Qualities of even the worst of Beasts The holy Sages are wont to liken some Men to Dogs for their snarling and contention others to Wolves for their ravenous Cruelty others to Swine for their sottish Sensuality and our Saviour calls the Scribes and Pharisees a Generation of Vipers for their venomous Qualities Farthermore this Vision of Peter does declare That this evil bestial cruel unclean Nature that had gotten the dominion in Man should be destroyed through the divine Power for the Lord said Arise Peter kill and eat That is Mortifie the bestial Properties and let the unclean Thoughts Words and Works be cut off in the Bud by the Sword of the Spirit It was the poysonous Vermin and violent unclean Nature within which the Lord would have destroyed and killed not the Beasts without for Man's most deadly Enemies are those of his own Houshold inward not outward and accordingly the chief work of every good Man is internal and if the Heart and Soul be clean then the Thoughts Words Works Meats Drinks and all other things belonging to the whole Life are also clean for where the divine Principle has the Ascendent all the Thoughts and Desires are generated from the same and relish of their Original which does attract the pure Vertue out of all things because it has an Unity and Agreement with its own Nature 13. It is a grand Mistake of People in this Age to say or suppose That Flesh affords not only a stronger Nourishment but also more and better than Herbs Grains c. For the truth is it does yield more Nourishment but not of so firm a Substance nor so good as that which proceeds from the other Food for Flesh has more Matter for Corruption and nothing so soon turns to Putrifaction Now 't is certain such sorts of Food as are subject to putrifie before they are eaten are also liable to the same afterwards Besides Flesh is of soft moist gross phlegmy Quality and generates a Nourishment of a like Nature Also Flesh heats the Body and causeth a Drought Likewise Flesh does breed great store of noxious Humours And it must be considered that all sorts of Beasts and other living Creatures are subject to Diseases and many other Inconveniences and Uncleannesses Surfeits Over-driving Abuses of cruel Butchers c. Which renders their Flesh still more unwholsom But on the contrary all sorts of dry Foods as Bread Cheese Herbs and many Preparations of Milk Pulse Grains and Fruits as their Origiual is more clean so being of a sound firâ— nature they afford a more excellent nourishment and more easie of concoction so that if a Man should exceed in quantity the health wil not thereby be brought into such danger as by the superfluous eating of Flesh. Add to this That all kind of Vegetatives being well prepared and the Mixtures properly made are abundantly more pleasant and delightful to an undepraved Palate and also to the Stomach than Flesh as they are also much more pleasant to look upon What an ill and ungrateful sight is it to behold dead Carcasses and pieces of bloody raw Flesh It would undoubtedly appear dreadful and no Man but would abhor to think of putting it in his Mouth had not Use and Custom from Generation to Generation familiariz'd it to us which is so prevalent that we read in some Countries the Mode is to eat the Bodies of their dead Parents and Friends thinking they can no way afford them a more noble Sepulchre than their own Bowels and because 't is usual they do it with a little regret or nauceousness as others have when they fall aboard the Leg of a Rabbit or the Wing of a Lark Suppose a Person were bred up in place where it was not a Custom no kill and eat Flesh and should come into our Leaden-Hall-Market or view our Slaughter-houses and see the communication we have with dead Bodies and how blithe and merry we are at their Funerals and what honourable Sepulchres we bury the dead Carcasses of Beasts in nay their very Guts and Entrals Would he not be filled with astonishment and horror Would he not count us cruel Monsters and say That we were brutified and performed the part of Beasts of Prey to live thus on the Spoils of our Fellow-Creatures Thus Custom has awakened the inhumane fierce Nature which makes killing handling and feeding upon Flesh and Blood without distinction so easie and familiar unto Mankind And the same is to be understood of Men killing and oppressing those of their own kind For do we not see that a Souldier who is trained up in the Wars of bloody-minded Princes shall kill an hundred Men without any trouble or regret of Spirit and such who have given him no more offence than a Sheep has given the Butcher that cuts her Throat If Men have but Power and Custom on their side they think all is well whence one that was going to be a Soldier being ask'd What he was going to do nimbly answer'd I am going to break one of God's Commandments by the Authority of Custom and Law To such People Violence Oppression and Killing of Men and Beasts is as easie and inoffensive as plowing of the Land or gathering ripe Fruits so rarely does any consider whether it be right in the sight of God's Law in Nature and so sadly is Man depraved and Self deprived of the true Understanding of Wisdom and yet if some of these same Men happen in a private Quarrel or Contest to kill a Man although it were partly in their own defence or to have committed private Murthers their Minds and Consciences have been so loaded and troubled with a sense of Guilt that many times they have been forced to confess their Evil though they knew their own Death would be the consequence of that Discovery the chief cause of which is because Law and Custom do forbid them to kill men that way but if two Princes have ever so little difference or if there be none yet if one of them for his own Glory and to enlarge his Empire have a mind to make War against his Neighbour on pretences never so frivolous false or unjust yet at the Beat of Drum or Sound of Trumpet he shall have a great number of Men offer themselves and take delight to kill oppress burn and destroy Men Women and Children without any cause given or ever considering in themselves whether it be right in the sight of the Creator or his Law in Nature and without having any remorse or trouble of Conscience for the same but rather boast and think the better of themselves the more Murthers they have committed The very same is to be understood in most other things but more especially in Religion Shall we not see a Turk afflict himself for having tasted a drop of Wine and a Papist be mightily troubled for having eaten a Mouthful of Flesh on a Friday And yet the same Men at the word one of his Mufti and the other
avoid on peril of their Healths 2. It is to be noted when the Sweet Quality is strong and incorporateth with the Bitter and hath an equal share in the government of the Life then the fierceness of this Quality is allayed by the friendly Influences of the Sweet so that such Persons are of more human meek Dispositions and Inclinations tho' they have Fire enough and sometimes too much because such are apt to be troubled for their Passions more than the former and are generally of better evener Tempers and at times apt to be perswaded against their own Reason and Understanding more temperate Livers of excellent Apprehensions both in the doing and learning of any thing of healthy strong Constitutions as free from Diseases as any sort of People but they cannot endure Intemperances so well as the former also all sorts of strong Drinks compounded sugared spiced hot Food are injurious unto them But on the contrary all sorts of Food of a middle or mild Nature are very agreeable to them and make healthy strong brisk and airy fit both for the action of the Body and Mind This sort of People are of the Cholerick and Sanguin Complexion which is a commendable Temperature 3. But when it shall fall out that the Sour Quality is joyned in government with the Bitter and the Sweet Quality weak or underneath then such People are of harsh four envious Tempers being inclined to all kinds of rude robustick Exercises unmerciful to Men and Beasts of cruel fierce Inclinations being of quick Apprehensions but in general they are ill-governed People caring for nothing so much as Drinking Gluttony and vain Company very passionate in their love and hate great part of the rude Multitude are made up with this sort of People the Diseases they are subject to are Fevers Gout stoppage of the Breast Stone Convulsions Dropsies and the like according to what sort of Intemperances they give themselves unto being great lovers of their Bellies it being their chief Study and Philosophy how they may have wherewith to gratifie their Paunches often cutting off their Lives by heady Disorders and Superfluities this sort of People are of the Cholerick Phlegmatick Complexion But if they shall incline to fear the Lord and understand the principles of their own Nature being guided by the divine Voice of Wisdom which continually cries out against and condemns all the fore-mentioned Inordinances this divine Wisdom is sufficient to abate all kinds of Intemperances 4. But if the Astringent or Saltish Quality be joyned in the government of the Life with the Bitter and the Sweet impotent then all is poisoned such People being for the most part of hot-headed harsh cruel violent envious Dispositions their Looks are fierce angry and poisonous they often hurt and wound the Healths of such who are under their dominion by their Looks Wishes and Words great Swearers Liars Back-biters Deflowrers of Women Gluttons and Drunkards being often cut off by violent Deaths and by the sentence of the Judge if they do not adhere to the counsel of the love of God which being obeyed will regulate all the fore-mentioned Intemperances 5. All Beasts and Cattle as Horses Cows and the like if they shall be dignified with the Bitter Quality are strong well-set big boned hardy of great Spirits and fierce quick of motion but not very handsom fit for labour But if Cows happen to have this Quality predominant then they are dogged and mischievous not very free of Milk neither will they give much Milk But when this Quality doth predominate in any Herb or Vegetation then the Body is rather short than tall strong and full of knots and brushy the Leaves harsh cut or dented of an unpleasant Taste but hot and of a warming Quality good Herbs in Physical operations if the Physician hath skill to correct the Poysons of Mars and Saturn they being great openers and movers of Obstructions For the chief motion of Nature doth arise and proceed from the bitter Quality and if it be not too violent in a thing then it is the pleasure of every Life for when this Quality doth move with a gentle motion it shakes and makes the whole Body to tremble whence proceeds Laughter and all Mirth It is a most pleasant quality when the sweet quality doth incorporate it self with it and hath an equal share in the government of the Life But on the contrary when it doth predominate in any Creature it is a fierce furious raging Quality as is mentioned before viz. a proud lofty Spirit and Power endeavouring to bring all in subjection unto its self Of the Sweet Quality 1. In what Person soever this Quality doth predominate it indues them with a meek friendly Life and Disposition of a handsom tall slender Body of a smooth soft Skin the Complexion White and Red the Body not very strong Hair soft and fine of kind courteous Words and Behaviour their Fire burns but gently their Spirits will not endure much labour care nor trouble all kinds of Intemperances are apt to inflame them The Diseases they are subject to are Acute Fevers Quinsies fumes and vapours flying into the Head on every occasion of trouble or little Intemperance also several Distempers are caused through superfluity of Blood which is apt to abound in this sort of People also Boyls Scabby Pocky and Leperous Diseases which do proceed from the inflammation of the Sweet Quality This sort of People ought to observe the Rules of Temperance and Order in Meats Drinks Cares and Exercises their Food ought to be neither hot nor cold but of a middle Nature so also their Drink ought to be such as will suit the temperature of this sort of People which I shall say some-what of in the Description of the Sanguine Complection pag. 26 27 c. 2. But when the Bitter Quality is in equal strength then it doth as is mentioned before abate somewhat of the friendly Dispositions and Inclinations of this quality and such People are of stronger and harder Natures and of sharper Understandings 3. When this Sweet Quality doth predominate in any Beast then they are of a gentle mild Dispositition of a friendly Temper of a handsom well shap'd Body not very strong But when it doth predominate in any Herb or Tree then the Body or Stalk is tall slender smooth and handsom of white yellow ruddy Colours of a fragrant smell and full of Virtue such Herbs and Fruit may be eaten without further preparation and also they may be used Physically without any correction if gathered under their proper Constellations and ordered according to our directions in the Chapter of the preserving of Herbs Of the Sour Quality 1. Those that have this Quality predominant in them are of middle Stature rather short then tall large Visages fleshy and corpulent slow in motion of dull heavy Spirits not apt to learn great drinkers subject to gross phlegmatick Humors and dropsical Diseases not very strong nor healthy their Fire and
For of all sorts of Food People ought to have the greatest care of FLESH not only in the well ordering it before it be killed but also in seasoning of it with Salt and in the preparing or dressing Flesh being more unclean in its own Nature than either Herbs Fruits or Grains which I suppose most People will confess and that they are far more agreeable and friendly to Nature and not so dangerous to Health nay give me leave to add that they are also more pleasant for its chiefly the continual custom of eating Flesh and the conceit of the great Nourishment it contains beyond other things that makes men so much desire it which Opinion is false most sorts of Flesh indeed are endued with much matter but great part thereof is of a gross Phlegmy nature which quickly will cause the whole to fall into Putrifaction if the strong sharp fierce power of the Salt be wanting And when it is salted the matter for Putrifaction is so great that the Salt cannot continue it long sweet but so soon as the pure Radical Spirits in the Flesh through time are either evaporated or suffocated then the Salt hath no longer power to preserve it from Corruption A man may as well say that green Corn or Grass breeds better nourishment in Cattle than either Hay or dry Corn for indeed it generateth and fills the body fuller of gross Phlegmatick matter and makes such Cattle heavy and dull and great Bellies apt to faintyness and Diseases but Hay and dry Corn generate a firmer Flesh and more brisker spirits makes them drink well appear with moderate Bellies but clean strong Limbs able to endure hard Labour without prejudice to their Health The very same is to be understood of Flesh if compar'd with Fruits Herbs and Grains and Food made of them which do as far transcend Flesh in virtue and good sound clean Nourishment and to preserve Health and Strength as Hay and dry Corn do exceed either green Corn or Grass in the preservation of Strength and Health in working Cattle All sorts of Food either for Man or Beast from which the Sun and Elements have exhaled or dryed away the gross phlegmatick Body are not only cleanner but fuller of Spirit and Life not subject to Corruptions but breed a firmer Nourishment as all Husband-men and Shep-herds will tell you Therefore Bread Butter Cheese and all sorts of Food made of Flour and dried Fruits are strong healthy Diet. Of the Melancholy Complexion People of this Complexion that have their Significator in their Radix weak are slow and of dull heavy Dispositions subject to be surprized with fear and suspicions apt to be froward full of mental Reserves seldom forgetting Injuries hollow hearted giving fair Words when their Thoughts are quite contrary addicted to Witchcraft or fore-speaking of things which sometimes do take place when they have low poor Spirits to deal with whose predominant Quality in Nature is weaker and under the Dominion of their Spirits otherwise not For the awaken'd Evil and dark Wrath in this sort of People viz. their vehement wishes or evilwords do carry the power of that Principle whence they were conceived and enter the same Principle in those to whom they are directed And if those wrathful Spirits be not either through the strength of the predominant Quality in the Complexion or through the power and virtue of the Holy Spirit and Faith in God withstood and overcome which often is done then these Evil Rapes viz. such Wishes and Words will take place whether it be in Man or Beast for this evil revengeful dark Spirit not being so withstood enters into the dark Centre and Poysons in the Body and by simile incorporates there-with awakening and strengthening them and then the Body and all the Senses fall into Distress and most terrible Diseases according to what Poysons and Salts were kindled This is called Witchcraft and indeed is one sort of it there is another which is not fit for this place and this sort of People are called Unlucky-Tongued But on the contrary if those People of the Melancholy Complexion be well dignified in their Radixes then the fore-mentioned evil significations are abated nevertheless they are ponderous and slow in learning and conceiving of any thing but when once obtain'd they make it their own and improve it they are capable of great Learning but they must have Time for this cause all You ths born under such Constellations are very dull in the beginning of their Studies but if continued under good Masters will in time exceed either Mercurial or Venerial Boys for they have greater and stronger Spirits both to retain whatever they learn and to endure more Pains and Labour to obtain any Science besides they are not so apt to run out of one thing into another being more fixt in the Root of their Natures They are generally slow of Speech and Action naturally pensive and covetous by reason that the Sanguine Nature which proceeds from Venus Sol and Mercury is in this Complexion as it were hid or lockt up under the harsh Forms of Saturn and Mars under whom such as are born are apt to be Hard-hearted full of Revenge Covetous c. not but that they are endued with the Sanguine Nature as well as those born under Venus Mercury or the Sun but the same is Captivated as aforesaid under the harsh Forms which is the chief cause People do so much differ in their Tempers But if you can unlock this Saturnine Cabinet and set the Spirit at Liberty as the Maulster does in his Saturnine Grain viz. Barley enfranchizing the pure Balsamick Spirits that sweeten the whole Body you will find it debonair and jovial and of a very agreeable Conversation The Truth is Strong Beer Ale Wine or any spirituous Drinks freely taken will melt down this sullen Saturnine Gravity into Mirth and Gaity for we daily see how free and merry such People will be if at any time they have tipled a little extraordinarily during the time of the Operation of their Liquor For strong Drinks make all sorts of People more free and to forget sorrow because they open the gross Body and cause the Spirits to have their free Operation the said Drinks being Spirituous incorporate with its simile viz. with the spirit and makes it for the present more powerful but when the Operation of such spirituous Liquors are over then both the Saturnine and other People return to their Natural Dispositions but with fewer Spirits which causeth a dull heaviness to attend most after such Drinkings because the Internal heat and spirits are too violently awakened and stirred up which caused them to evaporate and thence proceed Indispositions and Disorder Great Drinkings are injurious to the Health of most that use that Trade only this Saturnine People may sometimes drink a Cherping Glass or two without any danger to their Health especially when they come to forty years of Age for before all sorts of strong
Drink ought to be drank sparingly by such as regard their Health It is also to be noted that not only strong Drinks but all other things have an Operation on the Spirits and Bodies of Men whether Meats Drinks Air Exercise or Communication were it not so Man could not be altered within for better or worse But what a sensible change do we find in our selves many times between a dull heavy Day and a brisk clear Sun-shiny Morning Every thing be it what it will has a power of influencing and varying us which the Apostle seems to take notice of when he saith Evil Communication corrupts good manners and the Psalmist where he affirms With the Froward thou shalt learn Frowardness The Original of all good or evil Tempers and natural Inclinations are according to the Nature of that form and property that did predominate at the Conception and Birth and are made either better or worse according to the good or ill Custom of the Place and People they communicate with or the Imployments they are put to and the Meats Drinks Exercises and Air they are used to Take two Youths one of the Sanguine Complexion the other of the Cholerick put the first to a Butcher Car-man Waterman or any such robustick Trade the second to a Shop-keeper Merchant or some such neat Profession and in a little time the Sanguine Lad will become more Cholorick and the Cholerick more Sanguine But note there is a two-fold possibility of altering and changing either for the better or the worse First Natural as the free Will shall consent to either Evil or Good one being as near to man as the other who being a compleat Image or Epitome of all things their true Natures being contained in him therefore he is both capable and liable to be influenced and wrought upon by every thing it meddles or communicates with as is seen in Soldiers most of them when raw and at tâ— first Fight are timerous and very apprehensive o 〈…〉 ger but after they are once flesht in Blood and Slaughter they become unconcerned and remorsless and can kill men with as little trouble or regret of Mind as a Butcher does Sheep and Oxen without having any particular Quarrel or Enmity but even in cold Blood so great is the Power of Imployment For as Fighting and Killing of men is the work of the fierce Wrath of God in men and so soon as you consent with your Will to enter upon this wrathful Imployment the center of the dark strong Wrath is awakened and by a little custom and use it becomes ten-fold stronger than at first then all doing as one would be done unto and Tenderness and Compassion are laid aside as if never any such Notion or Principle had been planted in Man The very same happens in other Imployments that Quality which therein predominates awakens and strengthens its Simile for which reason in former Ages some that have written Romances and Love-stories in a passionate and pleasing Style and lively Representation have been banisht for their labour their Works proving of very evil and fatal Consequence to Young and Amorous Minds for all Books be they what they will do bear the Image and Figure of the Spirit of him that wrote them and so much the more as the Imagination of the Author is more strong which in this sort of Writers and Poets c. use to exceed and if such Books be read with attention and inclination then they awaken and strengthen such a like Propensity in the Reader as was in the Writer be it either good or evil Therefore the perusal of all Play-Books Romances and Love-stories have and do prove very injurious to such as mis-spend their time therein it is like playing with Edge-Tools at first they are innocent and think no harm that look into them but after a while if it take with their Affections the case is altered they make a real change in the whole Bodâ—â— â—nd Mind the Thoughts are all taken up with tho◠〈…〉 itching Idea's and thay prove leading Cards to many real Evils and Temptations The Son must needs fall in Love with and Marry the Chamber-maid and the young Lady run away with the Coach-man or the more impertinent Chaplain only to act over some of those fine Intrigues which they admired with such delight in Sidney's Arcadia or the grand Cyrus 'T is sottish Ignorance that makes some say What hurt can these external things or Food Communication c. do unto us For they never consider that every thing has power to open its own Principle the understanding of which ground was the Original cause of Moses's Law of Cleanness and Separation and the occasion of the Abstinence of all the wise Men in former Ages from this or the other sort of Food Drinks Habits and Communications for they saw the inward Power and Sympathetick Drawings of every thing and therefore wise Pythagoras the better to draw the wild barbarous Nations to the practice of this profound Philosophy insinuated into them the belief of a Transmigration or shifting of the Souls of Men when they dyed into other Creatures as Cows Horses or the like with which Opinion being once possest they would neither oppress nor kill any sort of Beasts or living Creatures for then they believed they should do Violence to their departed Friends viz. Fathers Mothers Children c. Through which Conceit and Custom they were not only much brought off from their former Cruelty and Barbarity but betook themselves to the more wholsom eating of Fruits Herbs and Grains so that this wild savage People became Merciful and full of Humanity And some of this sort of People do continue this Custom and Law unviolated to this day in some parts of the East-Indies 2dly The Grace holy Light and Love of God of which the Lord hath given a measure or portion to every individual Person as St. John saith The Word of God which made all things and without it nothing was made this same Word is the LIGHT OF MEN and doth enlighten every man that cometh into the World This pure Spirit of Life hath power to tincture and change all evil Inclinations and harsh Tempers which do arise from the malignant Configurations of the predominant Constellations and Complexions if man gives up his Will and is guided by its Counsel This holy Light and Word is the Essential Life and Living Power of all things the Eye of the Mind by which man is able to distinguish the Good from the Evil in himself and also in all other things according to the measure he hath thereof and the knowledg he hath of himself It is also the true Balsamick Virtue from whence all Friendlyness doth proceed not only in Man but in all other things according to their respective Degrees and Natures is likewise the Moderator and Qualifier of the fierce fiery harsh Brimstone Spirit and in what Complexion soever this pure Life and Power does predominate that Person by
in the Belly These and many other Diseases are the direful Effects of their Intemperance in eating drinking c. But still 't is certain none would be more Healthy than Sea-faring men if they keep within the bounds of Moderation and would be but content with the more simple and mean sorts of Food and Drink as Bread Cheese Butter Gruels various Grains and Fruits which are both mild and friendly and would with little use and custom sufficiently supply Nature with a Nourishment both dry and moist and that much better than the various sorts of Food which is generally allotted for Sea-men salt Flesh and Fish may do well between whiles if it be sparingly and seldom eaten but I would advise such People not to eat too freely of the various Fruits such Countries afford and to eat sparingly also of Flesh Fish c. For all sudden Alterations and Extreams prove very noxious and dangerous to Nature especially to such who have in their long Voyages accustomed themselves to the forementioned things CHAP. VII Of Wheat and other Grains Beans Pease Herbs Colworts and Colly-Flowers and that the Fruits Herbs and Grains of our own Country are better and more agreeable to our Bodies than any brought from abroad To which is added some Remarks on Fish OF all sorts of Bread that made of Wheat is the finest and best some Astrologers think that this sort of Grain is under the Dominion of the Planets Iupiter and Venus As there are several kinds of Wheat the best is that which is hard thick and heavy clear smooth and of the colour of Gold and which grows in fat and Limy Ground and afterwards has heat in the Mow three or four Months by which that raw kind of Quality that is in all Grains may be fully digested the like usuage in Hay c. will not be inconvenient This Grain is not only the strongest but of all sorts of Bread the Qualities and Properties of its Nature stand in the best Equality only the sweet and Balsamick Quality does a little predominate which gives it that pleasant Relish and kindly Operation far beyond all other sorts of Bread there is scarcely to be found any Grain Herb or Fruit in the whole Creation so highly graduated in Nature as Wheat or where the Forms and Qualities of Nature stand in more exact and perfect Equality therefore it does justly challenge the first place and preheminence of all sorts of Bread or Food it is the Foundation of all good Nourishment called by the wise Man The Staff of Life and our Saviour Christ compares the Heavenly and Spiritual Food of the Soul to Bread which does not a little Illustrate the excellency thereof Wheat ought not to be ground at Mill above a day or two before it be made into Bread for when the Body is broken the pure Volatile Spirituous Parts and oily Balsamick Body will more or less evaporate according to the time it has lain ground unless the Flour be packed up hard and close in Casks as Sea-men and Merchants do when they carry it to Sea by which means the Spirituous and Oily Quality will be some-what longer preserved but still when it comes to be used they 'l find it to be much drier and the Bread made of that Flour is not to be compared in goodness to that made of Wheat newly ground it is neither so sweet nor so moist as the other This Grain is so sound and firm in its Nature that if it be not ground it will endure to be kept for several Years but if once broken the Volatile Spirit which is the preserver of all things will evaporate and then the sweet friendly oily Quality is quickly destroyed and it loses its natural Smell Colour and Taste and generates Worms but when the other lively and pleasant Qualities are preserved no Vermin will breed in it I confess it is very hard to hit the proper Season of Reaping this and other Grains the Medium between the time of standing too long and cutting too soon is to be regarded but of these Evils or Extremities the lesser which is the later is to be chosen for if it be cut down three or four days before it comes to its full Ripeness it will gain what was wanting by lying in the Sheaf and heating in the Mow by which means you shall not only preserve it in its natural Colour but it will also be heavier and fuller yielding more and better Flour If you let it stand too long until it be over-ripe then it will scarce recover its self for when this or any other Grain comes to its full strength and ripeness and it be not then cut down the pure Volatile Spirit and oily Body begins to evaporate as the gross phlegmy matter in any Body is exhaled and digested by the Influences of the Sun so also the Spirituous Parts and Oily Body will be exhaled and evaporated by vertue of the same Influences after the drying up of the former gross matter by which the Balsamick Body is as it were captivated for the Sun works first in the phlegmy and gross Body which when it is exhaled the pure Essential Spirits and Balsamick Vertues being set at liberty the Sun also will immediately work on them too and dry them up to that degree as 't will be beyond the Power and Efficacy both of Nature and Art to retrive an example we have often of this in Hay c. Your Wheat by too long standing grows as I have already said not only lighter and loses its natural Colour and will not afford so good nor so much Bread but it also is harder of Concoction and creates Obstructions in the Stomach the wise Man says there is a proper Season for all things under the Sun which without doubt is to be principally regarded in Reaping and Gathering of the Fruits of the Earth If you set any value on Health and have a mind to preserve Nature you must not separate the Finest from the Coursest Flour because that which is Fine is naturally of an obstructive and stopping Quality But on the contrary the other which is Course is of a Cleansing and Opening Nature therefore that Bread is best which is made of both together for in the inward Bran and Skin of the Wheat is contained an oily Quality which is of a sweet friendly Nature by reason whereof the Bread which is made of fine and course together will not only be sweeter and keep longer Moist but is also more wholsom easier of Concoction and does gently loosen the Belly and if plentifully eaten it will cleanse and free the Passages from gross phlegmy Matter it will strengthen also more than the other Bread made of the finest Flour it will be harder and appear staler at three days old than the other will be at six or seven It must be confessed that the Nutrimentive Quality is continued in the fine Flour yet in the branny part is contained the opening and
the heavy fierce Fires of Saturn and Mars do carry the upper dominion in them But if the Gravity of Iupiter and Sweetness of Venus do interpose then all is made delightfully pleasant But as it is impossible for any Man to make good Harmony that has never learned Musick nor knows how to tune his Instrument because one String will be several Notes too high and others as many too flat or low from which can proceed no Melody but a rumbling jarring Noise of Discords So impossible it is that any Man should attain to the holy Harmony of God in the Kingdom of his Love and Light or to live in the power of Unity except he be born again and hath learned himself for the true knowledge of God in a Man's self is absolutely necessary for if a Man do not understand the Treasures and holy Virtues the Vices and Evils he always carries about him in his own Vessel how is he like to distinguish the Natures Properties and Operations of those things which he shall daily meet withal within him 20. This degeneration of the humane Nature is apparent from the Words of our Saviour Christ who saw into the very Roots of their Hearts and Spirits and yet made no scruple to call them Foxes Sons of Belial c. For such inwardly they were as appear'd by their Works But it had not been so from the beginning for if it had Man would not have been cloathed with such a compleat Angelical form and shape as he is for when the Creator moved himself by the production of all things each was cloathed with an external Body suitable to its Spirit and according to the degrees and nature of each Spirit such form it attained for each spiritual Substance had power to attract out of all things such corporeal Matter for a Covering or Body as had a Simile with its own Nature as appears most manifestly by the Shapes Forms Inclinations and Dispositions of each Creature And as the internal Property and Disposition of each Creature did vary so their outward Form and Shape did vary Thus where the fierce Wrath did predominate there sprung up wild Beasts and Birds of Prey but where the Qualities of Nature were more equally mixed there were formed more benign and friendly Creatures as Beasts and Birds humane tame and tractable called by the wise Men clean Beasts and Birds and where the Spirit was more noble and great so the Body and Form was accordingly And as Man was in the Spirit and primitive Properties and Qualities greater and more noble than any other of the Creatures visible so the Lord gave him a proportionable Body above all the rest of the lower Creation for we never read that any of the Holy Angels of the Lord appeared in any other than Humane Form But when God has at any time permitted evil Angels to assume Shapes and Forms they have always been hideous monstrous and frightful as Dragons Lions Cats Swine and the like which may demonstrate what Principle and Kingdom they belong unto and which would have been Man's Condition had he not fallen into the humane Nature which has not only been the chief Means to preserve Man's Angelical Form but to raise him to a Supernatural Dignity by the Lord Christ's assuming an humane Body and making all them Sons and Coheirs that believe in him and are incorporated with him For though Man through Sin and Transgression hath lost his Heavenly Angelical Understanding and Wisdom which yet shall be again restored to all those that obey the Counsel of the holy Seed and divine Light yet he did not bereave himself of his first Shape or Angelical Form because he fell into the Humane Nature where every Body has the Seed in it self to produce its like Species in all respects But as for the Spirits or Souls of most Men they have through the desire of Vanity Oppression Violence Killing both Men and Beasts wanton Superfluity Pride Vain-glory c. precipitated themselves into the divided Forms and harsh fierce Wrath of God and into Bestiality and the savage Nature so that they have lost the humane Property are grown hard-hearted cruel and sordid having no Compassion Fellow-feeling or Mercy and all that do live and die in this savage brutish state shall in the Resurrection when every Soul shall be re-invested with a new Body attract such Matter out of all things as their Spirits are capable of and have a Simile with and so appear in Forms hideous frightful and loathsome as their Natures require for such Seed as Men do sow such a Body may be expected for so the illuminate Apostle speaks of the Resurrection God giveth to every Seed it s own Body and therefore if Men sow hellish Seeds in their Lives no wonder if they be cloathed with suitable shapes in the next World But on the contrary those that in their earthly Pilgrimage have retained Humanity and introduced their Wills and Desires into the divine Principle of eternal Light and Love and been guided by the counsel thereof shall in that day arise in a more perfect beautiful and glorious humane Shape and Form of whom Christ Jesus was the first for after his Resurrection he appeared in the same Shape Form and Body as he had before his Death 21. Consider how unpleasing it would be to most People to behold the dead Carkasses of Beasts cut into pieces and mangled and all over bloody And how nauseous and frightful a thing it would be to think of putting those begored Gobbits into our Mouths and feeding our selves thereon did not continual Use and Custom make it familiar And how difficult a Task would it be for many People who do for the most part live under the power and operation of the tender compassionate Principle of God's Love to kill the Beasts for their own Food until a little Action of that kind and custom hardens them therein How quickly also will the dead Carkasses putrefie and stink defiling the Elements both Earth and Air How offensive are the Places where Flesh is killed and sold How rude cruel fierce and violent are most of those who are employed therein In a word there is nothing that is pleasant or friendly in the whole business nor any one Circumstance that is grateful to the innocent Principle in Man nay the Taste of most sorts of Flesh is strong fulsome and smells of the original Cruelty to all those that have for any time separated themselves from the eating thereof or having communication with it And indeed none are or can be sensible how it is nor be competent Judges of what is said here but only such as have made Trial. Is there any comparison to be made between an Herb-Market and a Flesh-Market In one there is a thousand pieces of the dead Carkasses of various Creatures lie stinking the Chanels running with Blood and all the Places full of Excrements Ordure Garbage Grease and Filthiness sending forth dismal poysonous Scents enough
for we are not acquainted with the Babylonical Language where one understandeth not another Distances of Places or various Elevations of the Pole do not cause our Speech to differ for we can as familiarly converse with those of our own kind when removed a Thousand Leagues off as if we had still remained on Cotswold Hills or Salisbury Plain for we are not subject to the Tyranny of School-Masters or the Pedantry of Grammar nor troubled to spend seven years under the filthy punishment of the Rod or more cleanly Discipline of the Ferula merely to learn a few Gibberish Words but we bring into the world with us one simple and general Tone or Sound which we can vary and alter according to the degrees of our Spirits Affections and Passions When we call for our stray'd Lambs it is after one manner distinctly understood by those of our Kind and when we miss our Fellows 't is another but still to them intelligible that 't is to such a purpose and so when we call our Fellows into the Corn-fields or when we have need of Pasturage still we send forth peculiar Tones or Bleats Our Food and our Drink is all simple and natural and therefore we are seldom sick and if we are the chief cause thereof is our Shepherds and Guides who for Covetousness of Gain will half starve and founder us one half of the year and then afterwards in the declining part of the year when all Grass grows weak gross and full of Phlegm then they put us into fresh Corn-fields and other Pastures whereupon those Diseases which were contracted for want of proper food and by the unskilful management of our Guides do manifest themselves sometimes by breaking out with the Scab and various other Diseases And also when years happen very wet especially when store of Rain comes in August or September causes Land-floods then if our Guides be not skilful and very careful of us we suffer Epiaemick Diseases for those of our kind are so tender-natur'd and so equally temper'd that we cannot bear any Extreams without manifest prejudice to our Healths more especially excessive Moisture for we are Phlegmatick Sanguino by our Natures and a little inclined to Melancholy for this Reason very wet dripping Seasons especially in the Fall of the year prove dangerous to us and therefore at such times our Owners ought to keep us pretty long in our Folds and to feed us on the highest Grounds that so the sweet Influences of the Sun and Elements may dry and exhale that gross Moisture which the Night produces before we feed thereupon also they should then give us some Hay or Corn in our Folds which would not only dry up those moist Humours but strengthen our Spirits and enable us to withstand those malignant Dews But most of our Keepers are altogether ignorant of our Nature and so not only suffer us to fall but by their ill conduct precipitate us into many Inconveniences which if we were left to the dictates of our own Instinct by Nature we should avoid for we naturally delight on high ground as Mountains Downs and high Corn Fields and there we are very healthy never afflicted with the tortures of the Stone the trembling Palsie the meager Consumption the idle Gout or the lascivious POX we need not your Bagnio's or Hot-Houses we never are troubled with your horrid purging and vomiting Potions nor crammed with Bolus and Turpentine our Food and Drink is truly natural and innocent and suffer all Changes of the Elements and Seasons without complaining Our Love is as it were universal and War and Strife and Contention are strangers to our Folds Our Females are chaste our Males free from Iealousie and our young Ones are at once the Emblems of Innocency and harmless Sport and Recreation Cleanness and Simplicity dwell in the Root of our Lives and the fierce wrathful Nature terrifies and troubles our Spirits for which cause Wolves Dogs Foxes Bears Lions c. all Creatures in whose Radix the Wrath of God and Nature doth predominate are our sworn Enemies We are also very profitable to those that keep us for every Year we bring them a crop of fine soft Wool which covers the Nakedness of our Princes who oft-times become proud by our Spoils 't is from us a most advantageous Staple-Commodity is raised whereby whole Countries support themselves and by which Multitudes of Merchants grow rich nay our very Dung or Excrement is so rich that it causeth the Ground to bring forth abundance of Corn But notwithstanding all these obligations our unreasonable Task-Masters Men are not contented but after they have yearly plundered us both of our native Raiment and the Fruit of our Bodies our sportive young ones and made the most they can of us living assoon as our Females become super-annuated and not able every Spring to furnish their voluptuous Tables with a Lamb they call them Old Crones and esteem them little better than Dogs and Cats but if they imagine they can make Money of us they will for a small time Regale or flatteringly feast us with store of Pasture and when they think we are fat enough to gratifie their extravagant Desires and Appetites then are we sold driven abused and finally have our Throats cut and our Bodies quartered as if we had committed Treason Now tell us seriously Can there be any thing more ungrateful cruel and tyrannical Do such dealings look like Man in his first state Do not our innocent Cries and dying Groans under your merciless hands penetrate the very Heavens and awaken even the centre of Wrath For no Violence can be done but Wrath must have the chief hand in it and 't is also certain if Men did not live in the power of the wrathful Nature there would be no killing for it is contrary both to the humane and divine Nature to destroy and for this cause it is contrary to the Nature not only of our kind but to most other clean Beasts to eat Flesh or kill and prey upon any of their Fellow-Creatures But on the other side those Beasts that are unclean and whose predominant Quality stands in the wrathful Nature are all or the most of them led by a natural instinct and inclination to kill and prey upon some others of the Creation nay upon Man himself if they find him at an advantage because those bloody ravenous Dispositions are planted in the very Centre of their Lives but those of our kind are in their Radix of near affinity to the undepraved humane Nature And therefore we will be bold since we have obtained so much honour and liberty to plead our own innocent Cause and tell our Governours viz. Men this serious Truth That all Violence as beating hurrying hunting hacking baiting killing fighting rage and contention whatsoever be the occasion what it will does arise from the Fountain of Marah the Root of Wrath and Bitterness in Nature And if our Lord Man were so innocent wise and
and he healed me So Gen. 20. 17. Abraham prayed unto the Lord and be healed Abimelech and his Wife Also Moses cryed unto the Lord that he would heal Miriam of her Leprosie and the Lord commanded That she should be shut out of the Camp seven days and then she was received in again whole Num. 12. 13. And Deut. 32. 39. God speaks thus See now I even I am he and there is no God with me I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my hands And Matt. 10. 18. Christ gives his Servants power to heal the sick cleanse the Lepers and raise the dead In a word Multitudes of Examples we have in the Scriptures of Truth that all the Prophets and Holy men of God who were guided and directed by his Spirit of Wisdom in all their Troubles whether they were Diseases of the Body or the Mind always made their Application unto the Lord and he healed them and taught them what means to use that always proved effectual though seeming never so mean and simple Therefore let every one address to this Grand Physician whose Arm is not shortened nor his Mercy and Goodness diminished But if Men will give themselves up to the Spirit of Error Ignorance and Blindness and live in all Intemperance Gluttony and Superfluity which brings on them a multitude of Diseases and then enquire and run after the False Prophets and Necromancers whose Practice is meerly for Money Honour Pride and Estimation studying how to deceive the people by canting Words Plush Coats guilded Coaches great Houses c. which do amuse the Rabble and make them have great Thoughts of them though most that have tryed their Medicines might know that they are worse than the Diseases they are prescribed against I say If you follow these Courses 't is no wonder if your Lives become burthensome unto you and complicated Diseases torment you and an untimely Death cut you off For you may take a Cart Load of gross unseparated Herbs and Juices as our Physicians use with a Tun of their sick Decoctions and a whole Apothecaries Shop of their Confused Compositions and be further off from a Cure than at first Therefore the safest Course I can direct my fellow-Mortals is To fear the Lord live sober and temperate both in the Quantity and Quality of Meats Drinks and Imployments And if Diseases do at any time invade the Body by any Accidents or through the Male-Configurations of the Constellations or the like then humbly to apply themselves by Prayer to the Lord and to the Oracle of God in a man's self and then as the Mother of our Lord said unto the Servants that waited at the Marriage where he wrought his first Miracle Whatever he bids you do that do ye that is whatsoever the Divine Light or Holy Spirit of the Lord directs you to or bids you do that be you sure in all particulars to observe For the Reason Wit Skill and all Knowledge of the outward man ought to be as Waiters Tenders or Servitors to execute and obey the Commands of the Spirit of the Lord. Men ought to stand still from reasoning and Imaginations and wait at the Altar of the Lord and hear what he will teach which Directions man ought to follow and to act as this blessed Light and friendly Principle of God does excite him for in its power and virtue consists the right Cure of Body and Soul and in it is safe to move and abide Amen CHAP. XVII Of BUGS and from what Matter and Aliment they do proceed and how to prevent their Generations Of the Excellency of clean sweet Beds and perniciousness of old stinking Feather-Beds Also several Receipts how to kill Bugs and Fleas CLeanness in Houses especially in Beds is a great preserver of Health Now Beds for the most part stand in Corners of Chambers and being ponderous close Substances the refreshing Influences of the Air have no power to penetrate or destroy the gross Humidity that all such places contract where the Air hath not its free egress and regress In these shady dull places Beds are continued for many years and hardly see the Sun or Elements Besides Beds suck in and receive all sorts of pernicious Excrements that are breathed forth by the sweating of various sorts of people which have Leprous and Languishing Diseases which lie and die on them The Beds I say receive all these several Vapours and Spirits and the same Beds are often continued for several Generations without changing the Feathers until the Ticks be rotten Besides we have many Feathers that are imported from several Countries which are the Drivings of old Beds the uncleanness whereof is not considered As to the Nature of Feathers they are of a strong hot sulsome Quality for Fowls of all Creatures are for the most part the hottest and their Feathers contain the same Nature Therefore the constant lying on soft Feather-Beds does not only over-heat the Back and Reins weakening the Joynts and Nerves but they have power also not only to receive but retain all evil Vapours and Excrements that proceed from and are breathed forth by various Diseased people Hence it comes to pass that sundry Distempers are transferred from one to another by lying upon or in such Beds which Distempers do secretly steal on a man by degrees so that he cannot imagine whence the Disorder proceeds or what the cause thereof should be But I would not have the Reader mistake me all people are not subject to get Diseases this way There are some whose Constitutions are strong and their Natural Heat and Spirits are vigorous and lively by the Power and Virtue whereof they withstand and repel all such evil Vapours and Scents as do proceed from such Beds when a man is hot and sweats in them that they have no power to seize the Spirit But on the contrary when such people shall lie on such Beds whose Natural Heat is weak their Spirits few and whose central heat is not able to withstand or repel those Vapours and Scents which such Beds send forth when a man is hot in them this last sort of people are subject to receive Injuries and contract Diseases for those evil Vapours do powerfully penetrate the whole Body and if they are not withstood by the central heat and power of the Spirits then these evil Vapours do seise the Spirits and incorporate themselves with their likenesses for every particular thing does sensibly and powerfully seek out its likeness and wheresoever it finds its simile it hath power to incorporate and become essential These are the chief Reasons why one man gets Diseases by lying with Diseased Persons and in unclean Beds and others not It is a general custom when men go abroad or travel to desire clean Sheets imagining them to be a sufficient bulwark to defend them from the pernicious Fumes and Vapours of old stale Beds but it is too short For it
and coupling of Stocks as if their Bags must needs mutually Engender and breed and multiply as well as their Persons This making of Matrimony a Matter of Money and Miserly Parents sacrificing their Children to Mammon is a wretched Idolatry little inferiour to theirs of Old who offered their Sons and Daughters to Molock they made oblations of them in Flames which quickly devoured them but you deliver them up and force them into loathed Embraces where perhaps they languish out twenty or thirty Years in perpetual Vexations and Torment without one hours solid Content or Satisfaction and all this for a little Base Pelf which never has been known to make any happy where Content Sobriety and Virtue have been wanting But if God's Law and the Influences of unbiast Nature did take place in peoples hearts there would not be such over-looking those that have but a little Money the Rich and Noble then would often marry with the poor or those they now call their Unequals For where shall we find a healthy fresh rosie straight-Limb'd Angel-fac'd Innocent Virgin fit for Emperours to get Princes upon sooner than amongst the Daughters of Shepherds or the untutor'd Troops of a poor Country-Village Did men live in the Power and Operation of God's Laws and the Dictates of Nature none of them would delude the Simplicity of Virgins by Deceitful Kindnesses and when they have gotten their Lewd Desires of them then leave them and their own Off-spring to beg their Bread exposed to shame and want and all the Evils imaginable making nothing to cut off the Thread of Love and bury Affection through the power of their depraved Wills which is a Crying Sin and next door to Murther The truth is there is scarce one Person of an hundred that make his or her choice from Wisdom or a right Understanding and to answer the end for which the Lord instituted Marriage in the beginning but if a Man have but an Estate tho otherwise never so diseased infirm or unfit all is overlook'd and excused Money covers all Infirmities where the heart is degenerated from Truth and Virtue making that there Master which if well used would be a good Servant most People being so blind and stupid that they dare not cast their Care and repose their Trust in him who by his bountiful Divine Hand of Providence taketh care for all and preserveth all and from whom every good Gift proceeds both Temporal and Spiritual this trusting and relying on the Creature more than the Creator is the greatest Idolatry and that which the Lord abominates for a Curse does follow all those who prefer their devillish Lusts and foolish Passions and greedy Desires of Money before the good and holy fear of the Lord and his Innocent Law Themselves Wives and Children being afflicted with a numberless Number of Diseases and Infirmities and what Fruit can be expected from such corrupt Trees Whence think ye proceed Leprous Scabby Diseases Joint-evils and that which they call the Kings-Evil wherewith many thousands in this Nation of all sorts are afflicted as also the Gout in Youth Consumptions and other incurable Diseases Are not most or all these Evils the effect of undue Marriages Uncleannesses and Intemperances And yet if a Man ask them how came such or such a Disease they will confidently answer We do not know even as it pleaseth God we know nothing we have done which should occasion it Thus laying the Cause on the Lord of all their Infirmities and Evils never considering that it is the Reward of their own Transgression and of their own Evil Courses which have awakened the poysonous Properties in the Elements of the Body 4. A fourth sort of Blame-worthy are those who do Marry without any due Consideration of the weight and importance of what they go about sure a thing in which the Happiness or Misery of a Man's whole future Life is involved and which can be done but Once should be considered Twice before we undertake it But many People are so hurried away with the Heat and Fury of youthful Lusts Passions and Wantonness as they mind nothing but a present Satisfaction of their bruitish Desires vainly imagining that they shall never be otherwise but alas as soon as those fiery Transports are allayed their Love languishes grows cold and flat and those very Embraces wherein they placed their highest Happiness become wearisom nauseous and perhaps loathsom and then these hot Lovers become Rude Sordid Stubborn Bold Surly and Inhumane having no true Natural Affection unto nor taking any honest Care for Wife or Children but grow Dissolute Drunken and Idle as they get Childen in the heat of Drink and Lust so they make not the least Provision to preserve them How many thousands of poor Women and Children are more miserable than any Creatures on the Earth if we do but consider the Hunger Cold Diseases Griefs Vexations and Distractions which they endure from the intolerable Idleness Debauchery Crosness or other ill Carriage Words and Communications of some brutified Things whom they are obliged to call Husbands and Fathers 5. The Fear of the Lord being the beginning of all Wisdom both Divine and Humane ought to be the principal Object of every Man and Womans Thoughts Words and Actions and then they would be taught by the Spirit of Truth how they may chuse unto themselves suitable Wives and Husbands For Marriage is as it were the Foundation either to Virtue or Vice and nothing can make a Conjugal Life happy but suitable Dispositions and Virtue and where their coming together is from a well-grounded Love and natural Affections mutually combined to answer the End of that State that is to raise up Seed in the fear of the Lord and then the Blessing of the most High is with and upon them in all their Affairs and whether they have much or little of the World's Wealth they are satisfied as knowing that it is not Riches but true Love that can make a married Life pleasant or encourage Industry in the Man and Wife But where Equality in Tempers Years and Virtues meet it makes this Society the most happy of all others there Love covers a multitude of Infirmities Joys are doubled Griefs divided and all Troubles made easy 'T is true every Married Estate is followed more or less with Inconveniences for it forceth a Man to appear in the World and thrust himself into Business and attend and bow himself to those that perhaps he doth not much care for or desire their Company because they often spur him to Evil or to do that which if Interest were not at stake he would not do and where there are six or seven more in a Family there will unavoidably be committed many Disorders sometimes by Servants sometimes by Children and seldom is it that they are all in Health long together And if it happens that the Wife have a good esteem of her Doctor and his Physick then she will do nothing without his Advice
temperately which formerly they have spent in superfluity and of late have altogether declined but with Colour of using moderately many are ensnared and by degrees led again into Captivity It being for Example more difficult to drink Wine with a just Moderation than to drink no Wine at all And 't is the part of a wise Man if he sees an hundred things lawful to deny himself of ninety of them being certain of this that every inferior thing a Man toucheth or communicateth with has a special Power and natural Inclination to beget its own property and by degrees enslave the more noble Properties in Man Therefore 't is safer to deny ones self many of those things that are lawful and mean as well as those things that are not because Men has Power either by Sense or Understanding to hinder the Influences and Spiritual Impressions of Nature if he shall joyn himself to any thing whether it be Meats Drinks Imployments or Communications there being no Caviates that can prevent those Inconveniences but only Scruple and Self-denial which has been and alone is the first step and also the last to all Virtue and Wisdom He that can regulate himself and his Imaginations Words Communications Meats Drinks and Imployments may preserve his Spirit pure and potent and make his Soul thereby an unpolluted Temple of God which is the Supream Musick attainable where all the various Forms do incorporate and imbrace each other in an holy Consort of Love and where there is no despising envying or persecuting of one another because they are of different Forms Shapes Figures Complexions Inclinations or Understandings of which Vocal and Instrumental Harmony is a true Similitude Therefore it is much to be pitied that those that are Players on Instruments and skilled in Musick be not more Temperate Sober Grave and Wise for the wicked Wantonness and vain Lives of some of them have brought a Scandal on Musick and most People being ignorant of the Nature and Eccellency of Harmony have charged Musick as tho that had been the chief Cause of those Evils some of them have committed against God Themselves and the Law of Nature But this is a grand Mistake for the Original Cause of all Evil and Sin proceeds from a Man 's own Lusts and Passions and not from any outward thing 'T is true Man hath the two Seeds and Tinctures in himself and as he shall give his Will up unto either Evil or Good so he has power to attract unto himself either Virtue or Vice out of all things and also to use them either to the Praise of his Creator or profit of himself or the contrary as the Apostle saith Unto the Pure all things are Pure but to the perverse the contrary for the Lord appears to every Man either in his Love or Anger according to what Principle he hath suffered his Will to enter into as the Scripture saith That the Lord is an angry jealous God and a consuming Fire And yet again it saith That he is a merciful gracious God full of Love and Pity and will shew Mercy unto the third and fourth Generation of those that fear his Name and live in Unity Therefore Musick is not at all to be contemned or slighted for the badness of some that pretend to its outward Practice for they still are Strangers to its inward Power and Efficacy For Concord and Harmony are the best Accomplishments and sublimest Gifts that can be attained in this World the pleasures of Time and Eternity enduing both Soul and Body with perpetual Health it being that happy state which Man and all other Creatures do travel with great Desires and Groanings to be delivered unto even that holy Unity whence all proceeded But Unity Concord and Intellectual Harmony have hardly any thing in the hearts of Men for if they had then there would be Peace and Love not only amongst Men but to the whole Creation for that Paradisical State in this World which many have hoped to see and do expect shall come viz. that all Mankind shall live in perfect Love Concord and Harmony can never be expected to come to pass except Men do take other Measures than hitherto they have done For before any can attain to such a blessed harmonious Condition he must first live in the Observation of God's Law in the outward Nature for the greater cannot be understood if the lesser be not put into practice Man cannot by his Prayers move the Lord in his holy Fountain of Love except he lives in the Power and Operation of the same Fountain nor can attract the sweet Influences of the Elements and Coelestial Bodies any other way but by living and observing the simple innocent Law of Nature For this cause those that live under the Dominion of the Spirit of Discord Pride Envy and Contention their Devotions cannot move the Lord in this principle of his Love and Mercy but on the contrary moves him in the stern Wrath and therefore is said to be an Abomination unto him For this Reason there ought to be more care in every one to know what Spirit reigns in the hidden Ground of the heart than about outward Forms Every one that feareth God and worketh Righteousness saith the Apostle is accepted of the Lord who makes no difference of Forms for every Form is either Good or Evil as the People are either Virtuous or the contrary Therefore it is highly necessary for every one to study the knowledg of himself that he may understand the differences of Spirits and from what Fountain or Property every Thought Word and Work does proceed and to recommend and promote such Self-study and Heart-knowledg is the scope of this whole Treatise which being once attained unto a Man may be able to correct himself and Tune his own Instrument whence will proceed Concord Love and Harmony without which there is no Satisfaction either in this World or that which is to come For to fear God and keep his Commandments is the true Musick which all Mankind ought to be skill'd in and practise This is both the Glory and the Happiness the Ioy and Solace of created Beeings the celebrated Musick of the Spheres the Eocho of Heaven the Business of Seraphims and the Imployment of Eternity Amon. FINIS A DIALOGUE Between an East-Indian Brackmanny OR Heathen-PHILOSOPHER AND A French-Gentleman Concerning the Present Affairs in EUROPE LONDON Printed for D. Newman and R. Baldwin at the King 's Arms in the Poultrey and near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane 1691. A Dialogue between an East-Indian Brackmanny or Heathen Philosopher and a French Gentleman c. Heathen SIR I will not be so inquisitive as to ask what Accident or Occasion brought you into these Oriental Regions Be it either Curiosity or Business a natural desire of improving your Understanding or intension of Commerce I speak you heartily welcome and shall to my power be ready to serve you esteeming it both my Duty and my Happiness to
with the Body that it cannot discern things Coelestial but Sobriety and Purity of body and mind renders it the Temple of God wherein his blessed Spirit delights to dwell and communicate its Gifts and Graces Most men will in words confess that there is no blessing this World affords comparable to Health yet rarely do any of them value it as they ought to do till they feel the want of it To him that hath obtained this goodly Gift the meanest Food even Bread and Water is most pleasant and all sorts of Labour and Exercise delightful but the contrary makes all things nauseous and distasteful What are full-spread Tables Riches and Honours to him that is tormented with Distempers In such a condition men do desire nothing so much as Health but no sooner is that obtained but their thoughts are changed forgetting those solemn Promises and Resolutions they made to God and their own Souls going on in the old road of Gluttony taking little or no care to continue that which they so much desired when they were deprived of it Happy it were if men did but use the tenth part of that Care and Diligence to preserve their minds and bodies in Health as they do to procure Money and Riches which many never obtain and those that do it serves them chiefly to procure those Dainties and Superfluities which do generate Diseases and is the cause of committing many other Evils there being but few men that do know how to use Riches as they ought For there are not many of our wealthy Dons that ever consider that as little and mean Food and Drink will suffice and maintain a Lord in perfect Health as the poorest Peasant and render him more capable to enjoy the benefit of the Mind and pleasures of the Body far beyond all Dainties and Superfluities But alas the momentary Pleasures of the Throat Custom Vanity c. do insnare and intice most People to exceed the Bounds of Necessity or Convenience and many fail through a false Opinion or Mis-understanding of Nature childishly imagining that the richer the Food is and the more they can cram into their Bellies the more they shall be sterngthened thereby but experience shews to the contrary for are not such People as accustom themselves to the richest compounded Foods and most cordial Drinks generally the most Infirm and Diseased For all such things contain great store of Virtue and ought to be eaten between whiles according to Reason and Experience for when the Mouth of the Stomach is open the pleasant relish of such dainty Food does so intice and encrease the desire of eating and drinking beyond what is needful that a man may eat too much and yet give off with some little Appetite of which we may be sensible by that general dulness and Indisposition which we find in our selves for two or three Hours afterwards People are much mistaken in thinking That so long as the Appetite desires and the pleasure of eating continues strong they may eat on without damage to their Health But the truth is this is one of the chief Reasons why men are Gluttons and there is but little difficulty in Temperance save only in this particular it being somewhat hard for an healthy good stomach'd man to give off eating in the midst of the Pleasure he receives by it especially when Meats by Art are made on purpose not only to prolong the Pallate but also to delight it But to him that uses himself to simple Meats and Drinks the snare of provoking the Pallate beyond the necessity of Nature is removed for such cannot intice Nature out of her way nor awaken any other Properties or Appetites in the Stomach but its own Likeness whereas varieties of Food do stir up as many various Qualities in the Stomach so that there is still a fresh desire to each thing till Nature is over-cloy'd And therefore Varieties are always dangerous if great Care and Temperance be not observed But he that limits his Desire by Wisdom and has the understanding both of the Quality and Quantity may eat of sundry sorts of Food at one time but the ignorant and unwise very rarely do it without prejudice to their Health As the pleasure of Temperance and the many benefits that follow Sobriety cannot be imagined by those that live Riotous Lives so neither can the sweet influence thereof especially the first be enjoyed without some Trouble to Old Adam There must be Self-Denial in the case and a man must live in this World as if he were Alone for there is but little Company in the ways of Sobriety When a man comes once to espouse them in earnest presently most of his Friends and Acquaintance will suspect and condemn him as a Conceited Whimsical Capricious Fellow or a kind of Mad-man because he will not run with them to the same Excess and Riot For the Flesh and Spirit of this World have no Affinity with Sobriety and Temporance proceeding from Fountains whose Waters are of quite contrary Nature to others the one being clear and pure which purgeth and cleanseth preserving both the Body and Spirit in perfect Health the other being defiled with many Superfluities destroys the Health of both Therefore he that would enjoy the true Pleasures and flourish in the Virtues that attend Sobriety ought to be as strong as Sampson was in his innocent Life that he may be able to cut off all superfluity in the Bud For it is not that which goeth into a man as our Saviour Christ saith but that which proceeds out of him For all kinds of Intemperance are first conceived in the Heart and if such Imaginations are not cut off or overcome by Wisdom and Temperance then they grow strong and become as it were essential and when the Spirit and Understanding of a man is captivated then a man becomes a Tyrant to himself and a perfect Slave to Gluttony being defiled by every thing Meats Drinks Words and Works as the Wise man saith Even the plowing of the Land is Evil to the Wicked for all Uncleanness and Defilements that happen either to the Body or Soul do arise and proceed from Within And if such lewd Desires Opinions and Customs were cut off in the bud then neither Body nor Soul would be hurt by supurfluity of Meats Drinks or any other thing for every man that commits any Intemperance be it what it will acts it first Within and makes it substantial in the Spirit and then it becomes Corporeal for the Body is forced to obey the dictates of the Spirit whether good or evil for this cause Christ saith That nothing that went into a man defiled him for he pointed and had an Eye to the Root whence all Evils and Intemperances arise His Words are Spiritual and not otherwise to be understood for he makes no exception but saith NOTHING that goeth into a man defileth him Which words should they be taken in a Carnal ense then our dayly Experience shews the
contrary for many thousands are destroyed both by Quantity and Quality of Meats and Drinks but they are first defiled in the Root of their Spirits But on the contrary no Meats or Drinks have power to hurt or defile that man whose Heart and Desires are governed and moderated by Wisdom and therefore saith the Apostle From whence proceed Wars and Fightings all Lusts false Imaginations and Intemperances Do they not all proceed from within For if a man be ignorant of the true Nature of things his Understanding and Soul darkened then he is subject to be defiled by every thing for if the Nature of things be not discerned nor distinguished by the Spirit such are always liable to be defiled by every sort of Food or Drink either in Quantity or Quality For where Ignorance governs the extravagant Desires are not bounded For first Every man is defiled by his desires and imaginations as our Saviour Christ saith in another case He that looketh on a Woman and lusteth is defiled thereby the very same is to be understood of all other Uncleannesses both of Body and Mind only the Evils and Defilements are greater when a man proceeds to put in practice those things which he first conceived within by Imaginations for no outward Uncleanness could ever hurt any man if the inside were kept clean If Understanding and the pure Spirit govern within then all unclean Desires and Imaginations are as it were cut off in the bud and not suffered to proceed to a substance and then a man is not desiled either by that which goes out nor by any sorts of Meats Drinks or other things that gointo the Body And so on the contrary when the evil corrupt Nature is awakened and has gotten the inward Government then all the Desires and Imaginations are formed and do proceed from the evil Principle which first defiles the Soul and then afterwards the Body This is the very Root and Foundation of all Uncleanness Superfluity and Intemperance for every property in Nature must be supported and fed on its own Food Hence all sorts of Animals whose predominant Quality and Ascendent chiefly proceeds from the wrathful and unclean Nature do desire a proportionable Food viz. raw flesh and Sordities But on the contrary those Animals whose Dignifications and chief Quality stands in and proceeds from the clean Nature such Creatures also do desire clean Food The same is to be understood in the humane Nature according to the Principle or Property that is awakened and most predominant so is the man either clean or unclean good or evil from thence are all his Desires and Imaginations framed Thus we see that Cleanness and Sobriety in Meats Drinks Exercises c. have a greater Virtue and Excellency in them than People think for their power proceeds from an inward Principle and they endow their Observers with the Riches both of Time and Eternity for Temperance makes all her Lovers truly sensible of God's blessings How sweet is every mean thing to the sober mind And how ready are such men to give the Lord Thanks and humble Acknowledgments for his Mercies They see feel and taste the most pleasant operation of the divine Hand in all things their Bodies are delighted with the meanest of Food their Minds satisfied their Beds easie and their sleep sound they are not subject to indispositions nor molested with Fevers their Heads are not dulled with Fumes nor their Stomachs oppressed with fainting Fits or windy griping Humours they rise as fresh as the Morning Sun and are fit for all Exercises both of the Body and Mind their Radical Moisture flows freely throw every part like a pleasant gale of Wind which moderates the central Fires that they burn not too violently But this excellent state it not obtainable without Self-denial and suffering now and then a little gentle Hunger which cleanseth the Stomach and Passages from all superfluous Matter frees the Spirits from all Imperfections prevents all Obstructions and preserves Health far better than any Physical Evacuations It hath a certain Occult Quality for the digestive Faculty and natural Heat is never idle therefore when the Stomach is not filled with superfluity of Food and often eating it draws away all the superfluous matter that furs and stops the Passages and which were apt to cause shortness of Breath send troublesom Fumes and Vapours to the Crown hinder the free Circulation of the Blood and make the spirits impure These Evils and many others Temperance and moderate Fastings do prevent the Stomach naturally drawing this phlegmy Substance out of all the Vessels and Passages when Meats and Drinks come not too quick and casts the lighter part thereof upwards and the more gross heavier parts downwarns into the Bowels for this reason when a man does fast a little longer than ordinary he will feel a kind of a gnawing or disorder in his Stomach for a little time and then it will cease and after some space do so again the occasion of which is this the natural Heat does very powerfully draw matter unto it self for Sustenance but finding no proper Nourishment makes a separation of the gross phlegmy substance that lodges in the Vessels of the Stomach and casts it forth both upwards and downwards and having done this craves afresh for more work and more proper matter of Aliment Nor should a little Trouble thwarting our Humours debaucht with ill Customs and Wantonness or some small Inconveniencies divert us from getting our selves possest of this Jewel Temperance the true Philosophers-Stone which turns all into the Golden Elixir of Health Content and Serenity since we see none of the little perishing Goods of this World are to be obtained without trouble and difficulty do not Youths serve seven years enduring hard Labour and many other Inconveniencies for a Trade whereby to get an outward Livelihood Do not Men Travel by Sea and Land through a thousand Miseries even to the hazarding of their Lives and Liberties for Meat Drink and a little Rayment And those few that do obtain their desired ends if Temperanee be wanting the enjoyment of them proves not only burdensom but so full of Snares that they had better been without them for Plenty has destroyed more than Necessity some say than the Sword the one having wherewithal to gratifie his superfluous desires and so destroy himself which the other has not What a deal of pains and charge are People at to please their Liquorish Pallates The Indies must be sent to for Rarities and the utmost parts of the Earth for Dainties such abundance such variety provided as if all the Beasts and Fowls in Noah's Ark with an addition of all the Fishes in the Waters and Vegetables of Earth were scarce enough to furnish one Luxurious Board And then what Curiosity in Sawces What fantastick Humors for Dressing The more extravagant and unnatural the more genteel and acceptable forsooth Whereas those things that are necessary to support and preserve the Body in perfect