virtue thereof becomes of an equal friendly Temperament both in Body and Mind notwithstanding his Complexion may incline him to the contrary it being the sweet pleasant Life in all Creatures And the pure Balsamick Virtue and healing Quality in all Vegetables and Minerals hath its Birth and Original from this good Principle nor can there be any central Rest or true Satisfaction in man if this Principle of divine Light be not in some degree predominant for by its pleasant and sweet Influences all the fiery dark fierce Inclinations which often do arise from the Complexion are qualified made more Friendly and Sanguine if its counsel be regarded All true Religion doing as one would be done unto Offices of Love and Acts of self-denyal all Friendly and Courteous Deportment and whatsoever hath the Name and Nature of Virtue do universally spring up from this holy Principle of divine Love All men seek it because no man can have satisfaction without it some in a right Way others in a wrong and whosoever have wasted or suffocated the sweet Influences of this pure Spirit and Love of God become thereby a Charcoal Spirit whose sweet Water is destroyed viz. Twice dead and pluckt up as it were by the Roots as the Apostle phraseth it they growing of a fierce terrible fiery Nature seared up in the harsh dark original as Lot's Wife was because she looked back viz. into the Original and salt Spirit the Pillar of Salt signifying the great strength and power of God's Wrath which was then kindled by reason of Transgression The very same is to be understood of all Beasts of the Field and other things not so indeed as it is in man but according to the Nature of each For those Creatures that did in the Creation arise from and were chiefly compounded of the fierce harsh forms of Nature whose predominant Quality stands in the Saturnine and Martial Fire have but small portions of the Virtue and Light of this World for the pleasant Virtue and friendly Qualities which the Principle of this visible World gives unto all her Children do all proceed from the Internal Spiritual World and this outward Principle is an Image and Likeness of the Internal the Invisible Spirit and Powers are the Root of the Visible and whatsoever is manifested in this World in Figures Shapes and Forms the very same hath the Internal Spiritual Principle in Power and Virtue And according to the degrees of the Spirit and what property of Nature was predominant in the Radix of each Creature such a Shape Form Inclination Complexion and Disposition the Creature is endued with be it either Animal or Vegetable for the Body was formed by the virtue and power of the Spirit and there is both the nearest Affinity and Resemblance between them as is manifest by all Creatures in whom the dark Wrath of Saturn and Mars was predominant in their Radixes they are not only of an unclean fierce terrible Spirit but their Figures and Shapes are unpleasant and fierce as Lyons Tygars Wolves Swine and many others both in the Elements of Earth Air and Water that are unclean Devourers and Creatures of prey killing and feeding upon their fellow Creatures and as such Creatures are unclean in their Radixes whence their Inclinations and Desires to unclean Food do proceed as bearing the nearest Affinity with their Natures so their Figures Shapes and Forms with their suitable Inclinatious do clearly manifest what matter they proceeded from in their Creation This Root the great and illuminated Prophet Moses understood by a divine manifestation whence his Law proceeded wherein he prohibits his People the Iews from eating of unclean Food both Flesh and Fish with many other Circumstances tending to Cleanness for that great Prophet saw by a divine and natural understanding into the Essences and Original Qualities of every Creature and that each thing hath a secret Power to incorporate with its Likeness and to make that Quality strong which in the Radix was weak and lay as it were hid And on the contrary to hide and make that property weak which in the Radix was strong so great is the power of Nature and this is not only done in the Evil but also in the Good Therefore all men have power more or less to alter and change their Inclinations and Complexions either for the better or the worse as they give their Wills up to practise either Good or Evil. But if People abandon themselves to their natural Inclinations and live under the power and dominion of their Complexions and by degrees give way to Intemperance and Evil Communications such do oftentimes become of far worse Inclinations and Dispositions than their Complexions naturally tended unto And on the contrary some there are who by the power of their Wills rigorously pursuing the Paths of Vertue and Understanding become more Friendly and of better Tempers than their Complexions promise For the natural Inclinations and Influences of the Stars have not power to captivate the Soul in Evils if the Will gives it self up to be guided by the Holy Spirit of Iesus Christ which will lead a man into all Vertue and all Truth CHAP. II. Of the Excellency of Temperance the Knowledg of a Mans self and the mighty Benefits of Abstinence and Sobriety TEmperance is a divine Gift and whosoever obtaineth the perfect Government and Knowledg of himself is endued with the springhead of all Virtues The fear of the Lord being the first step to all true Wisdom both Spiritual and Natural The Root of all Knowledg that man is capable of is in himself Therefore if any will understand any thing truly he must first turn the Eye of his Mind inward not outward as the custom of most is for Man is an Image and Likeness of all things both Spiritual and Natural in him is contained the true Nature of all things and he that doth know and understand himself and the Principles and Operations of his own Nature both in Body and Mind and what Properties in the seven-fold Nature of this World are predominant in him and to what his Inclinations are most naturally propensive both as to Virtue and Vice he may thereby not only shun many Inconveniencies but also so much as he knows of himself he also knows of his Creator and of all other things And so on the contrary he that doth not know and distinguish the Principles of God and Nature in himself does neither see nor know any other thing as he ought Therefore all such who are ignorant of themselves are subject to be changed and altered out of one Opinion into another always leaning hard on the Shoulders of Custom supporting their Ignorance with the truth of Tradition having one of their Eyes if not both amongst the Multitude But all true sight in divine and natural things does arise and proceed from the unalterable divine Principle or Gift of God for the natural man as he is wholly blind as to things divine so
natural heat burns but dully 2. But if the Sweet Quality be joyned with this and hath an equal share of government then such People are of pleasant merry tempers apt to laugh of easy Faith and a small occasion will move them out of one thing into another not fixed nor of any depth search or understanding apt to speak much but not wise being like Children laugh and cry all in a breath very good to carry Tales and Stories from one to another 3. But if the Bitter Quality doth predominate equally with this and the Sweet weak or underneath then such People are bestial hard-hearted cruel inhuman Swearers Lyars and the like fit for all robustick dirty killing Imployments but they are of stronger Constitutions than the former and healthier and also of better and quicker Apprehensions but of very ill Tempers 4. But if the saltish or astringent quality doth predominate and have an equal share in government and the Sweet Quality weak then this sort of People are not so corpulent nor fleshy but taller and more slender of Stature of sour Countenances and Dispositions cunning in Words and Deeds apt to Dissemble and Lye they are also apt to bear Malice having two Faces the Diseases they are subject to are the Stone Wind-Colick Consumptions and many windy Diseases and Infirmities if Temperance be wanting many of this sort of People are also great drinkers 5. When this Sour Quality doth predominate in any Beast then such are of a dull heavy Disposition and Spirit apt to have great bellies and slow in motion If in Horses they are neither handsom nor free dull Eyes and great Heads If in Cows their Milk is not so good as others being thin If in Herbs or Fruit then their taste is some-what unpleasant harsh and sour and their Colour is of a dark Green Of the Astringent or Saltish Quality 1. When this Quality doth predominate in any Person they are of a tall Stature and for the most part slender but of a swarthy pale or muddy Complexion rather Lean than Fat generally of hardy strong Constitutions and also of good Apprehensions when this sort of People do apply themselves to the learning of any Art they attain to an excellent Understanding therein being fixed in those things they resolve on 2. But if the Bitter Quality doth equally govern in the Body and Senses and the Sweet Quality weak then such People are very sordid Lyars Swearers Gluttons Drunkards inclined to all kind of robustick Plays and Games as Ringing Bull-baitings Bear-baitings to follow Drums and Fencers and the like evil Communications having strong Bodies and fierce savage bestial Spirits and abusers of Women 3. But if the Sweet Quality doth interpose and the Bitter and Astringent weak then such Persons are more moderate in Words and Works ingenious apt to learn of good Understandings and of handsom healthy Bodies 4. But if the Sour be joyned in government with the Astringent then such People are more gross and Phlegmatick and not so quick of Apprehension slow of Motion and of sordid Dispositions 5. Also it is to be noted when this Astringent quality doth predominate in any Beast then they are large big boned strong and heady but not free of motion but cunning and sullen When in Herbs and Fruit they are tall but not handsom their taste is harsh hard and unpleasing they are good against the Diseases of the Phlegmatick and Sanguin Complexions if the Saturnine Venoms thereof be corrected This is a short Description of the four grand Qualities and their natural Operations But this I would have every one consider and be sensible that their Influences are not compelling on Men as they are on Beasts except Men live as Beasts viz. in the power and operation of the bestial Nature as many Thousands do and far worse whence proceed those violent and cruel disorders in the World But those who do turn the Eye of their Mind inward and search and find themselves and come to distinguish the secret workings of God and Nature and hearken unto the Voice of the Divine Principle which is the holy Oracle that will teach every one in all particulars what is right in the sight of the Lord and the contrary the fear of the Lord and the true knowledg of God in a mans self and thereby furnish every one with virtue strength and power to resist every evil Influence though it proceed from the most harsh and worst of Complexions it will also teach him to tune and bring all the four Qualities into an equal accord even as a skilful Musicianer composeth a harmonious consort in the variety of parts or as he by skill tunes his Instrument for the most skilful Musicianer in the World can make no harmony if his Instrument be not in tune all the various Notes and Tones of an Instrument most incorporate in each other or else no Harmony can be made even so it is with the Qualities in a Man it is as possible for him that hath learned himself to tune himself and compose all the properties of Nature and to play on them as a Musicianer doth on his Instrument so great is the power of Man if he cast his Will and Desire into the divine Principle and Love of God which is able to tincture and change the worst Complexion and convert it into its own Nature therefore let no man dare to say and complain that the Lord hath dealt hardly by him that he hath made him of the harsh wild Nature And though it be true that many men as their Natural Qualities are sordid and wild yet nevertheless they have the true Tincture that can transmute and change all sorts of Metals into the finest Gold even that very Word of the Lord that made and formed all things which doth enlighten every man that cometh into the World and blessed are all those that are obedient and follow its Counsel of what Complexion soever they are the Blessing of the Lord is with them Thus having treated of the four grand Qualilies I shall now proceed to discover the four Complexions which proceed there from and to what Virtues Vices and Diseases each of them are most subject Of the Cholerick Complexion The Cholerick Complexion answereth to Fire and that sort of People which are dignified with it are of a strong Body and lively active Spirit quick both in doing and apprehending of any thing free in Speech and of all other action apt to Wrath and Passion quickly affronted but because the Fire in them burns fierce their Passions are quickly over not subject to retain Anger nor premeditate Revenge they are of a hardy strong Nature generally of good Apprehensions and Witty but more or less so according to the strength or weakness of the predominant Constellation at their Birth If People of this Complexion do observe the rules of Temperance and keep themselves within the bounds of Sobriety then they are some of the Healthiest of men But many
Drink ought to be drank sparingly by such as regard their Health It is also to be noted that not only strong Drinks but all other things have an Operation on the Spirits and Bodies of Men whether Meats Drinks Air Exercise or Communication were it not so Man could not be altered within for better or worse But what a sensible change do we find in our selves many times between a dull heavy Day and a brisk clear Sun-shiny Morning Every thing be it what it will has a power of influencing and varying us which the Apostle seems to take notice of when he saith Evil Communication corrupts good manners and the Psalmist where he affirms With the Froward thou shalt learn Frowardness The Original of all good or evil Tempers and natural Inclinations are according to the Nature of that form and property that did predominate at the Conception and Birth and are made either better or worse according to the good or ill Custom of the Place and People they communicate with or the Imployments they are put to and the Meats Drinks Exercises and Air they are used to Take two Youths one of the Sanguine Complexion the other of the Cholerick put the first to a Butcher Car-man Waterman or any such robustick Trade the second to a Shop-keeper Merchant or some such neat Profession and in a little time the Sanguine Lad will become more Cholorick and the Cholerick more Sanguine But note there is a two-fold possibility of altering and changing either for the better or the worse First Natural as the free Will shall consent to either Evil or Good one being as near to man as the other who being a compleat Image or Epitome of all things their true Natures being contained in him therefore he is both capable and liable to be influenced and wrought upon by every thing it meddles or communicates with as is seen in Soldiers most of them when raw and at tâ— first Fight are timerous and very apprehensive o 〈…〉 ger but after they are once flesht in Blood and Slaughter they become unconcerned and remorsless and can kill men with as little trouble or regret of Mind as a Butcher does Sheep and Oxen without having any particular Quarrel or Enmity but even in cold Blood so great is the Power of Imployment For as Fighting and Killing of men is the work of the fierce Wrath of God in men and so soon as you consent with your Will to enter upon this wrathful Imployment the center of the dark strong Wrath is awakened and by a little custom and use it becomes ten-fold stronger than at first then all doing as one would be done unto and Tenderness and Compassion are laid aside as if never any such Notion or Principle had been planted in Man The very same happens in other Imployments that Quality which therein predominates awakens and strengthens its Simile for which reason in former Ages some that have written Romances and Love-stories in a passionate and pleasing Style and lively Representation have been banisht for their labour their Works proving of very evil and fatal Consequence to Young and Amorous Minds for all Books be they what they will do bear the Image and Figure of the Spirit of him that wrote them and so much the more as the Imagination of the Author is more strong which in this sort of Writers and Poets c. use to exceed and if such Books be read with attention and inclination then they awaken and strengthen such a like Propensity in the Reader as was in the Writer be it either good or evil Therefore the perusal of all Play-Books Romances and Love-stories have and do prove very injurious to such as mis-spend their time therein it is like playing with Edge-Tools at first they are innocent and think no harm that look into them but after a while if it take with their Affections the case is altered they make a real change in the whole Bodâ—â— â—nd Mind the Thoughts are all taken up with tho◠〈…〉 itching Idea's and thay prove leading Cards to many real Evils and Temptations The Son must needs fall in Love with and Marry the Chamber-maid and the young Lady run away with the Coach-man or the more impertinent Chaplain only to act over some of those fine Intrigues which they admired with such delight in Sidney's Arcadia or the grand Cyrus 'T is sottish Ignorance that makes some say What hurt can these external things or Food Communication c. do unto us For they never consider that every thing has power to open its own Principle the understanding of which ground was the Original cause of Moses's Law of Cleanness and Separation and the occasion of the Abstinence of all the wise Men in former Ages from this or the other sort of Food Drinks Habits and Communications for they saw the inward Power and Sympathetick Drawings of every thing and therefore wise Pythagoras the better to draw the wild barbarous Nations to the practice of this profound Philosophy insinuated into them the belief of a Transmigration or shifting of the Souls of Men when they dyed into other Creatures as Cows Horses or the like with which Opinion being once possest they would neither oppress nor kill any sort of Beasts or living Creatures for then they believed they should do Violence to their departed Friends viz. Fathers Mothers Children c. Through which Conceit and Custom they were not only much brought off from their former Cruelty and Barbarity but betook themselves to the more wholsom eating of Fruits Herbs and Grains so that this wild savage People became Merciful and full of Humanity And some of this sort of People do continue this Custom and Law unviolated to this day in some parts of the East-Indies 2dly The Grace holy Light and Love of God of which the Lord hath given a measure or portion to every individual Person as St. John saith The Word of God which made all things and without it nothing was made this same Word is the LIGHT OF MEN and doth enlighten every man that cometh into the World This pure Spirit of Life hath power to tincture and change all evil Inclinations and harsh Tempers which do arise from the malignant Configurations of the predominant Constellations and Complexions if man gives up his Will and is guided by its Counsel This holy Light and Word is the Essential Life and Living Power of all things the Eye of the Mind by which man is able to distinguish the Good from the Evil in himself and also in all other things according to the measure he hath thereof and the knowledg he hath of himself It is also the true Balsamick Virtue from whence all Friendlyness doth proceed not only in Man but in all other things according to their respective Degrees and Natures is likewise the Moderator and Qualifier of the fierce fiery harsh Brimstone Spirit and in what Complexion soever this pure Life and Power does predominate that Person by
contrary many of the Sober and Temperate men have lived to great Ages and yet very free from Distempers with mean and spare Food whence does proceed a cool airy Pleasantness the sweet Influences of all the Elements freely courting the Body which renders the Spirits many in Quantity and fine in Quality and thence arises lightsomness to the Body and vigour to the Mind The truth of this men may experience if they will but give themselves the leisure to reflect and consider whether or no they do not before Meals ordinarily find themselves pleasant and lightsom in Body and Spirits but after they have indulged their Appetites with an overplenteous feeding the one is heavy and the other dull whereas had they but eaten temperately of simple Food it would not only have continued their strength but also refreshed their Spirits for the pure Spirit is the true Life Pleasure Delight and Beauty of every Creature according to the Nature of each and causeth the sweet Oyl to burn friendly and shine with a comfortable Ray if it be not wounded by disorders This Spirit being so Volatile and surpassing pure that it will not endure the least Violence for when any Injury is offered to it it either becomes evaporated or suffocated and then presently the Vigour and Beauty of that thing faileth be it either Animal or Vegetable Therefore those that do regard the Health of the Body and Mind ought to preserve the Spirit free and potent which must be done by Sobriety Gentleness and Temperance in Meats Drinks and Exercises The Prophet Daniel and his Companions were sensible of this when they were courted and also threatned with the displeasure of the King and his Servants if they would not eat of the various sorts of Flesh and Fish that came from the King's Table but Daniel intreated leave to continue that clean simple Food they had accustomed themselves unto viz. Herbs Grains and Fruits and pure Water for Drink Should not we in this Age be ready to count a man a Fool and out of his Senses that should refuse Royal Delicates from the King's Table and chuse to live upon such mean course Fare But Daniel did with a Divine Eye see into the Radix of all such things and understood their sympathetical Operations and therefore chose the most simple harmless Commons for by compounding many rich things together especially such as contain the Animal and Bestial Nature all such things lose their Simplicity and the true Life and pure Spirits of each become adulterated and changed and being destitute of its proper Virtues becomes of another operation which hath an evil Influence on our Bodies and Spirits whence proceed those frequent Infirmities in most that live in the height of Dainties the same being neither well-pleasing to God nor Nature But on the contrary was not the sober clean and abstemious Livers of the Rechabites well-pleasing to the Lord And did not the Prophet Ieremiah call them up into the House of the Lord as a Reproach to the Children of Israel for that they had faithfully kept the Commandments of their Father and observed the Rule of Moderation and contented themselves with pure Water for drink and with mean and simple Food and therefore he promises them That the Sons Jonadab should never want a man to stand before the Lord 'T is most certain the Lord hath been and is near all those that live in Temperance and Simplicity Therefore the Apostle saith Let your Moderation be known unto all men the Lord is at hand The Prophet Iohn contented himself with Locusts and wild Honey of whom our Saviour Christ saith That there was not a greater Prophet born of a Woman Also Iames the Brother of our Lord was eminent for his Abstinence as Eusebius reports insomuch that he eat no Flesh drank no Wine nor strong Drink and wore no Woollen Garment but Linnen which is of a cleaner Radix than the other for Woollens do retain the Bestial Nature as you may more manifestly perceive by the smell if you burn them no washing or other cleansings will purge them from that fulsom Quality which they send forth when burnt Now this stinking Nature so long as it continued entire was hidden or captived but the fire opens the gross body and manifests the Root for this cause the Prophets and holy men have so often said That the Saints and People of the Lord should be cloathed in white Linnen and the Priests of the Lord were to ware a Linnen Ephod for all Vegetives are indued with a simple innocent Nature and Operation and therefore they have been compared to the divine Nature because they bear some affinity unto it Those that would have their Spirits pure and potent must use clean Food which will extenuate the gross superfluous humours by which the Body becomes easily penetrable and he that doth not preserve his body clean the pure Spirit becomes as it were suffocated whence proceeds an heavy Dullness that is not only burdensom but hinders all Meditations and makes the Soul uncapable of every good Work but Abstinence and Temperance do dignifie a man and render him fit for the Exercise of Virtue and Piety and is the Root of strength and fortitude As the Mother of Sampson was commanded by the Angel of the Lord To abstain from Wine and strong Drink during the time of her being with Child so was Sampson her Son whom the Lord endued with wonderful strength but when he gave himself up to Wine and strong Drink and other Intemperances he lost all Power and Virtue and became weak both in Body and Mind and a prey to his Enemies And is it not so in our days Of most of the Miseries and Troubles man ensuares himself is not Superfluity a main cause Where-ever we see Vice there is also Intemperance and where we see Temperance and Abstinency we may justly expect other Virtues because no superfluous matter is bred that may dull or indispose the Fancy the Soul being watchful in Words and Works and also keeping the Body under which by the Power and Virtue of Temperance is subjected to the Influences of the Light and Love of God Temperance Cleanliness and Abstinence have greater power over the Soul and Body than most in our days imagine Did not our fore-Fathers live to wonderful Ages in perfect Health their Food in those days being chiefly Herbs Fruits and Grains and pure Wattr their Drink They did not make their Stomachs the Barial-places of dead Bodies but their Meat and Drink was innocent and simple by which they were able to check and regulate the extravagant motions of the Mind and insurrections of the Flesh Hence some of the Antients have delivered it as a Maxim That none could understand God and his Works and enjoy perfect Health and long Life but those that abstain from Flesh Wine and Vices bounding their Desires according to the Ends and Necessities of Nature For where Uncleanness and Intemperance reigns the Soul is subjected
contrary for many thousands are destroyed both by Quantity and Quality of Meats and Drinks but they are first defiled in the Root of their Spirits But on the contrary no Meats or Drinks have power to hurt or defile that man whose Heart and Desires are governed and moderated by Wisdom and therefore saith the Apostle From whence proceed Wars and Fightings all Lusts false Imaginations and Intemperances Do they not all proceed from within For if a man be ignorant of the true Nature of things his Understanding and Soul darkened then he is subject to be defiled by every thing for if the Nature of things be not discerned nor distinguished by the Spirit such are always liable to be defiled by every sort of Food or Drink either in Quantity or Quality For where Ignorance governs the extravagant Desires are not bounded For first Every man is defiled by his desires and imaginations as our Saviour Christ saith in another case He that looketh on a Woman and lusteth is defiled thereby the very same is to be understood of all other Uncleannesses both of Body and Mind only the Evils and Defilements are greater when a man proceeds to put in practice those things which he first conceived within by Imaginations for no outward Uncleanness could ever hurt any man if the inside were kept clean If Understanding and the pure Spirit govern within then all unclean Desires and Imaginations are as it were cut off in the bud and not suffered to proceed to a substance and then a man is not desiled either by that which goes out nor by any sorts of Meats Drinks or other things that gointo the Body And so on the contrary when the evil corrupt Nature is awakened and has gotten the inward Government then all the Desires and Imaginations are formed and do proceed from the evil Principle which first defiles the Soul and then afterwards the Body This is the very Root and Foundation of all Uncleanness Superfluity and Intemperance for every property in Nature must be supported and fed on its own Food Hence all sorts of Animals whose predominant Quality and Ascendent chiefly proceeds from the wrathful and unclean Nature do desire a proportionable Food viz. raw flesh and Sordities But on the contrary those Animals whose Dignifications and chief Quality stands in and proceeds from the clean Nature such Creatures also do desire clean Food The same is to be understood in the humane Nature according to the Principle or Property that is awakened and most predominant so is the man either clean or unclean good or evil from thence are all his Desires and Imaginations framed Thus we see that Cleanness and Sobriety in Meats Drinks Exercises c. have a greater Virtue and Excellency in them than People think for their power proceeds from an inward Principle and they endow their Observers with the Riches both of Time and Eternity for Temperance makes all her Lovers truly sensible of God's blessings How sweet is every mean thing to the sober mind And how ready are such men to give the Lord Thanks and humble Acknowledgments for his Mercies They see feel and taste the most pleasant operation of the divine Hand in all things their Bodies are delighted with the meanest of Food their Minds satisfied their Beds easie and their sleep sound they are not subject to indispositions nor molested with Fevers their Heads are not dulled with Fumes nor their Stomachs oppressed with fainting Fits or windy griping Humours they rise as fresh as the Morning Sun and are fit for all Exercises both of the Body and Mind their Radical Moisture flows freely throw every part like a pleasant gale of Wind which moderates the central Fires that they burn not too violently But this excellent state it not obtainable without Self-denial and suffering now and then a little gentle Hunger which cleanseth the Stomach and Passages from all superfluous Matter frees the Spirits from all Imperfections prevents all Obstructions and preserves Health far better than any Physical Evacuations It hath a certain Occult Quality for the digestive Faculty and natural Heat is never idle therefore when the Stomach is not filled with superfluity of Food and often eating it draws away all the superfluous matter that furs and stops the Passages and which were apt to cause shortness of Breath send troublesom Fumes and Vapours to the Crown hinder the free Circulation of the Blood and make the spirits impure These Evils and many others Temperance and moderate Fastings do prevent the Stomach naturally drawing this phlegmy Substance out of all the Vessels and Passages when Meats and Drinks come not too quick and casts the lighter part thereof upwards and the more gross heavier parts downwarns into the Bowels for this reason when a man does fast a little longer than ordinary he will feel a kind of a gnawing or disorder in his Stomach for a little time and then it will cease and after some space do so again the occasion of which is this the natural Heat does very powerfully draw matter unto it self for Sustenance but finding no proper Nourishment makes a separation of the gross phlegmy substance that lodges in the Vessels of the Stomach and casts it forth both upwards and downwards and having done this craves afresh for more work and more proper matter of Aliment Nor should a little Trouble thwarting our Humours debaucht with ill Customs and Wantonness or some small Inconveniencies divert us from getting our selves possest of this Jewel Temperance the true Philosophers-Stone which turns all into the Golden Elixir of Health Content and Serenity since we see none of the little perishing Goods of this World are to be obtained without trouble and difficulty do not Youths serve seven years enduring hard Labour and many other Inconveniencies for a Trade whereby to get an outward Livelihood Do not Men Travel by Sea and Land through a thousand Miseries even to the hazarding of their Lives and Liberties for Meat Drink and a little Rayment And those few that do obtain their desired ends if Temperanee be wanting the enjoyment of them proves not only burdensom but so full of Snares that they had better been without them for Plenty has destroyed more than Necessity some say than the Sword the one having wherewithal to gratifie his superfluous desires and so destroy himself which the other has not What a deal of pains and charge are People at to please their Liquorish Pallates The Indies must be sent to for Rarities and the utmost parts of the Earth for Dainties such abundance such variety provided as if all the Beasts and Fowls in Noah's Ark with an addition of all the Fishes in the Waters and Vegetables of Earth were scarce enough to furnish one Luxurious Board And then what Curiosity in Sawces What fantastick Humors for Dressing The more extravagant and unnatural the more genteel and acceptable forsooth Whereas those things that are necessary to support and preserve the Body in perfect
Health are easily procurable of small Charge soon made ready and with very little Trouble they are in most places ready and familiar to be obtained with ease and pleasure without violating Justice or hazarding either your Conscience or your Liberty Furthermore Temperance is a strong Bullwark against that pernicious Enemy of Mankind viz. Despair or suspicion of the divine Hand of Providence against the Frowns and Causalties of this World What cares that man if he have not Money to buy Wine who by use finds Water no less pleasant and more wholsom Why should one bemoan not having half a score Dishes when one will serve him not only as well but better Sobriety makes a man Superior to those vain fearful repining Imaginations whereunto most or indeed all superfluous intemperate People are subject and when Poverty comes upon them they are doubly miserable because they had inur'd themselves to Unnecessaries before the absence of which more torments them than any real Wants that they lie under But he that gives the government of himself to Wisdom and has the true knowledg of Gods Love and the eternal Principle of Light in himself and admits it to have its Operation in the Soul and Body and who sees with an inward Eye the great Virtue and Fortitude there is in every simple Grain Fruit and Herb and who hath also bounded his desires to the necessities of Nature there is no such great reason that such a man should trouble his head with care and suspicion and tire his Body with over-labouring for Fruits Herbs Milk Bread and Water are easily procured And what sober man in the World is reduced to that extremity as to want such things except in universal Calamities Every man ought to understand that heavyness oppression of Nature and dulness proceed from the abundance of thick putrid Humours which stop up the Passages and cloy the Joynts filling them with gross moisture so that the course of the Spirits is hindered and they as it were suffocated which causes various Distempers in the Body that men would give all the World if they had it to be cured of but no Physick can help them unless the excellent Lady Sobriety be their Doctress for it must be a clean simple well-ordered Diet only that can fine the Blood by degrees out of which pure Spirits are generated in the goodnss of which all Health and the whole prosperity of the Body and Mind doth consist whereas surplusage of Nourishment destroys the Spirits and damnifies all the Senses as that of Seeing is hurt by gross Humours that obstruct the Optick Nerves And therefore those that are subject to weak Eyes ought to abstain from all such things as replenish the Head with Fumes such are all sorts of fat Meat Butter and the like taken in too great a quantity as also strong thick Drinks especially such wherein Wormwood or any strong bitter Herbs are infused for all such things are very hurtful to the Eyes as experience shews Likewise such superfluous matter offends the organs of Hearing and marrs the sense of Tasting by breeding Cholerick salt Humors so that those who accustom themselves to Excess generally have their Palates debaucht and cannot give a true judgment of the state of things Now the sorts of Food and Drinks that breed the best Blood and finest Spirits are Herbs Fruits and various kinds of Grains also Bread and sundry sorts of excellent Food made by different preparations of Milk and all dry Food out of which the Sun hath exhaled the gross Humidity by which all sorts of Pulses and Grains become of a firmer substance so likewise Oyl is an excellent thing in Nature more sublime and pure than Butter And if you do eat fat flesh let it be sparingly and not without good store of Bread and Herbs There are two things in the practise of Temperance chiefly to be regarded viz. QUANTITY and QUALITY the later ought to be considered by every one that is desirous to preserve Nature but Eror in the former does generally the most mischief For if Meats and Drinks be of a raw gross Nature and not so well prepared as they ought to be yet if a man eat and drink but sparingly with a perfect Appetite the Stomach Nature's Laboratory will make better Nourishment thereof than it can of the best Food when too great Quantities are cram'd into the Belly for the natural Heat of the Stomach is of a wonderful Nature when free from these burdensom gross Humours it can as it were digest and kill the poysonous Juices of unclean Food and by an innate power cast off the malignancy thereof if the Quantity be not too great In this case Abstinence hath been found by experience to cure most Diseases that have proceeded from Superfluity if not gon too far Therefore Quantity is more dangerous to destroy Health than Quality tho' they are both very bad and often meet together and then Health is destroyed with a winged speed which is the chief cause that there are so few either Men Women or Children in perfect Health Where can you find a Man or Woman among such as are Intemperate who have attained to the Age of forty Years that are in perfect Health The best of them being afflicted with windy and scorbutick Diseases which are bred by eating too much in quantity and of an evil unclean quality These windy Diseases are also much increased by the continual eating of their Food too hot that is before the sulpherous moist Vapours which are of a fierce and sharp Nature are evaporated for this sulpherous Heat which goes away in the moist steem or vapours does contain the Spirits of the Fire as also two Qualities viz. A windy moist dulling Nature and a fierce sharp fiery one the first of these is the cause of most windy Diseases and the second does generate in the Blood a hot sharp Humour which causeth an itching and breaking out in the flesh with spots of various colours as also a weariness and indisposedness through the whole Body this likewise is the grand cause of many Leprous and Mangy Diseases especially when the Food is gross and not well prepared and too much in Quantity which Maladies do often happen altogether All Food that is prepared by fire should not be eaten till those thick sulpherous and moist steems be evaporated herein many are mistaken and even Nature it self is little understood for the generality of People account hot Food best and most profitable for Health and the good Dame will be angry if her Servants delay to eat their Food whilst Hot. But the continual eating of Hot Food from the Womb has depraved their Stomachs and natural Heat so that if they eat their Food cold it will not give them satisfaction although hot Food is contrary to the pure simple Nature and the health of the Body nevertheless the continual use of such things have awakened their Similes in the Stomach and that requires their continuation and
most of them of an opening and cleansinn Nature for they gently cleanse and purge the Passages and Bowels But all these Summer Fruits are best and safest Prepared being mixt with things of a drying and warming Quality or rather made into Drinks and when such Juices have passed through Fermentation the Phlegmy Body is digested and the spirituous Parts set at Liberty which do tincture the gross Body so that the Spirit and true Life is made thereby Predominant over the body of Phlegm such Drinks being drunk moderately prove very friendly to Nature especially to such as are Aged People which do most need spirituous Drinks Green Food is not capable either in Man or Beasts to generate so good Nourishment nor so firm as dry neither are the Spirits so brisk and lively the gross Juices of such Food do as it were suffocate the pure Spirits and turn the Balsamick Body sower as it farther appears by all sorts of Animals that live on green Food in this season are they not apt to faint and to be subject to many Diseases their Flesh and Fat being soft and greasy but those that live on dry Food their Bodies are freer from gross Phlegmatick matter their Fat and Flesh is of a firmer substance and their Spirits stronger and livelier and more capable they are to endure Labour without Prejudice to their Health it is also manifested by all Grains Seeds and other Fruits that are cut or gathered before the Sun and Elements have dryed away or exhaled the gross Phlegmy moisture all such things will presently Putrifie and Stink being loaded with so great store of Humidity but if they be gathered the Sun and Elements having dryed away the Humid Parts then all such things will keep sound and good for several Years for this cause all sorts of Food in which Phlegm does abound are very dangerous in this season if Temperance be wanting as our daily experience teaches 5thly In this Season the Sun also declines in strength and vigour which being the central Power and Life of all things they likewise do proportionably decline as appears in Herbage as for Example If you cut Grass in September which is then the Food of most sorts of Cattel the Hay made thereof is of a weak fading Nature and Vertue in comparison of that Hay which was made in Iune or Iuly which is of a lively brik strong substance and vertue for the Earth which is the Mother of all things in this Season is weak and impotent because she hath already put forth her strength and manifested her lively Vertues in the first spring or rising of the Sun for the Winter is the Rest and Sabbath of the Earth in which time she recovers strength-and vertue because she does then as it were cease from all her Labours and the Vegetative Quality stands as it were still and the more Frost and Snow and the drier the Winter is the more strength and vigour the Earth obtains such dry Weather cloaseth up the Pores by which the strength and vertue is prevented from having any Evacuations which is manifested by the goodness and great Increase of all Herbs Fruits and Grains being all filled with a Powerful Lively brisk Spirit and Vertue therefore in the first spring and rising of the Sun every thing rejoyceth and becomes very fragrant by vertue of the sweet Influences of this Coelestial Body and the Power of the Earth so that at this time all things seem to strive with a most lively motion to manifest their most inward Vertues this is the time for People to eat Herbs both Boyl'd and Raw Sallets and Pottages made thereof such Food at the Rising of the Sun are endued with a brisk lively Vertue and Strength and of an opening and cleansing Nature Purging the Blood and are good against all kind of Obstructions Also all sorts of Diseases are by vertue of Sobriety and Temperance and the use of good Medicines then easier cured than at any other of the Year it is also the Briskest and Healthiest Season and the same Intemperances and Disorders which may be the occasion of generating Diseases in the latter part of the Summer in this time will hardly be felt for now all things rejoyce and seem to concur for the Preservation of Nature 6thly In this Season viz. from the middle of Iune to the last of September most sorts of Cattel breed many Diseases First from the continual Heat and gross humid Air which in this season is more sulpherous the Pleasant Influences and Spirits of the Air are dull and thick which causes a dull and fainty Indisposition to possess the Bodies and Spirits of all Creatures Men themselves can witness the Truth of this Moreover all Creatures are more subject to sweat by which the Spirits do evaporate likewise the Food of most Creatures is Grass which is of a gross Phlegmatick Nature and generates not only an unfirm Nourishment but also fills the Body full of evil Juices the Fat and Flesh being of a soft greasy Nature having but few Spirits and those that are very impure the Blood of most Cattel being thick and gross which is the cause their Flesh will not take Salt as at other seasons also about this time most sorts of Cattel especially those that come from remote parts of great Cities are more or less Heated and Surfeited by Driving and other Accidents they being not formerly used to Driving the Weather being Hot and Fainty the Air thick and humid and they being loaded with much gross Flesh and Fat all these things concurring makes their Flesh unwholsom and subject to Corruption especially Sheep and Lambs whose Spirits and Lives are so tender that they cannot endure any kind of violent motion without manifest danger to their Health It is very rare that any Mutton or Lamb is good in this Season they not being free from the aforesaid Accidents you may easily distinguish by the Taste Smell and Colour of that which is killed off the Common without driving and other Accidents and that which is killed in London with driving the Bodies of all Creatures being in this season full of Phlegmy matter that every little Accident will wound the Spirit then presently the Body suffers many Inconveniencies and if such Cattel be kill'd before they have time to recover such Injuries their flesh is of a dull heavy Phlegmatick Nature the Spirits are few and those that are are impure for these reasons it will not take salt nor eat sweet as others will which are free from such Inconveniencies for salt has no Power to Preserve such Flesh from Putrifaction because as is mentioned before the Spirits are impure for those gross Bodies are Preserved by the Vertue and Power of the Spirit and in such flesh where the spirits are few and impure and the Flesh gross and full of Phlegmy matter the salt cannot incorporate therefore in this season use what Art you can in salting your Flesh it will not eat so sweet nor keep
no Drink made of Malt so wholsom pleasant and proper to preserve Health as that It is a great Custom and general Fashion now-a-days to bottle Ale but the same was never invented by any true Naturalist that understood the in-side of things For tho' Ale be never so well wrought or fermented in the Barrel yet the Botling of it puts it on a new motion and fermentation which wounds the pure Spirits and Balsamick Body therefore such Ale out of Bottles will drink more cold and brisk but not so sweet and mild as the same Ale out of a Cask that is of a proper Age Besides the Bottle tinges or gives it a cold hard Quality which is the nature of Glass and Stone and being the Quantity is so small the cold Saturnine Nature of the Bottle has the greater Power to tincture the Liquor with its Quality Furthermore all such Bottle Drinks are infected with a yeasty furious foaming matter which no Barrel-Ale is guilty of This is chiefly caused by the second motion or fermentation and this yeasty substance being then excited and finding no vent as it hath in Barrels which are always open at bungs when the Drink works but here being confined and without any evacuation it grows mad and furious so that presently it awakens the internal keen harsh Properties of Nature which keep it as it were in a continual motion and fermentation and those cold keen original Qualities do in some degree devour the sweet balsamick Body and cause it to become more cold sharp and hungry than the same Ale in Barrels and also indue it with a more flatuous Windy Nature for which Reasons Bottle-Ale or Beer is not so good nor wholsom as that drawn out of the Barrel or Hogshead and the chief thing that can be said for Bottle-Ale or Beer is that it will keep longer than that in Barrels which is caused by its being kept as it were in continual motion or fermentation Of Tobacco Tobacco is an Herb of Mars and Saturn from the first it derives its hot tart Quality and owes its strong fulsom poysonous Nature to the latter It makes a most excellent Oyntment and is much safer being applied outwardly than inwardly taken 'T is one of Nature's Extreams and there is no way known or Preparation found out that can destroy its poysonous Qualities or reconcile and make it friendly to mans Nature but only the continual use and custom of taking it for this cause at the first taking it disagrees with all sorts of Complexions with some more and others less according to the degree of Antipathy it bears to each mans peculiar Nature having a nearer affinity to some than others It being extream hot in Operation 't is therefore good taken in Pipes against all cold windy and phlegmatick Humours but the constant and common whiffling it does not only destroy and render invalid all its Physical Vertues but heats and drys up Nature and powerfully consumes the Radical Moisture causing most that use it to spit up the moist matter which ought not to be drawn out of the Stomach by such forcible Attractions it being a general mistake for People to think that the more thin phlegmy matter they spit up the better 't is for them when in truth 't is altogether the contrary for if the healthiest and soundest of men take Tobacco it will cause as great Evacuations and spittings in them as in the most unhealthy for this cause the much taking of it dulls the Stomach and takes away the edge of the Appetite whatever matter is superfluous in the Stomach Nature will expel by vertue and power of the inward Heat if Temperance be observed but the constant taking of Tobacco is nothing else but the constuat taking of Physick though through Custom and Use the same as likewise the highest Poysons may be made familiar to Nature For Man as we have already told you is a little World and in him are contained all the Properties and Qualities of the great World as well of Poysons as of Vertues The nature of Man hath Affinity more or less with all things else Custom could never cause such poysonous things to become agreeable yet ought not any to imagin the common use of such extreams to be the more proper or profitable unto their Health because by violence to Nature at first and continual practice afterwards they can better endure them and they seem more agreeable than they did at first I doubt not but some may find benefit by taking Tobacco in Pipes but then there must not be a constant taking of it for then the Physical Vertue will not continue for by habit and use such things become like common Food in the Stomach Most People that smoke Tobacco in the beginning forced Nature and made her bow to their Inclinations not for any Distemper but of a vain wanton Humour because of late 't is grown the fashion and many Thousands have strained and hurt their Health and brought many Inconveniences upon themselves meerly to follow this bruitish Mode Some others there are who first learnt to take it for some manifest Distemper which have so far been excusable tho yet not one of an hundred of this sort have found it a Remedy for tho Tobacco hath been of so universal an use yet 't is no Universal Medicine Indeed it hath and is indued with its particular Physical Vertues as all other Herbs are and when 't is properly apply'd and meets with such Diseases then it proves effectual otherwise not there is as much reason that any other Physical Herb should be made universal as this but few men hearken to Reason for most like Brutes are carried away by Custom and look on the Multitude and make their uncircumcised ways their Rules childishly saying Sure if there were not many excellent Vertues and Benefits to be found in the use of such things as the common taking of Tobacco viz. five six ten or twenty Pipes a day and as much strong Drink in one day as might well sustain five or six men a week such abundance of Wise and Learned Men would never practise the same for say they we see our Physitians and Apothecaries and the best of our Gentry such as have been bred in the Universities and Inns of Court. But it had been much better they had been of that most excellent Imployment Iacob's Sons wereof tho now despised Nay some of our Reverend Divines themseves will smoke as intemperately as any of the Vulgar But all this is still but a fools Argument to do a thing because he sees others to do it tho Reason and Experience tells him 't is prejudicial It is not above sixty or seventy years ago since that only Gentlemen and but a few of those took Tobacco and then so moderately that one Pipe would serve four or five for they handed it from one to another and it seems were then so honest as not to fear infecting one another with any French
Medicines have such Power either to prevent or remedy these Disorders in the Body as Temperance Cleanness and good Order for they have an inward Power and certain Efficacy for that purpose and if Temperance be continued it will augment the Radical Moisture and pure Spirits and by degrees strengthens the natural Heat of the Stomach which only hath the Power to draw all such windy gross sharp matter from all parts of the body and so cast it out if thro' length of time it be not become too central for the natural Heat hath a magnetick Vertue that forcibly attracts all such matter as burdens Natures even from the most inward Cavities and furthest Ciroumference unto it self and there digests and throws it off both upwards downwards if a proper degree of Temperance be observed both in quantity quality fresh supplies of Food Drink come not too often For so powerful is this attractive Faculty of the Stomach that it will draw the very Flesh off the Bones as is most manifest both by men beasts if the Stomach be not supplied with convenient quantities of Meats and Drinks for this Heat which serves for concoction separation is never idle but always continues its motion action so long as the Spirits are lively that there doth remain any Oyl in the Lamp For this cause moderate Fasting hath been commended by all wise men a clean well prepared Diet hath great Power not only to prevent Diseases both of the Body Mind but also to root them out especially when the cause of such Diseases as generally it happens have arisen from over-charging of Nature with too great quantities of Flesh Fish the more because People make no distinction between Clean Unclean nor of the Seasons of the Year of the Surfeits or Diseases the Cattle are subject unto whose Flesh they eat nor regard the improper Mixtures of such Food c. 2. The second cause of Windy Diseases I assign to be the frequent eating and drinking of Hot Foods I do not mean such as are hot in their own nature operation but such as having been prepared by Fire are eaten before those fiery sulpherous Steems are evaporated for they are of a very pernicions venomous quality and altogether of a contrary Nature to the genuine Heat of Nature particularly of the Stomach also for this fiery heat will no longer incorporate it self with such Foods Broths c. than it is forced by the constant heat of the fire for as soon as they are taken from thence this sulpherous Steem or humid Vapour will hastily separate of its own accord which does manifest that this Heat is an Alien that Nature casts it out as an Enemy for indeed it contains three venomous qualities that are absolutely pernicious to Health viz. 1st The first is an harsh Fire of a Saturnine Martial Nature of a keen sharp fretting operation which dulls the pure Spirits infects the Blood with a Maingy itching Humour 2dly It contains a gross deadly poysonous Water or humid quality that does incorporate it self with the grossest parts of the Air fly away in a steem or vapour if Food be eaten before those fiery evil vapours be separated evaporated it swells the body hurts the natural Heat of the Stomach insensibly but certainly generates both Windy Watery Diseases filling the inward Vessels of the Body with evil venomous Juices sending Fumes into the Head disordering the whole body this more especially in Women Children who as we have shewed you before are by Nature much more liable to Windy Diseases than men 3dly If this furious Steem be by any Vessel that covers the Meat after 't is taken out of the Pot or off from the Spit so that it cannot fly away but is stopt turned back or confined to stay with such Food after 't is prepared then will it re enter into it and make it flat and heavy alter the Taste of it so that it will be strong gross on the Pallat heavy on the Stomach It is also to be noted that the common eating of Hot Foods does possess the Blood with a salt sharp fretting Humour like a Mainge if Children were not accustomed to such things from their Mothers Breast it would more sensibly break out upon them in that kind For this very Reason in Dogs and many other Creatures if such hot Broths or Food be given them it will cause the Mainge in their Blood the very same it occcasions in the human Nature but not externally so manifest because rendered more familiar by use 3. The Third Cause not only of Windy Diseases but of many others is Peoples eating and drinking too often Nothing more burdens Nature or generates more crude sharp Humors for when fresh Food is thrust into the Stomach before the former is digested it mixeth with the half-concocted Food which does surprize Nature and disturb her Work and fouls the Stomach causeth sower Belchings makes the Vessels to swell and in some Constitutions is attended with griping Pains and Indispositions through the whole Body c. for the natural heat is so oppressed with these continual supplies of Food before it calls or is ready for them that it cannot make any perfect Separation which is a main cause of Windy Diseases filling the Vessels with unconcocted Juices which powerfully obstruct the due Functions of Nature and hinders the Circulation of the Blood and Spirits which is the reason that when such People do travel or labour and oft-times only upon the Change of Weather they are indisposed and presently tired and out of Breath and troubled with an inward heat and drought continually calling for Supplies of Drink which does but promote Disorder and swell the Body and make the Exercise more burthensom For indeed drinking between Meals is very injurious to all sorts of People except to those that labour hard and sweat much for such may drink but very moderately or else they may quickly out-do Nature but for others that live easie Lives and do not sweat to be sipping or rather pouring down strong Drink and Wine between Meals does prove of very evil Consequence for it destroys the edge of the Appetite and makes the Stomach disordered always seeming as if it wanted something and in some Constitutions an hot heavy dulness for all strong Drinks received in a greater quantity than the Stomach can conveniently master leave a sowr heavy stinking Matter behind them in the Body which furrs the Passages with a slimy Substance and which causeth loss of Appetite shortness of Breath Rheums with sharp tickling Matter that first ascends into the Head and offends it and then falls back again into the Breast and upon the Lungs whence Coughs and Consumptions proceed Also in some People it begets a kind of unnatural hunger or craving in the Stomach or a sharp gnawing Pain which causeth many to eat
the Uncleannesses of the Multitude and hardly have had once in their whole Lives a serious thought about these sublime Matters or ever applied themselves to the Practice of them 6. By what hath been said it may sufficiently appear That all things are mov'd by Simile and every particular Property of Nature both in the Evil and Good does eagerly hunger after such Food as is proper to maintain and nourish its own Body from which ground it comes to pass that the evil and wicked Bestiality of a Nation or particular Man does sensibly move the Wrath of God in the outward Elements by the same way of Simile and strengthens it powerfully and as it were naturally kindling and drawing down the corrupt Nature in the Stars and Elements whence proceed both publick and private Calamities On the other side Iustice Clemency Ceasing from Violence and Cruelty and walking in the friendly Way of Righteousness Temperance and Purity does awaken and corroborate the benevolent Influences of the Celestial Bodies and attract Blessings and Prosperity As witness the Iews when they lived in the Laws of God and Nature they were blessed with the Dew of Heaven and the Fatness of the Earth and with Health and all other Benefits but when they broke his Commands and ate polluted things then was kindled the Wrath of God and Nature and many Calamities were showered down upon them Hence also the holy Scriptures testifie That the Prayers of the ungodly are an abomination God doth not hear or answer them because they proceed from the wrathful Fountain and have no Sympathy with the Divine Principle But on the contrary the Prayers and Desires of those that live in the fear of the Lord and are guided by that divine Principle of his eternal Love and Light are as sweet Incense in his Nostrils and he will answer them from his Holy Hill for by way of Simile they open the everlasting Doors of the Palace of Glory and draw down and are strengthned with the pleasant Fruits of Paradise Thus every thing moveth towards its own Center and powerfully attracts Matter out of all things to nourish and maintain its own Body and this was the cause why the Ancients made distinctions between clean and unclean Creatures Meats and Communications knowing that all things that a man doth touch have power to make him him either better or worse 7. Our blessed Saviour Iesus Christ saith That Man shall answer for every idle Word Which Saying does contain a great Mystery So likewise we read in the Revelations That Blessed are they that die in the Lord they cease from their Labours and their Works follow them Both these Places are to be understood alike First Every idle Word and also every good Word and Work do respectively proceed from two grand Fountains or Principles in Man Now all idle and evil Thoughts Words Inclinations and Dispositions as Envy Hatred Back-biting Violence Oppression Fighting and Killing one another do all proceed from the wrathful fierce Principle and by it are comprehended and received as similary thereunto On the other side all good Words and Works arise from the Light and Grace of God viz. from the divine Principle which does therefore likewise receive and comprehend them He that calleth his Brother a Fool shall be in danger saith the Scripture of Hell fire The Reason is Because every Word or Work that is framed or created from the Wrath in Man and received by its Likenesses if not repented of does endanger the Soul and is apt to precipitate the Man into the Hellish Nature for every Root will greedily embrace its own Fruits and every Word has a Key in it self to open the Gate of its own Principle and to awaken and strengthen its own Property as is manifest from every Moment's Experience Doth not the angry Words and Looks of one Man awaken the fierce Wrath in others to whom they are directed The very same good Words and Works will do A soft Answer says the Wise-Man pacifies Wrath. Every Word carries the Power of that Property or Principle that was predominant in it or from whence it was generated and therefore wheresoever its Sound or Voice enters and meets its Simile they immediately incorporate and joyn Forces strengthening and increasing the same If this were not so the Apostle Paul would not have said That Evil Communication corrupts good Manners nor David have avouched With the Froward thou shalt learn Frowardness Therefore 't is absolutely necessary for People to know somewhat of themselves else they cannot understand from what Property or Principle each Thought Imagination and Word does proceed and guard themselves accordingly 'T is the true knowledge of God in a Man's self that teaches Wisdom and gives understanding of Good and Evil. 8. But there are many Thousands that hardly ever in their whole Lives do so much as enquire after that true Knowledge which dwells essentially in Man or mind that internal Oracle where in Difficulties they may and ought to enquire as the worthy Prophet David said I will hear what the Lord will say in me Therefore as for those that have hearkned to the Voice of Wisdom in themselves and obtained any true Knowledge of God they contend not about outward Forms and Modes of Religion for they have a more sure word of Prophecy shining as a Light in a dark place to which you do well to give heed being a guide that teacheth all Vertues and condemneth all Vice But on the other side those that never turn their Eyes inward nor regard the Voice of Wisdom that cries in the Gate of their City as the Wise Man loves to speak but look abroad and hearken after other Voices such cannot stand alone they are meer Adjectives in Religion Philosophy and Reason and are forced continually to lean on the Shoulders of others and remain Darkness in themselves as though the Lord had not given them any Salt to savour their Ways there being no end and 't were well there had been no beginning of Man's running after other Gods and of worshipping of Idols but where the true Knowledge of God is not first attained in a Man's self there neither can any man be satisfied with what another Man knows because it cannot be essential to him but may be either true or false because such Ear-Knowledge does not arise from the Light of a Man's Life but is a thing accidental foreign and at a distance This folding up of a Man 's own Gifts and Talents which the Lord hath given every Man to profit himself withal in Napkins of a supine and careless Negligence and hiding them in the Earth has been the chief cause of Men's running to and fro and contending about other Mens God's esteeming and setting up Signs and mere Shadows and neglecting the true Substance what Aristotle held what Galen taught what Hippocrates or St. Augustin or Tho. Aquinas or twenty such noted Men have said of such or such a matter they can tell but
how the thing is in it self they themselves are as blind as Bats and the Reason is they are like the Old Hagg that Seneca somewhere mentions who never put her Eyes into her Head but when she went abroad Thus some of our silly Travellers will tell you forty Stories of France Spain and Italy but of the Rarities the Commodities the Manufactures the Laws and Privileges of England their Native Country they are utterly ignorant What a Madness is it for me with toil and hazard to ramble to the Ends of the Earth to dig in the Mines of Potosi or pick up the glittering Dirt of Guinea when God hath furnish'd me at home with a Soil that yields me precious Oar much more noble and useful Now that these Hear-say-Men or Book-Philosophers called The Learned are as ignorant as any nay commonly more than any others of the true knowledge of God in themselves appears undeniably by their walking contrary to the Ways of Vertue by their compelling and forcing others to their Self-invented Belly-Forms that are utterly destitute of the Life of Truth who do commit the greatest Outrages against God and against his People but chiefly the Learned It is they that set the Rabble on to torment the innocent and simple-hearted and all such as are of contraÌ„ry Forms to themselves All which are the Effects of the awakened fierce Wrath and does declare that the Devil and Hellish Powers do predominate in their hearts and that Love Mercy Meckness and doing as a Man would be done unto have no being in them and it will be so as long as Men prefer Vanity Tradition and their Belly before the Man that told the Woman of Samaria all things that ever she did which is Iesus Christ the true Light that enlightneth every Man that cometh into the World It was not therefore without deep Understanding that the more prudent in all Ages did esteem the knowledge of themselves before all other Attainments and recommended it as a thing principally necessary to every Man for all that do know the Power of God in themselves and are guided by the Voice of Wisdom and live in the friendly Love of God have abandoned and utterly exiled all Hatred Pride Malice Back-biting Fighting Killing Violence and Oppression whatsoever either of Man or Beast and in them meek innocent Dispositions and Inclinations do reign using and doing unto all Creatures as one would be used and done unto for Violence and all kind of Cruelty and Oppression is as contrary to such Natures as Darkness to Light And we may affirm That never any Men have harmed oppressed killed or used any kind of violence to any innocent Creature from the excitement or power of this Divine Principle Therefore let every one consider this they that find Hatred Envy the Spirit of Oppression and Violence to dwell in them may certainly conclude themselves in the fierce wrath of God for all such Dispositions and Inclinations do proceed from that dark Root of Bitterness which is all contrary to the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Great is the whole Mystery of Godliness but especially Christ manifest in the Flesh viz. That the eternal Love and Light of God should dwell essentially in man for after Man suffered his Will and Desires to enter into Vanity and Bestiality the Lord said It is not good nor safe for Man to be alone but promised him the Seed of the Woman the holy Principle of divine Light and Love which will bruise the head of the Serpent in all that adhere to and follow its Counsel that is it will destroy the works of the Devil and then all Violence and Oppression departs from that Man and that Saying is fulfilled The Lord is my Strength my Safeguard and Portion And every Man thus qualified is taught of God Iehovah is his Tutor and his Guide the mighty Counsellor so that he will no longer run after other Gods nor contend for any thing but Truth and Righteousness and to live a sober harmless innocent Life in the sight of God and Man and doing unto all as he would be done unto And such purified Souls amidst all the Hurries the Storms and Agitations of the World round about them do securely ride at Anchor in a blissful Calm and are satisfied with their Portions and know their Centre and to them all Contention ceaseth and there is Peace on Earth as in Heaven 9. There is no necessity for Mankind to oppress burry and kill the Beasts and eat their Flesh and Blood as many ignorantly affiâ—m crying out What shall we do with them They will over run us and eat us up if we do not kill and eat them But I answer That there is no sort of Cattel but is otherwise of use besides to be eaten and Horses are not eaten and yet what Nation complains of having too many of them But some will say Many of them are killed by Violence and Oppression which is confessed But if there were no Horses destroyed that way but used moderately and gently yet there would be no fear of having too many of them the like may be said of other innocent Creatures 10. The eating of Flesh and killing of Creatures for that purpose was never begun nor is now continued for want or necessity or for the Maintenance of Health but chiefly because the high lofty Spirit of Wrath and Sensuality had gotten the Dominion in Man over the meek Love and innocent harmless Nature and being so rampant could not be satisfied except it had a proportionable Food and of all others Flesh has the greatest affinity as is mentioned before And if all Men would refrain eating of Flesh there would be no cause for them to complain for want of Food for the Almighty has in all particulars been gracious and bountiful unto all Creatures but more especially unto Mankind for whom he hath spread a plentiful Table furnishing the whole Earth with a great multitude of variety of Herbs Fruits Grains and Seeds fit for Food which do afford a Nourishment of a most excellent Substance and far beyond Flesh as it doth appear by all that have applied themselves to such harmless innocent Foods especially in decayed Natures and sick as all with one voice consent as well the Learned as they call them as the Simple For when People are ill and Nature weakned with Distempers they all advise them to Pottages Grewels and various sorts of Foods made of Herbs Fruits and Grains but no Flesh must come near them during their Weakness Now if these Vegetables and Fruits do afford such an excellent nourishment and have such a natural and secret Power to help and recover Nature and restore lost Health and Srength how much more then shall they maintain and preserve it when it is restored But Flesh was never desired because Men found any defect in the nourishment of Vegetables and the like but because it hath a Simile with that unclean Nature and fierce Wrath that now became predominant
with the Ferocity of their Nature which prompts them to tear and hurry their Fellow-Creatures and eat their Flesh and Blood as Dogs Cats Swine Bears Lions Tigers Foxes and many others divers of which our Saviour likened Men unto because he saw that the same fierce unclean savage Nature of such Beasts did rule in them and thence the said Men were more fierce ravenous and hungry after Blood and all other Uncleanness than the very Beasts of Prey themselves so greatly mischievous is the depraved Nature of Mankind when he suffers his Will and Desires to enter into and live in the power of the Wrath of God in Nature But to eat Bread or any other Food with unwashen hands provided the Food be clean and not too much in Quantity nor of a contrary Quality is no manner of Uncleanness but a vain Superstition in the Pharisees who did love to make clean the Outside of the Cup but did not matter the Inside whereas the Work of Christ was to clean the Inward Man from every unclean Thought Desire and Inclination And when this cleansing state can be witnessed by any Man then no Meats Drinks nor other unclean thing can enter into him so as to defile him because his Desires thereunto are cut off in the Bud and utterly mortified for no Man ever did commit any Uncleanness or Intemperance but first the contrivance thereof was in the Heart nay when Men first think to commit an Uncleanness or Violence there does oft-times happen in the Heart great controversie or strugling between the divine Principle and the Wrath and which of these two does prevail and get the dominion accordingly the Man acts or forbears and sometimes it comes to pass that in this inward contest the evil Imaginations are cut off in the Bud that is when the divine Principle prevails and will not susser them to proceed into Act and attain unto a Substance but when the wrathful Nature gets the Day then every unclean Thought and Desire is accomplish'd and becomes a substantial Evil. Thus you see the grand Root and Cause of all kinds of Vertue and Vice is inward not outward each Man's Fruits manifest from what Principle they derive their Birth The external Cleanness and Vertue is only a manifestation of what Property does reign in the Soul Therefore the first step to Vertue Cleanness Sobriety and Temperance is to turn the eye of the understanding inward and there examine try what kind of Spirit rules in the Heart This Knowledge of a Man's self and to distinguish between the good and evil Principle of Nature in himself is of absolute necessity to every person for he that cannot distinguish the two Seeds viz. that of the Woman and that of the Serpent within can never be able to judge of Good or Evil Clean and the contrary without A true inward Knowledge goes before Self denial he that cannot distinguish the Properties of his own Nature cannot know what to deny himself of or what to embrace But happy is the Man that getteth Wisdom and findeth Understanding 12. We read in the Acts of the Apostles chap. 10. That the Apostle Peter had a Vision in which appeared before him all manner of Beasts Fowls and Creeping Things both clean and unclean and the Lord said unto him Arise Peter kill and eat Who answered Lord I have not at any time eaten any thing that is common and unclean And the Lord said What I have cleansed call thou not unclean Then Peter arose and said Of a Truth the Lord is no respecter of Persons neither to Jew nor Gentiles Bond nor Free but every one that feareth God and worketh Righteousness is respected and accepted of him This Vision was intended not so much to shew the lawfulness of eating clean Flesh or the contrary but to convince Peter and to take off the Scruple he had touching preaching the Gospel to the Uncireumcised or Gentiles for in the Vision was rep resented to him all kinds of Creatures as well poysonous creeping Vermin as clean and unclean Beasts which was a true Figure of the unregenerate state of Mankind and how the bestial fierce Wrath of the clean and unclean Beasts does reign in him and also that the poysonous Qualities of all sorts of creeping Creatures and Vermin have a being and rule in Men. This is a great Figure which did shew our depraved state and that the Creator did not respect one more than another but every one that would receive the Counsel of the Divine Light and through the good power and vertue thereof purge and cleanse themselves from the unclean bestial and poysonous Nature should be accepted of him and that Peter should preach the Gospel freely both to Iew and Gentile Therefore whosoever shall interpret this Text otherwise are mistaken as is apparent because as I said but now there were represented in the Sheet poysonous creeping things and Vermin never known to be eaten by any Nation or Sect but which did aptly denote the unclean state of Man and that poysonous unclean Property of all sorts of unclean Beasts and Vermin that does rule in and defile his Heart and Soul whence proceed those brutish Inclinations and Dispositions to Oppression and all kind of Evil as also Intemperances Superfluities Gluttony and the desire after unclean Food which evil Nature and venomous Contagion Iesus Christ the Cleanser and Purger of Souls came to destroy which Peter's Vision did manifest in that he was commanded to preach unto all Men the glad Tidings viz. That Christ the Redeemer was come to seek and to save that which was lost viz. the Soul of Man captivated under every inferiour bestial and unclean Power which Christ by his holy Grace and divine Power does destroy if its Counsel be obeyed for no sooner does it come to have dominion in the Heart but all those Beasts of Prey viz. Pride Revenge Ambition and Cruelty and those creeping venomous Vermin Lust Treachery c. are overcome and their Principle so weakned that in a little time they will find no place in the Soul for there is the same possibility and energy in the divine Principle in Man as there is the wrathful cruel Principle if the Will and Desires adhere unto and follow the first then that grows strong and gets the dominion and purgeth out of the Heart Violence and Oppession and destroys all Sensuality But if the Counsel of the fierce wrathful bitter Root prevail then the Man's Mind becomes a Cage of unclean Birds and is filled with Bestiality and poysonous Inclinations whereby Men come to exceed all the Savages of the Desart in Cruelty and Uncleanness and most of them that have Power live upon the spoil of others Labours and by killing and oppressing as well those of their own Kind as all other Creatures Hence because Man that was originally formed the Image of God and the Rival of Angels had now so far degenerated and depraved himself as to engross all the worst
the heavy fierce Fires of Saturn and Mars do carry the upper dominion in them But if the Gravity of Iupiter and Sweetness of Venus do interpose then all is made delightfully pleasant But as it is impossible for any Man to make good Harmony that has never learned Musick nor knows how to tune his Instrument because one String will be several Notes too high and others as many too flat or low from which can proceed no Melody but a rumbling jarring Noise of Discords So impossible it is that any Man should attain to the holy Harmony of God in the Kingdom of his Love and Light or to live in the power of Unity except he be born again and hath learned himself for the true knowledge of God in a Man's self is absolutely necessary for if a Man do not understand the Treasures and holy Virtues the Vices and Evils he always carries about him in his own Vessel how is he like to distinguish the Natures Properties and Operations of those things which he shall daily meet withal within him 20. This degeneration of the humane Nature is apparent from the Words of our Saviour Christ who saw into the very Roots of their Hearts and Spirits and yet made no scruple to call them Foxes Sons of Belial c. For such inwardly they were as appear'd by their Works But it had not been so from the beginning for if it had Man would not have been cloathed with such a compleat Angelical form and shape as he is for when the Creator moved himself by the production of all things each was cloathed with an external Body suitable to its Spirit and according to the degrees and nature of each Spirit such form it attained for each spiritual Substance had power to attract out of all things such corporeal Matter for a Covering or Body as had a Simile with its own Nature as appears most manifestly by the Shapes Forms Inclinations and Dispositions of each Creature And as the internal Property and Disposition of each Creature did vary so their outward Form and Shape did vary Thus where the fierce Wrath did predominate there sprung up wild Beasts and Birds of Prey but where the Qualities of Nature were more equally mixed there were formed more benign and friendly Creatures as Beasts and Birds humane tame and tractable called by the wise Men clean Beasts and Birds and where the Spirit was more noble and great so the Body and Form was accordingly And as Man was in the Spirit and primitive Properties and Qualities greater and more noble than any other of the Creatures visible so the Lord gave him a proportionable Body above all the rest of the lower Creation for we never read that any of the Holy Angels of the Lord appeared in any other than Humane Form But when God has at any time permitted evil Angels to assume Shapes and Forms they have always been hideous monstrous and frightful as Dragons Lions Cats Swine and the like which may demonstrate what Principle and Kingdom they belong unto and which would have been Man's Condition had he not fallen into the humane Nature which has not only been the chief Means to preserve Man's Angelical Form but to raise him to a Supernatural Dignity by the Lord Christ's assuming an humane Body and making all them Sons and Coheirs that believe in him and are incorporated with him For though Man through Sin and Transgression hath lost his Heavenly Angelical Understanding and Wisdom which yet shall be again restored to all those that obey the Counsel of the holy Seed and divine Light yet he did not bereave himself of his first Shape or Angelical Form because he fell into the Humane Nature where every Body has the Seed in it self to produce its like Species in all respects But as for the Spirits or Souls of most Men they have through the desire of Vanity Oppression Violence Killing both Men and Beasts wanton Superfluity Pride Vain-glory c. precipitated themselves into the divided Forms and harsh fierce Wrath of God and into Bestiality and the savage Nature so that they have lost the humane Property are grown hard-hearted cruel and sordid having no Compassion Fellow-feeling or Mercy and all that do live and die in this savage brutish state shall in the Resurrection when every Soul shall be re-invested with a new Body attract such Matter out of all things as their Spirits are capable of and have a Simile with and so appear in Forms hideous frightful and loathsome as their Natures require for such Seed as Men do sow such a Body may be expected for so the illuminate Apostle speaks of the Resurrection God giveth to every Seed it s own Body and therefore if Men sow hellish Seeds in their Lives no wonder if they be cloathed with suitable shapes in the next World But on the contrary those that in their earthly Pilgrimage have retained Humanity and introduced their Wills and Desires into the divine Principle of eternal Light and Love and been guided by the counsel thereof shall in that day arise in a more perfect beautiful and glorious humane Shape and Form of whom Christ Jesus was the first for after his Resurrection he appeared in the same Shape Form and Body as he had before his Death 21. Consider how unpleasing it would be to most People to behold the dead Carkasses of Beasts cut into pieces and mangled and all over bloody And how nauseous and frightful a thing it would be to think of putting those begored Gobbits into our Mouths and feeding our selves thereon did not continual Use and Custom make it familiar And how difficult a Task would it be for many People who do for the most part live under the power and operation of the tender compassionate Principle of God's Love to kill the Beasts for their own Food until a little Action of that kind and custom hardens them therein How quickly also will the dead Carkasses putrefie and stink defiling the Elements both Earth and Air How offensive are the Places where Flesh is killed and sold How rude cruel fierce and violent are most of those who are employed therein In a word there is nothing that is pleasant or friendly in the whole business nor any one Circumstance that is grateful to the innocent Principle in Man nay the Taste of most sorts of Flesh is strong fulsome and smells of the original Cruelty to all those that have for any time separated themselves from the eating thereof or having communication with it And indeed none are or can be sensible how it is nor be competent Judges of what is said here but only such as have made Trial. Is there any comparison to be made between an Herb-Market and a Flesh-Market In one there is a thousand pieces of the dead Carkasses of various Creatures lie stinking the Chanels running with Blood and all the Places full of Excrements Ordure Garbage Grease and Filthiness sending forth dismal poysonous Scents enough
behind them a disorder'd Body and a perplexed Soul the Memory of which calls for Repentance and do ingender in the Mind Sottishness and insolency and a Forgetfulness of all Good making the Body an House of Sorrow and the Soul a Den of Thieves Intemperance never goes alone having many other Evils and perverse Companions attending her but at her first appearance doth court her Lovers with a curious painted smiling Countenance which doth allure and draw after her a great Train of young Gallants by her counterfeit Beauties but we through the good Favour of the Lord know her Snares and that she is that Woman the wise Man saith Sits in the Corners of the Streets of Man's City alluring and inviting the foolish Ones by her fading Delights and Pleasures therefore we warn our Citizens to beware of her Charms But Vertue who is our Captain though at first she do appear to us with a dismay'd Face and in modest plain Garments and neither decked with feigned Speeches nor with fading Beauties but with other most sublime and durable Riches as Temperance Cleanness Separation Self-denial which is a little austere and burthensome at first to old Adam and to those that have spent most of their days in the Intemperances and Oppressions of Egypt nevertheless a little Use Custom and Self-denial makes them most friendly both to the Body and Mind for she freeth them both from Ignorance vain Opinions Self-conceitedness and all other Snares and Troubles and crowns the Soul with eternal Felicity If our Children are gluttonous idle or disobedient to Parents our Law and Custom constrains them to make retaliation by Servitude in our publick Houses and Places provided for that purpose We do not enslave our Bodies by Labours nor put our more noble Parts on the Rack by carking Cares to maintain our Wives and Children because we observe order and count that unlawful that is not needful a little serves and supports the necessity of Nature where Superfluity is laid aside The more Children we have the richer we do esteem our selves we do not pray and wish that we may have no more Children and at the same time continue the Means neither do we hinder Conception for fear of Disgrace Trouble or that we shall have more Children than we can maintain all those things we esteem to be Sins against God and his Law in Nature We are contented and highly gratified with the most pleasant Fruits of the Gardens and desire as much as we can to imitate our first state of Innocency counting every green Herb and Seed our principal Food having a Simile with the friendly Principle in Man We fear all Inclinations after Flesh and Blood they smell of the Original Sin and of the awakened fierce Wrath of God which renders man fitter to live in a Flesh-Market and Butcher's Shambles than in a Garden there being no more affinity between Slaughter-houses Shambles Butchers-Shops and Sheep than there is between a pleasant Garden and the Fruits that grow therein and Dogs Lions Bears and the like wild Beasts of Prey We do not complain and say If we should not eat Flesh and Blood we should die as some will meaning the death of the Body this none need to fear but the main thing lies occult they are not willing to kill and destroy the Government of the violent wrathful Spirit and ravenous Nature which most Men love to practise all such things that support and keep that Spirit in motion which would quickly be weakned if Man did not supply it with its proper Food and Aliment If Violence nor Oppression did not come into the noble Tents of Men then Man would be like a pleasant Field in May where there grow various sorts of fragrant Herbs Fruits Grains and Seeds of different Forms Shapes Colours Beauties Odours and Natures but they have but one Mother whence they have and receieve Virtue Life and Power standing all in quietness and silence suffering all sorts of Winds to blow on them they complain not neither do they grutch or envy each other because they are not all alike or that one is more beautiful and fairer than another no they all thrust forth their Virtues in quietness to God's Praise and Glory even so it would be with Man if he did fear the Lord as he ought and lay aside Violence and live in Innocency then the Tempter would lose his labour 2. If any amongst us be idle gluttonous or commit any evil and will not amend his Life and become sober at the first second or third Reproof then they are committed to Houses and Places appointed for several sorts of Work and there they are put to such Labour Arts or Trades as they shall be capable of being well furnished with Meat Drink Cloathing sweet wholesome Chambers and Beds there to continue until they have made retaliation their greatest Punishment is they are confined to work double the time that is allotted for others viz. twelve hours in a day for we do not oppress our selves nor Servants with labour it being not lawful among us to work above six hours in a day which doth bountifully support us with plenty of all things where Superfluity is not there needs not much labour neither to Man nor Beast the remaining time is set apart for Prayer Meditations and Contemplations of the divine and natural Mysteries of God as Arts and Sciences and all lawful innocent Recreation We do account none capable to know the hidden Mysteries of God and the Creation but those that become even as Nature her self viz. true simple constant patient and pious no ways hurtful to any thing viz. a regenerated Man none else are fit for the search and speculation of divine Mysteries but those that are thus qualified when by an innocent pious Life we have made God our Friend then the Heavens the Earth Elements and all the Terrene and Celestial Influences are constrained to come to our help We draw Peace Love and Vertue out of all things for every Likeness doth forcibly draw proper Aliment out of all things for the increase and support of its own Body both in good and evil and for this same purpose we do often meet together for our outward occasions do not hinder us where we do speak and discourse freely like so many Children keeping nothing back or hidden whether it be good or evil but manifesting the inward secrets of our Hearts and the Mystical Operations of the various Properties of our own Nature and of the Force Power Vertue and Vice of each Quality and of their rising and continual contest amongst themselves for Mastery and also the manner and way the divine Principle of God in us doth open the seven Seals and call the Soul back out of Egypt viz. out of Discord and Inequality into Concord and Harmony We do not admit of any Discourse that is not filled with Vertue and Experience either of divine or natural Wisdom by which the low mean Capacities are rais'd by
Patriarchs in the first Ages of the World that they were Sick No there is not a word of their Sickness but that they lived to great Ages in perfect Health for ought we find and soundness of Mind and Body There was then no need of Universities where Men must spend ten or twenty Years meerly to read Receits over and to learn to write a Bill of Confusion to the Apothecaries or to put their own Eyes out that so they might see with other Mens nor to learn Canting words to deceive the Ignorant Their whole drift and design from the beginning to the end being to get Money to live in Wantonness Gluttony and Superfluity There was no occasion amongst the Ancients for this sort of People for every one was his own Physician for so long as Men studied the Knowledg of God and Nature in themselves there was no place for this External Babylonical Building or for the authorizing of Ignorant Pedantry for the sole Curing or rather Killing of their Neighbours Can any understand or read another Man's Book that cannot read one word in his own A Man's self is a Book in which is comprehended all kind of Learning both Humane and Divine the Radix of all Arts and Sciences For in this Little World Man was communicated unto the Wise Ancients the Virtues of all Herbs Seeds Granes Animals and Minerals for the Ancient Physicians had not Libraries of many Thousand Books nor did they spend their time in reading other Men's Works nor satisfied themselves with Traditions but were contented with one Book viz. The Knowledg of God and Nature in themselves and this Book they read with their own Eyes and not with the Counterfeit Spectacles of Aristotle or Galen If Men would but stand still from Self-hood then would they see the Salvation of the Lord. The Old Physicians and Naturalists when they were not well or any of their Neighbours were distemper'd did not content themselves with musty uncertain Receipts for they knew that the same Herb which has proved beneficial to the Cure of one mans Diseases might not do any good but rather harm to another even though their Diseases seemed to proceed from a like Cause And does not our daily Experience manifest the truth of this Therefore they in all difficult points applyed themselves to the Divine Oracle and Holy Light in themselves which did teach them some Herb Seed Grain or the like and also the manner how to use it which did perform wonderful Cures because there was an inward Virtue and the power of the Spirit went with them they did not keep any certain Method with all Patients alike as our Quacks do now-a-days for the same Herb or other thing that cured a Consumption in one they did not administer to another in the like Disease except they were pointed unto it by their Good Genius Herein consists the right Cure both of the Soul and Body when man does apply himself to the right Object with Faith in the Lord then will the Lord teach him in all particulars for the Spirit of the Divine Power can make every little and small thing work wonderful Effects 'T is true the Ancients did set down in writing many of those Herbs and other things which their Genius did teach them for the Cure of various Diseases but they did as little think that after-generations would make a great Trade of getting Money by their Receipts as the Prophets and holy illuminated men of God did That the men of the world would do the like by their Writings and yet alas what an Huckstering there is kept now-a-days with them both The worthy Sayings and Writings of the Ancients cannot be understood or applyed but only by the same Spirit that gave them forth either in things Divine or Natural But these things are not considered either by those that are called Divines and Physicians or by the People But so soon as any one finds himself disordered by Sickness they presently run to the Doctor and the Doctor to his Books and out of some one of them Scrawls a Receipt and if that won't do the poor Creature may die for him for neither the one nor the other so much as think to enquire of the true Physician viz. the never-failing Oracle in themselves which if hearkened unto in Humility would teach them what to do in all particulars as it did the Ancients for those Herbs and great Cures wrought by them were not set down and recorded that after Generations should imitate them like Apes without the true understanding of the Spirit but that men might see the wonderful Power and Efficacy of the Spirit of the Lord when men do apply themselves unto its Government If men would but stand still and not so eagerly pursue Tradition and the Inventions of men and Self-hood then the good Genius would be ready and prompt to shew and instruct them in any things belonging to their Preservation for in the way of God and Nature every little thing is made strong and powerful but when men have not the knowledge of God and Nature in themselves then all goes astray and the true Efficacy or Virtue is not known nor have the Applications of the best things any good effect By what hath been said appears the Reason why those Physical Herbs and Seeds which the Ancients have appropriated for the cure of such and such diseases do not cure those distempers nor have any such Effects for if every Herb could accomplish such Cures as are recorded thereby to have been done certainly there would none be sick but All would be made whole but Experience shews the contrary Nay are there not many living Testimonies at this day who waiting in Humility at the Internal Altar have been directed such an Herb or other thing and the manner of using it which being followed the Cure has been effected in a wonderful manner And yet the very same Persons at other times in the like Distresses and Disorders have not minded their good Genius but looked abroad amongst the Swine for Cure where there is neither Life Knowledge Power nor Virtue but only an Ignorant busie Imitating Ape cloathed with a Velvet Coat and as their Course hath been the success proved answerable he has perhaps purged their Purses to a Vacuum stuffed their Bodies with Slops filled their Chambers with Gally-Pots and Glasses weakened Nature and strengthened the Disease so that it carries away Life Captive at the Wheels of its Triumphant Chariot and all that Mr. Dunce-Doctor has to say for himself is That he proceeded secundum Artem and destroyed you after the exactest method in the World All Practice of Physick that is from Receipts and Tradition is uncertain and abominable to Nature more especially where there is a multitude of Ingredients mixed together for the most part of various Natures and contrary Qualities as though they would force Nature into obedience by the several sorts of Engines and Enemies of divers kinds which they
Chymical Liquors are at the end of Nature and therefore they will not admit of another Motion Hence it follows that all sorts of Spirits as of Scurvey-Grass of Salt and many others of like Nature that are prepared by Fire whereby the Radical Moisture or sweet Balsamick Quality the Volatile Spirit and Vegitative Vertue or middle Quality are alâ— destroyed have no such physical Virtues 〈◊〉 their Authors appropriate unto them And we do affirm that such as have the Disease called the Scurvey in their Blood shall be as soon and as well cured by taking every morning so many Drops of strong Spirit of Wine as they shall by taking this sort of Spirit of Scurvey-Grass and so of the Spirit of Salt and others For the harsh sulpherous Fires in Stills where the friendly Element of Air is hindred from having its Influence does totally destroy the pure Virtues and opening cleansing Qualities and there does run off only a fierce keen harsh fiery astringent bitter furious Spirit which is very pernicious to Nature and to all the friendly Virtues in the Body nor was it ever known that any such Spirits have given help or cured any of those Diseases which the Lying Authors do so much boast of You may try whether this be true if you take any opening cleansing or purging Herbs Seeds or the like and put them into any kind of Liquor viz. Water Beer Ale Wine or Brandy the last of which those great Physicians and Masters of Art do use to draw their Spirits of Scurvey-grass in when you have put your Ingredients into your Liquor let them lie in it two or three days more or less as you please then put the Herbs and Seeds with the Liquor into your Still or Limbeck and draw it off and you shall only have an harsh strong fiery tart Spirit void of all the Purging Opening and Cleansing Qualities such Herbs or Seeds were naturally endued withal The very same or other as great Evils are in many other of the Physicians and Apothecaries Preparations which ought to be considered and their blind Traditionary senseless Ways and Methods to be abandoned as destructive to the Health and Well-being of Nature It is further to be noted that none ought to apply themselves to the â—â—actice of Physick but such only as the Lord hath in their Radixes endued with proper Gifts and natural Parts for 't is not sufficient for them to read other mens Works and vapour with their Receipts like the proud Iack-daw in the Fable with the fine Feathers stolen from other Birds but they ought to know the true Principles Nature and Operation of every Herb Plant Animal or Mineral that they make use of and for what it is good and the contrary in themselves and also what Simples are proper to be Compounded and what not For he that has no true Knowledge in himself of the Nature of things but follows Tradition blind-fold and trusts to other peoples Say-so's must needs make strange work and instead of Curing often-times Kill and when he does Cure 't is by meer chance Whereas Physicians ought not to administer any Medicine without true Knowledge both of his Patients Disease and what he gives to remove it all things especially where mens Lives are concerned ought to be done with sight and judgment and not without Faith and Prayer to God the Creator of all things who is the inward Virtue Power and Life of every thing For Faith and Prayer do Wonders opening the inward Virtue and Centre of every mean and simple Medicine or thing even Clay and Spittle with it shall cure the Blind this all Physicians ought to be inwardly sensible of and not put so much trust in their Authors for many of them have been very vain and extravagant in their Writings telling us that such and such Herbs and other things were indued with such wonderful Virtues and would cure such Diseases when in truth there were no such things and also invented many improper Compositions even any thing they fancied and most of their Sayings are meer Stories and as contrary to Truth as Light to Darkness Now on such a tottering Foundation what Structure of safety can be expected to be built Our Modern Physicians are much like our Lawyers if a man is like to lose part of his Estate and will vindicate his Cause by Law 't is twenty to one but he spends the other partto secure that and after abundance of charge and trouble loseth the whole Just so if a man through Disorder and Intemperance hath in part destroyed his Health he may be sure to destroy the other part also if he keep close and follow the Physicians Prescriptions and take good store of their adulterated Medicines We must also note that every Patient ought to turn the Eyes of his Mind inward and wait at the Altar of the Lord for an answer and not to do or take any Medicines without some Assurance or Faith in the Lord of his Blessing nor ought any to think himself too mean or simple because he is unlearned for do but read the Scriptures and you may be satisfied that the Lord in all Ages has plentifully given his Gifts and Graces both Divine and Natural to the Simple and Unlearned And as to the Learning of this World did not our Lord Christ himself give his Father the Author of all Beings thanks That he had hid the Mysteries of Salvation both of Soul and Body from the Wise and Letter-learned of this World and revealed them unto Babes poor mean and unlearned People Peter the Fisher-man Paul the Tent-maker c. For indeed the Rich and Learned have shut and double-bar'd the Windows of their Souls against the simple Light of Truth they have cloathed themselves with Vanity and Self-hood being contented with Tradition and a Worldly puffing-up Knowledge which serves them to swagger with but not to do any good with either to themselves or others so that there is no room for the operation of the friendly Love and Light of God they are so full of swelling proud Spirits and noise and boasting Hence it comes to pass that these Admirers of Tradition and Pocket-Learning and the ways of the Multitude are always apt to despise the Simplicity of the Divine Power and Voice of Wisdom not only in themselves but all others and therefore the Lord chuseth to unfold his holy and natural Mysteries unto the Poor and Needy and such who are not wise in their own Eyes and whose Eye-lids are not lifted up For nothing obstructs the Work of the Lord and the Revelations of his Holy Spirit in men more than Inward-Riches Self-conceitedness and the Babylonical-Learning of the Schools of this World which like a too Luxuriant and not well Cultivated Soil produce such abundance of Rank-weeds as overtop and choak the good Seed that it cannot attain to any maturity in the Government of a mans Life the same is to be understood of all outward Fulness and Intemperances
of Stars and the various Species in the four Worlds or what doth more ravishingly declare the Greatness Goodness and eternal Wisdom of the immense Creator This is a Book we study in which the grand Charter of Nature and the Holy Mysteries of God are recorded and we think we do not err in preferring it before the endless and contentious thwarting Volumes of the Talkative Philosophers and Wrangling Schoolmen French-man I have been told and you seem to own it That you will not Kill any of the inferior Creatures nor eat their Flesh but I pray hath not Man power to do as he pleaseth with those Creatures and were not they made for that very purpose Heathen God hath made all Creatures inferior to Man who hath freedom to use and do unto them all as he pleaseth having free will to chuse either Good or Evil but he that follows the better and leaveth the worse chuseth the better part and is made God's Friend and in Amity with all the Creation for man is a likeness of all things and contains their true Natures and Properties and therefore whatever he giveth himself unto the same becomes strong in him be it Virtue or Vice For which cause our well-advised Fathers commanded us our Wives and Children to abstain from all kinds of Violence and Oppression especially to those of our own Species that thereby our Souls might be preserved from being precipitated into wrath and so retain Humanity and the more noble Faculties of our Souls unspotted as well as our Bodies rendred wholsome clean and fit to be Temples for the Divine Spirit esteeming Abstinence Cleanness and Separation to be the true paths that lead to all external and eternal bliss it being in our opinion an unfit and altogether unworthy thing that the great noble and immortal Soul of man should so much degenerate from its high and illustrious Birth as to joyn or suffer it self to be incorporated with the low and savage Nature of Beasts Nor do we think it lawful for us to heat our Veins and distemper our blood with Wine since Water more kindly quencheth our Thirst the innocent and fragrant Herbs and Fruits of our Gardens afford us ample satisfaction and we should be ashamed to make our Bodies the Graves of the Inferiour Creatures And tho our Princes are sometimes harsh and severe to us yet we pacifie them with meek submissive and humble Behaviour And since as little as possibly we can we hurt not any thing therefore nothing hurts us but we live in perfect Unity and Amity with all the numberless Inhabitants of the four Worlds doing by them as we would be done unto whereby we dis-arm their Rage and their Fury finds no place against us French-man But pray tell me how long you have led this kind of Life and whether your Sons and Daughters do follow your Religion and Example for amongst the Europeans nothing is more common than for Youth to degenerate and wander after the Multitude and abandon their Fathers Rules especially if they should be but half so singular as you are Heathen As for the Antiquity of our Course of Life I think for the greater part I may date it from the World 's Original Your own Doctors teach that Adam the first Man was placed in a Garden and that the green Herb. and Tree bearing Fruit was to be to him for Meat and do generally agree that afterwards at least during the Old World viz. to the time of the Flood which was in the Year of the World 1656. eating of Flesh was not allowed or practised and though afterwards it was practised yet 't is probable it did not obtain with all But there is reason to believe that still the better and more reserved sort did abstain For about the Year of the World 3300. near the time that your holy Records mention Ierusalem to be besieged by Nebuchadnezzar we find the famous Philosopher Pythagoras flourishing who expresly taught his Followers which by reason of his Parts and Virtues were not a few not to eat any Flesh but content themselves altogether with Vegetables and this great Man travelling for the acquest and diffusion of Knowledge into divers parts left not our India unvisited and there planted this wholsome Doctrine which ever since hath not wanted Observers derived down by a continual Succession to our Times 'T is true our Ancestors have obliged us to some things which may seem frivolous and vain as not to kill any kind of Vermin which are very offensive to the Life of Man But indeed these Prohibitions well regarded shew their more deep Wisdom and Fore-sight for they did consider that their Philosophy would not only be embraced by Wise Men but also by a great number of Fools as the most part of all Men are in one thing or other and if they should have permitted them to have killed any kind of Creatures the Foolish would have concluded they might by the same Rule as well kill others and so by degrees come to kill men as most other Nations do Besides not only our cleanly regular temperate Lives free us from many of those Vermin wherewith others are troubled but we take it for a Rule that such as would live an abstemious separated Life from Evil and Violence must refrain from some things that are lawful as well as from those that are unlawful as one of your Prophets says excellently All things are lawful but not expedient Touching our Sons and Daughters they all constantly follow our Foot-steps and it hath very rarely been known that any of them have forsaken the Percepts of their Fathers being descended from a Root of Temperance and Equality they are naturally Sober and Temperate for they use not Tippling-Houses nor spend their Patrimony in drinking Wine Gaming Debauchery and Gluttony so that the more Children we have the Richer we esteem our selves they proving no more chargeable to us than Lambs do to Sheep They all marry Wives of our own Tribe and Religion and there is no Dispute about either Portion or Joynture Their greatest Pleasure and chief Recreation is to contemplate the Heavens and their glorious Furniture the Sun Moon and Stars in their Various Motions and Configurations as also the pleasant Gardens Groves and Fountains and to free the Inhabitants thereof from the Tyranny and Bondage of men as much as in them lies And so through the whole course of our Lives abstaining from all that tendeth to Evil and promoting what we can the good of the whole Creation we endeavour to imitate the adorable Maker and Conserver of the Universe whose Off-spring we are and in whom we live and move and have our Beeing French-man You have not only gratified my Curiosity but in several things informed my Understanding And I heartily wish that your Virtue and Morality were crowned with true Christianity and our Christianity embellish'd with the real practice of your Virtue Temperance and Moderation And so bid you Farewell To shew that the recommending Abstinence from Flesh is no new Upstart Conceit I shall here add those notable Verses of the ingenious Poet Ovid written above 1600 Years ago in his Metamorphosis as I find them translated by Sandys where he brings in the famous Philosopher Pythagoras from whom the Indian Bannians derive their Doctrine thus discoursing FOrbear your selves O Mortals to Pollute With wicked Food Corn is the generous Fruit. Apples oppress their Boughs plump Grapes the Vine Thousand sweet Herbs and savoury Roots combine With beauteous Flowers of most fragrant scent Your nice and liquorish Pallates to content The prodigal Earth abounds with gentle Food Affording Conquest without Death or Blood But Beasts with Flesh their ravenous Hunger cloy And yet not all Horses in Pastures joy So Flocks and Herds But those whom Nature hath Endu'd with Cruelty and savage Wrath Wolves Bears Armenian Tygers Lyons in Hot Blood delight How horrible a Sin That Intrails bleeding Intrails should Entomb That greedy Flesh with Flesh should fat become Whilst by the Livers Death the Living Lives Of all which Earth our bounteous Mother gives Can nothing please except thy Teeth in Blood And Wounds and Stygian Fury be imbrew'd Nought satiate the wild variety Of thy rude Paunch unless another dye That good Old Age that Innocent Estate Which we the Golden call was fortunate In Herbs and Fruits her Lips with Blood undy'd Then Fowls through th' Air their Wings in safety ply'd The Hare then fearless wandred o're the Plain Nor Fish by their Credulity were slain Nor taught was Man that fawning Treachery All liv'd secure till he that did Envy What Daemon e're it was those harmless Cates And cramb'd his Guts with Flesh set ope the Gates To cruel Crimes But first these slaughtering harms A fire of Zeal at Holy Altars warms Enjoyning Sacrifices with the Blood Of Savage Beasts which made our Lives their Food Thus the Wild Boar for rooting up the Corn And leaving painful Plough-mens hopes forlorn Was thought to merit Death Vine-brouzing Goats Do next to angry Bacchus yield their Throats What harm have poor Sheep done whose Udders swell And yield of Nectar a perpetual Well Supplying Man with their soft Wooll and are Alive than Dead more profitable far Or what the Ox a Creature without Guile Inur'd to Patience and continual Toil He most ungrateful is deserving ill The gift of Corn that can Unyoke then Kill The Husband-man that Neck with Ax to wound Is too severe that plow'd his stubborn Ground So oft till'd so many Crops brought in Yet not content therewith ascribes the Sin To guiltless Gods as if the Powers on high In Death of labouring Innocence could joy Whence springs so dire an Appetite in Man To interdicted Food O Mortals can Or dare you feed on Flesh Henceforth forbear I you intreat and to my words give ear When Limbs of slaughtered Beasts become your Meat Then think and know that you your Servants Eat FINIS Numb 11. 4 18 22.