and Omnipotent Plato in his Timaeo giueth testimonie when hée speaketh thus When the sempiternall GOD had created this Vniuersal hee put into it certaine seedes of reason brought in the beginning Life that he might beget with the world the procreating force Wherein our explication which I brought before concerning the Soule of the worlde is confirmed Which also agreeth with that which the Prophet Moses hath written and which King Dauid hath in his Psalme in these wordes By the worde of the Lorde were the Heauens made and all the vertue of them by the spirit of his mouth By which vertue of the quickning spirit that great Trimegistus more conuersant and exercised in Moses writings then all other Philosophers vttered these diuine wordes in his second booke which is called Asclepias All spirit saith he in the world is acted and gouerned by the spirit The spirit telleth all things the worlde nourisheth bodies the spirit giueth them soule By the spirit all things in the world are ministred are made to growe and increase And after that he saith againe All things haue neede of this spirit For it carryeth all things and it quickneth nourisheth all things according to the dignitie of eache thing in it selfe Life and the spirit is brought forth out of the holy fountaine By which diuine words it appeareth plainely that this eternal and quickening spirit is infused and put into all things so that it is not obserued to deduce and deriue the actions forces and powers also all naturall things from the spirits as from the causes CHAP. III. HAuing spoken sufficiently of the first and second beginning that is to say of God vniuersal Nature God the first cause vsing that generall Nature as his handmaid it resteth that somewhat be spoken of nature natured that is to say of that which is particular To make an apt and conuenient definition whereof let vs knowe that it is no other thing than euery naturall body consisting of forme and matter For of these two causes and not onely of the causes but also of the parts of the whole compound all nature that is to say euery naturall body consisteth For the Peripateticks do thinke that whatsoeuer is the beginning of generation ought to be called nature by a certaine peculiar right And Aristotle saith that the same from whence any thing is made at the first and whereof it hath the first motion mutation is the very beginning I say the beginning from whence the essence of all natural things ariseth The which nature Aristotle in another place defineth to be the beginning substantiall and the cause of motion and of the rest thereof in the which it is at the first and not by Accidents the explication of which definition he hath comprehended in eight bookes And Aristotle doth rightly call Nature the cause and the beginning of internall motion For those things which are made by Nature and are therefore called naturall haue a certaine beginning of motion whereby they are moued of their owne accord not by force Whereby plainly appeareth the difference betweene those things which are naturall and which are endued with an effectuall spirit and with power to worke by it selfe and those things which are made by Arte which haue no force nor power of doing but are dead and deuoided of all sense and motion By these things it appeareth that things natural are called properly naturall existences or beings and such as haue nature And they are saide to haue nature which possesse in themselues the beginning of their motion and of their rest the which beginning of motion of euery thing is either the forme or the matter wherof we haue spoken Forme which is wholly spiritual hath all her motion likewise spiritual So the soule is of this same nature in a liuing creature the motions and sences plainely celestiall spirituall and a light beginning Whereas the Matter is terrestriall ponderous and corporal the other beginning of naturall motion By whose waight and grossenesse the body tendeth downeward so as this kind of motion procéedeth not from the soule or spirituall forme but from the corporall matter which is terrestriall and heauy by his owne nature Hereof it commeth that the name of nature is giuen as well to Matter as to Forme but more aptly and conueniently to Forme because Forme doth manifestly giue to a thing his being actually whereas Matter alone cannot performe that For not euery liuing creature hath sense and motion from that body which is solid terrestriall and ponderous but onely from the spiritual forme that is to say the soule mouing the body and informing it with the vitall vertues As for example A horse is in act and in truth a horse when he neither moueth leapeth nor runneth but these motions which are spiritual are the effects operations of the soule or forme whereas otherwise the body hauing nothing but the lineaments and visible forme whereby it séemeth a horse is meere terrestriall heauie and deade Howbeit neither the soule alone of the horse can bée saide to bée a horse except it be coupled with the body For both being ioyned and coupled together make a horse Knowe therefore that the Forme is far more noble and excellent then the Matter and that Nature as touching her effects and operations is of that power that it generateth and giueth being to all things it putteth matter on the formes it beautifieth and suffereth nothing to bee corrupted but preserueth all things in their estate Thâ—se her vertues faculties and powers she very apparantly sheweth when as she worketh and causeth all sorts of beings out of the 〈◊〉 and out of the seedes and beginning of all things Salt Sulphur and Mercurie and informeth with great variety of impressions of the vitall spirits colours and taste and with the properties of such kinde of powers and faculties that it giueth to euery thing so much as concerneth the office and dignity thereof in all sufficiencie The which building and 〈◊〉 of things so aptâ—â— and conueniently formed in order in number and measure wee may wâ—ll call diuine not terrestriall and corporall 〈…〉 same be naturall according to the power which God hath giuen vnto Nature And yet wée must not thinke that God hath so forsaken the frame of this worâ—d that he sitteth idle as hauing giuen such admirable and potent â—ffects to nature onely according to the opinion of Anâ—xagoras Protagoras and many other Atheâ—â—â—i all Philosophers which acknowledge no other God but Name as also did the Epicures 〈◊〉 it they be to be accused and condemned for so wicked an opinion then do they deserue no small reprehension which denie nature her partes and offices in working For the offices pecuâ—â—ar both of her first and second cause are to be attributed to either according to 〈…〉 Neither are these places of Scripture any thing repugnant 〈◊〉 is God which worketh all in all And againe in him wee liue moue and haue our beeing For
tradition and are deliuered as it were from hand to hand and euery one adorneth his arte with new inuentions according as he excelleth others in dexteritie of wit And albeit it may be said that it is an easie matter to adde to that which is inuented yet both the Inuentors and also the augmentors are to be thankfully imbraced CHAP. II. THere are thrée principall things mixed in euery Naturall bodie to wit Salte Sulphur and Mercurie These are the beginnings of all Naturall things But he from whom all things haue their beginning is GOD vppon whome all things do depende hée himselfe subsisting by himselfe and taking the Originall of his Essence from no other and is therfore the first and efficient cause of all things From his first beginning procéedeth Nature as the second beginning made by GOD himselfe through the power of his worde This Nature next vnder God ought to be religiously estéemed thought of enquired and searched for The knowledge hereof is very necessary and wil be no lesse profitable the searche and raunsacking thereof will be swéete and pleasing The profite which commeth hereby appeareth in this that the knowledge of all things which consist thereof and wherof they borrow thei◠name and are called Naturall things procéedeth herehence whether they bée subiect to our sences or aboue our sences Hereupon great Philosophers both Christians and Ethnicks haue bene mooued to make the signification of the name of Nature to sitte and serue almost all things Insomuch that Aristotle himselfe in that diuision which he maketh of Nature diuiding the same into the first and second Nature and speaking of the first he calleth it Naturam naturantem Naturing nature by which he meaneth God So in like manner Zeno a Prince of Stoikes openlie taught that Nature was no other thing then God Therefore the first Naturing nature is God but the seconde which properly is said to be Nature is subdiuided into vniuersall and particular The Vniuersall is that ordinarie power of God diffused throughout the whole worlde whereof it is sayd that Nature doth suffer this or that or doth this or that as Augustine teacheth in his booke De ciuitate Dei and Lactantius and among heathen wryters Pliny and Seneca This vniuersall Nature is also taken for the diuine vertue which God hath put and implanted in all creatures by the benefite whereof certaine notes of the Diuinitie are to be discerned in them Hereuppon some olde Fathers were woont to say All things are full of Goddes as did Heraclitus among others Some others take this vniuersal nature for a certaine influence and vertue whereby the Starres do worke in these inferior things or else for an acting vertue in an vniuersall cause that is to say in a bodie Celestiall Furthermore that is vniuersall Nature wherof Plato speaketh when he saith Nature is a certaine force and strength infused throughout all things the moderator and nourisher of all things and by it selfe the beginning of motion and of rest in them The which Nature Hermes Trimegistus almost in the same words saith to be a certaine force risen from the first cause diffused throughout all bodies by it selfe the beginning of motion and rest in them This force the Pythagoreans called God And therefore Virgil a great follower of the Pythagorean disciplne wrote thus saying The spirit nourisheth inwardly c. And the Platonicks called the same the Soule of the worlde But yet the Platonicks haue not defined shewed in what maner by what means this Soule of the world doth moderate and order all these interior things and doth stirre vp in the generation of things neither can they yet determine But the more witty and learned sort of Philosophers holde affirme that this world which comprehendeth in the circumference and compasse therof the fowre Elements the first beginnings of nature is a certaine great bodie whose partes are so knitte together among themselues euen as in one bodie of a liuing Creature all the members doe agrée that there is no one part of the parties of that great body which is not inlyned quickened and susteined by the benefite of that vniuersall soule which they haue called the soule of the worlde affirming also that if the bodyes of liuing creatures doe deriue life and beeing from the soule which is in them the same is much more done and effected in the farre more noble and more excellent body of the whole world by the meanes of the more potent and farre more excellent soule with the which this body of the vniuersall world is indued and by which it subsisteth For it all the parts of the world haue life as manifestly appearing it hath then must it needes follow that wholely it liueth for that the parts drawe and deriue their life from the whole from the which they being separated cannot but perish and die And héereupon they inferre that the Heauen compassing all things is that Soule which nourisheth and susteineth all things Also further they affirme that all the formes virtues and faculties of things by which all things are neurished susteined and haue their being doe come from the worlds Soule And as the body and soule are gathered and ioyned together in one through the benefite of the Spirits bond for that it is partaker of both Natures so the soule and body of the world are knit together by the meanes of the Aethereall Spirits going betwéene ioyning each part of the whole into one subsistence And yet hereof we must not conclude as did Aphrodisaeus and Philoponas which were Platonists that the worlde is a most huge liuing creature indued with sense and vnderstanding wise and happie the which is a most absurde and false opinion But the Platonists by the soule of the world gaue vs rather to vnderstand a certaine spirit which cherisheth quickeneth conserueth and susteineth all things as it were a certaine spirit of that Elohym or great God which mooued vpon the waters which Plato might remember as one not ignorant of Moses and thereupon frame his soule of the worlde Whereupon also it must needes come to passe that all these inferior things otherwise transitorie and infirme should soone come to destruction without they were conserued and continued in theyr being by that diuine power perpetually maintaining and suspecting them the which being disseuered a great confusion perturbation of the whole worlde arise therof Which ruine and destruction God of his great goodnes would preuent creating that vniuersall Nature which should defende all this great worke and kéepe it safe and sounde by his vertue and moderation and that by the yearely and continual rotation and reuolution of the right Heauen and by the Influences and vertues of the Starres Planets and Celestiall powers all things might be well gouerned and might constantly remaine and abide in full fastnes of theyr estate vntill the predestinated time of theyr dissolution To this Aethereall spirit or rather Diuine power euery effectuall
made the world after his owne Image which may plainely appeare in this that albeit the whole world is one yet it ioyeth in the number of thrée being framed in order number and measure in whose bosome these thrée simple bodyes were included Salt Sulphur and Mercurie Therefore let vs compare the workes of God a little with the similitude of the Trinitie The worlde is diuided into these thrée partes Intellectuall Coelestiall and Elementall The Elementall to let the other two alone as lesse known vnto vs consisteth of Minerals Vegetables and animals beside the which there is nothing to bée found in this world Of Minerals there are thrée differences Stones Metals and meane Minerals In like maner among Vegitables there are thrée sorts Herbes Trees and Plants Also of Animals there are thrée orders créeping things swimming things and flying things If we should prosecute euery particular at large wée shall finde this Teruarie euery where and in all the parts thereof But we will consider of man onely in this point Man consisteth of Spirit Soule and body as holy Writ testifieth The Spirit saith Hermes is represented by Mercurie the Soule is represented by Sulphur and the Body by Salt The Spirit consisteth of minde reason and phantasie The Soule hath thrée factulties naturall vitall and Animall The Body is cut into thrée partes in Anatomie to wit into head belly and members These haue thrée principall members wherunto others are subiect the braine the heart and the lyuer The braine hath thrée helpes to purge by the mouth the nostrils and the eares The purgers and receiuers of vncleannesse from the heart are the Midryâ—e the Lungs and the great Arteries The purgers of the Lyuer are the Milt the bladder of the Gaule and the Reines So there are thrée principall vessels which doe serue the whole body namely the Arteries the Sinewes and the Veines Further if we consider the head againe it hath thrée skinnes The braine hath thrée bellyes two soft before and one hard behinde There are thrée principall instruments of voyce the throate the pallate and the kernels To conclude this point if all these should bée disseuered and separated into their beginnings they might be resolued into Mercurie Sulphur and Salt whereof they consist Therefore these thrée formall beginnings which we haue described by their offices and propertions albeit they are more spirituall than corporall yet being ioyned with simple Elements they make a materiall body mixt and compound they increase and nourish it and preserue it in his estate vnto the predestinated ende And séeing the properties Impressions and faculties are inset and included in those beginnings and haue those vitall qualities of tastes odours and colours hidden in them how materiall soeuer those séedes be yet notwithstanding they rather contende to come néere to Forme than to Matter but the Elements doe more cleaue and inclyne to Matter than to Forme And therefore the Phylosophers call them properly simple beginnings formall because they are more principall adorned and inriched with the first and chiefe faculties of astral séedes But the Elements they call beginnings materiall simple To the one they attribute actuall qualities and to the other passiue And so of them both as it were secondarily and so neere as may be all mixt bodyes are compounded and doe consist If therefore we shall throughly discusse and ransacke euery particular indiuidiall in his kinde and their generation we shall finde that which is said to be true namely that some simple beginnings are formall and spirituall others materiall corporall and visible And that the Inuisibles are the Elements simple formall the astral séedes and spirituall beginnings Also that the visibles are all one and the same but yet couered with a materiall body The which two bodyes spiritual and material inuisible and visible are contained in euery Indiuiduall albeit that which is spiritual cannot be discerned but by reason of motion of life and of functions and yet is within it These visible and material bodyes are of thrée sortes Séedes Beginnings Elements Of these 3. some are Actiue as Séeds and Beginnings Passiue as are the Elements The Actiue bodies of visible Séeds wherein there is any vertue are The séedes of liuing creatures put forth by Venus The séedes of herbes trées in their seueral cases trunkes The séeds of Mines ouerwhelmed with a great heape of impediments All which lye hidden in themselues haue Spirits The Actiue bodies of beginnings haue Two moyst Mercurie Sulphur One drie Salt Mercurie is a sharpe liquor passable and penetrable and a most pure Aethereall substantiall body a substance ayrie most subtill quickning and ful of Spirit the foode of life and the Essence or terme the next instrument Sulphur is that moyst swéet oyly clammy original which giueth substance to it selfe the nourishment of fire or of natural heat endued with the force of mollifying and of giuing together Salt is that dry body saltish méerely earththy representing the nature of Salt endued with wonderfull vertues of dissoluing congealing clensing emptying and with other infinite faculties which it exerciseth in the Indiuiduals and seperated in other bodyes from their indiuiduals These thrée beginnings were by Hermes the most ancient Philosopher called Spirit Soule and Body Mercurie the Spirit Sulphur the Soule Salt the Body as is already said The body is ioyned with the spirit by the bond of Sulphur the soule for that it hath affinitie with both the extreames as a meane coupling them together For Mercury is liquid thinne flexible Sulphur is a soft oyle passable salt is dry thicke and stable The which notwithstanding are so proportionate together or tempered equally the one with the other that a manifest signe and great analogie or conuenience is found in this contrarietie of beginnings For Sulphur or that oyly moysture is as I haue said a meane which with his humidity softnesse and fluidity or passablenes ioyneth the two extreames that is to say fixed salt and flying Mercurie that is to say the drynes of salt and the moystnes of Mercurie with his viscus and clammy humiditie the thicknesse of salt and the subtiltie of Mercurie vtterly contrary with his fluiditie which holdeth the meane betwéene stable and flying Moreouer Sulphur by reason of his excéeding swéetnesse doth contemper the sharpnesse or sowernes of Mercurie and the bitternesse of salt and by his clammynes doth conioyne the subtill flying of Mercurie with the firmnesse and fastnesse of salt CHAP. V. Concerning Salt OF all other the Philosophicall salt is of greatest vertue and force to purge and is as it were the generall clenser of whole nature deliuering the same from al impuritie whether it bée the belly by siege the stomacke by vomit the reines by vrine or the body by sweate opening clensing obstructions comming of what cause soeuer This kinde of purging is very large whose partes albeit they tend to one end yet they haue as it were diuers contrary effects procéeding froÌ„ one
gold to it selfe with the which it is mingled and vnited into one body in such wise that it swalloweth vp gold whereas all other metalls except siluer do floate aloft and wil not sinke into the same Consider therefore saith Arnold that thing onely which cleaueth to Mercury and to the perfect bodies and thou hast the full knowledge And when he hath thus discribed the deuouring Lyon he addeth these words Because our stone is like to the accidentall quicksiluer which carrieth gold before it and ouercommeth it and is the very same which can kill and make aliue And know further that our coagulated quicksiluer is the father of all the minerals of that our magistery is both body spirit c. The same thrée chiefe beginnings doe offer themselues vnto vs in other semi mineralls as in Arsenick orpinent and such other like which albeit in their whole substance they bee contrary to our nature and spirits yet by nature they haue that spiritual promptnes and flying swiftnesse that by their subtiltie they easily conuey and mingle and mingle themselues with our spirits whether they be inwardly taken or outwardly applyed and doe worke venemous and mortal effects and that by reason of the Arsenical Mercury poinson ful or arsenical Sulphur and arsenicall Salt Gems also and precious stones haue in them the vertues and qualities of those thrée beginnings by reason of whose fier and brightnesse the pure Mercury in them doth shine cleauing firmly to his fixed Salt and also to the Sulphur of the same nature whereby the whole substance of a contrary kind being seperated there ariseth and is made a most pure stone of contrinance like vnto gold Of this sort is the most firme and constant Diamond to whom that good old Saturne hath giuen the leaden colour of his more pure Mercury together with the fixed and constant spirits of his more pure Sulphur and hath so confirmed coniealed and compacted it in all stability with his christalline salt that of all other stones it is the most solyd and hardest by reason of the most firme vnion of the thrée principal beginnings and their coherence which by no art of seperation can be disioyned and sundered into the solution of his spiritual beginnings And this is the cause that the ancient Physitians had no vse thereof in medicine because it could not be dissolued into his first matter And it is not to be thought that those auncient Physitians refrained the vse thereof for that they déemed it to be venemous by nature as some falsely imagin which being homogenial and of a 〈◊〉 simple nature it is wholely celestial and therefore most pure and for that cause nothing venemous but the poyson and daunger commeth here hence that being onely broken and beaten and in no sort apt to preperation taken so into the stomack and remaining there by reason of his soliditie and hardnesse inconcocted by coutinuance of time and by little and little it doth fret and teare the laps of the stomack and so the intralls being â—â—oriated death by a lingering consumption ensueth It belongeth to golde with his Sulphur to giue a red tineture to Carbuncles and Rubines neither doth the difference of their colours come of any other cause then this that their Mercuries and Chrystallyne salts are not defeked and clensed alike the which clensing the more perfect or imperfect it is the colour appeareth accordingly either better or worse And albeit Siluer be outwardly white yet within it hath the colour of Azure and blewe by which shée giueth her tincture to Saphyrs Copper hauing outwardly a shew of rednes hath a gréene colour within as the Viridgreese that is made thereof doth testifie by which it giueth greennesse vnto the Emerand Iron red within as his Saffron yeallow colour doth plainly shew and yet nothing like the colour which gold hath within it giueth colour to the Iacint Tinne albeit it is earthie yet being partaker of the celestial nature it giueth vnto Agates diuers and sundry colours From gold and from other mettals as also from precious stones their colours may be taken away by Cementation and Reuerberation by their proper menstrues which things are well knowen to Chymists and fire workmen The which colours and sulphurs so extracted are very fit for the affects of the braine The colour of gold serueth for the affects of the heart The colour of tinne for the lunges The colour of Mercury The colour of lead for the splene The colour of Iron for the rednesse The colour of Copper for the priuie parts The heauenly menstruéese to dispoyle mettalls of their colours and sulphures naturall is this namely the deaw which falleth in the moneth of May and his sugar Manna out of the which two mixed together digested and distilled according to Arte there wil come forth a general dissoluer most fit to dispoyle stones and mettals of their colours Yea of onely Sugar or of hony by it selfe may be made a dissoluer of mettals Now if these thrée beginnings Salt Sulphur and Mercurie are to be found in the Heauen in the Ayer and in the Waters as is al ready shewed who wil make any doubt but that by a farre greater reason they are to be found in the earth and to be made no lesse apparant séeing the earth of al other elements is the most fruitfull and plentiful The Mercurial spirits shâ—we themselues in the leâ—ues and fruites The Sulphurus in the flowers séedes and kirnels The salts in the wood barke and rootes and yet so that eache one of those thrée partes of the trée or plant seuerally by themselues albeit to one is giuen the mercurial spirit to another that of Sulphur and to the third that of Salt yet euery one apart may as yet be resolued into those thrée beginnings without the which they cannot consist how simple so euer they be For whatsoeuer it bée that hath being within the whole compasse and course of nature doe consist and are profited by these thrée beginnings And whereas some are said to be mercurial some Sulphurus and some Salt it is therefore because the Mercurials doe conteine more Mercurie the Sulphurus more Sulphur and the Saltish more Salt in them than the others For some whole trées are to be séene more sulphurus and roseny than other some as the Pine and Firre-trées which are alwayes gréene in the coldest mountaines because they abound with their Sulphurus beginning being the principal vital instrumeÌ„t of their growing For there are some other plants as the Lawrel and the Trées of Oranges Citrons and Lemons which continue long gréene and yet are subiect to colde because their Sulphure is not so easily dispersed as is the Sulphur of the firre trées which are roseny and are therefore thrice of a more fixed and constant life furnished against the iniuries of times Furthermore al Spice-trées and al fragrant and odoriferous hearts are Sulphurus And as there are sundry sortes of trées of this kinde so are
at this day are little regarded insomuch that many Physitians either neglect them or else disdainfully contemne them for that they know not what profit such preparations doe bring with them And verily I doe not know what should be the cause of such obstinate disdaine wilful contempt but méere ignorance séeing it is well known that nothing is contemned but of the ignorant And what wil not these mad Ignorants contemne which doe also despise the preparations of Medicines which administer nothing to their sicke patients but those things which are crude and full of impurities They rather choose obstinatly to goe forware in their error both to their owne reproach and dammage of the sicke then rightly to followe holesome admonitions least they might be thought not to haue bene wise enough before and to haue learned more knowledge of others Let them consider the necessitie of our life that they may learne that the same hath constrained vs to séeke the preparations of our meates which are necessarie for the sustaining of our bodies in the preparing whereof notwithstanding there is not so great necessitie as there ought to be in the preparing of medicines for our health Let them beholde the corne which commeth out of the earth which is not by and by giuen crude as it is for food but the chaffe and the branne being seperated it is brought to flower which as yet is not so giuen to eate but being first termented or leuened ◠wel kneaded or wrought it is baked that it may be bread fit for nourishment Consider well the fermentation by which bread is made light and fit for nourishment the lighter it is the wholsomer it is and the more it is fermented the lighter it wil be The lesse it is fermented the heauier it is and the more vnholsome If this preparation goe not before but that we onely make a mixture of water and flower together and so presently thrust it into the Ouen in stéede of bread thou shalt prepare a glutinous matter very hurtfull to nature Doe you not sée how paste a glutinous matter and starch also are made onely with flower and water What then thinkest thou will come to passe in thy stomach and bowels especially in those which are more weake if such be offered and taken Surely such as will procreate matter to bréede the stone and wil be the seminary of many diseases So necessarie and profitable is this Fermentation that it is very behouefull for an Apothecarie to knowe it for that it doth attenuate euery substance it looseneth it from his body and terrestrial impurity that it may afterwards be made fit to bring forth the true radical Balsam and the quickening spirit By the benefite of this onely Fermentation are extracted waters of life out of all vegetables whatsoeuer After the same manner by this Fermentation and Leauen of nature all 〈◊〉 humours of or◠body are made thinne and subtiled You know how in holy writ it is said that a little sowre Leauen doth ferment the whole masse By the way of Fermentation which consisteth in a certaine Acetoius liquor of nature our humours are made thinne and disposed to excretion And therefore there are certaine tart things which moue sweates albeit the same by the opinion of Physitians are cold Doe wée not sée that women and ordinary Cookes haue attained this knowledge of Fermentation and thereby prouide for sicke persons Iellyes made of flesh of foules and such like to restore and strengthen them in the time of their weakenesse And what are these but extracts For the terrestrial partes are seperated from the more laudable substance which is more conuenient for the sicke And why doe not Apothecaries the like in compounding their medicines The nature of the sicke man being now weakened cannot abide crude and fulsome meate but doth rather loathe them and is more and more weakened by them How much more will he be offended and hurt by medicines not rightly prepared nor seperated from their impure substance Such impuritie must néeds be a great hurt and hindrance that the natural force of the Medicine cannot encounter with his enemie the sicknesse and ouercome him What shall we say then of those Medicines which haue not onely cruditie in them but also some euil qualitie and the same not seperated or rightly prepared or being corrected may wée be bold to giue it They are woont with griefe I speake it too much and too often I saythey are woont I meane such decocted pouldred and mixed Medicines by no manner of other art prepared to bring more griefe and paine to the sicke that I may say no worse than sollace and helpe Therefore these kinde of preparations concoctions I say Digestions and Fermentations are not to bée despised or neglected For if these things be done they are done according to natures fashion which vseth the same operations to the perfect ripening of fruites and all things the which it bringeth foorth But let vs hasten to conclude this Treatize Aristotle in his fourth of Meteors hath appointed thrée Pipsias or kindes of concoction The first he calleth Pepamsis which is the concoction of humour in moyst séede made by naturall heate And this is the meane of concocting ripening and of making of the seedes of Plants and of other things to grow and to bring foorth plentie of fruite and it is a worke onely belonging to nature which vseth that quickening heate for an Instrument which heate answereth the element of Starres in proportion as the sayd Aristotle saith Albeit Arte cannot immitate this heate yet it may tread in the steppes thereof The second kinde of concoction he calleth Epsesis or Elixation which is a concoction made by a moyst heate of a thing indifinitely existing in a humour The third and last is Optesis or Assation which is the concoction of the same interminate made by a dry and straunge heate These two last concoctions are made especially by Arte concerning the moderation of which heates wée will hereafter teach the diligent and industrious Apethecaries I say industrious and such as follow the prescrips of true Phisitians and Arte not Petlars and Sellers of Trifels which rather desire to make retale of Candels Lanternes and all Mercerie-wares and to fill their shoppes with trash than to follow the workes of Art Therefore in stéede of liberal persons they are miserable hierlings Sowters they are and not Artificers and louers of Art Marchants and handy-crafts men setting their rest vpon pompe pleasure and gaine I had rather sée an enemie in the Cittie then one of these base minded fellowes For Citizens know how to beware of an open enemie but how can a man beware of the falshood and treacherie of these companions which they bring to passe either by ignorance or by mallice or else by negligence I say who shall take héede of these but he which banisheth them quite and cleane out of the Cittie I speake of deceiuers and such as falsly vsurpe the name and