Mists commonly rise when the Sun is sett and in the colder Night so the Moon by a more Moderate and Insensible Tepor doth draw up more gross Vapors which presently return into Dews and Water and chiefly when she is in her Apogaea as I have said formerly of Tides which are then highest whereby the Vapors are not drawn up so high but the Water which as I have observed doth Naturaly Evaporate and again return to Water by her less Heat is less Desiccated and Suspended and so the Vapors are lower and sooner return into Water again for though Internal Heat in the Water itself by Rarefying it doth help Evaporation yet any greater External Heat doth reduce the Moisture of the Vapors which it raiseth to Potentiality in Fume which is prevented by the less Heat of the Moon and â—y this or some other way unknown to us the Moon doth very notably Predominate over Moisture And thus as Heat and Moisture are the chief Instruments in Elementary Generations wherin Cold serveth to temper Heat and Drines to fix Moisture so these two chief Luminarys do most notably Predominate over them that is the Sun over Heat and the Moon over Moisture as well as the Sun doth rule the Day and the Moon the Night IV. Besides these two there are five other Principal Planets as they are termed to distinguish them from the other Starrs which are contrarily termed Fixed though heer they are all comprehended under the common Name of Starrs and so indeed they are in Nature though men taking more notice of the Planets as neerest to us and most sensible by us have formerly Deified them and still dote upon them and so have assigned them their several Spheres and only one Eighth Sphere for all the rest which are Innumerably more and yet among the Planets themselvs there are found out some Satellites and perhaps more may be found out heerafter though we know them not yet as others before us did not know these and wheras men also have fansied such several Regions of Aethereal Spheres as are not to be found in Nature so also such an Orderly and Uniform Position of the Aetheruli therin as is indeed contrary to the very End and Intention of these Luminarys which as I have shewed was for the greatest Variety of Seasons and Influences and that could not be without their various Positions and Motions which I do rather suppose to be so very various and difform that like the Motions of Fâ—sh Fowl and Beasts not any one of them is like to any other but every one most Regular in its kind as I have observed of Mathematical Figures that is the Circle and all Regular Polygons which therefore are Asymmetrous and so are the Aetheruli becaus they are all several Specifical Natures purposely Created to express such Varietys and Conform in their very Difformitys Certeinly their Positions are all very different and distant the next to them is the Menstrual Motion of the Moon which maketh Months and that also is Incommensurable with either of them according to which besides the Sabbath Day which was made for Man or Mankind generaly and so Instituted first in Paradâ—se and is still kept and observed by virtue of that first Command and only the Circumstance of Time varied whereby it is exalted from a Rest of Creation to a Rest of Redemption and also the Annual Feasts and Jubiles according to the Motion of the Sun there were also Monthly Feasts in the New Moons and the like according to the Cours of the Moon appointed by God for the Iews And becaus as we cannot work according to Mathematical Exactnes so also we cannot know Astronomical scrupulosity therefore the Priests were to blow with the Trumpets as it is said In the Day of your gladnes and in your Solemn Days and in the Beginings of your Months to call the Assemblys and give notice to the People when they should begin them And so also there were Weights and Measures of the Sanctuary or there reposited as Sacred things as it is said A just Weight and Balance are the Lords and therefore the Standards therof were kept by the Priests but certeinly these Measures could not Commensurate that which is Naturaly Incommensurable and so it is supposed that wheras it is said of the Lavacre or Brasen Sea that it was Ten Cubits from Brim to Brim or from Lip to Lip round in Compass and a Line of Thirty Cubits did compass it about that it was so not Exactly but Rotunde according to the common Mechanical Account which becaus more Curious Mathematicians will not accept and therupon insult over Scripture and from this one Expression would prove all others therin to be Popular and themselvs to be the only Exact men I shall heer farther examin it and desire them to reconsyder how it was a Vessel having Brims or Lips and so is said to be Ten Cubits from Lip to Lip Inclusively as A Capite ad Calcem is also so rendred Inclusively Talos a Vertice pulcher ad imos and the Compass of the Body of the Vessel itself was under the Lips Exclusively as it followeth and under the Brim of it round about Knops compassing it ten in a Cubit compassing the Sea round about whereby also we may understand what was the particular Breadth of the Brim or Lip that is almost a quarter of a Cubit but never according to Mathematical Exactnes and therefore the Measure therof is not otherwise particularly mentioned as it is of the Body that the Thicknes of it was an Hands breadth But I shall leav these Disquisitions to more learned Criticks who if they pleas to understand Scripture not according to such Maligne but Benigne Interpretations shall find therin not only Verity but the greatest Curiositys couched in the most Mysterious Expressions and so I profess and hope to shew through this whole Dâ—scours that when Scripture and Nature are throughly examined and sifted to the utmost they will be found to be most Concordant one with another and all Scripture as well as Nature with itself V. Though as I have shewed there are no new Starrs Created nor any Annihilated as some affirm of the Pleiades or Seaven Starrs as they are commonly called but as Ovid observed of them in his time Quae septem dici sex tamen esse solent so long before him in Scripture they are called only by the Name of their Constellation and no where Numericaly Seaven as Translators render them yet since the Heavens as well as the Earth were cursed for Mans sake there are also some Anomala and Meteors in Aether and such as are not like the Starr of our Savior which was made by a Miraculous production but Monstrous and Prodigious wherof the Antients make mention as that which appeared at the death of Iulius Caesar to celebrate his Exit as the other did our Saviors Intrat which was some extraordinary Comet in the Aether where they denied any Comets to be
without any Local Motion and when they are in Local Motion are Commonly rather Causes therof then Caused by it and so they Caus Motion in the very Matter which of it self would Perpetualy Rest in the Center and due Position of it Self as I have said and shall heerafter prove and is Disturbed and Moved by the Potentiae of Spirits which alter the Natural Position Figure Density and Gravity therof and Properly it hath no Natural Motion of it Self but only to restore it Self unto Rest. Nor can the Matter and Motion and any or all the other Accidents or Variations therof Formaly Caus the Spirits or Spiritual Qualitys but are only Instruments and fit Bodies therof which they form for themselves Take Wax and Move it this Way or that Way or Mold it into this or that Figure or Discind it into any Threads or Corpuscles or Mechanicaly Vary the Matter therof how you will yet it will still be Wax as well as every part of Water is Water Unless there be also some new Generation or Corruption therof by Spirits and Spiritual Qualitys as I shall shew heerafter Wherefore that which some call Texture whether Extrinsecal as Figure Porosity or plain Interweaving of Threads or Filaments and the like or Intrinsecal as Density and Rarity which indeed are the only true Intrinsecal Textures of Bodys and yet are wholy denied by our Textorian Philosophers as well as Local Motion is only Instrumental and no Formal Caus or Being of any Spirit or Spiritual Quality And so take Common Water and Spirit of Wine Vitriol or any stronger Spirits and setting them in their several Vessels one by another Inspect them with a Microscope and see if you can discern any such Proportionable and Consyderable Difference of their Extension Figure Density Gravity Local Motion or any Corporeal Texture whatsoever as there is of their Spirits and Spiritual Qualitys Or take any Aethereous Globules or Materia Subtilis Emittent Transmittent or Remittent if you can tell where to find it or the most Subtile and Pure Air which may be had on the Top of the highest Mountain and which is Common Matter as well as any other and putting this Matter into any Windgun Airpump or Expansor or any such Torcular or other Rack of Nature whatsoever or applying to it any Chymical Fire or Heat or Salt and Snow or what you will and vex it how you will and try if you can force it to Confess it Self to be any other thing then Air or Extort from it all or any of these Spiritual Diversifications or such as may be Effected by the like Experiments made of Vapor Water or Earth or any parcel or part of the Terraqueous Globe and Cortex therof Which God having made to be the Native Countrey and Region of Animals hath also Impregnated with such Material Spirits and their Spiritual Qualitys which he did first Produce and still may be Produced ouâ— of them Wherefore since Matter and Spirits do thus Differ not only in our Mind and Reason but in their own Natures I Conclude them both Realy to Be and Realy to Differ one from the other and not to be only Matter and the Motions therof VIII Accidents are either Common or Proper Common Accidents are such as were Concreated and Actualy Existed together with the Substances in the Begining and without which no Substances or any Created Entity whatsoever can Actualy Exist as all Quantitys whether discrete as Number for every Creature that is whatsoever it be must also be Numerable Or Successive as Duration for every Creature that is whatsoever must also be Durable or Temporary Or Consistent as Extension which though is be in it Self Proper to Matter yet as the Matter of the whole World is a Common Matter so as I have shewed it doth Coextend or Contein all Spirits and every Creature that is in Heaven or Earth must necessarily be Localy therin that is in the Universal Body of the Matter or Vbi therof and in some Part or Place therof that is it must be there where it is and no where els at the same Time Proper Accidents are such as Originaly Flow from and Subsist in their Proper Substances as Consistent Quantity Extension Figure Density and the rest in Matter and Spiritual Qualitys in Spirits Again these Simple Accidents may be either Compounded together or Several and yet mutualy Relating one to another and Such Relations may also be Real as First and Last in Successive Quantity or Time for they Realy are Such in the Successive Nature therof which otherwise should not be Successive and are not only Notional such as First or Last in Consistent Quantity or Extension for they are not Realy such in the Consistent Nature therof becaus it is Consistent altogether and so the First may be Last or the Last First according to our Notion and Institution therof Also there are other more Complex Relations which may likewise be Real either Mathematical as a Triangle and three several Lines are different things or Physical as Beauty which is a Relative Conformity of severall Lineaments and Colors to the Physical Law therof Or Moral as Virtue which is a Relative Conformity of Actions Modes and Circumstances to the Moral Law therof Or Theological as Piety which is a Relative Conformity of Actions Modes and Circumstances to the Theological Law therof and the like which being more Complex are also more Curious and Excellent and the Relative Conformitys therof are Not only Real but also the Excellencys and Perfections of those Realitys wherin they Relatively and Realy Subsist And this Relative Reality though iâ— doth Subsist in the particular Entitys wherof they are the Relations yet doth Consist in the very Relative Conformity therof for their particular Entitys being Inverted will vary them as a Triangle may so be made a Zeta or Pi or render that which was Beautiful Deformed and that which was Virtuous Vitious and that which was Pious Impious And heer I shall Conclude with this general Observation That though Substances Excell in Entity becaus they Subsist in themselvs yet Accidents Excell in Bonity becaus they Perfect their Substances For such indeed was that great Difference between the first Chaos and the six Days Works Perfected therin SECTION V. And the Earth was without form and void And Darknes was upon the face of the Deep EXPLICATION The Elementary Globe of Earth Water Air and Aether was first Created Inform and Inane without any of those Actual Compositions Mistions Figures and Virtues which were afterward Produced in the Six Days ILLUSTRATION 1. Of the fower Elements 2. Of the Chaos 3. Of Quantity 4. Of Number 5. Of Time 6. Of Extension 7. Of Figure 8. Of Porosity 9. Of Density and Rarity 10. Of Gravity and Levity 11. Of Rest and Motion 12. Of Place Space and Vacuity I. WE have heer a farther Explication in the Text itself of the Heaven and Earth Created in the Begining Wherof it is again said
the Plastike Virtue therof and other Internal Spiritual Powers which God first Created in and with the Spirits in the Begining and were afterward Actuated and sett in Order by the Divine Spirit who was the Supernatural and Universal Protoplastes of them all as I have shewed And so they still continue in their Successive Generations and Corruptions wherin though the Spirits and Spiritual Qualitys be the chief Operators and Architects yet the Matter is the Body and all the Accidents and Affections therof are accordingly Instrumental therin and so are also all Common Accidents as Number wherof the chief Instrumentality is Unity which doth Fortify and reduce several Principles into one Compositum Oeconomy and Individuality Nor indeed can I conceiv any other Power to be in Number which is only so many Units and the very Multiplication therof or Duality is rather Instrumental in Corruption then in Generation Also Time is very requisite in the Process of Generation as I have shewed And so likewise Extension for no Body either Elementary or Vegetative or Sensitive can possibly be only a Point which can not Exist severaly And though every Part or Particle of Water be Water and the like yet Organical Bodys must have several Organs or so many Members or less Corpuscles wherof the Whole must be Composed and that according to the Species therof must be of some requisite Magnitude for though Oaks and less Trees may be of several Sâ—zes yet none of them can be so small as some Herbs and Grass and so though there be Dogs of very Different Bignes yet none can be so little as a Mite or some almost Atomical Animals Also Figure is very Instrumental heerin as well as in Mechanical Tools or in the Body of an Army where the Globus or Orbicular Figure is for Safety round about the Square Phalanx for Strength the Cuneus or Wedg to make Impressions and the like And so they and others are also requisite in Nature and Natural Operations especialy in Organical Composita which require Bodys fitt for such Operations of Various Figures and most Symmetricaly Composed And no Art of Statuary or Painter can so farr Imitate them as to endure the Criticism of a Microscope And the whole Feature and Beauty of Organical Bodys is only the Symmetrical Conformity of their Various Figures Porosity serveth for Excerning and thereby for Preservation of the Compositum and also for Corruption by more easie admission of any Dissolvent or Menstruum being a Partial Comminution or Dissolution of the Body in itself as Perfect Continuity doth fortify And therefore also Density doth Preserv not only in Proportion to the Parts but in the Whole as it is more United in itself and in all the Parts therof and hath Proportionably more of the Spirit and more United And as Maceration doth weaken so also Rarefaction And every Specifical Spirit doth require a Body of a Proper Density or Rarity wherof there are Innumerable Degrees and it can hardly be supposed that any two Bodys of Spirits Specificaly Different are of the same Degree of Density exactly but either more or less And as the Compositum is Varied by a new Predominating Spirit so the Density or Rarity of the Body therof is Varied likewise as may appear by Impregnating and Superimpregnating and the like And so likewise Gravity and Levity and the Motion therof to Station but especialy the Principal Motion to Union or Contact are very Instrumental in Generation and Corruption as appears by the Local Union of Emanant Rays Yet Matter and all these Various Affections therof are no Formal Causalitys of Spirits or Spiritual Qualitys or of the whole Composita Consubstantiated and fitted thereby as I have shewed But when the Compositum is thus Composed Mâ—terialy and Spiritualy and Invested and Instructed with all the requisite Accidents both of the Matter and Spirits then is the Generation therof Perfected and then it doth Appear and Operate being thus Produced out of Potentiality into Actuality with all the Furniture therof and so continues Naturaly untill it be again Corrupted And so were the Original Composita Produced by the Divine Spirit in the Six Days and have ever since and still do continue according to that Instituted Cours of Nature From which when God himself doth Vary it is Miraculous and when Nature doth Aberr it is Monstrous and yet even those particular Monstrositys are generaly Comprehended within this Universal Law of Generation and Corruption as all Equivocal Productions and the like being otherwise generaly Conformable therunto as I have shewed And as Nature doth only work by those Ingenerable and Incorruptible Principles Powers and Virtues which God first Created in the Begining and then sett in Order in the Six Days so Art can only work by Application of these Natural Principles Powers and Virtues which is also Monstrous and Disorderly in respect of the Constant Cours of Nature that was Produced in the Six Days though it be according to the Nature of Intellectives and Sensitives being External Operators so Ingeniously and Artificialy to Apply them by their Natural Wit and Art which is somthing more Divine and more like to the Operation of the Divine Spirit even thus by Disordering to Order and Improve Nature for their own Use and Service But neither Nature nor Art can work Miracles much less Create or Annihilate any thing Nor hath God himself ever since Created any new thing Generable and Corruptible nor ever wrought any such Miracles or added any thing to the Chaos oâ— Elementary World which he first Created in the Begining and Made in the Six Days as I have shewed and then Rested from all that Work of such Improper Creation Nor probably will he ever Annihilate any thing therof more then of Superaether or the Intelligences though the first Chaos may afterward become an everlasting Gehenna and many present Actualitys be for ever Reduced into Potentiality However the Created Essences shall remain Eternaly for the Eternal manifestation of the same Divine Glory as the Wise man hath said I know that whatsoâ—ver God doth shall be for ever Nothing can be putt unto it nor any thing taken from it V. Now as the Divine Spâ—rit did thus Prepare and Predispose the Chaos and out of it Produce the whole Frame and Cours of Naâ—ural Generation and Corruption so I shall from the Review therof Deduce the whole Scale and Order of all Generable and Corruptible Natures Wherof Matter is the Lowest which is the Common Body of all such Spirits as do Consubstantiate it Immediately or Mediately and Mansion of others which do only Inhabit it And no Matter can be without some Spirit Consubstantiating it being only an Imperfect Substance in itself and therefore in the Begining had a Superaethereal Spirit to Consubstantiate the Superaethereal Body of Matter whence it is Denominated Heaven as well as Aether and Air and therefore also Superaether though it be not Elementary yet is of the same Classis
Aether is not Solid or Firm. And the Reason assigned why the Aether should be Solid and Firm is more Vain then the Hypothesis which is becaus it Moves one way and the Planets therin another way and therefore there must be Seaven Spheres of them and an Eighth of the Fixed Starrs and to these is since added a Ninth and a Tenth which must be the Primum Mobile to solv these Phaenomena Wheras in the First Day there was only one Circumvolution of the whole Aether one and the same way to make Day and Night and so untill the Fourth Day and then we do not read of any such Division therof into Spheres as of the Disposition of the Water and Earth into a Terraqueous Globe but only of the Creation of the Starrs Nor is this Supposition of Aethereal Spheres any Solution of the several Advers Motions for perhaps the slower Motions of the Fixed Starâ—s as they are therefore so termed Comparatively which are also Advers to the Motion of the Aether may be as several and then they must also allow as many several Spheres for every one of them and so for any of the Planetary Satellites about another Planet Also the Circumvolution of them by the Primum Mobile must be either by a Corporeal and External Impuâ—s and then they must Cohere to it like the Circular Spheres of an Onion which is the usual Comparison which Cohesion will also make the Circumvolution Conjunct and one and the same way as if you turn an Onion so about otherwise if they do not so Cohere no Motion of the Inferior Spheres will be Caused by the Circumvolution of the Superior or Primum Mobile as if you turn a Wheel about an Axis without any Contact much less can it Move all the others so many several ways Or it must be by some Spiritual Potentia which must be either of another Spirit and so Infinitely or of itself as indeed it is and then the several Planets and Starrs may also aswell have such several Potentiae in themselvs as the Primum Mobile and so many several Spheres Moving themselvs and their several Planets in them by such several and Advers Motions Also firmnes or Consistence is a Proper Quality of Earth as I shall shew heerafter and not of Aether and though the Aether be Mist with all the other Elements in some small Proportion yet the Consistence which it haâ—h thereby is very Inconsyderable and less then of Air and Water which yet are Denominated Fluid Bodys and not Consistent and is rather like the Terrene Opacity therof which doth not fix any Color in Aether nor Reflect like Earth or Water though very much Assisted by the vast Profundity therof which is somwhat Analogous to Opacity as well as Density as may appear by Deep Water which seems more Black and Specular then Shallow The Spirit of Aether is Fire as the very Name therof doth Import which also plainly declareth the common Opinion of the Antient Graecians though they who deny the Thing would also elude the Etymology And so the Persiaâ—s who worshipped the Sun therefore Consecrated Fire and used it in their Mysterious Ceremonys And all Language both Sacred and Profane hath ever stiled the Sun Hott which all Sens doth likewise attest though this also and any thing whatsoever will be evaded by a resolved Error and instead therof Fire is placed in a new Invented Sphere or Province which it must have in Conformity to the great Bâ—dys of the other Elements and which is termed Concavum Lunae or Caelum Incognitum All which Absurditys were only Philosophical Inventions to preserv the Idolatrous Reverence and Religion of Hâ—aven which is now together with them to be Exploded by Christianity Nor do I suppose Aeâ—hereal and Culinary Fire to be several Elements Genericaly Different becaus they have the same Proper Qualitys Heat Light and others though they may perhaps Dâ—ffer more Specificaly becaus Aether hath other Proper Qualitys as Circular Motion and Inflâ—ential Virtues which may not be in the other or at least not Actualy as the Eâ—eâ—entary Earth hath Magnetical Virtue whâ—ch is not Actualy in all Terrene Bodys and there is certeinly a greaâ—er Mistion of the other Elements in Culinary Fire which renders it more Impure then Aethereal But there is Heat very notably in Aether which is Instrumental in the Rapid Motion therof for Heat being a most Active Quality is also very Motive I know not whether any Actual Heat can â—e without Actual Motion though Heat be not only Motion nor Motion Heat as I shall shew heerafter And this Motion of Aethereal Heat must necessarily be Circular becaus as I have shewed if there be more Motion then the Body Moving can Exercise and Expend Directly it will Move it Circularly and Aether can not Move any other way for being more Rare then Air it will not Move Downward into it and being more Dens then Superaether which is also Superelementary and most Heterogeneous it can not Move Upward into it but being already in its own Proper Sphere and Station it Moves only in it which must be Circularly and therefore also it Moveâ— Perpetualy becaus it is Moved by its own Proper Potentia which is alway Actual in itself and not Corrupted or Obstructed by any other and it therefore Moves Equaly becaus there is none other Causality to make any Increments or Decrements therof And it is by a Spiritual Qâ—ality in itself which is not to Rest as the Motion of Matter Nor is it Invaded by the Supeâ—aeâ—her and it is Defended from the Ambient Air by that Rapid Motion which affordeth no Time requisite for the Air to Operate upon it and therefore it is more Ingenerable and Incorruptâ—ble then the Inferior Elements and probably doth not Emitt aâ—y of its own Matter and yet by its Emissary Rays is itself the greatest Operator of them all and doth Generate and Corrupt them and so generaly all Superior Elements do most Operate upon the Inferior and the Inferior less upon the Superior Nor doth it need any Fuel becaus it is not continualy Incensed and Extinguished like Flame whose Individuality is therefore Varied as Successively as the Fâ—me but Aeâ—her hath its own Spiritual Potentia always Actual in iâ—self whicâ— is not Corrupted nor Oâ—structeâ— by any otherâ— But I conceiv that the Regularity of the Aetâ—ereâ—l Circâ—mvolution Exactly in every Day Natural is from a Special Quality which was also Actuâ—ted therin in this first Day and so continuâ—th and is a Natural Motion therof Anâ—â—ogous to the Vâ—rricity of the Mâ—â—net whereby it reduceth â—tself to the Regularity of â—ts Polar Position And this I colleâ—t from the Text wherin 〈◊〉 said that God so made Day and Night theâ—in and though the Proper Aethereal Virtue according to that general Power therof doth so carry it about with a Perfect Regularity yet since it hath been Accursed and Blasted as well as Earth for the Sin of Man there are many particular
was more Earth And as the Winds are thus caused by Vapors so the Southern parts of the World being more Watery are therefore as I have said more Tepid or Warm and Rainy or Misty and the Northern parts being more Terreous and Emitting more of the Terreitys therefore the Northwind is contrarily more Cold and Dry. And the Sun in the Diurnal Motion of the Aether being carried from East to West and so better Concocting the Vapors which he hath before raised and passed over in such his Diurnal Cours therefore generaly Eastern Winds are also more Cold and Dry and Western Warmer and Moister and some Winds are observed to Rise and Fall with the Rising and Setting of the Sun But if any Wind or Weather be so Copious and Durable as to be carried about the whole Terraqueous Globe then the same Wind may be of a Contrary Temper from the same Caus and so many times Rains come from the North and East and commonly they are very great becaus they are so Copious and Durable and so in Africa and other hot Climes there are Infrequent Rains but when they happen they are Excessive becaus the Sun doth very Copiously rais Vapors and if it happen by any Circumstantial Causality that he can not Concremate and Desiccate them as much they all turn into Rain And so the Hot Meteor of a Thunder-cloud draws very Copious and Dark Vapors which when the Heat breaks forth in Lightning are presently Resolved into Rain though otherwise when there are few other such Vapors in the Air neer to it there are also dry Lightnings without any great Nois becaus they are not Exploded out of such Clouds as the others and Thunder-clouds may go against the Wind as we say becaus they are Moved and Impelled by their own Heat and by their great Commotion after the Explosion of the Lightning they commonly turn the Wind. And Concurrent Causes may Move and Impell the Mobile Air every way and when it cannot Move fast enough Progressively then as I have said it must Move Circularly whereby it becomes a Turbo or Whirlwind which I conceive rather to be such then all the Winds blowing against one another Ignes fatui are Inflamed Exhalations more Lucid and less Fiery having some Fatt and Viscous Corpuscles of Earth in their Misture and arise generaly from such Soils And if they be more Igneous and more Rarefied thereby they are better Concocted and Ascend higher and become Stellae Cadentes and the lâ—ke which fall down again when that Heat is Extinct But these Fiery Meteors which last longer are not comparably Igneous like Fulgur or Lightning which having a most Rare and Subtile Fomes and being also pent in and Condensated in the Cloud when it breaks forth doth not only make a Terrible Nois by the sudden Collision of the Cloud every way against the Air but also by that sudden Eruption as well as by the Spiritual Power therof doth wonderful Execution and is strangely Influential and I suppose of all Culinary Fire is most like to Aethereal but I cannot conceiv that it can so Calcine any part of the Cloud as to forge a Fulmâ—n Thunderbolt or Stone though I acknowledg that there is much Earth also in it wherof as well as of the Water some Insects as Tadpols and others are found to be Produced after Rain All which Violent and Excessive Meteors are as I have said general Effects of the Divine Curs and so Thunder is called the Voice of God and ought to be regarded but I do not apprehend these general Effects to be any such special Prodigys and Portents as some would have them to be The Iris and the like are Properly no Meteors but only Reflections of the Sun-beams from a Vaporous Cloud like a Prism being also more Opacous then the Bright Clouds And I doubt not but that there were Rainbows before the Deluge though not before the Fall as well as Lambs before the Pass-over Water and Bread and Wine before Baptism and the Lords Supper for all such Sacramental Elements are in themselvs Natural and only supernaturaly Instituted to be Symbolical Signes and so was the Rainbow which signifys Sunshine after Rain and doth very fitly declare the Covenant that God made with Noah that as he and his Family were then saved from the Deluge so it should never after come upon his Posterity and as God said I will look upon it that I may remember the everlasting Covenant between God and every Living Creature of all flesh that is upon the Earth so should we when we behold this his Bow in the Clouds thankfully remember his wonderful Deliverance both that which is past wherin we all who were then in the loins of Noah's Sons were preserved and also future concerning which God hath given us such an everlasting Covenant and this Signe therof SECTION IX And God said Let the Waters under the Heaven be gathered into one place and let the Dry Land appear And it was so And God called the Dry Land Earth and the gathering together of the Waters called he Seas And God saw that it was Good And God said Let the Earth bring forth Grass the Herb yielding Seed and the Fruit Tree yielding Seed after his kind whose Seed is in itself upon the Earth And it was so And the Earth brought forth Grass and Herb yielding Seed after his Kind and the Tree yielding Fruit whose Seed was in itself after his Kind And God saw that it was Good And the Evening and the Morning were the Third Day EXPLICATION God having before caused part of the Water to ascend in Vapors into the Air did afterward caus the rest to subside and be derived into certein Canales in the Earth which he had also prepared for it and so made the Surface of the Earth which before was covered with Water to appear together with it in one Terraqueous Globe wherof the Dry Land was Earth and the Confluvia of Waters Seas And this Ordination of all these three Elements was their Goodness and Perfection And when God had thus prepared all the fower Elements he caused the Earth being pregnant with Vegetative Principles accordingly to bring forth Grass Herbs and Trees above the Surface therof after their several Kinds and the Herbs and Trees had also their several Seeds and Seminal Virtues in themselves whereby to Propagate and Multiply afterward And this was their Goodness and Perfection And all these were the Works of the Third Day ILLUSTRATION 1. Of Water 2. Of Moisture 3. Of Odors and Sapors 4. Of the Flux and Reflux of Waters 5. Of Earth 6. Of Drines 7. Of Consistence 8. Of Magnetical Virtue and Electricity 9. Of the Immobility of the Earth 10. Of Vegetatives 11. Of the Goodnes of the Works of the Second and Third Days I. THe Water which is Elementary and more properly such and wherof Vapor and Ice are only Various is next to Air above it both in Situation and Nature as may
Expressions And though the common Light and Day and Night thereby in Aether and the ascent of Vapors in Air and eduction of Earth above the Waters and madefaction therof by them was sufficient for the productâ—on of Vegetatives which therupon were Immediately produced as I have shewed yet before the Introduction of Fishes and Fowls into the Water and Air and Beasts and Man into Earth it was requisite that the Aether which Sensitive Animals only can behold and by the Lighâ— therof all other Spectable things should be made perfect and complete and adorned with all the various Luminarys 〈◊〉 in their various Positions and runing their several Courses and so ordered and disposed as might best serv both for the Sensation of Sensitive Animals and Contemplation of Intellective Man And though these Luminarys were made after Vegetatives yet they are not therefore Vegetative or of a Superior Nature above Vegetatives as Vegetatives are above all that were made before them and as Man the chief of all was made last for though indeed this Order is observed in each of the Parts of the Creation and so the Creatures made in the last were respectively more excell ent then they which were made in the first Part therof yet the Luminarys which were made in the first of the last three Days are much Inferior to Vegetatives which were made in the last of the three first Days for they are Elementary and of the Elementary Classis though chief Composita of the chief Element Aether but all Elements and Elementary things are Classicaly below Vegetatives and though Planets have Locomotion out of their places which Vegetatives have not but only in their places being all Rooted in the Earth yet Locomotion is also in the Matter when it is dislocated and indeed no Material Spirit can so elevate their Bodys and caus them to ascend as Matter doth necessarily to Union and to prevent Vâ—cuâ—ty as I have shewed and much less are the Planets Sensitive or Intellective in themselvâ— or any such Deitys or Daemons as the Idolatry of Heathens made them and their Philosophy durst not contradict nor yet Moved by Intelligences or Angels as the Rabbins and Scholemen suppose for they can be only External Movers therof wheras Planets Move by their own Natural Power and Intrinsecal Virtue like the Verticity of Magnets and are not Moved like Studds fixed in solid Spheres as I have proved and as the Eccentrical Motions of the Planets therin do thereby plainly disprove and therefore others affirm them to be Magnets and the Earth which is the great Magnet to be a Planet but certeinly Aether and Earth are two different Elements having different Elementary Spirits wherin the same Qualitys cannot Subsist as I have shewed and so the Aether cannot be Magnetical nor the Earth Planetary unles we can also make the Aether to be Terrestrial and the Earth Aethereal wheras Heaven and Earth are generaly contradistinguished in the Begining and particularly Aether and Earth were made two several Elements in two several Days and Aether being as I have shewed Fluid cannot possibly be Magnetical which requires a very solid Consistence certeinly the whole Aether which is a Concave Sphere cannot be so Magnetical as Earth which is an Orbicular Globe for it cannot have an Axis and consequently Magnetical Poles as if a Ring of Iron be touched with a Loadstone it will have only one Pole and though the Aethereal Planets be Orbs yet they also are Fluid and Sensibly all Aethereal Motions are Circular and Perpetual wheras Magnetical Verticity is only Polar or to a Pole and not round about the Center nor about an Axis like Motion of Planets but to the Poles therof when by Trepidation it passeth beyond them and so Moving its own Axis the same way that is Meridionaly and not according to the Aequator of its own Body as I have shewed wheras if Earth and Water and Air as they say and also Aether and the Planets were all Magnetical they should make one Magnetical Orb and all Move one and the same way which plainly they do not or if otherwise one be Moved about another as they say the Moon is about the Earth it should observ the Magnetike Law which it doth not as I shall heerafter demonstrate of the Moon Thus the Magnetical Planetary Motions are very different and indeed opposite in their very Natures and Ends for Planetary Virtue makes the Planets to abhorr all Rest and Magnetical Verticity is to reduce Magnets to their Polar Rest. Wherefore we may not confound them though they are both Elementary Motions and not only Motions of the Matter or only by the Pondus therof as the Flux and Reflux of Water nor by Impuls like Winds in the Air wherof I have formerly discoursed nor yet any Vegetative Sensitive or Intellective Motions wherof I shall discours heerafter as indeed all things are Motive or Mobile one way or other within the whole Globe of the World and the Circumferential Superaether and Centrical Earth are only Immobile and as we are Sensibly satisfied concerning Magnetical Verticity so thereby we may conceiv of these other Planetary Virtues which God produced in this Fourth Day in the Planets as he did before the Magnetical Virtue in the Earth and Magnets Whereby also it plainly appears that Motion is not only of the Matter but also that Elementary Spirits may have a Motive and Directive Power in themselvs as well as any other Superior Spirits and from their different kinds and ways of Motion we may collect the very different Motive Powers and Virtues of the several Movers wherof Matter is most general and only tending unto a State of Rest in the whole Body therof and Center of itself wheras Magnets have a more particular Position of their Bodys which is Polar Rest North and South and a Verticity particularly to reduce them to it and Planets have their several and various Positions and Courses and an answerable Planetary Virtue which so setts them and Moves them and makes them to abhorr all Rest and Vegetative Spirits are more Plastical but Involuntary and Sensitive Spontaneous or Voluntary Movers and more indifferent either to Motion or Rest. And thus as Magnetical Bodys may Move from Pole to Pole Semicircularly by their Magnetical Verticity so we may very well conceiv how also Planets may Move Circularly which is only a continuation of Motion through the whole Circle whereby also they may so Move Perpetualy and as the Needle doth leap to the Loadstone by the Magnetical Virtue Actuated in itself which Motion is Progressively Locomotive so may also Planets by their Planetary Virtue which is always Actual in them Move Progressively in the Circles which they describe but though the Magnetical Virtue which setts the Magnetical Body in one determinate Polar Position may be removed as I have shewed and pass from that part of the Magnet wherin it now seats itself and which thereby becomes Polar unto any other part
therof and so render that Polar as may be sensibly seen in any Terrella whereby it is plainly proved that the Magnetical Virtue is a Spiritual Quality which can so remove itself from any part of the Body of the Matter to another and not any fixed Affection of the Matter itself yet Planetary Virtue being seated in the whole Orbicular Body of the Planet doth not nor can it so remove itself becaus it always possesseth the whole Body not Polarly or Ovaly but Orbicularly or at least it is therefore not to be discerned so to vary its own Situation in the Planetary Body Now as God in the First Day did Actuate that proper Aethereal Virtue which also may be termed Planetary causing it thereby to Move about the Inferior Globe from East to West in fower and twenty hours or therabout whereby he made Day and Night which could not otherwise be without such a Circumgyration of the Aether and of the Globe of Light therin as now the Aether doth still Move with all the Planets and Starrs in it whose Planetary Virtue is diversified into several other Motions which yet are all only Planetary Motion Genericaly as if wheras the Polar Position of the Magnetike Earth is only North and South God should have diversified it in other Magnets or Terrellae and made some East and West and so to any other Points so it is also said that in this Fourth Day he made Lights in the Firmament of Heaven to divide the Day from the Night that is to caus more particular Variations therof longer or shorter sooner or later and the like which must be by their Planetary Virtues Actuated in them whereby they Move respectively in the Aether as the Aether doth about the Inferior Globe and so they were not only for Days but also for Years Months and the like which though more or less then the Solar Year are the respective Years of their particular Planets Lunar Jovial or the like as we commonly call them And so God made not only the two great Lights to rule the Day and the Night that is the Sun and Moon as both Scripture and Nature do declare but it is said He made the Starrs also And God sett them in the Firmament of Heaven so as to perform these several Offices by all their various Courses Thus I conceiv that the Aether having the Planetary Virtue therof Actuated in it in the First Day when God said Let there be Light a great part of that Aethereal Light was divided from the common Light of Aether which was left and still is in the whole Body therof though not so Visible to us and that Globe of Light as it was generaly Connatural with the Aethereal Light being in one Hemispere of Aether was carried about Diurnaly by it and with it and not any other way by any special Planetary Virtue in itself which was not Actuated before this Fourth Day but that this common Globe of Light so divided and wherof we have no other account was the Chaos of the Potentialitys of all the Planetary Virtues which were afterward educed out of it and that then they were not only Moved in and with the common Aether Diurnaly but by their own special Planetary Virtues Predominant in them and directing every one of them to Move according to their several Courses for though Locomotive Virtue be common to Aether and all Aethereal Bodys yet the Motion of Aether from East to West Diurnaly was by a proper Planetary Virtue as I have said Actuated in it when God so divided it from that Globe of Light which is eminently called Light and made Day and so mutualy that Globe of Light from the rest of the Aether and Aethereal Light which is Comparatively called Darknes becaus it made only Night as I have shewed And so this particular Chaos of all the Planetary Potentialityâ— being so divided from the common Aether and not having any Planetary Virtue Actuated therin was carried about in and with the common Aether in the three First Days and then it was again divided into all the particular Planets and all their particular Planetary Virtues were respectively Actuated therin and by those special Planetary Virtues they perform all their several Planetary Motions and Courses Nor is it less wonderfull if we rightly consyder it how they Move in their several Zodiaks being indeed no such Gemmeous Studds or Bullae fixed in the Aether as some have imagined for both the Aether and they also being Aethereal Bodys are Fluid nor do they Fly or swim therin by any Spontaneous Power like Fowls in the Air and Fishes in the Sea becaus they are not Spontaneous but they are all Aetheruli as I may so term them and so their Original Globe of Light was only such a particular Portion of the common Body of Aether not differing from the rest but only as it was more Lucid for so it is said of the formation therof that God divided the Light from the Darknes in the Aether but not any part of the Aether from the Light or the Light from it nor is the Body of the Sun or any Planet more Condensated as I have shewed though they shall heerafter sink through the Fluid Aether to the Air and Earth at the Last Day when they shall be discomposed and disordered wheras now they are Connaturaly adapted to the Aethereal Heaven and so it is said of the Light Fiat Luminaria in Expanso and they are all equaly Expanded in it but their Light is farr more Conspissated as it was in their Original Globus and yet such Conspissation of a Spiritual Quality doth not make the Lucid Body to be more Dens or Grave which also proves Light not to be Corporeal but a Spiritual Quality as I have said and indeed as all Heat doth Naturaly Rarefy so should they be rather made more Rare and Light thereby but that Aethereal Bodys are already as Rare as any Elementary Power can make them to be and yet though we may easily conceiv them being Equirare with the common Body of Aether to be poised therin as Glass Bubbles in Water it is also to be consydered why or how they should still Move in their Regular Circularitys and not to be diverted or removed as such Glass Bubbles may very easily be and we have the true account heerof in the Text Posuit he sett them so at first and so they are still continued not by an Immediate Manutenence as he doth not Move them by an Immediate Manuduction but by the same Planetary Virtue Actuated in them and causing them Naturaly so to Move in their own Zodiaks Now becaus as I have observed there is no Produxit of any of these Planets as there was before of Vegetatives and afterward of Sensitives and indeed becaus there was such a Globe of Light decided before from the Aether which was the common Chaos of them all and wherof they were so many particular Decisions I conceiv that they were
any Grass Herb or Tree and of Superior Sensitives more then of Inferior as of Fowls more then of Fishes and of Beasts then Fowls and of Man then any others and so also that the proper Elementary Mistion which is Subordinate to Vegetatives is more Excellent and Spiritual then any other Elementary Mistum and of Superior Vegetatives more then of Inferior and so of the Vegetative Bloud which is the Instrument of Sensitive Life as I have shewed then any others whatsoever III. Having thus largely discoursed of this very Curious and Mysterious way of Sensation generaly whereby to make way for the Explication of the several Kinds of particular Sensations I shall now also proceed to discours therof and thereby to Confirm this general Doctrine of Sensation The Senses are particularly Five though they all Subsist in the Imagination which is seated in the Brain as I shall shew heerafter but they are rightly thus diâ—â—inguished becaus they are Realy several in themselvs for Oisters and some such Imperfect Sensitives have some of them and not others which they want not only Actualy but also Potentialy so that an Oister may be no more termed Blind or Deaf then a Stone and thus though in every Classis all the several Species of that Classis have such Generical Spirits and Qualitys as Denominate and make them to be of that Classis as Oisters have Sensation generaly and therefore are Sensitive Animals Genericaly as well as Beasts or any most Excellent Sensitive yet their proper Sensation is Specifical and Specificaly different as every Grass Herb and Tree is Vegetative and yet every one of them and every kind therof hath a proper Specifical Spirit and Qualitys as apparently they have their Specifical Plastical Virtues which do so severaly Effigiate them and the like and so also have Sensitives so farr as they are specificaly different their several ways or maners of Sensation as may also appear by the several Formation Quantity and Quality or Temper of their Brains and Organs as the Eys of some Insects are not Movable and then they are Multocular as well as many of them Multipedous and Biocular Animals have also their Eys of several Figures and Coats and Temperatures and thus there are some such Generical Differences which vary the Classis and they are greatest and widest as Intellective Sensitive Vegetative and Elementary and some that vary the Species more or less Subalternately as Fishes Fowls and Beasts and of Fishes Oisters and Whales and accordingly their Specifical Differences are more or less but all less then Classicaly Generical and some that only vary the Individuality as the particular Individuality and Oeconomy of every Compositum among which also there may be More or Less of the same Specifical Qualitys but such as doth not vary the Species and therefore is least of all as Myopes do not see in such maner as others of the same Species and yet their Sight is Specificaly the same with other mens Sight And thus as I have said nothing of any one Classis doth or can partake of that which makes a Classical Difference in others for then they should not Classicaly Differ nor any of one Species of the Proper Specifical Difference of another nor any one Individuum of the Individuality of another otherwise they should not so Differ nor of the Differences of their Spirits and Qualitys whereby only we can know them otherwise we could not so know them nor affirm them to Differ but contrarily every Individuum doth partake of the Specifical Difference and every Species of the Classical Difference therof otherwise they should not be of the same Species or Classis And thus the Senses are more Genericaly Five and may be more Specificaly as many as there are several Species of Sensitives as well as they are Individualy as many as there are several Sensitive Individua And wheras they are so said to be Fivefold according to their Fivefold several Organs that is their External Organs Eys Ears and the like which also the Scripture doth often mention as such generaly and Comprehensively as it doth deliver almost all things of Natural Philosophy in that general maner according to the first System therof and leav Particulars to our farther Search and Study yet if we farther Inquire into them we shall find that the Nervs and Brain and Elementary Qualitys or Animal Spirits therin and the Proper Vegetative Spirit and Virtues therof are also Internal Organs that is Instruments of Sensation as well as Eys and Ears and the like Corporeal Organs which are External and indeed the several Organs do not make the Senses several but rather the several Senses do require such several Organs for the Corporeal Organ of Tact is the whole Body or all the Nervs which are Tactive and every Organ of the fower other Senses must have Tact or Feeling which is the Sens of all Senses as the Organ therof is the Organ of all their Organs and so is the Object therof which we therefore call the fower first Qualitys though otherwise they are not first more then others as I have shewed and wheras the Objects of all the other Senses are Compounded of some such other first Qualitys and probably cannot Exist without some fitt Mistion of these fower first Qualitys also as Subordinately and Fundamentaly requisite in their Composition though they are not Immediately Compounded therof so likewise the Object of this Sens as it is in itself is not all or any of these fower first Qualitys severaly but a Mistion or Composition of them as well as the Objects of all the other Senses are Mist and Compounded of their several Principles for indeed any of these fower First and Simple Qualitys are too Vehement Sensibles in themselvs which would destroy the Senses yea and all Sensible things and one another and therefore as I have said never Exist Actualy without such a Mistion as their Elementary Spirits were so Mist in the three first Days before which no Vegetative or Sensitive Nature could be produced and so must continue as long as this present Nature and from the Original Generation unto the Final Corruption therof Also all the Organs both External and Internal do require the Vegetative Spirit and Virtues therof Plasticaly to Form them and Temper their Elementary Qualitys and also to Actuate and produce their Animal Spirits as I have shewed and this I conceiv to be the very Organism of all the Organs of Sensation and Instrumentalitys of the Sensitive Spirit wherin as Tact or Feeling is Ingredient as I said so it is in itself the Fundamental and lest Fallible and as it were Corporeal Sens yet Contact of Bodys as it is said that nothing can touch or be touched but only Bodys and so indeed there must be a Contact of all Bodys without any Discontinuity or Vacuity as I have shewed which is Corporeal and Tact which is Spiritual do very much differ for so Heat by its Emanant Rays may