore all Physitians as well Ethnick as Christian have concluded that the voluntary humane action hath his seat in the brain being the region of the animal virtue or faculty whereas the other two actions of man namely the vitall in the heart and naturall in the liver seem to be subject unto this being that they are actiones involuntariae unvoluntary actions and this is the reason that the Brain is the seat of reason and understanding Then in the second rank that portion of the introducted Spirit which in the forge of man's nature is framed out and found fit for the action of life is convayed into those branches of the great Artery which are called Cervicales Humerariae and those which assigne life unto the region of the Chest or breast where it doth indue and take on it that impression of spirituall vivacity which belongeth unto those parts as also the Coronariae do assume unto them the internal or ideal shape of spirits belonging unto the heart and so forward touching the other Arteriall branches and their contained heavenly treasure So that this invisible spirit lurking and as it were swimming in the thin substance of the airy spirit doth not onely expanse and dilate it self to the vivifying of each member in the body but also by a contraction of it self into a spermatick cloud the which happeneth in the act of copulation through a certain magnetick virtue animated by divine love this spirit is miraculously convayed into two preparing arteriall spermatick vessells from every member but especially from the three principalls and there this celestiall Spirit full of divine fire after the Image of the radicall Archetype in whom all things were first spiritually and ideally delineated before they were in the regard of man even as the Prophet David did glory in that he had wholly received the image of the Temple described by the hand of God which afterward was put in act containeth the invisible of that humane body which shortly was to be inacted and really to be delineated and brought forth unto man's sight that is to say it did ideally possesse the shape of the inward or spiritual man as also the image of the externall or corporall man being compacted of the four Elements proceedeth from the visible sperm which issued from the two venall spermatick vessells But that this is so we have it plainly as I imagine confirmed by these words of Holy-Writ Tu possides renes meos ex quo obtegebar in utero matris meae non celata est vis mea tibi ex quo factus sum in abdito artificiosè confectus velut in imis partibus terrae Massam meam vident oculi tui in libro tuo omnia membra mea sunt scripta ex quibus diebus for mabantur cum nullum ex iis extaret Thou dost possesse my reines from the time that I was covered in my mothers womb My strength is not hid unto thee from the time that I was made and was artificially shaped as it were in the lower parts of the earth Thine eyes do behold the masse whereof I was made and all my members were described and delineated in the dayes that they were shaped or informed when none of them did visibly exist And to this purpose it is said else-where Spiritus Dei fecit me spiraculum omnipotentis vivificavit me The Spirit of the Lord made me and the breath of the Omnipotent did vivifie me That is First he reduced me into a mass of seed and afterwards did make it alive by his breathing into it And the wise-man Ut ignoras quae sit via spiritus quomodo ossa pinganturin ventre praegnantis sic nescis opera Die quia est fabricator
omnium As thou knowest not which is the way that the spirit moveth and how the bones are shaped and made in the mothers womb so art thou ignorant in the works of the Lord who hath made and framed all things c. Whereby it is manifest that the Spirit of God operateth in the sperm as wel before the emission of the seed into the womb as afterwards This also is plainly expressed by these words of Job Nonne sicut lac fudisti me tanquam caseum coagulasti me cuâ—e carne induâ—sti me ossibus nervis compegisti me cum vita benignitatem exercuâ—stiergame at visitatio tua praeservavit spiritum meum at ista recondisti in animo tuo Novi haec apud te esse Didst thou not poure me out like milk and didst thou not curdle me like a cheese Thou didst indue me with skin and flesh and compacted or joyned me together with bones and sinews Thou didst exercise thy benignity towards me in giving me life and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit And yet hast thou kept this secret in thy heart I know well that this is so with thee In all which this difficult point appeareth to be fully deciphered and opened as well touching the act of generation as in regard of the foresaid mystery in the preservation and continuation of the life of the Infant as well in his mothers womb as after the birth thereof For in this member Sicut lac fudisti me he seemeth to argue that the spermatick masse was well disposed and composed by the spirit of life of the which a man was afterward explicitely delineated and framed Then goeth he forwards to the second degree in generation Tanquam caseum coagulastime by which it appeareth that the divine Spirit did thicken the seed into a more solid substance like cheese according unto that other saying of Job Memento quaeso quod sicut argillam fecisti me c. Remember that thou maiest me as clay c. Then he proceedeth thus Cute carne induisti me ossibusque nervis compegisti me c. And now in this degree he commeth after the coagulation of the spermatick masse unto the complement of the particular human parts or members of the which the externall man is made in the womb as the spirituall image of the son was in the arteriall seed of the father before it was cast into the womb By all which it appeareth that the divine Spirit did operate all this outward man in his own person and then to the vivification of that externall man so shaped out of the elementary seed he proceedeth thus Cum vita benignitatem exercuisti erga me shewing by this that the corporall work being effected and made fit to lodge so noble and emperial a guest as is the divine mentall beam namely of the builder of it riding in a mundane vehicle the lordly guest doth immediately possesse it and make it live and move and feel according unto that of the Apostle In him we live move and have our beeing To conclude after that Adam was by God shaped out of a lump of earth he breathed into it the spiracle of life and that masse was made a living creature agreeing with the forementioned place of Job saying The Spirit of the Lord made me and the breath of the Almighty did vivifie me that is the Spirit of God made both the externall and internall Neither was that spiracle of life destitute of understanding that is to say without the reall beam of eternity for it is said else-where In homine est spiritus sed in spiratio Omnipotentis facit eum intelligere In man is a spirit but it is the inspiration of the Almighty which maketh him to understand And for this reason also is man-rightly said in Scripture to be framed after the image of God Was not the excellent artifice of this eternal Spirit wel expressed by Ezekiel after it came from the four winds and breathed upon the slain Eccâ— saith the Lord unto the dead bones ego intromittam in vos spiritum ut vivatis dabo super vos nervos succrescere faciam supra vos carnes extendam in vos cutem dabo vobis spiritum vivetis Et dixit propheta ex manâ—aâ—o Dei A quatuor ventis veni spiritus insuffla super interfectos istos ut reviviscant ingressus est in eos spiritus revixerunt Behold I will put into you a spirit and you shall live and I will put on you sinewes and I will make slesh to grow on you and I will cover and extend on you a skin and I will give you a spirit and you shall live And the prophet said according as God commanded him Come O spirit from the four winds and breath upon these slain persons that they may live again And the spirit entred into them and hey lived again c. By the which file of speech we may gather first That it was the divine vertue which fashioned out the externall man before it had a living spirit and then afterward that the spirit of life was breathed into the externall man from the catholick spirit of life in the great world for he said Come O spirit from the four winds And again that the world hath a catholick spirit by which it liveth for the four winds had their breath and life from this one spirit by the which the universall sublunary element seemeth to live and is changed from one complexion unto another and doth most lively operate diversity of effects in the compound creatures of this lower region of the world for experience doth teach us that the common aire is of an earthly nature when the North winds bloweth and of a cholerick when the East wind hath dominion c. Now touching the manner of the shaping out of the specifick individuall it may be demanded why this catholick vivifying spirit of the world being but one doth bring forth every fruit or birth according unto his kinde and not all one I told you before that each specifick creature was radically created in his kinde distinct and different from one another according to the will of the Creator and was by the same spirit maintained and multiplyed evermore reserving the shape of the species or kinds which was allotted him in his creation and it should seem that God appointed as it were a certain secret mold to fashion out the potentiall creature before it came to act And for the better understanding hereof we must know that there are four spermatick preparing vessells namely two and two on a side whereof the one is a venall vessell and it issueth out of the vena cava and from hence commeth the bodily sperm made of the refined subject of the four elements of the body and is therefore the principle or root of the Infants externall or body and it is visible and is called Sperma And the other is an
arteriall vessell and this is the well-spring of the inward man for it is the invisible fire of life and it is called Semen which when the mixtion of both is made doth dwell no otherwise centrally in the visible sperm then mans soul doth in the body We must observe therefore that as there are two vessells on a side the one spirituall the other elementall so these two in their descent towards the resticles do make by their subtle implication of the one with the other that admirable and pleasant web or plex to behold which the Greeks do call Anaâ—tomosis the which embracing and secret weaving together of insensible parts is effected by the artifice of that great builder not onely as the Anatomists do think because that the red and bloody seed may be made white but first that it might divide the spermatick substance in the venall vessells and seminall substance in the arteriall from the bloody masse as well naturall which â—loweth from the liver as vitall which springeth from the heart And then that by this Dedalian labyrinth the seminall form being the microcosmicall heaven may aptly and according unto the specifick creatures true similitude be mingled together no otherwise then we observe the form of a thing to be by a naturall mixtion perfused and spread over all his elementary substance And without all doubt the fabrick of this Plexus or Anastomosis is such as is the impression of some notable Seal the which in a Man is Manlike in a Lion is like a Lion in an Eagle is after the shape of an Eagle and so according unto this impression which is occult and scarâ—ely discerned by imagination the sperm is formed after the manner of clay and is moistned with this seminary nature as with water and by the vertue of that divine spirit which dwelleth secretly in it is made a living creature in the womb These two natures therefore are so tempeâ—ed together according unâ—o the law of this vivifying nature and the semen or invisible spirit of the aire is so agitated and moved by the divine nature which moveth in that spirit no otherwise then the aire is with the spirit of the blower that the bodily visible sperm is shaped out after the image of his created species or kind even as we see a Mole to make and frame out it self a house or dwelling place under the earth And this is the work of the secret spirit after that this compounded and well mixed substance is cast into the womb To conclude all that we have spoken touching this animal subâ—ect may easily also be averred and that without any offence of the vegetable kingdom for the whole plant or tree did yet lie hid complicitely in the seed or kernell and by the same reason is explicitely brought to ligâ—t by the operation of the hid and secret spirit of light and life which is in it But I have ranged too far from my mark and that in a subject I fear which will prove offensive unto such as will not radically consider these things as they are indeed but after their sense and the wisdom of the world I will therefore now approach unto the main point of our Discourse since that I have thus largely expressed unto you the two principal and radicall pillars of Sympathy and Antipathy namely light and darkness or form and matter being that all love and therefore Sympathy proceedeth from light as contrariwise all hatred and consequently Antipathy must needs spring and arise from darkness whose first-born child was Litigium or Discord The Second BOOK Wherein those mysticall Irradiations which spring occultly from the two foresaid opposite Principles Light and Darknesse with their Sympatheticall and Antipatheticall effects as also the reason of each living or concupiscible Attraction of like natures and odious and irascible Expulsion in things of a contrary spirit are detected and opened The Argument of this Second Book THe Author having by diligent enquiry found out the essentiall root of Sympathy and Antipathy as is already expressed in the first Book where he proveth it to be but one catholick or universall simplicity in essence though of a two-fold property quite opposite unto one or other in nature and condition no otherwise than Volunty is unto Nolunty He thought it not sufficient to gather by circumstances and conclude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely that it is so And therefore in this present Book he attempteth with the tightest and highest stretched nerves of his understanding to enquire and search out the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to wit why wherefore and by what means this double act is disseminated in the Universe Indeed he finds this last branch so difficult to be found out by mortall capacities that he esteemeth it no small master-piece in this his research and for this reason is contented to be directed or guided into this difficult path of so profound a speculation by the light or Pole-star of such sublime and rectified both Theologicall and Cabalisticall spirits as have received the enucleation of so great a doubt from that highest spirituall emanation who is the onely revealer of deep and arcaâ—e mysteries as the Prophet Daniel and the wise Solomon doth assure us who forasmuch as 〈…〉 â—ssentiall Actor both in Sympathy and Antipathy is most able to describ◠〈…〉 â—orth this doubt which men so earnestly hunt after in her liveliest coloâ—rs By the observation therefore of the rules and axioms as well of the holy Scriptures as learned Hebrew and Aegyptian Rabbies he hath gathered That the eternall or divine and archetypicall world which hath neither beginning nor end doth radically spring from one simple and catholick fountain of Light and doth effuse a decuple emanation endued with a ten-fold property into the Aeviall or Angelicall world which hath its beginning from the eternall one but no end And the aeviall world doth in like manner pour out these divine effluxions or emanations of light by angelicall vehicles into the temporall world which hath both a beginning and an end So that the etheriall or celestiall region of the temperall world is made the store house or treasury of the divine influences from whence they are more or lesse according unto the will of him who sendeth them out distilled down into the elementary world to effect his command or pleasure either for the good or welfare or harm and dammage of the elementary creature By this degradation therefore he perceived that God sent out one essentiall emanation by his word of a multiform and sundry condition that things might vary and differ in this world from one another and that the variety of properties in the manifold emanation or flowing forth of the divine vertue establisheth an angelicall creature or spirituall organ of a differing act whereby and in the which it doth operate centrally by a diverse nature And consequently he finds it evident that being in the divine emanations there are properties of a contrary fortitude it must needs
doth proceed from one eternall Essence as from the root of al things IT is most certain that as there are an infinity of creatures of divers natures in the universall machin So also every one of them was variously first created and then generated and maintained after generation even untill the day of their corruption by sundry celestiall influences or many thousand of varieties of beams descending from above And therefore the wisest amongst the Cabalisticall Rabbies affirm Quod non sit ulla planta aut herba inferiùs cui non sit stella in firmamento quae percutiat eam dicat ei Cresce That there is not any plant or herb here beneath which hath not a Star in the firmament to beat on it with his influence and as it were to say unto it Increase or muliply Neither do the Scriptures appear to be repugnant unto this their opinion as hereafter shall plainly in his convenient place be expressed But because the radicall indication of this matter requireth a more profound speculation it will be most necessary for the Reader 's better edification or instruction to make a diligent inquisition after the depth of this Mystery namely first to discover how all Creation was effected by the sending forth of the beams of God's eternall Light and whether that Emanation be of one or divers and manifold in property I told you and prooved manifestly before that all things were in the beginning created by one eternall Spirit of Wisdom which was sent forth from the infinite Fountain of Light in the shape of an emanation eradiation or effluxion to inform and inact all things explicitly which before were contained complicitly in the divine puissance of that everlasting Unity which in it self is all in all I prooved it by these expresse places in Scripture Solomon calleth this holy Spirit of discipline the vapour of God's Virtue and the sincere emanation and effluxion of his brightness and the splendor or beams of his Divine Light and the mirrour without all spot of his goodness And St. John saith that in the Word is the life of all things and that this Spirit was Light in which was no darkness and that by it all things were made and without it nothing was made And the son of Syrach That it came forth of the mouth of the Most High And Solomon That it was with IEHOVA in the beginning of all his waies in the creation and was that holy Spirit whereby be composed or made all things in the Creation and therefore it is apparent that it was by the emanation or sending forth of the catholick or universall beam of divine Light that all particular things were diversly framed shaped and animated and that by a many of streamings forth of more particular beames of light proceeding by multiplication from the root unto the trunck or body namely from the Unity fountain or head unto the generall emanation which may rightly be compared unto the body of a tree forasmuch as from it all boughs twigs leaves and fruit do spring and as in this progression the trunck of the tree doth immediatly issue from the root and yet is continued with the root which is the beginning so the divine emanation in like manner proceedeth directly from Ensoph or the fountain or root of infinity by the way of emanation not divided or separated from his eternall Originall and by reason of this his emanation the Spirit is said to be the first created before all things as the trunck before the boughs twigs leaves or fruit So that in respect of his essentiall existence he is eternall but in regard of his emanation into the world he is said to be aeviall that is to have a beginning without end and therefore becometh the head and Prince of all the aeviall world I mean the Angelicall creaâ—ures We proceed therefore in the progression and multiplication of this universall emanation thus From the trunck of the tree issueth the generall speciall and individuall branches whereof the most strongest after the trunck are all armes of the body the next boughs then twigs and lastly the leavs c. To this we compare in our Angelicall or aeviall world the divers stations of the Angels assigned unto them according unto their dignity and riches in the divine influences which they receive from the root or fountain of Light by the mediation of their body Christ Jesus And for this reason it is said that He is the Image of the invâ—sible God the first begotten of all creatures for in hâ—m are maâ—e all things both in heaven and earth as well visible as invisible whether they are Thrones or Dominations or Potestates all by him and in him are made and he is before all and all consist in him So that all Angells do no otherwise proceed immediately from him and are continuate with him than the branches of a Tree proceed from the body thereof but as we see that the greater armes of the Tree are neerer in distance unto the trunck and therefore are more substantiall and strong and beautifull than the rest so are these Angels of the Emperiall or supercelestiall heaven nearer to the body to wit the eveâ—lasting stream of light and therefore more rich and abundant in divine light and that by degrees and order according as they are nearer the face of the divine essentiall inâ—â—uence that bestoweth that most excellent light and glory on them to deck and adorn them with so perfect a formall beauty and existence And as we see that each main arme of the tree hath a dimension in longitude in the which as it depaâ—teth from the body of the tree it waxeth lesser and lesser so each of the nine Orders of Angels are of a lesse proportion of light than other and their preheminence in light is ever more diminished by little as it is remote from the body that giveth it that light and life Then as we see the lesser boughes which by a subdivision do proceed from those armes of the tree do immediately spring out of them but have a place diâ—â—inguished from them although they are continued and no way disjoynted or seperated fâ—om them either in substance or essence So also the Olympick or Aetheriall Angells have their lights and souls poured out from the Emperiall diversly and that according unto severall measures and againâ— they send forth their beams or bâ—ight effluâ—nces from the starry Orbes which they possesse and illuminate unto the elementary spirits which have dominion over the winds with their legionâ— which we compare unto the many twigs which spring out of the said boughes for as the twigs are small in substance in regard of the bough and yet are continuate unto the bough and have all one naturall life so those Angels are not so illuminated as the Olympick Spirits as also the Olympick Spirits are not so bright and affluent in divine riches as those angelical Intelligences which approach the
are reasonable namely Man as unreasonable to wit the Stars of heaven and earthly creatures both animals vegetables and minerals And therefore Archangelus the Cabalist maketh many degrees in the offices of Angels For some saith he do stand before the divine tribunall of God still praising him some administer unto him and unto us also some have the custody of the watches of the night of which CHRIST maketh mention If he came in the second or thâ—â—d watch of the nâ—ght c. Some have the government of the four quarters of the year and these are Presidents over the four stations of the Sun others are ordained rulers over the seven Planets and some do dispose of the influences and vertues of the fixed Stars and twelve Signes of which St. Joâ—â— doth seem to make mention saying That in the twelve gates that is the twelve Signes which as Plato saith are the ports of heaven are the twelve Angels Some are tuâ—elar Angels and are ordained for the creatures safeguard some have the custody of beasts others of plants others of pretious stones and mineralls All these the secret Theologians and wisemen do affirm averring withall that God worketh all in this inferiouâ— world by the administration of Angells And therefore St. Paul saith That all are administring spiâ—â—ts sent to effect that office Thus far Archangelus And again Reuclin argueth That the influxion of angelicall beams from the stars must be divers and of sundry natures because that the Angells do not by their voluntary action move the celestiall Orbe alwaies after one manner though by reason of the violent motion it doth move daily by a diurnall motion from East to West But what needs many words when the progression of the foresaid Cabalisticall work doth open and discover all the myâ—ticall operation and variety of action in the Angells For if once the ten names of God which produce ten divers emanations of different conditions which are sent by the ten foresaid numerations or sephiroticall ports or channells do breed contrary effects both in heaven above and in earth beneath it followeth by the foresaid testimony of the Prophet David that there must be so many angelicall vehicles to conduct them into the lower world as there are Cabalisticall ports and channells and consequently as many diversities of the divine properties proceeding from the variety of his will as also varieties of vehicles to conduct them For I would have each judicious Reader to conceive that the Hebrew Doctors did judge of the nature and property of each Name or attribute ascribed unto God in holy Writ by that self-same effect which it produced after the uttering or expressing of it therein no otherwise than the Philosopher useth to judge of the nature and property of the complexion by the aspect of the Physiognomy or as by the signes whiâ—h he beholdeth in the heavens he determineth of their effects to wit of rain winds thunder c. namely because such presages in the heavens do use to bring forth such and such effects Now as I have proved before if it be the divine influence of light which animateth and informeth each angelicall spirit it must needs follow that every one of these angelicall conductions or vehicles of these influences must have also a divers property because the formall influences which do animate these intelligences which carry them are different and therefore they will be naturally prone and enclined to operate the will of the Creator according unto the nature of emanation or beams of that property which it receiveth from his proper port As concerning therefore those angelicall receptacles or organs which are ordained to receive the divers kinds of divine influences or irradiations I purpose briefly to expresse them in the first place for the better understanding of the Reader with the channell they do belong unto and then the order of Angels which doth first receive them After this I will set down the celestiall Orbes or Stars into the which as unto their particular store-houses they are conveyed And lastly I will speak somewhat of the effects that these influences which are conveyed down from their starry treasury into the elementary world do effect both in the aire seas or water and earth Touching therefore the Names or attributes of God as also their emanations or streaming forth of beams with their peculiar properties I have in few words written them in the precedent Chapter as for the rest I would have the Reader to know that those ten severall divine emissions of ten severall lights out of so many Sephiroticall or Cabalisticall spouts or channells into the vast cavity of the world to accomplish the will of the Creator have their particular angelicall waggoners or conductors for in this the best Theosophers agree that as the upper Order of the Angels do receive their light and bright emanations immediately from God so do they emit them and manifest them unto the inferiour Orders and for this reason they are called Mirrours because they receive their light from the face of God or his eternall catholick emanation which as I have proved before is the head and fountain of all these Angelicall lights And again as the secret Theologians have by their serious observation of the holy Bible espied ten distinct properties as also ten divers cognominations or Names of God appropriated unto them so they perceived that there was a singular Angel appointed to receive each of these emissions of beams endued with the self-same property or condition as the lights which they receive do possesse forasmuch as these Spirits do live and are animated by them being that as the externall of the Angell is a spirituall aire so the internall of it is the formall irradiation or emanation which is according unto Gods will emitted into it And this is a generall note amongst all the secret Theologians unto whom Bartholomaeus and St. Dennis do adhere touching this point that no Angell can intermeddle with anothers businesse or take upon him the work that belongeth unto another except it be such inferiour Angels as are destinated to serve under their Arch-angels in the same function or property as shall be said more at large We must therefore understand that the office of the great and catholick Angell Mitattron was so universall that it was employed first about the information of the whole world and the division of light from darknesse as also for the vivifying of the watry spirit of the world and the diurnall rouling about of the heavens And therefore it is said and not without a good cause That it was the divine and generall Emanation that is the eternall Sapience which for this reason is said to be created before all things by whom afterward all things were made or created And for this reason it is said That this Angel doth contain in it all the angelicall perfection no otherwise than the universall beams of the Sun are comprehended in the body of the Sun Wherefore we
we see that as well there are good beams or benigne spirits which by a secret and hidden Emanation do stream forth from the fountain of the winds namely those which are poured out by JEHOVA's benigne Attributes as are El by Jupiter Eloach by the Sun Sadai by Venus and then Michael Raphael Gabriel c. do by their Legions execute God's Will And there are bad and corrupt or privative emission of spirits of a contrary fortitude from the winds which have their Originall from Elohim Elohim Gibbor and Adonaia which make Saturn Mars and the Moon their store-house neither would I have any one to wonder that I should derive the multiplicity of the good and the bad properties which are effected by the winds from one Divine essence which imparteth his Will by the diversity of his lively properties unto the 4 Archangells since the Prophet saith Vem spiritus à quatuor ventis insuffla interfectos istos ut revivi scant Come O Spirit from the four winds and breathe on these slain persons that they may live again Here the Prophet acknowledgeth that it is but one essentiall vivifying Spirit that effecteth all this and consequently that the four opposite properties in the four Angells which are the Governors of the winds are the influences or essentiall beams of one and the same Spirit of life in essence By reason of these spirits of a contrary fortitude in the aire sometimes good and propitious events befall the creatures of this lower world namely when the good spirits raigne and wholsome winds do blow which happen when the benign starrs and Planets have dominion in heaven and consequently their influences below and again somtimes bad and dysastrous accidents armed with privative and destructive effects befall the creatures of this Elementary region by reason of severe emissions of beams from the winds which animate those evill spirits that in infinite multitudes do hover though invisible in the aire who are rejoyced and revived at the blasts which issue from the stations of their cruell Princes and are as it were summons and all-arms to stir and excite them unto wrath and to blow the coles of their sleeping malice All this we may gather from this speech extracted out of Joseph Castaliensis A terra usque ad firmamentum non est locus vacuus sed omne plenum formis ex illis purae ex illis capaces gratiae ac mâ—serationum sunt infernis multae effigies foedae noxiae tentatrices omnes commorantes volantes in aëâ—e Et non a terra usque in coelum locus vacuus quin totum sunt species ex iis ad pacem ex iis ad bellum ex iis ad bonum ex iis ad malum ex iis ad vitam ex iis ad mortem omne id in habitatione inferiori in qua nos sumus From the earth unto the firmament there is not a void place but all is full of forms Of the which some are pure and some are capable of grace and mercy and there are beneath many foul hurtfull and tempting shapes and of all these do abide and flie up and down in the aire And from the earth unto the heaven there is not one sparâ— place but all is full of forms whereof some are enclined to peace some to war some of them are given to goodness some to naughtiness and some of them are Agents to life and some unto death and all this chanceth in the lower habitation in the which we are c. Whereby he signifieth that the whole air is replenished as well with spirits of darknesse as with spirits of light And therefore there is a continuall conflict made here below betwixt these spirits of opposit conditions Whereof the one do attend upon their Prince of darknesse being alwaies ready to accomplish his behests and consequently are very familiar unto the humid nature or matter of the world which is the child of the dark Chaos and for that cause have naturally a great dominion and power over it which by reason of its inclination unto darkness is easy to be tempted and allured from the Society of formal Light And hereupon the materiall world the flesh and the Devill are joyned together as also Satan is termed by the Apostle the Prince of the aire which is the off-spring of the waters from whence the materiall substance of the world was taken The other do wait on the Prince of Light their Master who is the eternall Wisdom which springeth from the bright word of eternity And these two dignify the world with life and do employ their greatest care to animate vivify and preserve it with such salutary beams as they receive immediatly from the eternall Emanation or fiery Word in which is the essence of life and being By this means therefore namely from the opposition of these two spirits of a contrary fortitude all the passions in the spirit and consequently of the Soul yea and body as well of the great world and all the creatures therein as of the little world have their immediate beginning namely the good passions as are joy charity hope confidence misericord humanity in the little world which are caused by dilatation of the heart and concord appetite Sympathy desire or concupiscence delight audaâ—ity jucundity caused by dilatation from the Center unto the circumference and by consequence Anâ—ipathy in the great world And again the bad passions in the little world's spirit as are sadness hatred desperatness timidity anger furor and bashfulness which arise from the contraction of the heart and in the great world and his creatures as are stupidity or congelation discord hatred irascibility fear c. and in conclusion Antipathy which comes by contracting from the circumference unto the Center All which are certain passions either well affecting and reviving the vital spirits with comfort by dilatation of those spirits with the beams of a kind of joy and delight or else choaking or suffocating them with the gloomy fog of darkness by contracting of those spirits with the mist of grief or privative sadness CHAP. V. What Actions in the Spirit or Soul in generall do produce Sympathy and what Antipathy How Sympathy or Compassion proceedeth from a certain dilatation of spirits in two or more particulars or an emitting of their internall beams of life or essence positively and benignly from the Center unto the Circumference attempting thereby to make a concord or union betweâ—â—â—wo or more like or homogenial natures and contrariwise Antipathy by contracting the said beams from the Circumference unto the Center moveth after an opposite manner namely by division or discord that is quite contrary unto the beams of the other which are emitted I Have signified unto you first in my precedent discourse that two properties were Archetypically or Ideally and after a complicite manner comprehended in one radicall Unity or Essence namely the one effected by its Nolunty the other by its Volunty Lo here
the root and originall foundation or point from the which all Antipathy and Sympathy do spring namely the first from the privative property or its Nolunty the second from its positive or Volunty I told you next that from this one root or Unity in essence a two-sold branch or member did spring forth expressing typically and explicitly the effects and conditions of these two contrary properties or dispositions which were contained complicitely in the Ideall root namely darkness which is the privative fruit of his Nolunty and light the true character or badge of his Volunty And then I proved unto you that these two were the beginnings of all things Lo here the two Principles of Antipathy and Sympathy extracted out of one root Thirdly I demonstrated unto you that by the separation of the pure from the impure from the dark Chaos which act was effected by the spagerick vertue of the bright emanation or word of the eternall Unity the humid or watry nature of the world was created that is to say essentially informed by the lively presence of the said all-informing Spirit so that through that union of two contrary natures in one namely the informing essence or naturating nature and the informed substance or the nature naturated the spirit of the world was animated and afterwards by the wisest Philosophers termed the Anima mundi which is that angelicall composition of two called therefore by the Sages Alteritas as God in his simple nature is called Identitas Now the passive portion of which alterity was made is said to be the humid created nature oâ— naturated matter of the world whose active essence is the ever-living emanation from eternity which as the Apostle teacheth us doth vivifie all things and filleth all things and is all in all The union of these two maketh the catholick soul of the world called in respect of the simple creating and vivifying emanation Mens in regard onely of the spirit informed Spiritus and as these two are united in one Anima Lo here the third degree of the sympatheticall and antipatheticall progression from the simple root of eternity namely the created matter or spirit in the soul of the world being the child or off-spring of darknesse or the dark Chaos which is therefore naturally prone unto the negative or privative effects of darknesse and consequently apt in its own condition to receive any discordant and antipatheticall impression which the angelicall spirits of darknesse shall imprint upon it For as the sacred light which animates the humid spirit of the world and consequently the whole masse of the waters whereof the heaven and the earth was made as St. Peter doth justifie is the most movable agill and active of all things so on the contrary party the matter that is informed and therefore the created body and spirit is most degenerate from it in that it is no way enclined of its own nature unto motion or life For the Philosophers words are Materia est per se ad motum inefficax ab ipsa anima seu luce degenerans Wherefore of its selfe it endueth its mother Chaos or Hyles her condition and is enclined to rest immobility darknesse cold spissitude and congelation For this cause therefore it suffereth the impressions and characters of both oppositions to wit sometimes it enclineth unto darknesse and then it groweth spisse opak cold immobil thick and ponderous and tendeth in that his property downwards to the cold center or the seat of darknesse which is its mother and then it is in rebellion and opposition with light motion and heat and so it is antipatheticall unto the actions of light and life as we see the airy spirit of the world which is clear light diaphan thin movable and soaring upward by the operating power of the descending light becommeth by the Northern cold congealed opak spisse and immobil or fixed into snow hail ice frost and such like So that by this antipatheticall accession of the cold characters of the dark abysse it is discordant from the loving union and symphoniacall accesse which it had unto the region of light Contrariwise the bright form of the soul which is the essence of that eternall emanation doth give the matter or spirit of the soul's life action motion hear tenuity and diaphanity and that more or lesse according as it hath power and dominion over it And we must note that the more the spirit approacheth unto the nature of light the firmer are the bonds of its sympatheticall accords For as sympathy doth consist of things of a like nature so the nearer the spirit approacheth unto form the greater is the sympathy and accord the surer the tie and the more virtuous the effect for the more that the created spirit is illuminated the lesse it remembers that naturall inclination and love that it had unto its dark originall insomuch that by such an extream purified exaltation it becommeth as it were deified And therefore Plato's opinion is that if the middle spirit which is between the mentall beam and the dark bodily substance doth more adhere unto the divine or mentall beam than the dark body then it will become a good Demon or Angel but if it respect the body more than the divine beam it will descend unto the nature of a Cacodemon or spirit of darknesse Also by Scripture we are taught that by adhering unto this divine light namely unto Christ we shall be transformed into the same image to wit if we forsake this dark world and the lusts of the obscure body or flesh But to return unto the soul of the great world If the airy spirit be given over unto the power of darknesse it becommeth bodily and turnes into the same image namely frost snow hail c. but if the hot effect or the formall act of light prevail a degree over the stupid cold of darknesse it leaveth his opake quality and becommeth diaphan and returneth from an earthly fixt and obscure nature unto a clear transparent and fluxible substance and by another degree of the divine act it is made more subtle more dilated more invisible and pure and it is called Aire by a third it is purified unto fire by a fourth unto aether when it loseth all the appetite of mutation and forgetteth the privative stock from whence it came by a fifth it becommeth angelicall or emperiall and so it is exalted more and more in dignity according as it is more and more obedient unto the actions of the eternall and catholick influence of form which shineth forth from the fountain of infinity For we must understand that the whole inclination of the eternall emanation is to reduce this child of darknesse unto eternall light unity and life as contrariwise the endeavours of the potentiall darknesse which is the stamp of Gods Nolunty or privative nature are clean contrary So that all the end of the creating light 's action is to unite all by the symphoniacall band of love and
out of order and in a destructive war with one another were it not for the presence of this Lord of misrule Thus as you see will Dyscracy and Antipathy reigne by their turnes in the neather region of the world when the tye of the elements are loose Thus will friendship be quickly changed into hatred when JEHOVA is pleased to send forth his altering winds and to corroborate and animate by his influence from above the ministers of his wrath here below against the sublunary creature Now come I to prove that all sympatheticall and antipatheticall effects do proceed from the secret and occult actions of the ministring spirits of this world That there is a mighty difference amongst the Angels no man of wisdom can deny for though all Angels were at the first united unto the divine Unity yet by reason of the rebellion and ambition of Lucifer that knot of union was broke and then the waters were divided from the waters that the good Angels might be separated and distinguished from the bad by the interposition of the firmament as a Diaphragma or middle bar between each of their habitations So that the dark Angels were enclosed in the lower or dark fecall and dreggy waters and the light Angels were lodged in the higher waters which were illuminated and dignified by a super-celestiall light and glory Thus you may see that the very Angells of heaven forasmuch as they are created of aire or the humid spirit of the world which is their externall and the bright emanation from Unity which is their internall are subject by reason of their materiall subâ—tance which participates of both extreams unto affections or passions as well sympatheticall as antipatheticall and consequently they aâ—e able by reason of their contrary pâ—operties to produce both sympatheticall and antipatheticall accidents in the spirits of the elementary creatures As for examples sake we will compare the catholick sympathy and antipathy which is in the soul of the great world unto that peculiar soul or spirit which is in man being that every particular was framed out of the universall We ought therefore to understand that the whole essenâ—e of the soul or spirit of man though it be invisible extendeth and manifesteth it self by her vertues and faculties for by her irascibility it contemneth and hateth and by her concupiscibility it doth covet and desire and by her rationability she distinguisheth and discerneth between them both And verily the whole effect of the souls essence consisteth in these three powers whereof the first is compared to the action of the lower waters which is apt to jar and disagree and is the region of Lâ—tigâ—um or the Prince of darkness The second is referred unto the nature of the firmament which is the region of life and salutary love and the last unto the angelicall and intellectuall heaven which doth discern between things that belong unto the lower heavens or regions of the world Whereupon it appeareth that from her rationall property every sense belonging unto the soul of man doth proceed as from the other two every affection motion or passion of the minde doth arise and spring Now there are known to be four affections of the soul whereof two do proceed from her concupiscible power namely Joy and Hope for at that which we love we rejoyce and are glad or we hope for and expect that which shall rejoyce us or make us glad and the two other issue from her irascible faculty or vertue namely Grief or Dolour and Fear for now we grieve at that which we hate or we fear that which would make us grieve or be dolorously affected And verily we shall after a due inquisition find that these four affections of the Microcosmicall soul are not onely the beginnings and common matter or subject of all morall vices or vertues but also the originalls of Metaphysicall or occult and Physicall or elementary and apparent sympathy and antipathy as well in the little as in the great world and every creature thereof For I would not have you ignorant that being the soul in man is derived from the vivifying emanation dwelling in the words spirituall vehicle it must follow that that soul in the great world must needs have in it the faculties which the little worlds soul hath for Quod facit tale est magis tale But these faculties in the soul of man were derived from the great world and the eternal soul that vivified it Wherefore it followeth that there is a rationability a concupiscibility and an irascibility in the soul of the great world though not made manifest unto us First because that it hath attributes of irascibility and displeasure for from his Attribute ELOHIM Gibbor he sendeth down by the port Geburah the fiery beams of his displeasure by his Archangell Samael into the globe or sphear of Mars who is for that cause President of the irascible faculty of the greater world wherefore his influences do cause wrath and angry effects in the aire and earth as thunder lightnings comets and other wrangling accidents which as Scriptures tell us are the arguments of Gods wrath and vengeance also war famine and pestilence and augmenteth the angry nature and spirit of men and beasts And again Gods Attribute IEHOVA Sabaoth poureth down the beams of concupiscibility by the Arch-angell Anael upon the globe of Venus according to Philosophers and Astronomers who for that reason being moved thereto by experience and observation have made this star the president and rectrix of the concupiscible faculty As the Attribute EL doth pour out the beams of reason justice and religion yea and naturall vegetation and life into the sphear of Jupiter But principally this naturall faculty is rained into the soul of the world by the Attribute IAH through his port Sapientia or Wisdom The second reason is because the great world hath an intellectuall or rationall heaven and a concupiscible property manifested in every creature and an irascible which is apparent also by reason of hatred and horrour which appeareth between one thing and another Also that there is an irascible quality in the elements that deadly hatred which is betwixt the fire and water and the aire and earth doth manifest That also there is a love and concupiscence between things it is evident because one nature rejoyceth in his like and therefore by a naturall inclination every thing doth move and convert it self unto his like by all possibility but especially it is most inclinable unto it self So we see that fire doth naturally affect and move unto fire water unto water and earth unto earth But above all the vivifying spirit of every living thing which is celestiall and therefore exceedeth the place of the elements doth with fervency affect and thirst after his like and is rejoyced at the presence and concurrency thereof And for this cause this passion of what creature soever will be the more truly sympatheticall and the sympathy between things will be so much the
Light flieth from darkness and being delighted at the presence of more light and life avoideth and hateth the presence of his contrary namely of death and evill Hence therefore it cometh that the children of Light which are grafted unto this catholick illuminated spirit do flie as from a pestilence the children of darknesse and their works And the reason is because this humid created spirit finding now the pleasure volunty and felicity of its illuminated estate is affraid least the privative beams of darkness or the dismall Emanations of God's wrath should dimm their light and obscure the brightness of life that is to say lest they should turn their Sympathizing passions of joy and gladness into the Antipathizing storms of sadness and mourning by sucking or contracting the beauteous Emanations of joy love and gladness from the Circumference into the Center of the Spirit and so deprive it of that salutary and sprightfull irradiation of love and life by hiding of God's face which he did emit from the Center to the Circumference of the creature to recreate and rejoyce it According unto that of Moses God forsakes the wicked and hideth his face from them that much evill may befall them Or unto that of David God hiding his face from the wicked they are troubâ—ed receiving their spirit they expire That is vexation and privative passions befall them which may also be understood of the catholick Microcosmicall wordl's spirit as of the Microcosmicall and other creatures all which have their beeing from the Macrocosmicall Spirit For when the Divine nature which animateth the Sun of heaven was displeased at the Passion of our Saviour it did Centrally withdraw his beamâ—s from it and it lost its beauty and became dark against the common course of nature So that the pleasant Sympathy which it produced by its presence unto the creatures beneath and in the heavens above was quite changed into Antipathy for a while This therefore was a privative passion in the heart of the great world or as a man may say a Syncope or swooning of the world when ELOAH did abstain for that season to pour forth his influence of beauty by the port of TIPHERETH Also that palpable darkness which happened in Egypt was a privative passion caused by the hiding away of God's face or by the contracting the beams of light within himself Such privative passions also are menaced unto the Sun Moon and Starrs towards the latter end of the world For if the world was made by the sending forth of God's bright Emanation for by the Spirit of the Lord the heavens were adorned as Job telleth us it followeth that by taking it away all will return again unto darkness and plain nothing or deformity even as it was before But this producing of good and Sympatheticall passions by emitting of light from the Center to the Circumference and again the effects of Antipatheticall passions which do oppose the concord and Sympathy of life is excellently described and painted forth by the due examination of the vital action in man For as there are noted to be in generall two severall active Virtues in man's spirit whereof the one is voluntary which is the Prince over the other and commandeth and moveth the inferior actions even as the Divine Angell Mitattron doth in the Primum mobile of the great world which is referred unto the Volunty and moveth by it the celestiall orbs and Elementary world so in the Microcosmicall Fabrick the first mover is that Divine mentall beam which is the head of man's soul and the other kind is involuntary because it is commanded and ruleth after the will of the intellectuall or rationall beam no otherwise then all the lower Orbs are constrained to move after the will of the mover in the Primum mobile So the vitall action in man is one of those branches which is involuntary and no otherwise subject unto the Volunty of the mental beam then the starry heaven which is the seat of life forasmuch as the Sun which is the heart of the world hath his residence there is commanded by the Emperyall Spirit Now as we find that according unto the will of the Divine essence poured out into the heavens and consequently here below as well joyfull and compassionate effects do spring from the positive and dilative property of Unity to recreate and stir up volupty and pleasure in the creature as also trist and sad effluxions proceeding from the contractive Virtue whereby God hideth the face of his benignity from the creatures and thereupon as well concupiscible as odible or irascible passions are caused in the world Even so we find it manifested as well by experience as by the observation of the learnedest in Physick and Philosophy that the vitall action which is over-ruled according unto the mind of the superior Volunty either is opened or enlarged by the dilative property of the first movers will and thereby openeth the cabinet of the heart to produce in the vitall spirit those good passions which Sympathize with life and light namely gladness hope confidence love miserecord and affability or it is contracted and thereby gathereth together also the spirits in the heart whereby is engendred in the vitall spirit such bad privative passions as do antipathise with those good ones which rejoyce and comfort the life and these passions are termed Antipatheticall because they are wholly contrary unto the nature of those which are good of which number proceeding from the hearts contraction are sadness care dispaire fear hatred anger furor bashfullness and so forth So that as by the former the spirit by dilatation did look up unto the Fountain of Light and did rejoyce to see the volupties and pleasure thereof So by the later the spirit was forced by contraction to be deprived from the vision of light and to look pâ—onely downward into the abysse of darkness and to participate with the dark passions thereof And by this decifering and opening therefore of the two opposit passions in the little world we may easily collect the reason and manner of them in the great world being that as eadem sit ratio parcis totius so also the passions of the great world may easily be considered by those of the little world As for example The Load-stone is in comparison of its mother earth even as man is to the whole world wherefore Man is called the Son of the world by Heâ—mes as Cardanus Bap. Porta D. Gilbert and others have made the Load-stone the child or son of the earth We find I say in the Load-stone all the passions as well sympatheticall as antipatheticall which do affect his mother earth for it hath his Poles with the earth and it escheweth all in conformity with the earth it flyeth from that which is contrary unto its nature And again doth sympathise with that which is its like it hath its Aequinoctialls Colures Meridians and Tropiâ—ks as the earth hath and in conclusion it argueth not onely
a sense in motion but a kind of reason in its action namely its refusing that which is contrary unto it or embracing and desiring that which is agreeing and conformable unto its harmony as shall be more at large expressed as well in the second part of this present Book as in the magneticall experiences which shall be set down in the third or last Book of this Treatise To conclude how this mentall beam receiveth the behests or influxions of benignity or severity from above is expressed in my precedent discourse namely by permitting of bad spirits of darkness to reigne and have dominion or helping the good spirits to execute their offices of joy and delight Lo here is contained the sum of all mysticall and hidden sympathy or antipathy in the world which some do therefore by reason of the profundity and difficulty in the inquisition thereof justly attribute unto the secret act and operation of an angelicall power which is a middle vertue betwixt God and the creature And for this reason as is said before an Angell is defined to be Tanquam inter Deum Naturam virtus media à qua fiunt operationes in rebus quas vel natura eoram non faceret non vel sic faceret quas aliâ— provenire dicunt à proprietate occulta alii quia tale As it were a mean vertue between God and nature by the which certain operations are effected in things which their nature that is their elementary form would not produce at the leastwise would not so effect as that which is said to happen or come to passe by an occult property and as others will Quiatale Because it is so How this is demonstrated by Harmony what Sympathy and Antipathy is IT is a divers proportion or disproportion of matter or mundane spirit guided by one and the same eternall soul. Veni spiritus à quatuor ventis Demonstrated by a Pipe whose notes vary according unto proportion in spirit or aire moved by one and the self-same blast whose proportions when they disproportionably meet do jar but when they proportionably meet accord and agree All spirits in creatures are proportioned by more or lesse aire all in spirit of life moving and acting and according unto the proportions in concord or discord they agree or disagree as the weights of Pythagoras his hammer in bodies proportionate or disproportionate Also two strings being as one stretched up give concording or discording sounds according to their greatnesse or shortness As for example in this case of aire in a pipe The creatures quality doth good or evill not the devill but the devill by it Ergo Diabolicall and to be abhorred The Second Member of this Second Book Wherein the Magneticall Nature is truly anatomised and the reasons of Sympatheticall and Antipatheticall actions ripped up CHAP. I The Author maketh a preamble in this Chapter unto this his Magnetick Discourse and then proceedeth unto the Chaos of opinions touching the originall and attractive vertue of Magnetick Bodies I Did manifest unto you in the precedent Member of this Book the principles and originalls of Sympathy and Antipathy but because it is not every ones gift to soar so high at the first as to be capable of a Theory or speculation which penetrateth into Gods store-house or treasury contained in the abstruse bowells or center of his created nature I will stoop a little for your better instruction and more clear information and elucidate or make more plain the abstruse subject we have in hand by some vulgar or ocular demonstrations which may guide them and perswade them to believe that which may otherwise seem uncredible That I may therefore proceed more methodically I will onely in this member lay down the chief platform on which I purpose to build such experimentall conclusions as shall direct the misbelievers yea and such as by their ignorance do remain hitherto obstinate in their misbelieving errour being that Experienti a est etiam stultorum magistra Experience is the mother of fooâ—s into the more assured haven of faith and solid belief And because the exploits of sympathy and also those of antipathy in every thing are effected by a magneticall power which is both to expell by an irascible or odible expulsion and allure and draw unto it by a concupiscible attraction as shall be shewed you hereafter I think it most fit to search out diligently and that with the Argos eyes of my brightest senses or to penetrate deeply with the Lyncean optick of my sharpest understanding unto the dark mystery of the Load-stone's or Magnet's nature that we may with the more assurance make our ingression into the practicall demonstration of so arcane and occult a contemplation For seeing that the secret operation as well of the Weapon-salve so exclaimed on by the ignorant as the extraction of the Mummy â—both corporal and spiritual out of men or beasts as also the transplantation of the animal's vitalls infirm or wholsom nature into any vegetable or animal with the manner of the stealing of the vertue and strength from one animal and infusing of it into another the secret alligation of the plants spirit with that of man or any other animal so that what befalleth the one namely either wet or dry or cold and heat the other also shall partake of Seeing I say that these operations are tearmed magneticall because they imitate the active vertues of the magnet or Load-stone I will bend all mine endeavour to make an open passage unto the anatomising of all those mysteries by the unripping and undoing the spirituall fardell of the Load-stone thereby to pâ—y and look into the fountain of its formall interiour or centrall and essentiall actions and to espy the grounds as well of his irascible as concupiscible passions For if once we shall be able to find out by the subtillest aspect of our reason the invisible passages and lurking places thereof and can after that observe the point or punctuall root of their essences and discover the internall cause of each action we shall with ease conquer and surpasse all the rest being that what things appear alike in externall effect must needs pâ—ove homogeniall and all one in their internall and hidden natures as shall be pâ—oved more at large unto you But alas why should I being minimus Apostolorum the least of a thousand presume to make so dangerous a voyage unto that unknown Island where this occult magneâ—ick Nature doth dwell among or in the middle of such dangerous and inaccessible Rocks when so many wise Philosophers have â—ailed and wandred on the variable and tempestuous seas of opinion and have at the last returned home onely with the tidings of what others have related of her being her essence and her active vertues and so know nothing of their own but what they have attained to by hearsay or perceived by externall operation Good God how many such ships of fools are there in this world who when they have
after an Astrologicall manner seemeth to aver so much in these words Si alâ—cu datum esset totam conditionem coelestis harmoniae comprehendere mundum elementorum cum suis singulis contentis in quocunque loco quocunque tempore plene cognosceret tanquam causatum per causas si etâ—am aliquam rem hujus mundi in tota sua conditione cognosceret coelestis harmoniae conditio ipsum non lateret sed etiam causam tanquam per effectum suum comprehenderet omnis enâ—mâ—res quanâ—umcunque modica in mundo elementorum agens totius coelestis harmoniae est effectus Whosoever doth comprehend the whole condition of the celestiall harmony he may fully know the whole elementary world with every content of the same in every place and at all times as the effect by the cause Also if he understand any thing of this world in his totall nature and condition the celestiall disposition and condition will not be hidden from him but will be discovered unto him as the cause is by the effect For every thing in this world how little soever it be that acteth is the effect of the whole harmony of the heaven By which words Alkindus being deeply seen in the mystery of nature seemeth to aver that as there is a descent from unity unto multitude so all that multitude is in that unity as also that unity filleth all the multitude so is 1 in 2 and 2 in 3 and 3 in 4 and 4 in 5 c. and yet that unity which is the beginning is the end and all in all So light enforms the angelicall creature the angelicall the starry creature the starry creature the elements and the elements the compound creature Wherefore open the compound creature and look upon the elements divide the Elements and you shall find the starry and quintessentiall nature open these and you shall conceive the subtill alterity of the Angelicall spirit in which is the Divine act or immediate beam from God In this work therefore there concurreth in the separation of the first a sensible aspect in the other we must behold with intellectuall eies So that you may observe how all is in every thing and every thing in all Hereupon it was also that Hermes said speaking mystically and not after the common sense Qui fornacem cum vase nostro construit novum mundum conflat He which maketh our furnace with the glass to it he maketh a new world But what needs more words when we find all this confirmed by demonstration For we know that the Load-stone is but a part of the Earth and yet it hath all his Circles and both his Poles yea and that very nature in all respects between each Pole and Circle that the whole Earth hath and thereupon it is termed Terrella or a little Earth and so may the whole earth be tearmed parvus mundus being it containeth the Poles circles and astrall yea and Elementall natures of the great world no otherwise then the great world doth in all those respects represent the Archetype which is carved out intellectually in the all-working Spirit of Wisdom or sacred Emanation yea and we go yet deeper into our diminutives For if a piece of Iron rod which naturally aspecteth the North and South be brok off that small piece will have also as exactly his North and South Pole and consequently his circles as the whole rod and nevertheless the rod keepeth still his North and South point as before The like in the Load-stone will happen as experience shall hereafter make it appeare more plainly That we may come a little nearer to the explication of this Mystery ye must understand that this eternall catholick Emanation is the essentiall and spirituall rock out of which first the great world in generall and then all particular things therein were carved or framed by generalities first according unto the Ten generall Emanations and their properties which the Ethnicks in some sort referred unto their Ten generall Predicaments and this again had their specialities or subalternate degrees of many ranks and orders of dignities all which were at last made apparent by the infinity of individualls which they did in their kinds produce according unto those divers beams of the multiplicite Will or Volunty of God which this eternall Emanation poured out into them All which particular beams more or lesse being not divided in essence from the universall Emanation or the Spirit of Wisdome which made all things are the spirituall Corner-stone on which every creature as well particular as universall doth formally or essentially consist and this Corner-stone is that internall essence in every thing which as it giveth life so also it is all and over all the things that it inacteth with life and therefore also the soul whose Center this Corner-stone is is said to be in all and every part I will leave to speak of its action in other creatures and will onely insist on our main Subject in hand which is the earth and her off-spring or progenie amongst the which the feminine Load-stone and his ferruginous mass are chiefly reckoned Divine Philosophy teacheth us that the Globe of the Earth is sustained by this Corner-stone and consequently hath her manifold Virtues from it Ubinam eras saith JEHOVAH quando fundebam terram quis disposuit mensuras ejus aut quis extendit super eam lineam Super quo bases ejus defixae sunt Aut quis jecit lapidem ejus Angularem Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the earth Who disposed of the measures thereof and who did extend over it a line upon what basis or foundation was it sustained or who laid the corner-stone thereof In the Weather-glass which I have described in my precedent Philosophicall discourse you may discerne two points corresponding unto the two Poles namely the mattras head above resembling the Northern Pole and the water below compared to the Southern Pole the aire interposed betwixt them unto the spatious heaven or sublunary spirit which is betwixt these two Poles the middle of which in the figure 1. the Aequinoctiall doth â—ut as being in the mid-way betwixt the two Poles We find evermore that when the aire included in the top of the Mattras or bolts-head is cold namely when the northern blasts are sent forth it will be contracted and consequently will suck or draw up the water and thereupon we are taught the reason of the attractive nature not onely in the northern or septentrionall winds but also in the Load-stone and all other things which by contraction of the aire do draw and suck unto them namely that they have that property from the power of Gods Spirit which by his angelicall organs doth blow from the north By this also it is made evident why one Pole doth suck and attract from the other in the Load stone namely by the continuity of the spirituall axle-tree which is made and animated by one corner-stone or essentiall and centrall spirit
bodies appear to be dead yet shall the naturall Magician know that in his flesh and bones there abideth admirable spirits which operate no less wonders yea and far greater then those of the Load-stone And therefore I would have each self-conceited person that are so apt to envy against the Mysteries of God in nature to learn more discretion and experience before they so vain-gloriously do judge the strange and marvellous effects of man's royall nature and pronounce so boldly without hesitation or sticking that there are no spirits in any amputated members or portion in man no nor in the dead carcass as Casman and Foster aver Nay that the Devill himself can not conferre any into them or it For I would have both them and other temerarious and bold Judges to know that as the Load-stone though appearing a dead mass is observed to suck and draw Centrally unto it with a lively appetite the beams and body of the Load-stone and that all and every member divided from the Load stone will do the like in its proportion Even so I can prove it and confirm it by an ocular demonstration that by a right application of the fleshy parts of a dead man's carcass unto a live man if the application be long it will make the live man faint and feeble the which nevertheless a while after the materiall or corporall Magneticall Mummy be removed will receive again his wonted strength Moreover lest this relation may seem to Mr. Foster and the rest of his Cabalisticall Sect a figment or Chimerious fancy forasmuch as he may alleadge that the application of the thing may work in the live man's imagination and cause him to perswade himself that he is faint and that without any true ground and that there can be no externall effect to prove it I answer That it will suck or draw forth of the live man the spirituall Mummy in a visible manner For by the coldness of the part the spirituall Mummy so extracted will condense it self on the superficies of the corporall Magnet even as aire into a cloud or a cloud into Manna so that it may be gathered and converted into a very pretious and wholsome Panacaea or generall medicine if the party out of which it is extracted be sound and of a wholsome complexion as contrariwise it may prove as corrupt and Antipatheticall a medicine where the body out of which it is drawn is infected with any venomous or contagious disease namely French Pox Plague Leprosie and such like as shall be more at large expressed in the next book Now the reason of this act and operation in the dead man's Magnetick parts is that as when the body was alive it was animated by light and enjoyed all the properties of light to wit it was hot active moveable dilative and in conclusion of an Aequinoctiall or Southern condition so that naturall fire being extinguished it indueth the properties of darkness for it is mortified by cold and is congealed potentiall fix or immobil contractive and in fine of the rigid zone's and frozen Pole's nature So that whereas before whilst it lived it did emit his beams from the Center to the Circumference and did enjoy the blessings of God's vivifying and positive Emanation now it indueth the condition of his contracting privative and mortifying Emanation And yet I would not that wisemen should think that because the lively body is turned into a dead carcass therefore it is void of all spirits of life being that Scriptures confirm that the incorruptible spirit is in all things and consequently as well in those that are dead as in those that are alive For this incorruptible spirit according unto the variety of his property in the four winds is sometime in motion from the center of the thing in which it is unto the circumference for so he vivifyeth and causeth the creature to act and live by a southern or aequinoctiall faculty so I say it operateth from the center of the celestiall sun to the animation of inferiour creatures namely by evocation of their incorruptible spirits which were repelled by the winter or Boreal cold into their center from their center unto their circumference as it appeareth by such vegetables which seem for that reason as it were dead all the winter season because the spirit of life leaves and forsakes the circumference of the plant and betaketh it self unto the center to retire from the assaults of cold which is its opposite as far as it can But when it perceiveth its fountain of light to approach and to send them forth succours they begin by little and little to spring again from their center unto their circumference and being united unto the externall beams which are come unto their aide they expel dark privation and congealing cold from out their tabernacles and do proceed to operate and act unto vegetation and multiplication as also we see in the corn which is buried in the earth Even so I say and no otherwise the Load-stone's Martiall nature being originally by a Saturnine spirit contracted into his center is exagitated and stirred up and with like joy doth suck unto it the formall beams of the Iron from whose Martiall sulphureous spirit they did originally spring And even so also the spirits of the dead body being by mortifying cold driven from the circumference unto the center and resting there at repose without any action maketh the body and every part thereof fixt and unmovable but when they are applyed unto the lively circumference of their species or kind they spring forthwith and in their watery spirits towards the circumference as if they were almost famished in the center and rejoyce to meet with their like in the live man which doth as it were dilate it self and issue forth of the pores in a streaming manner for their assistance and they being partly congealed in the center of the dead member do with a greedy appetite suck them in with the spirituall Mummy which is their vehicle towards their centrall abiding to endue it with life as it was before and to recreate it with their presence but the unctuous spirituall Mummy being full of bright spirits resting upon the superficies of the live man inspissated with the cold and mortifying contact of the dead flesh or part of the carcase is forthwith congealed and may be reserved for a private use But can we I pray you better confirm this than with the contractive restrictive or congelative vertue of the fumous excrescence issuing from the salt contained in the dead mans bones for by applying it I mean the Uznea or masse which groweth on the dead mans bones unto the irruptions of blood or haemorrhoigy in a living man the warm blood as it were moved by an antipatheticall affection returneth back again and is denyed passage by the congealing and binding operation of these northern effected excrescences But leaving these conclusions touching the dead mans magnet and its vertues for a while what will
spirits forcibly because vis unita est fortior But when the Iron is planted at a further distance namely in C the greatest portion of the basis of the spirituall triangular-emission passeth by the Iron without any streight encounter and so his effect or vertue is made too weak to draw so ponderous a thing at so far a distance But because his celestiall star doth meet and embrace his emissions and doth fortifie them therefore it is evident that the pole-star doth act in the Load-stone to stir up and animate his like vigour in it and the Load-stone being so vivified doth correspond unto the action of the star penetrating by all one sympatheticall and symphoniacall consent even to the center of his fountain which is easily effected being they are all of one essence Do we not perceive this by an externall apprehension to be true when we observe the northern pole of the Load-stone in a kind of naturall duty to regard and behold with a stedfast constancy the pole-star which is so far off from the body of the Load-stone though near and conjoyned in the beamy affection of one essentiall spirit That this is so we may perceive by the needle touched Do we not gather by Astronomicall practise that the distance of these two bodies I mean the celestiall star and the terrestriall stone is so great as there cannot be esteemed a greater extension in our regard namely seeing that the space is between the starry heaven or eighth sphear in which the pole-star is and the earth And yet we find them to concur and meet in aspect and to operate and sympathize with each other What! and must this abstruse spirits action be limited by any phantasticall and imaginary sphear of activity figured out by persons little skilled and too too superficiall in the occult treasure and arcane or centrall actions of God in nature In like manner there must needs be a sympatheticall concurrence of occult beamy light betwixt the Iron and the Load-stone because they have both centrall stars or beamy influences of one nature and from one and the same fountaine whose occult emanations pass God knoweth at how far a distance although the effects do accidentally appear unto our sense no more than the celestiall influences which descend from heaven upon the Minerals Vegetables and Animals Nevertheless if we will believe the relations of History we are told by Serapio O aus Magnus and the Moors that as well in the Indies as towards the northern pole there are Rocks of this Stone which suck and draw ships unto them at a far distance and pull the iron nailes out of them which is a cause as they say that they fasten together the plancks and boards of their boats and ships with wooden pins And again what shall we say unto the opinion of Fracastoâ—ius a learned Physitian and a well grounded Philosopher who blusheth not after a tedious enquiry made by him in the Load-stones secret disposition to conclude that the reason why the Load-stone directeth his pole unto the north is because that in that angle of the terrestriall world there are mountaines of Load-stone which do draw Iron unto it Verily it is a great distance that this magnetick Rock is able to operate upon the Iron if that were true namely from the Aequinoctiall unto the frozen point of the North-pole for unto the Aequinoctiall line the Mariners make use of the Needle to find out what altitude they are in And although some do think this strange yet for all that many learned men seen as well in Geography and composing of Sea-Maps as delineating the description of the world do firmly adhere unto this opinion Whereby we see that wise and learned men do confirm that the limited sphear of activity ascribed unto the Load-stone by the Peripatetick Philosophers and Christian School-men of his sect is vain and frivolous But to come and ascend from the Minerall unto the Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms we observe that there is an admirable relation between the fixed stars and the planets and by the same reason also between plant and plant yea and between the plant and the mineral and between the animal and the plant As for example Touching thâ— sympatheticall relation we find in the first place that the beams of the herb and flower Heliotropium and that of Succory do sympathetically meet and joyne themselves and embrace lovingly the beams and influences of the Sun for they are observed to turn and winde about even in the most clowdy day at the diurnall motion of him And contrariwise in the night time by reason of his absence they contract their flowers as being enemies unto the dark and cold night as Mizaldus affirmeth Also the Oynion as Plutarch doth testifie waxeth green and groweth when the Moon decreaseth and again it withereth when she encreaseth There is also a great sympatheticall reference between the Crab and Oyster and the Moon for when the Moon encreaseth they encrease in their succe or juice again when she decreaseth they also do decrease in their substance Moreover touching the eradiation of one plant unto another it is noted that the Rue otherwise tearmed Herbâ—gâ—ace doth entertain with exceeding great friendship the Fig-tree insomuch that it never groweth or prospereth better than under that tree and that there is a notable sympathy betwixt their natures it is evident because they smell and taste much alike Also if the Myrtle be planted near the Pomgranat-tree it maketh him more fertill and fruitfull and it self more odoriferous and each of them rejoyce at one anothers presence and society and indeed both of them agree in a nature being cold dry and astringent Moreover to express the exceeding sympatheticall relation which is between the Vegetable nature and the Mineral let us but mark diligently the occult property of the Hazel-tree For if at certain times there be forked twigs cut from it and each twig of the forked branch be held in each hand so that the forked place where they joyne stand directly upward and as it were perpendicularly And with this kind of posture of the stick the party that holdeth it pass over a mountain that hath in its bowells some riâ—h minerall or mettalline veine when as the man walketh right over the place of the mine the perpendicular twist will forcibly and that whether the bearer will or no bow downward towards the earth but if there be no mine or veine it will not move That this is true my self can witness and more than a thousand which have seen the effect and will justifie thus much for even among us certain Germaines performed the like fear in the Silver-mines at Wales and in Germany it is a thing commonly exercsied in those mountains of Saxony and Hungary where there are mines of Silver and Gold Besides lest my assertion should be of little faith among the incredulous I would have them know that George Agricola and Munster do avow
is evident that the beams of his affection did in the absence of his Master not forsake his Master's beams which guided him unto the unknown place so directly that he found him out Is it not also a wonderfull Sympatheticall Emanation that the Pigeon called the Carrier doth make unto the place or dove-coat wherein he was bred and fostered Which for that reason it doth so dearely affect and love that though he be conveied 500 miles from his noursery in an enclosed basket yet he will fly directly back again with a letter about his neck Which is an evident Argument that it is justly and straightly guided by the emitted beam of his affection which is contiued after a spirituall manner with the place it doth most delight in What shall we say in two persons whereof the one doth love and affect without all reason and therefore prosecureth with the beam of his affection his beloved though she or he altogether either abhorring or neglecting and not corresponding with the like beams of affection doth not reciprocally embrace but rather refuse and avert the beams of his or her Love But where two do joyntly affect by a Sympatheticall Union there the action will spiritually be furthered at a far greater distance as when two starrs of heaven send out their beams semidiametrally and concur in one harmonious point of affections Nay verily as we behold being taught by experience that there will be a great Antipathy between the slain bodie 's contracted spirit and the murtherer insomuch that the lively spirit of the dead being contracted after death by cold into its Center doth through an angry Antipatheticall passion move again from the Center unto the Circumference as it were to resist the deadly enemy and doth cause the congealed blood to flow and move as if it would meet with and assault afresh the murtherer's emitted spirit So we must surely confess that where one spirit concurreth in Sympathy with another of the like nature the power must be the greater and the action performed at a larger distance as is evidently expressed in the abstruse operation which is in the Magnetick cure effected between the weapon or ointment and the wounded person of which I have spoken so much in that hot encounter which hath been between Mr. Foster and my self in the Book where I was provoked to squeeze his Sponge and farther do purpose in this present Treatise to enlarge my self a little better touching that point by way of a comparison made between the Magneticall virtue in Man and that of the Load-stone The Argument of Mr. Foster consisteth upon the impossibility of that operating virtue at so large a distance as is propounded by some to be effected by the Ointment or rather of the lively blood's Emanation and emitting forth of his exciting spirituall beames or influences unto the dead or congealed blood which impossibility if it were true indeed in the Animal kingdom which is the most dilative and less bound with bodily bonds I wonder that it should not be far more impossible and unfezible in the mineral bodies by reason of the firm and close solidity of them which are therefore apter to retain their influentiall beams then the bodies which are made lax and porous Besides all this the Animal body is hot and fiery and consequently the readier to dilate and send forth his virtue the further but the minerall is cold and therefore the less active and powerfull in sending forth his beams And yet for all this experience teacheth us that the Loadstone looketh towards the North-star sendeth forth his spirituall aspect unto it as also the star doth at the like distance send out his beams unto his Northern minerall mark at an unmeasurable distance as is said before which being so why should not I beseech you the Animall star derived from his celestiall Fountain send out also his beams unto the frozen and chill blood in his unctuous earth I mean the Weapon-salve or unto the blood 's invisible spirit sucked into the Iron by his attractive Sulphureous nature For experience teacheth us that though no corporall blood be found on the Iron yet if the place of the weapon that wounded the person be anointed it cureth by a like Sympatheticall aspect For country-Chirurgions have made tryall when they durst not search the wound with the Probe and found by experience namely by putting the weapon into the fire that the part of the sword or weapon will discover it self which wounded the party being that it will change colour from the rest whereby they perceive how deep the wound is by the observation of that part of the weapon which did penetrate And therefore this is an evident argument of the ingression of the bloody spirits into the wounding instrument and consequently it argueth that there are essentiall spirits which emanate or issue forth of the blood quite forsaking the body whereby also it is expressed against Mr. Foster that if the grosser spirits of the blood are able to pierce the close-grained steel it s finer and more subtil spirits are able to penetrate without any resistance all other things in manner of an influence But wee 'l approach a little nearer to our purpose and will remove ouâ— argument from the minerall demonstration unto the vegetable that thereby we may express like by like in our animal subject I will therefore insist upon the Grain of Wheat which being dead and putrified in the earth is suscitated by the beamy influences of the Sun For like doth draw his like by a magnetick power and like rejoyceth in his like and like is suscitated and revived and quickened or evoked from his rest or center by his evoking and alluring or embracing like and by this means the beamy spark or atom of sunny influence in the grain being idle and doing nothing in the center thereof is stirred up by his externall like to act and operate his own delivery out of the elementall mire or the slimy band of the elementary compound And therefore as it was before contracted from the externall cold into the center it is now by the presence of fresh solary irradiation from above exsuscitated as is were from death unto life and so by the assistance of those celestiall beams it passeth beyond the limits of the corrupted grain and soareth above the earth and seeketh by all means to ascend unto his native region from whence it descended but being cumbered in his ascent by the sublunary substance of the importunate elements which enclose it on every side it is beset with the volatil salt of the aire and insteed of mounting into his desired place it is contented to multiply in his kind and to have companions namely other graines procreated like it self In like manner the microcosmical Sun of life raigning as Scriptures do teach us in the blood doth emanate and send out his spirituall beams which are inseparable by continuity joyned unto and continued with the spirit of the congealed
aire insomuch as he hath power to stir up tempests in the seas and storms in the elementary heavens and therefore the aire by some is called The Synagogue of Satan What! must we therefore abhor the aire and winds because the devill doth at sometimes act by and in them his mischievous feats when as the aire is cleared and purified from all corruption as Aristotle saith rightly by agitation of the winds for if it were not excited and moved by the winds it would putrifie as the standing waters doth Again if we should fly from and loath the aire how should we live when the airy spirit is the spirituall seed of our life We read also in Scriptures that God causeth the Sun indifferently to rise upon the good and bad and that the Sun and Moon do harm or hurt some as again they are comfortable and propitious unto others and therefore David saith The Sun shall not harm thee by day nor the moon by night The Moon which is termed by the Poets Hâ—ccate is the goddess of witches for unto her did the famous Enchantress Medaea make her orisons for the furthering of her purposes and yet the aire the water and the earth are seasoned with her humid or madid vertues and the plants yea and animals do acknowledge her the Patroness of vegetation the maketh the seas to swell and again by another kind of her position or aspect the seas are abated in their pride and humours are more scanty in every living or vegetating thing Yea we finde that all the malignant watry spirits are subject unto her influences and that Satan also taketh his advantage on the diverse positions of her or conjunctions and applications with other as well fixt as erratik starrs to work his feats for he is an old beaten Souldier in Astrology and knoweth the effects of every situation of the heavens and therefore can take the advantage of their strongest influences upon animal vegetable or minerall creatures which are subject unto them he knoweth the due times when they are poured down upon them and is expert in their virtues which are then onely of greatest efficacy and force when the powerfull point of their proper constellation striketh upon them and stirreth up their Centrall spirits to shew forth the uttermost of their occult or arcane natures and conditions and then at the very instant he collecteth the herb or stone or maketh use of the Animal's members or teacheth such as are Sorcerers to do it without knowing the mystery of the constellation 's concurrence or application at that time of the collection with the naturall creatures so collected So that when they attempt to make use of the same Simples at another time they find them weak and of none effect because the spirits of every herb animal or minerall are weakest when the starre which is their nursing celestiall mother hath least power or dominion in heaven All which the true Astrologicall Philosopher knoweth right well by experience to be true For gathering of a Simple at the point when the constellation as well fixt as erratick which hath the essentiall dominion over it is in his greatest dignity and power in heaven he findeth an admirable efficacy in it as well in his occult as evident property when contrariwise if it be collected at a season wherein the heavenly Patron is weak and feeble they will appear as it were faint and almost dead in their power Whereby it is most apparent that it is the naturall creature 's which by their own essentiall natures work even as well those sympatheticall as antipatheticall effects which the devill doth make use of to perform his devices even as the Physitian Philosopher or naturall Magitian doth to effect their own ends What shall we say then what that whosoever shall use or operate by the same creatures be they animals vegetabls or minerals are Cacomagicians and their work diabolicall because the devill at some times maketh use of their subtil and abstruse action to build himself a name amongst fools Is it not God that worketh such effects in these his creatures Did he not by his Word bestow such virtues on them in their Creation and continued it in their sucession by generation Why then is it not as possible unto Man who is framed after God's Image to know the true time of the collection of these creatures with the uses and virtues thereof as well as the devill What because forsooth he since the fall Adam is blinded with ignorance and cannot see or distinguish light from dakness That Adam knew the virtues of the starrs and of every particular earthly creature subject unto every one of these starrs we partly gather out of Scripture For else could he not have assigned a proper name unto each of them agreeing to his nature But if the sucession of Adam is blind and cannot distinguish of colours and therfore is ignorant also in these hidden treasures of God How I pray you came the devill to have so deep an insight in them being that he fell for his rebellion farre deeper than Man and is clogged with a darker vayl than he and therefore is called the Prince of darkness Oh you reply the devill is a spirit without body and therefore is able to discern the hidden things of God in nature sooner and beter then Man who is a gross bodily creature And again Man dieth every Age but the devill by reason of his long continuance is of great experience I answer That though Man die and continueth not long and though he be obscured in his understanding by reason of his Fore-fathers fall and though he be clad or indued with a dark and combersom body yet hath he the revelation of the Truth and a discovery of the abstruce mysteries of Naturall things first from God bequeathed and left unto him by succession that is by a Cabalisticall tradition even from our Fore-father Adam and by the revelation of God's Wisdom or the good Spirit which he hath bestowed upon the Elect For by it as Solomon himself doth restifie he came to know the disposition of the Earth the virtue of the Elements the beginning end and middle of times the change of manners the division of times the course of the year the disposition of the staâ—rs the natures of living creatures the condition of beasts the force of the winds the differences of Plants the virtues of roots yea saith he and I discovered all hidden and abstruce things For Wisdom who is the worker of all things taught it me c. And again it is said that he knew and was instructed in the mysteries of all Plants even from the lowly Hysop unto the lofty Cedar of Libanon Was it then a diabolicall action in Solomon to look after and to practise upon the abstruce natures of Plants and Animals and to find out by his skill in Astrology the proper starrs which are their true Patrons and charitable Mothers in heaven and to make
virtue As for example Let there be a long Load-stone prepared and directly in the middle upon the aequinoctial B where the Axis runneth plant an incited needle and it will look directly unto the North-pole A. Also if within the Orbe you place another incited needle without the Stone in C it will also look directly upon the said Pole whereby we may discern the long distance which is between the aspect of the Magnet and that of the incited body namely 90 Degrees Again each part or fragment that is divided from the Magnet be it animal vegetable or minerall hath therefore the self-same dimension because it is as well indued with his polar virtues as the whole And this is sufficiently testified by this Problem 5. Problem If Magneticall subjects be divided or any piece be broken off from it by any means every part so broken off from the whole will have an end as well Septentrional as Meridional as well as the whole had As for example If a smaller part or piece be taken out of a greater Load-stone it will be indued wich the same life and vigor which the whole Magnet had no otherwise then the child will touching his life wholly correspond with the Father in life parts and it will be as it were a new creature and will have his poles and aequinoctial as well as the whole Stone had Also if an Iron-rod as is that of the Curtain be hung up and have his position North and South without being touched for being to god North and South it will indue those properties namely the polar virtues and move in the aire being hung up by a thread or put into a boat on the water unto the North and South If I say a small piece of the rod be broke off from the North part it will have his North and South-pole as well as the whole rod of Iron from the which it was broken Whereby it is apparent that if every portion or fragment of the Load-stone or Iron have his pole as well as the whole then the spirit which is within hath his relation or application with the Northern pole-star of the great world and doth also behold the Southern Virtue with his South-pole for except there were the Scintil of the Anima mundi which is in it and operateth in it according unto the small proportion of it no otherwise then it doth in the great world it could not aspect each Pole as it is observed by experience to do and consequently as the actions of the Anima mundi are so catholick that they cannot be limited so are the spirituall quintessentiall or astralicall Emanations I prove it further thus 6. Problem If you take an Iron rod made of good Iron and hang it up in the aire on a thread as if it were touched with a Load-stone c. The Experience is this Take a straight piece of Iron or steel of six foot long and a finger thick hang it up in a close chamber into the which there cometh no wind and therefore this experiment ought to be tried when the aire is calm and the day not windy and must hang on a silken thread which is not twisted but woven and the Iron must hang directly equilibrous or in an equall ballance and you shall discern it slowly to move and by little and little to attain with his extremities or ends of the points of North and South no otherwise then the needl's do in the Dialls which are touched with the Load-stone Moreover we shall find that the Load-stone or any thing else that is touched or excited by the Load-stone will direct their aspect being planted in small boats on the needle on his vertical unto the North-pole The Conclusion Wherefore it is made manifest that the extention of the Load-stone's spirituall or formall Emanation as also that of other Magneticall bodies is not to be limited being that they do act and apply their beams unto the very state of the Pole-star and the Pole-star by his like emitted influences doth operate reciprocally and apply unto or aspect the Load-stone and so make a continuated Spirituall union betwixt them being that we ocularly discern that both it and the Iron doth diligently and with a manifest Sympathy aspect and actually move unto the said star And then after this is well considered let us but think and ponder the distance which is between the Pole-star and the Magnet namely betwixt the eighth Sphere and the earth and he will perceive it to be in a manner infinite and incommensurable and consequently the emitted beams of the Load-stone cannot by any phantasticall Sphere of sensible and sensuall Philosophers be comprehended or limited But if the act of the Pole-star on the Magnet be denied And Fracastorius his opinion with that of many other learned men be received namely that the Load-stone the Iron and the needle touched do tend unto the North-pole by reason of the attraction of certain Rocks of Load-stone which are in the Hyperboreal mountains if this opinion I say were admitted to be true yet may we see by it that the act of the Magnet and the actuall respect which the Magneticall body beareth unto it is not to be limited being that so they will be observed to co-operate from the aequinoctiall unto the Northern Hyperborean Rocks But this opinion hath been proved false by us in another place and shall hereafter be demonstrated by us to be so We will now come to our Application touching this first Article Application The first and second Problem teacheth us that there is such a celestiall or astralicall subtle spirit in all magneticall bodies of the earth as is in the heavenly ones and consequently that the beams of each of them may penetrate as far though they be not discerned by sense as the beams of each star By this therefore we may be assured that mans heavenly spirit being of a more pure and subtle a stuff than is that of the Load-stone may send forth the astralicall beams of his vertue not onely to the mark that the Load-stone aimeth at but also unto the highest throne of divinity Again hereby it is argued that the spirit in the transplanted blood is able to operate at any distance on the wound and the beamy spirit of the wound again to co-operate and have a continuated union and respect unto one another The third instructeth us that though the oyntment and blood in it do not appear mobil or movable at a far distance yet they may co-operate and be conjoyned with the spirit of the wounded at an unknown proportion of space By the fourth and fifth we learn that the extension of the northern bloods aspect unto the southern may be so far as the aequinoctiall is from the pole namely 90 degrees But I say that as the northern and southern emanation of the soul of the world filleth all the cavity of the world so also by it and in it may this act of
be with the weapon conveyed unto his oyntment which keepeth it from the cold aire and serveth the spirituall Mummie's turn to preserve it as the filings of Steel doth the formall spirit of the Load-stone 2. Problem Baptista Porta did take a Load-stone and kept it in the filings of Steel a good while and afterwards he found it more vigorous and efficacious in his attractive vertue Also Paracelsus by heating a Load-stone and imbibing it with the oyl of Iron did increase the vigour of it by many degrees as is said before Application In like manner if the spirituall Mummy in the transported blood be but weak or faint yet if it be kept a while in the animal salve it will become vigorous insomuch that it will also animate the whole salve 3 Problem Set a Magnet of no force or strength that can easily be perceived upon a Load-stone of good strength and vigour especially upon the poles and he will shew a vigour as if he were as strong as the Load-stone is whereunto he is united but after he is taken away he will be as weak as before unless it be often done Application So also if the spirits transported with the blood be planted on a found and balsamick unguent it will gather strength but if the unguent be either wiped or pared or melted off from the weapon it will immediately lose his force And again if it be freshly annointed and covered warm it will be forth-with recreated again as is said before Moreover this is also confirmed by this Problem mentioned before 4 Problem If a weak Magnet be rubbed at his poles with a stronger Load-stone he will be bettered by it in his vigour and vertue if not augmented therein 5. Problem A stronger and bigger Load-stone doth augment the force of a lesser if it be put on the pole of the greater Magnet for then will the north pole of it be the more vigorous Application The strong blood and spirit in the wounded man by aspect maketh the weak blood and spirit which is transplanted in the oyntment to operate magnetically and to apply and direct the spirit of the unguent unto it strongly which it would not do without the union which it hath with its fountain which is more lively agil and robust The eighth Member of the Proposition with his Proofs The eighth Member of this Proposition is that in all magneticall operations there must be a reciprocall application or aspect made between the lover and the beloved as between the matter or feminine which coveteth and the form or male which is coveted and by a likeness or continuation of formall spirits like is united unto his like which acteth in the matter So the Boreall spirit with his unctuous materiall body coveteth and allureth effectually the formall and aequinoctiall beams or emanating spirit of the wound and directeth the unctuous Magnet to bring to pass the effect of his concupiscence which is easily effected being that there is a continuation between their spirits But to our Proofs Certain Problematicall Demonstrations to confirm this Problem 1 Problem The magneticall coition is an act of the Load-stone and the Iron not of one but of both like man and wife Application As the woman that is colder and of a more northern nature doth covet the man which is of a hotter and southern disposition so also by a sympatheticall likeness in either's spirit they meet and unite their seeds of affection In the very like manner the cold spirit in the congealed blood coveteth the hot spirits of the lively and active blood and after each of them are met they unite natures and procreate a third as a child which partaketh of them both 2 Problem The first vertue of the primary form in the Iron was at the first distinct but is now confused by the fusion or melting of his body when the magneticall or iron-vein was examined and yet nevertheless after that a whole and strong Load-stone is applyed unto it returneth again unto his former act for his form being disposed and ordered with the magnet they both do conjoyne together sociable forces consenting magnetically and mutually unto unity in all motions and are adjoyned together without any corporeall contact and consequently are made all one Application The self-same is the reason of Contraries and therefore the self-same may be said touching the extremity of cold which is in the Problem reported of the extremity of heat We say therefore That the blood which whilst it was in his naturall vein was distinct in his action is now by pouring it out into the cold aire made confused and void of any manifest formall action but when by the assistance of the oyntment it is stirred up and applyed again unto the spirituall emanation of the strong blood it is rectifyed again and doth conjoyne his nature with the adopted power it hath from the oyntment and so a union of both natures is made whereby the wound 's spirit doth participate with the balsamick nature of the Mummy Again in the true nature of the said Problem without any conversion of proposition the bloody spirit in the â—nguent became confused through overmuch heat as it appeareth by Mr. James Viret his experiment in holding the Lancet by the fire after it had wounded and was annointed 3 Problem Two Load stones being disposed into severed Boats and placed on the superficies of the water if they be sufficiently placed within the orbs of their vertues they will with mutuall affection prepare themselves for a meeting and at the last embrace or adhere unto one another Also if an Iron be fitted in one Bark and a Load-stone in another the Iron will hasten in the very same manner unto the Load-stone and also the Load-stone being in his Bark will move unto the Iron insomuch that either of them are carried from their places in such a manner that at the last they are joyned together and so do rest as being well satisfied and contented in their loves The like also will be effected if two wiers excited by the Load-stone be put through like corks and placed on the water to swim for you shall see them make love to one another and moving by little and little they will sensibly meet and with their ends strike and touch one another Application In like manner the Northern or congealed blood or bloody transported Mummy by the conduct of his unctuous vehicle which is also by his presence made Magnetick doth covet the Southern union of the living and moving bloody spirits of the wounded as Matter doth Form or the female doth the male and because the spirit is continuated betwixt them both as the aire is continuated betwixt the North-pole and the South aequinoctial in the great world though each extremity be of different natures namely the one cold and dry congelative attractive and immobil the other hot and moist dissolutive discussive and mobil or agill therefore they easily
do concur and meet with a sympathetical embracing 4. Problem The naturall union of Magneticall Spirits is when the condition is made by contrary parts as by the pole North or South Application So the Northern blood or the spirits in the transported blood that are congealed and have assumed a Northern property will easily concur with spirits of a Southern or aequinoctial nature namely with the spirits of the lively fountain from whence they come being that like doth naturally covet his like especially when it is compassed about by the cold and crude aire and so constrained to contract it self with its airy vehicle from his cold adversary for spirits that are derived from the aequinoctial do eschew by a naturall instinct even as the airy nature doth the chill disposition of the earth and therefore being fled or contracted into the Center it draws unto it the lively beams of the Southern blood This is the reason in the Macrocosm that when the North-wind bloweth strongly and the South wind not so strongly the aire is often times condensed into a cloud by the contraction of the fiery formal and aequinoctial or astrall beams in the aire so condensed which by reason of the outward cold do fly from the air's Circumference unto the Center Insomuch that for this reason often times it is seen that it breaketh out into Lightnings and Coruscations This contraction also in the included aire when the externall aire is cold is easily discerned in effect by the Wether-glass namely when the water is drawn up and the included aire contracted or coarcted into a narrow room The ninth Member of the Proposition with his Proofs The ninth member of the Proposition is that the strong attractive faculties of every Magnet is of a Northern condition or Boreal property and consequently hath his chief attractive faculty from the pole-star And therefore after the manner of the Load-stone it draweth from the Circumference unto the Center Again all things coveted or beloved forasmuch as they are formal do participare of the aequinoctiall faculty which emitteth beams by dilatation from the Center and therefore their union by application maketh a mixtion of temper which is between the Northern-pole and the aequinoctial that is partly attractive and partly dilative as is mans vitall spirit which acteth in Systole and Diastole or contraction and dilatation even such is the Act of Magneticall coition Certain Problematical Demonstrations to confirm this Member First I will prove unto you demonstratively and that by a relation made unto the Load-stone that the most vigorous Magneticall attraction is from the North-pole and consequently that by the blood's induing of a Northern and congelative faculty it must needs become most attractive and contractive of his like as we see that the movable and thin expansed aire becometh thick Snow when the North wind doth blow or ice or frost or hail 1. Problem The North-pole is alwaies the most vigorous and strong pole to all Magneticall purposes if he have the quantiry the South hath Application Therefore the bloody spirit induing the natute of the North is most efficacious to operate upon the Southern nature Magnetically or attractively 2 Problem The Loadstone draweth the Iron more strongly from the North-pole than any point else of the said Stone Application This confirmeth the fore-said Problem To conclude the Magneticall attraction of the Northern blood is the cause of planting the light of more spirits in the unctuous Magnet whereby it is made stronger in his operation 3. Problem The Loadstone hath his points that is to say his true poles in the which do abide his greatest virtue And for this cause it doth not attract the Iron with equal force from every part and also the Magneticall Subject doth not move or flow unto every part of the Magnet 4 Problem The parts that are nearest the North-pole are the strongest in attraction and the parts that are remote are observed to be the weaker and more infirm in their drawing virtue Demonstration Now that the greatest attractive virtue is from the North I demonstrate it many waies And first If we shall hang up a long piece of Iron by a threed as is said before the Northen part of the world will attract unto it the end of it So that it will stand directly North and South Secondly if a wier of four or five inches in length be thrust through a cork and touched by the Load-stone and the cork be put into the water the Northern-Star will suck the end of the Iron unto it Thirdly if a long Iron be forged North and South and so be laid to cool in the same situation it will be animated and indued with the virtue of the Pole and move in the aire being hung up by a threed or put into a boat on the water and it will be drawn by the North and have as it were a coition with the North-star Fourthly if a long piece of clay newly burnt doth cool North and South it will then receive a Magneticall power from the earth and pole Fiftly set two Load-stones with their poles of one denomination namely the North-pole or South-pole of each at each end of a piece of clay while it cooleth and both ends will be of one nature Sixtly put a piece of clay of a long form into the fire and afterwards let it cool North and South and it will receive a polar virtue After that burn it again in the fire and let that end which cooled first North cool now South and it will be changed into the nature of the South and the other into the nature of the North. Application By the first therefore of these Problems and experiments it is apparent that the fountain of vigorous attraction is from the pole because that the property of Northern cold is to attract and therefore the bloody Spirit induing the nature of the North becommeth Magneticall as well as that of clay or Iron I will come now therefore to demonstrate the effect that this Northern spirit and the Southern do make by their mutuall concourse and union as we see that the Northern and Southern-pole by their intermediate concourse do produce an aequinoctial nature which is vernall and temperate that is to say hot and moist as is the living blood So that a Media natura or mean nature which participates of both extreams is produced between the confluence of their aspect or application which receiveth from the one and communicateth with the other My magneticall proofs are these 5 Problem Two magneticall bodies being joyned together at their poles those two poles that touch together have the nature of the Aequator or equinoctiall and will not excite or hold a needle thus touching Application The northern or contracted bloody spirit joyning by application with the southern equinoctiall or lively or dilated one will endue by this conjunction an equinoctiall nature which will have relation unto each
extremity namely by receiving from the oyntments spirits and giving or imparting them sympathetically unto the wound The tenth Member of the Proposition with his Proofs The tenth Member of the Proposition is that by a lively southern spirit a portion of his like being made by effusion of it into the open and cold air weak drooping northern or congealed may after transplantation be revived quickened and corroborated and so by returning again unto his southern or equinoctiall nature may by a sympatheticall union be made all one homogeneall nature with the lively bloody spirit conferring along with it by little and little the nature of the plant or animal mass in which he is grafted and so may cause each extream nature to participate with the symptoms of one another be they good and salutary or bad and dolorous Certain Problematicall Demonstrations to confirm this Member 1 Problem If a Magnet of no force or strength that can easily be discerned be set on the pole of a Load-stone that is strong he will shew a vigour as if he were as strong as the Load-stone is whereunto he is united but after he is taken away he will be as weak as before unless it be often done Application The Southern blood penetrating through the unctuous Magnet doth animate it and by animation doth revive it and as well preserving the transplanted spirit from the externall aire 's inclemency as calefacting or heating of it by his attracted southern nature it doth revive again the dead spirits of the fainting blood so transported even as we see the spirits in the dead grain of Wheat buried in the earth is by the earth animated with the Sun-beams being revived as it were from death to life But if that a part of the oyntment be taken away from the place of the weapon where the blood doth stick or the bloody spirits did penetrate then will the revived spirits faint again and the wound will be dolorous as it was before the blood was buried in the oyntment even as also if the earth be removed from the vigorous spirits in the dead grain they will fade and the plant will not grow and multiply But if the oyntment animated as before be re-applyed the wound will prosper and heal without pain no otherwise also then if the earth that was removed from the revived spirit in the grain be re-applyed unto it suddainly it will prosper again 2 Problem If a weak Magnet be rubbed at one of his poles with a stronger Magnet it wil be bettered by it in vigour and vertue if not augmented therein Application This typicall proof doth confirm also exactly the same member namely the lively spirits will vigorate fainting-ones 3 Problem The Magnet will lose some of his attractive vertue and will as it were languish with old age if it be long exposed unto the open aire and be not put again and reserved or buried in the filings of Iron Application So also mans blood effused out of his Mine and exposed into the open air doth languish and becommeth weak if it be not preserved in the weapon-salve which is of his nature 4 Problem One Iron being touched doth recreate another and instruct it unto magneticall motions Application So the Mummiall unguent animated by the emitted beams of the lively blood doth recreate incite and corroborate the spirits in the transported blood The eleventh Member of this Proposition with his Proofs The eleventh Member is That the alteration of the aire doth operate equally upon either extream which is an evident argument of a continued unity in spirit between the transplanted blood in the oyntment and the wound so that what passion the distempered or unclement aire operateth in the one is felt by the other no otherwise than if a thread be tyed at both ends of a Gallem the one end being touched the other end doth sympathize or act likewise by consent which is an evident argument that the aire is the medium or vehicle in which the spirituall influence doth pass and that the said formall celestiall or influentiall spirit which is carried in it doth by an immediate contact communicate with the distempers of its airy vehicle and by consequence it is by that means changed by turns and by portions into a northern or southern disposition And therefore by the externall air 's cold it sucketh spirits from the wound and leaveth it distempered and dolorous it being by that kind of attraction deprived of some naturall heat So that sympathy is turned into antipathy as it appeareth when the oyntment is taken off from the wounding place of the weapon either totally or in part as is said before Certain Problematicall Demonstrations to confirm this Member 1 Problem In the Weather-glass so often mentioned before you shall find between the bolts-head or mattras above and the water below a continued aire in the neck of the glass and you must imagine that such included aire is not without his sulphureous spirits which by dilatation of themselves do also dilate the airy vehicle they are in and with the dilated vehicle the water is stricken down and by contraction of themselves the airy vehicle is also contracted and the water is sucked up And yet we see that the aire which is between both extreams is all one continued aire from the one extream unto the other and therefore much more the occult and celestiall sulphureous spirit which dwelleth and acteth within it and is as the soul in a body in toto in qualibet parte and that indivisibly or not separated into parts And because this included acting spirit being but one in number is derived from the soul of the world Look as the generall worketh in the great world namely from the north or from the south even so also doth this member of the generall operate in his included aire For if the catholick spirit of the world acteth or breatheth from the north and bringeth forth in the air congealative and contractive effects then the centrall spirit in the glass doth operate likewise after the same manner for it contracteth his vehicle and sucketh up the water But if the world's catholick spirit bloweth from the south then is the aire before contracted now again dilated and then also will the included formall spirits in the glass operate after the same fashion and dissipate or extend out their airy vehicle in a larger proportion or manner as by ocular observation you may discern in the said Instrument 2 Problem The north wind blowing in the great world continueth the essence of his blast from north to south but the nearer that it approacheth the equinoctiall line the more weak is his effect in contraction and congelation agreeing in this with the Magnet or Load-stone whose parts the nearer they are unto the pole the more potent are they in their operative or attractive power and the farther they are off the more infirm and debil they are But this emanating spirit from
the north to the equinoctiall is one and the same spirit in essence although in property it varieth in his parts Likewise the south wind having dominion doth send out from the equinoctiall unto the north his blast without any discontinuance of his essence and yet the nearer it approcheth unto the north the weaker is his force in dilatation and dissolution and yet the spirit is one and the same in essence with that of the north for it is but one anima mundi or vivifying spirit of the world which the Platonist esteem to have his dwelling in the Sun And David saith He put his tabernacle in the Sun And therefore the winds are called by some Titanei filiI the sons of Titan or the Sun And the Prophet argueth aswell the Unity as the Omnipotency of this vivifying Spirit where he saith Veni Spiritus a quatuor ventis insuffla interfectos istos ut reviviscant Come Spirit from the four winds and breathe upon these slain persons that they may live Where he argueth that it is but one essentiall Spirit which as Solomon saith filleth the world and is in every thing of the world but after a manifold property The conclusive Application We conclude therefore that the spirit in the wounded man's blood not exhausted and that in the blood exhausted is all one spirit in essence howsoever it vary in property and therefore being continuate and indivisible in essence it is no marvell though it acteth from one extreame unto another diversly namely Magnetically and attractively from the Oyntment for there by reason of its absence from the Southern or lively blood in the body it indueth a Northern nature and sucketh or attracteth his like being emanated in the aire and the Southern-pole or aequinoctial point by dilatation sendeth out his spirit to be attracted and so there is made a communication betwixt the Balsamick nature and the wounded the self-same spirit operating diversly And I will express unto you a notable example in the great world When the Sun is beyond the aequinoctial Southward which happeneth in the winter then is the Northern nature most powerfull in attraction congelation and inspissation on this side the aequinoctial As contrariwise the Southern nature is most vigorous and efficacious in dilatation dissolution and subtiliation and yet you shall plainly discern how one and the same Spirit in the world doth operate from the one extream unto the other For when the Sun in the South doth dilate the aire and the waters there which the precedent winter had thickened and incrassated by attraction of cold and by dilatation doth dissipate it then that aire and water so dissipated requireth a larger place and flieth from the aspect of the Sun Northward And again the Northern propertie of the same spirit being now in the winter time most potent doth by attraction suck and direct Magnetically those spirits which are chased from the South and the nearer it draweth them unto the pole the more suddenly it condenseth them into clouds which by reason of the Sulphureous nature which it bringeth from the Summer or aequinoctial do immediatly dissolve themselves into rains And this is the reason that the Southern winds are so rife among us in the winter and consequently that we have so much rain in that season So that we may see how the double property of one and the same spirit doth operate at one and the same time about the effecting of one and the same thing in one and the same catholick aire of the world as I have told you before in my foregoing Discourse As also in the ascending or descending of fountains in each Hemisphere the like is effected All which is most lively demonstrated and performed in the Weather-glass as I have expressed before Whereby it is confirmed that being the Microcosmicall spirit is all one in condition with the Macrocosmicall It followeth thâ—t though the body of it be divided yet the spirit remains indivisible and can dilate and contract it self at any extention as is proved by the properties of the two contrary winds whose spirit is continued from both extremities and by the small pieces in the Load-stone which have their compleat poles as well as the whole Also by this a man way see that this spirit's operation is not to be limited by any of the Peripateticks imaginary Sphere of activity and consequently that it may work at any distance being directed and guided by a right and homogeniall Magnet that is to say agreeing at the least-wise in speciality if not in individuality or both as the blood of the wounded which is transplanted and that in the body both which are identity in nature and also as is the Uznea and Mummy in the Oyntment which is of the same Specifick though not of the Individuall You see therefore Learned Reader how plainly this business or the fore-said Proposition hath been demonstrated as well by the Load-stone as the naturall practise in the great world and in practise of the Weather-glass which I term my Demonstrative Instrument But because there are some strange accidents which happen in this cure by chance and unlooked for a reason whereof could never hitheto be expressed I will speak a word or two of them in a second Proposition and so I will end this Chapter The second Proposition It hath been observed in the cure of wounds by the Weapon-salve that if there happen in the time of the cure any issue of blood from some other part of the wounded man as bleeding at the nose pissing of blood or by some other wound or else if he have to do with any menstruous woman in the mean time the force of the Ointment will be diverted and the efficacy of it will stand but in little stead and the reason that I can give is because the Southern bloody spirit which raigning in the veins did emit and direct his beams unto the Oyntment was easily attracted and imbibed by the Oyntment but when that spirit is diverted and turned another way and is attracted by a contrary Magneticall Subject then will a divorce as it were be made by the second Magnet betwixt the emanating Spirit and the attractive in the Oyntment And I will maintain and demonstrate this to be true by this Magneticall experiment A Problem to confirm the Proposition out of Gilb. lib. 2. de Mag cap. 31. Two Load-stones or Irons excited rightly cohaering by the comming of another fresher and stronger Load-stone or Iron excited do make an abort and the new commer will easily drive away the other with a contrary face and will command him and so the endeavour or the desire of the other two which were first joyned will end Application Thus you see how fitly these two do concur namely the fore-recited animal act with these of the mineral I end this Chapter with this Assertion Spirits that have their subtiliation and action from natural heat do act livelily so long as they abide within
one is given by the Spirit the word of Wisdome and unto an other the gift of healing Now that this Omnipotent and all-operating Spirit is that Wisdom which giveth life and health to every creature it is made manifest by many places of the book of Verity saith the Wiseman Sapientia custodiet salutem Wisdome will preserve health In Sapientiae dextra est longitudo dierum In the right-hand of wisdome is the length of daies Est lignum vitae omnibus qui apprehenderunt eam Shee is the tree of Life unto all them which can possessâ— her where it is meant as well of body as of soul as it did appear by those cures which Christ and the Apostles did effect by the means of this Spirit upon the earth Sapientiam qui invenerit inveniet vitam hauriet salutem à Dâ—mino He that hath found wisdome shall find life and shall draw or attract health from the Lord. And in another place Ipsa hos qui se observant a doloribus liberavit wisdome preserved such from dolours as observed her And again Sapientia sanati sunt quicunque placuerint tibi ô Domine à principio They were healed O Lord whosoever have pleased thee from the beginning Yea verily each prudent Reader ought seriously to understand that there is not an animal vegetable or minerall but hath and receiveth immediatly his curative act from this Spirit And therefore the foresaid Son Syrach saith Altissimus de terra creavit medecinam vir prudens non abhorrebit illam The most high hath created medicine of the earth and the Wâ—se man will not despise it whereby we may discern first that the trees herbs roots and mineralls being of springs of the earth were ordained by God to be the means of curing and healing of men and then that the gift or act which is imparted unto them is from this Spirit of wisdome forasmuch as it is said to be in all things and to operate all in all in them though after a divers manner as the Apostle doth affirme confirming in this the Wisemans saying before recited Verbum tuum sanans omnia Thy word which healeth all things And therefore he inferred Non herba nec maâ—egmaâ—e sed verbo tuo sanante omnia not by herb or plaister but by thy word which healeth all things If the Word therefore heal all things then nothing can cure but the Word or the spirit of wisdome whose Fountain is the Word as is proved before But seeing this incorruptible Spirit of God is in all things and since it is the most active and movable thing in this world and since by his purity he penetrateth through all and acteth in all What should hinder me or any good Christian else to say that he acteth all in all in and by this word of himself and by himself and that immediatly and therefore not any Creature of it self or by it self as the Peripatetick doctrine doth most erroniously and to the seducing of true Christian hearts from their Creatour publish unto the World alluring them thereby to derogate from God who is all in all by arrogating abâ—olute authority unto the Creature in making and ordaining so many essentiall distinct subalternate agents which must forsooth operate per se as the Sun the Stars the winds the Elements and the compounded creatures as well imperfectly as perfectly mixed Verily in so doing they make the world believe that the Organ doth act per se essentially and not this hidden and centrall word or incorruptible Spirit existing in every thing which is the fountaine or foundation of the true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or wisdome and the main mark or Summum bonum which the true Philosopher or Lover of wisdome doth ayme at Therefore doth Salomon the Prophets and Christ with his sanctified followers exhort all men to be Amatores verae Sapientiae Lovers of this wisedome in whom is all Act as well intellectuall condescending unto the sublimation of mans knowledg as more materiall namely operating to vivification vegetation and multiplication But of this more at large in another place I will return unto my purpose and conclude this brief discourse upon the true Physick with Salomons confession who sayeth Per sapientiam novi na turas animalium was bestiarum differentias virgultorum virtutesradicum imò quae sunt occulta et manifesta mihi patefecit omnium artifex Sapientia By wisdome I knew the natures of living creatures the raging conditions of Beasts the dâ—fferences of plants and the vertues of roots yea all the mysteries of creatures as well occult as manifest were revealed unto me by wisdome which is the worker of all things Whereby he argueth that wisdome even that heavenly Spirit which did bestow on herbs animals and minerals their virtues as well hidden and secret as apparent and evident even that eternall Word which is all in all and operateth or acteth all in all and therefore can only teach and instruct by an externall revelation what he internally doth and by what vertue he operateth in each creature and although Ethnick Philosophers and Physitians have by practicall effects or sensuall observations and demonstrations à posteriori found out the occult properties in plants as for example of the Piony to cure the falling-sickness of Herniaria to respect the rupture of Tussilago to be proper for the Lungs of Euphragia to be good for the eie-sight of Thecilea and Viscus quercinus to prevaile against the falling-sickness c. In animals of the Toad to stanch blood of the Alsaeus hoof and also the Frog to cure the falling-sickness of the Scorpion chiefly to cure the bitings of the Scorpion c. yet because they are ignorant of the centrall grounds of Sympathy and Antipathy which consisteth in the Volunty or Nolunty of one and the same Spirit they can give no other reason for such hidden things but only that they are ab occulta proprietate of a hidden property And in fine can say no more but that they are talia quia talia and so we receive from these learned Doctours nothing else but Ignotum per ignotius A thing unknown by a more unknown To conclude it is certain that Salomon learn'd so much of the nature of Planets and other creatures by the discovery of this Spirit that it was said of him that he was instructed by this his Schoolmistriss in the vertues of all vegetables beginning even from the lowly Hysop and so mounting unto the lofty Cedars of Libanus Having then in few words expressed unto you the power of this Spirit in her documents of Physick or Medicine and proved that shee is the Basis or ground of every sanative property in the world I will shew you in the next rank her act and vertue in the essentiall Musick Touching the harmony of this world and how every sublunary element and superlunary sphear are disposed by an essentiall kind of symphoniacall
effecteth For when it vegetateth or causeth to grow and multiply it is called life when it contemplateth it is termed a spirit it is called sense when it is conversant about the function which belongeth unto the externall sense it is termed the mind when it is versed about wisdom it is called Mens or the mentall beam when it understandeth it is termed reason when it discerneth between good or bad it is called memory when it remembreth it is styled Volunty when it willeth and yet all these are but onely one soul divers properties I say but one onely essence So that it is the same essentiall act which causeth life and contemplation which maketh sense and intellect which effecteth memory and reason and to conclude that willeth or nilleth Which being thus Is it not a sinfull thing in ignorant persons to make the occult actions of this abstruce spirit by which they live move understand discern between good and evill remember see feel hear touch and â—ast the effects of the devill and consequently to rob their bright soul of her honour instead of giving her thanks for her assistance by ascribing her arcane operations most irreligiously and falsly unto the devill And why I pray Why because they cannot dive into the depth of her activity by whom they themselves do live move and have their being Yea and to limit her activity with bounds according unto their pleasure who though they know not so much have their life and volunty from her which limiteth them according as she pleaseth who is infinite in her being for so much as she is a portion not divided from that Divine Emanation which is infinite in his extention It is evident therefore that this vivifying Spirit can send forth its action unto any mark in the world from any specifick nature but especially from the Microcosmicall creature and the rather if the mark be of the same specifick condition and the vehicle of the spirit namely the effused blood measuring first the distance between the wound and the Ointment Moreover we shall find this confirmed by other of her operations effected in the same Microcosmicall Mine from whence it emitteth its beams at an unlimited distance As for example It is found by experience and that by naturall means without any suspition of Cacomagicall devices or superstitious artifices that if a persons urine that hath the Yellow Jaundis be conveied at the distance of a hundred miles as by an honourable Person of no small rank and entire in Religion I am informed who hath often times made the tryall hereof unto a place where a composition shall be made of the urine and ashes of a certain tree commonly known and had in this Kingdom with certaine blades of Saffron as hath been told you in my Book entitled The Squeezing of Parson Foster's Sponge it often-times cureth that disease when the best of Physicall experiments have failed and this Medicine misseth seldom where the disease is curable And now I will relate a true story which befell this last yeare 1630 upon a Chirurgion's wife who dwelled not far from the Tower of London She fell desperately sick of the Yellow Jaundis and had sick gripings and shouâ—ings withall about her Stomack my self after many others was called unto her but prevailed but little by our Physicall means over the disease wherefore she hearing me tell of the many cures which this Noble Earl I spake of did perform in having the Parties water she sent her man unto me with her water to request me to make some means unto the Noble Man for her The fellow was sent by me with a letter four miles into the country and when he came unto the house he found two that were there to give thanks for their recovery For by that means they were cured The urine was received for my sake and the fellow sent away But mark the consequence so soon as the fellow was parted with the urine the sick woman was tatled unto by demure Gossips and told that it was done by witch-craft and the devill and therefore dangerous for her soul which made her rage and cry-out upon witch-craft and was much discontented which when I heard I came no more unto her esteeming her ungratefull and sent suddenly to the Earl to request him to undo the business and break the clods which he sent me word he would do but told me it was to late For said he it will work the effect howsoever Indeed the woman mended immediatly after it and no doubt did ascribe the cure unto some other inefficacious Physicall trash applied per chance unto her by some Mountebank All this I spake to my knowledg and I am not ignorant of the manner of the cure For it pleased the Noble Personage to impart unto me the manner yea and the Ladies his daughters have cured many of this disease aswell rich as poore who have made some means unto them for this cure And this worthy Lord did assure me that he had cured at an hundred mile's distance I cannot chose but make you acquainted with another cure which he effected upon a noble Lady that was my patient She had extreamly the Jaundis and though I did in some sort remove them for a while yet it returned again I then requested the Noble Knight her husband to send her water unto the foresaid Honourable Personage and promised him to write my letter by him All was done as I counselled and the Countess her self took it into her care to dispose of the water and the rather because the Lady that was sick was of a Noble Parentage Somewhat i wrought with the disease but not to our purpose Whereupon I did visite this Noble Man and told him of the small success that his Medicine had He willed me to send her water once more and told me that a Lady was with him in the foresaid noble patients behalf the day before I sent again her water and from that time forward she mended apaâ—e and was perfectly cured There are a hundred who can justifie this to be true Neither can it be alledged that it might be done by some medicine used in â—he mean time To â—ut off this objection she was prohibited for all that season to take any medicine but bare food onely Now the reason of this cure is no otherwise effected then that of the weapon-salve for the spirit of the blood in the infected person hath a continuated relation unto his salt yea and its habitation is in the aereall salt of the blood which being a subtle earth in the center whereof is the spirit contracted and being partly dispersed in the urine which is the whey of the blood it sucketh and draweth unto it his like from the infected body whereby it being as it were resuscitated and newly revived it emitteth new beams to meet comfort and correct the infected beams emitted out of the sick body And again the infecting spirit of the iâ—teâ—itious humour is by vertue