of such Supernatural Irradiation by the Divine Spirit and of Iesus Christ the Redeemer through whom only it is to be obteined Who is indeed The Brightnes of his Fathers Glory and exprâ—ss Image of his Person Infinitely and Incomprehensibly as he is the Essential Natural and most Univocal and Unigenous Son of the Father or the very Iâ—trinsecal Verbum Mentis Divinae who also hath Invested himself with the Human Nature as the Epitome of the Univers and which was therefore made such in order to him as I have shewed and so the Apostle stileth him both together The Image of the Invisible God and Firstborn of every Creature And as I said this very Consultation of the Trinity about the Creation of Man was in order unto Christ as there was afterward another Consultation of God about the Creation of Woman in order unto Man And it is also said Let us make Man in our Image after our Likenes as it is said of Adam that he begatt a Son In his Likenes after his Image both which Expressions are not Supervacaneously Impertinent but as there is a mutual Resemblance between any two Similar things so it is heer Doubly exprest and sometimes only Singly and Indifferently by Image or Likenes Now as there are Combinations between all Created Natures even Angels and Matter as I have shewed so the Image of Holines is the Combination or Communion between the most Spiritual Nature that is the Intellective and God the Creator But the most Admirable and Incomprehensible Combination is the Personal Union of Iesus Christ God Man both Creator and Creature in one Person Also Adam only was first Created Sole before Eve or any oâ—her as he alone was generaly like any other Man a Microcosm and as he was specialy and Personaly the Prototype of Christ who was to be a Man himself though he was the Seed of the Woman and though Woman also as well as Man being partaker of the same Human Nature was generaly made in the Image of God and so it is commonly Interpreted God Created Adam or Man according to his Kind In his own Image yet it is afterward repeated again more specialy and Personaly concerning Adam In the Image of God Created he him and then Male and Female Created he them and thus Christ is called both the Second Man generaly and the Second Adam Personaly and so the Apostle also expresly distinguisheth saying of Man that He is the Image and Glory of God but the Woman is the Glory of the Man and Christ the Head over all things to his Church even as the Man is of the Woman And thus all that was in the First Creation of Adam did prelude to Christ as I have said who is the only true Uncreated and Created Image of God both in his Essence and in his Operations VI. That there is a God and that the Soul of Man is Immortal are two Fundamental Points of Religion as I have shewed and as in my first Discours I proved the first so I shall now in this last prove the other and between these two comprehend all the rest the knowledge wherof is only in order to these great Ends of Man that is the Glory of God and his own Eternal Beatitude But though I have Mathematicaly proved a Begining and Creation of the World and consequently a Creator becaus the Univers which conteins all in one doth afford a Mathematical Medium whereby I might so prove it as I could also prove it Physicaly or Moraly and I rather chose that way of Probation becaus the Divine Wisedom which lays Natural Philosophy as a Foundation of Divinity doth thus offer the Begining as an Evidence of both and becaus some men who pretend most to Evidence require such Mathematical Demonstration which yet may not be exacted nor expected in the Probation of any thing that is not Mathematical as the Soul is not and which though it be Immortal yet is not indeed such in Present Actuality but only in Perpetual Futurity And as I have proved other Physical Theses Physicaly so I shall now prove this which concerns a Moral Creature Moraly according to the Nature of the Subject Matter when I have first explained what I intend by this Term Immortality the very Explication wherof as of any other Terms whereby Truth is presented in her own Naked Simplicity doth by the Aspect and Eradiation therof carry with it a very great Evidence of the Thing Now according to all my former Discourses it is not nor can it be any Question whether all Spirits whatsoever Elementary Vegetative or Sensitive as well as Matter be Immortal in their own Simple Essences Substances and Specifical Natures for they as such are Ingenerable and were Properly Created and therefore cannot be Corrupted and shall not be Annihilated but as their Composita were first Improperly Created or Originaly Generated and so are Successively Generable they are also Corruptible and so undeniably the Intellective Spirit as it is one Substantial Principle of the Human Compositum is also Incorruptible or Immortal Again as it is no Qâ—estion whether all Generable Composita be not also Corruptible so it cannot be denied but the Human Compositum of Body and Soul as it is Generated may also be Corrupted and so the Sensitive Vegetative and Elementary Spirits therof return into their Chaos which we call the Birth and Death of Men and so as the Human Spirit is Created it may also be Annihilated and the like but the true and clear State of the Question is Whether the Intellective Spirit of Man consydered in itself and without any Conjunction or Composition with his Sensitive Vegetative Elementary Spirits and Matter of his Body or any of them be Immortal or Mortal that is whether it can and doth as an Angelical Spirit continue Separate in its own Personal Individuality and Oeconomy after Death or the Dissolution of the Human Compositam which plainly is the Immortality of the Soul or like other Inferior Spirits when the Compositum is dissolved doth thereby and therwith also ceas to be such as it was before in itself Individualy and Oeconomicaly and so having no such Individuality or Oeconomy in itself Separately and without the Compositum but only in and with the whole Compositum is disolved together with it and the Substance therof return into the Dust as its own Element and Chaos wherin it was first Latent and there is Confounded and Coagulated with others out of which again not the same Individual and Oeconomical Spirit but another in a new Compositum may be Generated which is the Corruption or Mortality therof and such new production another Generation Now that the Intellective Soul of Man is not so Mortal or Corruptible but Immortal and Incorruptible is the purport of the whole Scripture becaus as I said it is a Fundamental Point of Religion and whosoever believs Scripture to be the Word of God may not nor can he deny it but he who
And so in the Carcass of any Beast when it is dead yet there may be still some other Spirits remaining but most apparently the Elementary and so in the Trunk of a dead Tree or Timber or the like and there is not only one but all Fower which also do always remain in all Chymical Separations whatsoever so that the Caput Mortuum is not only Matter or only one Element as in the first Chaoâ— nor their Spirits as they term them only Spirits but also Corporeal Matter and all the fower Elements and having some Various Mistion therof whereby any Caput Mortuum still differs notably from others and any such Chymical Spirit from others which could not be if they were most Simple Substances in themselvs or Matter and only one Spirit which would make only one Compositum therof not Specificaly Different from others Nor is it Possible for any Art or any Power of Nature according to the present State therof which was first Instituted by God to Separate these fower Elements one from another though they are and may be Variously Mist one with another as also it is not Possible to destroy their fower great Elementary Bodys Aeâ—her Air Water anâ— Earth in the whole which though they are also Mist one with another and so Denominated from the Predomination of every one severaly in those general Bodys yet that Predomination of their Elementary Spirit is so notable and their vast Bodys so notorious that they do Ocularly declare to every Ey their fower Elementary Natures and also that they are the Common Elements and Prepared Bodys of all Superior Spirits within this Elementary Orb which they wholy divide among themselvs and are the great Storehouses and Stocks of Nature from which all Elementary Bodys were borrowed and to which the Inferior do return again And accordingly they are as fower several Provinces Variously Inhabited and Furnished with all the Composita Starrs Vapors and Meteors Fishes Beasts and the like and Situated according to the Predominance of their proper Elementary Bodys and requisite Station therof in several Spheres one above another so as no Planetical Orbs are And heer I must also observ from my Text that there are only fower such Elements and no more nor any such several Kinds of them or of any of them as is expressly said of Vegetatives and Sensitives as I shall shew heerafter And therefore we have no mention of Stones Metalls and the like in this History of the Creation as of several Elementary Kinds becaus they are only several Composita of these fower Elements Wherefore we must also understand that there are not only fower first Qualitys of these fower first Elements as some have supposed which could never make so many and so very Different Sorts of Elementary Composita as there are in Nature nor yet may we assigne to any one Element besides its own Proper first Quality some other Social Quality of another Element in a more Remiss Degree as to Aeâ—her or Fire besides Heat Intens Drines Remiss for no Spirit whatsoever hath any Proper Spiritual Quality of another Spirit either Intens or Remiss of and in itself becaus every such Spiritual Substance is a Proper Spirit in itself and hath its own Proper Qualitys Differing Specificaly besides such as are Genericaly Common to the same Genus whereby only we know it to be what it is and thus unles we should affirm Aether or Fire to be also Earth we can not assigne any Drines to it as any Proper Quality Subsisting in it and flowing from it and certeinly it is no Affection of the Matter as Extension Figure Density Gravity Motion or the like which may be Common to Spirits in respect of their Bodys Also if it were a Proper Quality of any other Spirit it should not be Remiss but most Intens for every such Spirit Naturaly Acts to the utmost and there is nothing in itself to hinder it becaus no Nature doth Obstruct or Restrain its own Operations unles it be Spontaneous for that indeed is an Effect of Spontaneity nor doth Heat Naturaly hinder Drines but should rather Advance and Assist it as all Qualitys of the same Spirit are generaly Assistant one to another and so indeed may the Accidents of several Substances as of Matter and Spirits be Analogous and of several Spirits Homoeogeneous though they be not Homogeneous as I shall shew heerafter and thus Drines is more Concordant with Heat then with Cold which is Contrary to Heat though neither of them be any Proper Qualitys of the same Spirit of Aether or Fire but of other Elements nor doth Heat Properly or Directly Dry more then Moisten but only Consequentialy as I shall also shew heerafter But they who can affirm all the Elementary Spirits to be Educed out of the Potentia of Matter and that one Element may be Transpeciated or Converted into another may also affirm what they pleas of their Qualitys and transfer them from one to another which Suzugy of Qualitys they have also Invented as they suppose to Reconcile and Mediate between Contrary Qualitys though they be not any Degrees of either of them but Proper Qualitys in themselvs and Accidents of other Substantial Spirits nor doth that Contrariety of Qualitys need any such Mediation being Produced by Degrees out of their Potentialitys which are not Contrary Actualy or otherwise Mist by Degrees into their Actual Contemperature The Ignorance of which Doctrine of the Chaos and the Potentialitys therof and the Imaginary Supposition of such a Potentia of the Matter out of which not only Existences but the very Essences both of Accidents and also Substances may be Educed by Equivocal Causalitys Transpeciations and such new kinds of Creation and Annihilation as men have pleased to Invent instead of the true Creation and Chaos which God hath Made and Revealed to us hath been the Fundamental Error and Root of all the Consequential Absurditys But yet while they thus Grope in the Dark they Catch at some Shadows of Truth as plainly their Potentia doth allude to the Doctrine of Potentialitys and is Substituted instead therof and so this Supposition of several Different Qualitys in the same Substance doth partly Intimate another great Mystery in Nature which I shall now discover and unfold that is That indeed there are several Qualitys also Created Essentialy in one and the same Substance Proper to itself and so subsisting in it and flowing from it as I have already declared concerning Matter and the Affections therof not only Mediately as Figure from Extension and Gravity from Density and the like which are only several and Realy distinct Products or Propertys of the same Qualitys but as others Immediately Subsisting in and flowing from it as Extension and Density which are not such several Propertys one of another for so the same Orbicular or Cubical Extension and Figure may be either Dens or Rare Grave or Lighâ— and the same Density or Rarity Gravity or Levity may be
of the Object at such a Distance though indeed Reflection be farr shorter then Direct Emanation and perhaps there may be some such Proportions therof as there are of the Descent and Reflected Motion of any Ball or Stone from a Paviment And therefore we can not see so farr by the Reflected Rays of a Candle in the Night as we may see the Candle itself by the Direct Rays therof Now Heat is a Congenerous Quality of Light and Emanant with it in the same Aethereal Rays as appears by the Bâ—rning Glass and though the Heat of the Sun beams doth Penetrate farther into the Earth then the Light therof becaus it is not resisted by the Opacity therof which is not Contrary therunto but to Light and is only hindered by the Density and so may not be Reflected altogether so much becaus it Penetrates more which also proves Heat and Light to be several Qualitys yet certeinly Heat can not so farr fall short of the Light but rather there is some Degree of Heat Reflected with the Light unto the very Aether though Proportionably less and then according to their own assignment there is but one Region of the Air. Again the Vapors of Water are said to Ascend above the Airy Expansum Indefinitely which may be to the utmost Hight therof as well as all over it and as there are Bright and Dry Clouds above the Moist and Stellae Cadentes and Comets and the like above them so probably other Tenuious and Invisible Vapors above them and then also according to their own assignment there is but one Region of the Air and they who assigne must prove that there are not any Meteors or Vapors above their Second Region assigned which they can never do But the truth is that though the Aethereal Rays be Reflected from Earth to Aether yet that Reflection both of Light and Heat as all others is stronger and longer as it is neerer and weaker and shorter as it is farther from the Body Reflecting as well as Emanation is stronger as it is neerer and weaker as it is farther from the Body of the Inherent Quality which doth Emitt it and so the Reflection of the Aethereal Rays from the Terraqueous Globe back again to the Aeâ—her is Gradual and of different Degrees and thereby doth Produce Different Degrees of Vapors and several sorts of Meteors in several parts of the Air and accordingly they attein several Situations therin and by the Variation of many Circumstantial Causalitys the same Meteors poised therin almost as Glass Bubbles in Water are sometimes higher and sometimes lower and have no such Planetary Position in themselvs as Starrs in Aether nor is the Air so Invariable as it The Spirit of Air is not Exprest by any known Name and I know not therefore well how to Express it unles we should call it Aura or the like And indeed Philosophers generaly have so much attended the Gross Matter and so litle regarded Subtile Spirits that they have not so much as found out any Vocabuâ—a of the very Elementary Spirits except only Fire which is most Sensible both by the Heat and Light therof though all the other Spirits be also Substantial Activitys and have their Sensible Qualitys which yet hath not been Determined concerning all the Elements what are their first Proper Qualitys as I shall heerafter shew and particularly prove Cold to be the Proper Quality of Air as Heat is of Aether Also Air hath apparently another Quality which is Sound and that is very Sensible almost as much as Light but is not so much consydered becaus it is not so Permanent and indeed Sound is farr more Desultory then Color as I have said for though Desultory Color is not and can not be Fixed as an Image can not be fixed on a Speculum which if it could be would Excuse and Exceed the Art of any Painter yet it may be Continued in the same Poâ—ition as long as you pleas wheras Sound is alway Transient and Fugitive as I shall shew heerafter and can not be Continued one Moment but is still in Succession like Flame and almost like the very Instants of Time And yet as all the other Heavens are Hebraicaly Denominated from this first Heaven Air so also all Spirits from the Spirit therof almost in all Languages Air hath also a Mistion with all the other Elements as well as Aether and perhaps more as Water hath more then it and Earth most of them all and so it hath more of the Terrene Qualitys then Aether and less then Water as it hath more Refracting Opacity then the one and less then the other and so also more Consistence then the one and less then the other and therefore is probably less Fluid then Aether as it is apparently more Fluid then Water II. The Aether as I have said is most Rare and probably can not be more Rarefied then it is in its own Element and so the Earth most Dens and can not be more Densified And though I know not whether Aether may be more Densified yet certeinly Earth may be very much Rarefied as in Soot Camphire Salts Volatilised and the like But Water is most notably capable of Rarefaction into Vapors and they are as much Condensated again into Waters though I suppose it can not be so much Violently Expanded or Comprest and that Air can not be so much Condensated or Rarefied as it may be Comprest or Expanded And of all other Elements Air is most capable of Compression as in the Windgun and of Expansion as in the Airpump which from thence may be rightly termed the Expansor and from this Compression and Expansion therof there follows a Natural Motus or Nisus ad Restitutionem or Resilience which is now Superscribed with a new Title of Elasticity though the Term properly signify rather Abaction or Pulsion then any such Return or Restitution as is or ought to be Intended thereby and in plain English is better termed Springines which is more Proper to Compression then Expansion though as it is Confusedly used for both I am forced also so to use it only for more clearnes and distinction I shall rather ascribe Elasticity to Fluid Bodys as Air and the like and Springines to Consistent as Steel and the like But heer I must Remind what I have formerly Observed that there is a very great Difference between Rarefaction and Condensation which are Spiritual and by Intrinsecal Generation and Expansion and Compression which are Corporeal by Extrinsecal Violence which Difference doth most plainly appear by this very Elasticity for no Elasticity and Motion or Nisus to Restitution doth ensue from the former becaus they are so Intrinsecaly Altered by Natural Generation whereby the Predominant Spirit having in the Generation reduced the Body to a fit Rarity or Density for itself doth so continue it as long as it doth Predominate but only from the latter when only the Body is by any External Violence so Expanded or
Monuments of his Mercy and Justice be Defaced Though it is true that all Men and all the Angels in Heaven or Divels in Hell can add nothing to or diminish from Gods Uncreated Glory which he Eternaly Enjoieth in himself and which is Immutable as Himself nor was the World made for any such End but for the Created Manifestation therof which accordingly as they do Advance or Eclips by serving him or sining against him so he also according to his Created or Reveled Law of Justice will most certeinly Retribute unto them And this Moral and Political Argument is very much inforced by the consyderation of Gods present Providence and Administration which is as the Political Chaos of the World Future and seemeth to be as Inane and Inform and yet out of it will he produce all the Beauty and Glory of the other World Thus no man knoweth either Love or Hatred by all that is before them All things come alike to all There is one Event to the Righteous and to the Wicked But also It is appointed for all men once to Dy and after Death the Iudgment so that Death shall not Prevent but Prepâ—re for Judgment as the Prison is not to Concele but to Secure the Malefactor And I am so confident of the Moral Conviction of this Argument which as I said is a Common Notion deduced from the Immediate Knowledg of the Nature of our Intellective Soul and of God our Creator Preserver and Governor collated together that no mans Conscience can outface it but only his who doth not or will not regard it and unless such who can deny all Polity of Nature and the Subordination of all Inferior Na ures to Man can also be so Impious as to deny the Immediate Subordination of Men and Angels to God their Creator I do not see how they can evade it which if they can they do also thereby elude all Religion and Worship of God Nor are Sensible Experiments wanting though I will not offer any Direct Testimony therof to such who can deny Divine Authority and from whom therefore I may not reasonably expect that they should believ any Human Reports or Records of the Survivorship of the Souls of men after Death and If they will not hear Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the Dead and should tell them this very thing that he hath rose from the Dead but I shall therefore rather offer another common Experiment among the Living from which I shall deduce a Collateral Evidence of this Truth and that is Self-murder in Man and in none other Inferior Animals who will not so destroy themselvs Perceptively and Spontaneously and being in no Delirium but in sound Health and Strength of Body as Man very often doth most Wittingly and Willingly and with the greatest and most sedate Deliberation Now as I have before shewed Self is such a First Principle and Fundamental Interest in Nature that as Nature generaly so all particular Natures do intend and endeavor to the utmost the preservation therof nor can it by any Natural Power of Compulsion or Perswasion be removed from this most Innate Principle and Instinct except only for preservation of the Universal Nature which is also Natural in order to the necessary preservation of its own Particular Nature as a Fox will bite off his Leg to preserv his Life for if any thing could be ousted of this most Natural Principle then it should be ousted of itself wheras Self is the Foundation of all other Concernments Thus a Lion Mastiff Bear Boar Hors or any other most stout and couragious Brute will ly whining and pining to the last rather then destroy itself or suffer itself to be destroied by others untill Death necessarily dissolv it becaus it is Conscious to itself and hath this Common Notion in itself that the Individuality therof which truly and realy is the very Self therof shall perish for ever wheras Man having this Common Notion of the Immortality of his Soul Imprinted in his Soul which principaly is himself as Hebraicaly the Human Person is called a Soul and as it is said Animus cujusque est quisque though generaly according to his whole Human Compositum he affecteth Life and dreadeth Death yet judging it better for him to be in the Separate State of his Soul then in the Conjunct State of his Compositum he can and doth accordingly both determin and execute his own Death and Dissolution though I do not conceiv that every Self-murderer like Cato who before-hand read over Plato's Discours of the Immortality of the Soul doth so consyder it Explicitely nor as Spira who in Despair would dy that he might know the worst after Death but rather most of them not regarding any better or wors State after Death however are willing to dy to eas themselvs of their present Miserable Life and so desperately venture upon a future whatsoever it may be or perhaps according to the vast and most Licentious Liberty of Human Understanding and Will may thus Explicitely not only deny but act contrarily to any Common Notions or Instincts whatsoever and so destroy themselvs which yet they could never effect witâ—out such an Implicit Notion of the Immortality of the Soul Radicated in itself And so none but an Immortal Being can wish a Notbeing which yet is only an Imaginary and Illusory Wish as we commonly Imagin Vacuity to be Somthing we know not what and so we may wish Notbeing as Somthing which we conceiv to be a Vacation from Ill-being we know not how for certeinly we can Naturaly desire nothing but only in order to Self which must always presuppose Self by which and for which we so desire it But however we mâ—y conceiv heerof in respect to present Ill-being certeinly none can affirm that any Brute hath any fore-knowledg or expectation of any better Being heerafter or of any Transmigration or Translation or that it can thereby be perswaded out of its present Being whatsoever it is nor can he deny that there is such a foreknowledg and expectation in Man or that he may Naturaly and Realy desire and very truly say Cupio dissolvi as I believ not only many Christians but also some Philosophers have thus welcomed Death not through any Necessity or in a higher Strain of Gallantry but with a clear and conscious expectation of another Life after Death and breathing after it in and with the willing expiration of their present Life which whether it be alâ—o joâ—ned with any assurance of a better State therin or not yet plainly proveth that the Soul of Man generaly is Immortal becaus it can so affect another Separate State which no Brute can so affect becaus it is Mortal and that it shall be either in a wors State of Eternal M sery becaus some Men can so Imaginarily wish to prevent it or in a better State of Eternal Happines becaus others can so Realy wish to enjoy it
and perhaps Auxiliary Qualitys with all and every the Simple Qualitys of the other Sensibles as their Proper Sens which is Tact is the Fundamental Sens of all the other Senses as I shall shew heerafter so I fear to seem too Curious and Novell heerin to others and also doubt lest by putting too much of this new Wine into old bottles I should offend others having not any Current Vocabula whereby to express the very Names of these Principles nor Authority enough to Coin them yet I shall generaly express my Sentiment of the more Active and Aqueous Principle both of Odor and Sapor which I call Acidum or Sharp as also of the Terreous Principle therof which I shall call Fatuum or Vapid and so leav it to others more particularly to distribute them And so I conceiv that accordingly in Chymical Separation the Vaporous Spirits or Effluxes are more Acid and the Caput Mortuum more Fatuous and Stupid and in Natural Generation and the Process therof the Succus of Fruits and the like is first Acid or more Acerb and afterward more Sweet then Strong or Rancid and at last Vapid wherin the more Active Quality first prevailing in the Fermentation doth Actuate some such Acid Humor which makes the Fruit or the like more Acid and Poinant and then by expens of the eagernes therof by Evaporation and a more equal Distribution in the Concoction of both Qualitys it becomes more grateful to the Sens or Sweet and as that Temperature begins again to be dissolved more Rancid and at last when the Active Quality is wholy emitted in the Effluvia or Consopited and overcome by the Terreous Vapid Thus also the Mouth which tasteth Meat hath judged therof Infanti Melimela dato fatuafque Mariscas At mihi quae novit pungere Chia Sapit And therefore generaly elder men delight more in such Acid and Poinant Sapors becaus their Sens of Tasting is more Weak and as I may so say Insipid in itself and children in Sweet-meats which are of a more equal Temper and consequently more suitable to their more exact Sensation There is an old Problem whether Odors do Nourish which I suppose may easily be resolved that they do not nor cannot Nourish as Odors for so Sapors as Sapors do not Nourish becaus they are only Spiritual Qualitys and no Materia Nutritiva nor can they Migrate out of their Bodys nor do they so much Nourish in and with their Bodys as Condite Meats and Dâ—inks wherin they Inhere and there are many other Qualitys which are neither so Odorous nor Saporous and yet more Nutritive and Assimilative But as Sapor doth most properly commend Meats and Drinks to the Appetite which greatly conduceth to Nourishment and so there is sometimes a better Concoction and Nutrition of and by that which is more gratefull to the Tast though less wholesome in itself then of that which is more wholesome and less grateful according to the the Consent and Confederacy of Nature especialy if the Delectation and Aversation be extraordinary as in Longing or Loathing so next to Sapor Odor also which is very Homogeneous with it as I have said doth by a pleasing Fragrancy excite the Appetite and so though more remotely may Musike at a Feast as Siracides observeth and the Color of Wine when it looketh Red and sparkleth in the Glass as Solomon observeth but these are only Sympathetical Exhilarations and Provocations of the Sensitive Imagination and Appetite which yet conduce to Vegetative Nutrition and plainly shew the Subordination therof and Combination between them and so Physicians generaly prescribe Mirth at Meals as he also adviseth Eat thy Bread with Ioy and drink thy Wine with a Merry heart But the greater Question is whether Vapors as Vapors and particularly Odorous may Nourish and then they are to be consydered either as they may pass into the Brain and so certeinly they may Intoxicate as some find by Sents of Winecellars Fumes of Tobacco and the like yea sweet Perfumes if strong and vehement may caus Headach and it hath been credibly reported that some have been Poisoned by Venemous Sents wherefore iâ— will be very hard to conceiv that the Animal Spirits may not as well be refreshed and cherished by benigne Vapors as by maligne thus distempered or as they pass by Introsuction or Inspiration into the Lungs and so seem to be not only for Refrigeration but since there is more Inspired continualy then Respired it may deserv farther Inquisition whether the rest doth not pass out of the Lungs by the Heart into the Arterys and therebyserv both for Purification and Attenuation of the Bloud and also for Nutrition for though I conceiv Elementary Fire or Air alone not to be Nutritive yet I know not why Vapors may not Nourish as well as Drink since they are only Water Rarefied and there is not only Air but also much Vapor in the Atmosphere wherin we breath and which we continualy suck in by such Inspiration and if that be too pure an Air and not sufficiently Vaporous as in the Andes or if the Vapors be more Adusted by Fire of Charcoal or the like or Corrupted by much breathing in a close Room or the like we feel great want of a more Nutritive as well as Refrigerative Air and plainly the Birth or Foetus while it it in the Mothers Womb and is Nourished by her hath no Use of the Lungs nor Inspiration thereby but assoon as it is brought forth it needeth this Breath of Life as it is termed as well as any other Nourishment and cannot live as before without it though there was before the same Motion and Heat of the Heart which did need as much Refrigeration as afterward and though it may seem very strange that Vapor thus passing Immediately from the Lungs by the other passages through the Heart into the Arterys and not like other Meat and Drink first into the Stomack should Nourish without any more Process of Concoction yet it may be also consydered how much sooner Drink in an empty Stomack is Concocted then Meat and whether Vapor which is so much more Rare and Fusile then Drink need any such Process and may not by the Heat and Motâ—on of the Bloud be Concocted and Mist with it which is all that I intend by this kind of Nutrition and so I refer it to the Judgment of learned Physicians who if they shall judg it to be so will also judg the Atmosphere to be of such consequence as I formerly intimated IV. All the Rivers run into the Sea yet the Sea is not full Vnto the place from whence the Rivers came thither they return again as the wise Philosopher saith most truly and Philosophicaly according to the Divine History of the Creation of Waters beneath and Waters above and the mutual Reciprocation therof though perhaps not according to Popular Understanding for indeed the Popularity which some weak and shallow Wits impute to Scripture is rather in their
own Apprehensions then in the Expressions wherin Scripture is alway Consonant the Truth therof Consistent with itself and so we are to Interpret them accordingly and to reduce them all to the System of the World which is Intentionaly reveled and declared unto us in this Divine History of the Genesis therof and then we shâ—ll neither as some place Waters below the Earth becaus Springs are termed Subterraneous or above the Aether yea the Superaether becaus the same word signifieth both Air and Heavens and so make them to possess both the Center and Circumference of the whole World nor conceiv that Rivers flow from the Ocean only by Subterraneous passages and so flow thither again in their Canales whenas there is not any mention made of Rivers in all the Six Days Works but only of Waters above and Waters beneath which were first gathered into Seas though I doubt not but that Rivers were also made afterward in the Third Day yet first by Waters above or Vapors and in the same Order of Nature wherin they are still continued that is by the descent of Vapors first raised from the Seas into the Earth and therefore only Vapors or Waters above and Seas or Waters beneath are heer mentioned and so afterward we read that There went up a Mist from the Earth and watered the whole face of the Ground before we read of the fower Rivers that encompassed Eden about and were also fed and continued by it and the Vapors thus descending into the Spongy Earth where they meet with Stones or other such Bodys less apt to Imbibe them do stand in Drops as they do on Marble which Poets call the Tears of Niobe and those Drops gathering together in Fluxes make at first litle Rills and they afterward Rivulets and Rivers which run again into the Sea and so the Rivers were made and are still continued and this and no other is the Cours of the Waters as the Psalmist affirmeth They go up by the Mountains they go down by the Vallys unto the place which thou hast founded for them and so we read of Windows of Heaven aswell as of Fountains of the Deep and the Author of Esdras calleth them also Springs above the Firmament for so indeed they are Mutualy and Reciprocaly Fountains each to other And this plainly is proved by the freshnes of Rivers which may not be imputed to any such Percolation through the Earth whereby it hath formerly been supposed that Salt might be Separated from Water but is now found to be otherwise I have tried it by so strict a Percolation that only a Drop or two of Brine have been Excerned in a whole Days time and yet they were so Briny that I could perceiv very little or no difference and all Saltmen find Evaporation to be the most easy and natural way of making Salt which therefore certeinly is the way of Nature in so great an Evaporation as apparently makes all Rainwater fresh and consequently all Riverwater Nor are Salt Springs from the Sea Immediately or Mediately but from Salt Mines in the Earth lâ—ke other Nâ—trous Bitumineous or Iron Springs and the like though I also acknowledg that Salt may be Volatilised as Chymists say and which doth very sensibly appear to us who dwell neer to the Sea where Woods on that side toward the Sea are blasted thereby and Iron Nails and Window Barrs rotted as Iron will swell and be corrupted by lying long in Saltwater yet these Vapors of the Sea go not farr nor are such Experiments therof found at any great distance much less can they make Salt Springs in the Inland where also fresh Springs â—low very neer to them but they are both first from Vapors and then the Salt Springs are made Salt by runing through Salt Mines And lastly I shall approve it by a plain Experiment which I received from a very Credible Person whose Hous standing at the bottom of a declive Hill and wanting Water he caused a large Trench to be digged down the side therof and many other less Trenches branching out of it both ways and then filled them all with Pebble Stones and again covered them over with the Earth and found Water to flow at the bottom of the main Trench through a Pipe laid to receiv it which is only by Artificial application of the same Natural Causalitys And when I had reported this to a Noble Lord he confirmed it with another Observation which himself had made in certein Quillets or litle Quagmires which have Water springing and standing in them by causing them to be searched and the ground to be digged under them where he found Beds of Stone which might also give occasion to the Poets to feign Rivers powring their Waters out of Stony Urns Nor indeed is it Imaginable that Rivers and Springs should otherwise come from the Sea whose highest Watermark is farr below the Springs as is well known to such who live neer to the higher Shores of the Sea and so also is attested by such who have gone up the Pike of Tâ—neriff wherin they found a Spring farr above the Sea wheras Water while it is such cannot ascend above its Levell for then it should rise above itself becaus it is all one Equidens and Fluid Body And Springs rise first out of the Earth in very small Sources and not from any such Subterraneous Rivers as some have supposed flowing in great Canales under the Earth and Impelled by I know not what Subterraneous Vapors like Bloud in the Veins But though all Water will run to its Levell yet if it be not also some way Impelled it will run very slowly and so swell and mingle by degrees as it can hardly be perceived to run wherefore it is observed in such Cutts and Aqueducts that if about a foot Fall be not allowed for every Mile there will be a very litle Current of the Water wheras Rivers run very swiftly and some of them with a very Rapid Current which must be by a farr greater Fall and therefore the Springs or Sources of all great Rivers must be farr within Land and also fall from much higher ground as the Author of Esdrâ—â— saith That the Flowds might powr down from the Rocks Having thus farr consydered the Cours of Waters from the Sea into the Air by Evaporation and from thence to the Earth and from the Mountains or higher ground therof to the Seas again which is the first and great Reciprocation therof whereby they are such Mutual Fountains each to other I shall now farther consyder that which we commonly call the Floud and Ebb or Tides of Seas and Rivers which is also another Mutual Reciprocation of Waters for so the Floud of the Seas is the Ebb of the Rivers and the Ebb of the Rivers the Floud of the Seas not Circularly as the other but only describing a very small Segment or part of an Arch like a Pendulum Now becaus so many several Hypotheses therof have been