The love or friend of wisdom For the word is composed of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is Amicus or a Friend and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is Sapientia or Wisdome And it is so termed of the Greeks because that in the word at large is contained the love of wisdom or because that by teaching of wisdom men are incited or stirred up to love it In antique Ages it was called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Sapientia onely and at last ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã was added unto it by the notable Philosopher Pythagoras who would rather be called Philosophus that is Sapientiae-amator a lover of wisdom then arrogantly to assume unto himself the name or title of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã sapiens or a wise man From the Etymology of this word Philosophia or Philosophy we may derive his definition and describe it to be An earnest study of wisdome or a fervent application of our minds unto it being that the word importeth that it is the affectionate love of sapience It appeareth therefore that the main subject of Philosophy is Wisdom the perfect knowledge whereof is that summum bonum or highest goodnesse of this mortall life which was the mark whereat the wise men of all ages did ever levell and aime But as from all beginnings there was a distinction or opposite difference between light and darknesse good and evill righteousnesse and unrighteousnesse and to conclude between the reall things of God and the prestigious and imaginary inventions of man So also is there a main contrariety to be observed between the true wisdom which is of God and that false and onely-seeming one which is of this world and consequently there must be an endlesse jar and antipathy betwixt the essentiall and true-bred Philosophy and that which is bastard and spurious All which we find to be sufficiently warranted by the testimony of holy Writ for the Apostle saith in one place Non in sapientia carnali sed in gratia Dei versati sumus in hoc mundo We are conversant in this world not in carnall wisdom but in the grace of God And again Prudentia carnis mors est quoniam sapientia carnis est inimica Dei prudentia Spiritus est vita pax The prudency of the flesh is death because the wisdom of the flesh is destruction but the prudency of the Spirit is life and peace Again in another place thus more plainly Praedicatio mea non est in persuasionibus et humanae sapientiae vârbis sed in ostensione spiritus et veritatis Sapientiam loquimur inter perfectos sapientiam autem non hujus mundi sed loquimur Dei sapientiam in mysterio quae abscondita est quam Deus revelavit electis per Spiritum suum My preaching saith he is not in the perswasions and words of human wisdom but in the shewing forth of the Spirit and verity We speak and utter forth wisdom among the perfect not the wisdom of this world but the wisdom of God in a mystery which is hidden and secret the which God hath revealed unto the Elect by his Spirit In these words we are taught first that the smooth perswasions of the wise-appearing Oratours or lip-learned Sophisters and self-conceited Philosophers of this world are vain being they bring along with them nothing else but an empty wind without any materiall or substantiall fruit and are in effect but a meer shadow in regard of a reall matter or subject forasmuch as they prestigiously appear something but are indeed nothing when contrariwise the words of the true and perfect Philosopher are essentiall and therefore accompanied with vertue and power Secondly that what the true and powerfull Philosopher utters is the flourishing and fruitfull wisdom even the eternall sapience of the Almighty and not the sterill wisdom of this world which when it is brought unto the touchstone will be found counterfeit as being unable to endure the tryall Thirdly that this heavenly wisdom is onely mystically revealed unto mankind as being reserved in the power of God and solely discovered or opened unto the Saints and elect and therefore unknown unto the Pagans or Ethnick wise-men who are the composers of our Christian Philosophers wisdome and therefore it is a vaine fallacy or sophisticate philosophy forasmuch as it is framed as the Apostle saith through the traditions of men according unto the Elements of this world and not after Christ who is the true wisdome for in him dwelleth all the plenitude of divinity bodily And for this reason the same Apostle saith in another place Nos non spiritum hujus mundi accepimus sed spiritum qui ex Deo est et quae à Deo donata sunt nobis loquimur non in doctis humanae Sapientiae verbis sed in doctrina spiritus spiritualibus spiritualia comparantes Animalis enim homo non percipit ea quae sunt spiritus Dei stultitia enim est illi non potest intelligere We have not received the spirit of this world but the spirit which is of God and we speak those things which are given us from God not in the learned words of humane wisdome but in the doctrine of the Spirit comparing spirituall things with spirituall things For the animal man doth not perceive the things which are of the spirit of God unto him it is foolishness and he cannot understand it Again he saith Sapâentia hujus mundâ stuititia est apud Deum Deus enim novit cogitationes sapienium quod stultae sunt The wisdome of the world is foolishness with God for God knoweth that the cogitations of the worldly wise are foolish Whereby we may also discerne that there is a wisdome falsely so called which is cleane contrary in effect unto the true sapience and therefore it is termed of the Apostle foolishness and consequently the conceipts of such wisemen as are the Ethnick philosophers and their adherents though they think passing well of themselves are indeed foolish and sottish before God Of the which kind of philosophers the prophet uttereth these words Wo unto them that speak good of evil and evil of good which put darkness for light and light for darkness wo unto them that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight Doth not St. James also and that in open and plain terms assigne a most palpable difference betwixt these two kinds of wisdomes where he sayeth Sapientia contradicens veritati non est de sursum descendens à patre luminum sed terrena animalis diabolica sapientia vero de sursum est à Deo That wisdome which contradicteth the truth is not from above descending down from the father of lights but is earthly animal diabolicall contrariewise the wisdome which descendeth from above is of God By this therefore it is made evident that as by the whole harmony of holy Writ sapience or wisdome is taken after a two-fold manner namely for a
essentiall perfect and only reall one forasmuch as it is from the father of lights acccording unto the Tenent of the forementioned Apostle and divine philosopher Now we proceed to shew you briefly what this wisdome is and how it was produced and that according unto the mind of the wise Solomon Sapientia saith he est vapor virtutis Dei emanaâio quaedam claritatis omnipotentis dei sincera et candor lucis aeternae et speculum sine macula Dei maâestatis et imago bonitatis illius Wisdome is the vapor of the vertue of God and a certaine sincere emanation of the brightness of the omnipotent God and the beauty of the eternall light and the immaculated or unspotted mirror of the majesty of God and the image of his goodness And the Apostle Christ is the brightness of the glory and the ingraved forme of his person which beareth up all things by his mighty word Whereby it is an easie thing for wisemen to discern what a main difference there is between the false Ethnick and mundane wisdome which is terrene and that true and essentiall one which is from above and hath his originall from the Father of light forasmuch as the fountain thereof is the Word or voice of the Lord. Sapientiae fons saith the Text verbum Dei in excelsis ingressus illius mandata aeterna The fountain or beginning of wisdom is the word of God from above and her entrance the eternall Commandements Having then expressed unto you what this onely true wisdom is I will endeavour to open and discover also her catholick vertues in the which she acteth and operateth as well in generall as in particular over all the world Nay verily what can she not do and effect when she is all in all and operateth all in everything as the Apostle teacheth us For this reason also is Christ the true wisdom said in the forementioned Text to sustain and bear up all things by the word of his vertue This omnipotent power of hers in and over all things in this world is most excellently explained and set down thus by the divine Philosopher Paul Christus est imago Dei invisibilis prâmogenitus omnis creaturae quoniam in ipso condita sunt universa in coelis terra visibilia invisibilia sive thront sive dominationes sive principatus sive potestates omnia per ipsum in ipso creat a sunt ipse est ante omnes omnia in ipso constant Christ is the image of the invisible God the first begotten of every creature because that in him all things visible and invisible in the heavens and in the earth were made whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or potestates all were created by him and in him and he is before all creatures and all things consist in him This may seem very strange doctrine unto such Academick persons as are too confident in the Ethnick Philosophy forasmuch as it doth acknowledge no such wisdom from above no such a Christ or sacred Word which was the Creator of heaven and earth and who made the Angelicall Intelligences and in whom and by whom all things were and do yet exist But it telleth us of subalternat efficient natures namely of Intelligences of Stars of Elements and such like things which operate or effect of themselves all things above and beneath and will have the world to be eternall and without all beginning when contrariwise this true Philosophy telleth us that God created all things in and by his word and wisdom that he operateth all in all and that he is all and in all For the plain words of the precedent Text is Omnia in ipso constant All consist in him But to the purpose The foresaid Text seemeth to confirm this of the wise Solomon Sapientiam possidebat in principio viae suae ante opera sua ante ullum tempus ante seculum cum nullae essent abyssi edita erat ipsa cum nulli essent fontes abundantes aquis ante montes fundati essent cum nondum fecerat terram cum aptaret coelos ibi erat cum slatueret ambitum in superficie abyssi cum fortificaret superiores nubes superne quando roborabat fontes abyssi quando ponebat mari statutum suum cum statueret fundamenta terrae erat sapientia apud ipsum cuncta componens Jehovah did possesse wisdom in the beginning of his waies before any of his works and before there was any time before the world was made she was brought forth before there was any abysse and before there was any fountains that did abound with water before the mountains had their foundations when as yet he had made no earth When he did adapt and make fit the heavens she was there when he did ordain a compasse or appoint margins for the surface of the abysse When he did fortifie the highest clouds above when he did corroborate the fountains of the deep when he did set bounds unto the sea when he did establish the foundations of the earth then was wisdom with him composing or making all things Whereby he argueth first the antiquity of the eternall wisdom and then he proveth that she was the composer and maker of Heaven and Earth and consequently of every thing as well invisible as visible therein And this agreeth in all things with that of our sacred and essentiall Philosopher Moses where he acknowledgeth first an abysse without form then that the informed matter of the abysse was by the presence of Gods emanating Spirit universally informed and called waters Then how by the acting of the divine or essential voice or word Fiat which was uttered by the mouth of the Omnipotent the light or created form was produced in the waters and afterwards by the will of the Creator the word was pronounced the second time and the waters above were divided from the waters beneath by the firmament and so the heavens were made by the second fiat as by the third the division of the lower waters into elements was effected by the assistance of this one and the self-same word or the Spagerick operation of this divine and catholick Spirit Elohim but in a various property Doth not David in few words affirm so much saying Verbo Domini firmati sunt coeli Spiritu ab ore ejus omnis virtus eorum By the word of the Lord the heavens were made and by the spirit of his mouth each vertue thereof Again In sapientia omnia secisti Thou hast created all things in wisdom And St. Peter Coeli erant prius terra de aqua per aquam existentes verbo Dei The heavens were first and the earth of water and by water consisting by the word of God And doth not St. John say By it all things were made and without it nothing was made The world was fashioned by this word or essentiall spirit which
was pure light but the world did not know it And Solomon Sapientia Deus fundavit coelos stabilivit terram in prudentia By wisdom God made the heavens and by his prudency he laid the foundations of the earth In conclusion the whole harmony of holy Writ which is too long for me punctually in this place to rehearse doth testifie thus much that all things of what nature or condition soever were made disposed and effected in by and through this divine vertue or emanation which is God himself forasmuch as it is the divine act whose root is the word Ex ipso saith St. Paul per ipsum in ipso sunt omnia Of him by him and in him are all things But because some of the learned of this world may reply that though it is true that God by his divine Spirit or Word did create all things yet it followeth not that he doth act immediately and exist essentially in every thing But after that this eternall Spirit of wisdom had bestowed on each creature a peculiar vertue in its creation then the creature can act of it self by a free-will which is absolutely and distinguished and divided from the immediate act of God I answer that by our founded rules in Divinity the true essence of the Deitie is individuall and therefore God doth impart no essentiall act or vertue unto any creature which can be discontinued or seperated from Himself And for this reason Christ who is the eternall spirit of wisdome is said to fill all I marry will our learned say that is vertually but not substantially or essentially I would fain know laying all such school distinctions apart of which St. Paul biddeth Timothy to beware if the vertue of God be not his essence or whether the one can be divided from the other If they reply and say that this vertue of God is no essence but an accident Verily they must needs erre in saying so being that it is most certainly known unto the very Jewes and Gentiles themselves that God hath not any accidents in him seeing that he is absolutely essentiall and reall of himself for where his divine act is there is also his vertue and where his vertue is there is he truly said to be essentiall for else the word or divine act which doth vivifie and quicken every creature should seem to be but an Accident and that divided from the divine essence which how absurd it is the immortality and root of it doth argue For David in his forsaid text sayeth spiritu ab ore ejus omnis virtus eorum from the spirit of his mouth doth issue every vertue of the heavens I imagine that there is no man of an upright sense that will esteem this vertue to be an Accident which being so then must it needs be essentiall and consequently in God and of God and therefore not divisible from his spirit But what needs more words when Scriptures do confirme this every where St. Paul sayeth in the text before mentioned Quoniam in ipso condâta sunt universa in coelis et in terra tam visibilia quam invisibilia omnia in ipso et per ipsum creata sunt et omnia in ipso constant Because all things in heaven and earth are made in him as well visible as invisible all things are created in him and by him all consist in him Ergo nothing without him Again St. John saith In verbo erat vita Life was in the Word And therefore the creature is annexed unto him by a continuated tye of one and the self-same spirit of life which is in the creature without the which it cannot exist one minute And for this cause the Psalmist saith O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom thou hast made them all The earth is full of thy riches so is the wide sea and the innumerable creeping things therein both great and small Thou givest unto them and they gather it thou openest thine hand and they are filled with good things but if thou hide thy face they are troubled if thou takest away their breath they die and return unto dust Again if thou sendest out thy Spirit they are re-created and revive and thou renewest the face of the earth Whereby we see that it is the immediate act of the Spirit of wisdom that worketh these things by which God is said to vivifie all things and that by him we breathe and live and have our being And not onely we but also all other flesh whatsoever as it appeareth by the foresaid Text as also by this testimony of Job Si Deus apponens ad hominem animum suum spiritum seu flatum ejus ad se reciperet deficeret exspiraret omnis caro simul homo in cânerem reverteretur If God setting his heart or mind upon man should receive or draw unto himself his spirit or breath of life all flesh would die together and man would return unto dust And the Prophet Deus dat flatum populo qui est super terram spiritum calcantibus eam God giveth breath unto the people which is on the earth and a spirit unto the creatures which tread on it Now I beseech you How is it possible that this spirit of life should be present with and in all things and therefore essentially in every thing and yet it should cease to act immediately that is in persona sua when it is the most swift and mobil ' in his active nature and agility of all things as the wise man telleth us That he is present in all things it is apparent because all things do act and live in him and by him for St. Paul's Text before mentioned saith Omnia in ipso constant All consist in him And again Ipse operatur omnia in omnibus He worketh all in all And St. Peter The heavens and the earth which were of water exist by the word And Solomon Incorruptibilis Dei spiritus inest omni rei The incorruptible Spirit of God is in all things And again Spiritus disciplinae sanctus implet orbem terrarum The spirit of wisdom filleth the earth And the Prophet David Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend into heaven thou art there if I lie down in hell thou art there Let me take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea yet thither shall thine hand lead me and thy right hand hold me If I say yet the darknesse shall hide me even the night shall be light about me yea the darknesse hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darknesse and night are both alike Therefore it is his reall Spirit that filleth all things and not any accidentall vertue as is falsly imagined by some And the Prophet Isaias Coelum est sedes mea terra scabellum pedum meorum saith the Lord The heavens
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 Dâmino 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 Wâse 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 maâegmaâe 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 abâolute 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 dâfferences 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
a ceremoniall rite vowed unto Aristotle in my youth shal be Amicus Plato amicus Aristoteles sed magis amica veritas though Plato and Aristotle be my friends yet truth is more my friend and therefore ought most to prevaile with me And now to answer directly unto the foresaid objection we must compare together the two wisdomes propounded by the foresaid Apostles First St. Paul saith that God hath made the wisdome of this world foâlishness And again Sapientia hujus mundi stuliitia est apud Deum Deus enâm novit cogitationes sapientum quod stultae sunt The wisdome of this world is foolishness before God for God knoweth that the cogitations of the wisemen or Philosophers of this world are foolish And for this cause the same Apostle in another place Nos non spiritum hujus mundi accepimus sed spiritum qui ex Deo est quae à Deo donata sunt nobis loquimur non in doctis humanae sapientiae verbis sed in doctrina Spiritus spiritualia spiritualibus comparantes Animalis enim homo non percipitea quae sunt spiritus Dei stultitia enim est illi non potest intelligere We have not received the spirit of this world but the spirit which is from God and we speak those things which are given unto us of God not in the learned words of humane wâsdome but in the doctrine of the spirit comparing spirituall things with spirituall things For the Animal man perceiveth not the things which are of the Spirit of God for it is foolishness unto him and he cannot understand iâ By which words we ought first to examine whether Aâistotle were an Animal man or no if so then what should we expect from him but mundan wisdom and Philosophy which St. James termeth animal and terrene which indeed is nothing in it self but meet foolishnesse as St. Paul telleth us being that the animal man perceiveth not the things which are of God because he esteemeth them foolishnesse Of this kind of philosophy and wisdom the same Apostle biddeth us to beware being saith he it is grounded upon the traditions of men and the elements of the world and not upon Christ. But he pointeth at this Graecanicall wisdom more directly in these words in which he distinguisheth both it and the Jewish wisdom from that of God whose foundation is Jesus Christ Sapientiam Graeciquaerunt Judaei signa nos Christum crucifixum praedicamus The Greeks seek wisdome the Jewes signes we preach Christ Crucified arguing by these words that the Greeks search after the wisdom of the world which consisteth chiefly in speculation or contemplation as the wisdome of the Jewes is more conversant in signes and ocular demonstrations for without it they will not believe Lastly the third wisdome which is that true sapience which both the Greeks and Jewes did reiect and scoffe at was Jesus Châist in whom was the plenitude of divinity Corporally and this is that reall and essentiall wisdom whiâh Christians ought to search after and whereon they ought to ground their Philosophy which is divine and not humane But if they reply that perchance Aristotle had an insight into the Christian doctrine or did apprehend Christ in some manner or at least had an eye into the wisdome of Moses and the Prophets First I answer That as Aristotle was before the incarnated Word so also is it evident that he knew little of the Mosaick learning which consisteth upon the Creation effected by the spagerick act of the divine Word when he would have the world to be eternall I confesse that his Master Plato was more essentially grounded on the true wisdom but Aristotle being puffed up with self-conceit would in derogation from the Stoicall doctrine of his Master arrogate all wisdom unto himself by framing out or fashioning a new worldly wisdom or philosophy which was afterward tearmed Peripateticall and so by his vain glory he added unto some truths many of his own inventions making as it were a Gallimofry of good and bad of true and false of wisdom and folly together which is far from the nature of the perfect Christian wisdom which must needs be therefore wholly truth it self because it is described by the Spirit of God in the which there is nothing but truth Again if the Peripatetick Stoick or Epicureall doctrine had been perfect and according unto the true wisdom Jesus Christ why should the Athenian Philosophers so persecute the right and exact Philosopher Paul for reaching the true wisdom Jesus Christ in whom onely is the plenitude of divinity as the same Apostle teacheth in divers places By this therefore we may perceive most plainly what the wisdom is on which Aristotle hath built his Philosophy But I will come a little neerer unto the point or main mark and compare the double wisdom expressed by St. James an other true Christian Philosopher or Apostle of Christ who telleth us in the place above mentioned that the wisdom which contradâcteth the truth is not fâom above that is to say from the father of light neither is it pacificaâl and modest but terrene animal and diabolicall Now that this philosophy or wisdom of the Peripateticks is such it appeareth first because it is litigious full of disputes fallacies brables and controversies which is contrary unto the rules of the true Wisdome and therefore the Apostle Paul adviseth Timothy to separate himself from such as teach other doctrine than that of the true Wisdome saying that they which do so are puffed up and know nothing but dote about questions and strife of words that is to say about verball distinctions wresting each word unto a multiplicity of senses whereof commeth envy strife and rayling evill surmizes from disputations of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth And again Stuâtas sine disciplina quaestiones deviâa saith he sciens quia generant lites Eschew questions that are foolish and without discipline for as much as they beget strife And such is the Philosophy of our Christian Aristotelians Forasmuch as their order and fashion is to be ever conversant about questions and cavilling disputations in their Schools and that is the occasion of equivocations and of the infinity of distinctions which give way unto the maintenance of falshood as well as of truth and is the foundation of so many opposit Sects as well in the common Philosophy as religion whereupon ariseth disputations strife contention and malice not only in the Schools between contrary factions but also among the common sort of people that are of sundry religions whereas if their Philosophy or wisdome were founded on the true Sophia which is Christ Jesus which as he is all in all so is he but one simple essence they would all agree in the unity of him who is but one and the same in us all for in him and by him we are all made brethren and coheirs with him of eternity And again
invisible waters the subtiler part whereof is the vast spirit of the aire and for this reason both Thales and Anaximenes do seem in some sort to agree in one subject And yet if we penetrate more profoundly into the businesse we shall perceive that these two did insist but upon the materiall or passive principle forasmuch as from it the substance of heaven and earth and every thing therein hath his existence or materiall beeing On the other side Zoroaster did not without reason make choice of fire for the primary beginning of all things in that it did proceed and appear in act before the waters or humid nature were made manifest no otherwise then action goeth before passion or the cause precedeth the effect And yet neverthelesse he erred in this his assertion because the active principle can in no wise rightly be considered but as it hath his relation unto a passive originall The Stoick Zeno therefore being more wary than the rest establisheth his opinion concerning the first Principle by a firmer tye or obligation saying That the substance of the fire being by the aire converted into water is the beginning of all things But Empedocâes would be sure to lay his grounds more surely as he vainly imagined than Zeno and for that cause did ordain the four Elements to be the radicall principles of all things whereof two of them are agents and two patients Now the main errour of these philosophers in their judgments concerning the principles was that they did not mark or consider that the divine puissance or sacred word was more ancient and of a greater Antiquity then were any of their foresaid principles the which if by a riper contemplation they had understood they would have confessed being instructed and directed by reasons produced from the eternall unity or essentiall point and beginning of all things that the divine light or sacred emanation which Scriptures entitle by the name of the holy Spirit of wisdom was the actuall beginning of all things as neverthelesse before it there was another property in one and the same sacred essence which was termed the divine puissance or potentia divina which did precede his act or emanation no otherwise than the Father in time order and being is justly said to exist before the Son or the Creator before the creature And thereupon the wise man hath it Omnium prior creata est sapientia Wisdom was created before all things And yet it is most apparent that some of the Greekish and Aegyptian Philosophers namely Plato Pythagoras Socrates Hermes c. did so instruct their understandings partly by the observation of their predecessors doctrine and partly through the experience which in their long travails and peregrinations they had gathered among the Aethiopians Aegyptians Hebrews Armenians Arabians Babylonians and Indians for over all or most of these Countries did Plato Pythagoras Hippocrates and others of them travell for the augmentation and increase of their knowledge as Historiographers that are worthy of credit have related that without doubt they did discern though afar oft and as it were in a cloud the true light in the humid nature And among the rest it is reported as also it appeareth by his works that Plato had the knowledge of the Word and had read the Books of Moses and for that reason he was called Divinus Plato the divine Plato In like manner the excellent Philosopher Hermes otherwise termed Mercurius Trismegistus expresseth plainly that he was not onely acquainted with Moses his books but also was made partaker of his mysticall and secret practise as by his Sermons which he calleth Pymander a man may plainly discern where he doth mention the three Persons in Trinity and sheweth the manner of the worlds creation with the elements thereof by the Word And therefore of all other antient Philosophers I may justly ascribe divinity unto these two But in this I cannot much commend them viz. in that they having had a view of Moses his labours which were indited by the Spirit of God did gather out and confesse the truth of his doctrine touching the principles of all things and yet would not in open tearms acknowledge their Master but altered the names of them but as Plato served his Master Moses even so was he dealt with by his schollar Aristotle who knowing that his Masters three Mosaicall Principles of all things masked under strange titles were but truth would neverthelesse arrogate his doctrine unto himself and for that cause did alter the assumed names of Plato's principles gilding them over with new denominations and did afterward rear up upon them a spurious philosophicall structure carved and framed out after his own inventions which may be therefore rightly compared unto a house of straw or stubble which though it be erected upon a firm rock or foundation yet because their stuff is Heterogeniall unto the truth and evilly compacted it will not endure a storm no not the least blast of truth but will easily be destroyed and cast down Thus may every good Christian discern how each of the Ethnick Philosophers have stolen their principles from Moses his grounds stolen I say because they expresse them under covert names without any acknowledgment of their Master which did arrogate his doctrine and learning unto the Spirit of God which did teach him it and did practically express the grounds thereof in the apparition which God made upon the Mount Sina For upon the grounds of these three Principles the true mysticall Philosophers or Theosophers did pronounce that as well the externall Law of Moses as the internall of Jesus Christ was erected which was not discovered or discerned by Aristotle how cunning soever he maketh himself which if it had been so he would not without all doubt have founded or built upon the true Corner-stone I mean the eternall Wisdome a bastard Philosophy which did differ in shape and essence from the true Foundation And although he was taught in some sort by his diviner Master yet was he as it doth appeare all together ignorant of the centrall truth thereof wherefore it was but a folly in him who is so vainly magnified for the Prince of Philosophers to make a privation where there was no precedent position or information being there was a Chaos before any thing else was created But it was no marvel being that he surmised the world and all things or Species thereof to be eternall that is to say without beginning and end which if it had been true indeed he then had said but rightly that the dark Abysse or Chaos in respect of its beeing without form was a Privation of some Act or form in an actuall pre-existent matter But that this is false the whole concurrent of the Scriptures do confirm being that it is said that God created the world of matter without form and that the heavens and the earth were first of waters and by waters and consisting by the word of God And that
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 âahir 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 creavât 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
the Sun hath his seat or place in heaven Alass what child knoweth not this by an ocular direction without any such precept of the Prophet And what is this pertinent unto the Text going before The heavens declare the glory of God c. Why should he mention the Sun immediatly afterward What To tell us that the Sun was in heaven A thing known unto every man No but that the heaven's beauty was derived from that glorious Spirit of God which had chiefly his abiding or dwelling in the sunny Tabernacle that thereby blind worldly men might discern that it was God in that beauteous creature and not the creature which sent down so affluently those vertuous influences and lights which were effused out of the vessell of the Sun being that by the mistaking of that knowledg so many of Gods creatures which he framed out after his own Image have been seduced into errour and allured ignorantly to adore the Sun and other Starrs for Gods Which in verity are nothing of themselves Spiritu suo ornavit coelos saith Job He doth not say Sole but Spiritu suo which made the Sun its Tabernacle And now to our last Argument wherein I will shew you how by the assertion of certain wise Philosophers that exposition of Jerom seemeth to be confirmed Saith one unto whose opinion also St. Austin doth adhere Quaelibet res tantum sibi Dei vindicat quantum capax est luminis Every thing doth challenge unto it self so much of divinity as it is capable of Light But the Sun is the brightest creature in the world Ergo it possesseth abundantly the Spirit of divinity Many Philosophers therefore consent in this not erring from the tenent of Scriptures namely that In lumine numen in numine lumen In Light is divinity and in divinity is Light And Plato Ne loquaris de Deo sine Lumine Speak not of God without Light Doth not Scriptures confirm all this in saying that God is Light and that vestitur seu âmiâtuâ est Lumine quasi vestimento He is clothed with Light as with a garment Yea verily he is said to be a consuming fire I conclude therefore that Jerom hath translated that place according unto the true sense and consequently we may gather the reason of Rarefaction and Condensation from the presence or absence of the the Sun and confess after the due examination of the case that the onely Agent of these two operations in the waters or catholick Element is the Eternall Spirit 's presence action and emanation or his absence and rest And this is easily demonstrated by our experimentall glass for the nearer the Sun is unto us and the deeper we are in Summer the more will the aire in the glass be dilated which is manifested therefore because that in summer-time the water is beaten down and precipitated lowest Again the further the Sun is from us and the deeper we are in winter the more is the aire condensed in the glass and that is made evident by the elevation or exaltation of water in the neck of the mattrass or glass Neither do we say that the whole reason of Condensation and Rarefaction doth proceed from the Spirit in the Sun onely being that the same Spirit is as well present in this Elementary region as aethereall and hath the power and life of the winds in his rule by which both in the winter and summer he exalteth or depresseth the waters in the glass and consequently causeth Condensation and Rarefaction of the aire as well included in the Instrument as excluded and by that means causeth a diuturnall change in the generall Sublunary Waters or catholick Element of aire after a four-fold nature from one condition unto another Which mutation or alteration of the inferiour humid nature out of one form into an other is commonly called Elements as shall be expressed hereafter But first we will come unto the Fabrick of the heavens and shew how they were framed out by Condensation and Rarefaction Effected by this one Eternall Ruach Elohim or Spirit of God CHAP. IV. After what manner this Eternall Spirit or Ruach Elohim did frame out the Heavens and shaped or made the Starrs thereof by his Act of Condensation and Rarefaction IT is the Apostle Peter's assertion that the Heavens and the Earth were of the Wateâ and by the Waters by the Word of God So that the Word we see is the Agent as wâll in the Condensation of the invisible waters into waters that are visible and then of these visible waters into a visible earth Thus was the world in generall distinguished into thicker and thinner regions by that divine Spirit Ruach Elohim which was carried on the waters And this is well argued by Hermes in these words Distinctis libratisque rebus quae igneo Spiritu vehebantur emicuit coelum septem in circulos Things being distinguished and ballanced the which were sustained by a fiery Spirit the heaven did shine forth into seven circles Where he signifieth that it was a fiery Spirit and a little before he calleth it Splendorem Sanctum the holy Splendor which sustained and bore up every circle or Sphere of the heavens in his due place And hereupon the Wiseman Omnia mensura numeroque pondere disposuisti seu temperâsti Thou hast disposed all things in measure and number and weight that is to say in a distinct measure and proportion in ponderosity and levity and in a due and convenient number namely into seven distinct Spheres and an infinity of condensed bodies For although all the heavens be composed of aire and fire and therfore it is called Aether quasigneus aer yet by the rule of St. Paul who teacheth us that things visible were first of things invisible we are instructed that both the visible bodies in heaven and also all visible lights were first of invisible waters and invisible formall Light which hath its root in God the bright eternall Unity of all created numbers and therefore as Aristotle saith that Stellae are densiores partes sui orbis So I say that as the Substance of the heavens is invisible by reason of its rarity in like manner are the starrs visible by reason of their density For it was Condensation that caused visibility and Rarefafaction which is the occasion of invisibility And yet for all this it is not concluded with Aristotle that the starrs are the denser parts of their orbs but rather Lights which were included in the spirit of the dark shadow of the abysse which spirit in separating of Light from Darkness sored upward by vertue of the included Light and so according unto the proportion of that eternall formall fire which it retaineth unto this day as his corner-stone it is sustained and elevated in its proper place no otherwise then we see that the artificiall squib according unto the proportion of its artificiall and fading fire with the ponderosity of its body is during the time of the
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 fulgeâro 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 Spiâit 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 celerrâmè 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 sâum 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
maketh the fire mild and gentle lest it should burn and now again he maketh it to burn between the waters yea and in the clouds of hail and snow without melting of them Again He maketh the fire to forget his destroying property that the righteous may be nourished by it It was also an evident argument that God worketh not of necessity in or upon this creature of fire when the three servants of the living Lord were untouched by the fire of the Chaldean furnace although it was heated three times This also is confirmed by that History where it is said that in the time of Joshua the Sun stood still for a whole daies space as also that in the daies of Hezekiah the Sun was made to go backward fifteen degrees in the Horologe or Diall without any evident reason in nature Moreover it is proved and verified in that wonderful Eclipse of the Sun which happened at the death and passion of our Saviour wherein the Sun of heaven was totally obscured which also chanced beyond the expectation or capacity of the Astrologians Naturalists of this world forasmuch as at the instant of that Eclipse or passion of the Sun the Moon was neither in the head or tail of the Dragon as Firmicus that great artist in Astronomy doth witnesse and therefore it was effected against the common course of nature all which events could never have fallen out if God had acted of necessity in this world It followeth therefore plainly that God doth operate in this world of his own free will not of necessity to effect the ordinary or annuall course of things according to the lawes and necessities of nature all which also he effecteth voluntarily and of his own free-will namely as well for their creation and preservation as finall corruption But come hither and hearken O ye vain Philosophers who would have God which is the actor and ordinator of all things to be bound up by the lawes of necessity What honour and glory can any man justly attribute to God for his wisdom justice and clemency if he were constrained of necessity not onely to create all things after this or that manner but also to nourish and sustain them and afterward to bring them to corruption What thanks or service or adoration should we owe him if what he did for us were of necessity Wherefore O Aristotle is it according unto thine assertion that we should offer sacrifice unto the roots of nature or what availed it for us mortall men to pray and pour forth our supplications unto God the which duty neverthelesse Plato Porphyry Jamblâcus and Proclus do teach us to be most necessary if that he could not be propitiated or appeased by praying since that he worketh of necessity Or wherefore did Socrates and Pythagoras the which by the testimony of the Oracle were esteemed the most sage persons of their time use accustomarily to pour out their prayers unto God if God were onely constrained to act and operate whatsoever he did in the world Or why doth the Prophet proclaim it Quod Deus sit solus inclamandus deprecandus That God was onely to be called upon and prayed unto if there were any necessity in God to act in the generation and conservation of things Yea verily it is evidently to be demonstrated by this which is already said that God by the means of prayer is accustomarily inclined to misericord and pitty and that it is in his free-will to deal either in severity or clemency with the world and the creatures thereof and consequently that he is not urged of necessity to operate or bring forth effects as certain vain Ethnick Philosophers have averred amongst the which I must nominate a remarkable personage and a follower of Aristotles doctrine namely Gaâen that Prince of the Ethnick Physitians who speaketh Atheistically in these words Moses arbitratur omnia Deum posse facere etiamsi ex cineribus equum aut bovem facere velit Nos autem non ità sentimus sed confirmamus quaedam naturam facere non posse eaque Deum nè aggredi omnino sed ex his quae facere potest quod melius est eligere Jam vero cum pilos in palpebris satius esset equales semper esse maânitudine unme o non ipsum quidem hoc voluisse affirmamus illos mox factos fuisse neque enim id facere potuisset affirmamusque si eos etiam millies voluâsset nunquam tamen tales futurâs si ex cute molli producti fuissent Moses did imagine that God can do all things yea although he would make a Horse or an Oxe of ashes But I am of another opinion For I say that Nature cannot do some things and that God doth not attempt those things at all but doth elect and make choice of the best of such things as he is able to effect Now since that it would be better that the hair in the eie-brows should be alwaies equall in magnitude and numbers I affirm that it is not he that would have it so and they were forthwith made neither could he do it and I say that if he would a thousand times have them so yet would they never be such if they had been produced out of the soft skin Lo how Atheistically he speaketh and how he would restrain the Omnipotency of God and limit his actions with the main clog of necessity yea and impotency in Power But there are certain other Philosophers which do behave themselves more modestly in the beforesaid doubt For Avicenna affirmeth that these actions are neither of necessity nor violent but do consist in a mediocrity betwixt them both and thereupon he concludeth that it is in the volunty or will of the Agent In the which resolution he seemeth not much to vary from Scriptures which say Deus castigavit nos propter iniquitates nostras ipse salvabit nos propter misericordiam suam God hath chastised us for our iniquities he will save us for his mercy's sake By which this elected vessell doth intimate that there is a free volunty in God to punish and to have mercy But this is expressed in plain words after this manner Deus juxta voluntatem suam facit tam in coeli virtutibus quam in habitatoribus terrae God operateth according to his Will as well with the vertues of heaven as with the Inhabitants of the earth In which words the Prophet doth evidently show that every operation in this world is effected by the Will and in or by the Word or Spirit of the Almighty and therefore not of Necessity as Aristotle Galen and many other of the Ethnick Philosophers have averred to the derogation from God and blemishing of his Omnipotency But that there is an undoubted necessity in the Organicall causes and in the effects which issue from God's Acts in them it appeareth most evidently Wherefore the Prophet Baruch saith Deo obediunt per omnia Sol Luna Sydera Fulgur
Wherefore we may conclude that this false Aristoteticall Philosophy is the chiefest organ of the Devill to distract worldly men from the true knowledg of God Forasmuch as partly by the sophisticated craft thereof and partly by other vain temptations he seeketh to withdraw the good intentions of Christian men from the true Symphony and Sympathy which ought to be between God and his creatures and to allure him unto his own false discordant and antipatheticall Harmony For it is proved that this Spurious and mundane Philosophy is opposit and contradictory in all things unto the true wisdome which descendeth from the Father of Light as St. James teacheth us and therfore it is terrene animall and diabolicall For which cause it should be eschewed rather of all wise Christians then any way followed and observed with such fervency and supeâstitious devotion Being it is the main cause that men even of this our Age howsoever partakers of the divine mentall beame being altogether forgetfull of his excellent and thrice noble beginning and divine race forasmuch as they are masked or guilded over with the prestigiously appearing light of privative ignorance become so rude and unskilfull not onely in the true Arts but also lame in the Rudiments of Theosophy insomuch that they neither understand God truly by and in his Works as he ought to be known nor yet can conceive rightly the mystery of his creatures whose Corner-stone is the brightnesse of the all-animating and informing Word But I will make use of my Experimentall instrument to prove a great deal of this which I have uttered by an ocular demonstration or eye-witness CHAP. IV. Here the Author doth ocularly demonstrate the reason of the Animall South wind 's beginning NOw because all this which is said may by some seeming Aristotelian Christians appear fabulous as either not believing or else imagining that things are not understood rightly which are spoken in Scriptures for some such there are and that learned appearing Christians of this Nation I thing it necessary to prove all this which is related unto you by an ocular demonstration produced from our Experimentall Instrument commonly termed the Weather or Calender-Glass Into the which practicall discourse before we enter I would wish each Reader to remember diligently what hath hitherto been said and to give an attentive eare unto this Preamble which I will set before it You ought seriously to remember and consider that the catholick informing Light by which the Spirit of the Lord that was carried upon the universall waters imparting unto them the Spirit of life did inform illuminate and animate the catholick matter of the world was by the consent of most of the antient Fathers in Theology said to be the fourth day contracted into the body of the Sun and for that reason it is said Gloriae Domini plenum est opus Solis omnia illustrantis The work of the Sun which inlightneth all things is full of the glory of the Lord. Hereupon also it may be understood quod Deus induitur lumine quasi vestimento God is cloathed with Light as with a vestiment And in another place the which interpretation we have maintained to be good in the precedent Book of this discourse Posuit Deus tabernaculum suum in sole He put his tabernacle in the sun Whereby it is evident that it was the pleasure of God the Creator of all things that this vessell should be rich and abundant in his Spirit that from it being placed in the center heart diapason or perfect point of the world it might by its vertuous harmony and life order and govern the animall course and temporall disposition of generable and corruptible things on the earth in the seas and catholick sublunary element namely the universall aire which as it is the vehicle of life in every sublunary thing so also it is necessary to consider that the aire is animated and inspired by it as the higher angelicall natures receive their light and being from the Creator before whose face they are alwaies present I do not say that the Sun giveth life but the increated vertue in the Sun which hath elected the palace of the Sun for his treasure-house or cabinet of his vertue And therefore it is said that Sol est gloriae Domini seu virtutis essentiae divinae plenus The sun is full of the glory and divine vertue of the Lord. And again it is tearmed Vas admirabile opus Exceâsi An admirable vessell the work of the most High Now that this divine vertue in the Sun doth guide the aire and make it a generall angelicall spirit or winde that is an aire animated by divinity which is apt to move according to the motion of the mover we are taught by these words of Solomon Sol lustrans universa in ciâcuitu pergit Spiritus in circulos suâs revertitur The Sun illuminating all the world the spirit or aire wheeleth about with it and returneth his circuit Arguing thereby that the Sun by his presence doth animate make mobil and agil by subtiliation and quickening of spirits that aire which was quiet and still Now I would not that any man should mistake me and think that I mean that the whole Spirit of the Lord is included in the Sun for as I said Christ was by Scripture reported to be rich and full of the Spirit So God imparted unto the Sun abundance of his illuminating positive generative and vivifying vertue and yet neverthelesse he filleth all things but not after one manner neither in one and the same property or proportion for according unto that common course which he hath ordained for the disposition or ordering of the annuall or yearly temper where the Sun or his actuall tabernacle is more or lesse absent or far removed there is the potentia divina or the cold privative Spirit of God more or lesse in operation for there it acteth universally As for example When the Sun is absent and under the earth it causeth darknesse coldnesse dulnesse of aire and a grosse spissitude to be present As for example When the Sun is beyond the Aequinoctiall in moving toward the Tropick of Caprâcorn cold frost snow ice short daies thick clowdy and rainy aire is present and southerly winds are most frequent for then the privative property of God hath dominion over the northern hemisphear whereupon the plants herbs and trees are naked and having their spirits and humours congealed appear as dead the earth forsaketh his viridity and like a steril and barren widow beginneth to mourn But as soon as the sunny Chariot with his Princely Lord doth approach unto our hemisphear and enter into this northern world by the fiery and iron or martiall gate of Aries which is in the Spring-time then these almost dead creatures being before as it were mortified by the cruell cold of northern privation begin to revive the nights grow short the cold diminisheth the congealed and fixâd spirits in the
flatly dissonant unto that of the antient Fathers and School men I will in few words express some of their minds touching this point St. Austin's opinion is Quod ideae sunt formae aeternae incommutabiâes in menâe divina That the idâa's of things are eternal formes and incommutable shapes in God And Sonus will have them to be Res ob octivae câgnitae ab intellectu divino Certain objects which are known unto the divine inâellect But there is nothing in God but that which is God because the Godhead is one and the same Spirit Whereupon it followeth that the Idea's in God although they be many for man was made after one fashion and a horse after another c. yet all are one in God as St. Austin seemeth to prove and confirm else-where in these words Primus summus intellectus est ars quaedam omnipotentis atque sapientis Dei plena omnium rationum viventium incommutabilium omnes unum inea sicut ipsa unum de uno cum quo unum The supream and highest intellect is a certain act of the omnipotent and wise God full of all the unchangeabâe reasons of living things and all of them are one in it as it is one of one with whom is one And in another place he saith Tu es Deus meus Dominus omnium quae creasti apud te omnium stabilium sunt causae omnium mutabilium apud te immutabiles manent origines omnium rationabilium irrationabilium atque temporalium semper vivunt rationes Thou art my God and the Lord of all that thou hast created with thee all originalls remain immutable and the reasons or causes of all reasonable and unreasonable and temporall things do alwaies live And Boetius hath it thus Tu cuncta superno Ducis ab exemplo pulchrum pulcherrimus ipse Mundum merte gerens similique in imagine formas Thou framest all things after a high and super-celestiaâl example and being most beautifull bearing the fair world in thy minde dost fashion it according unto the like image To conclude Anselm doth learnedly expresse the manner and progression of every exemplary thing from the ideall fountain of all verity thus Forma rei saith he arteficis est archetypa veritas dum à potentia in actum ducitur motus est in maâeria vero jam producta est similitudo imago The form of a thing is the archetype and verify of the workman and whilst it is produced from puissance into act it is motion being specified in matter it is a similitude or image And for this reason Odo that learned Abbot averreth Quod numerus ternarius sit principale in animo conditoris exempâum condendorum That the teânary number meaning the divine and formall kind of numeration is the principal image in the Creator's mind of such things as are created In the very self-same sense speaketh the divine Philosopher Heâmes in the place before mentioned saying Quod mânaâ generat monadem in se âpsum reflexit ardorem That one begaâ one and did reflect his beams into it self Whereby he argueth that unity in the framing of the Ideall or Archetypicall world did emit or send forth his word as an essence begot of it self and afterward did reflect that spirit of wisdom which issued from them both into it self For the son of Syrach saith Fons sapientiae verbum Dei in excelsis ingressus illius mandata aeterna The fountain of wisdom is the word of God most high and the everlasting commandements are the entrance unto her Thus therefore was the Archetypicall world framed in and of all one unity but in a three-fold or triple manner namely by the egression of one out of one and by the regression of that one unity so emitted by emanation into it self whereby the three divine properties in one infinite essence may easily be scanned We conclude therefore that according to this ideall Image in triplicity of variety this our world was afterwards fashioned and proportioned as a true type and example of the divine Pattern after the which it was drawn for out of unity in his abstruse existence namely as it was hid in the dark chaos or potentiall masse the bright flame of all formall beeing did shine forth and the spirit of wisdom proceeding from them both did conjoyne the formall emanation with the potentiall matter so that by the union of these two namely of the divine emanation of light and of the substantiall matter of darknesse which was water the heavens were made of old and the earth and consequently the whole world as it shall hereafter be evidently demonstrated in our Divine Philosophy and is well proved by the warrant of the Apostle Peter We may therefore boldly conclude that if the unities or members of the ideall world be all extracted out of one radicall unity as children out of one father and are included by the self-same unity which is inââniâe in it self it must then follow of necessity that the triple member of this created world must also be from and in that self-same unity being that the whole typicall world with his parts are shaped after the image or representation of the Archetype which is that eternall monady or unity in which are all things and therefore he is rightly termed of the Apostle to bâ all and in all And again All things are created by him and in him and he is before all and alâ consist in him And in another place Of him by him and in him are all things c. And hereupon it is rightly termed of the Philosopher Hermes The center of all things whose circumference is no where that is to say including all not being included by any And Rabbi Zâar All things are one in respect of God but many in regard of us And Plato Not onely all things are in God but aâso all things that exist forasmuch as they are in God and do proceed from him they are bât one Entity Moreover Hermes in his Smaragdine Table As all things were by the meâiatiân of one so also are all things sprung from this one thing by adaptation And Proclus in his Theologicall Problems As all things are sprung from one onely in like manner do they hasten by a continuall course to return unto that unity with whom the greater the concord is by the which they meet together by so much the more thây participate of him Again Plato All things part from the high God and do strive to return unto him again forasmuch as in hâm cânsisteth their small repose and the sustânance of their existânce For this cause therefore did the Philosopher Leucippus make this essentiall unity the summum bonum or the soveraigne good and felicâty Thus therefore you see that the antique Philosophy doth not jar or dissent in this from the fore-said harmony of holy Writ There are some well seen in
mane tenebras diem in noctem mutavi vocavi aquas maris effudi eas super terrae faciem Coelos den que mediante Spiritu meo ornavit Deus converti coelum in gyro in locum suum uno die omniaque numero pondâre meâsura disposuit temperavit God by his wisdom giveth proportion of weight unto the aire hangeth the waters in measure He made the earth in his strength prepared the world in his wisdome and extended the heavens by his prudency He hanged the North upon emptinesse and inânity and ballanced the earth upon nothing For she was present at the building of the heavenâ and it was âhe that did compasse and fashion out all things When God did establish the foundations of the earth she was present and composed all things And in another plaâe this Spirit of wisdom saith I came out of the mouth of the most high being first-born or brought forth before any creature I was created in the beginning before all ages neither shall my beeing cease in the latter age of the world and I do administer before him in his holy habitation I caused a never failing light to rise in the heavens and I covered the earth after the manner of a mist. I dwelled in the highest places and my throne was in a câowdy pillar I alone did compasse round about the heavens and did penetrate into the profundââ of the abysse and I walked in the waves of the seas and I stood upon every earth I made the North or pole-star and Orion and I turned the darknesse into day and the day unto night I called the waters of the seas and poured them out upon the face of the earth I turned the heavens about unto his place in one daies space To conclude God adorned the heavens by my spirit and did proportionate and temper all things in number weight and measure c. By which testimonyes it is most apparent that all changes alterations actions ornaments of beauty motions numbers weights measures and consequently all diversities that are made in the generall homogeniall mass of the waters are effected by this vivifying emanation of the benigne and bright spirit of the eternall Unity whose root is the Word for in verity according unto St. Paul it is onely this Spirit that doth operate all in all And therefore I must needs conclude with the kingly Prophet and say Opera Dei mirabilia ampla sunt quae omnia fecisti in sapientia The works of God are marvellous and ample which thou hast effected in thy wisdom And again Verbo Domini firmati sunt coeli Spiritu oris ejus omnis virtus eorum By the word of the Lord the heavens were fashioned and fastned and by the Spirit of his mouth each vertue thereof Which words do seem to infer not onely the materiall substance of the world which is intimated by that word Heavens but also the inacting form that is the vivifying beginning of all things which hath no beginning and this is signified by the Word and his off-spring the Spirit from the which the waters first received their beeing and then of these catholick waters were the heavens the earth and elements made in number weight and measure that is to say were effected by a subdivision through the spagerick act of the self-same word or spirit And therefore St. Peter hath it Coeli erunt priùs terra de aquis per aquas consistentes verbo Dei The heavens and the earth were of old of waters and by waters consisting by the word of God As who should say after the Spirit of the Lord had issued out of the dark abyss for it is said Verbum erat in principio The Word was in the beginning and had given act and form and consequently a name unto the waters for it was said that the Spirit of the Lord was carried upon the waters the same Spirit did operate to reveal explicitely and particularly that which the Chaos did at the first contain in it self complicitely and confusedly and that in a generality wherefore when it had revealed the universall matter of all things which was water it did by little and little anatomise it and open the secret closets thereof to shew forth and make manifest that which from all eternity lay hid in it and was without form or beeing and therefore esteemed rightly for Nothing And first the substance of the world was made of it in generall as it appeareth by this Text Manus omnipotentis mundunt ex informi materia effecit The hand of the Omnipotent did make the world of a matter without form or shape And as St. Jerom interpreteth it Ex materia invisa Of an unseen or invisible thing Then that watry and humid substance was divided into the heaven and earth in distinguishing the waters from the waters by the same Spirit which is the ministring hand of the Almighty for the Text hath it In habitatione sancta coram ipso ministravi I did administer before him in the holy habitacle And again Sapientia apud ipsum fuit cuncta componens Wisdom was she that composed all things with God And this was the second daies work Then the lower waters were divided into elements namely earth water aire c. and that was the third daies separation as Moses doth methodically demonstrate All which Hermes expresseth thus as is said before Ex luminis voce verbum factum prodit verum hoc naturae humidae astans eam fovebat Ex humidae autem naturae visceribus sincerus ac levis ignis protenus evolans alta petit aer quoque levis spiritûs parens in mediam regionem inter aquam ignem sortiebatur terra verò aqua sic invicem commixta jacebant ut terrae facies obruta nusquam pateret The word which was made did issue out of the Light 's voice and this Word being present and assistant unto the humid nature did foster and preserve it Then the light fire proceeding out of the bowells of the humid nature soared or mounted aloft The thin air aâsâ which is the father of the spirit did elect the middle region which is between the fire and the water for his abode The earth and water did lie so intermingled together that the face of the earth was no where overflowed or drowned by the waters Whereby it is evidently proved that this thin spirituall water or humid nature in it self is no more than mans spirit without the vivifying act of life for as in the soul of every creature that liveth there are two things chiefly to be required namely an Agent and a Patient so where the one of these are wanting there can be no created soul for if that the world's life was onely the essentiall breath of God without the vehicle of the created humid spirit which is the matter of heaven then that life would be simple identity and of one and the same property
and consequently there would be neither variety of action neither any contraction or dilatation of systole and diastole in things and therefore no action or passion in the soul for without a passive nature there can be no action and also without an active nature there can be no passion Now matter which proceedeth from water is the subject of all passion as here mother Chaos was the female or passive unto the action of Demogorgon or God Also act or form which proceedeth from light is the subject of all action as its father Eternity or the bright emanation of the spirit of wisdom from the fountain of light was the male or agent From hence therefore it is an easie thing to gather first what the soul of the world is and therefore of what parts it doth consist for we must consider that as every creature hath his interior and exterior so also we must exquisitely search after an internall and an externall in the soul being it is a creature and again that it is a creature it is most certain because it is not Identity but Alterity for if it were Identity it would be the divine unity or essence and consequently it would not be created Now that it is Alteritas it is plain because it is compounded of two after the consistence of Angells forasmuch as his internall is a vivifying flame issuing or proceeding from the eternall emanation of life and his externall is an aeviall spirit which is created inacted and animated by this eternall emanation from God And forasmuch as the nature of that most essentiall and never-dying fire is said to be all and in every part of the world and therefore Scriptures say Christus adimplet omnia Christ filleth all things Christus est omnia in omnibus Christ is all and in all Dei Spiritus est in coelo in inferno in extremis maris in nocte in tenebris c. The Spirit of God is in heaven in hell in the extreamest parts of the seas in the night and in darkness Sapientiam effudit Deus super omnia opera sua God hath powred out the spirit of wisdom upon all his works Spiritus Dei incorruptibilis inest omni rei The incorruptible Spirit of God is in every âhing Coelum est ei sedes terra autem scabellum pedum ejus The heaven is his seat and the earth is his footstool Spiritus sapientiae implet orbem The spirit of wisdom filleth all the world c. Forasmuch I say as it is in every particle of this humid spirit the which by his presence is now full of dignity that before was vile and deformed it is certain that it maketh this catholick spirit to live And therefore this angelicall spirit thus composed of alterity or of two is called Anima mundi because it is that catholick or generall spirit divinely animated from the beginning which doth vivifie afterwards each particular creature of the world proceeding from the generality to the speciality and from the speciality unto the individuality So that the mighty question so often revolved by the Peripatetick Philosophers and so slenderly by them resolved may hereby be fully determined and enucleated if it please the wise and impartiall Reader rightly to consider things as indeed they do stand for by this it is easie to express and distinguish mentem divinam or the divine emanation from anima or the soul and again the anima from spiritus or the spirit being that it is evident that the mentall radication is the eternall and formall emanation which is given or sent out by the Creator in her positive property to create the world and consequently the earthly body and heavenly spirit thereof of nothing or non-actuall existence The spirit is that inward created spirit of the world or subtle substance of the waters or humid nature simply considered in its self which is animated and illuminated by that Archetypicall emanation and the soul or anima is that union which is made between this humid created spirit and the increated formall emanation which doth inform or create So that by this we may discern first what the forma informans or natura naturans is then what the forma informata or the natura naturata is The forma formans or natura naturans is God or the divine emanation which created all things the forma informata or natura naturata is the created light or the spirit informed or illuminated by the presence of the bright increased Spirit and the increated Spirit clothed with or enduing that created spirit is said to be vestitus or amictus lumine quasi vestimento cloathed with light that is with an illuminated spirit as with a garment We shall find also in Exodus that in the same Chapter the spirituall creature in which the divine Spirit acteth and resideth is tearmed an Angell in regard of his externall spirit in composition but again in the same Chapter it is tearmed JEHOVA in regard of the eternall form that acteth in it Also the Angell is said to go before the Israelites in a pillar of clowd by day and a pillar of fire by night And again it is said in the same history that JEHOVA went before them in the said order And the wise man said Fuit sapientia iis tegumentum interdiu lux stellaris noctu Wisdom was a cover to them in the day time and a starry-light in the night And the reason of all this is expressed elsewhere thus Noli exacerbare eum quia non feret defectionem vestram quoniam nomen meum est in eo Do not anger this my angel for he will not endure your defections because my name is in him c. Where by his name he signifieth his word which is God as if he had said I do essentially animate him and I am within him c. That the soul of the world or Mens divina in mundo simply taken is the divine mentall emanation absolutely in it self being distinguished from the created spirit this Text in Scriptures doth warrant Animam Spiritum dividit discernit sermo Dei vivus The Word of God doth devide the soul and the spirit c. Where by the word is ment the mentall beam by the Spirit the humid nature that existeth by the presence of the mentall beam which God by his Word can withdraw unto himself or emit according unto his will and pleasure Whereupon David said Deo recipiente Spiritum suum à creatuâis eâspi aât âmiâ erte spiritum recreantur bono God receiving or withdrawing his Spirit from ãâ¦ã they exspire but sending out his Spirit they are recreated with life and goodness Aâd âow I will prove all this out of such definitions or descriptions which as well the Faâheâs of the Church as the Philosophers both Christian and Gentile have made upon the soul in generall both as it hath a relation unto a body and also as it is
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 concoâdiae vinculis connectâns 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 Dâatessaron 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 ântend the divine virtues infused into things which Zoroaster called divinos illices Synesius the Bishop Symbolicas illecebras others tearm
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 saâiantur 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 wiâl 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 mâns in anâma 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 onânem 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
of his nature is tearmed by the Hebrews Mulchut that is Regnum or Imperium And this numeration importeth severity and servility unto the creatures through Gods anger and wrath and his influxion is directly into the Elementary world By which collections and observations of the wisest Rabbies we find that in these Ten generall properties of God signified by the ten attributes unto the Divine Essence all things in the world be they esteemed good or evill or positive and primitive or concordant and aimeable or discordant or odious or in a word either occultly or manifestly opposit or else concurring in nature or quality unto an other do originally descend from this fountâââ of Unity which though it be one in essence is nevertheless manifold in property and that property is therefore divers and altering according to the multiplicity of Volunty in the Father or fountain that sent it out according unto whose mind all things as well concordant as disagreeing are ordained both in heaven and in earth and that by a multiplicity of speciall emanations of different qualities from that eternall generall catholick effluxion and every of those specifick emanations do branch themselves again into an infinity of individuals even as ten may be multiplied in infinitum So that every one of those specifick properties do shine forth from the Star in heaven as well fix as erratick which is their receptacle or store-house unto an infinity of earthly and watery creatures which are generated or do grow upon the earth and under the earth according unto the influences of those Planets and fixed Starrs over creatures be they animal vegetable or minerall And the reason why the Divinity created or sent forth one specifick eradiation so contrary unto another was as well for the preservation as destruction of the creatures For as the last effect of each of these contrary emanations or radious eâfluences is the Creation or generation and preservation of creatures of their own nature and condition So also are they to be applyed either for the preservation or restauration of the decaying creatures namely when we apply any venomouse simple either animal vegetable or minerall to expell a dangerous disease or to poyson a nature which is sound as in the animal kingdom is the venomouse Viver Scorpion Toad Spider or blistering Cantharides and in the vegetable Kingdom the Somniferous and stupifying Poppy or Opium the searching and inflaming or burning Flammula and Euphorbium the fretting Scamony the vomiting Groundsell Dâffodâll Assera Bacca Bears-foot Titimall and the venomouse Aconite In the minerall ranck the corroding Asnick the quick peircing and infecting Quick-silver and Subâimary the destroying Resalgar the vomiting Antimony and such like which have all as well the property to take away dangerous diseases as to bring them For in some cases they take away dolorous maladies and in other some they bring them quickly and hasten on destruction upon the creature So that all things in some cases both wound and destroy and in othersome they heal and cure yet unto him that sent them the beams and irradiations of their form from some of his particular properties they appeared all good being they were ordained not onely to heal in his benignity but also to destroy in his severity and to conclude to effect his will one way or another even as it pleaseth him who onely worketh essentially all in all And therefore Solomon saith Could any thing exist which thou wouldest not have to be So that all is good unto God although unto wicked men which suffer them they may appear bad Oper a Domini universa saith the Wiseman bona valde All the works of God are very good Bona bonis crea a sunt ab iâitio sic nequissimis bona mala Good things were created originally for good men but to evill men they were in effect good and evill There are Spirits created for vengeance and in their fury they execute their torments in the time appointed they poure out their virtue and effect his furie that made them namely water hail the teeth of beasts as of the Scorpion and Serpent c. All these rejoyce to execute his Commandements upon the Earth c. Even for this cause therefore namely for the secret opposition of natures in the world originally proceeding from the streams of those variable properties which radically do spring from that one incomprehensible Fountain Love and Hatred and consequently Sympathy and Antipathy were created to justle and as it were shoulder one another in this world as well generally under the titles of Light and Dark as particularly in that friendship and hatred which is observed and testified in Scriptures to be first between the very Angells themselves then amongst the Starrs which receive these opposit natures from the Angells and thirdly amongst the winds and Elements which have their spirit of contention from the Starrs and lastly amongst those compound creatures which are composed of those Elements by the active spirits of the winds But because amongst all other opposite qualities in the world this Sympathy and Antipathy are most occult and hidden For whereas we can produce the reason of contrariety of Elements from their manifest qualities namely cold heat moisture or drought in and for this occult opposition we find not distinctly any such elementary ground we will dive so farre as our steril capacity will give us leave into the bowells of this Mystery CHAP. III. Here it is demonstrated that the occult action as well of Sympathy as Antipathy in creatures proceedeth from Angelicall irradiâtions or shinings forth that is by the emission or ejaculation of their secret beams the one against the other out of such creatures as are created or generated under their Dominions SUch as are well seen in the Mysticall Theology affirm that Angells are all of one kind in respect of their own creation though the one is more or less illuminated according to the importance of the office whereunto they are called or the Creator's will and mind is to employ them For we must consider that the Angels are the immediate organs by which and through which the Eternity effecteth his will and pronounceth his word Fiat after that his will is decreed in himself For that very reason David saith Angeli Dei validissimi robore efficientes verbum ejus a scultantes voci ejus ministri ejus facientes pâacitum ejâs The angells of God are most strong in power and do or effect his word and lâsâen unto his voice they are his minâsters to perform his will aâd leasure So that it is evident that nothing is effected in the world be it in heaven or in earth but it is performed by one of these organicall spirits And therefore Reucââne saith That all bodies as well celestiall as terrene have by the ordinance of God allotted them certain spirituall directors and rulers of their vertues and presidents of their operations namely as well they which
do with the Hebrew Rabbies justly apply the essence of the first emanation unto Mitattron which emanation is said to enter by the royall port or gate Cheter or Corona For know that this catholick Angell is said to be the first creature because it importeth the spirit of the world which did first receive the first-born son or the Emperiall emanation from the Attribute of God called EHIAH which is a name of eternity for that it containeth and doth respect the time past the time present and the time to come For this cause therefore doth this great Angel style it self Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end The first influence therefore which was of universall life and essence is received by the Angel Mitattron which is for this reason called Donum Dei after it was shouted down from the port Cheter into the highest order of the Angells called Seraphin which by reason of their propinquity unto the throne of God are said to burn or be set on fire with divine love And hereupon these have their excellent beauty and clearnesse by reason of this sacred influence which is so full of the loving benignity of the Father of light From thence this potent angelicall nature conducts the beams of this light into the convexity of the aetheriall heaven and there bestowes it as in a generall magazin or store-house which place it afterwards informs or vivifieth insomuch that by the admirable action and motion thereof it is called Primum mobile or that sphear which moveth first in the heavens and by his motion it turneth the naturall or temporall world round about from the East unto the West in twenty four houres The mover is this catholick Angel of the world full of this eternall emanation by which it animates the world Therefore also is Sapientia said to be omnium rerum priùs creata the first of all creatures and Fluxus virtutis Dei emanaâio claritatis ejus omni re mobilior penetrans ubique propter suam munditiam permanens in se omnia innovans It is an influence of the vertue of God and the shining forth of his brightnesse which is the most movable of all things penetrating all things by his purenesse and being one in essence reneweth all things that is it reviveth every thing By which it is plain that this catholick emanation is the soul of the world having endued or put on the universall angelicall spirit and therefore is called by the holy Text a Creature so that the catholick created spirit of the world is the Primum mobile for by this first-born emanation from God it is animated and moved as by the swiftest mover in the world and the mover is tearmed Primus motor both together or called Mundi anima which therefore is defined to be in respect of the created spirit thus animated Primum mobile spoâte per se mobile The first thing moved which is moved voluntarily and by it self And for this reason also the animal faculty in man which is sedes animae intellectulis is said to move voluntarily when the action âf the vitall and naturall faculty compared unto the etheriall and elementary heaven do move unvoluntarily that is at the will of the first mover And this work is therefore assigned unto this sphear with the legions of intelligences that are derived from and created there by their catholick head which is the said grand Arch-angell as beams from one Sun partly to hinder the starry lights which were after created from burning the elementary world or working by their long continued impression too violent and unnaturall alterations as also to make a proportionable day and night unto the earth To conclude by this angelicall act the whole spirit of the world was generally inacted The divine emanation which issued from the second Sephiret or port called Hochma which is sent out by the Attribute IAH passeth into the order of the Cherubins which signifieth the plenitude of Science and abundance of the gifts of Wisdom and is received of the Arch-angel Zophiel which by the etymology of his name argueth pulchritude as being replenished with an infinity of particular beams of life But another calleth this keeper and conductor of these beams Ruziel who immediately doth direct them into the firmament or heaven of the fixt starrs and principally into the broad girdle of the starry heaven which is called the Zodiack arguing by the etymology of his name that the beams of this emanation do chiefly work and fashion out ideally the liniments of an infinity of particularities in the elementary world as shall be demonstrated hereafter The third effluxion which is made from the port Binah under the protection of the name ELOHIM descendeth immediately into the order of the Thrones arguing thereby Gods severe property full of âudgment and is received by the Arch-angel Zabkiel or as others will have it of Kaspiel which is as much to say as Genius Cholerae magnae and this effluxion is conducted down into the next sphear below the firmament which it informeth according unto the naturall property of the divine influx and it procreateth the globe of Saturn which it replenisheth with spirits or inferiour intelligences called by the name of Saturnine Intelligences which send down these influences into the elementary world to produce effects according unto their nature as well in the aire and water as in and upon the earth The fourth emanation which is derived from the conduit-pipe of Chesed over which the word EL hath dominion is received of the angelicall order of Dominations which import power against evill spirits and the benefit of life and breath and then is committed unto the Arch-angel Zadkiel which is by interpretation Genius justitiae and this Angel according unto the nature of the influence which it carrieth is a friend unto the true Justice in the proportion of the elements and a friend unto the creature's life wherefore it conducteth the beams of this property into the next or be below Saturn which they make a dwelling place for an infinity of spirits that are created out of the same informing influence and therefore are of its property This Terra Angelica Olympi is tearmed the Star of Jupiter and these kinds of Olympick spirits are tearmed Jovial Intelligences which do poure forth the streams of their influence into the elementary regions and animateth the spirits of its nature which work effects appropriated unto the property of this influence The fifth eradiation or emission of divine beams is out of the Sephiroticall numeration or port called Geburah whose President is the divine Attribute ELOHIM GIBBOR and these beams are said to passe directly into the order of Potestats and the Arch-angell unto the which these beams are committed is called Samaâl or as others will Hamael and it is a Genius which importeth horrour and this Intelligence doth conduct the beams of its Emanation into the Sphere which is below that of Jupiter and informeth the spirits
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 mâserationum sunt infernis multae effigies foedae noxiae tentatrices omnes commorantes volantes in aëâe 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 audaâity jucundity caused by dilatation from the Center unto the circumference and by consequence Anâipathy 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 betweâââwo 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
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 âast 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 shouâings 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 apaâe 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 âhe mean time To âut 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 iâteâitious humour is by vertue
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 dâd 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 theâr 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 raân 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 Phyââck 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
accord the whole file of Scripture doth confirm that it is effected by this wisdom Again the wise-man expresseth the wondrous effects of this Spirit in these words In se elementa dum convertuntur sicut in organo qualitatis sonus immutatur omnia suum sonum custodiunt c. Whilst the elements are converted in themselves as the sonnd is converted in an Organ of quality and all do keep and observe their proper sound c. But the Apostle doth more excellently expresse this in these words In Christo condita sunt universa in coelis in terra omnia visibilia invisibilia per ipsum in ipso creata sunt Ipse est ante omnes omnia in ipso constant In ipso complacuit omnem plenitudinem divinitatis inhabitare per eum reconciliare omnia in ipso pacificans per san guinem crucis ejus sive quae in coelis sive quae in terris sunt All things are made in Christ in heaven and in earth and all are created by him and in him as well visible as invisible he is before all and all âo consist in him and it pleased all the plenitude of divinity to dwell in him and to reconcile by him in himself pacifying by the blood of his cross all things both in heaven and earth Lo here the perfect and catholick fountain of all harmony the taker away of discord both from heaven and earth and the pure essentiall and formall love and sympathy of this world and therefore by the wisest and most mysticall Philosophers he is said to be Vinculum seu ligamentum elementorum the band or tie whereby the discording elements are compelled unto an harmonious accord After the imitation of whose melodious tunes and concords all the accords of our externall musick as well vocall as instrumentall are typically framed which are in respect of the true and essentiall symphony of this spirit even as a shadow is unto a true subject or an image unto a reality I come now unto Arithmetick and Geometry As for these two Arts the wise-man doth include them in these few words Omnia mensura numeroque pondere disposuisti seu temperasti Thou hast disposed or proportioned all things in measure number and weight In which words by measure is meant the progresse into longitude latitude and profundity which this Spirit made in his emanation from the point unto the line and from the line or root unto the square and from the square unto the cube By number is meant those Arithmeticall dimensions in progression whereby this Spirit issued out of unity into multitude as from 1 unto 10 and from 10 unto a 100 and from a hundred unto a 1000 namely from God who is the eternall point or unity unto the first articulated number which is 10 and it represents the aeviall or angelicall world which is the first degree of composition and from 10 unto a 100 which argueth the composition of the temporall world and from a 100 to a 1000 which pointeth at the compound creature of the Elements So that hereby each Christian may see how God is all and in all and yet without all and as the Text hath it in heaven in the seas in the abysse and in hell And for this reason the Pythagoreans did include all things under these three principles 1 2 3. whereby they attributed 1 unto God in his abstruse being 2 unto matter and 3 unto form under which all are contained But of this I will declare my minde more copiously when I speak of the essentiall principles of Sympathy and Antipathy namely in the first Book of the second Section of this present Treatise And therefore the patient man in the person of JEHOVAH saith thus Ubinam eras quando fundebam terram Aânuntia si nosti intelligentiam 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 did lay the foundatâons of the earth tell me if thou hast understanding Who disposed of the measures thereof or who did stretch forth upon it a line upon what were her foundations fastned or who laid her corner-stone Whereby he argueth that by this Spirit which is the corner-stone or foundation of everything for without it nothing is made or can exist as St. John doth testifie not onely the earth had his Geometricall dimension scituation and position but also the Sun the Moon the Stars and each thing else both in heaven and in earth have assigned them their weight proportion magnitude and limited seat in the world Yea verily by it the aire by proportion and weight is carried and framed out into the shapes of Meteors for the sacred Text hath it Deus sapientia aptat pondus aeri appendit aquas in mensura God by his wisdom doth adapt a weight unto the air and imparts a mensurable proportion unto the waters or clouds I will shew now her power in the science of Rhetorick and Oratory and prove in few words how she is also the exactest Mistris in those Arts as also the onely essentiall mover in the spirits of men to make them truly eloquent and perswasive and withall she is the essentiall Magnet in the Oratours voice which can draw and attract the auditors minds to listen and affect the organ by whom she is intended to plead by Saith Moses in his conference with this divine Spirit Non sum vir facundus neque unquam anteafui ne quidem ex quo locutus es cum servo tuo sed impedito ore impeditâ linguâ sum Tunc dixit Jehovah ad illum Quis statuit os hominum aut quiâ statuere potest surdum aut mutum Nonne Ego qui sum Jehovah Nunc itaque ito ego adero ori âuo docebo te quae te loqui convenit I am not an eloquent man neither have ever been so no verily not from the time that thou hast spoke with thy servant But I have an impediment in my mouth and am defective in my tongue Then said Jehovah unto him Who hath made the mouth of man or who can make deaf or dumb Is it not I who am Jehovah Now therefore go thy way and I will be with thy mouth and I will teach thee what is fit for thee to say c. In which file of speech God teacheth us that eloquence and apt disposition of words sentences and speech both in the Rhetorician and Orator are from God who can give it or take it away at his pleasure And therefore the Evangelist sayeth in another place Erunt omnes docibiles Dei or docti à Deo All shall be taught of God And the Prophet hath it Universi filii tui sunt docti à Jehovah All thy sons are instructed by Jehovah But Christ expresseth this in fuller terms thus Spiritus
sanctus quem mittet Pater ille vos docebit omnia suggeret vobis omnia quaecunque dixero vobis The holy Spirit which my Father sendeth even he shall teach you all things whatsoever I shall say unto you Now that this spirit is that eternall wisdome which effecteth and exciteth this Rhetoricall and Oratoricall function the scriptures testifie in other places Sapientia saith Solomon aperuit os mutorum linguas infantum fecit diserias Wisdome hath opened the mouth of the dumb and hath made the tongues of children eloquent And the Sonne of Syrach Sapiens aperiet os suum in oratione The wiseman will open his mouth in an oration And again Tanquam imbres mittet eloquia Sapientia Sapientis et in oratione confitebitur Domino The wisdome of the wiseman will send forth her eloquence like a showre and in his oration or speech will confesse to the Lord. I could expresse many other examples out of holy Writ to confirme this more amply namely that all Rhetoricall eloquence is from this good spirit of wisdome but for brevities cause I will passe them over that I may proceed unto the Mechanick Arts and prove unto you that their inventions did originally proceed from the doctrine of this good Spirit though fouly commaculated by the succession of time through the scarrs of Envy and Ignorance As concerning Mechanick arts we find that the invention and shaping forth or making of Garments was derived from the instruction of this spirit Loquêris cunctis Sapientibus corde saith Jehovah to Moses quos replevi spiritu Sapientiae ut faciant vestes Aaron in quibus Sanctificatus ministret mihi Thou shalt speak unto all the wise in heart whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdome to make habilements for Aaron in the which he being sanctified may minister unto me Also all the inventions of Goldsmiths works and of the Jewellers artifice and Carpenters with the Sculpters of wood did proceed from this fountaine of knowledge and therefore Jehova saith unto Moses Ecce vocavi Beseleel implevi eum cum spiritu Dei sapientia intelligentia et Scientia in omni opere ad excogitandum quicquid fabrefieri potest ex auro argento aere marmore et Gemmis diversitate Lignorum Dedique eâ socium Ooliab in corde omnis eruditi posui Sapientiam ut faciant cuncta quae praecepi tibi Behold I have called Beseleel and I have filled him with the spirit of God with wisdome understanding and Science in every work to invent and find out every thing that may be fashioned out of Gold Silver and Brasse of Marble pretious stones and variety of woods and I have given him for a companion Ooliab and in the heart of every wiseman I have infused wisdome that they may effect what I have commanded them By which words it is evident that the beginning of every true Mechanick Art is this spirit of God in whose only power it is to teach a man all things but this is confirmed else where more plainly Moses said unto the children of Israel Ecce vocaverit dominus Beseleel implevitque eum spiritu Dei Sapientia et intelligentia et Scientia et omni Doctrina ad excogitandum faciendum opus in auro argento aere ferro sculpendisque lapidibus opere carpentario Quicquid fabrè adinveniri potest dedit in corde ejus Ooliab quoque Ambos erudivit sapientia ut facian opera Abietarii Polymitarii ac Plumarii de hyacintho purpura coccoque bis tincto bysso texant omnia c. Behold the Lord hath called Beseleel and hath filled him with the Spirit of God with wisdom with understanding and with science or knowledge and with all manner of doctrine or skill to invent and make work in gold in silver in brasse and iron and in graving of stones and in the carpenters work of carving Whatsoever can be invented in workmanship hath he put into his heart and into that of Ooliab his companion He hath instructed both of them by wisdom to do the works belonging unto the Carpentââs art and unto embroidery and weaving and needle-work in blew silk and in purple and in scarlet and in fine linnex even to do all manner of works and subtle inventions c. Moreover by wisdom Noa fuit in Arcae structura instructus Noah was instructed in the building of the Arke And therefore the text hath it Sanavit Sapientia terram per contemptibile lignum justum gubernans Wisdom restored the earth guiding the just man by a contemptible peece of word By it the Art of Musick was revealed unto Juball For the words are Jubal fuit Pater Canentium Citharâ Organo He was the Father or beginner of playing on the Harpe and Organ And Jubal-Cain was the Inventor of iron and brass works For it is said Ipse fuit malleator faber in cuncta opera aeris ferri He was a Smith or hammerman being cunning in all works of brass and Iron Again Ada Jubal was Father of them who dwelled in Tents and Prince of Shepheards To conclude there is no true Mechanick work but had its originall from this Spirit in whom only and in nothing else is the gift of teaching all things I come now to the morall and politick Arts which do arise from this radicall Spirit All Morall Discipline also hath her root and beginning from this holy Spirit of Discipline as by the whole file of Scriptures we are taught And it was the essentiall voice of this Spirit which did teach the Christian world by the mouth of Christ Jesus to embrace and follow goodnesse and to eschew evill I will not say much therefore touching this point but will only in few words speak unto our purpose with the Wisemans mouth Sapientiâ servat semitas justitiae vias sanctorum custodiens Wisdome doth observe the paths of Justice keeping the ways of the Saints Per eam intelliges justitiam judicium aequitatem omnem semitam bonam si intraverit cor tuum consilium custodiet te Prudentia servabit te Per eam eruêris à viamala Te custodiet à muliere ex tranea By wisdome Saith Salomon thou shalt understand justice and judgement equity and every good and straight way If she shall enter into thy heart she will save and preserve thee with prudency By her thou shalt be drawn from the evill way she will preserve thee from the strange woman Also Sapientiae docet temperantiam prudentiam justitiam fortitudinem quibus utilius nihil in vita hominibus Wisdome teacheth temperance prudence justice fortitude than the which nothing is more profitable unto the life of man In another place Sapientiae est consilium aequitas prudentia fortitudo Counsell justice prudence and fortidtue is of wisdome Where is expressed the four Cardinall-vertues which are the pillars of
vaine by nature who are ignorant of God and cannot understand him that truly is by such good creatures of his which they behold nor yet can acknowledge the workman by the consideration of his works It well behoveth therefore each Christian to be wary in his reading the Ethnick Philosophy and to consider seriously before he wade too far in it or give too much credit unto it the sayings of the two foresaid Sacred Philosophers which followed the rules of the true Wisdome And again let him call to minde the precepts which the first of them I mean St. Paul did impart unto the worldy Philosophers of Athens when he espied that they did adore and worship strange and unknown Gods and how he taught them a new Philosophy and new Wisdome namely Jesus Christ which was strange doctrine unto them And therefore they said Let us heare what this babler will say that bringeth in this strange doctrine of Christ. Whereby it appeareth that the true Wisdome never sounded into their eares or dived into their hearts Let him I say observe that it was at this kind of bastard Philosophers with their Philosophy that the Apostle pointeth where he saith in the place above cited Let no man deceive you in subtility and swasibility of speech Beware of Philosophy and vaine Fâllacy which are according unto the traditions of men and according unto the Elements or rudiments of this world and not after Christ c. In which words he distinguisheth the false Philosophy or wisdome from the true Sapience and he seemeth to intimate that the false Philosophy is but vaine Fallacy framed after the manner of men of this world namely as at Athens it was taught that is to say with vain Fallacie subtilties and seeming more in appearance and probability then it was indeed And for that reason it filled men fuller of doubts by inquiries made through misty and foggy passages then if they had gone the plain and simple way of teaching to wit after the true image of the reall and essentiall Philosophy or rather Sophia or Wisdome which as the Wiseman telleth us is Spiritus intelligentiae Sanctus unicus simplex modestus dâsertus suavis perspicuus amans bonum humanus benignus stabilis certus omnem habens virtutem amicos Dei constituens in animas sanctas se transferens The holy spirit of Wisdome is unique and simple in his essence modest eloquent sweet plaine and open without ambâguity Loving that which is good humane benigne stable sure comprehending in it selfe all vertue and an introductor of man unto the friendship of God by transferring it self into the souls of pious and godly men Lo here we see that in condition this description of the good and true Wisdome doth exactly agree with that Wisdome whose character is described by St. James as is said before For he termeth it modest benigne peacefull suasible without envy or emulation Again as St. James saith that it is from above namely from the Father of Light So also doth Salomon express her pedigree thus Sapientia saith he est vapor virtutis Dei emanatio quaedam seu fluxus claritatis omnipotentis Dei sinceri candor seu splendor lucis aeternae speculum sine macula Majestatis Dei imago bonitatis illius Wisdome is the vapor of the vertue of God and a certaine emanation or flux of the sincere shining forth of the Omnipotent God and the brightness of the eternall light and a mirrour without spot of the Majesty of God and the image of his goodness By the which definition it is evidently discerned First that it is that Wisdome which is from above next that it is not the vaine wisdome of this world which is nothing else but a plaine fiction or empty shadow in regard of this which is only truth lastly this wisdome bringeth good fruit with it for it imparteth unto men essentiall vertue and power to act as well naturally as miraculously and therefore the Apostle saith Signa Apostolatûs mei facta sunt super vos in omni potentia in signis prodigiis virtutibus The signes of mine Apostleship are upon you in all patience in signes prodigies and virtues And again Qui tribuit vobis Spiritum operatur virtutes seu miracula in vobis Who bestoweth upon you the Spirit who worketh also virtues or miracles among you Lo here our Christian Philosophers may see how this Wisdome bringeth forth power and vertue which St. James in the before-cited place doth call good fruits for he saith that Wisdome which is from above is full of good fruits But Paul seemeth to call the Ethnick Philosophy vaine fallacy and therefore if it be vaine then it is void of good fruit and consequently there is no true fructifying Philosophy nor truly fructifyed Philosopher but that which is grounded on that true and eternal Wisdome Jesus Besides all this the true Wisdom is peaceable not ambiguous nor apt to be cavilled with or contentiously to be disputed of neither needeth it an infinity of distinctions and quiddities framed out of mans braine which rather leadeth the disciple by the multiplicity thereof into ignorance then it doth elucidate the brightness of naked truth But the false Philosophy is so full of distinctions subtil and sophisticall evasions so subject to cavills and disputations and so contentiously composed and in fine so difficill and in effect so fruitless that instead of the true and essentiall graine we find but chaff instead of truth we gather but words instead of essentiall reality we collect scarce a type or shadow of Verity in lieu of sincerity we find but vanity and in conclusion is more in appearance overmasked over for the most part with a seeming probability then indeed really to be discerned and for this cause the Apostle saith Praedicatio mea non est in persuasivis humanae sapientiae verbis sed in ostensione spiritus virtutis My preaching is not in the perswasive words of humane wisdome but by the manifestation of the Spirit and of power For this reason therefore we find in the one of the two kinds of wisdome the fruits of power vertue and miracles such as the true and divine Philosophers did produce by the Omnipotent Corner-stone I mean the true Wisdome in times past and made them manifest unto the world Whereas the other can do nothing indeed but produce cavillings dispute contentions and fallacies the fruits whereof in the conclusion is naught else but vanity It is not I but the Spirit of truth that assureth you thus much And yet now even in this later age of the world in which Satan the prince of this world which is darkness hath the upper hand this terrene wisdome or vaine Philosophy which is dawbed over with dark ignorance hath the dominion or upper hand and so by that means Christ which is the true Wisdome is daily crucified among some Christian Philosophers and buried in darkness through
that sacred Philosophy is nothing else but the ground-work of Divinity or an expression of God and his acts in his creatures or if you will have it so in things as well supernaturall as naturall Neither can any man finde that God was ever mentioned or specified in Scriptures but as he was considered in this world which he framed and the creatures thereof So is he said to be endued with light as with a vestment To be a consuming fire To fill the heavens and to make the earth his foot-stool To put his tabernacle in the sun To make the dark clouds his dwelling or tabernacle To speak in thunder from heaven To parley with Job out of the whirle-wind To blow out of the north and south To be everywhere Also his Spirit is said to descend from heaven like a dove and in the form of cloven tongues of fire and to fill the earth and to make man his temple and to be in all things To conclude all Scriptures are full of nothing else but of his essentiall operation in all created things by his infinite organs Wherefore I may justly say that true Philosophy forasmuch as the foundation thereof is the Spirit of wisdom which descendeth from the Father of light is nothing else in effect but Theology onely we may for fashions-sake make this distinction that essentiall Philosophy passeth or maketh his enquiry after the summum bonum moving from the creatures circumference or externall unto his center or internall for the finding out or describing of that eternall essence who is onely good and is the sole actour in all things and so proceedeth as it were demonstraâââne a posteriori that is from the visible creature unto the invisible Creator according unto St. Pauls rules and Solomons precepts in the places above cited And the Theologian or Divine seemeth to move another way to wit from the radicall center or invisibility of God and so proceedeth quasi demonstratione a priori that is moving from the divine internall act or center unto the visible circumference or externall creature whereby we may perceive in the conclusion that both Sciences do attain unto one point in the end that is to say unto one and the self-same thing or highest goodnesse in effect And yet it so falleth out that many an Academist in this world is so extracted beyond the limits of the creature in their researches that they forsooth seek him out beyond the Moon nay beyond the margins of the vaulted world and so divide him absolutely from his creatures in which proceedings they do but attempt or presume to clamber up a ladder without steps or degrees They will I say soar up unto the highest pitch without any consideration had unto the lower degrees in that they attempt to find out God without any respect had unto his creatures when as the Scriptures warrant us that he is not far off from any of us And therefore it will be but needlesse to seek or expect him beyond the sphear of the fire or above the starry heavens when he is neerer unto us than we are aware of But it is no marvell for some of them being altogether addicted for the first seven years unto the Peripatetick philosophy are so corrupted thereby and understand by that doctrine so little newes of Gods being in his creatures that when they come unto their higher function they are flat enemies to such as shall tell them any such thing and though they find Scriptures in plain tearms to verifie that the Word and Spiâit is in all and over all yet by those sophisticall School-distinctions which they have learned or gathered out of their Ethnick-master's documents or his obsequious Commentators they do so involve and bewrap the plainly-meaning places of Scriptures in the equivocating clouds of obscurity that they make them ambiguous or of little or no effect As when it is said and by the whole harmony of the sacred Text affirmed that God is in all and over all and that the holy Spirit is in all things they streight-waies distinguish and say It is true that he is virtualiter or vertually but not substantialiter or essentially over all as who should say his vertue can be divided or separated from his essence And again when the Text saith that God operateth all in all Verum est say they quatenus est causa principalis as he is the prime or principall cause but there are many secondary or subalternate Agents say they which do act in Nature by themselves as the Intelligences the Starrs the Elements the Meteors the compounded creatures as well animal as vegetable and mineral and so they would by these Aristotelicall sophistications disgrace the truth of him who saith in plain tearms Deus operatur omnia in omnibus God worketh all ân all For if we look rightly into the matter we shall find that as God filleth all by his essentiall Spirit of wisdom so that Spirit worketh all in every thing which it filleth and that without any helper For how can the created organ by any act of his own help the Creator which filleth it to operate when what it hath it receiveth from that eternall Act which bestoweth it Ego saith Jehovah sum Dominus faciens omnia solus nullus mecum I am the Lord who make and do all things alone and not any one with me Neither should it seem strange being that the Scriptures do verifie that he is all in all And again The incorruptible Spirit of God is in all things And again the Apostle as is said before In Christo omnia sunt condita per Christum in Christo omnia sunt creata omnia in ipso constant ipse est in omnibus primatum tenens In Christ all things are made by Christ and in Christ all things are created all things consist in him and he is in all things bearing in them the principality Which being so it followeth that the distinction must needs be false which is that Deus doth agere mediate and not immediate and consequently that the creature can act per se sine actu immediato Deâ As who should say that the divine essence or vertue is divisible or that Gods essence must therefore be partible or separable because it is in divers organs I may therefore boldly conclude and say that if Christian Schollars would bestow that seven years which they employ in their Aristotelian study in the true essentiall and sacred Philosophy they would not so erre after the manner of the Gentiles but embrace without any rebellion or contradiction the precepts of the true wisdom so firmly that they would at the end of the said time be compleat in that essentiall doctrine and made fit members to proceed in the streight way of enquiry into and acquiry of the mysticall wisdom which God hath ordained to be revealed unto his Elect and so after the example of the Apostles they might as well become potent in vertue
Mosaicall Principles are very plain and evident unto all such as do wisely contemplate and observe the words of the most excellent Philosopher Moses in his first Chapter of Genesis For before there is made any mention of that Spagiricall separation which by the Word of God or divine Spirit Elohim was effected in the six daies work of the Creation mentioned and expressed there It is said that darknesse was upon the face of the Abysse and that Terra erat inanis vacua the Earth was without shape and form Where it appeares that the Heavens and the Earth were not as yet inacted or informed but were one deformed rude and indigested masse and consequently all were complicitly comprehended in one dark Abysse but explicitly they were as yet nothing as for example we see that a great tree with his body branches bark leaves and fruit is complicitly comprehended in a grain or kernell but explicitly it is no such thing but only somewhat in imaginatione St. Augustin compareth this Nothing unto Speech which whilst it is in the mind of the speaker is as nothing unto him that it is spoken unto that is to say somewhat in puissance and nothing in essence but when it is uttered or spoken then is that which was before complicitly in animo loquentis now explicitly apprehended by the hearer Plato compareth it in this estate of its Nullity unto a vision in a dreame which when a man awaketh proveth nothing saving a mere imagination But because this speech to wit God created all things of nothing hath pusled the minds of many understanding persons being it could not be perceived really what should be intended by this word Nihil I purpose in few words to discourse upon it and to expresse mine opinion what is meant thereby Saith the Prince of Peripateticks Ex Nihilo nihil fit A learned Sentence and infallible axiom of so learned a Personage if the sense of the word were alwaies to be construed one and the same way But I say being founded on good grounds that if there be any who either upon presumption or through ignorance are of an opinion that in these words God created all things Ex nihilo Of nothing this word Nihilum or nothing ought not to be taken or interpreted for Nihilum negativum or such a negative nothing which falleth not under the capacity or understanding of mans reason or intellect Such a kind of Nihilum or Nothing was never meant or taken for the first-matter of the Creation For it appeareth as well by the infallible sense of holy Scriptures as the sacred Light in nature that the first essence and matter of all things was from all eternity in God and with God one and the same thing and this we prove out of Scriptures after this manner Saith Moses In Principio creavit Deus coelum terram In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth In which speech this word Principium is not to be taken for a negative nothing For the Scripture telleth us in plain terms that ex ipso per ipsum in ipso sunt omnia Of him by him and in him are all things And therefore if all things proceed from God the Creatour who is the highest of Entities it followeth that it proceedeth not from a negative nothing And again Scriptures say Omnipotens Domâne manus tua creavit orbem teârarum saith St. Jerom or mundum according unto Tremellius ex mateteria invisa as St. Jerom interpreteth it but Tremellius hath it Ex materia informi Almighty Lord thine hand hath created the earth or world of an invisible or informed matter And therefore if of an invisible matter or substance without shape it followeth that it is not of a negative or absolute Nothing Also the Scriptures say in another place Fide intelligimus aptata esse secula verbo Dei ut ex invisibilibus visibilia fierent We understand by faith that the world was so made or adapted by the word of God that of invisible things such things as are visible were made and consequently not of an absolute or negative Nothing Moreover if God had not produced and created all things essentially out of himself but of a vain negative nothing then creation would not appertain unto God neither could it rightly be referred unto him that is to say if all things were not essentially of him nor did take their beginning from him then verily it must needs follow that all were not made by him but would have their existence from Nothing neither would they consist in him but in Nothing But it is evident that the case is otherwise for the Creation is the work of God and not the work and subject of Nothing he is the entity of all entities the life of all the living the beginning of all beginnings and the fountain of all waters of which heaven and earth were framed To conclude nothing ever came into being or had its existence from any other but onely from him and by him neither can any thing exist but onely in him And therefore we may conclude that God did beget produce make and create nothing but that which was eternally in himself which also the Apostle seemeth to verifie in these words In Christo sunt omnia condita sive visibilia sive invisibilia ipse ante omnes omnia in ipso constant angeli throni potestates dominationes per eum in eo sunt creata qui est principium In Christ are all things made and created He is before all and all as well visible as invisible consist in him The angels thrones potestates dominations were by him and in him created who is the beginning But because this is more fully discussed in the first Book of my sympatheticall and antipatheticall History I will say no more of it in this place but proceed directly unto my purpose As therefore darknesse is rightly termed potentia divina so also is light called actus divinus which the Cabalists express by Alephtenebrosum and lucidum as else-where it is declared And therefore the Scriptures aver in another place that God is omnia in omnibus God is all in all And again Christus est omnia in omnibus Christ is all in all c. I say therefore that the very same which is meant by Moses his dark abysse and terra inanis Job tearmeth umbra lethalis because it is void of form and life and for that cause he saith also Aquilonem extendit Deus supra inane vacuum suspendit terram supra nihilum God spread or extended the north upon the void or inanity and did hang the earth upon nothing Whereby also it appeareth that it was not the negative Nihil but a matter that was in potentia ad actum in the way to be inactuated being destitute neverthelesse as yet both of any form or act But Forma dat nomen esse Form doth give
unto each thing its name and being And therefore it consequently followeth that because this first matter was without form it was justly tearmed Nothing as having neither name or essentiall being seeing it was onely something in puissance and nothing in act Therefore Hermes tearmeth it potentia divina the divine puissance And again he saith that in the instance of the apparition of light it seemed unto him to be a fearfull shaddow saying Umbra horrenda obliqua revolutione subterlabebatur A horrible or fearfull shaddow did glide downwards by an oblique revolution c. Again in another place as Moses said Darknâsse was upon the face of the abysse Hermes hath it Infinita in abysso aqua in super spiritus tenuis intellectualis per divinam potentiam in chaos inerant There was saith he an infinite shaddow upon the abysse also water and a thin intellectuall spirit were in the chaos by the divine puissance In which words he exactly agreeth with Moses who said that darknesse was upon the face of the abysse Now that there was contained water and a fiery spirit complicitely within the dark chaos or abysse it appeareth by the revolution of the waters upon the which Elohim or the Spirit of the Lord was carried as shall be shewed you hereafter So that by these authorities you may discern what the first principle or potentiall being or beginning was namely the dark abysse or terra vacua inanis of Moses the nihilum inane vacuum umbra lethalis of Job the materia informis or invisa of Solomon the potentia divina of Esdras ante omnia creata quae erat fons initium omnium the divine puissance which was created before all things for such was the eternall wisdom before it did act in this world The umbra horrenda infinita in abysso potentia divina in the chaos of Heâmes And to conclude it was the mysticall and complicite number which is said to be principale in animo conditoris condendorum exemplar the principall pattern in the minde of the builder or creator of things which were to be created So that all things were complicitely in the divine puissance before that by the emission of his inacting Spirit they were reduced into an explicite Being And for this reason Hermes most properly saith in another place Cantabóne laudes tuas in iis quae in lucem è tenebris eru isti an in iis quae latent adhuc arcano sinu recondita Shall I sing thy praises in those things which thou hast made to appear out of darknesse or in those things which do lie hid as yet in thy secret bosome Whereby he argueth that as well the things that are hid in darkness and appear not as those which are made manifest are all one in the sight of the abstruse unity who is the God as well of those things which are not in respect of our capacity as of those which are or appear unto our sense And therefore the kingly Prophet saith Tenebrae sunt ei sicut ipsa lux Darknesse is to God as light as if he had said All things are but one thing before God who is one and the same in whom are all things arcano quasi sinu recondita as Hermes saith in the Text before mentioned which is also most excellently described thus by him in another place Ex uno principâo cuncta dependent principium ex uno solo Et principium movetur ut rursus extet principium ipsum tamen unum praestat nec recedit ab imitate Of one beginning all things do depend this principle or beginning is from onely one And again this principle is moved that it may again become a principle and notwithstanding onely one doth perform this and yet it recedeth not from the nature of an unity I will say no more touching this principle because I have uttered my minde more fully concerning it in the first Book of my sympatheticall Treatise or History I will now therefore proceed unto the description of the second namely unto the revealed matter which is mentioned and expressed by the Prophet Moses and the Apostle Peter to be the subject or materiall mass out of which the heavens and the earth and consequently the whole world was framed or made CHAP. III. Of the mateâiall fruit or principle which issued and was revealed by the Spirit of God out of the dark Abysse and how the substantiall Machine of the world was framed of it ALL things were complicitely contained or comprehended in the divine puissances as is already shewed which in the regard of human capacity was without form forasmuch as it was contained within one deformed or invisible water which was therefore called the Mother of the Elements and Seed of all things for as the whole plant or tree is contained in a small kernell or little mis-shapen seed and is no way subject unto mans apprehension before it sprouteth forth even so all things were in the beginning in the water potentially as also the water was an invisible thing without form or shape vailed over with deformity for darknesse was upon the face of the abysse which was termed the first matter that had no formall act that man could imagine and therefore was said to be onely in puissance A wise Philosopher therefore and deeply seen in the mysticall works of the Creation speaketh in this manner The first matter out of which the water did issue was nihil or nothing and out of it was created the matter of the waters and this ought not to be understood after an human manner namely that God did create the waters of Nothing and yet it was spoken rightly because that in the beginning nothing was visible But if wise men would elevate their thoughts above the vulgar capacities to find out by speculation the originall of the waters then would they not deny but that before the creation of the waters there was a certain matter in the highest mystery that is to say in the divine puissance or dark and informed abyss which was the catholick treasury or store-house as we may say out of which the waters did flow in the creation and this is partly confirmed by Scripture in divers places for the Apostle Paul teacheth us in the place before mentioned saying Fide intelligimus aptata esse secula verbo Dei ut ex invisibilibus visibilia fierent We understand by faith that the world was made or ordained by the word so that things which are visible were made of things which were invisible Whereby it is evident that the things which fall under mans sense and kenning were not at the first subject unto mans sense and therefore were esteemed as if they were not St. Paul also in like manner saith Deus eligit ea quae non sunt ut ea quae sunt destrueret God maketh election of the things which are not ãâã destroy the things
I come now unto my description of that universall principle which giveth life and being unto all the waters and every thing which is framed of the waters and consequently of the whole world CHAP. IV. How the catholick formall Principle by which the waters in generall and consequently the heavens and elements and every thing else in particular were fashioned informed and reduced into a specifick act or essentiall being and are hitherto preserved in that estate did proceed and was immediately derived from God I Told you that according unto the Rabbies or Cabalisticall Doctors opinion the eternall Sapience which is the radicall beginning or unity of all things when it remained as it were quiet and at rest as being retracted in the dark abyss was in regard of our weak capacities esteemed as Ain that is to say nihiâ or nothing or non ens non finis and yet out of this nihil was revealed unto us infinity forasmuch as the emanation which issued from it is all in all and yet without all as it is that fountain out of which the universall waters are drawn which is the existence of all things as I said before and that catholick and bright-shining-forth or fiery and formall vertue is sent out which doth impart an essence unto every thing and in conclusion both the externall or passive and internall or active of all creatures in the world do issue out of this eternall which is nihil in regard of us but omnia in omnibus extra omnia in respect of it self in whose eyes darkness and light invisibility and visibility and therefore all potentiall Nothing or first matter and actuall Something are one and the same thing in essence without any difference For this cause this eternall infinitude this all in all and without all is rightly described first by the Apostle and then by the divine Philosopher Hermes after this manner Unus Deus Pater omnium saith Paul qui super omnes per omnia in omnibus One God is the Father of all who is above all and over all and in all Ex ipso per ipsum in ipso sunt omnia Of him by him and in him are all things And Hermes Deus est circulus intellectualis cujus centrum est omne illud quod est circumferentia verò extra omnia God is an intellectuall circle whose center is all that which existeth and whose circumference is without and beyond all things Hereupon in another place he calleth him Locum in quo mundus continetur The place in which the world is contained inferring thereby according unto that of the Scriptures that he filleth all the world and yet remains in himself without all in the very self-same nature of a unity as he was For as he seemed in the eyes of mans weak and fragil capacity to be Ain or Nihil before he would create any thing yet was he both unity and infinity unto himself and therefore was complicite all in all in himself namely as he to our blinded fancy appeareth Aleph tenebrosum or dark and deformed Aleph Also though he shined forth of darkness and by the revelation of his hidden wisdom or essence made all things as well visible as invisible to exist formally and so made dark Aleph to be changed into light Aleph yet nevertheless he remaineth all one in himself and passeth not beyond the limits of his uniformity for as it is already said His darknesse unto him is as his light Even no otherwise than we see in the mind or divine mentall beam of man that it is all one without alteration when it willeth and when it nilleth namely when it granteth or giveth and when it denyeth In like manner whether the divine infinity doth shine forth from its center towards its circumference or centrally contracteth his acting beams within it self yet it is all one and the same in its self without any alteration of the essentiall identity I come to the purpose The Apostle speaking of the eternall Christ saith Christus est Dei virtus sapientia Dei Christ is the vertue of God and the wisdom of God Now I will tell you here as I have done before by the mouth of Solomon what this divine wisdom is Sapientia saith Solomon est spiritus intelligentiae sanctus qui est vapor viâtutis seu potentiae Dei fluxus seu emanatio quaedam claritatis omnipotentis Dei sincera candor seu splendor lucis aeternae speculum sive macula Dei majestatis imago bonitatis illius Wisdom is the holy spirit of discipline which is the vapour of the vertue or power of God and a certain flowing forth or emanation of the brightnesse of the Almighty the beauty or clearnesse of his eternall light and an immaculate mirrour of the majesty of God So that we may discern by this description of the wise-man what is the spirituall Christ who is the wisdom vertue and word of God and how by his apparition out of darkness that is by the mutation or change of the first principle which was in darknesse quasi âârbum in principio from dark Aleph to light Aleph the waters which were contained in the profound bowells of the abysse were revealed and were animated that is to say by the emanation or emission of this self-same spirit of eternall fire or light and afterward by his admirable activity and restless motion and penetration for by Solomon it is said to be omnibus mobilibus mobilior attingere ubique propter suam munditiam The swiftest and most agile of all movable things and to attain and pierce every where by reason of its purenesse and subtlety it first distinguisheth and separateth the darkness from the light the obscure and gross waters from the subtle or pure and then it disposeth the heavens into sphears lastly it divideth the grosser waters into sublunary elements as by the words of the first Chapter of Genesis each man may plainly discern But that I may particularize more at large on this point to express unto you the glorious and immortall works which this spirit did first by creation and still doth by preservation effect and operate in this world Mark well these places in Scriptures Mundum ex materia informi creavit Revelat fundamenta abscondita novit in tenebris constituta lux est cum eo Revelavit fundamenta è tenebris educit in lucem umbram lethalâm Aquilonem extendit super inane vacuum suspendit terram super Nihilum nam sapientia ab ore ejus prodeunte rotunditatem caelorum circumeunte soâa in profundo abyssi ambulante omnia fecât Deus Aderat ipsa quando praeparavit coelum quando certa lege gyro velavit abyssos quando aethera firmabat sursum erat ipsa cum eo cuncta componens Ipsa fundavit terram stabilivit coelos erupit abyssos nubes rore concrescere facit Aptat pondus
this cause St. Paul saith in excluding all other essentiall acts or operations out of this world saving onely this which is from God Dii sunt qui dicuntur in coelo in terra nos tamen agnoscimus unum Deum Patrem a quo omnia unum Domânum Jesum Christum per quem omnâa Though there are which are termed Gods in heaven and earth yet we acknowâedg but one God the Father of whom are all things and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things As if he had said however the world speaketh of the actions of the Angels Stars Elements Winds Meteors Waters Animals Vegetables or Mineralls we do not acknowledg them to act essentially and by themselves but by the Spirit of God who onely acteth and operateth in the creatures and by the creatures what he pleaseth To conclude of this spirituall Corner-stone or sacred Wisdome and Vertue of God as is said before the Scripture speaketh thus Christus implet omnia Christ filleth all things In ipso condita sunt universa in coelis in terra visibilia invisibâlia omnia in ipso per ipsum sunt creata Ipse est ante omnes omnia in ipso constant Ipse in omnibus primatum tenens nam in âpso omnis plenitudo divinitatis inhabitat In principio terram fundavit opera manuum ejus sunt coeli Nam ipse est verbum De aqua per aquam mediante hoc verbo coeâi eâant prius terra creata Denique est splenâor gâoriae figura substantiae Dei portans omnia verbo virtutis suae In Christ all things in heaven and earth are madâ as well visible as invisible By him and in him are all things created He is before all and aâl consist in him He holdeth the Principalâty in aâl things for in him all the pâenitâde of divinity dweâleth In the beginning he established the earth and the heavens were the works of his hands for he is the word But the heavens were made first and the earth of the wâters and by the waters by the activity of the Word To conclude this divine Spirit is the splendor of Gods glory and the figure of his sâbstance which beareth up and sustaâneth all thângs by the word of his vertue By which it appeareth that it is this Spirit of Wisdome which operateth woâketh guideth informeth viââteth maintaineth sustaineth feedeth and illuminateth all thingâ with life and being And again by his absence darkneth depâiveth and causeth death and âorruption to all things in this world as shall be delivered more at large in the sixt Chapter of the Book which followeth CHAP. V. Of Plenâtude and Vacuity and what true fulness and voidness or inanity is NOw that we have in few lines discussed and set down the nature both of the two constituting or compoâing Principles and also of the privative and decomposing nature It is necessary for us to know the property and sense of Pâenitude and Vacuiy according unto the true Wisdome or Christian Philosophy And first I will speak a word or two of that Vacuity or Emptiness which is so detestable and odious in the works which the Creator hath made As well the Fathers of the Philosophers as such as have been expert in Theology have termed it by the name of Nihil or Nothing Moses doth call it a deformed darkness or a dark abysse Hermes a fearfull or horrible shadow void of shape or form The Cabalists a potentiall being which is as yet nothing in act Plato maketh it a thing scarcely credible and therefore hardly to be imagined and likneth it to a mere dream which when a man is awake proveth nothing St. Augustin saith Cum aliquid informe concipâo prius nihil intelligo quam intelligebam quemadmodum nâhil videndo videntur tenebâae nihil audiendo auditur silentium When I conceive any deformed thing I do first understand nothing else then I understood before as when I behold nothing Darkness is seen when I heare nothing Sâlence is heard Whereby it appeareth that he compareth this Nothing unto darknesse and silence Job therefore saith Aquilonem Deus extendit super mane vacuum suspendit terram super Nihilum God did extend the North upon Inanity and Vacuity and he hanged the Earth upon Nothing And again elsewhere Revelat fundamentaâe tenebris educit in lucem umbram Lâthalem God revealeth the Foundations out of Darknesse and maketh the deadly shadow to appear into Light By all which he argueth that Vacuity Inanity Nothing and Darkness are one and the same thing to wit Vanity Inanity or Voidness because that all fulness and plenitude is from God in his actuall property But God did not as yet shine forth unto the world and therefore as the first deformed matter of the world was void and destitute of all inacting grace and formall goodness it was said to be Vain Empty and Darkness For this reason Moses said before the act of Creation Terra erat inanis vacua The earth was void and empty because it was not as yet indued with the beames of Light Life and Form Tenebrae fuerunt super faciem Abyssi Darkness was upon the face of the Abysse before the all-informing and creating Spirit of the Lord was caried on the waters but after the Spirits apparition it is said that God calleth that which appeared dry out of the water Earth and God saw that it was good and it produced the tender herbs and seeds of every kind c. Wherefore the Earth that was before the revelation of Gods Spirit inane and void is now become full of divine Light and multiplying Grace Whereupon it was no more void and empty that is to say destitute of essentiall being but became fertill and fruitfull being now replenished with divine fire and the incorruptible Spirit of God according unto that of Solomon Spiritus Disciplinae sanctus implet orbem terrarum The spirit of Wisdome filleth the Earth And again Incorruptibilis Spiritus inest omni rei The incorruptible Spirit of God is in every thing Per hanc lucem saith St. John mundus est factus By this light the world was made And the Apostle Christus implet omnia Christ filleth all things Whereby we may perceive that all plenitude is from the divine Act as contrariwise Vacuity is when that formall life is absent from the waters and this is the reason that Vacuum or Inane is held so horrible a thing in Nature Forasmuch as the utter absence of the eternall emanation is intolerable to the creature because that every thing desireth fervently to be informed and that by a naturall appetite and affection and therefore it is abominable unto each naturall thing to be utterly deprived of being For this reason it followeth that unless God had filled all things in this world with his Spirit Vacuity and empty deformity would have possessed the world but because he by his presence did
create all things of Nought through the illuminating presence of his ematating Spirit and by this his Spirituall Word he doth maintain and sustain them all Therefore it followeth that there is nothing in this world which is Inane in vain or void and empty This is maintained by this assertion of the Wiseman mentioned before Manus Omnipotentis saith he mundum ex informi materia creavit The hand of the Almighty created the world of a matter without form that is of an inane and void matter and consequently of Nothing or Nihil Forasmuch as it had no denomination being it is form that giveth the name and essence By this therefore it may appear how vain the Vacuum or Vacuity of the Peripatetick is in regard of that which by the true Wiseman is held Inane and Vacuum For they esteem their Vacuum to be a mere imaginary place in the aire not filled by any bodily existence no not by aire it self But although it be apt to receive some watery existence namely aire water or earth in it And so they dream of an imaginary Chimera which in verity is of it self absolute Nothing being that it is impossible that any place should be formed in the Universe which can be after that manner void and consequently not worth the dreaming after But our Vacuum and Inane is a potentiall matter or earth or Abysse without form namely that which is only in potentia ad actum In puissance to be reduced into Act by the presence of Divine Light It is no marvail though Aristotle did not think of this kind of Inanity and Plenitude being that in one place he saith Ex nihilo nihil fit Of nothing nothing is made and in another place he affirmeth Light to be an Accident and therefore it appeared not unto his sense that such an accident could take away Inanity or Vacuity and fill all things essentially by his presence But I will combate our Christian Peripateticks at their own weapons who hold it for a Maxim that accidentis esse sit inesse I will therefore assail them with this Syllogism If Light be an Accident then the existence of it is to adhere or to be in some Subject but the existence of true Light is to exist without any adhesion unto matter or Subject therefore it is no accident The Major is proved by Aristotle's own Axiom which is Accidentis esse est inesse aut adhaerere subjecto alicui The existence of an Accident is to be in or to adhere unto some materiall Subject or else it cannot be The Minor is maintained by the words of Moses Light was created the first day before any creature and therefore it had not any precedent actuall matter or Subject to be in or adhere unto Besides it is beyond imagination that God should create Accidents before any Essentiall or Substantiall creature Again God who is the Fountain of Light is said to be Light in whom is no darkness And again the word is defined in another place to be Light and the Spirit of Wisdome is said to be the bright splendor and shining forth of the Almighty And therefore it was most absurd in Aristotle yea and in some of his disciples as Damascen and others to conâlude that eternall light to be an accident which did emane from the essentiall fountain of light to vivifie and illuminate the whole water Wherefore it is evident that the true mystery of plenitude and vacuity was utterly unknown unto the sect of the Peripateticks because they were altogether ignorant of the true wisdom which did as the Apostle James saith descend from the Father of light and this doth evidently appear when he will have the essentiall light and formall act and splendor of all things to be an Accidentall quality CHAP. VI. How first the two essentiall but opposite active properties and afterward so many passive natures did spring and issue from the foresaid principles by the vertue whereof all mutations and alterations were and are effected in this sublunary world I Will in this place relate unto you the births and beginnings first of the two opposite active natures or essentiall vertues which proceed from the two radicall or main principles aforesaid and then I will expresse unto you the conditions of those two passive ones which are derived from the effects of those two mutuall actions You must know therefore that as the potentiall or dark principle is contrary and opposite in his essentiall property unto the actuall emanation of light beginning so also have each of them manifested or brought forth into this world two offsprings or essentiall properties which are oppugnant in condition and flat adversaries in their nature unto one another and these two active vertues are Cold and Heat Of the manner of production and the severall conditions of each I purpose to speak in this present Chapter and first touching the Cold. It is evident by that which is already said and shall be more amply expâessed in the first Book of my sympatheticall History that darknesse is the immediate effect of the divine Nolunty or latent Divinity and consequently of Gods privative property or the divine puissance and by consequence it is the mother of privation death vacuity inanity deformation and so forth For the property of the dark Nothing or deformed abysse is naturally to rest and not to act or operate and the reason is because that all its appetite is to be conversant in and about the center beyond the which there is no motion or action and not to dilate it self towards the circumference as the Spirit of light or God in his volunty or patent nature is accustomed to do For this reason the dark principle doth challenge unto it self by a naturall instinct rest and quietness and this property begetteth or produceth one essentiall vertue of its own condition namely Cold the which as it is elected for a champion to resist the assaults of her opposite namely of Heat whose companions are motion or action for the restless antagonist and provoker of Cold is Heat So unless it be roused or stirred up by the assaults of Heat it moveth not but seemeth to wait upon its drousie mother Darkness and privation whose children are fixation and rest which sleep in and cleave fast unto the center and therefore are unwilling to look forth towards the circumferenâe And in verity cold is an essentiall act pâoceeding from and attending on the divine puissance which in this property doth contract its beams from the circumference into its self according unto that of the Philosopher Hermes Monas generaâ monadem in se reflexit ardorem One begetteth one and reflected his beam or heat into it sâlf that is to say It would not shine forth but retained its activity centrally in it self and so did seem to rest in it self which was all one with that of the Cabalist Bahir Sapeutâacum esset in abysso tenebrarum retracta immanens
ociosaque ad nihil respiciens ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i. e. Nihil dicitur in quo statu Aleph tenebrosum dictitatur When the divine sapience was retracted in the abysse of darknesse resting still and quiet and respecting nothing it was esteemed as nothing and in that eâtate it was called dark Aleph In this contracted or rather sequestred or private estate therefore of the divine unity it operateth according unto this its negative pâoperty or condition by his essentiall agent Cold which is proved therefore not to be an accident as the vain doctrine of the Peripateticks would perswade us being it is apparent unto each wise-man that no accidentall qualities are in or can be from God being that the divine Nature is meerly a simple essentiall and formall purity existing in himself and of himself and therefore he being but one essence is able to produce out of himself what essentiall property he pleaseth And for this reason the divine wisdom is said to be spiritus unicus multiplex one simple spirit in essence but manifold in respect of his essentiall properties Now that this essentiall property or nature of Cold is the formall instrument or instrumentall vertue whereby God doth operate in his hidden and potentiall estate for the resistance of heat and action or motion and for the deformity and destroying of that which he in his patent nature did effect by his Heat or active property it is made evident by effect for what the spirit of wisdom in its patent nature did operate by its hot spirit or blast from the south or easterly winde namely in subtiliating and raâifying of the waters into thin aire making that which was gross subtle and making that which was opake and dark diaphan and invisible the self-same spirit again enduing his latent and cold property doth deform and undo For in blowing or breathing from the North the same thin and ratified aire is made thick dense and visible which was through raâifaction made invisible and that which by dissipating of parts was made transparent light and diaphan is now by the Northern properties contractive vertue reduced into an opake or dark substance and no way perspicuous That which was active movable and lively by an addition of heat is now become stupid still and deadly by the invasion of cold That which was light and of no sensible weight is framed into an heavy and ponderous body or consistence as we see when the aire by the northern blast is turned into snow hail ice frost c. Now that it is but one and the same spirit in essence which bloweth from the four winds the Prophet Ezekiel doth testifie when he said Veni spiritus à quatuor veniis insuffla interfectos istos Come O Spirit from the four winds and breathe upon these slain persons c. Whereby he argueth that it is but one spirit though it endueth at his pleasure a four-fold property And now to confirm all this which is said to be true do but mark the words of the royall Psalmist Jehovah emittit nives sicut lanam pruinam sicut cineres dispergit deâicit gelu tanquam frusta coram frigore ejus quis conâistat Emittens verbum liquefacit ista simul ac efflat ventum suum effluunt aquae God sendeth forth the snow as wooll and scattereth the frost like ashes casteth out the ice like as gobbits who is able to withstand his cold He sending forth his word liquefieth all these northern effects So soon as he bloweth or breatheth forth his wind the waters do flow again that is the snow frost and ice do melt and are turned into water Out of which words we may observe many notable things namely first that God in his hidden or latent property doth by his essentiall action of cold contract unto the center those things which were before dilated towards the circumference Secondly that the property of cold is attributed or ascribed unto God in his northern action and therefore it is said Who is able to resist his cold For which reason it is evident that it is an essentiall vertue in the divine puissance Thirdly That it must be the act of unity in his dark hidden and privative property both because it darkeneth things that are diaphan transparent and light and then because it depriveth of life and motion that which did act move and live through essentiall heat And lastly because it is an utter enemy unto the action of heat which at tendeth on the revealed emanating and vivifying divinity Fourthly that the effects of cold are undone by the act of the revealed nature of God which is the word for the Text saith He sendeth out his word and resolveth or melteth all these namely the snow frost and ice Fifthly that all this is effected by one and the same spirit in essence but of divers and opposite conditions to perform the will of the Father which sendeth it forth Again that the cold property of the winde is the essentiall depriving vertue or stupifying and contracting act of God it appeareth by this of Job Deus fortis edit glacâem flatu suo flante Deo concrescit gelu The strong God bringeth forth the ice by his breath God blowing the ice is ingendered I conclude therefore that cold is the essentiall act of the divine puissance or eternall sapience shrowding it self in its mantle of darkness and therefore doth manifest the divine volunty in that estate of his by the effects namely in that it draweth from the circumference unto the center and therefore is the occasion of congregating of things as well hetero-as homo-geniall and by consequence the onely essentiall agent or efficient cause of inspissation contraction constriction fixation immobility ponderosity rest obteneration or darkness of mortification privation stupefaction and such like In the contrary divine property namely in this spirit's patent manifest and positive nature or as he is termed light Aleph wherein he moveth or sendeth out his emanation from the center towards the circumference and revealing himself upon the dark face of the Abysse maketh the invisible non Ens or potentiall Nihil to appeare in Act being first animated by his bright presence in the form of waters He is said by the Wiseman to be omnibus mobilibus mobilior ubique penetrans seu attingens propter munditiam ejus The most agile and movable of all movable things piercing through all things by reason of his purity So that as the other privative or Northern property did produce rest and vacancy from operation by attraction or contraction from the circumference unto the center so in this his positive or Southern and Orient property by dilating himself or sending out his active beam brightness or emanation from the center towards the circumference he doth beget and procreate motion being accompanied by the essentiall Act of Heat or calidity which operateth continually upon the effects of cold in resisting dissolving and
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
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 mânisters to perform his will And again Qui facis angelos tuos ventos et ministros tuos ignem urentem Who makest thy angels winds or spirits for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 Pagnâne 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
of holy conversation the title of Sainct which is attributed unto him doth confirm and argue Besides all this that he had by many degrees a deeper insight into the mystery of the Bible and a profounder reach into the nature of the divine wisdom then any Interpretour of the Bible which ever was and much more then those of later daies John Reucline in his third Book of the Cabalistcall Art seemeth to verify in these words Cum Hieronymias librum Jetzira multum saepe nocturna versaret manu atque diurna venisse ad eum filia vocis dicitur qua juberet illum tribus annis volumini eidem insudare c. Quo facto se ab ipso Deo virtutes potestates Alphabetorum et Elementariarum commutationum asserebat reperisse Nam dispositionem conjugationis de libro creationis ante noverat Inde ad posteros Alphabeticaria haec cabula id est receptio transmigravit per quam Arcana divinorum maxima panduntur When Jerom had often turned over the Book of Jetzira or of the Creation with a nocturnall and diurnall hand It is reported that the daughter of the voice came unto him which commanded him to take paines in the said Volume for three years space which when he had effected he said that he was taught by God the vertues and powers of the Alphabets and Elementary commutations For he had known the disposition of the conjugation out of the book of Creation before And hereupon did this Alphabetary caball or reception spring by the which he did bewray or disclose the great mystery of divine things c. Which if he meant of this Jerom as by many of the learned it is imagined you will not deny but he was deeply seen in the profound and arcane meaning of the Scriptures and therefore he was a man who should not lightly be so deceived or deluded in his Interpretation Again no man can deny but that the Pope and whole Christian Clergy did assist him in this business with all the antique books or manuscripts which might direct him into the true way or sense of interpretation so that he wanted not the consent of antique Authority but could discern between the true and corrupt Text in his interpretation and therefore that we may neither accuse the later interpreters for their exposition nor derogate from St. Jerom's labours which deserve an everlasting monument we must rather impute the errour unto the corruption or alteration of the Hebrew Text being that the whole harmony of the Scriptures and main subject of the Psalm in which it is recited do tend and incline rather unto the construction of St. Jerom as I will particularly prove and expresse unto you by these Arguments following Whereof the first is taken from the main Subject of the Chapter wherein these words Posuit tabernaculum suum in sole are mentioned as also from other Testimonies of holy Scriptures Next from the mysticall and cabalisticall exposition of the Hebrew word of the Sun Then from the resolution of the ancient Theologians with other circumstances belonging unto them Fourthly from an Astonomicall observation and the dignity and excellency of the solar creature Fifthly from an Arithmeticall consideration Sixtly from the point and circle in Geometry Seventhly from the consonant of the greatest perfection in Musick or harmony Eighthly from a Physicall or naturall regard And lastly by the asseverations of the wisest and divinest Philosophers which accord exactly with the Symphony of Scriptures Of each of those therefore in their order As for the first Argument it is evident that the main Subject of this Psalm doth touch the revelation of Divinity or God in his celestiall creatures and therefore it must as well be in this Psalm intended that the divine Spirit doth plentifully and that essentially inhabit this illustrious palace of the heavenly Sun as there it is related that the heavens are full of his presence But the same Psalm beginneth thus The heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament the works of his hands c. Where he expresseth that the glory of the Creator which is in the creature doth reveal the Creator in the creature but where the glory is present the essence is not absent And thereupon it followeth justly that this Creator which hath filled the Sun of Heaven with his glory and beauteous influence of essentiall vertue and light hath revealed himself unto all the world out of his Sunny tabernacle egregiously and perspicuously as by the Physicall and naturall effects it shall be declared hereafter in the eighth rank Again the Son of Syrach confirms this more plainly where he saith Sol illuminans per omnia respexit gloria Domini plenum est opus ejus The Sun shining forth looketh over all and it is a work that is full of the glory of the Lord that is to say of essentiall Divinity not that it is included in it but that also it is exclusively in and over all no otherwise then the Spirit of mans blood is said to have his principall tabernacle in the Heart and yet is in all and every part of the Spirit and body Again it appeareth by these words that the Eternall Spirit of Wisdome did elect the celestiall Sun as a pure vessell or Subject to operate and act in for the vivification and animation of every creature And therefore she in her own person saith Ex ore Altissimi prodii primogenita in coelis feci ut oriretur lumen indeficiens I came out of the mouth of the Almighty being the first bâgotten I made or caused a never-fading light to rise in the heavens Whereby this catholick Agent doth shew that the Sun doth move in and by it The great Lord saith the text in another place made the Sun and by his Commandements he causeth it to run hastily c. As if he had said by the Divine Word the Sun did move But this will be better proved hereafter Touching the second which dependeth on the cabalisticall enucleation of the Hebrew word for the Latin word Sol or the Sun in English is written thus in Hebrew ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã where we have two ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Shins which the Cabalists do make the Symbolicall character of fire and light and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Mem in the middle which importeth a watry corpulency for Mem is the SYmbolicall expression of the waters as if we should say that the humid nature of the heavens being contracted in their center is illuminated with a double proportion of the divine emanation streaming down or flowing from the Sephiroth or Cabalisticall numeration called Tiphereth or pulchritude and beauty Whereby it is argued that this heavenly mass is made a Tabernacle for the Spirituall Sun or beauteous and divine Spirit of Light not that it includeth it as is said before but as the Scriptures say that the holy Spirit was in the carnall Christ abundantly and yet it was
a divine emanation which made 2. and had the self-same regard unto unity as the diapason or perfection hath unto an unison Now this bright emanation by the which all things were created and framed in true harmony elected in this world the perfect seat of its royall regard unto all creatures in the point of diapason which is ever in the middle of the unison and therefore in the center of the heavens But it appeareth unto the eyes that the Sun is ranked in the middle of the seven Planets and again it appeareth by the divine glory which shineth from it that it is a seat of divine perfection and therefore the Platonists have imagined that the Solar orbe or sphear is the seat of their anima mundi or soul of the world Now as this royall and most consonant Diapason doth comprehend in his capacity the other two inferior accords in Musick namely Diapente and Diatessaron for of these two united is the Diapason composed it is likely that the whole harmony of the heavens and consequently of the world are put in practise in this created organ the actor or player whereon is the eternall Spirit which soundeth out every minute from this his glorious Instrument straines of life vivification multiplication pacification or preservation unto the creatures for this is the office of the eternall Christ in this world I mean the divine Word in the which as the Evangelist John testifieth is life But of this in the next Eightly it is proved by a physicall or naturall regard For we observe and not we onely but the beasts themselves nay the very herbs and vegetable plants of the earth do feel and as it were confesse that the Sun is the chiefest treasury of vivification and multiplication in this world Whereupon it is apparent that when the Sun approacheth near us the herbs and trees which seemed as dead before do now revive put on their green coats and flourish with their blossoms and flowers But contrariwise when it departs on the other side of the Aequinoctiall they put off their flowers and green apparell and begin to mourn as it were for his departure But saith St. Paul Deus vivificat omnia God doth vivifie all things And therefore if the Sun by his presence bringeth unto the world the vertue of vivification it is apparent that it hath this gift from the Spirit of God which is the Spirit of life and being abundantly poured on it by God into this heavenly vessell it doth effect these vivifying acts in the world no otherwise than the same spirit being affluently infused on Christ Moses Elijah and other Saints upon earth did effect wonders upon the earth in healing reviving from death c. Doth not the sacred Text also aver that Sapientiam Deus effudit supra omnia opera sua secundum datum suum God hath poured out his spirit upon all his works more or lesse Why then should any man make any scruple or question touching the Spirit 's habitation in the Sun in abundance This therefore is the chiefe subject of this Psalme of David to expresse that the glory of God doth palpably appear out of the creatures of heaven yea out of every creature the eternall Spirit doth shine or expresse his glory more or lesse and is according to the gift which is given unto him to be discerned out of it And thereupon Job saith Coelos ornavit Deus Spiritu suo God hath adorned or beautified the heavens with his Spirit By which words it is manifest that it is the essentiall spirit of God which giveth by the abundance of his presence the lustre and glory unto the Sunne which for that reason is termed and that not erroneously by the Platonists who therein have imitated the divine Poet Orpheus Oculus mundi because that in and by it as in a certain clear and smooth looking glasse or mirrour all things are seen and discovered And again the philosopher Heraclitus Si solem è mundo sustuleris quid est nostrum Corpusculum sâ desit anima Nulla ibi contractatur vena pulsatilis sentiendum nullum inest judiciuns Nullus in eo vitalis halitus aut respiratio If thou takest away the Sonne out of the world what is our little body if the soul be wanting There is no beating veine or pulse to be discerned in it there is no judgment to be perceived in it there is neither breath nor respiration in it For this reason also it is termed Coâ caeli the heart of heaven because that as in the heart doth exist the lively fountaine of blood which doth water and humect the other members of the body So also it appeareth by effect that the vertue vegetation and conservation of all things both inferiour and superiour doth issue and spring from the Sun forasmuch as it imparteth and inspireth by his light life and heat unto inferiour things and bestoweth formall light unto the superiour Now this light is a certain simple act which converteth unto it self all things by a vivificall or lively heat which penetrateth all things and conducteth their vertues over all and withall disperseth and expelleth away all darknesse and obscurity Whereby it is apparent that if the life in generall be in the word as St. John saith and if this catholick spirit of life vivifieth all things as St. Paul and Judith affirm and if the spirit of wisdom be brighter than the sun and a simple and pure spirit which is more movable and active than all things and therefore operateth all in all and if it penetrateth all things by reason of his purity as Solomon saith and all these properties are found in the solar vertue What should disswade man from thinking that the Hebrew Text was not rightly understood of Jerom when he interpreted it Posuit tabernaculum suum in sole He put his tabernacle in the sun Verily this was necessary for man to understand being that unto this very hour there are but few that will acknowledge that the Spirit of God doth immediately operate and work in his organ the Sun and by the Sun but being rather seduced by the Ethnick learning they will admit many subalternate agents or efficient causes per se that is of themselves distinguished from the essentiall act of God which is the reason of Idolatry and worshipping of the creature for the Creator and neglect or ignorance of the Creator in the creature For although it be said by Solomon Quod solem praevenire oportet ad benedictionem Dei We ought to prevent the sun-rising to give thanks unto thee And again we read that when we pray we should conver our faces unto the east or rising sun Yet ought we to imagine that he teacheth this doctrine for the Creator's cause which dwelleth in that bright tabernacle and not for the tabernacle's or creature's sake For it was into this errour that the Aegyptians fell who adoring this illuminated creature in lieu of the Illuminator
did build a temple and city in the honour of the Sun Wherefore the chariot and horses of the sun which the ignorant Jewes had set up before thââ gate of Gods temple were justly puâled down which distinguished not the Creator from the creature This errour which to this hour cleaveth it self unto the Aristotelically learned of this world is delineated in its true characters by that Evangelist who did assure us that all life is in the Word This word or lighâ saith he is in the world and the world was made by it and the world did not know him But as many as did receive or acknowledge him namely that he made all and was all and in all were numbred among the children of God Wherefore all true Christians ought to understand that he filleth all vivifieth all sustaineth all operateth all in all for without it they cannot be esteemed the legitimate children of God they ought not to be so ignorant of the Creator in the creature being that his glory shineth forth of them and may be perceived by them more of lesse thinking that he is absent even from the most beautifull creature of the world who is present with all for it is said that he filleth all and that not virtually or accidentally as some worldly wisemen by their Ethnick distinction distorting by that means the truth of the Scripture will have it but in essence being in plain tearms it is said in one place Christ is in all and over all in him are all things But Christ which is the true wisdom is the vertuous or essentiall emanation from the Father and therefore no accident In another place The incorruptible Spirit of God is in all things but that Spirit which hath no corruption in it and preserveth from corruption and giveth really life is no accident but a perfect essence In another place Of him by him and in him are all things therefore this is meant essentially and not accidentally In another place God is all in all And again the Apostle Of God the Father are all things by our Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things All which cannot be meant otherwise than by Gods essence which is in and over all because that in himself he is onely essentiall and therefore no accidents can be attributed unto him and consequently we may conclude that Gods Spirit is essentially in the creatures and for that reason we ought simply to consider him and acknowledge him in his works For that person which professeth himself a Christian and doth not know this is but a Christian in name and consequently vain and miserable And this is partly confirmed by the words of St. Paul and partly out of those of Solomon before mentioned The anger of God saith St. Paul is revealed from heaven upon the impiety and iniustice of those men which do detaân the verity of God in unrighteousnesse because what is known of God is made mânifest unto them for God hath revealed it unto them For the invisible things of him are discerned of the creature of this world by those things which are understood by creation as also his everlasting vertue and divinity So that they are inexcusable because that when they knew God they did not glorifie him or give him thanks but did fade away or vanish in their own imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned and therefoâe in saying that they were wise they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the similitude of a corruptible man and of birds and of four-footed beasts and of serpents c. Whereby he argueth first that God ought to be pondered and known in his creatures and that we ought to acknowledg and ascribe all the glory and vertue of them unto his Spirit or divinity in them and not to mistake the Creator for the creature For he seemeth expresly to argue and signifie that his everlasting vertue and divinity is in the creatures and that it appeareth out of them For his words import that the invisible things of him are discerned by the things that are created as also his everlasting vertue and divinity And why not being that in the Word is and was from the beginning life or the vivifying Spirit but life is in the creatures Ergo the Word and by consequence the incorruptible Spirit But Solomon confirmeth the above mentioned place in this All men are vain by nature who are ignorant of God and cannot understand him that truly is by such good creatures of his which they behold nor acknowledg the workman by the consideration of his works Wherby he argueth that divinity in the creature may be perceived in and by the aspect of the creature Wherefore it is evident that the Prophet said rightly when he did affirm that the heavens did declare the Glory and Majesty of God by the beauteous apparition of that glorious Spirit which did inact them and adorn their beauteous Eie I mean the Sun with such divine vivifying and illuminating vertue which in aboundance doth possesse and inhabit it And therefore I conclude that the Prophet said rightly and instructingly unto the ignorant world that the bright Spirit of God did dwell in the Sun of heaven as in a Tabernacle and did impart and distribute his gifts of form life vegetation and multiplication unto every creature out of it And yet I will not acknowledg with Aristotle that Sol homo generant hominem That the Sun and man do begeââ man but rather that the vivifying Spirit which is potent in the Sun and not weak in every specifick creature is onely he that vivifieth all things sending his spiracle of natural Heat and life by an ordinary course out of the Sun to help and assist the creatures to live and multiply and yet he is not inclusively in the Sun but worketh also all in all as well within as without it being that it filleth all things And this is good doctrine which arrogateth all vivifying actions as well immediate as mediate soly unto him who wholly acteth and effecteth all things and consequently not unto the created organ in which and by which he operateth for in doing the contrary we shall derogate from the Creator to ascribe that which indeed is not unto the creature As for the later interpretation which saith Soli posuit tentorium in coelis He made the Sun a pavillion or tabernacle in the heavens What profit I beseech you can that doctrine bring unto man The first Interpretation teacheth man that the Spirit of God is in this bright creature of heaven and therefore teacheth us to adore the Lord and not the palace being that the ignorance of the divine Spirit 's being in the beauteous creatures hath been the occasion of infinite errours in the world And therefore it is an interpretation of especiall moment and instruction The Second is a thing so triviall that it needed no such curiosity of expression to signify that
gunpowders force raised in the aire to a certain height moving neither lower nor higher then the form all vigor affordeth it vertue and there remaineth untill the force of the corruptible and wasting fire be spent and then it falleth down againe But the Light of the star carrieth and raiseth up the spirituall body according unto the proportion of the mounting Light which soreth as high as its power and the ponderosity of the body will permit and so it hangeth perpetually at a certain distance from the center because the fire is of an eternall and incorruptible nature and will not fade as that artificiall fire of the squib doth Now as all the illuminating vigors and animating forces or flames that are imparted unto the universall waters was bestowed on them by that bâight catholick Spirit or emanation which was sent forth by God to be carried on the waters which as Scripture doth averre is brighter then the Sun or Starrs So there is none of all those Lights which are separated or divided in essence from that glorious and glittering Spirit whose beams were dispersed over all the waters in the abysse in giving of them life and being For this reason therefore because each Light had a diversity in proportion of formall brightness and measure of corpulency it is that one celestiall body doth vary in his manner of vertue motion and influence from another but because the extracted quintessence or purer materiall essence of all the Chaos with the purity of Light that issued from the creating Spirit were united into an Angelicall alterity both of those natures in the figure of one masse sored up out of the dark abysse into the heaven's center where they challenged the Royall Phoebaean Throne and that Sphaericall masse is to this hour termed the Sun of Heaven which as from the created Fountain of Light enflameth and formally enlightneth all the rest of the Starrs in the heavens above and the Element and elementated creatures below So that after the universall contracted Light was effected the fourth day of the Creation it was ordained to be that capitall Organ of life and vegetation in the starry world which did send and showre down his influences and fiery spiracles of life conservation vegetation and multiplication upon the sublunary earth and waters Thus therefore in few words you have the reason of that Condensation and Rarefaction whereby both the invisible heavenly Substance and visible celestiall bodies were made And it seemeth not to disagree from the opinions of the learned Theologians Basil and Damascene touching the causes of the divine Spirit 's action in Condensation and Rarefaction before the apparition of the Sun in the heavens Forasmuch as they will have the daie's Rarefaction or cleare heaven to be occasioned by an emission of Light ordained by the divine will or act of this Omnipotent Spirit But they think that the night's Condensation and the opake or condensed bodie in the heavens are effected by a contraction of Light which was also caused by the sacred Spirit 's volunty Thus therefore we see out of the confession of certain of the prime Fathers of the Church what was the cause of the cold condensing Night and the hot rarifying Day before the Spirit was congregated into the Tabernacle or quintessentiall substance of the Sun which was extracted by the Spageâick or separative action of the divine Spirit out of the huge deformed waters of the abysse And therefore this also must be the reason of Condensation and Rarefaction unto this day For as the Spirit in the Sun being far from us and as it were contracting his beames in regard of us unto himself or absenting himself from our Hemisphere so that the cold waters do incline unto the nature of their mother Chaos by reason whereof the night and darkness are long and the light and day but short and faint in heat So also in that season the common sublunary Element is subject to Condensation and Incrâssation and therefore is constrained or contracted into the consistence of Frosts Snows Hail Ice and Cold showers c. Again when it is neare unto us it dilateth it self and by his heat and presence the cold waters become hot and the daies are augmented and fortified or made strong in heat and then the common sublunary Element is apt for dilatation and subtiliation being easy to be inflamed and set on fire with Lightnings coruscations and such like But I leave the history of the Condensation and Subtiliation of the aethereall Spirit to descend unto the like acts or conditions in the sublunary Element CHAP. V. How the lower waters or catholick sublunary element were distinguished ordered and shaped out into sundry distinct sphears which are called particular Elements and that by the foresaid all-working Spirit or dâvine Word SInce that it is most certainly proved already that the universall substance of the world's machin was made but of one onely thing namely of a matter that was produced out of the potentiall bowells of the dark chaos or abyss by the spagerick vertue of the divine Word the which matter Moses tearmed Waters and Hermes the humid nature of the which in generall as both Moses and St. Peter aver the heavens and the earth were made of old it must needs follow that out of this catholick masse of waters the universall sublunary element was derived which is commonly termed by the name of Aer as all that humid substance in the celestiall orbe is called Aether Now this generall element is by the breath of the divine Spirit Râach Elohim altered and changed from one shape unto another for that which is the visible waters was made first of the aire which is an invisible water as again the visible water by condensation is made earth And this is proved first by the words of St. Paul who saith Per fidem agnovimus quod semper ita actum sit cum mundo per Verbum ut ex iis quae videri non poterant fierent ea quae possunt videri We know by faith that it hath been ever acted with the world by the word that those things which can be seen were effected or made of those things which could not be seen And again Solomon saith that the world was made of a matter that was not seen But besides these proofs we are taught by chymicall experience that earth is nothing else but coagulated water nor visible water any thing else but invisible air reduced by condensation to a visibility nor fire any thing else but ratified aire And in conclusion all the sublunary waters were in the beginning but an invisible humid or watry spirit which we call by a common name Aire and consequently the catholick sublunary element was in its originall nothing else but one aire being that heaven was made before the seas or the earth as Moses teacheth us And therefore by faith we must believe according unto St. Paul's doctrine that all
iis mala muâââ angustiae God for saketh the wicked and hideth his face from such as are impious thaâ evill and necessiây may encumber them But the speciall causes of life death and resurrection are expressed in these words of the Prophet David before mentioned O Lord how glorious are thy works in wisdom thou hast made them all the earth is full of thy riches so is the wide sea and innumerable creeping things therein Thou givâst unto them and they gather it thou openest thine hand and they are filled with good things but if thou hide thy face they are troubled if thou takest away their breath they die and return unto dust Again if thou sendest out thy Spirit they are re-created and revive and thou renewest the face of the earth c. Psa. 104.20 Lo here the essentiall reason and centrall manner of Generation and Corruption is exactly described and set forth by the Psalmise namely that by the presence and benigne action of the incorruptible Spirit of the Lord life is continued and contrariwise by the absence or departing or by taking of it away from the creature it dieth and corrupteth for so long as the incorruptible Spirit of the Lord acteth and worketh in the creature it is not possible it should die or corrupt but when it departeth death and corruption must needs follow also when it abideth in the body but resteth from his action or as it were withdraweth his active beams from the circumference unto the center which the Prophet tearmeth The hiding of God's face then is the creature troubled which is as much to say as it is sick but if it be totally taken away then the creature is forced for want of it to expire and die To conclude if it return and shineth forth again unto the creature then it reviveth again as it did unto Lazarâs and unto the Widow's child which the Prophet raised Whereby it is apparent how death is nothing else but the absence of the essentiall form and consequently it is made evident that the vivificating form is immediately from God and not that imaginary one which the Peripateticks have groped after and I prove it evidently out of these places though the precedent Text doth expresse it plainly enough Non permanebit saith the Lord Spiritus meus in homine in aeternum quia caro est eruntque Dies ejus centum viginti annorum My Spirit shall not remain perpetually in man because he is flesh and his daies shall be a hundred years and twenty Whereby is argued that it is the Spirit of God which maketh man to live and that by the absence thereof death must needs ensue But because the curious will scarce approve of this translation of Jerom saying that the nature of the Hebrew Text is otherwise taken I will maintain and confirm it by the like and of the same condition in Job Si Deus apponens ad hominem animam suam Spiritum aut flatum ejus ad se reciperet vel traheret deficeret expiraret omnis care simul homo in cinerem râverteretur If God setting his minde upon man should receive or draw unto himself his spirit or breath of lifâ all flesh would fail and die and man also together with him would return unto ashes So that we see it is the Spirit of God which giveth life not onely unto man but also to every other creature And that it is meant by the reall vivifying Spirit of God which giveth life unto man expresly we have it confirmed thus by Job in another place Spiritus Dei saith Job fecit me inspiratio Omnipotentis vivificavit me The Spirit of God made me and the inspiration of the Almighty hath vivified me or given me life And therefore it followeth that if the presence of this Spirit doth cause generation life and preservation of necessity the absence of it must cause corruption death and destruction for when the Spirit of the Lord is removed from the bodily masse of the creature it leaveth it deformed and as it were another chaos or terra inanis vacua being that it is destitute of the Spirit of life which did make it to act and exist in its specifick nature And forasmuch as this incorruptible Spirit doth preserve the corporeall masse from corruption by his incorruptible vertue and power it followeth therefore that when the Spirit is departed or absolutely contracted in it self without any externall act the masse must of necessity forthwith die and return unto a privative nothing Now the difference between the resurrection from death or rather deadly sleep unto a temporall life for the words of Christ were touching Lazarus that he was not dead but slept and that which is an eternall life is this for as there is nothing that hindereth death more than the presence of the incorruptible Spirit so also is there nothing which hindereth the perpetuity of living more then a corruptible body or a body subject unto death or corruption and therefore that body must die that it may put off corruption and endue incorruption namely by purification and separation of the corruptible additaments which is effected by a loosning of the tie of the alterable elements and a freeing of the spirituall part of the corporall composition from its long captivity that it may become pure and clean which being done then by the union of the incorruptible Spirit with it all will be made spirituall so that according unto the doctrine of St. Paul That which is sowed will not be quickened except it die And that which thou sowest is not the body that shall be but God giveth it a body at his pleasure And therefore as the body is sown in corruption so it riseth in incorruption as it is sown a naturall or elementary body so it is raised a heavenly and spirituall body So that the body must die that it may put off corruption that is the corruptible portion of the impure element that it being made spirituall may abide with the Spirit of life for evermore For this reason he affirmeth that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God because in their elementary nature they are subject unto corruption and therefore cannot inherit the land of incorruption but it is the pure spirit of the blood and flesh which rise after they have deposed their grosse tabernacle unto incorruption being animated by the incorruptible Spirit of the Lord which onely causeth a temporall life in the naturall or compacted elementary masse and an eternall one unto the spirituall and refined body which is contrary in condition unto the naturall body as the Apostle doth justifie for by purification it is changed from an elementary body unto a heavenly and spirituall one Do we not see after the same example how the very grain of wheat is so exalted in vertue after it hath endured corruption and hath been freed from the grosse elementary tie that it
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 shaâl 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
nostrills the waters were gathered together thou dâdst blow with thy winde and the sea covered them And Job Glaciem edit Deus vento suo flante Deo concrescit gelu God doth bring forth the ice with his breath when he doth blow the frost and ice ice is ingendered Deus facit pondus vento God giveth proportion unto the aire or winde And the Prophet David Qui facit angelos ventos minâstros suos ignem urenâem Who maketh his angels winds and his ministers flames of fire And hereupon such learned personages and Doctors as are profoundly seen and dived into the mysteries of the true nature do averre that the externall of the Angels is aire or the subtle humid nature of the world and that their internall or formall portion is a hidden divine fire And for this cause St. Denis doth tearm the Angels Algamatha that is to say clear Mirrours or looking-Glasses which do receive the splendour or light of God and do represent his image And therefore the Prophet in the place above mentioned doth describe both the hidden and invisible winde and that which is fiery and doth manifestly appear in the form of lightning to be an angelicall spirit animated by the divine fire or bright emanation from God All which being rightly considered we must either confesse that the Spirit of the nostrills or mouth of IEHOVA is a hot and dry exhalation subject unto preternaturall passions and arising out of the earth which would appear too profanely uttered out of a Christian's mouth or that this member of the Peripateticall definition is most false and erroneous But this shall be discovered more plainly in my enquiry and laying open of the other members The second member of this definition doth intimate unto us that the place wherein that exhalation which is the materiall cause of the winde is ingendred and from the which it is derived is the earth but the place or seat unto the which it tendeth saith it is the middle region of the aire and the medium and space in which that moveth as well upward and downward as laterally is the lower region of the aire In the which assertion of this Ethnick Philosopher I will make plain and prove evidently that there will be found divers grosse errours and palpable absurdities But that we may the better effect our enquiry and hunt after the truth of the businesse that is to say for the exacter examinations cause it will be necessary for us to divide this member or clause into three parts in the first whereof we ought seriously to consider whether the matter of the winds be extracted out of the earth or no. In the second if that substance do onely soar up and make his way unto the concave superficies of the middle region of the aire onely In the third whether the place in which the wind moveth be onely the lower region of the aire To the former question or doubt we say That either the sacred Bible which is the fountain of truth is false or this particle of the second member must be most erroneous for saith St. John Spiritus ubi vult spirat vocem ejus audis sed nescis unde veniat aut quò vadat The wind or spirit bloweth where it will and thou hearest his voice but thou knowest not from whence it commeth or whither it goeth Which being rightly pondered by wise-men they must conclude that either Aristotle saw further into the mysteries of God and nature than the Evangelist who was a true and sincere Christian Philosopher and Theosopher and then St. John must be proved a lyar in his doctrine which were a great impiety in any Christian to imagine or else the assertion of Aristotle must clearly be found false and in all things contradictory unto the truth Aristotle saith that the matter of the winde doth move from the earth and ascendeth into the middle region of the aire and from thence is repelled downward But St. John saith that the winde moveth not constrainedly that is to say by coaction nor any accidentall compulsion but voluntarily and according unto its own pleasure and appetite for his words are Spiritus spirat ubi vult It bloweth where it will and that although the voice and noise of it be familiar unto the ears yet neverthelesse it is not known from whence it commeth or whither it will This doctrine of the Evangelist which so mainly differeth from that of Aristotle is maintained out of divers places of holy Writ for the royall Psalmist with the Prophet Jeremy saith Depromit ventos è the sauris suis He draweth forth the winds out of his treasuries But the Scriptures prove that the earth is not the seat or place of Gods treasure where it speaketh thus Aperiet tibi IEHOVAH thesaurum suum optimum coelos dando pluviam terrae suo tempore IEHOVA will open unto thee his best treasure the heavens giving rain unto the earth in his due time He doth not say the earth but the heavens so that between these two there is a great difference as between night and day Wherefore it is evident that the heaven or catholick element of air is the secret cabinet of these meteorologica Dei magnalia or meteorologick wonders Hereupon it is said in another place Januas coelorum aperuit pluens Manna c. He opened the gates of heaven raining down Manna Again it is so hard a thing for a mortall man that is not illuminated with the spirit of wisdom to find out or discover this arcane treasury of God that JEHOVAH himself speaketh unto Job though he were a just man and one that feated God much more he pointeth at the wise-man or Philosopher of this world who never was acquainted with the divine Word in this manner Pervenisti nè in the sauros nivis et in the sauros grandinis inspectionem habes Camest thou ever into the treasury of the snow or hast thou any insight into the treasury of the hail Arguing that without his Spirit had shewed or revealed his treasury it was impossible to know it And for this cause Solomon saith Corpus infectum corruptione aggravat animam vix conjicimus ea quae in terra sunt quae autem in coelis sunt quis investigavit nisi tu dederis sapientiam The body which is subject unto corruption doth aggravate and depress the soul and we scarcely conjecture or guesse at those things which are upon the earth Who hath found out or discovered the things which are in heaven unlesse thou give and bestow upon him wisdom Now Soâomon confesseth that he knew the force of the elements and power of the winds and consequently of their reall originall or beginning for Sapientia saith he omnium artifex me docuit Wisdom the worker of all things taught him Now Aristotles false Philosophy and his Ethnick and worldly wisdom sheweth that he never attained unto the wisdom which
endued with a various and divers condition or property insomuch as the one is hot and moist the other cold and dry the third hot and dry and the last cold and moist It were impossible that this difference and variety should happen if all winds were framed and fashioned onely after one fashion that is if they did move laterally by compulsion as Aristotle telleth the tale I come now unto the last clause or member of the Peripateticall definition which doth touch the finall end or reason of the production or creation of the winds His opinion is that his nature doth produce this manner of ventilation for the purging and purifying of the aire and for the preservation thereof But we are taught by experience that this is not true being that we with Galen and Hippocrates do discern that the southerly winds are contagious and pestiferous forasmuch as they render the aire thick and make it putrid and rotten by their malignant heat and lax humidity And this also we have confirmed by the sacred Text Ne timeto saith David à lue seu daemonio vast ante in meridie Fear not the pestilence oâ corrupt daemon which commeth from the south And Habacuck Deo à meridio veniente praecessit vel ante-ivit eum pestis antrax ad pedes ipsius God comming from the south the pestilence went before him and at his feet went the boch or carbuncle Yea verily and all winds in a generality as also the other meteors of heaven are ordained by the Creator as well for a whip and scourge as to assist preserve and save the creature as by many places of Scripture we are certified and Job in expresse tearms hath taught us And therefore Aristotle hath erred in his judgment concerning the finall cause of the winds as well as in the rest We may justly hereupon conclude that this definition of our pagan Peripatetick whom we Christians do adore and follow with such devotion and reverence is altogether false and of no validity because the winds are creatures of a nature more essentially eminent and divine than either Aristotle or any of his factious sect did ever understand forasmuch as they are not things without internall lights and essences and do not consist onely of externall and adventitious motions that is to say are not made of fumes or exhalations arising by accident or chance out of the earth But as Zacharias doth teach us they are created and animated by an angelicall spirit and stand before the Lord of all the earth and are hid in the power or treasury of their Lord out of the which he calleth them at his pleasure to do and accomplish his will and pleasure upon the earth and upon the seas either ad vinâictam seu punitionem to revenge and punish or else ad misericordiam benignitatem creaturis praebendam to shew unto the creatures his mercy and benignity CHAP. III. The true and essentiall definition of the wind is divers waies and that according unto the sense and assertion of the holy Scrâptures expressed in this Chapter NOw me-thinks I hear some of the Peripateticall faction to murmur against me and reply If this definition of Aristotle be not good as by your proof it appeareth assigne us a better if you can Tell us therefore essentially what is the winde or how you define or describe it rightly by the warrant of holy Writ To this I answer that it may be effected many waies under one and the self-same essence And first of all we may describe it and that not impertinently after this manner The winde is an airy spirit of a mean consistence inspired and animated by the breath or inspiration of JEHOVA the which he draweth forth of his treasury to execute his will and pleasure either by the way of malediction and vengeance or of benediction and misericord Every particle of this definition is proved out of convenient places of holy Scriptures and first that his externall is aire of a mean consistence it is made manifest in that the words aire winde and spirit are expressed in many places of Scriptures by all one Hebrew word namely by Ruach Again that his internall or moving soul and centrall act is the divine Spirit or inspiration it is proved and confirmed by the places which are cited before A flatu narium tuarum saith Moses coacervatae sunt aquae flavisti vento tuo operuit eos mare By the breath of thy nostrills the waters were gathered in a heap thou didst blow with thy wind and the sea did cover them And again Glaciem Deus fortis edit flatu suo The mighty God bringeth forth ice with his breath c. as if they had said God inspired the aire with his Spirit So that there appeareth no difference between an angelicall creature and the aire so divinely inspired for the aire is said to be the externall or manifest of an Angell as well good as bad animated by God for the effecting of his will either to punish or to extend and shew forth his benigne mercy or clemency as his internall and occult portion is the immediate breath of God and therefore as I said before they are by St. Denis tearmed Algamatha that is to say clear mirrours or looking-glasses which receive the light of God Is it not in plain words expressed by David Quod angelos suos fecerit ventos that he made his angels winds where by his angels is meant the emissions from his throne and they being incorporated with the aire are tearmed angelicall natures Again JEHOVA said of the Angel that went before the Israelites to conduct them in the wildernesse Nolite exacerbare eum nam non feret defectiones vestras quoniam nomân meum est in eo Do not anger him for he will not bear your errours because that my name is in him that is to say The bright impression of my word For the son of Syrach said that wisdom went before them in a pillar of cloud and was a light unto them in the night and a shadow or cloud in the day to keep them from the extream heat For this reason therefore the same Angell is called in many places of that book sometimes Jehovah in regard of his inward and increated essentiall act and sometimes Angelus in regard of his alterity or composition of two or as he was a creature and therefore as God is identity namely an absolute simple pure and increated essence so an Angell is by the wiser Rabbies tearmed Alteritas to wit as he is compacted of the uniform inspiration of God and the humid or aery nature of the world that is of a created spirit or a created aire which made the Psalmist say that which is above cited Qui facit angelos ventos ministros suos ignem urentem For in this saying he seemeth to include both the occult and manifest nature As concerning the next clause of this definition
clouds be onely Superficially moved by externall winds and the heat of the Sun as Aristotle's imagination is and not by any centrall agent which ruleth it as it pleaseth and at whose Command the winds themselves are obedient Verily I answer that contrary unto the intention of the Peripateticks the clowds have their inward agenâ the which calleth the winds to effect his will and push and move forward hiâ clowdy vehicle or Chariot when where and which way he pleaseth For as this Agent is catholick so is he not absent from the Spirit of the winds though centrally present in the cloud For he being present with and in the spirit of the winds doth in and by the Angelicall Spirits of the winds operate centrally in the aire and by the contracting act in himself gathering the aire together into a clowd which he maketh his vehicle or Chariot Therefore it is said in one place Nubibus densis obtegit Deus coelos quae comparent terrae pluviam qui facit ut proferant montes foenum dent jumentis cibum God filleth the heavens with clowds that they might bring forth rain unto the earth that thereby hay or grass may spring forth for the nourishment of Cattle Out of which speech we may gather First that God by his windy Ministers doth condense and shape out the aire into clowds For the stormy winds are said to effect the Will and Word of God Then that this was no miraculous work but a common work in nature being that it is daily effected to produce grass herbs and plants for the sustenance of living creatures And Job Densae nubes tugurium ejus The thick clowds are his dwelling place And David Nubem expandit Deus pro tegumento God spreadeth abroad the clowd for a covering And Moses Descendit Dominus in nube loquutus est ad eum The Lord descended in a clowd and spake unto him But all this which is said touching this point is notably expressed in these words of Samuel Inclinavit IEHOVA coelos descendit caligo sub pedibus ejus ascendit super Cherubin volavit lapsus est super pennes venti Posuit tenebras in circuitu suo laâibulum cribrans aquas de nubibus coelorum prae fulgore in conspectu ejus nubes accensae sunt IEHOVA did bow down or incline the heavens and ascended and darknesse was under his feet and he ascended upon a Cherubin and did fly and glide upon the wings of the wind He made darknesse his hiding place sifting out waters from the clowds of heaven and the clowds are set on fire at the sight of him c. In which relation of holy Writ what I have spoken before is notably set forth For first it is said that God ascended or mounted on the Cherubin which is an airy Angell then that he did glide upon the wings of the wind arguing thereby that the aire being animated by the Angelicall Spirit was made a wind in the which the Word or Spirit of God did move and then after this he in and by the wind did shape out his dark Tabernacle For it is said He made darkness his hiding place that is he made the dark clowds his Chariot For David hath it thus Nubes densae vehiculum seu currus Dei qui itat super alas venti The thick clowds are a vehicle or Chariot of God who rideth or walketh upon the wings of the winds In another place it is called Mons Dei coagulatus in quo bene placitum est Deo inhabitare The condensed curdled or coagulated Mountain of God in which it is pleasing unto him to dwel So that it is evident that the Spirit of God moveth the Angelicall Spirit the Angelicall Spirit exciteth and informeth the aire with a windy nature Forasmuch as by his moving in it the aire is made a windy spirit and therefore the Prophet said Qui facis Angelos ventos then that animated aire by opposit Angelicall Spirits incited by one and the same Divinity doth reduce the common aire into clowds which are the Chariots of him who essentially doth act and operate all these things by divers Organs one within another which vary in dignity from one another For by how much the more internall a thing is the more worthy and noble or veruous it is esteemed because they approach nearest unto that essence in Divinity which acteth and operateth centrally all in all That God doth move in the Thunders speaketh out of the whirl-wind and clowds and is at his pleasure a consuming fire and that he operateth centrally in the winds clowds Snow and Tempests and that all these are effected by his Spirit of Wisdome the Scriptures do here and there in most places express And therefore it is vainly said that the clowds only move by the Sun-beams or the externall pushing winds caused of so vain impossible Principles as Aristotle telleth us when it is the Tabernacle in which that Eternall Spirit is pleased to abide or a Chariot in which he is delighted to ride whose horses as Zachary saith are the winds or rather the Cherubinicall Spirits which he doth animate So that the volunty or centrall principle of the motion is in the clowd but the Angells and winds are the Ministers or organicall Agents which move according unto the willer wherefore though we proved before that the aire was thickned into clowds and that the following wind did drive them before it yet the willer and commander of this Generation of clowds by the winds was the onely and essentiall internall principle or centrall mover in the clowds which by his will made his Ministers to move him where or to what purpose he pleased And therefore Solomon Sapientia ejus abyssi ruperunt sese coeli distillant rorem By his Wisdome the abysse brake forth and did rain down the dew And Flante Deo concrescit gelu God blowing the Ice is gathered together Again Sapientia aptat pondus aeâi appendit aquas in mensura Wisdome doth proportion the weight of the aire and hangeth the waters in measure c. We may therefore boldy conclude against both Aristotle and all other doctrine of the Ethnicks that neither the earth nor the water are the immediate fountains of the clowds but the heavens or aire which is the Treasure-house of God neither is it the cold of the middle region of the aire which condenseth any imaginary surging or ascending vapours arising from beneath but that centrall animating Spirit born or gliding on the wings of the wind residing but not inclusively in the cloud who according unto his pleasure by the means of his organicall Ministers the Angelicall winds fashioneth forth the clouds to serve as a cover or tabernacle unto it And therefore the cloud acteth not by the heat of the Sun but by the Divine Light that is centrally in it which as an Emperour sitteth upon the Cherubins which are airy
suae God doth weary the thick clowds and disperseth abroad the light of his clowds for the watering of the earth Whereby it appeareth that God doth ordinarily gather together the clowds and maketh them his organicall instruments to utter his voice unto mortall men for the prospering of the annuall fruits upon the earth And therefore thus in another place Si consideraret homo extensiones densarum nubium fragores in tugurio illius exteâdât super illud lucem suam cum his judicaturus est populum daturus cibum abunde Also in another place all this is more plainly expressed where it is said Vide arcum benedic eum qui fecit illum valde specio sus est in splendore suo gyravit coelum in circuiâu gloriae ejus manus Excelsi aptaverunt illum imperio suo accelerat nivem accelerat coruscationes emittere judicii sui Propterea aperti sunt thesauri evolarunt nebulae sicut aves in magnitudine sua posuit nubes confracti sunt lapides grandinis in conspectu ejus movebantur montes in voluntate sua spiravit Notus Vox tonitruum ejus reverberavit terram tempestas Aquilonis congregatio spiritus aspergit nivem c. Behold the rainbow and blesse him that made it it is wondrous beautifull in his brightnesse it did compasse the heaven in the circle of his glory the hands of him that is on high made it By his command he hastens the snow and maketh speed to send foâth the lightnings of his judgment Therefore are the treasurâes opened and the clowds fly forth like birds He placed the clowds in his greatnesse and the stones of the hail are broken In his sight the mountains did move and according to his will the south-winde hath blown and the voice of his thunder have reverberated the earth The tempest of the north and the congregation of spirits doth spread abroad or besprinkle the snow c. In this speech of the son of Syrach the Lord of lords is proved to be the sole essentiall and efficient cause of all meteors namely of the rainbow the snow the lightnings the clowds the hail the thunder the winds and tempests as also it sheweth that the matter of them is the aire Wherefore he saith in the conclusion The congregation of spirit doth spread abroad the snow Lastly it telleth us that the hands or Spirit of God are not idle in the effecting of such works as Aristotle termeth natural and therefore operateth not only primarily but also secundarily yea and catholically in and over all things as well in their generation as preservation and corruption To the last clause of his definition wherein he seemeth to aver that the lightnings move downward because the stuff of it is of a terrestriall compacted nature I answer that this reason is over weak considering the Gigantean author that alledged it for it may in the self-same manner be inferred that the Gun-powder which is of a far grosser stuff then is that of the lightnings must therefore strike downwards and yet we see by experience it riseth in spight of a mean resistance by its naturall inclination upward as we may perceive by places that are undermined and squibs which are violently carried upward I come therefore unto such true definitions of lightning and thunder as are maintained and allowed by the Book of Verity CHAP. XII How the lightning and the thunder oughtrightly to be described by the true Philosopher and that seriously according unto the tenour of holy Writ SInce therefore it hath been made manifest in the precedent Chapter that Aristotle hath utterly erred in his conceit touching as well the materiall as essentiall and formall cause of the lightnings let me gather as near as my weak capacity will give me leave what should be the true nature and originall essentiall cause of the lightnings according unto the harmonicall consent of holy Scriptures Lightning is a certain fiery aire or spirit animated by the brightness of JEHOVA and extracted out of his treasury which is the heavens or catholick aire to do and execute his will for the good or detriment of the creature Or else in this manner Lightning is a shining brightnesse proceeding out of the clowds being the pavilion of JEHOVA and is sent from the throne of God even down unto the earth covering the surface of the seas But if we would describe the lightning with all his accidents and consequently expresse the whole essence of the thunder which is a mixed nature we may effect it thus out of the testimony of the holy Bible Lightning is a fire burning from the face or presence of JEHOVA at the sight or contact of whose brightnesse the clowds do pass away and the Almighty doth thunder and utter his voice from heaven and sendeth forth his arrowes for the destruction of the wicked Or thus Lightning is a fire proceeding from JEHOVA being sent out of his dark tabernacle from above at the sight whereof the waters or clowds as being terrified and the abysse as it were troubled do haste away in which turmoil the voice of his thunder moveth circularly and the fiery or kindled coals are sent forth as arrowes sent out from a well bent bow to effect his will as well for benediction as for vengeance both in heaven and earth Or in this sort Lightning or coruscation is a clear and pure light in the clowds above the which the winde that passeth by doth purifie c. By the first of these descriptions the manifest materiall cause of the lightning is expressed to be a fiery aire the place out of which it is drawn is the treasure-house of God or the heavens Also the formall cause is expressed in that it is set down to be a fiery spirit or aire the efficient cause I said according unto the truths testimony to be the will or word of God on which dependeth that spirit of wisdom by which God operateth all things Lastly the finall cause is also noted forasmuch as it is said That it was created to do the will of him that ordained it either for the pain or pleasure of mortall men All which is evidently confirmed out of the places of Scripture mentioned before The second definition is confirmed out of the Revelation which saith Fulgura procedunt à throno Lightnings proceed from the throne Again he is said Fulgurare lumine suo desuper cardânâsque maâis operire To lighten with his brightness from above and to cover with it the corners of the Sea And again prae fulgore in conspectu ejus nubes transierunt The clowds did move by reason of the Lightning and brightness which was in his sight or presence And again ignis ab ore ejus evolavit Fire flew out of his mouth And again Ab ore ejus velut taedae praeeuntes quasi halitus ejus carbones accenderent flamma âx ore ejus prodicret From
Lightnings into rain and bringeth the wind out of his Treasury Or in this manner Thunder is the multitude of the sound of waters or the voice of the clowds being effected by the coruscations and Lightnings of the Almighty Or thus Thunder is a sound of the multitude of waters being troubled fearing and bâaying at the bright aspect or presence of JEHOVA In which description the materiall Organ of the voice is the clowds or waters being as it were afraid and troubled at the emission of the Lightnings whereupon they give a loud voice or sound by reason of that penetrative power which the bright and shining or fiery presence of JEHOVAH who is the worker of wonders doth effect Whereupon the royall David as is said prae fulgore in conspectu ejus nubes transierunt grando carbones ignis intonuit de coelo Dominus At the brightnesse of his presence the clowds did move or pass their way hail and coales of fire the Lord did thunder from heaven And again Viderunt te aquae Deus timuârunt turbatae sunt abyssi multitudo sonitus aquarum vocem dedeâunt nubes vix tonitrui tui in rota The waters have seen thee O God and were afraid and the abysse was troubled a multitude of the sound of the waters the clouds ecchoed forth a voice the noise of the thunders wheeled about c. Also the formall cause is explicated in that it was made by a great noise and Lightnings The efficient cause seemeth to be the Lightnings from God or rather the fiery aspect of God animating the Lightnings and directing them unto a determinated mark So that it appeareth that the Lightnings are as it were the Instruments of God in his Wrath no otherwise then a sword is the instrument of the man that striketh when we say that it is this or that man which did strike and not the sword And for this cause I say with the Apostle that as it is onely God who is the sole Actour in things So also is he the Father of the Thunders who sendeth out his Lightnings as arrows from his throne Lastly I say that the finall cause expressed in them is to accomplish the divine will of the Creator To conclude it may be defined thus Thunder is the voice speech or eloquence of the Almighty or a sound going out of the mouth of JEHOVA which is directed under the whole heavens with light dispersed over the face of the earth after the which there followeth a loud noise or rumbling or God thundereth with the voice of his excellency the which when it is heard is not found Audite saith Job cum tremore vocem seu loquelam vel eloq âum abore ejus egrediens quod sub âoto-coelo dirigit lucem super terminos vel oraâ terrae Post eum rugit sonitus tonat voce excellentiae suae non investigatur cum audita fuerit vox ejus Hear with trembling he directeth the voice speech or eloquence proceeding from his mouth under the whole heavens and his light over the ends of the earth After him roareth a sound he thundereth with the voice of his excellency the which when it is heard is not found To conclude it is most apparent by this which is already said that the opinion of the Peripateticks as well Christian as Ethnick is most inconsiderate and erroneous in averring that the lightnings are hot and dry exhalations extracted out of the earth and elevated on high even unto the middle region of the aire by the attractive vertue of the Sun and that they being included into a clowd and kindled partly by the collision or knocking together of other clowds and partly by the coldness of the place do by the eruption of their flames cause the thunders I would have every wise Christian to observe duely by what hath already been said whether the mystery of a tempest and whirl-wind do consist and stand upon a thing of so small moment and poor esteem as Aristotle would make us believe or if it arise not out of a far more profound and inscrutable abysse or profundity seeing that the lightnings are reported by truth it self to be such fiery lights of God as issue or proceed from his throne and the thunders are justly termed the voice word and eloquence of JEHOVA And for this reason JEHOVA reprehending the boldness of these kind of worldly Philosophers which presume so far to censure his inscrutable actions or to dive into the depth of his mysteries touching the essentiall causes of these meteors without the warrant and assistance of Gods Spirit and falsly to make the world believe that his hidden and abstruse secrets are effected after their vain imaginations which vanish in the conclusion and become as nothing because indeed they are grounded on nothing else but foolish and self-conceited phantasies and vanities seemeth to utter unto them these speeches Auribus percipite considerate mirabilia Dei fortis Nosti cum disponat Deus de illis cum splendeat lux nubis suae Nosti-ne de libramentis densae nubis mirabilia Dei perfecti scientiis Quaenam est via qua in partes dissilit lux Cujus utero egressa est glacies Aut pruinam coeli quis genuit Quanam via itur ubi habitat lux tenebrarum ubi est locus Perceive with your ears and consider the marvellous works of the strong God Dost thou know when God disposeth of them when the light of his clowd doth shine forth Dost thou understand the marvails of God who is perfect in sciences touching the ballancing and pondering of the thick clowds Which is the way in which the lightnings do skip forth being divided into parts Out of whose womb doth the ice proceed or who hath begotten the frost of heaven Which is the way that directeth oâ leadeth unto the habitation of lâght and which is the seat of darknesse This saith JEHOVA I say the strong God in checking of the vain-glorious wise-men of this world for their presumption and especially he pointeth at the bold Peripateticks who presumptuously profess that they of themselves without the teaching of the true wisdom do know all these things And yet the wisest amongst men speaketh thus Animadverti totum opus Dei non posse hominem ass qui illud opus quod sit sub sole quam laboriose homo quaerat non tamen assecutum esse quinetiam si cogitet sapientissimus cognoscere non tamen posse assâqui I observed every work of God that man is not able to attain unto that work which is under the sun how laboriously soever he seeketh Yea verily if the wisest man thinketh to know it he will not be able to attain unto it By which words Solomon pointeth at the insufficiency of man in himself that is to say without the conduct of the spirit of wisdom to attain unto the knowledge of Gods mysteries which also he doth seem to intimate in these
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 dâd 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 thâs 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 âallacy 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
this mysticall kind of progression which do express it in this manner In Dâo omnâo eranâ nihil nisi mere Deâs Ex Deo omnia veniebant in principium tum omnia nihil erant nisi mere principium manââte tamen Deo Ex principio omni procedebant in verbum tum omnia nihil erant nisi mere Verbum manente tamen principio Ex verbo omnia procedebant in spiritum Dâmini tum nihil erant nisi Spiritus Domini manente tamen verbo Ex spiritu Domini omnia procedebant in aquas scilicet sâperiores tum omnia nihil erant nisi mere aquae superiores manente tamen Spiritu Domini Ex aquis superioribus omnia descenderunt in aquas inferiores tum omnia nihil erant nisi mere aquae inferiores manentibus tamen superioribus Ex aquis inferioribus hoc est ex elementis astris invisibilibus omnia procedâbant in corpora visibilia tunc omnia erant nihil nisi mere corpora visibilia manentibus tamen elementis astris invisibiâibus c. In God all things were nothing but meerly God Of God all things were made a beginning and then all things were nâthing else but a mââr beginning God remaining neverthelesse in his entire existence Of the beginning all became the Word and then were all things nothing else but the word meerly and that not without the permanency of the beginning From the word all did proceed into the Spirit of the Lord and then they were nothing but the Spirit of the Lord and that without any diminution of the Words existence From the Spirit of the Lord all became waâers namely the upper waters and then all things were nothing else but the upper waters meerly and that without any diminution of the Spirit of the Lords existence From the upper waters all did descend into the lower waters or elementary region and then all were nothing else but meerly the lower waters and yet the upper waters lost not their permanency Of the lower waters that is of the elements and invisible stars or starry influences all became visible bodies and then all things were nothing else but visible bodies without any derogation neverthelesse unto any existency of the elements and starry influences c. All which I could also prove to be true as well by the Scriptures as expert Cabalists and divinest Philosophers assertions For by Scriptures we are taught That God the fountain of all beeing did first create darkness and that this darkness was that deformed principle or primary matter without shape which did complicitely contain all things And that the Word was in that beginning or principle And again that this word issued out of darknesse And that the spirit was carried on these waters which appeared out of the bowelâs of the dark abysse And that all were waters at the first the bright Spirit of the Lord being not in any thing extinguished And that these waters were divided ânto the higher and lower namely heaven and earth As also St. Peter teacheth us that of the lower waters the elements were framed by the distinguishing Spirit of the Lord. Which Job saith doth aptare pondus aeri appendere aquas in mensura facere pluviae statuta viam fulgetro tonitruum that is giveth a portion unto the weight of âhe aire and hangeth the waters or clowds in measure and maketh statutes or giveth lawes unto the rain and a passage unto the lightning of the thunder c. And Racanat that excellent Master in Cabal upon the beginning of Genesis saith as is already told you Et âorte quaeres Cum sap entia sit numeratio secunda qâare dicatur principium Scriptum est in libro Bahir Nihil est princâpium nisi sapientia Cui equidem âecte mihi videar respondere quod infinitudo ipsa trium sammarum Cabalisticae arboris numerationum quas vos âres in diviââs persoâas appellare consuevistis absolâtâssima essentâa quum sit in abyâsso tenâbrarum retracta immaneâs ociosa vel ut aâunt ad nihil respiciens idcirco dicitur ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i. e. Nâhil sive non-ens ac non-sints quâa nos tam tenui erga res divânas ingenâi paupertate ãâã de âis quae non apparent haud secus atque de iis quae non sunt judicamus At ubi se ostendârit ut sit a iquid revera subsistat tunc Aleph tenebrosum in Aleph lucidum convertitur Scriptum est enim Sicut tenebrae ejus ita lux ejus appellaâur ãâã Aleph magnum quando exire cupit apparere omnium rerum causa per Beth proxime sequentem literam nominaturque ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i. e. pater omnis geneâationis pâoductionis facât enim res omnes c. And per chance you will demand Since sapience is the second Cabalisticall numeration wherefore it is called Principium or the beginning It is written in the book of Bahir that nothing is principium or the beginning but Wisdom Unto whom me-thinks I may rightly answer That the infinity it self of the three highest numerations of the Cabalisticall tree which ye are accustomed to call the three Persons in Divinity of one absolute essence when it is retracted in the abysse of darknesse and remaining idle or vacant and as it were having respect unto nothing is therefore called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is to say Nothing or non-entity because that we being endued with such poverty of understanding in divine matters do âudge of such things which appear not no otherwise than of those which are not at all but when it doth so reveal it self that it existeth in our senses somewhat indeed then is dark Aleph converted into light Aleph For it is writ As his darknesse is so is his light namely when it desireth to issue out of darknesse and to appear to be the cause of all things by Beth which is the next ensuing letter and it is termed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ab that is to say the father of all generation and production of things for it effecteth all things Moreover Mercury Trismegist whom others term Hermes doth more expresly seem to mention this progression from unity in darkness down to the creation of the elements in this very form of speech Pimander mens divinae potentiae mutaviâ formam universa subâto revelavit cernebam enim omnia in âumen conversa suave nimium atque jucundum quod intuentem me mirifice obâectabat Paulo post umbra quaedam horrenda obliqua revolutione subterlabebatur in hum damque naturam migrabat ineffabili tum vu tu exagitabam inde fumus magnus in sonitum erumpebat ex sonitu vox egâedâebatur quam ego luminis vocem existimabam ex luminis voce verbum factum prodiit verum hoc naturae humidae astans eam fovebat ex humâdae autem naturae viscerâbus sincerus ac levis ignis
time when these secrets shall be discovered which will come to pass when the seventh Seal shall be opened for then that high mystery which is the finall cause why and for what end Gods Providence will by these two opposits reveal it self and clean extinguish all enmity out of the world shall be discovered As touching nevertheless the end of this dissonancy the Apostle saith that it will be when the Son hath delivered the Kingdom unto God the Father and when he hath evacuated every Principality and Potentate and Virtue he must raign untill he hath made his enemies his foot-stool and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death So that as two contrarieties or discords proceeded from one Unity or unison namely Light and Darkness from one Divine Essence So also these two dissonant branches or confusion of Unities will at the last be reduced or return again into one harmonious Unity in which there will be found no dissonancy namely when these words of the Revelation are accomplished Ecce omnia nova facio vetera enim transurunt Behold I make all things new for the old heaven and earth have passed away But leaving this allaterall discourse we will proceed directly in our Sympatheticall and Antipatheticall Argument or inquiâition into the which that we may penetrate with the greater celerity and facility and dive the deeper into the research of their actions it will be fit that we should describe in the first place the manner how the world doth live by the participation of these two namely of the Light and Darkness and that I will expresse unto you in few words what the Ancient Philosophers have determined about the soul of the world and lastly I will shew that their Opinions do not erre or vary much from the Testimony of the sacred Bible CHAP. IV. Wherein it is evidently proved as well by the ancienâ Ethnick Philosophers as by the authority of Holy Scriptures that there is a soul of the world Herein also is expressed what this catholick Soul is and whereof it is composed or made I Purpose in the first rank of my discourse touching the soul of the world to expresse what the opinions as well of the ancient Cabalists and mysticall Rabbi's as Ethnick Philosophers are concerning this Subject so much condemned by some self-conceited and little skillfull persons in so profound a mystery and so highly prised and esteemed by others who have with the Lyncean eye-sight of their understanding dived and penetrated into the secret bowells of Nature with due reverence contemplated her Centrall and eternall Agent And afterwards my meaning is to set down the concordance which is observed betwixt them and Holy-Writ The Cabalist's tenent is that the great Angell whom they term Mitattron which by interpretation is Donum Dei the gift of God is that very same catholick Spirit which doth animate the whole world and thereupon Rabbi Moses doth averre it to be Intellectus a ens or the generall intellectuall agent from which all particular forms do flow And they say that from this universall angelicall Spirit all singular vertues as well animall as vitall and naturall do proceed which also they call Angells whereof there are an infinite number in respect of our capacity And the Philosopher Democritus Orpheus with divers of the Pythagoreans do not much differ from this opinion of these Rabbi's but in variety of name onely for they imagine that all things are full of gods and therefore they offered divine Honours Praiers and Sacrifices unto them in the creatures and did worship each of them with a divers fashion of ceremony But they had evermore that regard unto JEHOVA the eternall Unity and Father of all things that they referred all these gods unto one Jupiter This point nevertheless being ill understood by the ignorant was an especiall cause of Idolatry being that hereupon the simple fell unto the worshipping of the creature in stead of the Divinity which was in the creature And for this reason Solomon Vani sunt homines omnes naturà in quibus est ignorantia Dei qui ex iis quae spectantur bonis eum qui est intellig ere non potuerunt neque ex operibus consideratis ipsum opificem agnoverunt All men are naturally vain in whom is the want of the knowledg of God and cannot conceive him that truly is by such good creatures as they sensibly do discern nor yet have scanned and discovered the Workman by the consideration of his works In like manner the Platonists did call the generall vertue which did engender and preserve all things the Animam mundi or the soul of the world And to this their opinions the Arabick Astrologians do seem to adhere forasmuch as they did maintain that every particular thing in the world hath his distinct and peculiar soul from this vivifying Spirit To this opinion also Mercurius Trismegistus Theophrastus Avicenna Algazel and as well all the Stoicks and Peripateticks do seem wholly to consent or agree Again Zoroaster and Heraclitus the Ephesian conclude that the soul of the world is that catholick invisible fire of which and by the action whereof all things are generated and brought forth from puissance unto act Virgil that excellent Latine Poet calleth it that mentall Spirit which is infused through every joint and member of the world whereby the whole Mass of it namely the heaven and the earth or spirit and body are after an abstruse manner agitated and moved His words are these Spiritus intus alit totamque infusa per arâus Mens agitat molem c. A Spirit saith he doth nourish within and being infused over all the joints or members of the world it doth move the whole substance of the same Marcus Manâius as also Boetius and Augurel being later Poets are of Virgil's opinion For Manlius saith Hoc opus immensi constructum corpore mundi Vis animae divina regit The divine power of the âoul doth govern this work which is erected in the body of the vast world And Boetius Tu triplicis mediam naturae cuncta moventem Connectis animam Thou dost frame or tye together a mean soul of a triple nature which movâth all things And Augurel saith Nonnulli quicquid diffunditur undique coeli Aëraque terras lati marmoris aequor Intus agi referunt animà quà vivere mundi Cuncta putant ipsumque hà e mundum ducere vitam Ast animae quoniam nil non est corporis expers Mundus at mundi partes quoque corpore constant Spiritus hic intermedius fit quem neque corpus Aut animum dicunt sed eum qui solus utroque Participans in idem simul haec exârema redâcat Some say that whatsoever filleth the Heaven the Aire the Earth and wide Seas is stirred up by a soul through the vertue whereof all things in the world do live and also that the world it self doth exist by it But because
in its simple and separated estate Damascene seemeth to define it thus Anima est subâtantia spiritualis a divinis fontibus emanaâs simplex indissolubilis immoââalâs libeâa incorporea indivisibilis quantitate figura pondere colore carens The sââl is a spirituall sâbstance flowing from the divine fountains simple indâssolvable immortall free incorporealâ indivisible wanting quantity figure waight and colour Unto this also Bernard seemeth to consent And Augustin defineth it thus Est mens divâna omnia intelligens omnibusque se assimilans It is a divine Spirit that understandeth all things and doth cânform it self unto the shape or lâkenesâ 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 ââviner 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 sâbstantia Dei sigilioque figurata cuâus character est verbum aeâânum The soul is a certain divine Light created after the Image of the Word the caâse of causâs and the first exemplaâ or image c. Another defines it thus Est res incorporea omni decore adornata Sanctae Trinitati âssimiâata ãâã nae gloriae coaquata It is an incorporeall thing whâch is adorned with all virtue likned to or resembââng the Holy Trinity and coâequated unto eternall glory Some do describe it thus Est Spiritus intellectualis semper vivens semper in mâtâ sâcundum sui operis efficââm variis nuncupatur nominibus Dicitur vita dum vegetat spiritus dum contemplatur sensus dum sentit animus dum sapit mens dum intelligit ratio dum dâscernit mem ria dum recordatur dum vuli voluntas at isla omnia non sunt nâsi 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
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 movabâe 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 moââ 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
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 fosâering 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
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 creaâures 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 invâsible God the first begotten of all creatures for in hâm are maâe 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 eveâlasting 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 inââuence 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 depaâteth 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 diââinguished from them although they are continued and no way disjoynted or seperated fâom 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 bâight effluânces 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
of the Israelites through the Desart Ne exacerbes eum quia non feret defectionem vestram quoniam nomen meum est in eo Do not displease him for he will not endure your defections or errours for my name is in him Whereby it is evident that this princely Angell which is taken for this Emanation from Jah elsewhere hath a double property but his greatest inclination is to preserve the creature which it made The third cognomination is Elohim and the bright port through which the reflecting beames of his property do stream forth is called in Hebrew Binah in Latine Prudentia in English Prudency And this name Elohim according to the Cabalisticall interpretation doth signifie fear and terror because they have observed that by this property or attribute of God there happeneth unto each world punishments and stratagems for under this denomination JEHOVA doth exercise his power as well for the sudden alteration of the world as unto the punishment of the wicked And therefore the Spirits which do receive this divine influence are called Been Elohim the sons of Elohim which are his instruments in the Elementary world for the effecting of his will in this property By virtue whereof also the commotions of the waters were made in the first creation and the production of them out of the dark Chaos which was not effected but by the extream contradiction and oppugnancy which happened between the fire and the water and consequently not without the dreadfull dissention and warre of the Elements causing terror and many thundering commotions in the dark abysse or deformed waters when each word Fiat was divinely uttered For it was by the Spagericall or high Chymicall virtue of the word and working of the Spirit that the separation of one region from another and of the distinction of one formal virtue from another was effected or made of the which business the Psalmist meaneth where he saith By the Word of the Lord the heavens were made and by the Spirit from his mouth each virtue thereof Ye may therefore perceive that the whole power of the Cabalisticall Tree is comprehended in these three first branches no otherwise then the typicall world is comprehended in the Archetype which consisteth in a triple property most aptly referred unto the Trinity of Persons For therein the intelligible world doth import that which seaven doth in this materiall and watery world For 2 is the root of Matter as 3 is the root of Form As therefore 1 is the formall root unto three and the materiall root unto 2 So verily is 2 the materiall root unto 4 and therefore 4 which is the Symbole or character of matter and 3 the figure of form being added together produce the universall substance of the world consisting of form and matter we must therefore with diligence observe that those three first denominations do belong unto these properties whereby JEHOVA did create the three first daies work wherein the whole world with his heavens and elements were crâââed and received their due positions The seaven following branches of the Sephiroticall Tree do appertain unto those various alterations or mutations as well propitious as unfortunate unto the creatures which do befall them in this world being thus compleated and finished by the virtuous properties of the three precedent emanations or streamings forth of the divine beames Wherefore the fourth branch of this Tree hath for his President the gentle and mercifull attribute of God or JEHOVA called EL whose bright port numeration or channell by which it poureth forth its beames into the world is for that cause styled Chesed in Hebrew which in Latine is Clementia in English Clemency because the divine influence which shineth out of it is full of grace benignity life and goodness as by the consequence it shall appear For it is the fountain from the which the good and fortunate Planet Jupiter receiveth his benevolent Emanantion or beams of life this name therefore Moses used for the healing of Miriam when she was made leprous for her disobedience saying El na rapha na la Deus gratiae quaeso sana illam The fifth name which is assigned unto the first branch of the Cabalisticall Tree is called Elohim Gibbor and it is an attribute which sendeth malevolent and unwholsome influence down unto the creatures making disturbances and troubles in the world by Thunders Lightnings Comets Warrs Contentions Anger Pestilence and hot diseases c. And the celestiall magazine of this influence is the Planet Mars for this reason therfore the port or channell through which this fiery influx doth immediatly stream forth is called in Hebrew Gehurah which importeth power force violence The next branch or numeration being the sixth hath for its Lord the name Eloach whose influxion or emanations are full of life and golden beauty and therefore the trunck or port by which it passeth is tearmed Tiphereth in Hebrew which noteth Grace ornament beauty and delight By the golden emanation which floweth from this channell the visible Sun of this world receiveth his bright beauty and is adorned with that admirable vivifying virtue which by effect doth manifest and testifie it self unto the whole world And this is that Grace and ornament of which Job meaneth when he saith Spiritu suo ornavit coelos He adorneth the heavens with the beauty of his Spirit The seventh divine cognomination or attribute is JEHOVA Seboath which is as much as to say the God of Armies the God of jubilation rest and perfection therefore the port or channell by which his beames or irradiations do pass is called Netzeth which signifieth triumph and victory as also Justice Charity and Love and therefore the influence of generation and multiplication and delight issueth from this emanation which maketh the rowling Globe of the celestiall Venus his store-house The eighth name is Elohim Saboth or Deus exercituum the God of Armies and his port or channell by the which he sendeth forth the influxes or beames of this his property into his celestiall treasury which is the Globe of Mercury is called by them Hod or praise honour and formosity by which afterwards he operateth in this property by his will on the earth by changeable and mutable effects The ninth Elohai that is the Living God or Sadal that is the Omnipotent God and his numeration or the gate or channell by which he sendeth down his bright influences is called Jesod that is to say the basis or foundation Redemption or rest and these are received by the Sphere of the Moon which is as were the celestiall earth unto the which all the influences in generall do fall and this is the reason that it is subject to so many and divers mutations The effects whereof as well to generation as corruption is observed on the Earth and in the Sea The last name or attribute is Adonai or Dominus and his port or gate by which he sendeth forth his illuminations or the active beames
which he draweth or attracteth from the circumference unto the center and so congealeth inspissateth and hardeneth soft spirits by contraction and coarctation of those parts which before were porous and dilated But some will perchance reply and say How is it likely that the emanation or emission of spirits from the port of Binah under the Attribute of ELOHIM or the streaming forth of the breath or blasts from Boreas and his two collateralls can harden by contraction or suck and draw in spirits from the circumference unto the center when their emissions are straight from the north southward and make no reflexion whereby any such motion à circumferentia ad centrum should be made I answer That this is effected after a wonderfull fashion and worthy to be pondered by the choisest wits We must consider therefore in the first place that the property of the Attribute ELOHIM was before all beginning ordained to indue the negative or contractive nature of the eternall Unity's Nolunty namely of darkness for when God will not shew the light of his countenance he reflecteth his light in himself that is he withdraweth it from the circumference to the center and leaveth onely darkness unto the creatures This property of God is antipatheticall unto such parts of the world as also unto all such creatures as have their life from a naturall heat which heat had its beginning from Gods benevolent emanation that is from the act of unity by an emission or dilatation from the center unto the circumference I mean from unity into multitude It followeth therefore that though the emission of winds from the north be streight yet their essentiall property proceeding immediately from Gods angelicall organ is contractive and attracting from the circumference unto the center seeing that it is an emission which by the divine Spirits emanation and action in the nature of ELOHIM is cold dry coagulative or congealing and apt to rest and is therefore antipatheticall and oppugnant unto the disposition of the air forasmuch as it is hot and moist and consequently is animated by the dilative action which the catholick spirit sendeth or breatheth out of the celestiall Sun and other vivifying stars as are Jupiter and Venus And for this cause it followeth that when the Boreall spirits are sent forth into the aire it must needs succeed that at the antipatheticall contract of these cold spirits the naturall heat or life of the aire flyeth or with-draweth it self from its circumference unto its center and so partly by that contractive motion in it self caused per antiperistasin or by reason of the antipatheticall occurrence or meeting of his contrary and partly by mingling of a new terrestriall form it is congealed and falleth to the earth as if it were dead because unmovable in the form of snow hail frost and ice In like manner we see that the aery life in other creatures whose formall beeing consisteth of Gods dilating property is forced to fly from the circumference unto the center leaving the externall parts chil cold and apt to a deadly congelation or lethall repose which we observe not onely in animal creatures but also in vegetables seeing that their blood as I may tearm it or vitall suck is congealed by the winter and northern cold and is as it were liveless untill by the vivifying and dilative sorce of the ensuing Vernall or Springly and Australl vertue it is resolved and melted again and the severe tye or icy knot of the northern nature undone For this reason therefore you may discern that there is but one catholick element which is partly subject and obnoxious unto the privative and dark contracting and consequently attracting property of Gods Spirit and partly capable to endue his positive and light dilating disposition and that this common subject is the spirit or aire of the sublunary world which by lesse inspissation or contraction caused by the west winds is made water and by more compression and constriction caused by the northern and winter blasts becommeth snowy or icy earth And contrariwise by lesse dilatation and subtiliation is made aery or vaporous caused by the spring season and south wind and by a greater rarefaction and exaltation it is made fire by the dominion of such spirits as are sent out from the east and summers heat and both these main two-fold divided properties belong unto one and the same Spirit as is before related Verily this common demonstration can deceive no man being that the very unreasonable creatures are moved by a naturall inclination either to sympathize and rejoyce with the clemency and comfort of the one property or to fly from or eschew the severer assaults of the other which do antipathize with their nature But to our main business It is manifest by that which is already said that the northern breath is contractive attractive inspissative and apt to darkness immobility and rest and that the south-winde or rather the winde from the Aequinoctiall is contrary in nature unto it as being ready to undo all that the north winde did effect namely to dissolve the congealed aire which was made snow frost hail ice into water and water into aire to make transparent that which was dark and render thin that which was before thick And therefore between these properties there is no more sympathy then I have shewed you to be between the Load-stones Aequinoctiall and the Pole And again that both these opposite natures proceed and spring from one and the same divine and catholick spirit which operateth all in all every where and consequently as well in earth as in heaven this testimony of the true Philosophy doth manifestly confirm and import Deo emittente sermonem suum in terram quam celerrimè excurrit qui nives emittit sicut lanam pruânam quasi cineres dispergit dejicit gelu tanquam frusta coram frigore ejus quis consistat Emittit verbum suum liquefacit ista simul ac efflat ventum suum effluunt aquae God sendeth forth his word it runneth forth most swiftly upon the earth who produceth snow like wool and spreadeth abroad the frost like ashes and casteth down the ice as it were pieces Who is able to resist against his cold He sendeth forth his word and melteth or dissolveth all these so soon as he breatheth forth his wind or Spirit the congealed waters begin to flow and move Whereby it appeareth that the Word or Spirit of God congealeth by one property and dissolveth by another and consequently as God is all one in essence so it is one and the same Spirit that effecteth these four-fold alterations in one catholick spirit of the world which are by the Ancients called distinct Elements because they cuold never as yet throughly determine what was the essentiall form of the Elements But if they had well considered the four Elements of the which they spake so much and as it should seem understood essentially but little or had they well conceived that
heaven and earth were made of water and by water by the Word as Sacred Philosophy teacheth us then they would have known also that the common substantiall Subject of them all was but one created watery spirit also that this spirits four-fold information was effected by one increating formall essence or Divine Word acting and informing that universall Element by a four-fold emanation so that the will of one creating Spirit effected by and working in four Angells of an opposit nature maketh disposeth or changeth every day this one spirituall watery Subject into this or that Element according unto the Will of the Creator All which is evidently demonstrated by the wether-glass For the aire therein inclosed doth by contraction or dilatation convert it self into the form of any of the Elements and is altered therein according as the nature of the Macrocosmicall blast or wind that bloweth Now whereas it may be objectively demanded From whence then came the earth and waters that are resident perpetually here beneath I answer That they are the effects which the winds by the Will of God or ELOHIM RUACH did originally produce and these were framed first out of the aire namely by thickning it by one degree into water and ingrossing it by another into solid and fixt earth as it appeared by the third daies Creation where it was said that Aridum apparuerit ex aquis Dry-land did appear out of the waters But the Divine Philosopher St. Paul doth confirm all this where he affirmeth that we ought to believe by Faith that those things which are visible were first of things invisible and unseen And again if that the two lower bodies did not resolve themselves by little and little though insensibly into aire it would not be possible that the earth or the water could hold that abundance of Water Stones Brimstone caused of Lightnings and such like which falleth from the aire and yet we see that neither the aire nor water nor earth are at any time found bigger then their naturall accustomed proportions By this therefore I have sufficiently expressed unto you the attractive and contractive property of the Northern Pole in the aire which inferreth thus much that as the Northern blasts are enemies unto life because they contract from the circumference to the Center which is contrary unto the act of man's life therefore all things that are reduced into a chill cold and Northern property be they airy watery or earthy they draw strongly unto them as it is proved by the weather-glass For the included aire being animated by the effects of a strong and obstinate Northern wind sucketh and draweth the waters on high namely from the Aequinoctiall point of the glass unto the Center of the North Pole which is assigned by the head of the mattras and also by the same reason congealed spirits in any earthly substance do suck or draw from the exteriour to the interior as we observe that Bole Armoniack sucketh moysture unto it and also all other earth when it is throughly dry and that in his own naturall condition namely because it being of the quality of the North it sucketh and draweth strongly a watery moysture but this is by reason of his drought the attraction therefore in the Load-stone is otherwise For it having the essentiall nature of its mother Earth and the virtue of the North in his Pole draweth the masculine Sulphureous spirits out of Iron greedily and that with a feminine appetite by reason of the propinquity and likeness of one nature unto another The like regard also hath the Pole star unto the Load-stone as the Load-stone hath unto the Iron which is his like For Natura Natura suá gaudet laetatur Nature is glad and rejoyceth in her like nature as Empedocles doth truly testifie But both the Iron and the Load-stone are of one myne one vein and one nature seeing that both of them are of an earthly and boreall disposition and therefore the Load-stone and his formall included spirits being more encombred with superfluities then the refined Iron doth as it were either for their assistance namely to be delivered from that incombrance draw unto them their like out of the purified Iron or Steel by a wonderfull appetite and in this action suck unto it the Iron who as unwilling to leave its formall spirit doth follow by a naturall continuity the motion of its formall beams or else for comfort and consolation yea and formal refection's cause no otherwise then the cold materiall female doth the more formall male to be refreshed by the masculine seed or sulphureous Form which they both received from that generall Agent 's ideal Northern nature that sustaineth and animateth the earth I will prove it by a similitude but in a vegetable substance We observe that the grain of wheat not participating with the nature of the earth that is so long as it is above ground and not sown attracteth not his like from heaven but when it is committed unto the earth and the earth by corruption hath unloosed his bands his spirits suck down from above the Sun-beams and celestiall influences of his fixt constellation and erratick Planet in quantity that thereby it may be delivered and rise again by the celestiall beams of his own nature that descend from heaven and principally from the Sun so that like being added to his like becommeth the stronger in ascention For experience teacheth us that the celestiall included form or vitall beam creepeth out of the earth upwards tending by all his appetite unto its ethereal native home from whence it came but because the Element of fire is contiguous unto the aethereal spirit therefore it will not permit these aethereall or sunny-beams to ascend without it and because the aire is a near-cleaving and continued neighbour unto the fire therefore it will not permit the fire to ascend without his presence and again the water challengeth the self-same priviledge namely to ascend with the aire and lastly the earth will not let the water move upwards without her company as being next of her race and therefore will have the self-same prerogative with the other three But because the earth is ponderous and cannot ascend she holdeth it fast below and will not permit the spirit to sore higher and so those beamy spirits which seemed to descend for the freedom of their brethren are by these Elementary ties or rather the four-fold disposition of one Element detained and made to hover and hang in the aire where insteed of flying upwards to heaven they do multiply into many graines And I have noted by mine own experience namely by anatomising of corn with the fiery knife of distillation that the female in corn which sucketh down the celestiall influences of the like nature is a pure volatil Salt of a refined or aereall terrestrial condition but rich in celelestiall fire and therefore made volatil and airy by the union of both extreames so that it is this female
you say and there may be a microcosmicall Magnes or Load-stone which may be selected and gathered out of the living man without any detriment or prejudice unto his life whose vertues both in regard of its monstrous and unnaturall generation being composed of unlike parents and being compacted of two substances different in kinde as the Mule is namely of an earthly Mercury and cholerick sulphureous human spirits as also in his manner of attraction of the spirituall Mummy out of the living man yea and what is far more admirable by the transplantation of it either to the animal or vegetable kinds it worketh after a strange fashion either sympathetically or antipathetically I know that these newes will streight way be esteemed by some who are apter to judge amiss than rightly to scan to be diabolicall And why Marry because they passe the sphear of their capacities And yet I know this to be true and know them which have put it in execution not without the wonderment of many yea I know this Microcosmicall Magnet and the use thereof the which when it is tryed by wise-men and well pondered by them will appear as naturall as the effects thereof will seem strange and the reason abstruse But if that which I have said before be well understood and seriously pondered the cause hereof will not seem so hidden as that it should exceed the limits of nature Of this kind of magneticall action as well sympatheticall as antipatheticall I purpose by Gods grace to discourse more at large in the third or last Book of this Treatise or History CHAP. V. In this Chapter is expressed the secret cause why and manner how as well the Microcosmicall as Macrocosmicall Load-stone doth operate ad distans and thââ unto an unknown dimension or unlimited intervall MR. Foster hath sufficiently expressed the shallowness of his Philosophy where he averreth That because the light of the Sun and Stars cannot penetrate the thick clowds and opake bodies Ergo the formall essence of a man is not able to pierce and penetrate directly in his course without being stopped or hindred by Castles Hills Woods and such like But had he been a little more profoundly seen or immersed in the bowels of true Philosophy he would have known that the Etheriall sperm or Astralicall influences are of a far subtiler condition than is the vehicle of visible light Yea verily they are so thin so mobile so penetrating and so lively that they are able and also do continually penetrate and that without any manifest obstacle or resistance even unto the center or inward bosom of the earth where they generate mettals of sundry kinds according unto the condition of the influence as the antient Philosophers do justifie The subtlety therefore of this spirit Plotinus according unto Plato's minde doth fully expresse in these words Tanta est Aetheris tenuitas ut omnia corpora penetret universi tam supera quam infera cum ipsis conjunctus aut implicitus ea major a minime reddat quia spiritus iste interior cuncta opera eorum mole minima nullum prorsus augmentum recipiente alit atque conservat The tenuity of the Aether is such that it doth penetrate all the bodies of the world as well above in heaven as below on earth and this heavenly substance being joyned and mixed with them it maketh them not a jot the bigger for all that because this inward spirit doth nourish and preserve all bodies without adding any thing unto their weight or encreasing of their substance And by reason of this heavenly natures purity or subtlety the heaven or coelum is called by the wiser Philosophers and mysticall Poets the Husband unto the earth which they tearm Vesta yea and the very stars of heaven among the which the Copernicans ranck the earth are likened unto his wife being that they are extracted out of the aetheriall substance no otherwise than Eve was out of the side of Adam for they are defined to be the thickest portions of their orbs by reason whereof they are accounted as the members of heaven and consequently there is nothing so thin subtle and piercing as is that spirit from whence by condensation they are derived This is the cause that the true Alchymists do tell such wonders of their Coelum which they call their Quintessence arguing that by reason of its purity and subtlety it is able to penetrate all things And the Philosophers say that it is their nature which they define to be Vis quaedam rebus infinita omnia permeans entia cunctas generans res easque augens alensque ex similibus similia procreans A certain infinite power in things which penetrateth and passeth through all things ingendring every thing and augmenting and nourishing them and procreating like things of their like And verily if you will be pleased to consider really what I have spoken before you will remember how I told you that the angelicall vertue proceeded from the archetypicall emanations and are the types of the divine Idea Again that the aetheriall spirit was filled with the angelicall influences which had their essentiall root from God So that in verity it is not the starry light which penetrateth so deeply or operateth so universally but that eternall centrall spirit with which his divine and unresistable essence penetrateth all things both in heaven above and in the earth and waters beneath And all this the mysticall Philosophers seemed to verifie though darkly when they called Saturn which was the father also of Jupiter or the head of the catholick emanation the father of Coelum or Heaven arguing thereby that in the emission of the spirit of wisdom he produced created or informed the heavens according to that of Job Coelum ornasti Spiritu tuo Thou didst adorn the heavens by thy Spirit And David Verbo Domini fimati sunt coeli Spiritu ab ore ejus omnis virtus eorum By the word of the Lord the heavens were made and by his Spirit each vertue thereof And St. Peter Coeli erant prius terra ex aquis per aquas existentes verbo Dei The heavens were first and the earth of water and by the waters existing by the word of God It is certain therefore that the whole essentiall act of the aetheriall spirit is the divine emanation or the bright incorruptible Spirit of the Lord and therefore of necessity that spirit which is worthy to be the immediate vehicle of so unresistible and emanating influence must be conformable to it in purity and subtility which is the informer who is said by the wise Solomon to be Omni re mobilior subtilior attingere ubique propter suam munditiam innovare omnia implere orbem terrarum To be the most active and moveable and subtill of all things and to penetrate and pass everywhere by reason of his purity in essence and to renew and refresh all things and to fill the
blood which is sucked into the iron or other weapon and retained in it for so pure worthy and subtle is the spirit of man's life that every creature doth by a naturall instinct affect to participate with it yea the very devills are said to affect a dwelling place in mans body by reason of the excellent temper thereof Neither would I have any man to scorn this saying of mine for there is a concupiscible passion even in the very stones and minerals themselves as in the Load-stone and Iron it is made manifest and the spirit of the Iron though it be minerall is of the same condition in his catholick nature that all other spirits are And therefore marvell not though I say that the universall spirit affecteth the animal being that for the same reason there hath been noted to be both a sympatheticall and antipatheticall condition between as well the mineral and vegetable and the mineral and animal as between the animal and vegetable But I will produce unto you a probable demonstration There was an Earl of whom in my Book intituled The squeesing of Parson Foster's Spunge I made mention that had his Gardiner cruelly wounded in his hand with a syth as he was mowing of grass the wound bled shrewdly and could not be stenched They went up unto his Lord and signified so much unto him and implored his assistance and desired to have some of his weapon-salve He commanded that forth-with the syth should be knocked off from his wooden handle and conveyed unto him The wounded fellow hearing so much took a hammer himself and holding it with one hand he struck hard upon the weapon or syth with the other and immediately a wondrous thing to tell and yet far from any suspition of diabolicall art the blood stenched and he bled not one drop after it as if the mineral spirit which retained that of the animal were terrified and as it were in awe of the animal spirit that struck it and thereby lost all the faculty of attraction or that the spirits included in it which did consent in harmony with the spirits of the bleeding man had rejoyced in a kind of revenge which was taken on the weapon For know that there is a sympatheticall and antipatheticall irradiation as well between the animal and the minerall as between the animal and animal or mineral and mineral But mark I pray you a second notable observation touching this point Sir Bevis Thelwell told me that for triall upon a Wheelers ax that had wounded him grievously on his leg after it was anointed and wrapped up the wounded person that could not sleep for pain in five nights before did sleep immediately after the oyntment and was at rest which when Sir Bevis Thelwell espied he would needs make triall of a thing which he had heard confirmed by many He opened the anointed Ax and scraped off the oyntment at one corner of it and forthwith he was advertised that the party complained of a grievous pain which he felt just about that part of the wound where the ax was bare by scraping whereupon also he anointed that protion over again and suddainly the party felt ease The same experiment was made and found true by the said Lord Captain Stiles and Sir Nicholas Gilbourn I can also say upon mine own knowledge that in the Church-yard on Bred-street-hill a widow-Gentlewoman having a box of this oyntment cured many of the Tooth-ake by pricking the pained tooth with a sharp stick till it bled and putting that stick into her box of oyntment Among the rest one of her neighbours a contentious woman having the tooth-ake made means unto her for her cure or to have ease Her teeth were pricked and the stick put into the oyntment and she grew well But within three or four daies after she fell out with the Gentlewomans maid and gave her Mistress but bad language all which the maid did certifie her Mistress of The Gentlewoman being merrily disposed said She would make her repent it and went unto the box and took away the stick belonging to this woman out of the pot and put it into a bason of cold water and immediately the woman had such pain as she was forced to sue to the Gentlewoman and she receiving another stick which had pricked her teeth anew it gave her immediate ease Which accidents when I had well contemplated I thought with my self that the included spirit had his chiefest comfort from the oyntment by keeping them warm and that if the oyntment was removed the cold aire which is an enemy to the activity of the bloody spirits was potent over it and did congeal them and so by consent of the beamy influence of life emitted from the wound unto the included spirits and continuated ever unto them as inseparable for it was one and the same spirit according unto Ezekiel's testimony in two severall properties that blowed from the north-wind and the south what distemper befalleth the included and congealed spirits in the weapon happeneth by effect of remission of evoked beams and as it were by a report unto the wound of the patient Again we must consider that the separated blood hath in it each respect of the Microcosm no otherwise than a portion of a whole Loadstone being divided from the whole hath in it all the proportions of the World namely the Poles Aequinoctial and so forth as well as the whole in it so that the Idea of the wounded member is in the spirits of the emitted blood and maketh his relation to every part thereof no otherwise than the poles of a piece of the Loadstone do unto the whole As also there is the like occult attraction and emission of beams between the little blood emitted and the whole bulk of blood retained in the veines as is between the small amputated Load-stone and the whole I conclude therefore that as the congealed bloody spirits in the weapon or amputated blood do by vertue of the homogeniall heat and unctuosity of the salve or oyntment ripen and exspire out by little and little unto his fountain no otherwise than the spark in the grain of corn being kept and preserved in the earthly matrix from the cold crude aire doth aspire upward to the heavenly Sun so also by little and little doth the wound heal and mend in the wounded creature And thus much for the manner of action between the wound and weapon-salve Now a word or two touching the intervall or longitude of distance between the wound and the oyntment The distance betwixt the Pole star and the Load-stone is unknown and yet the one doth operate in the other by sending out their reciprocall beams upward and downward therefore here can no certain limited sphear of activity be assigned unto their action The Sun and the spirit in the grain of wheat do operate in like manner by a continuation of one and the same nature Lo here is the limited sphear of activity also
of the salt in the ashes and saffron conquered and tamââd so that as it dieth the insulting humour and his venomous spirit decayeth and fadeth by little and little in his strength till it be finally quite extinguished Whereby it is evident that by one and the same medicine the spirit in the urin's salt and that in the sick-man's blood are both sympathetically refreshed and purified and the flame of the evill infecting spirit of the disease as well as in the urine as sick body is antipathetically quenched and annihilated In this respect therefore we compare the composition of urine ashes and saffron in this cure unto the weapon-salve in the consolidating of wounds and the urine carried from the sick unto the mass so compounded unto the blood or spirit on and in the weapon and the exsuscitating of the congealed spirit in the salt of the urine unto the revivifying and exagitating of the spirit in the dead blood or sucked up by the poây substance of the weapon so that we see here all one consent For as the dead blood came from the lively fountain of blood so the urine was the whey or serous substance of the same well-spring not left destitute of the bloody spirits What shall we say unto the admirable effects in the transplantation of the bloody spirits in man into other animals or vegetables Veâily it is a thing well known unto such as are well seen in the mysteries of naturall microâosâiâall and macroâosâicall Magick that the spirituall Mummy whose seât is in the microcosmicall blood may be suâked or drawn out of mans âody by a Magneâ extracted out of the same subject and transplanted into a beast tree oâ herb so that the disease also of the sick man may be conveyed from the sick person into them by means of this microcosmicall Magnes the practise whereof shall be expressed more at large in the next Book Also Johannes Râmelius Pharamundâs doth profess that he hath cured divers of the Gout by cutting off the haires of the feet and thighes and paring off the nailes and thrusting of them into a hole which he bored unto the very pith of an Oke and closing or ramming up the hoâe again with a peg or pin made of the same tree and afterward daubing it up and covering it over with cow-dung Then saith he if the Gowte come not again within the space of three months the Oke will be sufficient to draw magnetically unto it the disease but if the Gowt come again within three months space it noteth the insufficiency of the Okes magneticall vertue Wherefore then he proceedeth after this manner He boreth a hole in another Oke as before and keepeth those pieces which in the boring came out of the Oke and bruiseth them and quilts or stitcheth them up in a bag and applyeth them to the member grieved and this he doth just three daies before the new Moon Then in the very hour of the new Moon he taketh away the bag and taketh out the bruised wood and putteth it into the hole of the tree and rammeth it in with a peg or pin of the same Oke And if for all this the Gowt shall be perceived within three three months after then he cutteth off the hair and nails of the feet and tyeth them unto the back of a Crab-fish and casteth it into the running water and the gowty person will be cured This Doctor of Physick doth professe in a certain Book of his set forth by him in the German Tongue that he hath cured many by the first experiment and many other by the first and second one after another and lastly many desperate ones by the first second and third And he saith that this manner of cure is commonly found certain in those Gowts which happen of a sulphureous cause but in those Gowts which rise from a Mercuriall and salt nature it often faileth And therefore leaving this magnetick manner of cure he betaketh himself unto a more externall kind of remedy I have also in my Squeezing of Mr. Foster's Spunge related unto you the strange sympathy which is betwixt the Vegetable called Rosa-solis and the matrix of a woman and how it being laid in Plantain water it closeth it self and if a part of that water be drunk by a woman that is in Travell and the herb in the water be removed into another house yet at that very instant that the woman is upon delivery the flower or herb will by little and little open it self even as the matrix of the woman doth An evident argument that those beams which issue from these two do sympathize with one another To conclude it is most evident that seeing the spirituall Astralicall vertues in each inferiour creature do descend from celestiall stars and are of one continued nature with them as the Sun-beams which are here below are not divided or separated from their fountain of light it followeth that they emit their beamy influences unto one another even as the two stars do in heaven from whence they are animated so that if the two stars in heaven be friends they both do sympathize in the occurrences of their emanations with one another but if they be enemies to one another in heaven they will in their applications of beams antipathize and decline from one another And as touching the distance which they observe in their mutuall action with one another we must imagine it to extend it self so far as their beams are able to apply to one another And I would have such men as are onely conversant about sensâble affairs know that the action of these creatures by aspect unto one another do operate occultly though the effect doth nor alwaies manifest it self unto ouâ sense but withall they ought to conceive that the nearer in naturall affinity the stars in heaven and consequently the things beneath which are subject unto those spirits are unto one another the more efficacious will the sympathising effects prove by reason that then their beams will meet directly that is without any swerving or declination CHAP. VI. That the devill doth make use of naturall things to operate his stratagems amongst men without the which he can effect nothing truly but onely prestigiously or by delusion And whether those Naturall things are therefore Cacomagicall and to be eschewed of Mankind because their secret effects do sometimes conform themselves unto the voluâty of the devill WE read in many places in Scripture that the devill maketh use of Gods creatures to bring to pass his secret devices and stratagems against mankind as for example Satan to impoverish and ruinate the fortune of patient Job did make use of the winds and did call as the Text saith the fire of God from heaven to consume his cattle God forbid that we should esteem for this reason these creatures of God to be cacomagicall and diabolicall because God made them act to accomplish the will of the devill He made him also a Prince of the
that lives not far off from Aâx in Prâvence is fresh yet in every mouth of that place that with the like philtre did infect the whole City with so desperate a plague that it did destroy moât of the people theâeof onely they were preserved and cured when this Hermit pleased who for that cause was styled by thâ name of Holy Hermit for as he pâysoned the hammers of each of the dores so that whosoever knocked with them was foâthwith infected he that poysoned had his counter-poyson to cure This devillish peâson was at the last discovered and burnt alive as he well deserved By the like stratagem a little before my comming into Provânce the plague was brought into Tu in in Piamont by certain lewd persons who suffered for it their flesh being torn from them by hot fiery pincers Also lately by the strewing of a venoâous powder the plague was multiplyed in Millan the conspirators disâovered and executed And thus by these wicked inventions the internall spirits of men were infected and the externall aire polluted Neither can this to the true Naturalist apppear strange since it is proved by experience that a wholsome aire is oftentimes converted by a venomous blast of the southern winde ânto a corrupted and contagious disposition and the aire that was pure and unpolluted is now by the pestiferous breath of a plaguy person or the infectiââ carbuncle or both inquinated and made venomous and that aire so corrupted will also corrupt his next aery neighbour which was âound and healthfull before Let us but observe how the infected spirit of the plaguy person or one possessed with the small Pox or Measels Ptisick or Ophthalmy or blear eyes doth infect the spirit of a sound man at a good distance and the Leprosy Epilepsy French-Pox by an immediate contact and we shall find how that which was created wholsom and salutary in man is become contaminating and venomous by disorder What therefore shall I say must we conclude that we must abandon our own nature because it may be made infectious and deadly unto us Nay must we therefore esteem human nature to be therefore abhominable and abhorred of man because the witches and sorcerers do by the devills doctrine and instructions make use of mans flesh hair nailes excrements blood yea and of both his spirituall and corporall Mummy to bâing their wicked purposes and inchantments to pass That this is so we find it as well maintained by History as daily practise observed amongst the witches for Apuleius who for his magicall relations was censured by some to be a witch telleth how his sweet-heart âotis was by her mistress being a notorious witch sent into a Barbers shop secretly for mens hair to employ it about her witchcraft Also he sheweth that it was a thing so frequent in those daies by reason of the abundance of sorceresses which abode in Thessaây to have watch-men with store of lights to attend upon the dead corses or corps immediately after their death to hinder and prevent the witches which used to come in secretly by night in the form of Weasels and such like shapes to steal away some part of the carcase to serve their turns about their wicked art Moreover it is a common thing amongst them and the Necromancers to frequent the Church-yards and to visit the graves of such as are dead either for some part of them or else for a piece of their winding-sheet or of the coffin wherein they were buried by reason of the spirituall Mummy which sticketh unto them to effect their ceremonies and naughty devices It hath been confessed by a witch that destroyed a Noblemans children of this Land that she could have no power over one of them till she had recovered an old glove that it wore and afterward she had power over it the reason was because of the relation which the spirituall Mummy of the child that entered by sweat into the glove had with that of the body no otherwise than that spirit upon the weapon hath unto the spirit of the wounded body so that as that fareth either in hot or cold distempers so also it fared with the spirit in the wound as it appeared when the ax or weapon was uncovered by chance the wound would be dolorous and distempered with cold and when of purpose part of the oyntment was pared off from the weapon that part of the wound which corresponded unto it would ake and be troubled so also the witches applying their naughty venom unto the Mummy in the glove shooe or other part of the worn-shirt smock sock or such like do produce their venomous effect afar off We read also in cacomagicall books in what esteem the members of young children were among enchanters and especially their skin of which after many diabolicall and necromanticall consecrations they create their virgin parchment on which they write the names of god of the angels they invoke and the character of the planet or star unto which they do belong Must therefore the magnetick effect of mans nature or spirituall Mummy with his like be esteemed damnâble and diabolicall because the mystery thereof is by the devill revealed unto witches and the secret pâoperty thereof converted unto an evill sense and unchristian-like use Must aire be refused and banished from man because it may be by bad means corrupted and so be made to kil or is fire to be excluded as condemnable for that it being ill applyed proveth now destructive which being rightly applyed doth cherish and comfort If by contaminating or changing our spirituall Mummy into a contagious and venomous disposition we infect another as one plaguy person poysoneth anoâher ad distans and one house on fire setteth fire unto another though it be not contiguous or touching must therefore the use of the aire and fire be condemned and banished from mans use Or must Gods fire from heaven be abhorred because Satan made use of it in a destructive sense and for the ruine of Job's possession Shall I say the occult property of the spirituall Mummy and the admirable efficacy of mans spirit in wholsome and salutary uses be therefore eschewed and abhorred because by infection it may be converted to a poysonsome disposition Shall a good sword which is ordained for the defence and safeguard of its master bââherefore broke and cast away because a bad man killeth another with it A good thing being ill applyed may do harm The influence and light of the heavenly Sun in the which is the spiracle of life being ill received doth sometime breed unnaturall effects yea the devill himself maketh use of it to serve his use at severall seasons and yet neither it nor his vertues can for all that be esteemed diabolicall In like manner if we descend from the animal sphear unto the vegetable and mineral we find that the notorious Enchantress Medaea made speciall use in her enchantments as also the same is related of other sorcerers and witches of herbs
stones and mineralls without the help of which naturall things neither they nor their devill which revealed unto them their secret vertues could effect or accomplish their desires And for this purpose as Ovid telleth the story she searched the lofty tops of Ata to find out herbs for her purposes Many operate their feats by the vertuous property of stones which the devill doth deliver unto them though they themselves know neither the starry influence that giveth the force nor yet how they should be prepared for the operations of such strange effects As for example There was a witch in Scotland who at her arreignment did confess that by the property of a stone which was taken from her she could discover any thing namely if a thing were true it would sweat and if it were false it would not sweat and also it would reveal other things unto her by changing colours And again when they desired to see some conclusions from her she said that if they would let her have her stone she would shew them some But they fearing that she would escape by that means durst not let her have it but did burn her at the Queens Ferry in Scoâland Some are instructed by him to take a metal and to prepare it under his proper constellation and to grave on it the characters of the star and Angells belonging unto it at suâh a time as the star is most potent in heaven and well encountred by other Planets And then they find these plates to be of a strange effect in many Magical executions What And because the devill knoweth the virtue and properties of these naturall things and can instruct his minsters in the evill usage of them therefore doth it follow that Adam and Solomon and the wise Magitians of the East and many other good and godly persons do not know their virtues their times of collection and their manner of application in goodness yea and if they see a just cause in a contrary sense and that without the transgression of the bounds of naturall and lawfull Magick whose true subject is the Spirit of Wisdom which is the Basis or foundation of true Naturall Philosophy What make we of the means which Moses used when he by dispersing of ashes brought the botch over all Aegypt But some will say that this was supernaturally done Let them but look into the occult Secrets in the nature of other animals vegetables and mineralls and they shall find as great mysteries as these contained naturally in them all suspition of commerce with the devill being set apart Was the reverend Father Albertus Magnus a Cacomagician because he reciteth the abstruce occult and mysticall virtues of Animals Plants and Stones The like did Hermes Plato and many other profound Philosophers Or must these be the pupills of the devill because they know the times and houres of their collection and manner of preparation though they kept that secret unto themselves No verily for they had it from tradition namely from the mysticall and profound Philophers or naturall Wisemen such as Solomon Hermes and the wise men called Magi or naturall Magicians of the East which revealed them unto the worthy by succession from one Age unto another Was it not a wondrous propery in Gyges his ring that cold make him by the naturall property that it had to walk invisible And yet forsooth the blind buzards of our Age such I say as Mr. âoster and his Complices are will have all these miraculous effects in the creatures to proceed from the devill and so deprive the Omnipotent Spirit of God and his Nature of their right when Solomon in plain terms confesseth that all the knowledg of the secret times of Election of the mysticall natures in the stars of the occult virtues and properties of Man Beasts Plants and Roots and all things else known or unknown proceed from the Spirit of God and therefore he concludeth in these words Omnium enim opifex me docuit Sapientia For wisdom the worker or maker of all things taught me In which words he inferreth first That the Spirit of Wisdom teacheth and discovereth unto man the abstruce mysteries of Naturall Philosophy which consisteth in the knowledg and discovery of naturall virtues as well above as beneath And secondly That it is the same Spirit that made those virtues in every specifick thing namely in the starrs above and in the animal vegetable and minerall kingdoms beneath Which being so what can the devill being but a reasonable creature as well as man do in the creating of these essentiall virtues by which he worketh his feats more then man Or why should we attribute that unto him which doth rightly belong unto the all-creating and acting Spirit in the internall creature If man please he may attribute the wickednesse of the action unto the devill which instigateth man to evill and teacheth him the means to effect his bad intent that verily doth of right belong unto the devill For he was created for a destroyer as the Prophet Isaias testifieth to us and to effect it he maketh use of God's naturall creatures for he used the fire of God from heaven to destroy Job's cattle and the corrupt aire to kill with the Plague or Pestilence the Israelites for David's sins Neither was it ever observed that he could do ought against man of himself saving onely in temptation but he operaâeth to destroy or make sick by such naturall antipathising means as God hath framed for a directer usage although also unto some of his veneficall schollers he is pleased to show and reveal a counter-poyson by which they may by a stronger sympatheticall operation drown or extinguish such antipatheticall effects as they have imposed upon man's externall spirit when they are moved either for fear of punishment or for gain or foâ compassion to do it which is the reason that some witches can undo those afflicting maladies which they themselves or other witches have laid on persons but alwaies they must operate by a reall and manifest naturall Substance as are Powders Ointments Herbs and such like As for example Claudaea Fellea Joan Banno and Nicola Piscatrix with all their Society in Lorraine confessed the 9. of May 1581. that they had delivered unto them by the devill subtill powders of three natures the which were distinguished in colour For said they that of a black colour killeth being strewed on meat or rubbed on the body or sprinkled on the apparell and that of an ashen or reddish colour causeth diseases but the white Powder did cure those diseases And Odella Boncuriana being arraigned the 18. of January 1586. saith that it was the manner of the witches of his faction to strew a poysoned powder in the way where they should pass on whom they would work mischief And Francis Perine confessed the 4. of November 1588. that an herb was given her by the devill to be laid in the way that Riberianus who did beat her for stealing some
man that marcheth on the hill where the Mine is and holdeth this Hazel-rod in this posture shall presently perceive the top or perpendicular of the rod to incline violently downward when the man treadeth on a place where any Mine is which is an evident Argument of the Magneticall affection which is between the one and the other 6. Experiment A man that hath many boils in his body was counselled when other things would not cure him by an old woman to find out a bramble which groweth out of the earth at both ends or both ends rooted in the ground and this man was counselled to creep in his clothes under the bramble backwards three times and he was cured so his boils vanished by little and little in five or six daies Mr. Fuller 2. Proposition The singular order and sympathy or antipathy of the vegetable parts between themselves is described and typically set forth by a relation or respect had between it and the Load-stone whereby is argued that the vegetable and minerall and consequently the animal observe one sympatheticall or harmonicall proportion as well in their sympatheticall order as antipatheticall irregularity in their disorder A Problem for the confirmation of the foresaid Proposition In all Magneticall things be they vegetable or minerall and consequently animall evermore nature doth tend unto a convenient unity both in nature and position and contrariwise where their parts do not according unto the course of nature incline unto a conjunction there happeneth a disturbance and as it were a diversity between part and part Demonstration in the Minerall Magnet Take a long Load-stone or Minerall Magnet and let it be C D and let C be the North Pole B and D the South A Then divide this long Load-stone in the middle between the two poles where the aequator passeth namely in E F and E will be South or aequinoctiall unto the pole D and F unto the pole C. As therefore these parts of the Load-stone did respect one another in their entire disposition So also nature tendeth after their division to unite them again And therefore where the division is made the end E desireth and coveteth to cleave and adhere unto F. But E. will not be joyned or have any commerce with D nor yet F with C and then one must convert C unto D and they will well agree and be combinated together For D turneth to the South as before and C to the North. But E and F which should be parts naturally conjoyned and united in the Stone are in so doing mightily displaced so that they do not accord and unite together by a materiall union but they receive their motion and inclination from the form of the Stone So that the ends of this Stone whether they are disjoyned or united do Magnetically tend after one manner unto the poles of the earth both in its first entire and divided figure as in the second and the Magneticall concourse F E in the second figure into one body will be as perfect as that of C D even as it was engendered in his vein and F E as the flote in their boat Application unto the Vegetable This self-same conveniency and inconveniency of the Magneticall Form which is noted to be in the Minerall Magnet will also be observed in vegetables For take a wand or rod of a Willow Tree or any other Plant which groweth easily and let it be A B and A is the uppermost part of the rod and B the lower part next unto the root divide this rod in the middle D C I say then that if the end D be grafted again in the end C it will grow Also if B be grafted on A they will be consolidated together and sprout forth But if D be grafted upon A or C. upon B they will be at strife and consequently will never grow but one of them must needs dye by reason of the preposterous order and inconvenient position because that the vegetative force or vigor which proceedeth after one manner is now diverted and compelled or forced into contrary parts I will say no more touching this point but proceed unto the main burthen of these practicall Magneticall Conclusions with their infallible Demonstration CHAP. VI. How the feisiblity and possibility of the Magneticall manner of cure by the Weapon-salve is produced and demonstrated to be naturall The which that we may the better effect we will first set down our main Proposition touching this kind of cure and afterward elucidate and clearly demonstrate it by evident proofs derived especially from the virtue of the Load-stone The Proposition IF after the wound is made a portion of the wound 's externall blood with his inward spirits or of his internall spirits onely that have penetrated into the weapon or any other thing which hath searched the depth of the wound be conveyed from the wound at any reasonable but unlimited or unknown distance unto an Ointment whose composition is Balsamick and agreeing specifically with the nature of the creature so wounded and be in a decent and convenient manner adapted and as it were transplanted or grafted into it the oyntment so animated by those spirits will become forthwith magneticall and apply with a magneticall aspect or regard unto the bearny spirits which stream forth invisââbly from the wound being directed thereunto by those spirituall bloody spirits in the weapon or other thing which hath received or included them and the lively and southern beams streaming and flowing from the wound will with the northern attraction of the oyntment so magnetically animated concur and unite themselves with the northern and congealed or fixed bloody spirits contained in the oyntment and stir them to act southernly that is from the center to the circumference so that by this reciprocall action union or continuity the lively southern beams will act and revive the chill fixt or northern beams which do animate the oyntment with a magneticall vertue and quickned spirits of the oyntment animated by the spirits of them both and directed by the spirits which were first transplanted into it doth impart by the said union or continuity his balsamick and sanative vertue unto the spirits in the wound being first magnetically attracted and they afterwards by an unseperable harmony transfer it back again unto the wound And this is the reason of that sympatheticall and antipatheticall reference or respect which is by experience observed to be between the oyntment and the wound so that if the whole space of the weapon that made the wound be covered and annointed with the unguent and the unguent be well wrapped and kept warm the wound will find consolation and be at ease but if a part of the oynment be pared away or wiped off from the weapon it hath been often tryed that pain or dolour will immediately ensue and afflict the wound Moreover if the place anoynted be kept temperately warm the wound will also rest in temper but if it be uncovered and
left in the open cold aire then will it happen that the wound will also be distempered and vexed with cold Certain Problematicall Demonstrations to prove the foresaid Proposition to be true in every point and consequently to manifest this manner of Magical cure to be effected Naturally and therefore not Cacomagically The particulars of the foresaid Proposition are easily proved and maintained by such ocular demonstrations as may be produced from the vertuous operation of the minerall Load-stone unto the which we may rightly compare all magneticall bodies with their actions because they have their denominations from the mineral magnet and therefore this weapon-salve is tearmed by some men Unâuentum magnetâcum and the cure is also called Magneticall I proceed therefore in my purpose after this fashion to prove the Proposition punctually and therefore I divide it into members or portions The first member of those Propositions with certain experimentall Conclusions from the Load-stone to confirm it First therefore we gather by the said precedent Proposition that two magneticall bodies of a like nature may spiritually meet and conjoyne together by a like naturall inclination And that the weapon wounding or other materiall penetrating doth imbibe the spirits and is made magneticall 1 Problematicall Demonstration taken from the Load-stone Take two Loadstones and place them in small wooden vessells or boats of cork or wood and set them upon a basin or tub or cistern of water so that each of the Magnets may aspect one another within the visible orb of his vertue you shal perceive them sensibly to move and as it were to incite each other to mutual embracement so that at the contrary poles unto one another they will meet and unite themselves which is an argument that dissevered spirits of an identity of nature do sympathetically operate and act one upon the other at a distance 2 Demonstration from the same In the like manner if we shall place a piece of Iron in one little boat and a Load-stone in another you will find that the Iron will hasten with the like celerity unto the Load-stone being also in his small barck for you shall perceive that each of them will be carried unto the other and will the one stick and adhere unto the other in the mid-way and after that the desire of each of them is accomplished that is after coition and union they will stand still and rest in their consents 3 Demonstration 1 Problem One vein of Iron being rightly disposed will draw unto it another if the vein be rich and of the colour of Iron As for example put one peece of the vein in his little cup or small boat or bark as is said before of the Load-stone and hold in your hand another piece of the same Mine somewhat near the other and you shall find the other in his bark to move unto it but nothing so swiftly as will the Iron unto the Loadstone 2 Problem You shall find it also for a most true experiment that if Iron be taken nakedly of it self that is not being excited by the Load-stone or any thing else it will draw another Iron unto it though not so swiftly as the Load stone that is vigorous A tryall is made thus Make a piece of cork round and as big as a hazel-nut and pierce it through the center with a reasonable big piece of wier till the middle of the iron be in the center of the corck put it into a quiet water to swim in and apply it unto its other end very near but so that it toucheth it not the end of another piece of wier and you shall see that the piece you hold in your hand shall draw the other in the cork so that as you move the one the other shall slowly follow And this must be effected by the application of such of their ends as shall agree in their pole The Demonstration is this Application By these examples therefore it is made evident how the two spirits of like disposition or rather of one identity of nature are apt and prone by a naturall inclination to covet and embrace their like and that at a distance or space between each body and consequently that it is not the bodies that acteth For they are divided and distant from one another but the formall spirits which by an astrall emanation do sympathetically and lovingly first aspect one another and then by an equall attraction do as it were kiss and hug together And therefore it cannot seem strange or impossible unto wise men that the bloody spirits in the oyntment and those in the wounded person should at a far distance meet and apply together by a sympatheticall aspect being that they are but one continued and indivisible quintessentiall spirit though altered in elementary property even as the northern aire is by the north wind made to differ from the south though all is but one essentiall and indivisible aire Touching the last branch of this Member it argueth that spirits may be nay are imbibed by the weapon that woundeth which by this axiom of Paracelsus maketh the place of the weapon which woundeth a magnet or magneticall The Problem is this 3. Problem Every Body after that it hath imbibed the Mummy which issueth from man is forthwith made a Magnet unto him And this is proved Magnetically by this Problem 4. Problem Iron incited or touched by the Load-stone at the Pole doth draw unto him the like of the Load-stone that toucheth it Application Now that the vitall spirits of the wounded animal do penetrate in the very moment of the stroak into the weapon and that the weapon doth greedily suck them in it is proved by this following observation Some Country Chirurgions not daring to search some deep wounds with a Probe do use to take the weapon that made the wound be it sword dagger knife and such like and put it into the fire and though before you saw no difference in the colour of the weapon yet after it cometh out of the fire you shall see the place of it that wounded altered in colour from the other by reason of such spirits as it did imbibe This is commonly found true by experience Another proof to maintain this is that if a Viper or Adder be cut with a sword or knife in peeces the venomous odious and irascible spirit of the Serpent will penetrate into the substance of the steel which is confirmed by this namely because that if a man be afterward wounded by this weapon that did cut and divide the Adder or Viper it will so invenome the wound that it will be made incurable except an Antidote made of Adder or Viper be applied So also the Scorpion being bruised and applied unto the wound that is made by the Scorpion will cure it as also an Oyle made of the same The second member of the Proposition with the proofs Secondly that if a Magneticall body be it animal vegetable or
minerall be divided into parts the spirituall nature of these parts do alwaies tend unto Unity although these parts be divided far from one another which is an Argument that they are no continued thing in spirits and therefore one part doth directly co-operate and send out actuall beams of sympatheticall identity unto another though the bodily divided parts be absent or distant in space from one another A Demonstration to confirm this This is sufficiently proved by the ocular Demonstrations recited for the confirmation of the first member but more especially by the second Demonstration of the eighth Chapter of this present Book where I have shewed you that if a long Load-stone be divided in the middle between the two Poles that is to say about the aequinoctial line and each of these divided parts be put to flote in his small vessell or bark on the still water The influentiall spirit which is one in essence and continued between them doth desire and covet to unite the divided minerall bodies whose limbs are by a wound or Solution of continuity separated and to reduce them into the naturall estate they were in at the first and for that cause B and C whereof the one is Meridionall namely B and the other Septentrionall to wit C which were at the first continuated parts but now divided are by that unseparable Spirit which giveth life unto both the parts reunited sucked and drawn together and reduced unto the estate of their pristine continuity that is of two stones they are made one so that the portion of spirit in C draweth and attracteth the bodily B unto it and the proportion of spirit in B sucketh and inticeth C unto it For we must note that the unity of spirit doth evermore desire and effect the unity of the body in which it dwelleth for the quintessentiall or formall spirit delighteth not in the variable disposition of the airy spirit and therefore coveteth to inhabit the close specificall house or pallace which it did possesse immediatly after his discent from his celestiall starry parents This is the reason that one specifick spirit is most easy yea and rejoyceth to communicate with his like but especially one and the same spirit must needs act with and never be absent from the other and therfore when the frozen Northern and as it were congealed nature is incited and stirred up by the aequinoctiall or Southern property if it be rightly adopted and the Southern Iron 's property is touched with the Magneticall North-pole of the other they will effect attraction the better and to this purpose speaketh this Problem Problem If Magneticall bodies be divided or any part broken off from the whole each part so broken off will have his North and South And therefore each particle of Iron or of the Load stone being divided from the whole will have a Northern property and a Southern which doth manifestly confirm unto wise men's capacities that the spirit of every Specifick yea of every individuall hath a Northern and a Southern condition and consequently an attractive and dilative property and not only the spirit of the whole but also of every particular of it if it may be spoken being that the formall spirit is in all and in every part Application Yee may therefore perceive by this how possible and fezible it is that the spirit in the dead blood or weapon being transferred and as it were transplanted at a far distance in the Ointment as having a Balsome not differing from the animall nature but especially in respect of the vegetable Salt of the Uzneas in the which altogether lurke spirits which by the present application of the Southern lively and warm spirits in the wounded man guided unto it by the spirits transported or transplanted bood doth re-vivify and co-operate with the same spirit not onely in the stanching of the flowing blood but also in the healing and consolidating of the wound as shall be shewed you more amply hereafter The third Member of the Proposition is confiâmed by these proofs Thirdly that it is not the animal's externall blood but the internall in the externall which being separated from his fountain and transplanted on another unctuous stock doth operate Magnetically from the stock on which it is planted unto the fountain or spring from whence it floweth And it is maintained thus A Demonstration to confirm this first Problem It is not any corporeall thing which floweth from the Load-stone or which penetrateth into Iron or that is poured or extracted out of the Iron being awaked by the Load-stone's power but one Load-stone disposeth another by an originall or primary Form and the Load-stone doth revoke and disposeth the Iron which is familiar unto his nature together with it self unto a formed vigour for which reason the Iron runs unto the Load-stone and doth greedily conform it self unto it each forces or vigours symphoniacally provoking Application Therefore it is a formall spirit or subtle celestiall influence which doth operate mutually from the wounded body unto the transported or transplanted blood and not the body or the blood or the aire or the oyntment in which the transported blood or bloody spirits are contained so that the excited spirits in the oyntment do apply their regard unto the beams of the exciter the north spiracle unto the southern and so a union is made between the spirits of the oyntment with the adopted blood and those of the wounded body And as we see that by the concourse in the macrocosmicall aire of the north-wind and the south both spirits are united into one form and are magnetically with their airy vehicle contracted into a clowd which containeth in it a formall fire or lightning and a watry body So the two emanations do cause a contracted aery spirit in the place of their concourse or application which doth in his contraction attract the balsamick spirit which the oyntment doth send forth even as we see in the Weather-glass that the contracted aire sucketh up with it the masse of the water and yet the aire so contracted is not for all that visible But this is further confirmed by this Problem 2 Problem Iron is allured and drawn onely by the immateriall act of form that is to say by an incorporeall proceeding the which doth act and is conceived in the iron subject as in a continuate homogeneall body And this is the reason that Iron is moved and drawn unto the Load-stone without being impedited or hindred by the interposition of dense and well-compacted bodies between them And again Iron draweth to it the Load-stone it self and the concourse unto unity is moved by a mutuall consent and vigour the which concourse is vulgarly termed Attraction Application Here we see that reference which is between the Magnet and the Mine out of which that spirit which doth animate the Magnet is drawn As for example In the forementioned Chapter the spirit of the microcosmicall Mummy is in the excrementitious
excrescence transported unto the Plant and so the plant animated by that spirit becommeth a magnet which directeth his vegetating spirit to apply unto the spirit or beam of the weak member c. I come now to the proof of the fourth Member The fourth Member of the Proposition is demonstratively proved thus Fourthly that there is a spirituall penetration made from one body unto another before any magneticall operation can be effected Demonstration This member is sufficiently confirmed by that which is already said in the other members and yet it is more plainly expressed by this Problem Problem The Load-stone doth guide and direct magneticall things the which do conceive vigour and force from it not onely in their extremities but also in their interiours and very marrow As for example A piece of Iron so soon as it is touched or attainted with the very breath of the Load-stone it is excited magnetically at the end at which it is touched or regarded and that very power which it received by that touch passeth quite through from the end touched unto the other not onely superficially but also centrally and as I may say at the very marrow Application It appeareth evidently by this that as the formall beams of one Load-stone doth penetrate unto the very center of the other and the other again reciprocally into the very center of it so also the spirit of the wounded man doth penetrate partly by emission from it self and partly by attraction of his like in the oyntment into the bowels of the oyntment unto the spirits of his own kind that are hid in it and reciprocally the oyntment being made a magnet by the imbibing of the Mummial spirits of the blood applyeth his attractive beams unto those which are emitted from the wound being directed therein by the spirit of the dead blood in the unguent as shall be shewed hereafter more at large The fifth Member of the Proposition with the Proofs Fifthly that the magneticall act and operation of celestiall astralicall or starry and influentiall spirits are not to be limited nor yet to be impedited or hindred in their motion if we look into the mystery of this business with intellectuall eyes We must distinguish this Member for your better understanding into two severall articles or branches whereof the first must shew that the extension of the emanations made from two astralicall or starry spirits are not to be limited by mans understanding howsoever by an externall effect it may at random be guessed at These one shall prove that such influentiall starry beams or quintessentiall emissions as are sent forth from the Load-stone unto the Iron or from one Load-stone unto his like in nature and consequently from all other magneticall bodies oâ like condition in essence cannot be hindered by the interposition of any solid or well-compacted bodies as some Fool losophers rather than Philosophers have âemerariously averred in their writings Touching the first which includeth the imaginary termination or bounding of beamy or formall extensions or emanations from magneticall bodies within a setled or known limited sphear of activity the impossibility thereof howsoever our Peripatetick Philosophers have feigned the contrary is argued by these following problematicall Demonstrations Certain Problematicall Demonstrations confirming the contents of this Members first Article 1. Problem The vigour in heavenly bodies whereby they move themselves doth argue a soul in them and for that reason they are esteemed by the wisest Philosophers to be endued and animated with a divine act or spirit by means whereof they move which being so the extension of application of their beams must also prove uncertain and therefore without limit being that their spirits after the emanation made do concur sometimes in the aire sometimes in the water and sometimes without resistance they pierce even unto the center of the earth to operate upon the mineral Kingdom bestowing on the earthly subjects that are under them of that very formall act and vertue whereby they operate in their acute penetration And therefore these inferiour creatures of a like nature are able to send forth and extend their astralaicall or beamy vertues as far and to apply their beams at as an unterminable distance as their stars in heaven are observed to do 2 Problem It is rightly then said that the Load-stone doth move the Load-stone and doth both dispose of one another by their primary form which it receiveth from his starry fountain And therefore it was not any absurdity in the wise man Thales Milesius nor yet any madness in Scaliger to assigne a soul unto the Magnet seeing that by it it is centrally incited directed and carried or moved circularly As for example Example If two Magnets be put one against the other in their small barkes upon the water they will not presently concur together but first they do mutually conforme themselves unto one another or else the lesser doth obey the greater moving it self after a circular fashion and when at the last they are disposed according unto their naturall position they run or concurr together The like effect also will appeare between the Magnet and the Iron and the Iron and the Iron as shall be expressed hereafter An Addition Whereby although it may be replied that this Act of the Load-stone with the Load-stone or it with the Iron doth by effect seem to be limited within a certain dimension and therefore what I say proveth not much as yet for the unbounded dimension of the Magneticall bodie 's emanation I answer That the sensible act which is between the Load-stone and Load-stone doth not argue that because the two ponderous bodies have their motion but at such a distance therefore their spirits can extend themselves or apply their beams no further For it is one thing to operate sensibly by a violent attraction of a heavy mass and another thing for one Form onely to embrace and concur in a naturall rejoycing sympathy with another And this alteration is verified even of such as are well practised in the Load-stone's property by this following Problem 3. Problem The Orbe of the internall or spirituall Magneticall virtue doth extend it self at a larger distance than the Orbe of any sensible or externall or visible motion can warrant For the thing that is Magneticall is effected in the extremity of it a far off although it doth not move by a locall motion But if the Load-stone be applied nearer unto it then will also the whole Magnetick mass move corporally unto it Whereby is acknowledged that the virtuous extention of the Magnet is farre beyond the limits of the Orbe of visible Magneticall motion But I will prove it by degrees more evidently namely that the starry influentiall virtue in the Magnet extendeth it self beyond the limits of any sensible capacity 4. Problem The needle touched Magnetically will aspect the North-pole even from the aequinoctiall point which is an Argument of the unlimited extention of the Load-stones
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
that soul in man extend it self far beyond the capacity of flesh and blood and therefore is onely intellectually to be understood By the fifth that each particle of mans blood or spirituall Mummy being divided from the whole hath all the parts or proportions in it ideally described that the whole hath and therefore doth operate as well with a northern as southern aspect and consequently draweth down from the heavens a like property as occasion is given For so this one Spirit is said to come from the four winds and yet it is but one spirit in essence though four-fold in property for it was by the vertue of it that the dead mentioned by the Prophet did rise again And therefore so far as the north wind or south winds extension may be so far is this spirit in man able to send forth his spirituall beam I will come now unto the proof of the second Touching the second Article which sheweth the acute penetration of this spirit and that it is effected without any impediment contrary unto some ignorant persons opinion who think that castles stones woods hills and such like may hinder the penetration of this subtle and all-penetrating spirit The proof is made by these problematicall demonstrations Demonstrations confirming this Member's second Article 1 Problem Neither fire nor water nor earth can hinder the ingressive action or piercing vertue of the Load-stone upon the Iron being it is proved by experience that it sucketh and draweth it unto him quite through them as for example If a candle or flame of fire be interposed between the Load-stone and a small piece of wyer you shall find the piece of Iron will leap quite through the flame unto the Load-stone In like manner the Needle on his turn-pin will for all the interposition of a flame turn unto the Load-stone and that with the same celerity that it would do in the open aire So that you may see by this experiment that the coition of these magneticall bodies are not hindred by fire Also if water or earth be interposed between them it will do the like There is another Problem which expresseth the unresistable penetrative vertue of this more effectually in these terms 2 Problem Iron is allured onely by an immateriall act or an incorporeall process which doth operate and is conceived in an Iron subject as in a continuated homogeniall body and therefore it hath no need of large or wide passages And for this reason the Iron is moved and drawn by the Load-stone it self and again the Iron doth draw the Load-stone it self and a concourse or a meeting together in a unity is made by their beams although that thiâk bodies be interposed as sticklers between them So that you see that the putting or applying of thiâk subâtances between the Iron and the Load-stone cannot hinder the coition of spirits which is a token that the influentiall or formall spirit cannot be impedited in hiââotion And therefore âhis subtle spirit whiâh hath his beginning from the soul of the world is said by the wisest Philosopher Omnia permeare entia âo pass or travers all things But yet more plainly 3 Problem The Load-stone without any frication or rubbing or being exsiccated by heat or perfused with moysture in the aire in the water doth provoke and allure unto it magneticall subjects and also solid as well-compacted bodies as thick boards or tables of stone or grosse plates of mettle as silver gold or brass being put between And Ridley saith That although such substances as be not magneticall be placed between the Needle and the Load-stone yet they cannot hinder the orbe and proceeding of the magnetick vigour As for example If a Load-stone should be placed in a box of wood stone tinne silver or brass yet the Loadstone will extend his magneticall orbe Application I conclude therefore by this typicall expression that the emissions of mans vitall spirits are so subtle and so piercing that no interposed bodies are able to hinder it in its motion to his pretended mark nor yet the magneticall blood in the oyntment being excited can be hindred in his concouââe oâ union with the same southern âr vivifying spirit and that especially because the formall spirits of the one is continued and homogeneal unto the other I proceed now unto the sixt Member of the foresaid Proposition The sixt Member of the Proposition with the Proofs Sixtly that after a Body be it Animal Vegetable or Mineral is made by a transplantation of another bodies spirits magneticall or a magnet unto that other body it doth by attracting of its beloved's spirits unto it impart unto them of that vertue and property which appertaineth unto it self insomuâh that as the lover doth participate with the nature of the beloved so also the beloved doth partake and share with the lover's condition especially if they be homogeneall in kind and reciprocall in affection Certain Problematicall Demonstrations to confirm this member of the fore-said Proposition 1 Problem Quodlibet corpus cui Mummia viva in alio homine propinatur illicò fit magnes Every body to whom the lively Mummy from a man is given or administred is forthwith made a Magnet Application This Problem is animal and not mineral but it inferreth that by the transplanting of mans bloody spirits into the oyntment the oyntment is forthwith become magneticall and attractive even as before I told you that the hair and nails being planted or grafted on the Oke make it forthwith by communicating of the spirits of the one with the spirits of the other attractive and magnetick 2 Problema Magneticum The Load-stone hath nothing neither can do any thing which the Iron being excited cannot do and that not onely by contact but at a reasonable distance Application Neither can the live man's spirit perform any action that the dead blood transplanted in the Salve by the Magneticall assistance of the Salve cannot perform yea verily it goeth yet further for it inspireth into the wound a Sanative influence 3. Problem Iron being touched doth recreate another Iron and instructeth it unto Magneticall motions so that it draweth unto it a third As for example The Load-stone being applied unto A it draweth unto it the piece of wier B and also after B it draweth C and after C it draweth D. Application The Iron B is compared unto the spirits that are first animated by the lively spirits in man and that animates the Oyntment's spirits which are of a Microcosmicall nature by reason of Uzneas volatil salt which is the receptacle of such vegetating and vivifying Spirits as give life unto man save onely they are of a Northern property and as it were dead These spirits in Oyntment are referred unto C which work and operate being so excited in D which importeth the emitted spirits of the wounded man so that we see that it is but one and the same continuated Spirit which putteth into action the three severall Subjects
and their spirits namely the blood transported the Oyntment and the Body of the wounded 4 Problem The Load-stone and the veine of Iron are all one and have all one matrix and are found in one Mine as twins yea and the robust Magnet hath Iron in it And therefore the Iron which is extracted from them both hath all the Magneticall virtues as well in the vein as being made by separation but more weakly except it be excited by the Load-stone and added unto it by capping For so it will be stronger in his Magneticall power than the Load-stone it self Application In like manner the blood in the wounded person and that which is transplanted to be purified and comforted in the Oyntment came out of one and the same vein and have all one matrix and therefore that extracted blood hath in it all the Magneticall virtues but more weakly and more in puissance than in act except it be excited by the Southern fountain of blood and capped with the Balsamick nature of the unguent For being so prepared namely incited and addressed it will have his own Northern power and that Balsamick and attractive virtue of the Uznea is so powerfull in his Northern Saturnine condition that it suddenly sealeth up and arresteth by congelation the Southern blood that floweth even as the Northern wind converteth the aire into fix and immobil snow or hail 5 Problem The Load stone and the Iron among all other bodies that are known unto us are more near in nature and condition unto the earth for they have in them a substance that is most genuine and homogeniall and approaching unto the earth And therefore these three do agree in nature together Application By this it appeareth what near reference there is between the body of Man which we compare rightly unto the Earth and the blood which issueth out of the veins of the Earth referred to the Load stone and the Ointment indued with a bloody spirit and which was extracted out of blood For the fat and the Uznea and Mummy were of blood For Scriptures tell us that the Soul of the flesh and consequently of the fat and bones is in the blood Whereby we may see that though these three do differ in bodily Substance yet they agree in the homogeniety of spirit And therfore it is no marvel though there is a continuity between the spirit of the bodily blood and that transplanted neither also ought we much to wonder at the naturall commerce which is between the bloody spirits and the Oyntment that so sudden a union should be made between them and that it should forthwith become a Magnet adopted onely in his Balsamick and sanative operation for the wound being that it is guided and directed by these bloody spirits which are transplanted in it and after animation did convert the beams of his nature unto his like being as near in spirit and property unto the wounded man's blood as is a piece of Iron or Load-stone which is broken from off the whole which accordeth in every respect with the spirit of his Father from whence it sprung So also we see that though the Macrocosmicall aire doth seem to vaây in nature according to his position for the Northern aire is cold the Southern or aequinoctiall is hot yet it is but one spirit howsoever it is divided into this oâ that cloud And again the internall or formal Spirit which animateth diversly the four winds is but one and the same indivisible spirit as the Prophet Ezekiel telleth us In like manner it is but one and the same identity of spirit which acteth in the wound the conveyed blood and the Oyntment being all three as it were but one blood as the Apostle taught the Athenians that all men came of one blood and consequently of one spirit in the blood I prove it also by this Problem 6. Problem Attraction is made in the primary bodies and these are nearest unto one another and of a mutuall consent among themselves by reason of their identity in condition And for this reason the Load-stone draweth the Load-stone and Iron draweth Iron and earth of them all draweth earth and again each of them draweth another Application Hence therefore is gathered a reason why blood draweth blood and one body his like and the Oyntment being animated by one and the same nature doth attract his like unto him And therefore Paracelsus saith justly Quodlibet corpus cui Mummia viva in alio homine propinatur illicò fit magnes Every body that drinketh or takeeth inwardly the lively Mummy of another man is forthwith made a Magnet And therefore we may say justly seeing experience hath made it manifest that every Microcosmical Oyntment that hath imbibed or comprehended the spiritual Mummy of another man's blood is forthwith made a Magnet and by the incitation of the Mummial spirit which it containeth doth greedily thirst and covet after his like And for that reason draweth and allureth it unto it thereby to impart as well unto it as it doth communicate his vivifying property unto his attractor I could say much more to prove the reason of the strong attraction of this Oyntment after it is animated with the live man's spirits but I shall be too redious and again I shall touch it in the consequence and for that reason I will leave this member to proceed to the seventh The seventh Member of the Proposition with the Proofs Seventhly that the Agent which causeth the Alien or strange body much more that which is of his consanguinity to be come Magnetick and affectionate or concupiscible and that by a kind of proximity in nature is the bloody spirit transplanted into the animal unguent or vegetable plant of which I have spoken before the which spirit also is the director or guider unto the unctuous Magnet to operate magnetically upon the subject and his spirit from whence it was derived the which spirit if it be strong and potent it worketh potently if debil or weak it operateth but weakly Certain Problematicall Demonstrations to confirm the Member of the foresaid Proposition This Member for the better explication of our purpose we must divide into three Articles or Particles whereof the first shall prove That the transplanted spirit maketh the unguent into the which it is committed a Magnet unto the wounded person The Second That it is the onely guider and director of the oyntments force and conductor of his balsamick faculty unto the wounded spirit And the last shall demonstrate how a weak and impotent spirit operateth but weakly of it self and yet by the assistance of a sounder and stronger nature it is refreshed and becommeth strong again Demonstrations confirming the contents of this Members first Article Touching the first Article of this Member which maketh the transplanted spirit the cause that the oyntment is magneticall we prove it thus 1 Problem Experience hath taught us and Baptista Porta confirmeth so much that if a weak
Load-stone be hid in the dust of Steel for a season it will become more strong and powerfull in his attraction also the Steel will be bettered by his nature But Paracelsus commeth more near in his relation and saith That by heating of the Load-stone and extinguishing of him in an oyle of Crocus Martis which is made of the best Carinthian Steel so often till it will imbibe no more it will so corroborate this Load-stone that it will have ten times more force then it had in attraction Application By a like relation the weak spirits in the transplanted blood being imbibed by the animal unguent which hath the self-same relation unto the spirituall Mummy in it as the oyl of Crocus Martis hath unto the weak spirits in the Load-stone will be revived and recreated in his magnetick vigour and being mingled with his unctuous like will make a compounded Magnet which will draw his like spirits more strongly by far then it could before Again as the small or weak Magnet doth recover force by being buried in the dust or ferruginous earth which is of his nature so also the bloody spirits being interred in the unctuous earth of his own nature doth by the attraction of his like from the fountain of blood and of the salutary spirit from the oyntment so unite it self unto the oyntment that it createth by emanation a fit Magnet which communicateth his balsamick nature unto them both and by attraction of the spirit of the wounded member it rendreth it self medicinable so that by a continuity and integrity of spirit it conferreth through an immediate spirituall contact the balsamick spirit of the Uznea and other unctuous ingrediences into the wound Do we not observe that the water which passeth or runneth by a heap of salt doth endue wholly the vertue of the salt though the stream of it be long and doth communicate that nature from one extream unto the other And much more the aire will carry the nature of the place it passeth by afar off and yet all that aire so animated will be continuate and therefore much more that subtle celestiall spirit which doth inhabit the aire 2 Problem Iron being touched doth recreate other Iron by touching it and instructeth it unto magneticall motions Application By the like proportion in the Animal kingdom the transplanted spirit being first animated by his southern or living fountain doth animate and recreate magnetically the unguent so that it doth operate upon the wounded man's spirit being emanated and attracted unto it by bettering of his wounded nature through his balsamick emission 3 Problem Set a Load-stone of no force or strength that can 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 other Load-stone whereunto he was united but after he is taken away he will be as weak as he was before unless it be done again often The self-same effect followeth if a piece of Iron be placed on a strong Load-stone but take it away from the Stone and almost all the vertue will be lost Application In the like manner the weak northern blood being transplanted into the oyntment and applying it self unto the lively spirit's emanation by the preservation and corroboration of the oyntment waxeth strong and draweth or operateth effectually rendring the whole oyntment magneticall But if it happen that the oyntment be either pared off from the place of the weapon in which the spirits did penetrate as Sir Bevis Thelwel did prove on the ax that wounded the Wheeler or be struck or wiped off as did happen unto the ax that wounded the Ship-wright by the striking down unadvisedly of Sir Nicholas Gâlburn's hilt of his sword then it will leave his vertue which it received from the bloody spirits in the live man and the balsamick uncture of the unguent and therefore will the wound by that division be as dolorous or more painfull than before But if the oyntment be reapplyed unto the place again and it be wrapped warm the magneticall concourse will be renewed and the dolour will forthwith cease as it hath been tryed by many and this distemper is not made by the cold aire onely causing a chill dolour in the wound but also by the heat of the fire it becommeth inflamingly or burningly dolorous For Mr. James Virot sometimes my servant but now Apothecary unto the Queen and dwelling in Black-Friers did this last year make of the unguent and for a tryall did wound with his Lancet a man in the arm and afterward did annoint the Lancet and applyed it to the fire that the oyntment melted and the Lancet waxed hot and it so fell out that at that instant the wounded person found so great a burning pain in his wound that he could not endure it and then immediately he annointed it again and the wound was forthwith pacifick and healed immediately The Apothecary is extant and will be ready to maintain it The same is better confirmed by this Problem 4 Problem If a weak Magnet be rubbed at one of his poles with a stronger Load-stone it will be bettered by it by his vigour and vertue if not augmented in power Application The very same proportion of action is between the Mummy in the nails and hair and the vegetable Magnet as also between that in the transplanted blood and in the oyntment for the vegetable Magnet or Oke did reduce the occult and secret Mummy in them from puissance unto act by opening the closets of nature no otherwise than the earth doth the grain of Wheat by rotting and even so also is the potentiall or northern nature of the spirituall bloody Mummy being extracted and reduced unto action by the unctuous earth or magnetick oyntment 5 Problem If the magneticall Needle being first touched with a Load-stone be made red-hot in the fire it will lose all his polar puissance or vertue and directive faculty but if it be freshly touched again it will recover his vertue and act again Application So by converting the Proposition for eadem est ratio contrariorum the reason of contraries point at one and the same If the transplanted blood which was touched magnetically with the spirit of life be frozen or congealed with cold it loseth all his strength and operative and directive vertue but if it be conforted by the oyntment and re-animated with the Southern or vitall spirit as before it will not onely wax alive and act again but also render the oyntment magneticall and direct it in his course unto the member affected 6 Problem If there be a thin plate of Steel fastned unto the neather pole of the Magnet or Load-stone namely between the Load-stone and the way of it then the Magnet will lift double and sometimes decuple or ten-times so much as it did From this practice began the capping or arming of the Load-stone with Steel or Iron after divers manners Application
So is the translated northern blood rightly compared unto the Load-stone and the Oyntment to the capping or arming with Iron For by uniting the frozen blood unto the Ointment the attractive power and Magnetical force is far the greater and is able to suck and draw strongly unto it the Southern spirit of lively blood in the wounded I prove this better by this Problem following 7. Problem If two Load-stones armed with two teeth a-piece be set before us the one being strong the other weak or much less whose Axis or Diameter betwixt the teeth is equall and of like length then set the teeth of these together that came from contrary Poles and parts and the stronger will apprehend and lift up the weaker and the weaker being united and incorporated with the stronger by the virtue that it receiveth from the stronger will lift up from the ground and retain the stronger and greater very firmly although he be much heavier then the weight which the small stone doth ordinarily lift up Application By this Minerall type we are taught by changing the measures of weights into proportions in vigor of spirit that the frozen evacuated and transported bloody spirits being capped and armed with the Oyntment whose nature is as near as the blood unto the spirits is made a Magnet so puissant that it is able to attract unto it self the bigger and stronger bloody nature by applying to it the lesser Magnet's Northern nature and as it were his Northern-pole unto the bigger Magnets Southern nature for by that means in the mineral kingdom a natural Union is made as is proved by this Problem 8. Problem There is a naturall Union and a violent and depraved Union and the naturall is when the coition is made by contrary Poles as by the North pole and the South Again that the strongest attraction is from the North-pole this Problem doth confirm 9. Problem The North-pole is the most strong and vigorous pole to all Magnetick intents and purposes if he have the quantity that the South hath Application Whereby it is evident that the Northern nature which is in the unctuous Magnet and his influentiall spirit is by far more attractive than the Southern or warm spirit neither can the Southern or aequinoctial draw unto it but as he participates of the Northern nature by a naturall concurrency unto his like and that is the reason that the naturall Union is said to be where a concurrency is made of opposite polar natures For from them is the strongest attraction made because that it is the nature onely of cold to contract as contrariwise heat doth dilate This polar force therefore is conclusively maintained by this Problem with the which I conclude this Article's proof 10. Problem The Load-stones that be capped take and apprehend at the Pole onely Application As who should say that the Northern or congelated Mummy capped or armed with the Ointment of his own nature and the Southern or lively Mummy capped with flesh do apply Magnetically unto one another at the Poles namely the lively Mummy at the Southern or aequinoctiall and the weak and frozen at the Northen and therefore the manifest attraction is from the unctuous Magnet and his imbibed Agent I now come unto the second Article or Particle of this Member Demonstrations confirming the Contents of the Member's second Article or Particle As concerning the second Article of this member which sheweth that the spirituall Mummy of the transplanted blood is the director and guider of the Oyntments Magneticall force or vigor unto the wound at what distance soever I demonstrate it by these problematicall assertions following 1. Problem The Load-stone doth guid and direct Magneticall things which do conceive vigor and force from it not onely in the extremities but also in their interior and veiny marrow As for example So soon as a piece of Iron is apprehended it is accited Magnetically into the end where it was touched and that very force so bestowed upon it penetrateth quite throughout even unto the other end or extremity not onely superficially but also centrally Application By this Example it is proved that the formall Mummy of the blood operateth in the very like manner with the Oyntment which is to it as the Iron is unto the Load-stone so that as the Load-stone by touching the Iron maketh it after the imbibition of his spirituall vigor a Magnet So also after the imbibition of this bloody spirituall Mummy the unguent becommeth a Magnet Forasmuch as it is throughly animated with a Magneticall vigor And doth by virtue of this Mummiall soul direct his beam and Balsamick force unto the fountain from whence that Mummiall spirit did arise I prove the direction to be true by these other Problems following 2. Problem One Load-stone doth dispose of the other one doth convert the other and reduceth it in his order and guideth and directeth it into his Concordances and when they are met and joyned together they do mutually adhere firmly unto one another The example is evident For if you take two Irom wiers of a length being excited at the ends by contrary Poles and thrust them through round corks as big as Hazel-nuts and put them to swim in the water you shall find that they will by little and little order themselves and the Northern spirituall contact of the one will first direct his axil-tree and after draw the South-pole unto it untill both meet one another in the manner of two Tilters or Hors-men with their speares The Demonstration Application The spirituall Mummy in the transplanted blood is one Load-stone which doth dispose the Oyntment in such a manner that it becometh a Magnet also and this Magnet is directed by the spirit of the Mummy into the concordances of the spirituall Mummy which breatheth forth of the living wounded man which iâ attracteth and uniteth and partly participateth with his vivifying force and partly communicateth with him of his Balsamicall spirit which by reason of his continuity with the wound it doth easily though invisibly transfer unto the wound I proceed now unto the third Article or Particle of this Member Demonstrations confirming the Contents of this member's third and last Article or Particle As for the third and last Article of this Member which sheweth that a weak and impotent spirit operateth but weakly of it self but by the assistance of a stronger nature it is recreated and becommeth vigorous And lastly again it is also confirmed by many sufficient Problematicall conclusions which are produced from the Load stone's properties 1 Problem A Load-stone loseth his attractive vertue and doth as it were decay with age if it be long exposed unto the open aire and not kept and put into the filings or scales of Iron Application Also the life-blood so soon as it is effused out of his warm mineral veins and tasteth of the cold aire loseth his active vertue and becommeth dead and congealed except it
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 ânguent 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
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
so that as the vertue of the plant with the Saffron do kill and poison the infection in the urine so also by the mutuall consent which is betwixt the two infecting extreams namely the blood and the urine the infection also in the blood is observed by little and little to dye wither and decay But I will produce unto you a magneticall Problem to confirm the possibility of this Proposition 2 Problem Two Load-stones rightly cohering at opposite poles by the comming of a stronger Load-stone or Iron incited do make an abort and the new commer will easily drive away the other which is with a contrary face and will command him and so the coherence or union of the other two will cease or end Application So that union which was made between the spirit infected with the corrupting humour and the corrupted blood is separated and the unnaturall is forced to fly and depart from the naturall by the help of another which is more potent then the unnaturall which is less homogeneall and proper to rectifie and purifie by the union of his spirit the impurity in the naturall blood and to kill and mortifie the corrupter in the urine I need not to say much more for the proof hereof being that the precedent Chapter doth fully confirm and that by relation had unto the Load-stone and Weather-glass in every particle of this Proposition being that as blood is transplanted from the wounded parties fountain of blood and as it were grafted on the oyntment so also is the urine with bloody spirits transferred from the bloody fountain in the icteritious person and is planted or placed in a bed of salutary ashes from whence it operateth no otherwise in the living blood then the blood or spirits in the oyntment do in the veins of the wounded person I will now proceed unto the microcosmicall Magnet which is taken out of the living man and I purpose to describe unto you briefly and in generall tearms the wonderfull effects in sympathy which it produceth by his extraction of the spirituall Mummy out of mans body and by the transplantation and right application thereof CHAP. VIII Wherein the secret Magnet which is extracted out of the Microcosm or Man yet living is in generall terms mentioned with the manner of his attraction or extraction of the spirituall Mummy out of Man and the application and as well the Antipatheticall as Sympatheticall operation thereof I Will now in few words relate unto you a History of the abstruce manner of healing by Transplantation which if it be rightly considered it doth farre surpass that of the Weapon-salve For it doth not onely cure at distance as that doth but it operateth that feat by the vegetative spirit of the plant And yet I hope that my Story shall no way sound unto Wisemens eares as Cacomagicall but onely naturally Magicall and therefore ordained by God to be wrought upon in the right use thereof for man's good and salutary benefit For unto that end did the Spirit of Wisdom teach those which were inclined unto wisdom as Solomon witnesseth as well those things which are occult and hidden as such as are manifest and apparent unto man's sense And because that good things may by abuse be converted unto evill and unlawfull purposes as a sword to kill as well as to save as shall âe told you hereafter Therefore is it God's will that these mysteries should be hid from the unlearned or at least-wise from such of the vulgar as are wickedly minded and ordained them to be laid open unto such as are honest wise and discreet But leaving all preambles I will come to the point and proceed with that style and method in which I began The Generall Proposition There may be extracted out of a living man without any prejudice unto his health a Magnet which by a several application of it unto convenient parts of the body will draw or suck out according unto the pleasure of the Applier the animal vitall or naturall spirituall Mummy out of one and the same living Man and that without any detriment unto his person the which being rightly with the Magnet that imbibed it transplanted and made vegetative will operate as well by an internall administration as at a far distance or by a spirituall emanating relatition after it be duly ordered and adapted both to the health and preservation and infection and damage and destruction of mankind An Explication of every Member of this Proposition This Proposition doth consist of many Members whereof the first toucheth the generation condition and preparation of the Magnet The second the manner of application for the extraction of the spirituall Mummy The third openeth the fashion of a manifold Transplantation of that Mummy being so extracted and lastly as well the usages as the abuses thereof Of all which Particles or Members thus in order Of the Microcosmicall Magnet We term this the Microcosmicall Magnet because it hath the properties of the Minerall Load-stone And it may therefore easily be conjectured and guessed by such as are wise in their apprehension what it is by comparing the animal Magnet with that of the Minerall For as the Minerall Magnet is not of a naturall but monstrous birth for it is not engendred of like and equall Genitors but is begotten after the manner of the Mule being that her mother or passive corporeal mass is a common Saturnine and stony Mercury but his Father or active Form is a Metalline Sulphurous Martial spirit So also this our Microcosmicall Magnet doth consist of a Sulphurous Martial spirit being as it were his Formal Father and of a strange or forrein Mercury which is nevertheless a near neighbour in position and condition unto the Microcosmicall Mercury as his passive or Mercuriall matter As for the Mine of which it is extracted it is the living Man and it is taken or derived from him without any prejudice unto his health and after a certain preparation of it it is made a fit Magnet to suck or draw unto it the spirituall Mummy out of the living Man and that without any detriment unto his health The Manner of this Magnet's application for the extraction of the Spirituall Mummy As for the manner of its application it is this We take the Magnet so prepared and if we would extract the Animal's Mummiall spirits we must apply it unto those places which are aptest for their evacuation As for example If we desire the Mummy of the vitall parts then we must adapt our Magnet to suck at that place which nature hath ordained to purge the vitall region Lastly if we would have the naturall spirituall Mummy we must apply it unto that place of the body out of which nature is accustomed to send forth the spirituall fumes or sweaty evacuations from that member namely from the Liver To conclude if you would make a generall Medicine which should respect the animal vitall and naturall parts all at once then must your Magnet
ignarus And therefore I will conceal the rest of his occult properties and their sympatheticall effects from such Criticks and lock it up in the treasury of truth Onely in a word I say that by it the Dropsie Pleurisie Gout Vertigo Epilepsie French-Pox Palsey Cancer Fistula foul Ulcers Tumors wounds Herniaes Fractions of Members superfluity and suppression of Menstrues in women as also sterility in them Feavors Hecticks Athrophy or wasting of members and such like may by this naturall magicall means be cured and that at distance and without any immediate contact And to conclude Paracelsus affirmeth that this magneticall kind of cure which is effected by naturall Magick doth excell in vertue all other Physicall secrets which may be extracted or separated either out of Herbs or Roots or Minerals I will now come to the second Part or Member of this Book which speaketh of the antipatheticall effects of this Mummiall experiment The Second Part or Member of this Book which handleth the practice of Antipathy CHAP. I. In this Chapter the Author expresseth how by the self-same internall spirit in the creature as wel Antipatheticall as Sympatheticall effects may be produced Herein is also set down the reason why a spirit that is infected and corrupted with a poyson some condâtion is most venomous and contagious unto his kind AS it is certain that like doth naturally affect his like for Nature doth rejoyce at the presence of his nature and nature doth correct and corroborate his nature if it be sound and full of vivifying and wholsome spirits So also nature if it be poysoned and infected by a venomous nature will by uniting it self unto a sound and wholsome nature quickly corrupt and inquinate it and so by such a kind of abortive and depraved union antipathy is placed insteed of sympathy Now how this is possible in nature I will in few words relate unto you As nature doth magnetically effect and allure unto it her like so if that like which it âucketh unto it be inquinated with corruption the said attracting spirit be it never so sound will quickly taste of the bitter with the sweet namely of the poyson and so will also be corrupt equally with that spirit which is homogeneall unto it in which the infection dwelleth being forced unawares to entertain strife dissention and antipathy into his tabernacle unawares even as we see a sound spirit in the Animal which thirsting after his like spirituall celestiall food which hovereth occultly in the aire to be refreshed by it doth unawares draw in an enemy with it namely a pestilent and corrupt fume whereby it is oppressed and inflamed with a putredinous fire so that it was not the appetite or desire of the sound spirit to draw in that poyson unto it but the spirit like it self that was poysoned And again each spirit which is incumbered with any antipatheticall and unnaturall accident desireth to shake off contentious antipathy and to re-assume that peacefull sympathy which it enjoyed before but finding it self unable it is apt to cleave and adhere unto good and sound spirits for its relief being that vis unita fortior and if more sound spirits of his like were joyned unto it then might it the easilier conquer and expell his antipatheticall adversary So also we see that one blear-ey'd person by darting his infectious beams for relief at a reasonable distance becommeth a flame which setteth on fire the sound spirit unto the which it applieth for spirituall poysons are like secret flames of malignant fire Wherefore as spirits are by union joyned together and multiplyed like oyle added unto oyle so doth the infectious flame increase and feed equally upon them both For as the sound spirit desireth the society of his like to comfort it and the corrupted spirit so desired doth also covet the sound spirit to assist it against his enemy So corruption is sucked in by them both and antipathy is forced to roust among them and forsaketh them not untill it hath penetrated and gnawed into even their bowells and poysoned their very entralls And we must note that there is no poysoned spirit that doth sooner take hold of a spirit then such as is specifick and of a homogeneal nature For that is the reason that one Mans spirit being infected with the Plague doth so multiply it in his kind chiefly as also the Murren doth chiefly rage in the spirits of Sheep and medles not with the spirits of Men. Do we not commonly see that a like nature being altered by putrefaction is most deadly unto his like So worms avoided out of the body and dried to pouder do by inward administration kill the worms Spitle that is avoided from the Pulmoniack cureth after preparation the Pâisick The Spleen of a Man prepared is an enemy unto the swelling and vegetable Spleen The stone of the Kidney or Bladder by calcination cureth and dissolveth the Stone The touch of a dead man's hand cureth the schirrous tumors The Scorpion being bruised or his body macerated in oyle cureth the wounds of the Scorpion and the oyle of the Viper as also the trochises of his flesh the bitings of the Adder or Viper dead and congealed blood and the salt excrescence out of man's bones is antipatheticall unto the flowing blood In conclusion there is nothing that is more powerfull to check or correct an impediment in a spirit then by applying of the same Specifick spirit being altered from his nature by a contrariety So also there is nothing that infecteth a sound nature sooner than a nature homogeneal unto it self which hath indued corruption and that is the reason that the infirm and corrupted Mummy of one man is so apt to putrify and corrupt that of another as we may not onely discern by these words of Paracelsus Corrupta Mummia corpus etiam sanum quod attingit cum quo unitur corrumpit ea autem sani corporis corruptio est corporis alterus ex quo Mummia sumpta est valetudo sanitas The corrupted Mummy doth also corrupt the sound body that it layeth hold of and is united unto and the corruption of the sound body is the health of the other body out of which the corrupt Mummy was extracted As for example If a man be Leprous and I extract by the Microcosmicall Magnet the Mummy out of him and give it to a sound man it will reduce the Leprous person unto his health again but it will filthily infect the sound man that took it with the same disease as shall be told you hereafter more at large But before we come unto the bulk of this business it will be most fit that I make an Apologeticall transgression lest some persons of more envy and indiscretion than profundity in the true naturall Magia may unworthily accuse me of Cacomagy and that onely because they are altogether ignorant in the mysteries of those lawfull Acts in nature which were taught unto Solomon and revealed unto the wise men of this
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