is Indefinite and to pursue it Vain and Endless It is not Absolutely Impossible that this or any other Book might be Printed by the Casual Concurrence of Letters Ink and Paper without any Composer or Printer yet if any should therefore write a large Discours therof or of any other such like Hypothesis I think it might well deserv to be placed in Rablais his Library But though I shall carefully exclude any such Improbable Trifles yet I doubt not but that among so many supposed Probabilities I may run into some Errors and many Errata in Terms of Art and such other Peccadillos which may prove Scandalous and Offensive to Weaker Minds who regard Words more than Things and may be matter enough of Disgrace and Disparagement to the Captious who though they can find no fault in Venus her self will Carp at her Sandal or something about her And I am Conscious that I may be more liable hereunto being no Mathematician Astronomer Chymist or other Artist whatsoever but one among the Laity of Mankind having only two Books which I regard Scripture and Nature and though any may easily bite through my Human Infirmity yet he shaâ—l break his Teeth at these Bones Fragili quaerens illidere dentem Offendet Solido However I am sufficiently secure being already where I would be that is below Fame and above Infamy and as I do not Superscribe my Name to gain the one so neither do I Conceal it to avoid the other but either is as Indifferent to my self as it is to my Pen to write it only it is somewhat less not to write it Nor will I presume to add any thing to Divine Authority professing it to be my chief Designe to Exalt it as the only Statera of Truth both Natural and Supernatural and as we Eminently call it Scripture and Bible so it is indeed the Writing of all Writings and Book of all Books whereby â—hey are to be Judged and If they speak not according to this Word it is becaus there is no Light in them As a worthy Friend laying his hand on the Bible once truly said to me If this Book were not Extant in the World there were nothing Certain and Infallible left to Mankind wherof we have sufficient Evidence not only in Scepticism but even in all other Philosophy of which there are so many several Sects and Opinions or indeed only Hypotheses for I cannot conceiv that the Authors therof were ever satisfied in themselvs or could expect to satisfie others thereby but vented them as some things which they esteemed Possible or the best of them only as fair Probabilitys Wheras this foundation laid in Scripture is as sure as Nature it self which both are the Work and Word of the same Divine Creator and every Superstructure rightly built therupon shall stand Now though I may not presume to be any such Master-builder yet I think it a very great Work effected if I may reduce others to this Fundamental System and provoke them to build upon it as I have begun and offered this rude Essay and though they shall pleas to Demolish my whole Fabrike and themselvs to Erect any other and lay upon it Gold Silver Pretious Stones Wood Hay Stubble or what they list I have my Designe which is to Assert this to be the only true Foundation of Natural Philosophy as well as of Theology and Morality And the Fire shall try every mans Work of what sort it is And so I not only Dedicate this my Work unto the World as indeed every Writer writes to all by making his Writing Publike but also I Appeal unto it and make every Reader my Judg for I do not presume to teach the World nor shall I as others term it the People that knoweth not the Law of Nature for though it consist of many Heads and almost as many Sentences yet I do not find but that the last Result and that wherin they Acquiesce is Truth whose common Fate in the World is first to be gazed on and perhaps derided and oppugned and at last after farther scrutiny to be enterteined and embraced and the Fate of Error contrary therunto first to be Applauded and Admired and so received withouâ— any Pratike and afterward when it is more strictly examined to be Rejected and Exploded Thus Truth is the Daughter of Time and as Time is the best Critike so I esteem Homer Virgil and such others to have been the best of Poets and Plato and Aristotle the best of Philosophers becaus their Works have so long survived wheras there are only some Fragments of Epicurus now remaining as broken and minute as his Corpuscles or Atoms Certeinly Scripture is both most Antient and also most Intire Nor can I suppose that the Discovery of any consyderable Natural Truth or Profitable Good to Mankind hath been renounced or will ever be lost by them Wherefore now O Christian World who art a Collection not only of Men but of Christians Judg thou according to both Capacitys whether Scripture be not the truest Comment that ever was made upon Nature and that thou maist rightly discern between them set the short System of the Divine Genesis therof by all or any other whatsoever Contuleris toto cum sparsa Volumina mundo Illa Homines dicas haec docuisse Dâ—um And now after so many Christian Ages let it be once Determined whether this be a true History of the Creation or not and if it be as most undoubtedly it is let us no longer be bereaved of so great a Treasure which hath hitherto I know not how been not only hid under ground but trampled on by the feet of men Nor let any Elude and Enervate it by the Imputation of Popularity whereby even Popular Understandings may learn Divine Philosophy as the Psalmist professeth that thereby he had acquired More Understanding then all his Teachers Nor let us resigne not only our Faith but also our own Reason to others becaus they pleas to abandon theirs and scoffingly call it Logical or Metaphysical or the like which are the Acquests of those Noble Arts and Sciences whereby we excell Brutes Barbarians and themselvs Nor may they justly term this a Prejudice against them for how do they Prejudg who Appeal to the whole World or the Great University of Mankind and as good Scribes bring forth out of their Treasure things New and Old doing herein like Galenists who willingly admit and add to their Dispensatorys any Chymical Experiments which are sound and useful and to such Physicians all wise Patients commit their Bodys rather then to Empirikes Or are they prejudiced who affirm nothing but what they prove by all the ways of Probation Authority Argument and Experiment For to what Judg can we Appeal but the World or to what Law but Faith Reason and Sens and may we not rather suspect the Prejudice to ly in Novelty and Party and a new Sect of men who admit only sens and yet will not be Judged
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
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
Wherupon he Instituted and made for Man his first Sabbath of Rest And on the Seaventh Day God ended his Work which he had made that is as he began in the very first Instant so he continued to work untill and in the very last Instant of the Six Days and therefore he rested not before but proceeding continualy to work in all the Six Days as it is said at first that the Spirit of God Moved on the face of the Deep he ended or Hebraicaly had ended on the very first Instant of the Seaventh Day or Sabbath of Rest wheras it could not be rightly said that he ended or had ended before for in the very last Instant of the Six Days he still continued to work so exact and proper is Divine Language and though men cannot discern between Instants of Time or Points of Extension which therefore are so Indiscernible that the Fluxes and Augments of Created Nature may appear Intire and Continuous to us yet known unto God are all his Works even Instants and Points as well as Numbers and accordingly he doth declare them in his Word as exactly and properly as Human Understanding can apprehend Again though it be said that He rested on the Seaventh Day from all his Work which he had made yet it is not said that he rested in it but this Work of Creation was Corrupted very soon after it was finished Wherefore as there remaineth a Rest to the People of God by the Redemption of the World through Iesus Christ so that is called also the Rest of God himself and shall be the Everlasting Sabbath and Consummation of all his Works both of Creation and Redemption wherin he will rest for ever Thus I have delineated the true System of the World which God himself who made it hath declared and reveled unto us in this Divine History of the Creation of the Heavens and the Earth that is the Superaether and utmost Circumference therof and within that Concave Sphere the Aether and within that the Air and within them all the Orb of the Terraqueous Globe and inmost Center therof which certeinly is the most Symmetrical and Uniform Chorography of the whole Body of Matter and of these several Members therof most exactly according to the greater or Less Density of their Matter and more or less Activity of their Spirits And therin I have also described the Scale of Nature and all the Classes therof Subordinate and Subservient one unto another that is Matter to Elementary Spirits and Elements to Vegetatives and Vegetatives to Sensitives and Sensitives to Intellective Man and Man to Iesus Christ the Head of all things and other foundation can no man lay then that which is laid by God himself Monendus est misellus Philosophus ut desinat esse Conditor Mundi and I confidently suppose that if Plato and Aristotle had enjoied the benefit of this Divine Light they had farr more improved Philosophy by building upon this Foundation then Christian Philosophers have done by building upon theirs and that we may enjoy the benefit of their great Learning and yet diâ—engage our selves wholy from their Errors we must reduce all their Opinions and Human Inventions to this most Infallible Rule which if we rightly consider it will not only rectifie their Errors but also instead therof present such Divine Truths as they did never conceiv or apprehend as may particularly appear by a short Recapitulation of what we have formerly discoursed Thus first we have proved a Begining and consequently a Creation of the World which no Heathen Philosophy so understood as it is declared by God in his Word but either imagined an Eternal Creation without a Begining in any certein Time removing it perpetualy backward by supposition of many Deluges Conflagrations and general Devastations and Indefinite Revolutions or though they may sometimes seem to acknowledg an Improper Creation from some precedent Principles of Matter Atoms Mens Anima Mundi Ideae and the like yet they do not express any Proper Creation from Absolute Nonentity to which Heathen Philosophy never did subscribe nor do I know any Word in any other Human Language but only Hebraical which doth import such a Proper Creation Though if any conceiv otherwise and can collect any such Acknowledgment from their doubtful and confused and sometimes contrary Sentences I shall not hinder him from subjoining their Human Testimony to Divine Authority But certeinly Moses doth most plainly and clearly affirm a Creation of the World in a certein Begining and so proceeds to declare the first Age of the World as particularly and expresly as if himself had been Contemporary and lived in the same Time and Places and the Affairs therof which all Heathen Historiographers esteemed Fabulous and termed Ogygia more exactly and truly then they do relate the Transactions of later Ages And thus wheras other Nations dated their Writings so many years ab Urbe Condita or in such an Olympiad or the like the Jews both antient and modern date them ab Orbe condito Nor is the whole Age of the World so very large or vast but that every man may according to Divine Chronology easily comprehend it And indeed there are not probably above 150 Generations between us and Adam who was the Common Ancestor of all Mankind for the Scripture doth exactly enumerate them all from the first Adam to the Second that is to Iesus Christ 76 Generations Inclusively as Enoch is so reckoned from Adam and the Brazen Lavacre so to be measured as I have shewed for so Luke declares his Seculum as Matthew doth his proper Linage and if we allow fower Generations to every Century since the Nativity of our Savior yet the Total will not exceed that Number Nor is the whole World and System therof so Indefinite but that the Mind of Man may comprehend it and by the Light of the Divine Word look through it as a transparent Globe for so it is said He hath set the World in their Heart and his Word plainly sheweth us how all Generable and Corruptible things were first educed out of a Chaos of Potentialitys wherin all their Primitive and Simple Essences were then latent and brought forth most orderly and successively in Six Days by God who Created them before by a Proper Creation from Absolute Nothing in a Supernatural maner by Improper Creation which was their Original Generation then Instituted by God himself and by his Divine Benediction so continuing Successively And this is a short plain and evident account therof wheras others instead of such Proper and Improper Creation have imagined a Potentia Materiae or Power in the Matter of producing out of itself other Active Substances farr more excellent then itself which yet were not before Realy in it or that the Matter is transpeciated and converted into them though an Angel who is the chief Being in the Scale of Nature cannot so produce out of himself any other then his own proper Qualitys and
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