vegetation multiplication and preservation and hath made his seat in the Center of the heavens that by one most perfect Consonant namely a spirituall Diapason he might illuminate the Angels above and the stars round about him and that by a more material Diapason he might penetrate into the Center of the elementary world to communicate his perfection to each creature thereof that they might be beautified by his bright presence and vivified by the penetrating beams of his essence and consequently that the imps or spirits of darkness may be debilitated by the appearance of his Glory as if one chord were extended betwixt the Fountain of Light and the abysse of darkness which being struck made an unison but being pressed down and divided directly in the middle of it each part will render being struck a double diapason unto that unison importing a double perfection proceeding from the bright catholick Emanation whereof the one respecteth the adorning of the lower waters with life and virtue and the other maketh an accord of friendship among the higher Now as the body of the Sun and substance of the Aether is of a middle or mean spirituall matter or consistence of the waters it is evident that it also is subject to be altered by passion as well Antipatheticall as Sympatheticall For else it would not be the immediate receptacle of those opposit and contrary Emanations which descend from the differing Attributes But by effect we find the contrarâ— For some starrs are friends and Sympathise in nature with some creatures below Some again do hate one another deadly and consequently send down into this lower world contrary influences which move contrary passions or impressions in the vitall spirits or souls of certain Elementary creatures Again we find that the life of the Animal doth consist of opposit actions namely of Systole and Diastole that is of contraction by the property of matter and dilatation by the Act of the formall Light So that the nature of matter is to draw by contraction from the Circumference unto the Center but the condition of the formall essence is quite contrary unto it For it doth dilate or emit his beams from the Center to â—he Circumference Also the Philosophers testify that in sleep and rest the spirits are contracted from the Circumference to the Center after the manner of the dark Chaos or cold North wind which bringeth by that contraction the agill and volatil spirit or aire of the lower world to rest and fixation by condensation But contrariwise in wachfulness or waking they conclude that there is an emission or emanation of spirits from the Center unto the Circumferentce which is an Argument of two contrary effects of the firmaments vivifying operation in the souls or spirits of the creatures below and yet by reason of the equality of each action and passion they have a compound-disposition according and agreeing in the naturall operation of life which descendeth from above Thus therefore you see that even from the starry heaven there descendeth Sympathy and Antipathy As for the Elementary world it aboundeth manifestly with the effects of these two contrarieties and therefore lest there should follow any continuall unnaturall perturbation which may deprave this great formall workman of his expectation which was to put concord and peace in the machine whiâ—h he had ordered and framed he divided each region in this lower world that there might be interposed an indifferent friend between two extream enemies which he effected by weight number and measure So that unto the weightiest portion of the lower waters is imparted the least proportion of form that by its grossnesse and weight it might fall unto the Center and remain fixt in it and it was called earth then unto another portion he bestowed a double measure of Light to make it reside in a higher region and thereby the matter which was next the earth became more thin light and movable And therefore this augmentation of Light melted the frozen waters a little and did make them fluxible and transparent So that he partly by reason of the continuity of his matter with that of the earth and partly because of its cold nature it is a temperate friend of the earth and taketh his place next unto him So that it is not so cold as the earth nor so moist as the aire For it is not enough subtiliated till the bright Agent of the world bestoweth on the dark watery abysse above the water three portions of his Light So that it converted part of the gross lower waters into a thinner and more light shape than was the watery Element and it was the aire which by reason of the triple proportion of formall light was hotter and more dilated then was the water wherefore as the water was cold but not so cold as the earth and moist but not so moist as the aire So the aire is hot but not so hot as the fire and moister then the water By reason therefore of his moisture this portion of the catholick Element is friendly to the water on the one side and on the other side unto the fire because of his heat Lastly that in-created Spirit of life did yet multiply a part of those waters by an other or higher degree of subtility and purity So that it became the most subtil and highest portion of the generall Elements and is consequently hot and dry wherefore by reason of its drouth it agreeth on the one side with the earth which in circulation is next unto him and on the other side with the aire in respect of his heat but it is hotter then the aire and not so dry as the earth Lo here you see the effect of that Sympathy which the Peace and Love of God did put among the discordant enemies of this world For thereby the water as a friend to both the aire and earth becometh a stickler and mediator of peace between them The aire as a friend unto the two enemies fire and water is made an indifferent judge betwixt them both So that the one contrary is kept from strugling and tugging with the other by the super-celestiall and golden tie of peace Thus you see that this Spirituall Christ doth as the Apostle saith bear and sustain all things by the word of his Virtue And as Hermes said the humid nature by the assistance of the world is ordered and disposed harmoniously into Elements So that by this Virtue all Sympatheticall action was effected in the Sublunary world of which the Wiseman speaketh thus In se Elementa dum convertebantur sicut in organo qualita is sonus immutatur omnia suum locum custodiunt But when this harmonicall ranck and Symphoniacall proportion is violated then the enemies come together and rage against one another unto the disturbance of the whole Sublunary fabrick For aire and earth do struggle against one another as also the water doth cruelly invade the limits of the fire and all will be
be applied unto them all and after that it hath sucked a sufficient proportion then ought you to reserve it for to make your Transplantation The Act of Transplantation of the Spirituall Mummy Touching the act or manner of Transplantation Paracelsus saith that the extracted spirituall Mummy doth not ooperate unto health and preservation but by mineral vegetable and animal means And therefore it is necessary that the spirituall Mummy attracted or extracted out of the body by the virtue of the Animal Magnet must be introduced into a vegetative nature whereby the said Mummy not being of it self vegetative may by adoption as it were be introduced into and be indued with a vegetative nature or condition We ought therefore to mingle a proportion of this imbibed Magnet with a certain proportion of his mother-earth and sow in this composition the seeds of such herbs as are proper for thi◠or that disease and this or that ill affected principall part of man's body or this or that infirm member which is contained in his region As for example For the Lungs in the vitall region when the disease is the Ptifick sow Line-seed or Juniper in the naturall region when it is Dropsy Pimpnel or wormwood in the bruising or contusion of parts Hypericon or Plantain in tumour or wounds Persecaria or the great or lesser Cumfry in Salt diseases as are the tooth-ach pain in the eies and flowing Menstrues Persecaria maculata and so forth The herbs must grow in this compounded earth and that in the open aire and as the herb or plant groweth it will sympathetically and Magnetically extract the imbibed Mummiall spirits out of the Magnet and will by that means cause the Mummy extracted out of every particular member according unto his condition to be fit to cure the infirmity of his proper member Of the Use and Virtue of the Transplanted Mummy Lastly as concerning the manner how to use this Transplanted Mummy now that it is changed into a vegetable nature or condition If the disease be dry and of a combust nature as is the yellow Jaunders the Ptisick c. and you would cure it or expell it out of the body then take the herb with his Magnetick earth and cast them into the running water and the disease will fade and die by little and little But if the disease be moist then you must burn the herb with the Magneticall earth Again if the disease be more temperate namely between the extremities of water and fire then hang up the herb in the aire or smoak to dry and the disease will languish by little and little as the herb doth fade If you shall give the herb or fruit unto the beast that is of a stronger nature than the sick then the beast will be infected with that disease and the sick will be free Also if the spirituall Mummy so extracted out of some peculiar member of a sound Man be conserved in his continuall vegetation if you take of his fruit and transplant it into a sound oken tree by that means the member out of which the Mummy was extracted will grow continually and continue in his naturall and robust proportion of vegetation without defect After this manner also are the Willow trees but that they increase so suddenly and by reason thereof they are not so fit for this purpose lest the member should grow too hastily for by that means many inconveniences may follow As for example If after that manner the hair of a person be shut up into a willow-tree they will grow so suddenly and so copiously that unless they be removed thence or the Willow be burned the eyes and brains will indure dammage and detriment as dolours fluxes c. namely by the suddain increase or too much humidity of the Tree And therefore according unto the proportion of the person there must be a proportionate tree found out into the which the Mummy is to be transplanted but the Oke is to be elected before all others because it increaseth and groweth but temperately and strongly and a mans life will not easily exceed the daies of an Oke By this mysticall kind of attraction the true and wise naturall Magician for so I may call the true Philosopher that operateth as Solomon did by the properties of naturall things may bring to pass such things which in wonder will excell as I said by many degrees the power or act of the weapon-salve for by it wise men have procured friendship love between such as have been utter enemies again by the use of it grace and affection may be recovered from another whose favour is desired Paracelsus speaking darkly of this Mummiall faculty doth shew how the Ape and the Snake betwixt the which a naturall antipathy or strife and hatred is ever observed to be may be made friends and familiar unto one another But to our purpose If the members out of the which the second Mummy is extracted are to be corroborated then you must make the extracted Mummy to vegetate as before by transplantation temperately and according unto the naturall proportion in the Oke or other such like sound tree But if the members be too dry then let their extracted Mummy vegetate in the Willow tree and from thence again be transplanted into some other temperate Tree So also in a humid complexion it may for a time be transplanted into a hot and slowly growing tree as is the Juniper onely observing that the fruit in which the Mummy is transplanted be preserved from all externall dammage Demonstration I need not waste the time in further demonstration of the possibility and feazibility of these acts in the spirituall transplanted Mummy when by the very self-same proofs whereby I have confirmed the manner of curing by the weapon-salve and by transplantation which is set down in one of the Chapters of this present Book I have fully demonstrated the reasons of these occult and abstruse actions in this kind of cure unto such as will not with St. Thomas believe any thing but what is confirmed by sense And therefore for the manifestation of this hidden action by a relation of natures I refer you unto that very place also where the salve is compared unto the vegetable and Magnet the bloody spirits unto the spirituall Mummy the manner of application of beams from the Mummy to the sick member unto the application of the transplanted bloody spirits to the wounded member the keeping the spiritually-growing spirit in the oyntment from cold unto the preserving the vegetable fruit in which the Mummy is planted from externall damage So that eadem est ratio utriusque and by consequence eadem est demonstrationis via in ambobus It is too tedious in this place to express the efficacious operations of this secret mysticall Mummy and I am assured that some ignorant Momus or Cynicall ignorant will either laugh or bark at what is said already touching it for Quis major scientiae inimicus quà m
invisible waters the subtiler part whereof is the vast spirit of the aire and for this reason both Thales and Anaximenes do seem in some sort to agree in one subject And yet if we penetrate more profoundly into the businesse we shall perceive that these two did insist but upon the materiall or passive principle forasmuch as from it the substance of heaven and earth and every thing therein hath his existence or materiall beeing On the other side Zoroaster did not without reason make choice of fire for the primary beginning of all things in that it did proceed and appear in act before the waters or humid nature were made manifest no otherwise then action goeth before passion or the cause precedeth the effect And yet neverthelesse he erred in this his assertion because the active principle can in no wise rightly be considered but as it hath his relation unto a passive originall The Stoick Zeno therefore being more wary than the rest establisheth his opinion concerning the first Principle by a firmer tye or obligation saying That the substance of the fire being by the aire converted into water is the beginning of all things But Empedocâ—es would be sure to lay his grounds more surely as he vainly imagined than Zeno and for that cause did ordain the four Elements to be the radicall principles of all things whereof two of them are agents and two patients Now the main errour of these philosophers in their judgments concerning the principles was that they did not mark or consider that the divine puissance or sacred word was more ancient and of a greater Antiquity then were any of their foresaid principles the which if by a riper contemplation they had understood they would have confessed being instructed and directed by reasons produced from the eternall unity or essentiall point and beginning of all things that the divine light or sacred emanation which Scriptures entitle by the name of the holy Spirit of wisdom was the actuall beginning of all things as neverthelesse before it there was another property in one and the same sacred essence which was termed the divine puissance or potentia divina which did precede his act or emanation no otherwise than the Father in time order and being is justly said to exist before the Son or the Creator before the creature And thereupon the wise man hath it Omnium prior creata est sapientia Wisdom was created before all things And yet it is most apparent that some of the Greekish and Aegyptian Philosophers namely Plato Pythagoras Socrates Hermes c. did so instruct their understandings partly by the observation of their predecessors doctrine and partly through the experience which in their long travails and peregrinations they had gathered among the Aethiopians Aegyptians Hebrews Armenians Arabians Babylonians and Indians for over all or most of these Countries did Plato Pythagoras Hippocrates and others of them travell for the augmentation and increase of their knowledge as Historiographers that are worthy of credit have related that without doubt they did discern though afar oft and as it were in a cloud the true light in the humid nature And among the rest it is reported as also it appeareth by his works that Plato had the knowledge of the Word and had read the Books of Moses and for that reason he was called Divinus Plato the divine Plato In like manner the excellent Philosopher Hermes otherwise termed Mercurius Trismegistus expresseth plainly that he was not onely acquainted with Moses his books but also was made partaker of his mysticall and secret practise as by his Sermons which he calleth Pymander a man may plainly discern where he doth mention the three Persons in Trinity and sheweth the manner of the worlds creation with the elements thereof by the Word And therefore of all other antient Philosophers I may justly ascribe divinity unto these two But in this I cannot much commend them viz. in that they having had a view of Moses his labours which were indited by the Spirit of God did gather out and confesse the truth of his doctrine touching the principles of all things and yet would not in open tearms acknowledge their Master but altered the names of them but as Plato served his Master Moses even so was he dealt with by his schollar Aristotle who knowing that his Masters three Mosaicall Principles of all things masked under strange titles were but truth would neverthelesse arrogate his doctrine unto himself and for that cause did alter the assumed names of Plato's principles gilding them over with new denominations and did afterward rear up upon them a spurious philosophicall structure carved and framed out after his own inventions which may be therefore rightly compared unto a house of straw or stubble which though it be erected upon a firm rock or foundation yet because their stuff is Heterogeniall unto the truth and evilly compacted it will not endure a storm no not the least blast of truth but will easily be destroyed and cast down Thus may every good Christian discern how each of the Ethnick Philosophers have stolen their principles from Moses his grounds stolen I say because they expresse them under covert names without any acknowledgment of their Master which did arrogate his doctrine and learning unto the Spirit of God which did teach him it and did practically express the grounds thereof in the apparition which God made upon the Mount Sina For upon the grounds of these three Principles the true mysticall Philosophers or Theosophers did pronounce that as well the externall Law of Moses as the internall of Jesus Christ was erected which was not discovered or discerned by Aristotle how cunning soever he maketh himself which if it had been so he would not without all doubt have founded or built upon the true Corner-stone I mean the eternall Wisdome a bastard Philosophy which did differ in shape and essence from the true Foundation And although he was taught in some sort by his diviner Master yet was he as it doth appeare all together ignorant of the centrall truth thereof wherefore it was but a folly in him who is so vainly magnified for the Prince of Philosophers to make a privation where there was no precedent position or information being there was a Chaos before any thing else was created But it was no marvel being that he surmised the world and all things or Species thereof to be eternall that is to say without beginning and end which if it had been true indeed he then had said but rightly that the dark Abysse or Chaos in respect of its beeing without form was a Privation of some Act or form in an actuall pre-existent matter But that this is false the whole concurrent of the Scriptures do confirm being that it is said that God created the world of matter without form and that the heavens and the earth were first of waters and by waters and consisting by the word of God And that
of those waters which are under the Firmament of which division Moses maketh mention and therefore every particular thereof doth correspond unto the whole and consequently the aire included in the glass of the Instrument is of the same nature as is that of the whole Catholick Aire and therefore by reason of their continuity as the excluded whole fareth so also doth the included part Again as the Spirit which walked upon the waters did animate vivify inform and dilate them giving them motion So also by his absence or by hiding its act or contracting its emanating beames into it self the waters are also contracted condensed and darkned as it appeareth by the Northern wind 's property which proceedeth from the privative or contractive action of this Spirit But as the waters do by their existence fill the vaulted cavity of the world So also doth the all-informing Spirit fill every corner of them insomuch as being it operateth all in all but in a diversity of property and therefore it is termed multiformis Sapientia so sometimes it operateth in its privative property in these lower waters as is already told you namely when it bloweth from the North and West and sometimes in his positive nature as when it breatheth from the South or East In the first by his cold action he contracteth from the circumference unto the center as is said by the last namely by his hot property he dilateth from the center to the circumference Seing then that it is water that is the Catholick passive out of the which as being the common Subject of all things the shape of the whole world and every thing therein was and is carved out and fashioned as St. Peter telleth us and that the eternall creating and all-inacting Spirit of the Lord is the universall actoâ— which moveth all in all in the waters as Moses doth intimate unto us and that in and by an infinity of Organs as Angels Sun Moon Starrs Winds fire c. as in many places of Scripture we find it it must needs follow that he is the agent as well in the contraction and dilatation generally without the Glasse as particularly within the Glasse Wherefore as the Sun the hot winds the fire or naturall heat of mans body have their dilative property from his emanating and inacting vertue and do alter by it the cold aire the winds and water from his privative disposition So it followeth that as well the dilatation of the aire in the Glasse as contraction is the immediate act of this Spirit 's positive or privative property for when this Spirit bloweth from the North or West the aire is contracted more or lesse into a narrower room within the Glasse and that is proved thus namely because the water is drawn up higher into the neck of the Glasse lest a corporall vacuity should be admitted in nature And again it is most apparent that the aire in the Glasse is by so much the more contracted by how much the Northern cold hath dominion in the outward aire because it is gathered into a more strait place oâ— passage then it was before the water was elevated up On the other side if the hot winds or Summer Sun do inflame the externall aire then the included aire will also dilate it self and in its dilation require a larger space That the aire is so dilated by heat it is plainly demonstrated in that the water is struck down by so many degrees lower than it was Again if one put his hand on the top of the ball of the Glasse the water will sinke for the aire will forthwith be dilated Now that the spirit of life which giveth this heat unto Man or Beast is from this eternall Spirit which as the Apostle saith doth vivifie all things Scriptures do in many places above and hereafter mentioned confirm Again the Prophet calleth this one Spirit from the four winds to breathe into the dead carcases that they might live again Thus you see it evidently confirmed by an ocular demonstration that cold doth contract inspissate and make gross the included aire which is argued by the drawing up of the water and straitning the aire And again that heat doth dilate and dissipate by the enlargement of the aire in hot weather or by laying of the hand on the bolts head which is made evident by the beating down of the waters Note I beseech you ye that will not be over-partiall on the Peripateticks behalfes the two notable errours of the Aristotelians whereof the first is manifested in that they hold for a Maxim that calidum doth congregare homogenea heat doth congregate and gather together things of one nature Now you see it here ocularly demonstrated that heat doth operate the contrary for it dissipateth and disperseth the aire which is of homogeneall parts and therefore it doth not congregate it But it is cold that doth congregate compact and gather homogeneall things together as well as heterogeneall For you see in our Instrument that it contracts and gathers together the aire yea and water in a straiter and narrower place And therefore their assertion also is not â—ound when they say that frigidum doth onely congregare heterogenea The other of their palpable errours is also described by this ocular experiment for whereas they say that the Sun starrs and Fire yea and all heat whatsoever doth attract and draw unto it the vapours and humidity of the earth waters c. we find the contrary by this our experimentall Glass for in onely laying the warm hand upon the Glass the aire dilates it self immediately and is so far from being attracted by the heat that contrariwise it flyeth away from the hand And that this is so it appeareth by the striking down or precipitation of the water as is said Thus have we sufficiently mentioned in this present Book the estate of the first and second Principles of all things and that but in brief tearms because my purpose is to touch them with a more large and copious style in the first Book of my Sympatheticall and Antipatheticall History I will now proceed unto the next Book wherein I purpose to handle the mystery of Rarefaction and Condensation with the manner of the variety in the heavenly Fabrick and the rotation of one catholick sublunary Element into a four-fold nature or existence And in the last place I will conclude with the radicall efficient cause of Creation Generation Corruption and Resurrection The fourth BOOK The Argument of this Book Herein is expressed the universall mystery of Rarefaction and Condensation where also it is proved that by them the World was made the Heavens established in due order and the catholick Element altered and changed after a quadruple manner and condition CHAP. I. Herein first the common or catholick subject of Condensation and Rarefaction is once again recited or repeated as also the two essentiall opposite properties or vertues which are derived from the eternall Principle in his privative
the Sun hath his seat or place in heaven Alass what child knoweth not this by an ocular direction without any such precept of the Prophet And what is this pertinent unto the Text going before The heavens declare the glory of God c. Why should he mention the Sun immediatly afterward What To tell us that the Sun was in heaven A thing known unto every man No but that the heaven's beauty was derived from that glorious Spirit of God which had chiefly his abiding or dwelling in the sunny Tabernacle that thereby blind worldly men might discern that it was God in that beauteous creature and not the creature which sent down so affluently those vertuous influences and lights which were effused out of the vessell of the Sun being that by the mistaking of that knowledg so many of Gods creatures which he framed out after his own Image have been seduced into errour and allured ignorantly to adore the Sun and other Starrs for Gods Which in verity are nothing of themselves Spiritu suo ornavit coelos saith Job He doth not say Sole but Spiritu suo which made the Sun its Tabernacle And now to our last Argument wherein I will shew you how by the assertion of certain wise Philosophers that exposition of Jerom seemeth to be confirmed Saith one unto whose opinion also St. Austin doth adhere Quaelibet res tantum sibi Dei vindicat quantum capax est luminis Every thing doth challenge unto it self so much of divinity as it is capable of Light But the Sun is the brightest creature in the world Ergo it possesseth abundantly the Spirit of divinity Many Philosophers therefore consent in this not erring from the tenent of Scriptures namely that In lumine numen in numine lumen In Light is divinity and in divinity is Light And Plato Ne loquaris de Deo sine Lumine Speak not of God without Light Doth not Scriptures confirm all this in saying that God is Light and that vestitur seu â—miâ—tuâ— est Lumine quasi vestimento He is clothed with Light as with a garment Yea verily he is said to be a consuming fire I conclude therefore that Jerom hath translated that place according unto the true sense and consequently we may gather the reason of Rarefaction and Condensation from the presence or absence of the the Sun and confess after the due examination of the case that the onely Agent of these two operations in the waters or catholick Element is the Eternall Spirit 's presence action and emanation or his absence and rest And this is easily demonstrated by our experimentall glass for the nearer the Sun is unto us and the deeper we are in Summer the more will the aire in the glass be dilated which is manifested therefore because that in summer-time the water is beaten down and precipitated lowest Again the further the Sun is from us and the deeper we are in winter the more is the aire condensed in the glass and that is made evident by the elevation or exaltation of water in the neck of the mattrass or glass Neither do we say that the whole reason of Condensation and Rarefaction doth proceed from the Spirit in the Sun onely being that the same Spirit is as well present in this Elementary region as aethereall and hath the power and life of the winds in his rule by which both in the winter and summer he exalteth or depresseth the waters in the glass and consequently causeth Condensation and Rarefaction of the aire as well included in the Instrument as excluded and by that means causeth a diuturnall change in the generall Sublunary Waters or catholick Element of aire after a four-fold nature from one condition unto another Which mutation or alteration of the inferiour humid nature out of one form into an other is commonly called Elements as shall be expressed hereafter But first we will come unto the Fabrick of the heavens and shew how they were framed out by Condensation and Rarefaction Effected by this one Eternall Ruach Elohim or Spirit of God CHAP. IV. After what manner this Eternall Spirit or Ruach Elohim did frame out the Heavens and shaped or made the Starrs thereof by his Act of Condensation and Rarefaction IT is the Apostle Peter's assertion that the Heavens and the Earth were of the Wateâ— and by the Waters by the Word of God So that the Word we see is the Agent as wâ—ll in the Condensation of the invisible waters into waters that are visible and then of these visible waters into a visible earth Thus was the world in generall distinguished into thicker and thinner regions by that divine Spirit Ruach Elohim which was carried on the waters And this is well argued by Hermes in these words Distinctis libratisque rebus quae igneo Spiritu vehebantur emicuit coelum septem in circulos Things being distinguished and ballanced the which were sustained by a fiery Spirit the heaven did shine forth into seven circles Where he signifieth that it was a fiery Spirit and a little before he calleth it Splendorem Sanctum the holy Splendor which sustained and bore up every circle or Sphere of the heavens in his due place And hereupon the Wiseman Omnia mensura numeroque pondere disposuisti seu temperâsti Thou hast disposed all things in measure and number and weight that is to say in a distinct measure and proportion in ponderosity and levity and in a due and convenient number namely into seven distinct Spheres and an infinity of condensed bodies For although all the heavens be composed of aire and fire and therfore it is called Aether quasigneus aer yet by the rule of St. Paul who teacheth us that things visible were first of things invisible we are instructed that both the visible bodies in heaven and also all visible lights were first of invisible waters and invisible formall Light which hath its root in God the bright eternall Unity of all created numbers and therefore as Aristotle saith that Stellae are densiores partes sui orbis So I say that as the Substance of the heavens is invisible by reason of its rarity in like manner are the starrs visible by reason of their density For it was Condensation that caused visibility and Rarefafaction which is the occasion of invisibility And yet for all this it is not concluded with Aristotle that the starrs are the denser parts of their orbs but rather Lights which were included in the spirit of the dark shadow of the abysse which spirit in separating of Light from Darkness sored upward by vertue of the included Light and so according unto the proportion of that eternall formall fire which it retaineth unto this day as his corner-stone it is sustained and elevated in its proper place no otherwise then we see that the artificiall squib according unto the proportion of its artificiall and fading fire with the ponderosity of its body is during the time of the
gunpowders force raised in the aire to a certain height moving neither lower nor higher then the form all vigor affordeth it vertue and there remaineth untill the force of the corruptible and wasting fire be spent and then it falleth down againe But the Light of the star carrieth and raiseth up the spirituall body according unto the proportion of the mounting Light which soreth as high as its power and the ponderosity of the body will permit and so it hangeth perpetually at a certain distance from the center because the fire is of an eternall and incorruptible nature and will not fade as that artificiall fire of the squib doth Now as all the illuminating vigors and animating forces or flames that are imparted unto the universall waters was bestowed on them by that bâ—ight catholick Spirit or emanation which was sent forth by God to be carried on the waters which as Scripture doth averre is brighter then the Sun or Starrs So there is none of all those Lights which are separated or divided in essence from that glorious and glittering Spirit whose beams were dispersed over all the waters in the abysse in giving of them life and being For this reason therefore because each Light had a diversity in proportion of formall brightness and measure of corpulency it is that one celestiall body doth vary in his manner of vertue motion and influence from another but because the extracted quintessence or purer materiall essence of all the Chaos with the purity of Light that issued from the creating Spirit were united into an Angelicall alterity both of those natures in the figure of one masse sored up out of the dark abysse into the heaven's center where they challenged the Royall Phoebaean Throne and that Sphaericall masse is to this hour termed the Sun of Heaven which as from the created Fountain of Light enflameth and formally enlightneth all the rest of the Starrs in the heavens above and the Element and elementated creatures below So that after the universall contracted Light was effected the fourth day of the Creation it was ordained to be that capitall Organ of life and vegetation in the starry world which did send and showre down his influences and fiery spiracles of life conservation vegetation and multiplication upon the sublunary earth and waters Thus therefore in few words you have the reason of that Condensation and Rarefaction whereby both the invisible heavenly Substance and visible celestiall bodies were made And it seemeth not to disagree from the opinions of the learned Theologians Basil and Damascene touching the causes of the divine Spirit 's action in Condensation and Rarefaction before the apparition of the Sun in the heavens Forasmuch as they will have the daie's Rarefaction or cleare heaven to be occasioned by an emission of Light ordained by the divine will or act of this Omnipotent Spirit But they think that the night's Condensation and the opake or condensed bodie in the heavens are effected by a contraction of Light which was also caused by the sacred Spirit 's volunty Thus therefore we see out of the confession of certain of the prime Fathers of the Church what was the cause of the cold condensing Night and the hot rarifying Day before the Spirit was congregated into the Tabernacle or quintessentiall substance of the Sun which was extracted by the Spageâ—ick or separative action of the divine Spirit out of the huge deformed waters of the abysse And therefore this also must be the reason of Condensation and Rarefaction unto this day For as the Spirit in the Sun being far from us and as it were contracting his beames in regard of us unto himself or absenting himself from our Hemisphere so that the cold waters do incline unto the nature of their mother Chaos by reason whereof the night and darkness are long and the light and day but short and faint in heat So also in that season the common sublunary Element is subject to Condensation and Incrâ—ssation and therefore is constrained or contracted into the consistence of Frosts Snows Hail Ice and Cold showers c. Again when it is neare unto us it dilateth it self and by his heat and presence the cold waters become hot and the daies are augmented and fortified or made strong in heat and then the common sublunary Element is apt for dilatation and subtiliation being easy to be inflamed and set on fire with Lightnings coruscations and such like But I leave the history of the Condensation and Subtiliation of the aethereall Spirit to descend unto the like acts or conditions in the sublunary Element CHAP. V. How the lower waters or catholick sublunary element were distinguished ordered and shaped out into sundry distinct sphears which are called particular Elements and that by the foresaid all-working Spirit or dâ—vine Word SInce that it is most certainly proved already that the universall substance of the world's machin was made but of one onely thing namely of a matter that was produced out of the potentiall bowells of the dark chaos or abyss by the spagerick vertue of the divine Word the which matter Moses tearmed Waters and Hermes the humid nature of the which in generall as both Moses and St. Peter aver the heavens and the earth were made of old it must needs follow that out of this catholick masse of waters the universall sublunary element was derived which is commonly termed by the name of Aer as all that humid substance in the celestiall orbe is called Aether Now this generall element is by the breath of the divine Spirit Râ—ach Elohim altered and changed from one shape unto another for that which is the visible waters was made first of the aire which is an invisible water as again the visible water by condensation is made earth And this is proved first by the words of St. Paul who saith Per fidem agnovimus quod semper ita actum sit cum mundo per Verbum ut ex iis quae videri non poterant fierent ea quae possunt videri We know by faith that it hath been ever acted with the world by the word that those things which can be seen were effected or made of those things which could not be seen And again Solomon saith that the world was made of a matter that was not seen But besides these proofs we are taught by chymicall experience that earth is nothing else but coagulated water nor visible water any thing else but invisible air reduced by condensation to a visibility nor fire any thing else but ratified aire And in conclusion all the sublunary waters were in the beginning but an invisible humid or watry spirit which we call by a common name Aire and consequently the catholick sublunary element was in its originall nothing else but one aire being that heaven was made before the seas or the earth as Moses teacheth us And therefore by faith we must believe according unto St. Paul's doctrine that all
visible things and therefore the seas and the earth were first made or produced out of things not visible that is to say aeriall or heavenly For it is one universall aire that filleth the vast cavity or vault of the world which by reason of its levity tenuity or invisibility is called Heaven as contrariwise the earth and seas are so termed because of their gravity density and visibility Since therefore it is evident that the catholick sublunary aire is the main materiall ground and substance of that which the world calleth elements and that it is altered and changed from one estate into another by the Word or divine Spirit Ruach Elohim I mean by the eternall wisdom let us consider with our selves how this potent Spirit doth effect in that one and the same homogeneall invisible thin water or aire such Protean trans-mutations whereby there is an evident rotation made in it out of one nature into another which are therefore tearmed distinct elements We must therefore consider in the first place that this was that vivifying Spirit which the Prophet called from the four winds saying Veni Spiritus a quatuor ventis insuffla interfectos istos ut reviviscant And therefore this one Spirit Ruach Elohim was the royall commander of the four winds and by consequence could contract the aire by his windy organs and again dilate it at his pleasure and therefore it was he and no other that doth animate the four winds and agitate the Angels that are his under-governours of them to alter and change the invisible aire into visible shapes when and how be listeth And first touching his generall act in ordering the aire into divers shapes it is said Deus ventos depromite thesauris And again Aer subito cogetur in nubes ventus transiens fugavit eos Sapientia aptat pondus aeri appendit aquas in mensura ligat densas nubes ut non findantur facit pluviae statuta viam fulgeâ—ro tonitruum God draweth the winds out of his treasury The air is thickned into clouds and the wind that passeth-by doth drive them By wisdom he giveth weight unto the aire hangeth or ballaenceth the waters in it by proportion and measure bindeth fast the thick clouds so that they cleave not giveth lawes unto the rain and maketh a way unto the lightnings of the thunders By which words we may conceive that the invisible aire is the main subject on which the all-operating Spirit of God worketh and bringeth forth the fore-named visible effects and that onely by Condensation or Rarefaction which is insinuated by giving weight unto the aire For by Condensation he converteth the invisible aire into visible clouds and then by a profounder degree of thickening those vaporous clouds are condensed into raine and the thicker and more unctuous part of the cloud is concreted into a hard stone or earth So that out of the invisible aire we see evidently by condensation produced three degrees of visible substance namely a vaporous aire a thick visible water which is rain and a dense and ponderous earth which is the stone called Lapis cerauneus or Thunder-bolt ingendred by the Spirit of God in that fight which is made in the conflict between the liquifying nature of the fire and congealing disposition of the cold water Again on the other side by rarefaction the aire is converted into fire namely into lightning and all these receive their severall forms and changes from the catholick nature of the invisible aire into those shapes in which after the alteration they abide So that you may by this perceive that all that which the antique Philosophers have termed Elements are nothing else but a four-fold changing and mutation of one and the same catholick element or humid nature unto the which according as they in their changes do appear various have divers and sundry names namely of fire water and earth imposed upon them Now the principal organs by the which and in the which this Spiâ—it moveth and acteth by a diversity of property in turning and changing this catholick aeriall subject into a four-fold nature that is to say out of one thing into another are the angelicall winds which he hath ordained to blow from the four quatrers or angles of the earth in a diverse property For as before I told you out of Solomon's doctrine that this wise spirit was one simple thing in essence but man fold in property or operation so doth he being but one Spirit for it is said Veni spiritus à quatuor venus act after a four-fold manner by his four-fold angelicall winds in the catholick element of aire for when he bloweth or breatheth from the North he contracteth the common element into an earthly body namely into frost snow hail and ice And therefore David saith Deo emittente sermonem suum in terram quà m celerrâ—mè excurrit verbum ejus qui edit nivem sicut lanam pruinam sicut cineres dispergit dejicit gelu suum tanquam frusta coram frigore eius quis consistat Emittens verbum suum liquefacit ista simulac efflat ventum sâ—um effluunt aquae God sending forth his word upon the earth it runneth swiftly who bringeth forth the snow like wool and disperseth the frost like ashes and casteth down his ice like lumps who is able to resist against his cold Sending forth his word he liquefieth or melteth all these so soon as he bloweth forth his wind the waters do flow forth c. Out of which speech we may gather first that it is but one word or Spirit of God which both by a northern contraction doth change the sublunary element into an earthly condition and hard and visible consistence namely when he bloweth from the North and therefore saith Ab Arcturo egreditur frigus flatu suo edit Deus fortis glaciem latitudinem aquarum coarctat From the North commeth the cold the mighty God doth bring forth ice by his breath and coarcteth or straightneth the latitude of the waters and also by a southern blast doth melt and undo those terrestriall effects which by his northern spirit it did produce and cause Secondly that the subject in which and on the which it did operate was the aire which it did metamorphose and change from a soft tender light volatil transparent thin and invisible substance into a hard rough heavy fix opake thick and visible masse Thirdly that the word there is taken for the essentiall spirit of the wind in generall and therefore it is used as well to contract the aire into snow ice or frost as to dilate it Again the Psalmist saith Angeli Dei faciunt verbum c. Again when he breatheth from the south then this generall element becommeth vaporous airy humid and hot and will easily by the concourse of the northern fortitude though in never so small a measure be changed into clouds for the southern blast is ever apt to undo the effects
of the north and so by their mutuall action a middle nature of a westerly condition will be produced namely water which is between aire and earth as the western position is betwixt the south and north But the southern blast of its own nature is hot and moist as is the disposition of the catholick element of aire or else the word being sent from that quaâ—ter would not have melted and undone the cold and drie effects of the north as is said Again that the breath of the Lord which commeth out of the South affecteth the catholick element of aire diversly but spiritually this Text of Abakkuk doth testifie God comming from the south his glory covered the heavens and the pestilence went before his face c. whereby he argueth the invisible effects namely the corruption and infection of the aire which this divine Spirit in his displeasure breatheth forth from the southern quarter of the world But when he worketh or operateth in his windy organs of the East then they imprint upon the generall element a fiery character and dilateth his substance into the nature and disposition of the fire and then may it passe under the title of the Element of fire as we have it confirmed out of many places of the holy Text Praecepit Dominus saith Jerom vento calido urenti or as Tremellius hath it Paravit Eurum silentem ut percuteret sol caput Jonae adeò ut aestuaret petiit animae suae ut moreretur The Lord commanded a hot and burning wind or a still easterly wind to go out that the sun might strike upon Jonas his head that he might be enflamed with heat insomuch as he did desire in his heart to die And again Ventus urens seu Eurus desiccabit fructus ejus rami ejus erant marcore contracti A burning or Easterly wind shall dry up his fruits and his boughs shall be consumed and wasted And again Ventus Eurus aduret spicas And JEHOVAH saith in his anger Percussi vos in vento urenti in aurigine multitudinem hortorum vestrorum Misi in vos pestem pro ratione Aegypti I have struck you with a burning winde and have blasted the multitude of your gardens I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of that of Aegypt Again Postquam veniente Euro vento IEHOV Ae à deserto ascendente exaruerit scaturigo ejus siccatus fuerit fons ejus After that by Eurus the wind of IEHOVAH comming and arising out of the desert his spring and fountain was dryed up And Haggaj Percussi vos vento urente grandine omniae opera manuum vestrarum I have struck you with a burning winde with hail even all the works of your hands c. Whereby it appeareth that at the blast of these easterly winds the aire or catholick element becommeth burning and fiery so that it heateth and enflameth the bodies of the creatures On the other side the occidentall winds are found by experience to be opposite in nature and condition unto these for they convert the hot aire or generall element into cold and naturall visible water being that they are the procurers of cold raines So that we may see by this that the formall act in each Angell of the four corners of the earth of which the Apocalyps doth make mention hath an essentiall vertue imparted unto it from God according unto his volunty at the instant of the Angels information and therefore in that very property doth the angelicall creature act in the common element or lower waters in the which the creating Spirit properly was when he made it so that the common element is daily informed anew and altered by the formall or essentiall act of the angelicall winde which bloweth with dominion insomuch as if the easterly angelicall wind informeth it then it becommeth a fiery element for it heateth and drieth by super-excellency If a southerly it is changed into that element's nature which is called aire and if a westerly spirit hath dominion it is converted into the temper and proportion of water Lastly the Northern blast transmuteth it unto the consistence and disposition of earth By this therefore that maine doubt which hath so long troubled the Peripateticks and hammered in their brains and yet hath never been rightly resolved by them unto this day may easily be undone and taken away namely to find out the essentiall form of the Elements For by this true Philosophy we find it to be an Angelicall Spiracle or essentiall blast of wind infused by the Spirit of God diversly into the aiery or spirituall vessell to alter and change according unto his will the humid passive nature out of one condition into an other Moreover the Catholick air being diversly so animated bringeth forth and informeth a new after the condition of his variety of animations a multiplicity and multiformity of Meteors As for example the Easterly element brings forth children like it self As are the fiery and light Meteors namely Coruscations Lightnings Comets and such like according unto the nature of such Seminary influences as shall descend from heaven at that instant The Southerly Vapours Clouds Lightning with Thunders The Westerly Cold raines and as it were Snowy resolutions The Northenly Frost Snow Ice Hail But I know that this wil be objected against me What then will you make of the Earth and Seas Are not these distinct Elements which have been from the beginning I answer that if they listen unto St Peters doctrine he teacheth that the Earth was of waters and therefore the waters were before the Earth and again the heavens were made before the Earth as Moses sheweth and therefore the Earth appeareth to be the Foeces or the grosser part of the lower waters and the visible water the grosser part of the Ayre For doth not the Apostle Paul tell us in the Text before mentioned that things visible were first of things invisibâ—e The change therefore of all things visible or invisible are effected by the Condensing or contracting faculty and property in the all-acting spirit And the reducing of them againe from a visible estate unto an invisible is caused by the Rarifying or dilating act of the self same Spirit in essence but differing in property And therefore as air was changed into water and water into Earth by the degrees of Cold so also is Earth changed insensibly into water and water into Ayre by the severall degrees of heat for if this were not how is it possible that so many waters falling from the Clouds should not more and more augment the Seas and diminish the Ayre or why should so much Earthen Coals and whole mountaines of wood that are burnt not make the earth lesse in Consistence if there were not an hourly supply and transmutation of Ayre into water and from water into Earth which though this divine nature doth effect secretly and insensibly yet by effect it
is proved true For when the the wood and Coal is consumed we shall find that their terrestriall Corpulency or bodily masse is almost resolved by fire and heat into watry smoke and fumish ayre But the Philosophicall axiom is that every thing is resolved into his first matter or principle therefore it is apparent that both the water and aery smoke which make up the Earthly bulk of a great Oake or mountaine of pit-Coal was first of the invisible Ayre Again if these were not so the brimstone Stones and dust which authority of the Bible and common experience teacheth to descend from heaven being that they fall in one place or another daily would increase the Earth more and more But leaving these speculative proofs I will descend unto such ocular demonstrations as I have learned out of mine Experimentall glasse The Demonstration We find that from the lower region of the Calender or Weather-glasse unto the summity or top of the head there is nothing but a portion of the common invisible element namely the Aire within it But we shall find even in this little modell of aire strange mutations or alterations effected by vertue of the four winds which blow in the open element for when the hot Easterly wind doth blow it dilateth and extendeth it self all along the neck of the Glasse and beateth down the water unto the lowest degree by reason of its extension so that it approacheth unto the nature of fire for fire is said to be nothing else but aire extreamly dilated though indeed it is the abundant presence of the bright form which dilateth it so but if the South-wind bloweth then it will not be so extreamly dilated but it will endue the mean nature of aire and therefore it will draw up the water by certain degrees But if it happen that the westerly wind have the sole domininion in the sublunary element then will the aire in the Glasse grow thicker and for that reason it draweth or attracteth the water higher For cold hath a great power in the said air whose nature is to condense and thicken Lastly if the cold northern winds do govern or dispose of this universall sublunary element then will the included aire be contracted or coarcted into a very strait room which is argued in this namely because the colder the winde is the higher will the water be elevated in the Glasse and therefore it is made manifest that by how much the more the aire is contracted by so much the more it is thickened and consequently it must be made ponderous considering the proportion of place in which it is for all the aire which weighed thus much in half a yard of Place doth weigh at the least even so much in 2 inches of Space after Contraction Thus you see that in verity there is radically but one catholick sublunary Element though by the angelicall spirit that bloweth from the four corners of the heavens it is four-foldly informed and altered which made the Antients to imagine in their phantasies four distinct elements of an equall birth and beeing from all beginnings But you see apparently by this that is said that this position of the Peripateticks and other sects is false though that it hath gotten an universall name and dominion in this world among men as well of learning as of the ignorant who ground their sayings on the doctrine of the learned of this world who are corrupted and seduced from the truth by the Ethnick discipline I will now expresse unto you in the last place of this book how all generation and corruption in this world is made and that the lowest profundity or terminus ad quem the motion of corruption tendeth is but unto the simple element of nature and then beginneth a new generation from that principle being four-foldly altered according unto the nature of the four winds and therefore when the dead carcasses should live again the Prophet said Come from the four winds O Spirit and blow on these dead bones that is inform and vivifie their Spirit with thy breath for bones were made after a hard Northern and fixt manner the humours after their proportion the Westerly and Southerly property namely flegm and blood and lastly the Spirit of life came from that all-vivifying fire which Hermes calleth Splendorem Sanctum The holy Splendor To conclude I will demonstrate the mystery of the worlds Creation by way of an Arithmeticall progression after this manner Here we have the progression in the worlds Creation where 1. signifieth the Unity which was before all things which whilst it was in it self and did not shine forth conteined its inacting property within its potential Nolunty or Darkness and therefore was esteemed as nothing in regard of mans weak capacity although that in it self it is all in all Then the rank 2. sheweth the actuall emanation of the in-created Light out of the potentiall Unity at the presence whereof the humid nature did appeare out of the dark abysse 1. 0. in the shape of waters so that the light and waters as active and passive are ranked next after Unity thus 0. Light 0. Water 2. then by the fiery Spirit of eternall love and union those two opposit natures are joyned together into the nature of heaven by a spirituall union or composition the which is termed by the Platonicks the soul of the world which the Philosophers have styled by the name of Quinta essentia the quintessence For we must understand that as the 4. Elements were made after the Heavens so also are the Heavens said to animate the Elements no otherwise then the soul doth the body So that this degree of Progression in the Creation standeth thus 0. Light 0. Aire 0. Water 3. The last scale in the Progression of the worlds Creation is thus 0. Fire 0. Aire 0. Water 0. Earth which importeth the four-fold alteration of the catholick Element by the four Winds which was and is effected by the Word the third day of the Creation and this was nothing else but the generall sublunary or lower waters This therefore was the estate of the world in the Creation and in this very state doth continue hitherto and will do till it be refined by the fiery Tryall All this the wise Hermes hath according unto the Tenor of Moses described unto us exactly in these words Erat umbra infinita in abysso aqua insuper spiritus tenuis intellectualis per divinam potentiam in chaos inerant floruit autem splendor sanctus qui sub arena humidanatur a elementa deduxit cumque indistincta fuissent levia postmodum in excelsam regionem provolarunt gravia sub arena humida resederunt distinctis libratisque rebus quae igneo Spiritu vehebantur emicuit coelum septem in circulos c. An infinite shadow or darkness was in the abysse moreover water and a subtil intellectuall spirit was by the divine puissance in the Chaos And a holy brightness or splendor did
the better gather and understand the truth of this business and find out whether Aristotle be a true or a false Prophet in this his description Let us here consider what the Book or Bible of verity shall teach us concerning the Generation of a cloud and how the members or clauses of this our definition do agree with the intention of it which that we may more distinctly and with the exacter method effect we purpose in this place to compare their minds and senses together that each person though but meanly literated may easily judge and determine of the case as truly it standeth In the precedent Definition he maketh the efficient and procreating cause the heat or act of the Sun saying that by the attractive vertue thereof the vapour which is the matter or substance of the clowd is drawn out of the earth and water and sublimed into the middle region of the aire averring also that partly by the motion of the Sun and partly by the winds it is moved this way and that way Again he surmiseth that the cause of the contraction or condensation of the vapour into the consistence of a cloud is the coldness of the middle region of the aire So that unto the consistence of the clowd he faineth that two Agents quite contrary in nature and condition unto one another do concur and meet together namely the heat of the Sun and coldness of the middle region of the aire but he assigneth no internall cause of motion unto the clowd esteeming it as a thing dead and without an active spirit For this cause therefore there do offer themselves unto each wise-man's consideration sundry doubts in this Definition to be throughly resolved and determined of before he will be able rightly to judge the verity thereof namely first whether the heat of the Sun do draw and attract vapours out of the earth and waters into the middle region of the aire for the composing and shaping out of a clowdy Meteor Secondly whether the coldness of the middle region of the aire be the occasion of the condensation or thickning of a thin vaporous substance into the consistence of a well compacted clowd Thirdly whether the clowds be only moved by externall efficient Agents namely by the winds and Sun as being destitute of any internall active principle or centrall Agent or else if it be moved and animated by an internall Spirit Unto either of these three questions or doubts I purpose here to answer in order as they are proposed Unto the first Objection therefore I say That it is a most false and erroneous Tenent of the Peripateticks that the Sun Starrs or fire do draw unto them any vapours or exhalations For it is proved by experience that they rather expell and dissipate from them such things as are rarified by them than draw and allure them unto them neither is it true as most men falsly dream and surmise that the Sun draweth fumes upward or that the fire sucketh the vaporous substance of the attenuated water unto it but their office is to rarify and subtiliate the waters and to reduce the moister part of the earth into vapour And then it is naturally incident unto those light Substances of their own inclinations to ascend and mount upwards without any other externall agent But all this we have plainly demonstrated by our experimentall Instrument For if you set your hand upon the bolts head or round glasse on the top the aire will dilate it self and presently fly away from the rarifying agent that dilateth it and therefore much less will that agent suck or draw it unto it self By which it is evident that whereas it seemed in the eies of worldly wise-men that because a vapour or fume ascendeth upwards therfore that motion from the Earth must needs proceed from the attractive vertue of the Summer heat now in the conclusion it is proved to be stark false and erroneous being that the nature of Heat and Light are clean contrary unto the attraction forasmuch as they expell by dilatation and do dissipate and enlarge which is contrary unto the condition of attraction gathering together and condensation which are the properties of cold as is mainfested by our experimentall Machin But now to prove that Aristotle's grounds are most extravagant unto the Truth who affirmeth that the clowds are made of a vapour drawn or elevated up into the middle region of the aire we must understand that the Opinion of the holy Scriptures is flatly adverse and contrary unto this clause or member of his definition or description being that first it is easily to be gathered by this Text of St. Paul That we ought to believe by Faith that things visible were first made of such things which were not seen and therefore it is neither the visible earth nor water that can be the Originall of the clowds but rather the invisible aire And this is also maintained by divers plain Testimonies of Scriptures Deus sapienti◠su◠aptat pondus aëri appendit aquas in mensura Ligat eas in densis nubibus facit pluviae statuta viam fulgetro tonitruum God by his Spirit of Wisdome doth give a weight and proportion unto the aire and hangeth or ballanceth the waters by measure tieth them in the thick clowds giveth laws unto the rain and assigneth a way unto the Lightning of the Thunder In which speech the wise and patient Job doth seem to confirm First that God is the Father and Head from whence this work and all other doth radically proceed and the eternall efficient instrument by which he acteth is his Spirit of Wisdome which also accordeth with this of the Apostle Nobis est unus Deus Pater à quo omnia unus Dominus Jesus Christus per quem omnia To us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and one onely Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things Secondly That the aire is the main Subject as well of the watery as fiery Meteors for by thickning or condensing of it it giveth a consistence unto the clowds and such-like Meteors which are easily afterward resolved into water and rain and then by attenuating it extreamly it becometh lightning Not that I say that the act of Lightning is of the Substance of the aire but is rather an admirable Light clothed with the aire as with a vestiment And in the very same sense the Text saith Indutus lumine quasi vestimento He is endued with light as with a vestiment And again the wise Philosopher In lumine numen in numine lumen So that the thinner the aire is the hotter it is and consequently the richer in coelestiall fire whose centrall act is divinity Now that the aire is the substance or materiall subject of the watry Meteors the precedent Text beareth it in these words God by his Wisdom assigneth or setteth by proportion a weight unto the aire that is he thickeneth it into clowds
protinus evolans alta petit Aer quoque levis spiritu parens mediam regionem inter ignem aquam sortiebatur â—erra vero aqua sâ—c invicem commixta â—acebant ut terrae facies aquis obrutâ— nusquam pateret Tunc Pimander ait Lumen illud ego sum mens Deus tuus antiquâ—or quanâ— humida natura quae ex umbra effulsit mentis vero geâ—men lucens Dei Fâ—lius c. Pimander being the mentall exceâ—lency of the divine puâ—ssance did change his form or shape and on the suddain revealed the universe for I did discern that all things were converted into a pleasant and delectable light which did rejoyce me to behold A little after a feaâ—full shaddow or darknesse did glide downwards by an oblique revolution and was converted into a humid or moist nature which was exagitated or stirred up by an unspeakable aspect thereupon a gâ—eat fume or smoak made a noise out â—f that noâ—se proceeded a voice which I did imagine to be the voice of the light out of this voice of the light the word which was made was utteâ—ed but this word joyning it self with the humâ—d naâ—uâ—e did nourish and animaâ—e it Out of the bowells of this humid nature the light element of fire doth fâ—y and soareth on high also the thin aire possesseth the middle region between the fire and water bâ—t the earth and the water were intermingled after such a fashion that the face of the earth was no where over-flowed by the waters Then Pimander said I am that light the mentall spirit that is thy God of a greater antiquity then is the humid nature which did shine out of the dark shaddow but the brightsome germe of the mentall spirit is the Son of God c. Whereby it is evident that by the mentall unity is meant the absolute divine Monady in it self without any respect had unto creation By the Divine Puissance is understood the dark principle beginning or Chaos out of the which light or the divine emanation did spring At the issuing of Light the word was made manifest out of the dark and deformed Chaos from which also the humid nature or the Abysse of waters did spring or proceed into action by the creating emanation this humid Mass was nourished and vivified by the word and framed in the Elements as is said before And therefore it is apparent that the darkness the light the word the waters and Elements were complicitly contained all in the mentall puissance and abstruce reservation of the sincere Identity of Pimander or God in himself before they were created But I will yet pass a little further and confirm all this more rationally and demonstratively by the authority of Holy-Writ Job saith Revelat Deus fundamenta è tenebris educit in lucem umbram lethalem God revealeth the foundations of the world out of darknesse and he discovereth or bringeth forth into light the deadly shadow c. Where by the foundations he understandeth the waters which were secretly contained in the dark and misshapen abyss of the which afterward the heavens and the earth and consequently the whole world was framed by the Word according unto the Archetypicall pattern So that we here perceive that two principles of a clean contrary nature do issue or proceed from and out of one and the same Identity or Unity in Essence namely a deadly darkness and as it were the shadow of death and an admirable vivifying light whereof the one was the matrix or receptacle of form And the deformed bowells of the other contained that matter without form whereof afterward the world was framed and therefore the wiseman saith Manus omnipotentis mundum ex informi materia effecit The hand of the Almighty hath made the world of a matter without form And according unto this tenent also Job in an other place Aquilonem extendit Deus super inane vacuum suspendit terram super nihilum God stretcheth forth or spreadeth the North upon emtpyness and inanity that is to say on a thing that was void and destitute of shape and hanged the earth upon nothing In which speech by inane or vacuum and nihilum he meaneth misshapen darknesse and deadly shadow of which he spake in the before-specified place or that matter without form mentioned by Solomon the which whilst it was in Potemia Dâ—vina or the Divine Puissance was meerly nothing in man's weak capacity being that it was not as yet actually created or informed for it is form onely that giveth name and essence as all Philosophers do confesse By this therefore we may discern how all things are essentially comprehended in this eternall and radicall Unity Forasmuch as being one he is infinite and being infinite as well in his dimension and essence as power he must of necessity comprehend in himself all finite things whatsoever He is in all and filleth all and yet he is beyond all as he that surpassing and compassing all is onely in himseâ—f and yet neither absent from his creatures which he hath framed out by his Word according to his Will For first from his Volunty did proceed his Word Fiat and it was done Now that we have the privative principle namely deadly darknesse and deformity drawn from the infinite center of all things whose circumference is no where to be found We will dive into the nature of that formall and lively Light which did also issue from the self-same Originall Root and most antique beginning of all things that thereby we may with the best colours of our understanding paint out and describe that excellent formall Essence which redeemed the humid matter or watery substance out of the captivity of the deadly and misshapen darkness or shadow of death that I may speak in Job's language by which all things have their being and beauteous existence CHAP. III. How that amiable and bright emanation of vivifying Love shone forth from the Fountain of all goodness and displaced Litigious and odious darknesse from the Throne of the obscure Chaos or dark Abysse that thereby a World might be made of nothing that was actuall and beautified by the formall presence thereof IT is a wondrous thing and passing all humane understanding that out of one Unity in essence and nature two branches of such an opposite nature should arise and sprout forth as are Darknesse which is the seat of error deformity contention privation or death and Light which is the vehicle of truth beauty love position and life It is not for nought that the Sect of the Manichaeans did so stifly hold that there were two coeternall principles whereof they made one to be God whom they termed the Prince of Light and the beginner and Author of life health and all goodnesse the other they attributed unto the Devill whom thy entitled the Prince of Darknesse and the originall and principle of opposition death sicknesse and all evill And they esteemed the Devill or Prince of Darkness
mane tenebras diem in noctem mutavi vocavi aquas maris effudi eas super terrae faciem Coelos den que mediante Spiritu meo ornavit Deus converti coelum in gyro in locum suum uno die omniaque numero pondâ—re meâ—sura disposuit temperavit God by his wisdom giveth proportion of weight unto the aire hangeth the waters in measure He made the earth in his strength prepared the world in his wisdome and extended the heavens by his prudency He hanged the North upon emptinesse and inâ—nity and ballanced the earth upon nothing For she was present at the building of the heavenâ— and it was â—he that did compasse and fashion out all things When God did establish the foundations of the earth she was present and composed all things And in another plaâ—e this Spirit of wisdom saith I came out of the mouth of the most high being first-born or brought forth before any creature I was created in the beginning before all ages neither shall my beeing cease in the latter age of the world and I do administer before him in his holy habitation I caused a never failing light to rise in the heavens and I covered the earth after the manner of a mist. I dwelled in the highest places and my throne was in a câ—owdy pillar I alone did compasse round about the heavens and did penetrate into the profundâ—â— of the abysse and I walked in the waves of the seas and I stood upon every earth I made the North or pole-star and Orion and I turned the darknesse into day and the day unto night I called the waters of the seas and poured them out upon the face of the earth I turned the heavens about unto his place in one daies space To conclude God adorned the heavens by my spirit and did proportionate and temper all things in number weight and measure c. By which testimonyes it is most apparent that all changes alterations actions ornaments of beauty motions numbers weights measures and consequently all diversities that are made in the generall homogeniall mass of the waters are effected by this vivifying emanation of the benigne and bright spirit of the eternall Unity whose root is the Word for in verity according unto St. Paul it is onely this Spirit that doth operate all in all And therefore I must needs conclude with the kingly Prophet and say Opera Dei mirabilia ampla sunt quae omnia fecisti in sapientia The works of God are marvellous and ample which thou hast effected in thy wisdom And again Verbo Domini firmati sunt coeli Spiritu oris ejus omnis virtus eorum By the word of the Lord the heavens were fashioned and fastned and by the Spirit of his mouth each vertue thereof Which words do seem to infer not onely the materiall substance of the world which is intimated by that word Heavens but also the inacting form that is the vivifying beginning of all things which hath no beginning and this is signified by the Word and his off-spring the Spirit from the which the waters first received their beeing and then of these catholick waters were the heavens the earth and elements made in number weight and measure that is to say were effected by a subdivision through the spagerick act of the self-same word or spirit And therefore St. Peter hath it Coeli erunt priùs terra de aquis per aquas consistentes verbo Dei The heavens and the earth were of old of waters and by waters consisting by the word of God As who should say after the Spirit of the Lord had issued out of the dark abyss for it is said Verbum erat in principio The Word was in the beginning and had given act and form and consequently a name unto the waters for it was said that the Spirit of the Lord was carried upon the waters the same Spirit did operate to reveal explicitely and particularly that which the Chaos did at the first contain in it self complicitely and confusedly and that in a generality wherefore when it had revealed the universall matter of all things which was water it did by little and little anatomise it and open the secret closets thereof to shew forth and make manifest that which from all eternity lay hid in it and was without form or beeing and therefore esteemed rightly for Nothing And first the substance of the world was made of it in generall as it appeareth by this Text Manus omnipotentis mundunt ex informi materia effecit The hand of the Omnipotent did make the world of a matter without form or shape And as St. Jerom interpreteth it Ex materia invisa Of an unseen or invisible thing Then that watry and humid substance was divided into the heaven and earth in distinguishing the waters from the waters by the same Spirit which is the ministring hand of the Almighty for the Text hath it In habitatione sancta coram ipso ministravi I did administer before him in the holy habitacle And again Sapientia apud ipsum fuit cuncta componens Wisdom was she that composed all things with God And this was the second daies work Then the lower waters were divided into elements namely earth water aire c. and that was the third daies separation as Moses doth methodically demonstrate All which Hermes expresseth thus as is said before Ex luminis voce verbum factum prodit verum hoc naturae humidae astans eam fovebat Ex humidae autem naturae visceribus sincerus ac levis ignis protenus evolans alta petit aer quoque levis spiritûs parens in mediam regionem inter aquam ignem sortiebatur terra verò aqua sic invicem commixta jacebant ut terrae facies obruta nusquam pateret The word which was made did issue out of the Light 's voice and this Word being present and assistant unto the humid nature did foster and preserve it Then the light fire proceeding out of the bowells of the humid nature soared or mounted aloft The thin air aâ—sâ— which is the father of the spirit did elect the middle region which is between the fire and the water for his abode The earth and water did lie so intermingled together that the face of the earth was no where overflowed or drowned by the waters Whereby it is evidently proved that this thin spirituall water or humid nature in it self is no more than mans spirit without the vivifying act of life for as in the soul of every creature that liveth there are two things chiefly to be required namely an Agent and a Patient so where the one of these are wanting there can be no created soul for if that the world's life was onely the essentiall breath of God without the vehicle of the created humid spirit which is the matter of heaven then that life would be simple identity and of one and the same property
heaven and earth were made of water and by water by the Word as Sacred Philosophy teacheth us then they would have known also that the common substantiall Subject of them all was but one created watery spirit also that this spirits four-fold information was effected by one increating formall essence or Divine Word acting and informing that universall Element by a four-fold emanation so that the will of one creating Spirit effected by and working in four Angells of an opposit nature maketh disposeth or changeth every day this one spirituall watery Subject into this or that Element according unto the Will of the Creator All which is evidently demonstrated by the wether-glass For the aire therein inclosed doth by contraction or dilatation convert it self into the form of any of the Elements and is altered therein according as the nature of the Macrocosmicall blast or wind that bloweth Now whereas it may be objectively demanded From whence then came the earth and waters that are resident perpetually here beneath I answer That they are the effects which the winds by the Will of God or ELOHIM RUACH did originally produce and these were framed first out of the aire namely by thickning it by one degree into water and ingrossing it by another into solid and fixt earth as it appeared by the third daies Creation where it was said that Aridum apparuerit ex aquis Dry-land did appear out of the waters But the Divine Philosopher St. Paul doth confirm all this where he affirmeth that we ought to believe by Faith that those things which are visible were first of things invisible and unseen And again if that the two lower bodies did not resolve themselves by little and little though insensibly into aire it would not be possible that the earth or the water could hold that abundance of Water Stones Brimstone caused of Lightnings and such like which falleth from the aire and yet we see that neither the aire nor water nor earth are at any time found bigger then their naturall accustomed proportions By this therefore I have sufficiently expressed unto you the attractive and contractive property of the Northern Pole in the aire which inferreth thus much that as the Northern blasts are enemies unto life because they contract from the circumference to the Center which is contrary unto the act of man's life therefore all things that are reduced into a chill cold and Northern property be they airy watery or earthy they draw strongly unto them as it is proved by the weather-glass For the included aire being animated by the effects of a strong and obstinate Northern wind sucketh and draweth the waters on high namely from the Aequinoctiall point of the glass unto the Center of the North Pole which is assigned by the head of the mattras and also by the same reason congealed spirits in any earthly substance do suck or draw from the exteriour to the interior as we observe that Bole Armoniack sucketh moysture unto it and also all other earth when it is throughly dry and that in his own naturall condition namely because it being of the quality of the North it sucketh and draweth strongly a watery moysture but this is by reason of his drought the attraction therefore in the Load-stone is otherwise For it having the essentiall nature of its mother Earth and the virtue of the North in his Pole draweth the masculine Sulphureous spirits out of Iron greedily and that with a feminine appetite by reason of the propinquity and likeness of one nature unto another The like regard also hath the Pole star unto the Load-stone as the Load-stone hath unto the Iron which is his like For Natura Natura suá gaudet laetatur Nature is glad and rejoyceth in her like nature as Empedocles doth truly testifie But both the Iron and the Load-stone are of one myne one vein and one nature seeing that both of them are of an earthly and boreall disposition and therefore the Load-stone and his formall included spirits being more encombred with superfluities then the refined Iron doth as it were either for their assistance namely to be delivered from that incombrance draw unto them their like out of the purified Iron or Steel by a wonderfull appetite and in this action suck unto it the Iron who as unwilling to leave its formall spirit doth follow by a naturall continuity the motion of its formall beams or else for comfort and consolation yea and formal refection's cause no otherwise then the cold materiall female doth the more formall male to be refreshed by the masculine seed or sulphureous Form which they both received from that generall Agent 's ideal Northern nature that sustaineth and animateth the earth I will prove it by a similitude but in a vegetable substance We observe that the grain of wheat not participating with the nature of the earth that is so long as it is above ground and not sown attracteth not his like from heaven but when it is committed unto the earth and the earth by corruption hath unloosed his bands his spirits suck down from above the Sun-beams and celestiall influences of his fixt constellation and erratick Planet in quantity that thereby it may be delivered and rise again by the celestiall beams of his own nature that descend from heaven and principally from the Sun so that like being added to his like becommeth the stronger in ascention For experience teacheth us that the celestiall included form or vitall beam creepeth out of the earth upwards tending by all his appetite unto its ethereal native home from whence it came but because the Element of fire is contiguous unto the aethereal spirit therefore it will not permit these aethereall or sunny-beams to ascend without it and because the aire is a near-cleaving and continued neighbour unto the fire therefore it will not permit the fire to ascend without his presence and again the water challengeth the self-same priviledge namely to ascend with the aire and lastly the earth will not let the water move upwards without her company as being next of her race and therefore will have the self-same prerogative with the other three But because the earth is ponderous and cannot ascend she holdeth it fast below and will not permit the spirit to sore higher and so those beamy spirits which seemed to descend for the freedom of their brethren are by these Elementary ties or rather the four-fold disposition of one Element detained and made to hover and hang in the aire where insteed of flying upwards to heaven they do multiply into many graines And I have noted by mine own experience namely by anatomising of corn with the fiery knife of distillation that the female in corn which sucketh down the celestiall influences of the like nature is a pure volatil Salt of a refined or aereall terrestrial condition but rich in celelestiall fire and therefore made volatil and airy by the union of both extreames so that it is this female
that soul in man extend it self far beyond the capacity of flesh and blood and therefore is onely intellectually to be understood By the fifth that each particle of mans blood or spirituall Mummy being divided from the whole hath all the parts or proportions in it ideally described that the whole hath and therefore doth operate as well with a northern as southern aspect and consequently draweth down from the heavens a like property as occasion is given For so this one Spirit is said to come from the four winds and yet it is but one spirit in essence though four-fold in property for it was by the vertue of it that the dead mentioned by the Prophet did rise again And therefore so far as the north wind or south winds extension may be so far is this spirit in man able to send forth his spirituall beam I will come now unto the proof of the second Touching the second Article which sheweth the acute penetration of this spirit and that it is effected without any impediment contrary unto some ignorant persons opinion who think that castles stones woods hills and such like may hinder the penetration of this subtle and all-penetrating spirit The proof is made by these problematicall demonstrations Demonstrations confirming this Member's second Article 1 Problem Neither fire nor water nor earth can hinder the ingressive action or piercing vertue of the Load-stone upon the Iron being it is proved by experience that it sucketh and draweth it unto him quite through them as for example If a candle or flame of fire be interposed between the Load-stone and a small piece of wyer you shall find the piece of Iron will leap quite through the flame unto the Load-stone In like manner the Needle on his turn-pin will for all the interposition of a flame turn unto the Load-stone and that with the same celerity that it would do in the open aire So that you may see by this experiment that the coition of these magneticall bodies are not hindred by fire Also if water or earth be interposed between them it will do the like There is another Problem which expresseth the unresistable penetrative vertue of this more effectually in these terms 2 Problem Iron is allured onely by an immateriall act or an incorporeall process which doth operate and is conceived in an Iron subject as in a continuated homogeniall body and therefore it hath no need of large or wide passages And for this reason the Iron is moved and drawn by the Load-stone it self and again the Iron doth draw the Load-stone it self and a concourse or a meeting together in a unity is made by their beams although that thiâ—k bodies be interposed as sticklers between them So that you see that the putting or applying of thiâ—k subâ—tances between the Iron and the Load-stone cannot hinder the coition of spirits which is a token that the influentiall or formall spirit cannot be impedited in hiâ—â—otion And therefore â—his subtle spirit whiâ—h hath his beginning from the soul of the world is said by the wisest Philosopher Omnia permeare entia â—o pass or travers all things But yet more plainly 3 Problem The Load-stone without any frication or rubbing or being exsiccated by heat or perfused with moysture in the aire in the water doth provoke and allure unto it magneticall subjects and also solid as well-compacted bodies as thick boards or tables of stone or grosse plates of mettle as silver gold or brass being put between And Ridley saith That although such substances as be not magneticall be placed between the Needle and the Load-stone yet they cannot hinder the orbe and proceeding of the magnetick vigour As for example If a Load-stone should be placed in a box of wood stone tinne silver or brass yet the Loadstone will extend his magneticall orbe Application I conclude therefore by this typicall expression that the emissions of mans vitall spirits are so subtle and so piercing that no interposed bodies are able to hinder it in its motion to his pretended mark nor yet the magneticall blood in the oyntment being excited can be hindred in his concouâ—â—e oâ— union with the same southern â—r vivifying spirit and that especially because the formall spirits of the one is continued and homogeneal unto the other I proceed now unto the sixt Member of the foresaid Proposition The sixt Member of the Proposition with the Proofs Sixtly that after a Body be it Animal Vegetable or Mineral is made by a transplantation of another bodies spirits magneticall or a magnet unto that other body it doth by attracting of its beloved's spirits unto it impart unto them of that vertue and property which appertaineth unto it self insomuâ—h that as the lover doth participate with the nature of the beloved so also the beloved doth partake and share with the lover's condition especially if they be homogeneall in kind and reciprocall in affection Certain Problematicall Demonstrations to confirm this member of the fore-said Proposition 1 Problem Quodlibet corpus cui Mummia viva in alio homine propinatur illicò fit magnes Every body to whom the lively Mummy from a man is given or administred is forthwith made a Magnet Application This Problem is animal and not mineral but it inferreth that by the transplanting of mans bloody spirits into the oyntment the oyntment is forthwith become magneticall and attractive even as before I told you that the hair and nails being planted or grafted on the Oke make it forthwith by communicating of the spirits of the one with the spirits of the other attractive and magnetick 2 Problema Magneticum The Load-stone hath nothing neither can do any thing which the Iron being excited cannot do and that not onely by contact but at a reasonable distance Application Neither can the live man's spirit perform any action that the dead blood transplanted in the Salve by the Magneticall assistance of the Salve cannot perform yea verily it goeth yet further for it inspireth into the wound a Sanative influence 3. Problem Iron being touched doth recreate another Iron and instructeth it unto Magneticall motions so that it draweth unto it a third As for example The Load-stone being applied unto A it draweth unto it the piece of wier B and also after B it draweth C and after C it draweth D. Application The Iron B is compared unto the spirits that are first animated by the lively spirits in man and that animates the Oyntment's spirits which are of a Microcosmicall nature by reason of Uzneas volatil salt which is the receptacle of such vegetating and vivifying Spirits as give life unto man save onely they are of a Northern property and as it were dead These spirits in Oyntment are referred unto C which work and operate being so excited in D which importeth the emitted spirits of the wounded man so that we see that it is but one and the same continuated Spirit which putteth into action the three severall Subjects
a receptacle for the Angelicall Spirits and blessed Souls as it hath its position betwixt both the extream worlds namely that of Eternity and the other of Temporality for it hath an immediate relation or commerce with them both For first it receiveth its immediate light life or formall existence from Eternity and then it poureth it out or communicateth it with the temporall or inferiour mansion to create and vivify it with the creatures thereof insomuch that as the formall act of the temporall world is Angelicall so the vivifying soul or spirit of the aeviall is divine or eternall Wherefore it followeth that the nature and property of Angells is neither to be excluded from the Subject of Theology forasmuch as they participate with the Divine Light or bright presence of Eternity neither can they be exempted from the body of Philosophy being that the Angelicall light is the soul and life of the Temporal nature and consequently the true Philosopher must acknowledg his essentiall science or Philosophicall grounds to proceed radically from the Eternall God by his aeviall or Angelicall Spirits into his temporall creatures I mean the Stars Winds Elements Meteors and perfect mixed bodies and therefore in respect that the Philosophicall Subject is animated by Angelicall influences it must needs pierce with a mentall regard into the eternall Light which doth centrally vivifie both the aeviall and temporall creatures beyond the which there is nothing to be found or imagined This therefore is the perfect tri-partite measure of that Ladder which Jacob dreamed of when he laid his head upon the stone which in its longitude latitude and profundity contained the images or characters of these three worlds and for that reason it was termed by the Patriarch himself Domus Dei The tabernacle of God Whereupon as that stone had his externall and internall so in his divine dream he observed Angells to ascend by it namely from earth which is the Creator's soot-stool unto the Eternall world where his Throne is by the aeviall mansion and also to descend again by the same degrees Thus may the sacred Philosopher with the Prophet not onely perceive by a more externall spirituall vision Rotam in Rota or the aeviall essence in the temporall beeing but also by a most internall or mentall aspect he may contemplate Rotam in medio Rotarum to wit a centrall mover and Eternall Spirit in the aeviall by the which the temporall or corporeall creature is immediatly vivified and agitated whereby we may boldly infer with the Scriptures that God is essentially one and all And therefore I may lawfully conclude with these axioms of the divine Theo-Philosophists which appertain as well unto the formal act in the Creature which is the true life of Philosophy as the essentiall virtue of Divinity that God operateth all in all He vivifieth all things He filleth all things His incorruptible Spirit is in all things By the Word all things were made In the Word was life and that life was the light of men He giveth life and inspiration and all things In him we live move and have our beeing He is the Father of all who is above all and through all and in all of us From him by him and in him are all things He sent his Spirit and created all things He giveth breath unto the people and spirit unto the creatures that tread on the earth O Lord how manifold are thy works in Wisdom thou hast made them all the earth is full of thy riches c. If thou hidest thy face the creatures are troubled if thou takest a way their breath they die if thou sendest forth thy Spirit they are re-created or revived By him were all things created which are in heaven and which are in earth things visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominations or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and in him all things consist Note here how the Apostle doth livelily set forth in these words the foresaid three worlds Again Christ is all and in all things He sustaineth all things by the word of his Virtue In him are all the treasures of Wisom hid God by his Wisdom giveth or proportioneth a weight unto the aire and hangeth the waters or clouds in measure and maketh a decree for the rain and ordereth a way for the lightnings of the Thunders He speaketh in Thunder and answereth Job out of a Whirl-wind He by his Word giveth Snow like wool and scattereth the hoary Frost like ashes he casteth forth his Ice like morsels who can resist against his cold He sendeth out his Word and melteth them so soon as he sendeth forth his breath the waters do flow again By his breath the Frost is engendered and the breadth of the waters is made narrow I could produce an infinity of other places out of Scriptures to manifest the universall acts and virtuous operations which are effected in the Elementary creatures by that most essentiall and eternall Wisdom which is the main ground and true Corner-stone whereon the purest Mosaicall Philosophy doth rely but I esteem it needless being that they are copiously expressed already by me in this my Philosophicall Discourse and therefore I imagine that these which are already produced will be sufficient to content and satisfy all such as are unpartially judicious unto whose better wisdom and favourable constructions I recommend these mine indeavours and finally both them and my self unto God's blessed protection Your Friend Robert Fludd MOSAICALL PHILOSOPHY The First Book Section 1. The Argument of the First Book THis first Book sheweth that whereas the minds of worldly men are at this very day erected and soared up even unto the highest pitch of infidelity insomuch as they require and demand after signes and ocular demonstrations as the Jewes did For it is said The Greeks hunt after wisdom the Jewes demand for signes c. or else they will in no case be drawn to believe our Author did esteem it the greatest means of conquest in this Herculean-combat which is to be effected betwixt the two deadly enemies and strong champions Truth and Falshood that is to say the wisdom of God and that of the World if he could find out some vulgar and well known Experiment or practicall Insâ—rument which might serve our celestiall Champion Truth instead of an Herculean-Club to tame and exanimate that foul monster Infidelity who standeth so stifly in the maintenance and defence of his Lord and Master I mean the Prince of darknesse and errour his privileges being that such persons as will not be conducted and directed unto the center of Veritie by reall practise and ocular demonstration may rightly be adjudged more irregular and extravagant from the square and polished rules of reason than the brute beast who warned by experience which in that respect may rightly be esteemed for the mistresse of fools doth make his
choice of that which it hath proved good and escheweth that which it hath found naught and dissonant to his nature For this cause therefore and to this effect he made election of an Invention or spiritall conclusion commonly termed by the name of the Weather or Calender-glasse that by the ocular and practicall experiments thereof be might evidently demonstrate unto the world's eye the falshood of the transitoryâ— and fading wisdom or Philosophy of the Ethnicks and confirm or maintain the truth of that which is grounded upon the eternall Spirit of Sapience CHAP. I. Here the Author expresseth his Reason why in the very entrance into this Philosophicall Discourse he propoundeth the making properties and usage of this Weather-glasse and wherefore he styleth it by name of his Experimentall Instrument I Must confesse that it is a thing worthy of commendations to prove and maintaine a Philosophicall Proposition by such acute and peircing shafts of Auguments as are selected out of the quiver of naturall reason but because those kind of subtill inquisitions or objections though they seem at the first sight probable and may carrie with them a shew of Truth and yet neverthelesse in the conclusion may fall out amisse and be found erroneous Therefore such as are zealously devoted unto the inviolable Truth of the holy Bible will bee better established in their beleefe if that the testimony thereof doe concurre and agree with the rest And although these two witnesses may appeare unto wisemen to take away all Scruple or doubt from the confirmation of the Truth yet is the incredulitie of this world so exalted and grown up to such a height of obstinacie and that especially among the common sort of men yea verily it hath so subtilly crept also into the spirits of some of no small learning which are guided more by the practise of sense then any spirituall reason that except with St. Thomas they see or feel or with the Jewes they may behold a signe they will in no case be brought to believe For this reason therefore since I onely am to enter the lists against the Ethnick Philosophers who by their inventions have framed out the wisdom of this world it behoveth me to look to my self and to gird my loines with a belt of courage and to indorse an Herculean Armour of proof being that as the Apostle did fight with beasts at Ephesus in the likenesse of men so am I sure to have to do like another Alcides with a second Lernaean Monster of many heads I mean the Protean Philosophy of men the doctrine whereof as the Apostle teacheth us is founded upon vain fallacy on the traditions of Ethnicks and according unto the elements of this world and not according to Christ in whom is the plenitude of Divinity Col. 2.8 I purpose therefore with my self to make and forge me out an Armour of solid naturall reason and to temper it with the warrant of sacred authority And lastly I will make choice of ocular demonstration to serve me in this combat insteed of an unresistable weapon or Herculean club to tame and subdue that unreasonable monster Incredulity than which there is no greater enemy unto mankind And that I may the better accomplish and bring to passe this designe of mine it is requisite I should have in a readinesse each necessary materiall for this conflict and above all I ought to have an especiall care to provide me an experimentall Instrument or spirituall weapon which may carve out a ready way to the truth by a manifest and infallible demonstration objected even unto the eyes of such as are infected with extream infidelity that they may thereby turn from their vain and sophisticating Philosophy with the wisdom of the world on which it is erected and become unfained and faithfull schollars and proficients in the true and sacred Philosophy or wisdom of God I will make therefore election of such demonstrative Machins for my purpose as is vulgarly knowne amongst us whereby my intentions may be more easily understood of every man and this Instrument is commonly styled by some the Calendar-Glasse and by others the Weather-glasse whose composition or fabrick with the properties and uses thereof I purpose to expresse unto you briefly in the Chapters following CHAP. II. How the Instrument commonly termed the Weather-glasse is falsely arrogated by some Men of our age unto themselves as being averred to be an invention of their owne MAn is so greedy of glory and so desirous of fame and reputation that if he can acquire or purchase it any way unto himselfe be it directly or indirectly he careth not much I was the reason that the Ethnick Philosophers did surreptitiously assume and ascribe unto themselves those principles of their Philosophy which of right did appertain unto the wise and divine Philosopher Moses and did mask or gild over their theft with new names or titles which they imposed on them the better to make a shew that they were established by their own inventions and shall be shewed hereafter In like manner the Instrument commonly termed the Calender or Weather-Glasse hath many counterfeit Masters or Patrons in this our age who because that they have a little altered the shape of the modell do vainly glory and give out that it is a Master-piece of their own finding out As for myself I must acknowledge and willingly ascribe unto each man his due and therefoâ—e will not blush or be ashamed to attribute justly my Philosophicall principles unto my Master Moses who also received them figured or framed out by the finger of God neither can I rightly arrogate or assume unto my self the primary fabrick of this Instrument although I have made use of it in my Naturall History of the great World and else-where but in another form to demonstrate the verity of my Philosophicall Argument for I confesse that I found it Graphically specified and Geometrically delineated in a Manuscript of five hundred years antiquity at the least I will therefore set down unto you first the shape in which I found it in that antient Monument and afterwards made use of it for demonstration's cause And secondly I will describe the figure and position of as it is commonly known and used among us Where you see that there is no difference betwixt them but onely in their forms or shapes for the Sun-beams operating by their heat upon the hollow ball of the head A. maketh the rarified aire included in the said ball to passe out by the pipe AB into the pot of water and so it vanisheth out through the superficies of the water in the form of bubbles but when the Sun goeth down the cold night approaching through the absence of the Sun doth coagulate contract and condense again that included aire which was the day before rarified by the presence and hot action of the Sun But because there is not aire enough in the leaden ball and pipe to effect this kind of condensation in a due
proportion by reason of a part thereof which was exhaled the day before therefore to hinder all vacuity in the operation there is sucked up out of the pot of water C. into the leaden pipe just as much water as there wanted aire or as did correspond unto the aire exhaled Again when the Sun riseth the next day the aire in the ball and pipe will be rarified and then by dilating it self will repell the water to his former place the which was mounted into the pipe And so this alteration in condensation and rarefaction will ever hold in the same manner more or lesse according as the Sun is nearer or farther off from us or according unto the coldnesse or heat of the Wind that bloweth in the element The self same also will happen to the aire included in the second glasse for the globe or ball in the top of the glasse which is the bowl of the Matras or bolts head is full of air and is exactly in every respect referred unto the ball of lead as the streight Pipe which ascendeth out of the water and is joyned to the head is exactly compared unto the crooked pipe of the first so that if the leaden ball be erected upwards and the crooked pipe be made streight to ascend perpendicularly out of the pot of water unto the leaden sphear then will there be no difference betwixt the shape or figure of the first second Machin or Instrument so that each man may discern that the condition and usage of them both are all one in effect CHAP. III. Here the fabrick of this Organ or Instrument properly termed the Weather-glasse with the preparation of the Matras or Glasse commonly called a Bolts-head and the adaption of the Orifiace or Nose thereof into a small vessell of water is expressed Where also their opinions are confuted which deem and affirm that the water is sucked up into the neck of the Matras by heat FIrst we must observe that this our experimentall Instrument is composed of three parts where of two of them are more essentiall and proper unto the nature of the Engin or Machin namely the Matras or Bolts-head and the small vessell of water into the which the nose or orifice of the Matras after it is prepared ought to enter and the other is more accidentall as being onely ordained to sustain the glasse firmly in his perpendicular position and to adorn and set forth the Machin Touching the Matras or Bolts-head it is a round or ovall glasse with a long and narrow neck whose orifice or mouth and nose ought to bee proportionable unâ—o the rest of the neck and it must be prepared after a two-fold manner for first of all the long neck of it being put perpendicularly into the small vessell being full of water so that it do touch the bottom of the vessell we ought to measure from the superficies or top of the water and begin our division into degrees still ascending upwards till we come unto the very ball be it round or ovall And whereas the common sort of this kind of Weather-glasses hath his first degree beginning downward marked with the figne of 1. and so ascendeth upward to the round ball according unto the naturall Arithmeticall progression thus 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15. I for a better method's cause do alter the order in numeration and dividing of the neck or pipe of the Matras in the middle between the head of it and the superficies of the water I mark the place of the division with the figure 1. and so count my degrees downward and upward unto 7. after this manner 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. which I affect for reasons that I will expresse unto you hereafter So that the matter will be ordered thus As for the small vessell of water you see it here also described with the proportion of the pipe of the Matras that descendeth into the bottome of it which is so farre from division as it entreth into the water Now when you have thus divided the neck of your Matras into parts you must prepare and order it after this manner to make it magneticall and attractive by cold and expulsive or dilatative by heat you must therefore take the orifice of the Bolts head in your hand and hold forth the head thereof or the round which is above it against the fire till it be very hot for the heat of the fire will rarifie and dilate the Ayre in the glasse and cause by that meanes a good portion of it to flye out of the glasse's orifice and so it will remaine in that estate so long as the glasse is in the degree of heat at which time if you suddenly put the nose of the pipe into the water you shall perceive that as the bolts head doth keel or waxe cold so also will the water by little and little mount upwards into the neck of the glasse And we must note the hotter the glasse is made and the colder the externall ayre will be found as that present the higher and by so many more degrees will the water ascend into the neck And the reason hereof is because that as heat doth rarifie the aire so the greater the heat is the more excellent will the degree of rarifaction be Contrariwise as cold doth condense and thicken so the greater the cold is the stronger will the condensation be and therefore after that the included aire is much rarified by an intense externall heat It followeth that as the heat doth by little and little fade so the cold will by little and little prevail and have dominion and consequently the included rarified aire must needs by little little be condensed but because there wanteth sufficient matter or corpulency in the aire for the cold to work on being that a part of it was spent and evaporated by rarifaction It followeth that as the succeeding cold doth condense contract the aire so the aire by contraction of it self must also attract and suck up into it so much water out of the vessell as there wanteth air to satisfie the contractive appetite of the cold for the interposition of the water between the externall aire and the internall or included aire will not permit the internall to suck or draw into it the externall to supply her want for the satisfaction of the externall cold's lust and therefore the water is forced to asscend in lieu of the externall aire And this is the mystery of the Instrument and the manner of his fabricle whereby it plainly appeareth that they have been deceived which have deemed that the heat was the occasion of the attraction of the water upwards being that each man may be an eye-witnesse that it is heat that driveth it downwards and contrariwise that cold is the cause of his mounting And whereas some Sophisticators to make the matter the more strange have given out that it is a
secret peculiar included spirit which worketh the feat and to make men to give credit to their tales they have dyed the common water in the vessell with Vardegrease or such like stuffe I must give you to understand that all their prattle is but deceit and that plain dealing is a jewell As for the accidentall part of this Machin being it is framed and composed in a diverse fashion I will not graphically delineate or draw it out unto your view being that the pictures will be chargeable and the matter being done will serve you but to little purpose CHAP. IV. Wherein are Expressed the sundry properties with the usage of this demonstrative Instrument I Divide as well the property as the use of this Instrument into two kinds whereof I call the one generall and I make the other more peculiar As for the generall property of it by the one it contracteth and condenseth namely when the included aire is animated by the externall cold and by the other it dilateth and rarifieth to wit if the included spirit be excited by any externall heat And therefore through his constrictive nature or action which is made evident by the contraction of the aire we may easily discern the universall reason of the inspissation and condensation of things that wâ—re thin And again by his dilatation we may scan or decipher the cause of rarifaction of such things as were thick For by the speculation we shall find that there is nothing in the whole Empire of Nature which can be rarified and made subtle except it be by the action of light or fire whether it be visible or invisible and the essentiall effect of that action is light And on the contrary part nothing can be condensed or inspissared where darknesse hath not dominion forasmuch as darknesse is the essentiall root of cold which is the immoderate act or in condensation The particular properties with the uses thereof are manifold for first The nature of it is to discover the temper of the externall aire or catholick element in heat and cold for the higher that the water doth climbe in the neck or pipe of the Matras it argueth that the firmer stronger is the dominion of cold in the aire so that by this means we may daily judge of the increase or decrease of cold in the aire and by consequence we may guesse at the proportion of heat in the sublunary spirit of the world by the descent of the water Ceâ—tain Experiments worthy of observaâ—ion and approved by many of this City touching this Experimentall Glasse If the water in the pipe of the glasse which before was highly mounted doth fall on the sodaine by some degrees it will be an undoubted signe that raine will immediately ensue If the water in the space of one night doth descend it is also a signe that raine will come not long after If the South or East wind do blow immediately after a North or Westerlie wind the water will fall by certaine degrees but if the North wind or cold Westerlie wind do blow after a Southerne or Easterlie wind then will the water be forth with exalted If the water doth attaine unto the figure 1. it argueth that the Ayre is in a moderation between heat and cold as when the Sunne is in the vernall Equinoctiall or as the naturall temper of the Spring useth to be But if the water mount higher then it argueth that the disposition of the Ayre is by so many degrees more of Northen or Boreall nature as the water is mounted towards the bolts head for you must conceive that the degrees from 1. unto the uppermost 7. are belonging unto the winter Hemisphere and therefore are the degrees which note the augmentation of cold So that if the water do mount up unto 2. in the Northern or higher part it is an argument that cold hath dominion over heat in the externall Ayre only by one degree If it mount unto the 3. of the same Hemisphere it doth foretell a slight frost but if it ascend unto 4. or 5. it pretendeth a hard and solid frost if it come unto 6. and 7. it argueth great ice but if it mount yet higher it sheweth that a hard Ice is likely to surprize and cover the whole river of Thames On the other side if the water descend from 1. unto 2. of the lower ranck of degrees which importeth the Summer or hot Hemisphere then it argueth heat hath gotten dominion over cold by one degree But if it descend unto 3. or 4. it importeth a greater distemper of the Ayre in heat if it descendeth unto 5. or 6. it demonstrateth the ayre to be exceeding hot but if the water be beaten downe unto the lower figure of 7. it sheweth that extreame and Sultry heat causing Coruscations and lightnings hath dominion in the Aire So that we may discerne how great a reference or relation there is between the externall ayre or universall sublunary Element and the Ayre included in the instrument But I will in better termes expresse the Consanguinity and Sympatheticall relation which is between the one and the other in this subsequent Chapter CHAP. V. Here it is proved evidently notwithstanding any objection which may be made to the contrary that not only this experimentall Organ hath a relation unto the great world but also the spirit included in this little modell doth resemble and imitate the action of that which is included in the great or macrocosmicall Machin BUt before I will proceed in any further comparison between the spirit contained in the small modell with the properties of the agents and patients in it and this of the great world I do think it to be necessary first to answer unto a certain doubt or objection that may be made the which unlesse it be resolved and taken away such a relation or comparison may appear unto the ignorant either improper or altogether impossible I know therefore that not a few will object and say that no convenient comparison can be made between this our small artificiall Machin and that naturall fabrick or organ of the world forasmuch as the spirit in our Glasse is every where inclosed and strictly included in his vessell and therefore may easily be incited by force to move according unto the regular figure or fashion of the glasse But the case is far otherwise in the spirit which is contained in the vast cavity of the world for in it the aire or spirit doth use at every impulsion to move freely this way and that way as we are instructed by daily experience in the blowing of the winds from each quarter of the world Unto this I answer That it is the self same reason of motion and relation from a thicker or denser nature unto a thinner and in like manner from a thinner or rarer unto a thicker or denser in a small subject that is in a greater so that the like respects be had and that by an equall weight
and proportionate measure in cold and heat Yea verily and I averre boldly that the whole World or worldly Round is as well and compleatly stuffed or filled with spirit or aire as is this our artificiall vessell or experimentall Machin which if it should not be it would consequently follow that vacuity would be admitted into the nature of things the which would be but an absurd thing in a Philosopher to credit Wherefore we may boldly conclude that the spirit is in the like quantity weight and proportion in the concavity of this instrument considering his magnitude as it is in the great or little world But experience teacheth us that the self same nature be it hot or cold which useth to reigne and have dominion every quarter of the year in the cosmicall or worldly spirit doth produce the self same effects in rarifaction and condensation of the aire included in our artificiall vessell as it useth to procreate in the aire of the world all which is fully demonstrated before For by how much the more the state of the aire doth abound in heat or cold by so much will the water contained in the neck of the glasse be depressed by reason of the included aire 's subtilation And again by how much the more the inclemency of cold doth vegetate and abound in the air by so many degrees higher will the water be exalted And this is the reason as it is already told you that by the observation of this Weather-glasse the temper of the aire in the great world is so exactly discovered unto us And therefore by this it is evident that the foresaid doubt or scruple is abolished and taken away I would in this regard have each discreet Reader to understand that when he beholdeth this Instrument's nature he contemplateth the action as it were of a little world and that it hath after the manner of the great world his Northern and his Southern Hemisphear plainly to be discerned in it the which two are divided exactly by an Aequinoctiall line in effect which cutteth the Degree signed with the character 1. Also it hath his two Tropicks with their Poles onely we take the Southern Pole and Hemisphear to be hot in regard of us because the breath which commeth from it is from the Sun which in our respect is Southernly disposed and therefore we term that Pole the Summer-Pole or Hemisphear and the other the winter-Pole or Hemisphear And we have demonstrated that the degree in the neck of the Glasse 1. doth correspond exactly unto the place of the Aequator because that if the Northern or Winter Tropick be imagined to be the Basis of one Triangle whose Cone shall end in the centre of the Northern Tropick then it must follow that where the intersection is made by these two imaginary Triangles the Aequator must of necessity passe As for example Vide Med. Cathol 26. And we tearm the place of the Aequinoctiall the Sphear of equality because when as the Sun is in Aries or Libra which are the vernall and autumnall intersection of the Aequinoctiall the daies and nights are equall so also the temper of each Hemisphear in heat and cold is naturally observed to tend unto a mediocrity or equality Even such also will the temper of the micro-cosmicall aire or catholick spirituall element be unto the earth when the water in the Glasse is drawn up half way I have sufficiently described unto you as well the fabrick as the nature of this Instrument and therefore since I have prepared it to serve me for ocular demonstration instead of an Herculean Club in this combate which I undergoe against our insulting Peripatetick Adversary and that I am provided of sufficient naturall reasons instead of a trusty armour and that this armour is well tempered and made as it were musket-proof at the least by Authority drawn out of the whole Harmony of the sacred Bible Why should I fear the number of mine enemies when it is Tâ—uâ—h's owne cause which I undergo If God be with me I care not who is against me being that verity which conquereth all things will I am well assured fight for me and defend me though but onely one against a multitude Why should I expect any favour from them in telling the truth and condemning their errours since that they do Satyrically censure and deride my honest endeavours when I hold my peace and say nothing unto them It is an easier matter for malitious carpers and back-biters like temerarious and rash Cynicks to find fault with a thing than with moderate and judicious spirits to judge amend and correct it with equity In the first namely to condemn before the case is heard or understood it is an argument of envy cloked with wilfull ignorance In the latter namely to teach a man his errours a token of learned zeal and Christian charity The Second Book of this Treatise touching Philosophy in generall The Argument of this Second Book of the First Section THis second Book importeth That the Philosophy of the Ethnicks is false and erroneous both in regard it is founded upon the wisdom of this world which as St. Paul teacheth us is but meer foolishnesse in the eyes of God and then because it contradicteth the truth and consequently is not issuing from the Father of Light which is in Heaven but from the Prince of darknesse who reigneth beneath Wherefore this kind of wisdom or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is termed by the Apostle James Terrence animal and diabolicall And for this reason St. Paul that most excellent and sacred Philosopher or lover of wisdom doth warn us that we be not deceived by this kind of Philosophy which he tearmeth Vainfallacy built and framed out according unto the traditions of men and after the elements of this world and not having its foundation upon the true corner stone Jesus Christ in whom dwelleth all the plenitude of Divinity corporally BEfore we dive into the bottomlesse abysse of the essentiall Philosophy whose main foundation is the true wisdom the which is a thing so difficil to be put in execution that nothing but the swift and nimble-winged soul or spirit of man is able to bring to effect it will but concur with reason that we should in the first place consider and observe the Etymology of the name or word whose naked essence we hunt after that thereby we may in the second rank descend more securely and with a better understanding unto the definition or description thereof and so proceed with a surer confidence unto the division or differences of the main subject we have in hand to the intent we may directly point at the truth and distinguish it from falshood Seeing therefore that Philosophia or Philosophy is the main scope or businesse of this our Treatise it is meant commonly and understood in a generality for Sapientia or Wisdom but by a more proper and peculiar signification it is interpreted Amor or Amicus sapientiae
In this respect also the Prophet Baruch hath it Stellae dederunt lumen in custodiis suis laetatae sunt ad jussum Dei The stars gave light in their watches and dâ—d rejoice at the Commandement of God Hereupon it came to pass that when this Spirit did fight for Josuah he made the Sun stand still at his pleasure He turned the Sun from light unto darkness at the passion of Christ By it the stars in troops were stirred up to fight in their order by theâ—r influences against Sisera So that it is easy to discern that as the heavens and stars were first framed and animated by this Spirit to serve as Organs to administer unto the natural Fabrick of this world so also beyond the common course of the macrocosmicall nature they may by the self-same Spirit that commandeth them and acteth in them as the soul doth within the body operate what when and how it lists and be diverted from the usual order to effect his will as well by altering the motion of his body as action of his light and influentiall Spirit Again touching the fixt stars Job speaketh thus in the person of this Spirit Canst thou restrain the sweet influences of the Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion Canst thou bring forth Mazaroth in their time Canst thou guide Arcturus with his Sons Knowest thou the course of the heavens or canst thou set the rule thereof upon the Earth c. As who should say that no man is able to know the courses of the stars or to discern the powers or vertue of their influences save only this divine Spirit and that man unto whom it shall reveal the true Art and rules of Astronomy or Astrology And therefore Salomon doth glory in that he knew the course of the year and dispositions of the stars and the change of the Solstices by wisdome Per Sapientiam saith he novi Solstitiorum mutationes anni cursum dispositiones stellarum c. If therefore the Astronomer wanteth this true Astrologicall foundation all will be faulty and fabulous as by the vulgar Astronomy which is for the most part erronious and uncertain it appeareth I proceed now downwards unto the Meteorologicall region to see how this Omnipotent Spirit worketh in the catholick sublunary Element for the producing of Meteors in divers shapes and natures As for the Act of this Eternal Actor or Operator in the ayre water and earth for the production of Meteors it is most evidently expressed in plain terms by holy Writ Saith Job Deus sapientia sua aptat pondus aëri appendit aquas in mensura facit pluviae statuta viam fulgetro tonitruum God by his Wisdome doth adapt a waight or pondero sity unto the ayre and hangeth up the waters in measure and giveth bounds or maketh a Law for the rain and prepareth a way for the lighting 's of the Thunders In which words he sheweth that this one Spirit of Wisdome in whom is the power as well of contraction or condensation as of dilatation or ratifaction can at his pleasure make the aire more thick and ponderous by condensation and so reduce it into a cloud or by rarifying it into a more thin and subtile consistence render it in the form of lightning and evermore the aire so altered receiveth his shape or figure from the Alterer according to the will of him who ordaineth all things And thus the clouds the lightenings the thunder the comets the frost hayl snow and ice are created daily by this operating Spirit But we have all this confirmed and acknowledged by many places of Scriptures Sapientiâ Dei eruperunt abyssi nubes rore concrescunt saith Salomon By the Wisdome of God the Abysse was broke open and the clouds were turned into dew or raine Again Ego sapientia sicut nebula texi omnem terram I Wisdome like a mist did cover the whose earth saith the son of Syrach in the person of this Spirit And again Ego in altissimis habitavi Thronus meus est columna nubis I saith Wisdome did dwell in the highest places and my throne was a pillar of clouds Deus nubes effecit sapientia saith Job God made the clouds by his Wisdome This Spirit maketh the clouds to asscend it causeth the lightnings with the raâ—n and it bringeth forth the wind out of his Treasury saith David And again Verbo suo quam celerrimè excurrente sermone suo in terra emisso edit Deus nivem sicut lanam pruinam sicut cineres dispergit coram frigore ejus quis consistat God by his Word passing most swiftly and by his Voice being sent out upon the Earth doth bring forth snow like wool and spreadeth abroad the frost like ashes Who is able to consist before his cold There are many thousands of other places which I can produce out of the book of Verity to prove that all Meteorology is founded on this Spirit But because I will speak of this point more at large in my last Book of this present Treatise where I do express the true History of the Meteors and open the errors and falsities of the Aristotelian Meteorology I will only conclude with this confession of the wisest Philosopher Salomon Novi saith he virtutes elementorum varietates temporum sive tempestatum ventorum seu spirituum vires nam omnium artifex me docuit sapientia I know the power of the Elements and the varieties of times and tempests and strength of the winds for Wisdome the work-mistress of all things taught them me Whereby it is evident that shee who was the maker of the Meteors and was by Consequence the most skilfull and best acquainted with their natures did instruct him in them I will now speak a word or two of Physick Concerning the excellent Art of Phyâ—â—ck or Medecine the Wiseman saith A Deo est omnis medela From God cometh every kind of healing or curing which being so it is certaine that the only Actor in healing and curing is immediatly from this all-working Spirit and therefore the Kingly Prophet hath it He sendeth his Word and healeth them and delivereth them from their graves And Salomon But the teeth of the venemous dragons could not overcome thy children for thy Word came to help them and healed them even thy Word O Lord which healeth all things for thou hast the power of life and death c. Mark well Even thy Word saith the Text which healeth all things Now this divine Word is the root and fountain of this eternal Spirit of Wisdome and therefore the Basis or foundation of healing is in him and consequently from him all the mystery of healing doth proceed which also agreeth with this of the Apostle There are divers gifts but one and the same Spirit there are divers operations but God is the same which worketh all in all but unto
accord the whole file of Scripture doth confirm that it is effected by this wisdom Again the wise-man expresseth the wondrous effects of this Spirit in these words In se elementa dum convertuntur sicut in organo qualitatis sonus immutatur omnia suum sonum custodiunt c. Whilst the elements are converted in themselves as the sonnd is converted in an Organ of quality and all do keep and observe their proper sound c. But the Apostle doth more excellently expresse this in these words In Christo condita sunt universa in coelis in terra omnia visibilia invisibilia per ipsum in ipso creata sunt Ipse est ante omnes omnia in ipso constant In ipso complacuit omnem plenitudinem divinitatis inhabitare per eum reconciliare omnia in ipso pacificans per san guinem crucis ejus sive quae in coelis sive quae in terris sunt All things are made in Christ in heaven and in earth and all are created by him and in him as well visible as invisible he is before all and all â—o consist in him and it pleased all the plenitude of divinity to dwell in him and to reconcile by him in himself pacifying by the blood of his cross all things both in heaven and earth Lo here the perfect and catholick fountain of all harmony the taker away of discord both from heaven and earth and the pure essentiall and formall love and sympathy of this world and therefore by the wisest and most mysticall Philosophers he is said to be Vinculum seu ligamentum elementorum the band or tie whereby the discording elements are compelled unto an harmonious accord After the imitation of whose melodious tunes and concords all the accords of our externall musick as well vocall as instrumentall are typically framed which are in respect of the true and essentiall symphony of this spirit even as a shadow is unto a true subject or an image unto a reality I come now unto Arithmetick and Geometry As for these two Arts the wise-man doth include them in these few words Omnia mensura numeroque pondere disposuisti seu temperasti Thou hast disposed or proportioned all things in measure number and weight In which words by measure is meant the progresse into longitude latitude and profundity which this Spirit made in his emanation from the point unto the line and from the line or root unto the square and from the square unto the cube By number is meant those Arithmeticall dimensions in progression whereby this Spirit issued out of unity into multitude as from 1 unto 10 and from 10 unto a 100 and from a hundred unto a 1000 namely from God who is the eternall point or unity unto the first articulated number which is 10 and it represents the aeviall or angelicall world which is the first degree of composition and from 10 unto a 100 which argueth the composition of the temporall world and from a 100 to a 1000 which pointeth at the compound creature of the Elements So that hereby each Christian may see how God is all and in all and yet without all and as the Text hath it in heaven in the seas in the abysse and in hell And for this reason the Pythagoreans did include all things under these three principles 1 2 3. whereby they attributed 1 unto God in his abstruse being 2 unto matter and 3 unto form under which all are contained But of this I will declare my minde more copiously when I speak of the essentiall principles of Sympathy and Antipathy namely in the first Book of the second Section of this present Treatise And therefore the patient man in the person of JEHOVAH saith thus Ubinam eras quando fundebam terram Aâ—nuntia si nosti intelligentiam Quis disposuit mensuras ejus aut quis extendit super eam lineam super quo bases ejus defixae sunt aut quis jecit lapidem ejus angularem Where wast thou when I did lay the foundatâ—ons of the earth tell me if thou hast understanding Who disposed of the measures thereof or who did stretch forth upon it a line upon what were her foundations fastned or who laid her corner-stone Whereby he argueth that by this Spirit which is the corner-stone or foundation of everything for without it nothing is made or can exist as St. John doth testifie not onely the earth had his Geometricall dimension scituation and position but also the Sun the Moon the Stars and each thing else both in heaven and in earth have assigned them their weight proportion magnitude and limited seat in the world Yea verily by it the aire by proportion and weight is carried and framed out into the shapes of Meteors for the sacred Text hath it Deus sapientia aptat pondus aeri appendit aquas in mensura God by his wisdom doth adapt a weight unto the air and imparts a mensurable proportion unto the waters or clouds I will shew now her power in the science of Rhetorick and Oratory and prove in few words how she is also the exactest Mistris in those Arts as also the onely essentiall mover in the spirits of men to make them truly eloquent and perswasive and withall she is the essentiall Magnet in the Oratours voice which can draw and attract the auditors minds to listen and affect the organ by whom she is intended to plead by Saith Moses in his conference with this divine Spirit Non sum vir facundus neque unquam anteafui ne quidem ex quo locutus es cum servo tuo sed impedito ore impeditâ linguâ sum Tunc dixit Jehovah ad illum Quis statuit os hominum aut quiâ— statuere potest surdum aut mutum Nonne Ego qui sum Jehovah Nunc itaque ito ego adero ori â—uo docebo te quae te loqui convenit I am not an eloquent man neither have ever been so no verily not from the time that thou hast spoke with thy servant But I have an impediment in my mouth and am defective in my tongue Then said Jehovah unto him Who hath made the mouth of man or who can make deaf or dumb Is it not I who am Jehovah Now therefore go thy way and I will be with thy mouth and I will teach thee what is fit for thee to say c. In which file of speech God teacheth us that eloquence and apt disposition of words sentences and speech both in the Rhetorician and Orator are from God who can give it or take it away at his pleasure And therefore the Evangelist sayeth in another place Erunt omnes docibiles Dei or docti à Deo All shall be taught of God And the Prophet hath it Universi filii tui sunt docti à Jehovah All thy sons are instructed by Jehovah But Christ expresseth this in fuller terms thus Spiritus
and power as they appear now onely puissant in words being hindred from the good fruit which accompanieth true wisdom by the erroneous doctrine of their seducing Master I know that this good perswasion of mine will make the followers of worldly wisdom to storm and to say of me as the Stoicall and Epicureall Philosophers did to Paul in Athens What will this babler have or what doth he tell us of a new way of learning I answer That it is not I but the word which they follow that teacheth them if they will be pleased to mark it well and sequester themselves in the mean time from the rules or documents of their Ethnick Master But I will come unto my nearer proofs whereby I will most evidently shew that the doctrine of Aristotle is a manifest enemy and opposite or contradictory unto the truth which being so it is by the Apostle James condemned for a branch of that wisdom or philosophy which is terrene animal and diabolicall It appeareth and shall be hereafter proved out of the Book of verity that the vertue whereby God doth manifestly operate in this world is expressed either by attraction from the circumference unto the center or expulsion from the center unto the circumference namely Contraction or Dilatation For after this manner is produced Condensation and Ratification whereby the heavens and the earth and elements with compound creatures as well Meteorologicall or unperfectly mixed as such as are compleat in their composition were created and made And again by it he operateth in this world either sympathetically that is by a concupiscible attraction or antipathetically that is by an odible expulsion Since therefore that all things are effected in this world by attraction or expulsion let us see what is Aristotle's opinion touching the cause of attraction and then afterward examine whether it accordeth with the tenour of truth The Petipatericks being perswaded thereunto by their Master Aristotle do accord in this namely That the Winds the Thunder the Comets the Clouds and other such like Meteors are made and caused by the attractive heat of the Sun and other Stars which draw up vapours and exhalation out of the water and earth and elevateth them into the regions of the aire And therefore Prout saith Velcury according unto the mind of Aristotle magis minusve calidi sunt vapores ita altius aut humilius elevantur sursum à solis calore aliorumque astrorum sicut videmus in sole bâ—bente attrahente aquam As vapours are more or lesse hot so are they elevated higher or lower by the heat of the Sun and other Starrs as we see that the Sun doth drink up and attract water unto it Hence therefore hath that palpable errour been introduced into this world namely that fire and heat do suck and draw unto it vapours and fumes when it may be made most palpable and evident unto the simplest so that he have but human sense about him that the heat of the Sun and fire doth rather discusse and expell from it by dilatation than allure unto it by the way of attraction As for example if the fire did draw vapours unto it then would it not permit any smoak to go from it but the contrary is seen viz. that it discusseth by dissolution and expelleth and seperateth by rarefaction the subtill from the grosse not with a desire to draw or attract the vapours made by rarefaction unto it but to expell and disjoynt it from the whole grosse body it worketh upon for which cause we see the fumes and smoaks to fly away and to be inforced to avoid the action of the fire without any inclination of the fire to retaine them also if we apply a wet handkercher unto the fire we shall see that the watry substance in it will be subtiliated by the heat into a reaking vapour but as for the fire it is so farre from attracting of it that the reaking smoak will be seen to rise up in the house at randome without any evident attraction of the fire In like case it happeneth with the Sun 's operative faculty for it subtiliates or ratifieth the water or humid substances by his heat and consequently it draweth nothing at all unto it but discusseth rather that which was thick into thinner portions Now the reason that water or grosse humid substances being rarified do ascend upward is not any attractive faculty in the Sun or Starrs but a naturall inclination in the thing it selfe for it is a common axiome that omne leve et subâ—ile doth by a naturall sympathy or appetite tendere sursum and therefore it is of his own inclination being so subtiliated that it soareth upward toward his naturall and destinated region or place as we see in Fumes Smokes and such like Contrariwise omne grave doth in like manner tendere deorsum all that is ponderous doth descend by a naturall desire towards the Centre But that I may more exactly and assuredly display this errour of the peripateticall attraction of exhalations and vapours by the Sun Starrs and fire I pray you that you will but observe our Weather-glasse or experimentall Machine and we shall there finde by practice that all attraction from the circumference unto the center is caused of cold and not of heat for by cold the water is drawn or attracted up into the neck of the Glasse and that is effected by the inspissation of the aire and reduction of it into a straiter room when contrariwise we note that if the Sun do heat the head or boul of the Mattras or if the warmth of the hand do but touch it the included aire dilateth it self and forthwith flyeth away from the heat and is so far from being attracted by it that it precipitateth and depresseth the water downwards Which being thus as ocular experience the mother of fools hath taught us let our Christian Peripateticks but duely observe the subtle wisdom of their Master whom they have hitherto followed and let them see and consider how grosly he hath erred in the main argument pillar or prop of his Meteorology which being so what can be more expected then that the whole fabrick of the same should fall before the eyes of each wise contemplator To be brief these such like errours of his have forced divers of his discreetest disciples naturalists to dissent and start from his doctrine as well touching his opinion of the Winds and the Thunder as of the originall of Fountains being perswaded and allured unto this their relinquency by a tâ—uer spirit For Johannes Fregiâ—s a very learned Naturalist and a man who hath taken great pains in searching out the truth of naturall mysteries according unto the documents of Aristotle as it well appeareth by that his large volume entituled Quaest ones Physicae hath this Quaâ—quam tota dâ—sputatio de Ventis sicut de aliis me coris plena est admi abâ—â—â—m operum Dei quorum mille firmae sufficientes
aeri appendit aquas in mensura facit pluviae statuta viam fulgetro tonitruum Coelos creabat extendebat eos firmabat terram quae germinant ex ea sapientia creavit Deus terram stabilivit coelos prudentia facit ut oriatur lumen in coelis indeficiens sicut nebula tegit omnem terram Facit anni cursus constituit dispositiones stellarum fecit Arcturum Oâ—ionem Convertit in mane tenebras diem in noctem mutat vocat aquas maris effundit eas super faciem terrae Praeparavit terram in aeterno tempore replevit eam bipedâ—bus quadrupedibus ipsam effudit Deus super omnia opera ejus super omnem carnem secundum datum Ipsa denique operatur omnia Deus per ipsam operatur omnia in omnibus ipse vivificat animat omnia ut Apostolus Quare Propheta recte In sapientia omnia fecisti repleta est terra possessione tua c. Wisdom created the world of a matter without form She revealeth the foundations of the deep and discovereth the things that are hid in darknesse and light is with her She maketh the foundations appear out of darknesse and converteth the deadly shaddow into light She spreadeth forth the North upon the void or empty face of the abysse and hangeth the earth upon nothing For God made all things by the wisdom which came out of his mouth and compassed about the circuit of the heavens and walked in the profundity of the abysse She was present when he prepared the heavens when he covered by a certain law or compasse the abysse When he established the heavens or etheriall region above then was she with him as the composer of all those things She laid the foundations of the earth and fastned the heavens and broke up the Abysse and made the clouds to gather in a dew She giveth waight unto the Aire She hangeth or ballanceth the waters or clouds by measure She giveth unto the raine its laws and ordaineth a way unto the Lightning of the Thunder She created the heavens and did spread them abroad She fastned the earth and made the things which grow upon it God created the earth by her and established the heavens by his Providence and she causeth an indeficient Light to rise and appeare in the heavens and she covereth as it were with a cloud the whole earth She maketh the courses of the year and instituteth the dispositions or natures of the Stars She made the Pole-star and Orion and turned the darkness into the morning and changed the day into night She calleth the waters of the Sea and poureth them upon the face of the Earth She hath prepared the Earth from eterniâ—y and filled it with two-footed and four-footed Creatures God effused or poured her forth upon all his Works and upon all flesh in a divers measure To conclude â—â—e operateth all things as Solomon saith and therefore God by her doth operate all and in all things And again she vivifieth and animateth all things as the Apostle telleth us whereupon the Royall Prophet David doth rightly conclude in these words Oh Lord how glorious are thy works in Wisdome thou hast made them all the Earth is full of thy riches So is the wide Seas and innumerable creeping things therein both great and small Thou givest unto them and they gather it thou openest thy hand and they are filled with good things But if thou hide thy face they are troubled if thou dost take away their breath they die and return unto dust Aâ—ain if thou dost send out thy Spiâ—it they are re-created or re-vive and thou renewest the face of the Earth c. In which Speech the Prophet confirmeth that it is the Spirit of the Lord who by his presence reviveth that it createth and generateth and by his absence or vacancy mortifieth or corrupteth it And lastly by his returning or restoring of it again causeth both revivification and resurrection from the dead The which three mysticall operations of one Spirit in this world the whole Scriptures do handle at full and therefore we will conclude the last Chapter of this Book namely that which succedeth with this very Subject which shall truly correspond unto that defective treatise which Aristotle maketh of generation and corruption But before we come to speak of it we must proceed a little further in the opening of this present Principle By this therefore that is already said we may easily perceive that the Catholick Act or formall Principle with his infinity of dilatations or emanations are in the hands and volunty of the Creator who for that cause is said to operate by his Wisdome all in all as is already declared And therefore the Schoole distinction de operatione mediata immediata principali seu primaria minus principali seu secundaria with many other such like evasions forged out by the Ethnick Philosophers being necessary instruments of the Prince of this world forasmuch as they by their worldly discipline do distract even Christians themselves from Truth and Unity by a multiplicity of confused distinctions ought to be quite abolished being that the only act and Catholick agent in all things is immediatly from God and is all one in essence with God and is essentially in all things For the text saith that God hath poured out his Spirit on all his works and the incorruptible Spirit of God is in aâ—l things and the heavens and earth are full of it Again this Spirit is the most active and mobil of all things which being so what I beseech you should hinder it to work immediatly and absolutely in all things Being that it is the immediate vertue and vivifying emanation from God and consequently there can be no difference between the immediate act of God and the act of this Spirit which must needs be immediate in the creature because as it is present in it so also it is most mobil and all-sufficient in it selfe to operate Now therefore seeing it is evident that this Spirit is God and that the essence divine is indivisible it must needs follow that where it acteth immediatly there God also must act and operate immediatly and therefore all distinctions framed out after the inventions of men being laid aside these words of the Apostle and Solomon God worketh all in all doth generally hold over all and every particular and consequently we ought to acknowledg no subalternate acting or efficient cause in this world but onely one identity or divine essence and that is he who worketh all in all and vivifieth informeth and animateth immediatly all things alone without any assistance as Scripture tells us in divers places Ego IEHOVAH saith the Text faciens omnia solus nullus mecum I am IEHOVAH who work all things alone and have none to help or aid me Ego Sapientiaciâ—cumivi rotunditaâ—em coelorum sola I wisdome compassed the heaven alone c. For
create all things of Nought through the illuminating presence of his ematating Spirit and by this his Spirituall Word he doth maintain and sustain them all Therefore it followeth that there is nothing in this world which is Inane in vain or void and empty This is maintained by this assertion of the Wiseman mentioned before Manus Omnipotentis saith he mundum ex informi materia creavit The hand of the Almighty created the world of a matter without form that is of an inane and void matter and consequently of Nothing or Nihil Forasmuch as it had no denomination being it is form that giveth the name and essence By this therefore it may appear how vain the Vacuum or Vacuity of the Peripatetick is in regard of that which by the true Wiseman is held Inane and Vacuum For they esteem their Vacuum to be a mere imaginary place in the aire not filled by any bodily existence no not by aire it self But although it be apt to receive some watery existence namely aire water or earth in it And so they dream of an imaginary Chimera which in verity is of it self absolute Nothing being that it is impossible that any place should be formed in the Universe which can be after that manner void and consequently not worth the dreaming after But our Vacuum and Inane is a potentiall matter or earth or Abysse without form namely that which is only in potentia ad actum In puissance to be reduced into Act by the presence of Divine Light It is no marvail though Aristotle did not think of this kind of Inanity and Plenitude being that in one place he saith Ex nihilo nihil fit Of nothing nothing is made and in another place he affirmeth Light to be an Accident and therefore it appeared not unto his sense that such an accident could take away Inanity or Vacuity and fill all things essentially by his presence But I will combate our Christian Peripateticks at their own weapons who hold it for a Maxim that accidentis esse sit inesse I will therefore assail them with this Syllogism If Light be an Accident then the existence of it is to adhere or to be in some Subject but the existence of true Light is to exist without any adhesion unto matter or Subject therefore it is no accident The Major is proved by Aristotle's own Axiom which is Accidentis esse est inesse aut adhaerere subjecto alicui The existence of an Accident is to be in or to adhere unto some materiall Subject or else it cannot be The Minor is maintained by the words of Moses Light was created the first day before any creature and therefore it had not any precedent actuall matter or Subject to be in or adhere unto Besides it is beyond imagination that God should create Accidents before any Essentiall or Substantiall creature Again God who is the Fountain of Light is said to be Light in whom is no darkness And again the word is defined in another place to be Light and the Spirit of Wisdome is said to be the bright splendor and shining forth of the Almighty And therefore it was most absurd in Aristotle yea and in some of his disciples as Damascen and others to conâ—lude that eternall light to be an accident which did emane from the essentiall fountain of light to vivifie and illuminate the whole water Wherefore it is evident that the true mystery of plenitude and vacuity was utterly unknown unto the sect of the Peripateticks because they were altogether ignorant of the true wisdom which did as the Apostle James saith descend from the Father of light and this doth evidently appear when he will have the essentiall light and formall act and splendor of all things to be an Accidentall quality CHAP. VI. How first the two essentiall but opposite active properties and afterward so many passive natures did spring and issue from the foresaid principles by the vertue whereof all mutations and alterations were and are effected in this sublunary world I Will in this place relate unto you the births and beginnings first of the two opposite active natures or essentiall vertues which proceed from the two radicall or main principles aforesaid and then I will expresse unto you the conditions of those two passive ones which are derived from the effects of those two mutuall actions You must know therefore that as the potentiall or dark principle is contrary and opposite in his essentiall property unto the actuall emanation of light beginning so also have each of them manifested or brought forth into this world two offsprings or essentiall properties which are oppugnant in condition and flat adversaries in their nature unto one another and these two active vertues are Cold and Heat Of the manner of production and the severall conditions of each I purpose to speak in this present Chapter and first touching the Cold. It is evident by that which is already said and shall be more amply expâ—essed in the first Book of my sympatheticall History that darknesse is the immediate effect of the divine Nolunty or latent Divinity and consequently of Gods privative property or the divine puissance and by consequence it is the mother of privation death vacuity inanity deformation and so forth For the property of the dark Nothing or deformed abysse is naturally to rest and not to act or operate and the reason is because that all its appetite is to be conversant in and about the center beyond the which there is no motion or action and not to dilate it self towards the circumference as the Spirit of light or God in his volunty or patent nature is accustomed to do For this reason the dark principle doth challenge unto it self by a naturall instinct rest and quietness and this property begetteth or produceth one essentiall vertue of its own condition namely Cold the which as it is elected for a champion to resist the assaults of her opposite namely of Heat whose companions are motion or action for the restless antagonist and provoker of Cold is Heat So unless it be roused or stirred up by the assaults of Heat it moveth not but seemeth to wait upon its drousie mother Darkness and privation whose children are fixation and rest which sleep in and cleave fast unto the center and therefore are unwilling to look forth towards the circumferenâ—e And in verity cold is an essentiall act pâ—oceeding from and attending on the divine puissance which in this property doth contract its beams from the circumference into its self according unto that of the Philosopher Hermes Monas generaâ— monadem in se reflexit ardorem One begetteth one and reflected his beam or heat into it sâ—lf that is to say It would not shine forth but retained its activity centrally in it self and so did seem to rest in it self which was all one with that of the Cabalist Bahir Sapeutâ—acum esset in abysso tenebrarum retracta immanens
and positive nature are proved to be the immediate causes of both those alterations in the generall Element of Waters I Have made it as I imagine most plain and evident unto your understandings as well by the testimony of the antique Philosophy and infallible wisdom of holy Writ as by ocular demonstration that the common or universall matter and subject of all things was the Waters which were inacted and created by the bright Spirit of the Lord before all things Which being so and for that all Condensation and Rarefaction do regard a subject or materiall substance wherein it should be performed or effected it followeth therefore that the onely matter which doth endure or suffer the act of either of them must be water or a humid and moist nature being it is the onely substantiall stuff which filleth all the vast cavity of the world and consequently the materiall existence of which both Heaven and Earth and all things therein are framed and were originally shaped out This is therefore that main subject of Condensation and Rarefaction by the means whereof all things in this world are made to differ from one another and are disposed and ordered by God according to weight number and measure in their proper rancks and places that is they are placed in a higher or lower region according unto that dignity which the catholick or eternall Actor hath bestowed upon them in their creation The common matter therefore of incrassation and subtiliation being thus made manifest we are to finde out the universall actor or operator in this work And I did signifie unto you before that it was the sacred emanation of that divine splendour which did operate from all beginnings and doth at this present operate and shall hereafter work all that which hereafter shall be effected in the heavens above and the earth beneath which assertion of mine accordeth well with this axiom of the Apostle oftentimes and that not without a just occasion repeated by me Deus operatur omnia in omnibus God worketh all in all And David In sapientia omnia fecisti Thou hast made all things in thy wisdom And Solomon Sapientia operatur omnia Wisdom worketh all things And the Apostle in another place Christus portat omnia verbo virtutis suae Christ beareth all things by the word of his vertue And St. Peter The heavens were of old and the earth of waters and by waters consisting by the word Again St. Paul saith that Christ is in all and filleth all And in another place Christus omnia est in omnibus Christ is all and in all Now this holy spirit of wisdom is said to be omnibus mobilibus mobilior more swift and movable than any movable thing And therefore he must needs act all in all according unto his will and pleasure Again when he is pleased to withdraw his actuall beams within himself he seems to rest and the act of the creature doth cease and then death doth ensue namely cessation from the activity of life Now being he is the most agil and moovable of all things the vertue of heat doth evermore accompany the motions of his light yea and are essentially united unto the actor even as we see in the Sun which Sydrach the wise-man compareth with Divinity saying that the body is likened unto the Father the the beams or emanation unto the Sun and the active heat which issueth from them both unto the Spirit that the beam is continuate unto the body of the Sun as the emanation from the divine fountain is one individuall essence with the fountain of eternall light and the virtue issuing from the Sun and his beams is in like manner unseparable in essence from the other two even as we find that the holy Spirit which is emitted from Father and Son is one in essence with them both For this reason therefore the divine Philosopher Hermes saith Mens ab essentia Dei nequaquam divisa sed illi potius eo modo connexa quo solis corpori lumen The mentall beam is not at all divided from the essence of God but rather joyned and knit unto him after the same manner that the light is continuated unto the Sun Whereupon it is evident that the vertue of heat is essentiall unto light as the act of motion is never absent from the emanating brightnesse I conclude therefore that Rarefaction is nothing else but the dilating of water by heat which was first contracted by cold and Condensation on the other side is a contraction or sucking and drawing together of those watry parts which were dilated or dispersed by heat So that the subject of both these actions is water and the fountain as well of the privative as positive agent is the Nolunty or Volunty that is to say the negative or affirmative will of that one eternall Unity who is that all-informing and operating Spirit which acteth and accomplisheth his pleasure in all and over all by his divers organs as well angelicall as celestiall and elementary which according unto their diversity in disposition are moved by this internall act to operate in this world the will of the Creator both positively and privatively as shall be told you in the Chapter following CHAP. II. How this Divine spirit or Ruach Elohim being but one in Essence worketh both by his Angelicall and Astrall organs in this sublunary world after a four-fold manner THe Eternall spirit of wisdome who is the initiall principle of all things and in whom and by whom as the Apostle teacheth us the Angels Thrones potestates and dominations were Created doth operate by his Angelicall Organs of a contrary fortitude in the Catholick Element of the lower waters both the effect of Condensation and that of Rarefaction And to verifie this out of the holy Bible's testimony we read first that this one spirit is the arch Lord and Prince of the 4. winds or else the Prophet by the commandement of God would not have said Come O spirit from the 4. winds and make these dead Carcasses to live againe Now that this one spirit worketh in and by spirituall and Angelicall Organs in the execution which is effected by the property of the 4. winds it is proved out of the Apocalyps where we find these words I saw 4. Angels stand on the 4. Corners of the Earth holding the 4. winds of the Earth that they should not blow on the Earth neither on the Sea c. By which it is evident that these Angelicall Presidents over the 4. winds were the Ministers and Organs by and in the which the spirits or blasts of the winds were emitted or retained according unto the will of that eternall spirit which guideth them when and where he list But we find by daily observation that the essentiall vertue in the Northern spirit is cold and therefore contractive or attractive from the circumference unto the centre and by consequence a causer of congelation and condensation By
by degrees appear out explicitly namely in the sixt rank for it will be altered from humour to solidity with a certain distinction of the three principall Members in the seventh to an Embrionall shape and in the eighth which will make up a cube unto the materiall root 2. or the Square 4. which is characterized in the catholick Element by the impressions of the four winds into a perfect creature In like manner in the great world we see that the simple Element namely the generall aire appeareth externally plain simplicity and an invisible Nothing explicitly and yet it containeth complicitly a clowd water or rain Fire or Lightning and a ponderous stone with Salt and such like which by degrees do explicitly appear through the vertue of the four Winds So that a vapour possesseth the first rank the cloud the sixt the Lightning and clowd the seventh and the earthly Stone argueth an exact rotation of all the foure ventous forms into one mixtion which represents the eighth's place in Composition or Generation But when the man cometh to Corruption then his parts proceed in resolution backwards namely from 8. to 7. from 7. to 6. and from 6. to 5. untill it return unto the point of the simple Spermatick Element from whence it began and there it beginneth a new Generation in another form For the all-acting nature is never idle So also the Stone is resolved into water and water into a vaporous clowd and the clowd into aire from whenâ—e it came which is the simple catholick Element which admitteth no farther or proâ—ounder resolution by corruption Now the onely Operator in both these works is the Spirit of God for in Generation it shineth forth of the catholick Elements center or SpermS internall unto perfection and persevereth in his action till a perfect man be produced which Job confirmeth thus Nonne sicut Lac fudistime sicut caseum coagâ—â—asti me cute carne texisti me ossibusque nervis induisti me cum vita benignitatem exercuisti erga me Et visitatio tua conservavit spiritum meum Didst thou not poâ—â—e me forth like milk and like cheese didst crudle me Didst thou not cover me with skâ—n aâ—â— flesh Thou didst indue me with bones and sinews thou didest shew forth unto me thy benignity in my life and thy visitation doth preserve my spirit Contrariwise when the Spirit of God with-draweth his beames from the circumference of Generation and Composition unto the center of simplicity he leaveth to visite the Spirit of the creature and so it must fade ad decayingly return unto the principle from whence it came and from thence again if the same spirit is pleased to shine forth a new Generation beginneth where the Corruption or Resolution ended The Demonstration is such The Simple Square of the world's Composition where 2. that is to say Light and Water is the root The progression from the said Elementary Square unto the cube of Composition The root of Generation which is from the 4. Elements or the catholick Element four-foldly altered Where the four elements remain in their simplicity as they were created complicitely in one watry nature or rather catholick element called Aire which is the root from whence generation ariseth unto the period of perfect composition by four degrees or steps of alteration namely from the 4 to the 8. and whither tendeth retrogradely corruption namely from 8 to 4. CHAP. VII That God contrary unto Aristotle's assertion with the opinion of divers other Ethnick Philosophers doth not operate of necessity for the creation and continuation of his creatures but of his proper will and benigne inclination WE tearm that properly Necessary that can be no otherwise again we esteem that as well voluntary as fortuit or happening by chance which may be otherwise Now there hath risen and sprung up a great dispute among the Ethnick Philosophers whether God operateth in this world voluntarily or of necessity or as it were by compulsion the greater part therefore of them are flatly of an opinion that God acteth in this world as well in the generation and conservation of things as corruption of them by necessity and not by any voluntary motion whereby it must follow that he was enforced to do or effect what he doth from all eternity by some other nature which was either coeternall with him or pre-existent or else that he was excited or pushed forward against his will to effect this or that by some creature which he did make All which how erroneous and extravagant it is from the rules and center of truth I will in few words expresse unto you For first of all What I beseech you is of greater antiquity than God being that he was before any thing What is in Geometry before or in measure lesse then a point or which among all the numbers of Arithmetick is of so antient a standing as is the unity Wherefore it must needs follow that God is free and voluntary in his actions being that he was of himself and did exist without any respect had unto any other either precedent or coeternall principle from all beginning and therefore was sufficient in himself and of himself to work and operate by himself from all eternity But the principall reasons of the foresaid Ethnick opinion are two-fold first because God doth act and operate by his proper essence and not by any acquired vertue then forasmuch as the effects in the world seem to be necessary and hereupon they conclude that they cannot come or proceed from any contingent that is to say fortuit or voluntary occasion of another Unto the first me-thinks they seem to argue against themselves for as he acteth by his proper essence or substance it is evident that he is moved of his own accord and consequently not by any externall compulsion or internall necessity Moreover in the latitude of unity there can be no compulsion or coaction because that Unity cannot suffer Again it is not possible that he should be urged to work by any externall or alien efficient cause because that he remaining primarily fixed and stedfast in himself and of himself worketh as the originall fountain of all things by himself emitting his formall and vivifying beams of life at his pleasure and with-drawing them again when and where he pleaseth Unto the second I say that necessary effects do no way include any necessity in the first efficient cause because that secundary causes which Plato and other wise-men called Hand-maids or She-slaves do act at the command and inciting of him which is the unity of all multitude and therefore all in all or by a necessary order so that a necessity in worldly created things dependeth upon the volunty and command of him who made them the which order he accomplisheth and finisheth at his pleasure And therefore we find this written by the wise-man Ignem mitescit nè combureret modò ignem ille facit ardere inter aquas c. He
which is that God doth draw or call his angelicall winds out of his treasury to effect his will we have it confirmed from the pens of the Prophets David and Jeremy Depromit say they ventos è the sauris suis. Lastly touching the use of the winds or the finall cause why they were created or sent forth Scriptures do largely inform us Ventus facit mandatum Dei saith Baruch The wind doth the commandement of God And the Psalmist Spiritus procellarum facit verbum ejus The spirit of the storms effect his word And again Angeli Dei valid ssimi robore efficientes verbum placitum suum The angels of the Lord which are strong in power do effect his word and will And again He maketh the angels lightnings or coruscations his ministers And Job saith Fulgura nunquid mittes ibunt revertentia tibi dicent Adsumus Wilt thou not send forth thy lightnings and they will go their waies and returning back again they will say We are here Where he meaneth of those Angels which reveal their occult beauty for in this regard God is also termed a consuming fire Moreover he affirmeth in another place that the wind the whirlwind the ice frost clouds and the lightnings are ready at his command whatsoever the will of the Creator is that they shall do they are prepared to perform either upon the superficies of the earth or for to punish and afflict the wicked or to shew mercy unto the righteous To conclude I have expressed in the precedent definition first what is the materiall cause of the winde namely an airy substance of a mean consistency Then I told you that the eternall form or essentiall act thereof was the bright aspiration or spiracle of the Almighty which did by his presence animate agitate and move the materiall aire Thirdly that the place wherein the winds are kept and reserved untill it pleaseth the Creator of them to employ and make use of them was the heavens or aire which is the cabinet of his treasures And lastly that the use and end of them was to accomplish the will of their Creator when he did command them and that either in their outward and airly estate without revealing their centrall and formall fire namely when the winds do blow but are invisible or else by emitting of their internall and essentiall light as when they appeare and move in the form of Lightnings or coruscations and this is proved evidently by the above-mentioned place of the royall David For these reasons therefore and upon these grounds we have framed out these Definitions of the wind which follow The Wind is an invisible aire or spirit which is vivified and animated by the divine Light which issueth from the face of JEHOVA as a breath out of his nostrills to perform and accomplish his will and pleasure as well in Heaven above as on the earth and waters beneath Or after this manner The Wind is a certain Angelicall Spirit or subtill aire which is inspired or animated by the fiery Spirit of JEHOVA appearing sometimes visibly in the form of Lightning and sometimes being invisible and occult as when it is onely heard and not seen and is ordained and sent forth by him from some corner of the earth to effect and accomplish his will either in his positive and benign property or privative and destructive disposition Or thus The Wind is an invisible or occult Spirit indued with a siery soul or form from above and inspired by God in an Angelicall manner the which is carried this way and that way according unto the pleasure of him which inspired it being moved or wafted on invisible wings and carrying sometime their Creator on their airy plumes to effect his will and pleasure For it is said IEHOVA ascendit super Cherubin volavit seu lapsus est super pennas venti God ascended upon the Cherubin and did flie or glide upon the wings of the wind Now the Cherubin is an airy Angell as the Seraphin is a fiery Spirit or Intelligence Or else in this form The Wind is a certain Angelicall creature being made and produced by JEHOVA of aire as being his matter agitated and Light being his internall and essentiall form the which being derived or extracted out of his heavenly Treasury is sent out this way or that way either to plague and punish or to solace and recreate the creature Or thus The Wind is an Angelicall Spirit cloathed with aire which moveth occultly and invisibly this way and that way according unto the secret will of him that created it whose voice although it be heard yet is the place from whence it came or the mark whither it tendeth unknown of mortall men Spiritus saith St. John ubi vult spirat vocemejus audit homo sed nescit unde veniat aut quo vadat The Spirit or wind bloweth where it will and man heareth the voice of it but knoweth not from whence it commeth or whither it will Again Scriptures do affirm elsewhere that the way of God and the place whither he intendeth is unknown unto mortall men Or after this manner more briefly and that according unto the mind of our Saviouâ— The Wind is a Spirit that bloweth where it will whose voice although it be heard yet is the mark at which it aimeth unknown and the place uncertain from whence it cometh Or thus according unto the words of David above mentioned the Angelicall winds as well apparent as occult are described after this manner The Winds are the Angels of the Lord strong in power which effect the Word of God and listen unto his voice and his flaming Ministers which accomplish his pleasure Angeli Dei validissimi robore saith David efficientes Verbum ejus ausculâ—antes vociejus efficientes placitum ejus The Angels of the Lord strong in power effecting his word listning unto his voice accomplishing of his pleasure And in the Psalm following Qui facis Angelos tuos ventos ministros tuos flammam urenâ—em Who dost make thy Angels winds and thy Ministers flaming fires By this therefore each wise man may observe how opposit the false Ethnick Philosophy and doctrine which is grounded upon the wisdome of this world is unto this true Philosophy or wisdome which is extracted out from the Fountain of Truth Hereupon therefore it may appeare unto wise men how impossible it is for a Christian Philosopher who doth firmly adhere unto Aristotle's documents to be radicaâ—ly conversant in the true Catholick Faith ye cannot saith our Saviviour faithfully serve two Masters And for this reason St. Paul as is shewed before doth admonish us to beware of Philosophy and vain Fallacie which is grounded upon the traditions of men and Elements of this world and not upon Christ in whom is all the plenitude of Divinity corporally who is the head of dominations and potestates and consequently the life and animator of all Angelicall Spirits
plants relent liquifie and become animated and fluent the birds rejoyce and are quickened and the dull and senslesse aire is by little and little refreshed and taketh flight into the southern regions for reasons I will shew you in my demonstrative positions immediately following And yet for all the absence of the bright and inacting Spirit in the Sun it followeth but that one and the self-same Spirit which filleth all may alter his privative property when and where he list for we see oftentimes quite contrary unto the common constitution of the year that by it thunders and lightnings are effected in the midst and hardest of the winters and the winds which are most active namely the east and south blow beyond expectation all which is effected by him at his pleasure who operateth all in all how and by what means and where and when he list This therefore being well pondered I enter into the state of this my demonstration The demonstration or proof how the annuall winds are moved by the vivifying spirit which is in the Sun I have told you that the whole effect of the divine action in the humid nature of this inferiour world did consist in Congelation and Rarefaction and that the first was caused by the privative and northern act of Gods Spirit which doth operate by cold and the other by his positive operation which is guided by heat Now as these two have their dominion or depression by the presence or absence of the Sun so also is the universall aire more cold spisse opake and sluggish or stupid when the Sun is farthest off and again more hot subtle bright transparent agil and active when the Sun is nearest Mark therefore the properties of the aire included in the glazen vessell of the Calender-Instrument and remember that it is but one and the same Spirit in essence that worketh as well privativly as positivly for it was one and the same Spirit which was called by the Prophet from the north and south for the Text saith Veni spiritus à quatuor ventis c. wherefore this Spirit is it that governeth the universall sublunary aire as well privatively as positively And although this Spirit be most plentifully in the Sun yet it being neverthelesse every where is able at all times and in every place to expresse himself in both properties I come therefore unto the point or mark In the first Chapter of the first Book of this present Section I have most clearly demonstrated unto you that the aire included in the Weather-glasse hath in every respect a relation unto the aire or catholick element of the great world where also it is proved that the aeriall humid nature doth as exactly fill every place of the vaulted world where the earth or water are not lest any vacuity should be found in the cavity thereof no otherwise than the dilated aire in the head and neck of the Weather-glasse doth fill the cavity thereof and therefore as the aire included in the glasse doth work by dilatation at the presence of the Sun namely in the Summer-season when the externall aire is heaâ—ed so also and after the self-same manner will the aire of this northern hemisphear be dilated when the Sun is present yea and the nearer the Sun is and the more perpendicular his beams are the greater will the generall aire 's rarefaction be and consequently of that particular aire which is in the glasse On the other side when the Sun is absent from the Boreall hemisphear namely when it moveth beyond the Aequinoctiall then will the common aire in that hemisphear wax cold and be contracted and condensed and consequently the particular aire in the glasse will be contracted after the same proportion which may easily be measured or conceived by the degrees of ascent of the water in the glasse as the rarefaction may be collected by the descent thereof This therefore being well conceived or understood and that the cause of this rarefaction is the presence of this divine act in the sunny tabernacle and that the reason of the condensation is the absence or remotenesse of the said act or operating and emanating Spirit and consequently the presence of the divine puissance which is darknesse for as we said the absence of heat is the presence of cold which is the essentiall worker in the divine puissance and again the presence of heat is the absence of cold So also the absence of positive light conceiveth privative darknesse and the absence of privative darknesse imparteth the presence of positive light We may easily hereupon collect the reason of the annuall winds and perceive what their externall is and how that aire is animated by the vivifying Spirit which is sent out from the Sun Consider therefore that when the Sun is present with us the Summer is created by his presence the aire is calefacted by the bright beams of his Spirit and by calefaction is rarified and by reason of rarefaction of parts requireth a larger place for his existency As for example We put two pound of Vitreol into a Retort and fasten the nose thereof unto a huge Recipient or Receiver stopping the joynts fast that the spirits do no way expire We force out the Spirit from the Retort into the Receiver and we find it tried by experience that part of the Vitreol being dilated into spirits those spirits finding the ample Receiver not sufficient to contain them do violently break the Receiver into an infinity of pieces Whereby it is made plain that a thing which is condensed will occupy but a small place but when it is dilated it will require a very large continent for his existence All this is argued plainly by our experimentall Instrument for when the Sun is present the aire included is forthwith dilated more or lesse according unto the vigour of the solar spirits and winds that blow but when it is dilated it requireth by so much the more a larger place to be contained in by how much the more it is dilated or â—arified and that is proved thus namely because the water is thrust down by so many degrees lower by how many the aire excelleth in rarity So that it is evident that the onely reason why the water is precipitated more and more downwards is because being by degrees subtiliated it maketh it self a larger room to abide in Now that I have shewed you thus much mark that when the Sun commeth newly into an hemisphear where winter did reigne or had dominion and therefore the cold did incrass and thicken the aire as for example when it passeth from us into the southern hemisphear to convert the winter estate of that part into summer it doth forthwith begin to attenuate the aire of that part of the world and that aire so rarified being animated and as it were revived by the operating beams of the Suns bright spirit becommeth light-winged or feathered wherefore it flyeth away from the south and seeketh a larger place for
his abode or entertainment being that the australl hemisphear is not sufficient to receive his dilated body For this reason it is forced to pass a-traverse the Aequinoctiall and to visit by a successive motion the northern hemisphear and at its entrance therein to make a windy noise by reason of the thickness and coldness of the aire which resisteth the hot vaporous and lately dissolved or rarified aire which is animated with the southern light from whence it receiveth his agility And this aire thus animated and forced by the divine act in the Sunny tabernacle to fly from the south unto the north is that which we call the southern winde which for this reason happeneth so frequently among us in the beginning of winter namely immediately after the Sun hath passed the Aequinoctiall that is to say through Libra into Scorpio This is the reason that the southern winds I say are so plentifull among us in October November and December and consequently that we are saluted with such southern showers by reason that the northern coldness doth condense the fugitive southern aire into clouds as shall be told you in the description of the clouds All this is demonstrated out of the Weather-glass for at the heat of onely a mans hand being placed on the head of the Weather-glass the included aire is rarified and so dilateth it self and flyeth to an opposite Pole namely unto the heat of the cold water the which it beareth down before it On the other side the northern winds and the ice and snow which are more frequent in winter are caused by that breath or spirit which is sent forth from God in his potentiall and privative nature the which he doth exercise or put in execution in this world when the treasure house of his actuall power is farthest and therefore he hath ordained the Magazin or store-house of his cold in the poles of the world being farthest off from the Aequinoctiall For this reason it is said in Scriptures that cold commeth from the north and that before the cola of God who can consist and that the breath of God maketh ice and frost And again Hast thou come into the treasure-house of the snowes or hast thou any knowledge in the treasury of the hail Neither is Gods actuall light severed or distinguished from him though he breathe at his pleasure from the north in his potentiall or privative property for darknesse unto him is as light And for this reason also when he is displeased he breatheth from the north as well in lightning and thunder as in snow and hail Whereupon Ezekiel said Behold a whirl-winde came out of the north and a great cloud involved with fire c. And yet both the cold snow hail and frost and the lightnings and melting heats proceed but from one and the same spirit though divers in properties which as I said was by the same Prophet called from the four winds that is to say one and the same word in essence but multi-form in property Of which the Psalmist God sending forth his word upon the earth by it he poureth down snow on the earth like wool and disperseth the frost like ashes who can resist against his cold So soon as he sendeth out his word it doth liquifie them so soon as he bloweth forth his winde the waters begin to flow and the snow frost and ice to melt Whereby it is evident that God is ever one in himselfe wheresoever he be namely be he in the north where he operateth privation or in the Sun in which he doth expresse his actuall glory Yet doth his Volunty as well as his Nolunty that is his positive property as well as his privative accompany the unity of his essence As for example His negative property in his positive was discerned when he made the Sun to stand still at Joshuah's prayer and to go backwards or become retrograde for the confirmation of Hezekia's belief And his absolute privative when at the death of our Saviour he contracted his manifested bright glory into the center So that the Sun became as black as pitch I conclude therfore that when this potentiall property of the Divine Spirit doth move or act in the aire the aire is sucked towards the pole or center and so is made Frost Snow c. In which space our experimentall Instrument sheweth a nature quiâ—e contrary from the precedent For after the imitation of the aire in the great world it is contracted and sucked up into the bolts-head as to the cold pole and this then demonstrateth that the catholick externall aire doth also work after the same fashion It appeareth therefore that the reason of this emitted Spirit is occult and not known unto any of us that are drowned in the abysse of Ignorance but onely is made known unto him who hath been so happy as to be instructed by the true Wisdome of God which Solomon confesseth to be the worker of all things and therefore the most faithfull Schoole-mistress to teach all mysteries But I will proceed further in the search and inquiry of this Ethnick Peripatetick man's skill in the Science and knowledg of Meteorology And first I will see what he can say touching the Generation of the clowds and the rain CHAP. V. How Aristotle's Doctrine touching the Generation of the Clowds and production of the Drops of Rain is found to be altogether contradictory unto the true Wisdome's Institutions WE will now come unto our inquiry and examination of Aristotle's skill in the watry Meteors and because that the causes of mists called Nebulae and thinner clowds termed Nubeculae are comprehended under the title of Nubes or Clowds I will onely insist upon the Mystery of the clowdy impression For I purpose not to make any great Volume of words to weary your eies with reading them over but onely to touch with brevity such kinds of principall Meteors as may in their generality include by their descriptions every speciality that may be comprehended under them I will therefore briefly begin with Aristotle's opinion and then compare it with the Testimony of holy Writ that thereby the essence of it may be examined with the fire of verity to see whether it will indure the Test or withstand the tryalls of Truth 's touch-stone or no. His opinion therefore with that of his Christian followers is that A clowd is produced of a vapour which is elevated from the earth and water into the middle region of the aire by the attractive power of the Sun or Starrs where it is contracted and as it were congealed into the consistence of a visible clowd by vertue of the extreame coldnesse of the place the which clowd is afterwards partly by the heat of the Sun and partly by the force of the winds carried or forced this way and that way through the middle region of the aire Lo this is the Substance of the Peripateticall definition of a clowd Now that we may
for the words following importeth so much which are Appendit aquas seu nubes in mensura He hangeth or ballanceth the waters or clowds by measure or attenuateth it into lightnings as the words following do witnesse So that he seemeth to aver that the invisible aire is altered according to weight and measure into the bodies or substances of the visible clowds which afterwards are resolved into rain and fiery lightnings which by compression do appear Again that it is neither the earth nor waters from which the existence or substance of a clowd is made but onely the aire we plainly do gather out of these words in Deuteronomy Aperiet tibi IEHOVA the saurum suum optimum â—oelos dando pluviam terrae tuae suo tempore IEHOVA will open his best treasury the heavens giving rain unto thy earth in due season Out of which words observe first that by the heavens is meant the Aire for in the aire the clowds are procreated and again the aire is called heaven in many places of Scripture as volatilia coeli the fouls or birds of heaven And therefore this is the sacrarium divinum the divine treasury or treasure-house out of the which God at his pleasure produceth and fashioneth the clowds Secondly that the aire is called his best treasury and therefore it is out of it that not onely he doth extract his meteorologicall creatures but also that wise-men do enquire after their mysticall summum bonum and Christian Philosophers that are well grounded the character of the divine wisdom Again it is said in another place Propterea aperti sunt thesauri evolarunt nubes nebulae sicut aves Therefore his treasuries are opened and the clowds did fly out like birds But this is made yet more evident by these plain words of Job Subitò aer condensabitur in nubes ventus transiens fugabit eas The aire will suddenly be condensed or thickned into clowds and the moving winde will drive them before it By which words it is apparent that the aire is the subject out of the which the clowds are compacted and framed and that the heavens are the onely treasury out of the which they are collected and therefore neither the earth nor the water as Aristotle would have it which if it were true indeed mark what an absurd impossibility must follow For then whereas the Sun doth attenuate the aire in the summer-season it would contrary unto reason condense it by the continuall raising of vapours and then a greater absurdity would follow on the neck of this to destroy Aristotles tenent touching the generation of the clowds for then we should have more clowds and rain in the summer than winter being that there are made more vapours at that season by the Suns heat and emptying of ponds and rivers then in the winter which experience proveth false And lastly it is neither the heat of the Sun nor Stars but the eternall Spirit of JEHOVA whose dominion is over the angelicall winds by which he moveth and operateth all these alterations in the air and by the aire as shall be told you hereafter And therefore it was said By his wisdom he giveth weight unto the aire and hangeth the clowds in measure and assigneth rules unto the rain and proportioneth a way or passage unto the lightnings and thunders c. But I come unto the second Doubt To the resolution of the second doubt I say that there is another manner of reason for the incrassation and condensation of an invisible vapour or the aire into a cloud than that which Aristotle and his followers have assigned and set down for whereas he saith that this feat is performed by the contractive cold of the middle region of the aire it may be wondered at why this effect is not wrought as well at other times as when the winds do blow from their certain quarters of the earth for when the southerly winds have dominion then do we see clouds to multiply and the rain to poure down in the greatest abundance I would fain know of these Peripateticks why the vapours should be raised so thick just at that time when the wind bloweth from the south to make a greater abundance of clowds in the aire then at another season namely when they have no dominion Or why should the cold of the middle region of the aire be apter to coagulate or curdle vapours at that time than at other times being that the warm clouds or dense aire which is driven from the Aequinoctiall do moderate the middle region's cold through which they glide by reason of their hot temper Verily I know that they are ignorant what to answer touching this point and therefore I will presse them no further But I will tell you of an experiment of mine own whereby I was induced unto the truth concerning the generation of the mists and clouds When in my travells I went or journeyed from Venice unto Augusta or Ausburg in Germany as I travelled between the high mountains and rocks of the Alps upon a certain day when the heavens were passing clear and without any cloud to be seen in the Horizon the Sun also as in these times it must needs being passing bright I espied on the top of a steepy mountain on the which the Sun-beams did strongly beat a certain fogg or mist by little and little to arise and ever it thickned more and more untill it grew from a sleight vapour unto a mist and from a foggy mist at the last unto a thick cloud and all this while the aire was every where clear except only on that side the hill from the top unto the bottom which we beheld It made me a little to marvell and therefore alighting from our Coach I took some grasse and flung it into the aire to try which way the wind did blow and I found it to be full upon or against that eminent hlll which was advanced towards the heavens above his fellows Whereupon I did streight-way gather that the degrees of progression from a vapour unto a mist and from a mist unto a fogg and so forward unto the consistence of a clowd was by compression of the common aire which was chased before the winde by little and little against the lofty rock or mountain which hindering of it in its passage or flight was the cause that the consequent-aire was added unto the precedent and so by adding and compressing of parts of the aire unto other parts a perfect clowd onely conformable unto that part of the mountain was made which forthwith when it became ponderous and apt to endure the reflexion of the Sun did resolve it self for four miles space on this side the rock into rain all the rest of the aire remaining still clear and without any clowd Whereby I did forthwith conceive that clowds were not ingendered after the manner described by the Peripateticks that is by the vapours rising out of the earth and waters but by
the inspissation or incrassation of the thin and invisible aire into a thick dense and visible clowd according unto the before-mentioned place of Job Subitò aer condensabitur in nubes transiens ventus fugabit eas But then I was a little troubled when I remembred that mountains and high rocks cannot by their resistance and stopping of the fugitive aire be alwaies the cause of the clowds being that we find that clowds do every where appear yea in the plain deserts and open seas where no hills are Whereupon after that I had a little while considered and well pondered this objection with my self I did quickly conceive an infallible answer and resolution of this doubt considering that there is not a winde that bloweth in the heavens with dominion but hath some opposite or transversall winde which bloweth with it though it be not discerned by reason that the mightier winde doth darken or obscure the action of the weaker even as in the open Sun a candle is scarcely to be discerned Now that at one and the same time two or more winds do blow I will prove it by common experience for being often on the seas I have observed that when the predominant winde hath fallen a little in his force by fits and hath urged the sayl of the Ship but weakly an opposite winde hath immediately bewrayed it self and moved the sail the contrary way untill the other rising again did replenish and fill up the sail towards our determined mark which made for our purpose But we have also Scriptures to testifie that opposite winds do often blow at one and the same instant for first the self same Spirit was evoked from the quarters of the four winds by Ezekiel and Daniel Ecce quatuor venti caeli pugnabant in mari magno Behold the four winds did fight together in a great sea And Zacharias Isti quatuor equi sunt quatuor venti coeli qui egrediuntur stant coram Dominatore omnis carnis These four horses are the four winds of the heaven which goe forth and stand before the Lord of all flesh Whereby it is evident that not one or two winds but many winds may blow in the heavens at once for by their opposite blasts clowds whirl-winds tempests lightning and thunders are commonly effected All which the profound Poet Homer seemeth to include in a few Verses translated thus into Latin Tantus coelesti rumor percrebuit Aulà Cum saeva alterni ruerent in praelia Divi Neptunum contra bellabat Phoebus Apollo Adversus Martem certabat Pallas Athenae Great noise was raised in the Elisian hall When gods with gods did enter cruell wars Phoebus Apollo there with Neptune jars Pallas of Athens foul with Mars doth fall Where he understandeth by the gods the opposite angelicall spirits which issue from the winds who at their meeting in the open aeriall sea do fight and tempestuously strive with one another according unto the sense of the precedent text of Daniel For by Neptune he meaneth the president of the occidentall winds which are cold moist and waterish and by Phoebus he intendeth the orientall president whose blasts are hot dry and fiery but by Mars is signified the thunder and lightning Also Ovid doth most notably expresse the combat which is effected amongst the winds in these verses speaking in the person of Boreas or the north-winde Idem ego quum fratres coelo sum nactus aperto Nam mihi campus is est tanto molimine luctor Ut medius nostris concussibus insonet Aether Exiliantque cavis elisi nubibus ignes When as I meet my brethren in the aire Which is my field I wrestle with such ire That middle heavens do Eccho at our fare And hollow clowds do vent forth flashing fire Where by Fratres Boreas or the North-wind understandeth the Southern blast and the other cardinall winds the which when Boreas meeteth in the aire do produce by their contentious struglings and wrastlings thunder whirl-winds and such like tempestuous storms And therefore we ought not to make any doubt but that two or more winds do blow at one and the same time either oppositely or transversally in the open aire whereby the intermediate invisible aire is by compression thickened or condensed from the existence of a mean aire into a scarce visible vaporous substance and so unto a more visible misty corpulency and lastly into a most apparent and visible clowd the which clowd neverthelesse is pushed and driven forward by that wind in the heaven which hath the greatest dominion and denomination for his power confirming in every point that which is spoken by Job and cited before Subito aer condensabitur in nubes ventus transiens fugabit eas The aire will suddenly be thickened into clouds and the winde which moveth in the aire will drive them before it So that it is easily to be gathered that a clowd is framed of the aire after this fashion The aire filling the whole vaulty heaven and therefore the sublunary world is violently forced to move before the breath of one winde and being encountered in its flight by an opposite winde unto the first though of a weaker force it resists the chased aire in its motion and by that resistance aire being joyned unto aire doth thicken by degrees even as I told you the steep mountain or rock denying passage unto the aire which flyed and eschewed the persecuting winde was the cause of his condensation This therefore being rightly considered it is apparent that the Peripateticall assertion is unjust and erroneous forasmuch as it averreth that a vapour raised out out of the earth and water up to the middle region of the aire is by the coldnesse of the place metamorphosed or changed into the form and substance of a clowd the which also as is already proved is most improbable because the southerly winds which are the chiefest parents of the clowds and rain in abundance seeing that they are hot by reason of the places temper from whence they are sent would rather qualifie as is already said by their warmth the coldnesse of the region through which they march or passe and therefore would either disannull the effect of that property of cold or else so weaken and dull the power of it that if it produced any clowds they would prove more thin and small ones then any other of the cold winds as also the winde Eurus would effect the same by reason of his great heat And yet we find all this quite contrary by experience for the southerly winds do incrassate and produce clowds that are in generall more moist and thick then any of the other are accustomed to do yea verily the south winde doth so condense the aire by his presence that as Isidorus doth affirm it maketh objects appear greater unto the sight then indeed they are I come now unto the Resolution of the third Doubt Touching the third and last doubt which is Whether the
clouds be onely Superficially moved by externall winds and the heat of the Sun as Aristotle's imagination is and not by any centrall agent which ruleth it as it pleaseth and at whose Command the winds themselves are obedient Verily I answer that contrary unto the intention of the Peripateticks the clowds have their inward agenâ— the which calleth the winds to effect his will and push and move forward hiâ— clowdy vehicle or Chariot when where and which way he pleaseth For as this Agent is catholick so is he not absent from the Spirit of the winds though centrally present in the cloud For he being present with and in the spirit of the winds doth in and by the Angelicall Spirits of the winds operate centrally in the aire and by the contracting act in himself gathering the aire together into a clowd which he maketh his vehicle or Chariot Therefore it is said in one place Nubibus densis obtegit Deus coelos quae comparent terrae pluviam qui facit ut proferant montes foenum dent jumentis cibum God filleth the heavens with clowds that they might bring forth rain unto the earth that thereby hay or grass may spring forth for the nourishment of Cattle Out of which speech we may gather First that God by his windy Ministers doth condense and shape out the aire into clowds For the stormy winds are said to effect the Will and Word of God Then that this was no miraculous work but a common work in nature being that it is daily effected to produce grass herbs and plants for the sustenance of living creatures And Job Densae nubes tugurium ejus The thick clowds are his dwelling place And David Nubem expandit Deus pro tegumento God spreadeth abroad the clowd for a covering And Moses Descendit Dominus in nube loquutus est ad eum The Lord descended in a clowd and spake unto him But all this which is said touching this point is notably expressed in these words of Samuel Inclinavit IEHOVA coelos descendit caligo sub pedibus ejus ascendit super Cherubin volavit lapsus est super pennes venti Posuit tenebras in circuitu suo laâ—ibulum cribrans aquas de nubibus coelorum prae fulgore in conspectu ejus nubes accensae sunt IEHOVA did bow down or incline the heavens and ascended and darknesse was under his feet and he ascended upon a Cherubin and did fly and glide upon the wings of the wind He made darknesse his hiding place sifting out waters from the clowds of heaven and the clowds are set on fire at the sight of him c. In which relation of holy Writ what I have spoken before is notably set forth For first it is said that God ascended or mounted on the Cherubin which is an airy Angell then that he did glide upon the wings of the wind arguing thereby that the aire being animated by the Angelicall Spirit was made a wind in the which the Word or Spirit of God did move and then after this he in and by the wind did shape out his dark Tabernacle For it is said He made darkness his hiding place that is he made the dark clowds his Chariot For David hath it thus Nubes densae vehiculum seu currus Dei qui itat super alas venti The thick clowds are a vehicle or Chariot of God who rideth or walketh upon the wings of the winds In another place it is called Mons Dei coagulatus in quo bene placitum est Deo inhabitare The condensed curdled or coagulated Mountain of God in which it is pleasing unto him to dwel So that it is evident that the Spirit of God moveth the Angelicall Spirit the Angelicall Spirit exciteth and informeth the aire with a windy nature Forasmuch as by his moving in it the aire is made a windy spirit and therefore the Prophet said Qui facis Angelos ventos then that animated aire by opposit Angelicall Spirits incited by one and the same Divinity doth reduce the common aire into clowds which are the Chariots of him who essentially doth act and operate all these things by divers Organs one within another which vary in dignity from one another For by how much the more internall a thing is the more worthy and noble or veruous it is esteemed because they approach nearest unto that essence in Divinity which acteth and operateth centrally all in all That God doth move in the Thunders speaketh out of the whirl-wind and clowds and is at his pleasure a consuming fire and that he operateth centrally in the winds clowds Snow and Tempests and that all these are effected by his Spirit of Wisdome the Scriptures do here and there in most places express And therefore it is vainly said that the clowds only move by the Sun-beams or the externall pushing winds caused of so vain impossible Principles as Aristotle telleth us when it is the Tabernacle in which that Eternall Spirit is pleased to abide or a Chariot in which he is delighted to ride whose horses as Zachary saith are the winds or rather the Cherubinicall Spirits which he doth animate So that the volunty or centrall principle of the motion is in the clowd but the Angells and winds are the Ministers or organicall Agents which move according unto the willer wherefore though we proved before that the aire was thickned into clowds and that the following wind did drive them before it yet the willer and commander of this Generation of clowds by the winds was the onely and essentiall internall principle or centrall mover in the clowds which by his will made his Ministers to move him where or to what purpose he pleased And therefore Solomon Sapientia ejus abyssi ruperunt sese coeli distillant rorem By his Wisdome the abysse brake forth and did rain down the dew And Flante Deo concrescit gelu God blowing the Ice is gathered together Again Sapientia aptat pondus aeâ—i appendit aquas in mensura Wisdome doth proportion the weight of the aire and hangeth the waters in measure c. We may therefore boldy conclude against both Aristotle and all other doctrine of the Ethnicks that neither the earth nor the water are the immediate fountains of the clowds but the heavens or aire which is the Treasure-house of God neither is it the cold of the middle region of the aire which condenseth any imaginary surging or ascending vapours arising from beneath but that centrall animating Spirit born or gliding on the wings of the wind residing but not inclusively in the cloud who according unto his pleasure by the means of his organicall Ministers the Angelicall winds fashioneth forth the clouds to serve as a cover or tabernacle unto it And therefore the cloud acteth not by the heat of the Sun but by the Divine Light that is centrally in it which as an Emperour sitteth upon the Cherubins which are airy
and windy Angels as the Seraphins are fiery Spirits and so moveth upon the wings of the wind or aire which his Angelicall Cherubin doth animate So that in and by the windy Organ he is said to blow when and where he list It is I say the Eternall Spirit of Wisdome which is in brightness and vertue more noble then the Sun of Heaven as Solomon testifieth For as much as it also giveth life and splendor unto the Sun And therefore it is said to excell the Sun in brightness which is the onely efficient cause or formall and essentiall Agent in this business and consequently neither the Sun or any other of the created host of Heaven It is I say again the all-creating Spirit and not the created which is the generall act and onely formall mover in the Meteors whom his Angelicall Ministers which do ever stand before this Lord of all the earth that I may speak with the Prophet Zachary are ready to assist as Organs or instrumentall causes to execute his will It is I say the essentiall wind or Spirit which bloweth from the center of the cloud and moveth or inciteth his spirituall created Organs according unto his will For by it his Spirit also moveth in the Angels and winds causing them to effect his Command according unto David's assertion Wherefore we may see by this which is said how incongruous is this opinion of the Ethnick Peripatetick unto the Truth and how far it derogateth from the right of God's Word and consequently what an errour it is in our Christian Philosophers to follow and imitate his learning with such a devotion and fervency as if they were Theodidacti taught by God himself when in verity his doctrine doth rather disswade Christians from the knowledg of him in his works then instruct them therein being it perswadeth them that things are effected both in heaven above and in the earth and in the waters beneath by vain waies and accidentally that is to say meerly by naturall causes onely and so would blemish the honour and reputation of Him who in verity is all in all and operateth all in all and that not by constraint as the vain Peripatetick imagineth but according unto his Will as it is proved before CHAP. VI. The true and essentiall Definition or rather description of a Cloud is set forth in this Chapter WEll then will they reply Let us understand how you can better define or describe the nature of a clowd according unto that holy Philosophy and true Wisdom which you seem to profess To the which I answer that I am willing and that after a divers manner though agreeing in one unity of Essence A clowd is the revealing and making manifest of the invisible mundan spirit which is hidden in the treasury of God namely the heavens by the centrall operation of the divine wisdom and his windy ministers being incited thereunto by the will of God into a vaporous heap or clowdy substance which the said spirit of wisdom erecteth for his secret place or vehicle to move in and for the effecting of his will as well in heaven above as in the earth and waters beneath Or after this manner A clowd is the reducing of the invisible aire into a visible thick and gloomy consistence which is by the will of God effected through the concurrence or meeting together of opposite or transversall winds for the accomplishment of his secret will and pleasure Or else thus A clowd is a certain visible condensed heap of aire the which the Spirit of wisdom being expansed every wheâ—e doth make and compose as it were of nothing that is to say of an airy invisible somewhat which it extracteth out of his mysticall treasury to do and effect the will of God as well in heaven as in earth In which definitions or rather descriptions the materiall substance seemeth to be a coagulated mist or condensed masse or heap of aire the formall cause is set out in the shape and form of the clowd the efficient cause or centrall agent is the essentiall act of the divine wisdom who employeth and exciteth his windy ministers to work externally by the way of compression We have also the magazine or treasury out of which the substance of the winds is produced namely the heavens or aire which is termed Arca Dei thesauraria The chist or cabinet of Gods treasures To conclude the finall cause is manifested in this that the clowd is ordained to bring forth the effects as well of Gods clemency and benignity as of his severity and anger Now for the defence of the first part of these descriptions we find it thus written Deus sapientia suâ apt at pondus aeri appendit aquas in mensura facit pluviae statuta viam fulgetro tonitruum c. God doth by his wisdom proportionate the weight of the aire and hangeth the waters or clowds in measure assigneth lawes unto the rain and maketh a way unto the lightnings of the thunder That is to say according unto the will and ordination of the divine Spirit the aire or substance of heaven is changed from a lighter or thinner estate or weight unto a heavier or thicker the degrees of which mutation are expressed in the words following for first it was aire then clowds then rain or vulgar water Also the Text doth seem to make the lightnings internall or formall light of the clowd which is not revealed but by the violation or ruption of the compound and ablation of darkness Again it is said by Job as is already related Aer condensabitur in nubes ventus transiens fugabit eas The aire will be thickned into clowds And touching the clowds of snow Congregatio spiritus aspergit nivem The aire being gathered together doth scatter the snow on the earth Touching the efficient cause it appeareth to be God or the eternall Wisdom and therefore in the precedent Text it is said Deus sapientia sua aptat pondus aeri appendit aquas vel nubes in mensura God by his wisdom hangeth or ballanceth the waters or clowds in measure And again Nubibus densis obtegit Deus coelos God covereth the heavens with thick clowds But all this is sufficiently expressed before As for the finall cause set down in the foresaid definitions it is confirmed by Scriptures in this fashion Pro irrigatione fatigat Deus den sam nubem dispergit lucem nubis suae quodcunque praecipit illis faciendum in terra sive ad flagellum sive ad faciendam beneficentiam efficiet ut presiò sit God wearieth the thick clowd for the watering of the earth and he disperseth every where the light of his clowd whatsoever he commandeth them to be done upon the earth whether it be for a scourge or else in favour and benignity he maketh them to be ready to accomplish it And Baruch saith When God commandeth the clowds that they passe over the whole earth they
perform what is commanded them So that we see these creatures are drawn out of their secret dwellings to do the will of him that created them CHAP. VII How by our experimentall Instrument the reasâ—n of the composition of clowds is ocularly demonstrated A so in this the Snow is defined falsly and truly NOw I think it most fit to demonstrate unto you how the clowds are procreated by the opposite blast of two winds of a contrary nature namely of the Southerly wind in eminency and dominion and a Northerly spirit which also bloweth but insensibly I told you in the Chapter where I did demonstrate by our experimentall Instrument the reason of the Southerly winds which happen in winter that as the aire included in the Weather-glasse did by the onely touch of a warm hand dilate it self and in dilatation fly from the hand of the toucher unto the cold region of the water which was evidently proved and maintained because the water did suddainly thereupon move downward So also the grosse winter aire in the southern hemisphear did at the approach of the Sun unto the parts beyond the Line dilate it self by vertue of that ever-acting and subtiliating spirit which put his tabernacle in the Sun so that the southern dilated aire posted apace or flew hastily away to seek a larger place but comming into the northern hemisphear which by reason of the Sun's absence became brumall or wintry the constant aire of that region being now contracted by the northern cold and the north-wind by reason of the colds dominion blowing more or lesse though insensibly it meeting with the warm southerly spirit condenseth it with the rest into clowds and this is the reason that alwaies almost and that is where no northern blasts are discerned that the southerly winds do bring abundance of clowds and rain with them for that the hot southerly vertue of the divine agent doth more and more subtiliate and rarifie the winter aire which it found there till it had by rarefaction purified it and reduced it unto the nature of a true Summer aire so that the superfluous parts of the aire after rarefaction were chased away as is said into the northern region where it is condensed again partly by the privative act of the divine puissance and partly by the spissitude of the northern aire which denyeth it free passage into the form of clowds For the cold spisse aire of the northern hemisphear agitated and animated by the northern blast or property resisteth the hot vaporous aire and so it condenseth by little and little To conclude I could here set down the Aristotelian definitions of the snow frost hail ice and such like other meteors and then check and contradict them mainly by other true descriptions of them proved by the testimony of holy writ As for example Aristotle seemeth to aver that the snow is a clowd congealed by the great cold which before it be perfectly dissolved into water by a vaporous disposition it is changed into a snowy substance In which definition because he is ignorant as hath been proved already in the fabrick of a clowd we ought in no case believe him Again he digresseth from the tenour of Scriptures according unto the mind whereof we have defined the snow thus The Snow is a meteor which God draweth forth of his hidden treasury in the form of wool to effect his will upon the earth either by way of punishment or clemency Or thus The Snow is a creature produced out of the air or heavenly treasury of God by the cold breath or blast of the divine spirit in the form of wool to perform his will on the earth Where the fountain of his originall substance is made the aire or the matter of the heavens and therefore the Text hath it Congregatio speritus aspergit nivem The gathering together or condensation of the spirit ingendereth and sprinkleth the snow upon the earth And Job Pervenistine in the sauris nivis Camest thou into the treasury of the snow Also the form and efficient cause is expressed thus Deus verbo suo nives emittit sicut lanam coram frigore ejus quis consistat God by his word sendeth out the snow like wool who is able to resist his cold So that God by his Word which doth operate in his privative property by his cold is the essentiall efficient and omnipotent actor in the production of the snow I could I say effect all this at large but because my minde is not to dwell upon on these particulars forasmuch as in the description of the clowd I have sufficiently pointed at the rest I will proceed unto my enquiry touching Aristotle's opinion concerning the beginning of fountains that we may perceive thereby whether he have erred as far in that mystery as he hath done in the rest CHAP. VIII What Aristotle's opinion is touching the generation of Fountains and Rivers and whether he in his opinion doth jump with the verity of the true wisdom SInce therefore it is apparent that Aristotles doctrine is erroneous and deceiptfull touching the generation and essence of the winds and clowds we purpose in the third place to bring his judgment and opinion concerning the beginning and originall of fountaines and rivers unto the touch-stone of truth that thereby we may perceive whether it will endure the tryall and not shrink as the proverb is in the wetting The Peripateticks as well Christians as Gentiles are as much deceived in their meteorologicall grounds concerning the generation of fountains and rivers as in the rest of which we have spoken before and therefore their Master Aristotle all things being well pondered in the ballance of justice ought to be accounted of all true Christians for a seducer and deceiver of the world and consequently his doctrine touching this point ought of right to be repudiated and rejected Aristotle with his peripateticall sect or faction are of opinion that being the belly or bowells of the earth is full of cavities and hollow passages vapours to avoid vacuity must needs ascend from the center or bottom of it the which cleaving in their ascent unto the sides of the hollow vaults and streighter passages or veines of the earth do resolve into water which distilling down by drops do ingender fountaines and rivers In the which opinion of theirs they conclude that the matter of fountains is nothing else but a vapour arising from the bottom of the earth and resolved liquefied or condensed into water through cold and heat together within the earth no otherwise then after their saying the clowd rain snow and hail do arise and are generated in the aire of a vapour first condensed and afterwards liquefied But if we shall duely examine every member of this their description we shall perceive that they require as well a double matter as formall agent in this generation of fountaines for they faign that the remote matter is a vapour and then the near and immediate
calore simul intra terram The holy Scriptures do not agree with the Naturalists concerning the Originall of Rivers and Fountains which Ecclesiastes 1. saith to flow by divers channels or passages out of the Sea and to flow again unto their Fountains saying All rivers enter into the Sea and the Sea is not the greater they return again unto the place from whence they came c. Whereby it is plain that he must accuse his Master of false doctrine or else he must condemn Solomon in his Judgment For if the one be contradictory unto the other it ought of all wise-men to be chased away or expelled from Christian mens remembrance Now it were a foolish thing for any religious person to say that the divinely-wise Solomon lied to save the reputation of the Ethnick of diabolically wise Aristotle But if they would yet will I teach them in the next Chapter by an evident ocular demonstration that Solomon's assertion is most true and that of Aristotle's most erroneous and fantasticall I conclude therefore that I gather out of the aforesaid places of the Bible that this following Definition doth best agree with the nature of a Fountain A Fountain is a continuated Flux of water issuing from the Sea as from his beginning and flowing into bowells of the earth and after that from the bowells of the earth as from the mean by which it passeth unto the upper or higher Superficies of it by vertue of the divine act in the mundan Spirit as well positive or dilative as privative and contractive for the benefit and sustenance both of man and beast In which definition plain water without any alteration of his shape is expressed for the materiall cause and is said to have its beginning from the Sea from whence it moveth unto the Mountain's tops The efficient cause of this work we find to be the act of the Divine Word in a double property as shall be more at large demonstrated in the next Chapter And hereupon Solomon said Sapientia erat apuâ— IEHOVAM in principio viae suae cuncta componens quaâ—do roborabat fontes abyssi ponebat mari statum Wisdome was with IEHOVAH in the beginning of his waies as a composer of all things when he did establish the Fountains of the abysse and set the Sea within his limits or bounds And lastly The finall cause is to give drink and food unto both man and beast as we may gather out of the forementioned Text of the royall Prophet We come now unto the demonstration CHAP. IX Wherein Solomon's assertion touching the Fountains and Rivers is maintained partly by an ocular demonstration and partly by true Philosophicall reasons which are founded thereon I Did advertise you Learned Reader in my precedent discourse that Gods Spirit doth operate annually in the common Element of the Sublunary world by a double vertue whereof the one is dilative which is effected in his positive and manifest property namely in his light active and warm disposition the principall Treasury and store-house whereof he hath made the Sun Forasmuch as his bright emanating Spirit of Wisdome did elect that pure vessell for his Tabernacle The other is contractive which is effected in his privative and secret condition namely in his dark fixing and cooling disposition whose principall treasury is about the poles Forasmuch as it being contrary in effect with the first is seated in the farthest quarters or points of the world from the Sun So that as the vivifying Spirit which is seated in the Sun doth by his presence operate onely by dilatation in the common sublunary Element in banishing of the Northern cold and undoing the actions thereof by the way of Rarefaction In like manner by the absence of the Sun the spirits of the Polar property doth take possession of that portion of the Element and undoeth by the way of congelation all the subtill actions of the Spirituall and active solar vertue As for example all that in the winter time among the nations of the Southern world that is to say beyond the line the Sun being then in the Northern Hemisphere causing by his vertuous Spirit our Summer season the Antartick pole's cold property doth effect namely in thickning the aire raising the Fountains or Springs and multiplying the waters producing the Snows Frost Ice and Hail mortifying the herbs fruits and plants and such like the Sun at his next visitation of those quarters which will be in our Northern winter by the vetue of that dilating and vivifying Spirit from the Fountain and Father of Light which aboundeth in it will undo converting the thick aire to thin striking down the Fountains more towards the bowels of the Earth which were raised in the winter dissolving the Snow Frost ice and hail and of fix and opake bodies making them movable and transparent waters reviving the spirit of the trees plants and herbs which were almost livelesse through congelation and renewing their mourning bodies with new green garments blossoms and flowers and lastly with wholsome fruit To conâ—lude there is nothing that the polar cold prevaileth over in the one hemisphear but the solar heat operateth contrarily by the same pâ—oportion in the oppoâ—ite region of the world for else the world must endure an augmentation or a diminution in its substance that is sometimes it would be bigger and sometimes lesser But as Sâ—lomon averred that the seas for all the comming in of rivers are never the greater so also though fountains rise in one part of the world and sinke in another and although also the aire by attenuation made by the active spirit of the Lord moveth from the warm or summer hemisphear unto the cold and winter hemisphear yet is the world no bigger or lesser in its existency for all that What therefore the winter properly doth operate in one hemisphear of the world the summer-hemisphear must needs act in the same proportion in the contrary for if beyond the Line are made great raines in their winter we must needs have great drought in the summer on this side the Line When it is hottest with us it will be coldest with them if it prove temperate with us it will be so with them as the Sun being in the Aequinoctiall maketh daies and nights equally long and the season temperate to both hemispheares These things therefore being considered maturely in the first place I proceed unto my practicall conclusion and my naturall observation thereupon is that the aire included in the Weather-glasse is made Hybernall or of the nature of winter by the dominion of cold for as soon as the head of it feeleth the externall cold the contained aire will immediately shrinck up and contract it self into a little space and consequently the aire is made more dense and thick and that this is so it appeareth by the mounting or attracting up of the water for there is such a naturall tye betwixt the one and the other that if the one contracteth it self in a
narrower place namely the aire then the water will immediately mount up with it and to it because it is contiguous unto the aire By this therefore it is apparent that the contracting and attracting vertue of the northern spirit or rather divine puissance which is made manifest in cold doth first attract contract and condense the dilated aire and then the aire so contracted by the northern spirit doth draw or attract the water from beneath upwards and that without altering of that water which was beneath in any thing from that which is above so that in conclusion it is but one and the self-same water Lo here therefore it is by this demonstration proved feazible and possible that water may be sucked and drawn from the caverns of the earth which is fostered and maintained by the sea even unto the top of the high mountains and that by a naturall means or operation without any necessity of altering the form of the water into vapour as Aristotle doth vainly surmize and that contrary unto his axiom Frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora That is vainly done by many which may be effected by a fewer Contrariwise we see and observe in the Weather-glasse that if the dilative vertue of the present Sun or hot winds doth heat the head of the Weather-glasse or inflame the outward aire then the aire within the glasse will also dilate it self and by its dilatation will strike down or precipitate the water that the aire contracted by cold had sucked or drawn up and again the visible sinking of the water doth point at and prove the invisible dilatation of the air CHAP. X. That the actions of contraction and dilatation and consequently of attraction and expulsion of aire in the Weather-glasse with the effects of the elevation and depression of the water which are caused thereby are most conveniently applyed unto the aire and water in the world WE must consider as I have said before that the catholick air and water in the world filleth the whole vaulty cavity thereof no otherwise then the air in the Weather-glasse filleth the hollowness thereof so that the fountains of all the world issuing from one sea do seem to penetrate into the bowells of the earth and fill the generall veines thereof being sucked and drawn up unto them by that self-same reason by the which the water is exalted into the uppermost part of the neck of the glasse and by this reason there is an evident relation between the fountaines of the northern hemisphear and those of the southern forasmuch as it is expressed before that the southerly aire which is on that side the Aequinoctiall line is continued in his homogeneall nature with that on this side the line So that the flying dilated aire passeth from the south and is condensed into clowds in the north Wherefore it is apparent that the matter which feedeth the fountains in the north are more or lesse continuated unto those of the south as the waters that are raised up into the highest degree of the glasse are continued with them in the lower all which is fed and maintained with the pot of water which we compare unto the sea In which figure EFG is the northern hemisphear where the Sun is absent and therefore winter inhabiteth there and cold hath his dominion EHG is the southern hemisphear where the Sun is present and therefore summer dwelleth there and heat hath dominion EG is the Aequinoctiall line which is as it were the barr that divideth the northern region from the southern A and B is the hollow vein in the earth which continueth from the northern region to the southern that there might be a relation between or continuation in some measure of the northern and southern waters as well as of the northern and southern aire of heaven for being the wide sea D. which stretcheth from north to south is the head from whence all springs and rivers do originally arise I see no reason that it should seem strange to any man that I say the northern fountains have relation by a continuity of substance unto the southern and therefore the southern unto the northern Wherefore I conclude that when the catholick northern aire of the hemisphear EFG is cold it sucketh or contracteth unto it the aire in the vein of the earth A the which aire being contracted elevateth of the water out of the wide sea D as is evidently demonstrated by the Weather-glasse for when the cold externall aire hath contracted by congelation the aire in the head and neck of the glasse which head and neck I compare unto the veine in the earth for the vein of the earth is close and expireth no way then the water is drawn up by the contraction of the aire out of the vast water in the pot or basin which I compare unto the sea On the other side in the summer or southern hemisphear EHG where the Sun is present the catholick aire is subtiliated or rarified and dilating of the aire about the fountain and in the cavity of the vein beateth down and abaseth the water in the southern mouth of the vein in the earth B towards C so that oftimes in the summer the springs are found either dried altogether or at the least-wise much depressed Now therefore I say that by reason of the depression of the waters in the summerly south by way of subtiliation of the aire and exhausting or drawing them up in the winterly north by the cold the water is the apter to be raised in the cold north Again the elevation of the waters in the north which were the summer before depressed is effected by the empty aire 's contraction which possesseth the place in the summer time in the vein of earth where the water was as we see in the Weather-glasse and by the dilation of the aire in the south the water is easily there hid in the earth So that it appeareth that it is partly driven and pressed down in the south by heat and consequently with the greater ease drawn up at the north and partly elevated in the north by the cold winter as if a chord were put into a hole of a great piece of timber downward at one end and did ascend upward at the other thus The self-same will happen but in contrary order when the Sun and consequently summer is in the northern hemisphear EFG for then the springs will be there depressed and in the southerly parts exalted The seas draining or soaking into the bowells of the earth D being the commune medium or cistern of both extreams as well to receive the water pressed down and distributing upward of that superfluity unto the surging increasing or winter fountaines Thus therefore do you see evidently how Solomon's saying is proved true All rivers run into the sea and the sea is not the greater they return into the place from whence they came that they may run or flow again But
let us examine Aristotles opinion a little better that we may the more plainly expresse the absurdity thereof If that it were a vapour which was sent up out of the bowells of the earth it must proceed from some mighty heat which must alter that great mass of cold water which is in the bowells of the earth into that vapour but admit that this were so then mark what absurdities would follow First he confesseth that the fountaines are colder in the summer than in the winter because the externall heat doth per Ant peristasin or by a contrary act preserve and keep in and therefore multiply the inward cold of the earth which being so as it appeareth by the coldness of fountaines in the summer then by that self-same reason this fortified cold of the earth in the summer season must needs also keep in preserve and fortifie in the center of the earth that inward heat which causeth those vapours which are the originall of fountains Mark the conclusion for if that be so namely that the centrall heat in the summer should be greater then would the vapours be in greater abundance in summer for the greater the fire is the more will be the smoak And again by reason of the great cold in the caverns of the earth those vapours would be more suddenly condensed into watry drops and consequently by that means we should have higher Fountains greater Floods and more swelling Rivers in the Summer time then in the Winter all which experience teacheth us to be erroneous and to conclude Aristotle's assertion in this must needs be false But it will be I know objected that it is manifested unto the eye that standing ponds and such like humid places are dried by the Summer heat and how can that be but because the Sun doth attract the moisture and consumeth it by converting it into vapours I answer For the first that the Sun doth not draw but onely rarify and then the thing rarified doth tend upward But that the Sun should spend all those moistures of Lakes and Ponds that way namely by converting in into aire If that were possible I will tell you what absurdity would follow namely that the Sun by reducing all the waters into vapours should thicken the aire when contrariwise our Weather-glass teacheth us by that model of aire which is contained in it that it doth attenuate and rarify the aire and not thicken it Again a greater errour would fall foul on the neck of Aristotle's Doctrine concerning the Generation of clowds if this were so For whereas his Opinion is that a clowd is generated from vapours extracted out of the earth and water by the attractive force of the Sun and Starrs it would follow then that in the Summer-time we should have more clowds and more rain then in the winter But this is as false as the rest But I say rather that because the aire is more rare and thin in the Summer by reason of the presence of the divine act in the Sun which rarifieth and attenuateth the aire by his assidual action and therefore we have fewer clowds in the Sommer For as I proved before the clowds are made by the compression of aire and the aire again is by a circular course renewed by the resolution of those Meteors it produced into their first invisible matter which was but aire I must confess that some part of the waters are subtiliated and by dilatation thrust into the winter Hemisphere but the greatest part doth sink down by the insensible pores of the dry and thirsty earth which drinketh it up and keepeth it in her bowells till it be sucked out by the contraction of the aire which filleth the pores and cracks thereof which contraction happeneth by the cold of the winter following For we see that if there be but a Hogshead full of water it will indure a long time before the hot Sun will exhale it by subtiliation Moreover it is certain that what the Sun doth rarify in the day time so that it riseth in a vaporous form upon the earth in the night time it falleth commonly again in foggy mists and dew So that it is removed out of a contracted place and dilated and besprinkled in mist and dew over the wide and spacious fields Now that this is so it is made evident because we shall ever observe that the Summer mists and dew is most frequent about Lakes and Rivers I will for a conclusion of this Book and whole Section onely examine our princely Peripateticks Opinion touching the Lightnings and the Thunders that we may perceive therein also the validity of his Physicall Doctrine CHAP. XI The Lightnings and Thunders are described in this Chapter according unto Aristotle's Sentence which is aâ—terward confuted by Testimony of Holy-Writ HAving thus made a generall inquiry into the Philosophy of Aristotle touching the Originall of the Winds the Clowds and Fountains I cannot now but enter into his thoughts concerning the wonderfull beginning or primary causes and admirable effects of the Lightnings and Thunders being in verity they are Meteors of so great marvell that they require the profoundest speculation to consider them justly and as they ought to be and therefore I doubt not but that if a due examination be made of Aristotle's validity concerning the research and discovery of so great a mystey it will be more faulty then all the rest Let us then observe in the first place what his mind is touching the essence of the Lightnings Aristotle's Opinion is that the materiall cause of the Lightning is a hot and dry exhalation drawn out of the earth and elevated into the middle region of the aire by the vertue of the Starrs where partly by reason of a strong collision or concussion of clowds and partly because of that antiperistasis which is had between the heat of the exhalation and coldness of the region that inflamable matter so coarcted into the belly of the clowd is set on fire and breaking out of his prison doth tend downward by reason of his terrestiall and compacted disposition and he concludeth that the violence of this eruption is that noise which men do commonly call by the name of Thunder This I say is the summary of Aristotle's mind touching the Lightning And verily Aristotle seemeth in some sort to be excused if he erre in this inquiry being that it is a doubt not easily to be resolved and therefore not only he but also all other Philosophers almost have been inâ—onstant in their resolutions touching this point Forasmuch as therein they have so staggered and varied in this research and have groped as it were by dark for the finding out of the true light thereof For Empedocles judged the Lightning to be caused by the interception or stopping of the descent of the Sun-beames But Anaxagoras would have it to be a portion of the aethereall or heavenly fire which descended from above into the concavity of the clowd within the which
afterward it was inclosed and saith that this light skipping and gliding out of the clowds is called the Lightning the effect of whose breaking forth is the Thunder Others will have these flashes of fire to proceed from the dry winds which being compassed about compressed or coarctated within the clowds these clowds are by them are set on fire thereupon cometh that noise which followeth that turmoile in the clowds And again many others have otherwise determined of it So that we may justly say touching this point and that rightly Quot homines tot sententiae And now concerning the Opinion of Aristotle it is in it self so contrary and contradictory unto the authority of the true Wisdome that some of his learned Christian Disciples have in the plain field of the Peripateticall Combat against the Truth turned tayl as the commâ—n phrase is and become Apostats or Renegado's or relinquishers of their Faith which they had in their Master's sincerity touching this Doctrine For we find it thus written by Margarita Philosophiae as is before said Qu dam Philosophorum considerantes mirabilem fulminis operationem ipsum non opus Naturae sed summi Dei effectum immediatum arbitrati sunt Some of the Philosophers considering the admirable operation of the Lightnings have assuredly held or thought it not to be a work of nature but the immediate effect of the most high God But to â—ome unto the particulars of his Definition He saith that the material cause of the Lightning is taken from the Earth the Agent in â—he elevation is the Astrall vertue the externall accidentall or adventitious efficient is the collision concussion or knocking together of opposit clouds by reason of the antiperistasis that is made between the heat of the Exhalation and the cold of the aire 's midle region whereby the accension or setting on fire the Exhalation is made And lastly He sheweth the reason that the Lightning moveth downwards namely because the Substance or matter thereof is terrestiall and of an earthly compaction I will therefore confute every one of these particles in order and that first by Philosophicall or naturall reasons and lastly by the Authority of the holy Scripture As concerning the materiall Substance of the Lightnings which he saith is a hot and dry exhalation and terrestially-compacted Substance which is derived from the earth First it seemeth to be but a figment because it is proved that the Starrs have no attractive vertue or force as is pâ—oved before Then for that if the windy exhalation which is light and more apt to arise and penetrate by reason of its subtility be denied passage into the middle region of the aire much more must this kind of exhalation have his passage barred or hindered into that cold place being it is as he confesseth grosser more terrestiall and apter to be inflamed But this impossibility will also be demonstrated by the authority of holy Writ Fulgura procedunt à Throno Lightning pâ—oceedeth from the Throne of God Again he is said Fulgur are lumine suo desuper cardinesque maris operire To enlighten with his light from above and to cover with it the compasse of the Sea And again ignis ab ore ejus evolavit Fire came from his mouth And again Flamma ex ore ejus prodiit A flame came fâ—om his mouth Again Illuxerunt coruscationes tuae orbi terrae Thy coruscations or Lightnings did shine over the earth Again Fumus in ira ejus ignis à facie ejus exarsit Smoak issued from him in his anger and fire did flame forth from his face What Shall we imagine that this flaming matter was as Aristotle faineth drawn or elected from the earth by the Starrs which God so familiarly sendeth forth or dare any true Christian imagine that so base and triviall an excrement of the earth would by the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles with such a boldness be ascribed unto God's essentiall power and to be derived from his presence Nay had it not been an impudency in them to say in regard of the divineness of the thing that God is a consuming fire as we finde it written both in the old and new Testament or would the Prophet testifie that he made his angels winds and his ministers flaming fires How basely might a true speculator into the divine mysteries judge of the beginning of the Angells and spirituall lights if their materiall substance were accidentall exhalation Again we are taught that the heaven or aire is the treasure-house from out whose bowells the winds the clowds the snow the hail and lightnings and rainbow is extracted and proportioned by the Spirit of God to do his will And therefore as before Deus sapientia sua aptat pondus aeri appendit nubes in mensura facit pluviae statuta viam fulgetro tonitruum God by his wisdom doth proportionate the weight of the aire and hangeth the clowds or waters in measure maketh lawes unto the rain and a way unto the lightnings of the thunders So that it is evident that the matter of all meteors be they watry or fiery is hewen by the word or wisdom of God out of the catholick aire consequently not out of the earth neither is there any such need of the starrs attraction or elevation in the business being the pure matter of the lightnings is evermore in the divine puissance and reserved in his secret treasure-house to be called or chosen out at his will who hath created all things to work how and which way he pleaseth for were it not I beseech you a wonderous thing that at an instant so great a quantity of exhalations could be drawn out of the earth and elevated by the stars as did suddainly and unlooked for rain down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah But our Aristotelians will say according unto custom that it was miraculous I answer that for all that the meteor was materiall for it was fire and brimstone Now I would fain know of them out of what magazine or store-house it came and whether the stars drew it up from the earth and whether God did not collect it immediately out of his own aiery or invisible treasury or store-house For St. Paul saith that all visible things were first of things that were not seen Secondly touching the agent he is more deceived in it then in the matter for first he maketh the agent which draweth up the exhalation the attractive vertue of the stars then he surmiseth that the efficient cause which enlighteneth it must be partly the dashing together of two clowds and partly the contrariety which is between the heat of the exhalation and coldness of the place which meeting together do cause the accension of the exhalation Good God what a Gallimofry he would make and what a confusion of externall actions or efficient causes doth he fain when there is but onely one indeed which is most internall or essentiall that moveth which way
words Quis hominum cognoscit consilium Dei nam ratiocinationes mortalium sunt timidae instabiles cogitationes eorum Infestum enim corruptioni corpus aggravat animam deprimit terrena habitatio mentem plenam curis multis vix conjicimus ea quae in terra sunt quae autem in coelis sunt quis investigavit consilium tuum quis noverit nisi tu dederis sapientiam miseris sanctum Spiritum tuum è locis altissimis sie enim correctae sunt eorum quae in terris sunt semitae itaque sapientiâ fuerint salvati What man doth know the counsell of God for the reasonings of mortall men are doubtfull and unstable are their cogitations For the body being subject unto corruption doth aggravate the soul and an earthly habitation doth depresse the mind which is full of cares And we do scarcely guesse at the things which are upon the earth who is then able to find out the things which are in heaven Or who can know thy counsell unlesse thou shalt give wisdom and send thy holy Spirit from above for by that means were the waies of such men as were upon the earth corrected and amended and therefore were they saved or preserved by wisdom c. Out of which golden words I gather first That the heathen men were ignorant in the mysteries and abstruse operations of God because they wanted the true spirit of wisdom which God revealeth unto his Elect by the vertuous infusion and influxion of his holy Spirit Next that for this reason the subject of true Philosophy is not to be found in Aristotle's works but in the Book of truth and wisdom forasmuch as it is a copy of the revealed Word Thirdly that it is a great folly for Christians to seek for the truth where it is not to be found I mean in the works of the pagan Philosophers and that is made manifest forasmuch as it contradicteth altogether the verity of Scriptures and therefore it is pronounced by St. James to be terrene animal and diabolicall Verbum saepienti CHAP. XIII A conclusion of this work including an admonition unto all good Christians to beware of the Ethnick Philosophy and to stick and cleave fast unto that which is taught us by the Scriptures and that for reasons herein set down LEt it now be lawfull for me in the concluding of this Section O ye Europaeans who seem so seriously and zealously to spend your daies in the Christian Religion to turn the sharp edge of my pen and the rougher file of my speech unto you who being too too much seduced by the fals doctrin of Aristotle do think and imagine the meteors but especially lightning and thunder to be a common natural thing of little or no estimation at all as being onely produced of nature by reason of a hot distemper of the air I would request you as a true Christian ought unto his brethren to observe well and attend with diligence this admonition which I will for a Farewell bestow upon you beseeching you not to scorn or reject my precedent assertion whith hath told and sufficiently proved unto you that the lightnings and thunders yea and all other meteors are the immediate works of Gods hand being that by this endeavour of mine you may not onely bring a comfort and consolation unto your soules when you hear the terrible voice of the Lord and make you to call to mind your passed sins and iniquities and to pray him heartily to pardon you and not to call your offences unto an account in his anger but also give the honour and glory unto him who thundering from above worketh marvellously I would have you therefore to know that the worldly wise-men of this our Christian world who are as it were pages or followers of the Ethnick Philosophers have hitherto blindly or after the manner of lunatick persons erred in their imaginations forasmuch as they being instructed in the blind wisdom of this world by their Ethnick tutors and doctors will not be brought to believe that God doth work immediately all things in heaven and in earth onely by his word but mediately namely by other necessary natural or supernatural means as essential efficient causes when as the holy Text doth in plain terms instruct us that it is one the self-same essence which doth act and operate all in all by his word using each creature onely as his organ or instrument wherein and by the which he moveth and worketh his will Is not this their tenet or assertion I beseech you altogether opposite and contradictory unto the divine authority which saith Though there be that are called gods whether in heaven or in earth as there be many gods and many lords yet unto us there is but one God which is that Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him But every man hath not that knowledge c Out of which words we may gather that though we worldlings attribute this or that work unto angels or stars or winds or a created nature according unto the doctrine of the Ethnick wisdom yet such true Christian Philosophers as St. Paul was dâ—d acknowledge but one God of whom proceed all actions in this world and one Word by which onely and not by any creature in the world each thing is immediately effected in this world All which although unto reall Christians it seemeth verity and truth yet unto the Philosophers and wise men of this world this kind of doctrine issuing from the heavenly wisdom is rejected and derided And why Forsooth because as the Text doth teach us every man hath not this knowledge and the reason is because they respect more the wisdom of this world which is terrene and animal and as St. Paul saith meer foolishness before God then that which is from above namely from the Father of light Et sic evanuerunt in imaginationibus suis And so they did vanish in their imaginations I heartily wish you therefore which are brought up and made familiar in the holy Bible and nourished spiritually and guided by the law of our Lord Jesus Christ to conceive seriously and perpetually to revolve with your selves that God created the first consistence of things namely the humid and fluid waters by his word and they remain in the word and by the word in the self-same humid or moist estate as they did even unto this very day Also he framed out of this catholick water the heaven and the earth by his word as St. Peter saith Again he did produce by his said word the light in heaven the Sun the Moon the Starrs the day the night and all other creatures and did ordain them to serve for divers Organs by the which he might variously act or operate his volunty as well in heaven above as in the earth and waters beneath All which do move and work in and by the Word
And in conclusion God by his Word doth exactly and soly operate all in all as the Apostle saith which being so I would fain know where is this Physicall nature of the Peripateticks unto the which they assign an essential form of action of it self and by it self Verily it is most apparent that there is no such catholick actor as the Peripateticks do fain But it is one onely Word of God one catholick Christ which filleth all things one eternall Sapience which replenisheth the world one incorruptible Wisdom which is in all things that onely worketh and effecteth immediately all in all And therefore it is apparent that without it nothing can exist and act Forasmuch therefore as the aire is a part of the celestiall consistence it followeth that it was made by the Word and that it doth as it were swim in the Word Forasmuch as it comprehendeth all things as in many places of Scripture it is expresly set down and it is moved and guided by the Word yea verily and in the aire being it is the universall Treasury of God there are many peculiar cabinets out of the which by his Word which is effected by his strong and powerfull Angels as David telleth us he doth produce divers kinds of Meteors as is proved before which are committed unto the government and presidentship of divers Angells or Spirits the which also are created of aire and exist in the aire by the Word and therefore move and act in the Word or in and by one and the same divine Spirit which the Prophet Ezekiel called from the four winds to make the dead to live again by whose administration the Word moving them and operating in them all Meteorologick species or kinds are brought forth and procreated in the aire yea and all those wonderfull tempests which happen in the world are effected or produced And hereupon it is said that he made his Angells winds and his Ministers flames of fire Again Dei curruum duae sunt myriades multa millia Angelorum Dominus cum illis est Dominus Sinai in Sanctuario habitans There are two myradâ— even many thousands of Angells the Lord is with them the Lord of Sinai inhabiting in his Sanctuary Where he meaneth in his apparition in a tempest as he did upon the Mount Sinai These spirits therefore which in regard of their externall were made or created of aire and with the aire do exercise their office or Ministry in the aire and are by Gods Ordination conversant about the directions of Tempests Clowds Rain Snow Hail Frost Lightning Thunder Comets Chasmus Floods or Inundations Heat Cold Moysture Drowth and all other Accidents which do appear in the aire And hereupon it is insisted by the Revelatour that by the Ordination of God four Angells were appointed as Presidents over the four winds of the four corners of the earth unto whom it was assigned to hurt the earth and waters and trees and fruits But there it is said that they had not any power to execute their harmfull or tempestuous violence on the earth and waters till the imperious Angell had excited or moved them unto it But as all thâ—s was unknown unto the Ethnick Philosophers so hath it been altogether neglected or rather rejected by their Christian disciples because that in their mouths and writings the lying and false spirit of Aristotle hath taken too deep a root or possession and challenged unto it self the prime and superiour place Although therefore that this my admonition may seem unto such as are wedded unto their will and hood-winked with Aristotle's subtill documents to be but wild ridiculous and of little or no esteem yet I would have them know that it is a thing of great importance and high consequence being that it concerneth and toucheth the honour of God For by it true Christians may fundamentally know and understand the reall and essentiall causes of tempests and other acts and operations which do thereunto belong and thereby perceive that they happen not by case fortuit neither operate by any act of their own as the phantastick Ethnicks have devised or fained in their writings but are traduced out of the holy Treasuries by the Divine Providence and are sent down here below by the operation of the Word and execution of his Angelicall Ministers either to afflict and scourge the wicked for their offences or by putting them in remembrance of their sins that they may by the fear thereof be driven to repent So that when they unto their terrour shall hear the voice of the Lord in Thunder from above and behold the fiery flashes of his wrath and indignation or shall see the dreadfull inundations caused by abundance of Snow or Rain they might be induced to repentance and be humbled and incited to invoke their Creator unto their aide and to pray him heartily to avert all dangers from them and to mitigate his Tempests and to pacify the fury of his fiery or watery Ministers and to grant them them milder and more benigne weather with gentle and fertill rains and to bless and save the fruit of their lands and to preserve their cattle which feed upon them as also their houses and other such like necessary additaments from the violence of his tempestuous Angells or Spirituall instruments contrariwise who neglecteth this doctrine which is founded on the true Wisdom and wallowing as it were with the Sow in the mire betaketh himself unto the rules of that Wisdom which is but meer foolishness before God and consequently will imagine all these Meteorologicall marvels to proceed by chance and accidentally and without the act of any internall principle and for that cause will neglect them as esteeming them onely things naturall and therefore will neither dread them as indeed they ought to do nor yet acknowledg him who is the true Author of them and immediate Actor in them is justly to be numbred among those men at which the Wiseman aimeth in this speech All men saith Solomon are vain by nature in whom is the ignorance of God and who cannot understand him who is by such things as are made nor yet conceive the workman by the consideration of his works The Epilogue unto this Section THus Judicious and Christian Reader have you understood the main difference that is between the wisdom of this world which the Apostle affirmeth to be but meer foolishnesse before God and that which descendeth from above and issueth from the Father of Light which is the essentiall and true Spirit of Sapience or Discipline And consequently you may easily discern how the Ethnick Philosophy that is grounded upon the worldly wisdom forasmuch as it relyeth onely on the Traditions of men and Elements of this world is but a vain â—allacy or Prestigious Figment and therefore onely that of the Patriarcks Prophets and Apostles which is founded upon the Catholick Christ or Eternall Spirit of God in whom is the plenitude of Divinity is onely true
this mysticall kind of progression which do express it in this manner In Dâ—o omnâ—o eranâ— nihil nisi mere Deâ—s Ex Deo omnia veniebant in principium tum omnia nihil erant nisi mere principium manâ—â—te tamen Deo Ex principio omni procedebant in verbum tum omnia nihil erant nisi mere Verbum manente tamen principio Ex verbo omnia procedebant in spiritum Dâ—mini tum nihil erant nisi Spiritus Domini manente tamen verbo Ex spiritu Domini omnia procedebant in aquas scilicet sâ—periores tum omnia nihil erant nisi mere aquae superiores manente tamen Spiritu Domini Ex aquis superioribus omnia descenderunt in aquas inferiores tum omnia nihil erant nisi mere aquae inferiores manentibus tamen superioribus Ex aquis inferioribus hoc est ex elementis astris invisibilibus omnia procedâ—bant in corpora visibilia tunc omnia erant nihil nisi mere corpora visibilia manentibus tamen elementis astris invisibiâ—ibus c. In God all things were nothing but meerly God Of God all things were made a beginning and then all things were nâ—thing else but a mâ—â—r beginning God remaining neverthelesse in his entire existence Of the beginning all became the Word and then were all things nothing else but the word meerly and that not without the permanency of the beginning From the word all did proceed into the Spirit of the Lord and then they were nothing but the Spirit of the Lord and that without any diminution of the Words existence From the Spirit of the Lord all became waâ—ers namely the upper waters and then all things were nothing else but the upper waters meerly and that without any diminution of the Spirit of the Lords existence From the upper waters all did descend into the lower waters or elementary region and then all were nothing else but meerly the lower waters and yet the upper waters lost not their permanency Of the lower waters that is of the elements and invisible stars or starry influences all became visible bodies and then all things were nothing else but visible bodies without any derogation neverthelesse unto any existency of the elements and starry influences c. All which I could also prove to be true as well by the Scriptures as expert Cabalists and divinest Philosophers assertions For by Scriptures we are taught That God the fountain of all beeing did first create darkness and that this darkness was that deformed principle or primary matter without shape which did complicitely contain all things And that the Word was in that beginning or principle And again that this word issued out of darknesse And that the spirit was carried on these waters which appeared out of the bowelâ—s of the dark abysse And that all were waters at the first the bright Spirit of the Lord being not in any thing extinguished And that these waters were divided â—nto the higher and lower namely heaven and earth As also St. Peter teacheth us that of the lower waters the elements were framed by the distinguishing Spirit of the Lord. Which Job saith doth aptare pondus aeri appendere aquas in mensura facere pluviae statuta viam fulgetro tonitruum that is giveth a portion unto the weight of â—he aire and hangeth the waters or clowds in measure and maketh statutes or giveth lawes unto the rain and a passage unto the lightning of the thunder c. And Racanat that excellent Master in Cabal upon the beginning of Genesis saith as is already told you Et â—orte quaeres Cum sap entia sit numeratio secunda qâ—are dicatur principium Scriptum est in libro Bahir Nihil est princâ—pium nisi sapientia Cui equidem â—ecte mihi videar respondere quod infinitudo ipsa trium sammarum Cabalisticae arboris numerationum quas vos â—res in diviâ—â—s persoâ—as appellare consuevistis absolâ—tâ—ssima essentâ—a quum sit in abyâ—sso tenâ—brarum retracta immaneâ—s ociosa vel ut aâ—unt ad nihil respiciens idcirco dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Nâ—hil sive non-ens ac non-sints quâ—a nos tam tenui erga res divâ—nas ingenâ—i paupertate 〈◊〉 de â—is quae non apparent haud secus atque de iis quae non sunt judicamus At ubi se ostendâ—rit ut sit a iquid revera subsistat tunc Aleph tenebrosum in Aleph lucidum convertitur Scriptum est enim Sicut tenebrae ejus ita lux ejus appellaâ—ur 〈◊〉 Aleph magnum quando exire cupit apparere omnium rerum causa per Beth proxime sequentem literam nominaturque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. pater omnis geneâ—ationis pâ—oductionis facâ—t enim res omnes c. And per chance you will demand Since sapience is the second Cabalisticall numeration wherefore it is called Principium or the beginning It is written in the book of Bahir that nothing is principium or the beginning but Wisdom Unto whom me-thinks I may rightly answer That the infinity it self of the three highest numerations of the Cabalisticall tree which ye are accustomed to call the three Persons in Divinity of one absolute essence when it is retracted in the abysse of darknesse and remaining idle or vacant and as it were having respect unto nothing is therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Nothing or non-entity because that we being endued with such poverty of understanding in divine matters do â—udge of such things which appear not no otherwise than of those which are not at all but when it doth so reveal it self that it existeth in our senses somewhat indeed then is dark Aleph converted into light Aleph For it is writ As his darknesse is so is his light namely when it desireth to issue out of darknesse and to appear to be the cause of all things by Beth which is the next ensuing letter and it is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ab that is to say the father of all generation and production of things for it effecteth all things Moreover Mercury Trismegist whom others term Hermes doth more expresly seem to mention this progression from unity in darkness down to the creation of the elements in this very form of speech Pimander mens divinae potentiae mutaviâ— formam universa subâ—to revelavit cernebam enim omnia in â—umen conversa suave nimium atque jucundum quod intuentem me mirifice obâ—ectabat Paulo post umbra quaedam horrenda obliqua revolutione subterlabebatur in hum damque naturam migrabat ineffabili tum vu tu exagitabam inde fumus magnus in sonitum erumpebat ex sonitu vox egâ—edâ—ebatur quam ego luminis vocem existimabam ex luminis voce verbum factum prodiit verum hoc naturae humidae astans eam fovebat ex humâ—dae autem naturae viscerâ—bus sincerus ac levis ignis
granting or positive emanation and privative or negative condition which are as I have said both good in him who is nothing but pure goodnesse in his simple and absolute nature and therefore are one in him who is sincere unity in himself Whereupon the wise Philosopher not disagreeing in this from Scriptures saith Non est â—n monade divinâ nisi unum bonum ab ipso enim factore nihil malum nihilque turpe In the divine essence there is not any thing but unity and goodnesse for from the Creator there is neither evill nor filthinesse And for this cause when Job saw that God did strike him as it seemed to him without a cause forasmuch as he was a just man and as the Text saith according unto Gods heart he being egged forward notwithstanding all his pains with a pious zeal towards his Creator though he knew that his affliction proceeded from the hiding of his Maker's countenance from him did break forth into these terms Et tamen absit à Deo impietas ab Omnipotente iniquitas And yet for all that far be it from me that I should deem any impiety to be in God or that iniquity should proceed from the Almighty It is most apparent unto the sleightest Philosopher that God is conversant in the created nature as well about corruption and privation as generation and position and yet no good Christian can be ignorant but that either of these opposite properties so familiar in one sincere essence is absolutely good in that it is compleatly excellent in goodness in it self although nothing is more terrible fearfull abominable and wicked to the creature than is his own death and corruption If we Christians deny the property in the Ideal unity namely as well to deprive the creature of his life by withdrawing his act of life from it into it self we may justly imagine our selves to be inferiouâ— in judgment unto the Infidell Poets and Philosophers who do verifie this fore-mentioned axiom of the wise-man Bonum malum vita mors honestas paupertas à Deo sunt Good and eviâ—l life and death riches and poverty are all from God Whereby he intimateth that this one essentiall divinity operateth oppositely in the created world by a two-fold differing property Their Allegoricall story is this Proclus follâ—wing the antient Theology of Orpheus Ilesiode Euripides and Eschylus which personages have inveloped in their fabulous Counts or Stories such hidden secrets as they had learned of divine persons and such as were profoundly seen in the mysteries of God doth decipher the properties of the supream and archetypicall Son under the shadow of the visible and typicall Sun in this manner expressing thereby that one and the same eternall essence doth operate all in all as well privatiâ—ly as poâ—â—tivly These Poets tearm it by the name of Apollo in the day-time because they pretend that in his position and benigne nature which is manifested by the vivifying property of the Sun he composeth the creature of seven parts fo◠〈◊〉 â—he quaternary number the Pythagoreans did signifie matter which is â—â—amed of the Elements for it is the square oâ— 2 which is an unperfect number and therefore doth deâ—ipher matter and by the ternary which is the number of perfection they express the form of things so that these two numbers united do make up the septenary number whiâ—h doth inâ—lude the perfect complement of the creature Again they intitle it Dionysius in the night time namely in his dark and privative disposition saying that under this name he useth to tear and divide that creature into seven pieces which under the title of Apollo or in his positive property or solar and divine nature it had composed So that they seem to argue that the self-same unity in essence is the author as well of destruction and corruption as of the generation and vivification of the creature but they therefore tearm it according unto the variety of his property by a differing name no otherwise than the Cabalist calls it in his hidden and privative property Aleph tenebrosum or darâ— Aleph namely when he keepeth in his beams of life in himself or withdraweth his face from the creature and Aleph lucidum or light Aleph when he shineth forth unto it and extendeth his beams of life upon it By this therefore we Christian may see that the very Pagans did grant or acknowledge that which the Scriptures do testifie though it be by an allegoricall way concluding with them that it is onely in the power of one and the same radicall unity to save or destroy to give life or take it away to will or to nill and in conclusion to operate all and in all and that according unto its pleasure Thus have we confirmed that the two members of an opposite condition or disposition do spring out of one eternall root and that they operate in this world by clean contrary effects and consequently that since the mass of waters whereof as St Peter doth testifie the heavens and the earth were made of old did come out of the dark chaos and was as it were her second birth which the Poets feigne to be Pan or the universall nature it is easie to be considered by the wise Philosopher that this passive portion of the world is by a naturall instinct inclined to darkness and unto all the privative conditions thereof so that if it were not for the formall portion of the world which proceeded from that bright spirit of wisdom which Solomon calleth The vapour of the vertue of God and the sincere emanation of the brightnesse of the omnipotent and the splendour of the divine liâ—ht and the mirrour without all spot of his goodnesse that divided the waters into distinct orbes or sphears and gave a proportionall weight unto the aire and tyed or hanged up the waters in the thick clowds by measure and gave orders unto the rain and made a passage for the lightnings of the thunders if it were not I say for the act of this Spirit all things would be alike It is this Spirit that said Ab ore altissimi prodij retunditatem coelorum circumivi solus in profundo abâ—ssi ambulavi I came out from the mouth of IEHOVA and compassed about the heavens I walked in the profundity of the abysse c. It was the bright wisdom which IEHOVA did possesse in the beginning of his waies before his works before all time before the world was made when there was not any abysse before there was any fountain before the mountains were raised or the earth created When he made the heavens it was there when he did fortify the superiour waters it was there when the limits of the sea were framed lest the waters should passe their bounds When he gave the earth her foundation it was there with him as a helper to compose all things To conclude by it all was formally made and
consideration that the etymology of the word by interpretation may import donum Dei or the gift of God for what greater gift could God impart unto his potentiall creatures and in generall unto the great world then his eternall Spirit of wisdom or his onely Begotten to make them of somewhat nothing and to take away all deformity and nullity from the water and to shape out of them a Heaven and an Earth and to figure out in them all the creatures thereof and to preserve them in existence essence and lively being This was therefore indeed the true catholick donum Dei or gift of God whose incorruptible nature is in all things and filleth all things and as it is the most movable of all things so it operateth all in all according to the will of him that sent him And therefore in regard of the office and as he was an emissive Spirit so was he not unworthily named by them the great or catholick Angell had not Scriptures in plain tearms seemed to intimate so much I could also demonstrate that the world and his soul or life was shaped after the image of the Archetype in this manner From 1 which was all light in whom is no darknesse did 2 issue which was quoad nos darknesse or the dark Chaos so called because unity did not as yet shine forth to inform them Betwixt these two extreams is 3 interposed as a peaceable or charitable unity between meer light and darknesse or the Spirit of divine love who resting in the midst between these two principles uniteth the divine formall fire with the humid materiall nature or spirit of darknesse making a union of two opposite natures so that both natures do remain in one sympatheticall concordance and therefore this formall ternary is called Ligamentum elementorum litem amicitiam concoâ—diae vinculis connectâ—ns The ligament of the elements tying together hatred and love with the bands of concord I expresse them thus Deus 1 Lux. Coelum 3 Sphaera aequalitatis Terra 2 Tenebrae This excellent harmony of the soul of the world is else-where most fitly expressed by me by two equall Piramidicall shapes whereof the one is formall the other materiall the basis of the formall is the immediate act of God or the infinite and onely bright Unity and it importeth the emanation of the creating and informing Spirit so that his Cone doth penetrate unto the very center of the dark earth or abysse And contrariwise the basis of the materiall or watry Pyramis is in the earth or center of darknesse and the Cone ascendeth unto the center of the basis of the formal Pyramis in this manner Now where the intersection is made between the two principal concurrences I have framed a piece of a circle which circle because the portions of the formall Pyramis and materiall are there equall we therefore with the Platonists do call Sphaeram aequalitatis or the Sphear of equality or as they in another respect tearm it the orbe or sphear of the soul of the world which is just in the midst of the starry heaven called for that reason Aether quasi igneus aer a fiery aire as who should say an equall portion of the spirit of the waters and of the formall fire descending from God or Unity as I have expressed before And therefore as we placed in the precedent demonstration the 3 in the center or middle of the line between the divine illuminating unity 1 and the dark Chaos or deformed duality 2 so in the world was the spirituall body of the visible Sun of this typicall world placed in which the invisible and increated Sun of the Archetypicall world did put his Tabernacle and for this cause it is rightly tearmed of the Platonists the sphear of the soul. And verily by effect we find that all vivification doth potently spring from the solar or Sunny influence and as for the excellent beauty of the creature as also in respect of the vivifying act thereof it is an evident argument that it aboundeth with the blessed sparks or vivifying beams of divinity Again that it is the bright organ by which he that vivifieth all things doth impart and pour forth the showre of his benignity or divine Nectar of life continuall experience teacheth even the meanest plowman Now that this most excellent and perfect concord of life doth remain principally in the midst of the line drawn from unity or the fountain of form to the earth or duality which is the fountain of matter I prove it thus by the accords of Musick The perfectest consonance in Musick is Diapason and of all the other symphoniacall accords it approacheth nearest unto the sacred Unity in Divinity for it is half unison and therefore it is rightly compared unto the blessed emanation of life which came from unity and for that reason it is rightly tearmed the Idea or image of a unison And as the unison like one essence in Divinity doth comprehend three Persons importing the three accords in the Archetypicall harmony So also the Diapason comprehendeth in it the two other accords besides it self namely Diapente and Dâ—atessaron Now that this most perfect consonant of Diapason is planted in the midst of a unison and doth as it were beget in it self two perfect chords or Diapasons which be contained within it self I prove it thus Take a Lute or Bandora and strike any of the strings open and then stop that same string exactly in the middle of it and each half will sound a Diapason unto that open unison so that the unison which is made by the striking of the whole string open will be divided into two Diapasons or most perfect consonants unto the whole which is an evident argument that the perfection of the Diapason is in the seat of the Sun and consequently that the formall and lively accord of all the world is no otherwise in that centrall or middle place then the heart which is the seat of life is in man And yet by the beams of the Sun this life of the world is made catholick and filleth all no otherwise than the vitall blood doth universally expanse it self in the Microcosm by the channells of the arteries But I fear I have followed this point too far to prove and maintain the soul of this world wherefore I leave it to come directly unto the point being that in my Mosaicall Philosophy to wit in the fourth book thereof I have fully proved and maintained that Translation of Jerom to be right namely Posuit tabernaculum suum in sole he put his tabernacle in the Sun I will proceed therefore unto the second opinion of the Philosophers The ancient Philosopher Democritus Orpheus with the Pythagoreans do judge that all things are full of gods and again all these gods they referre unto one Jupiter where by gods they â—ntend the divine virtues infused into things which Zoroaster called divinos illices Synesius the Bishop Symbolicas illecebras others tearm
are reasonable namely Man as unreasonable to wit the Stars of heaven and earthly creatures both animals vegetables and minerals And therefore Archangelus the Cabalist maketh many degrees in the offices of Angels For some saith he do stand before the divine tribunall of God still praising him some administer unto him and unto us also some have the custody of the watches of the night of which CHRIST maketh mention If he came in the second or thâ—â—d watch of the nâ—ght c. Some have the government of the four quarters of the year and these are Presidents over the four stations of the Sun others are ordained rulers over the seven Planets and some do dispose of the influences and vertues of the fixed Stars and twelve Signes of which St. Joâ—â— doth seem to make mention saying That in the twelve gates that is the twelve Signes which as Plato saith are the ports of heaven are the twelve Angels Some are tuâ—elar Angels and are ordained for the creatures safeguard some have the custody of beasts others of plants others of pretious stones and mineralls All these the secret Theologians and wisemen do affirm averring withall that God worketh all in this inferiouâ— world by the administration of Angells And therefore St. Paul saith That all are administring spiâ—â—ts sent to effect that office Thus far Archangelus And again Reuclin argueth That the influxion of angelicall beams from the stars must be divers and of sundry natures because that the Angells do not by their voluntary action move the celestiall Orbe alwaies after one manner though by reason of the violent motion it doth move daily by a diurnall motion from East to West But what needs many words when the progression of the foresaid Cabalisticall work doth open and discover all the myâ—ticall operation and variety of action in the Angells For if once the ten names of God which produce ten divers emanations of different conditions which are sent by the ten foresaid numerations or sephiroticall ports or channells do breed contrary effects both in heaven above and in earth beneath it followeth by the foresaid testimony of the Prophet David that there must be so many angelicall vehicles to conduct them into the lower world as there are Cabalisticall ports and channells and consequently as many diversities of the divine properties proceeding from the variety of his will as also varieties of vehicles to conduct them For I would have each judicious Reader to conceive that the Hebrew Doctors did judge of the nature and property of each Name or attribute ascribed unto God in holy Writ by that self-same effect which it produced after the uttering or expressing of it therein no otherwise than the Philosopher useth to judge of the nature and property of the complexion by the aspect of the Physiognomy or as by the signes whiâ—h he beholdeth in the heavens he determineth of their effects to wit of rain winds thunder c. namely because such presages in the heavens do use to bring forth such and such effects Now as I have proved before if it be the divine influence of light which animateth and informeth each angelicall spirit it must needs follow that every one of these angelicall conductions or vehicles of these influences must have also a divers property because the formall influences which do animate these intelligences which carry them are different and therefore they will be naturally prone and enclined to operate the will of the Creator according unto the nature of emanation or beams of that property which it receiveth from his proper port As concerning therefore those angelicall receptacles or organs which are ordained to receive the divers kinds of divine influences or irradiations I purpose briefly to expresse them in the first place for the better understanding of the Reader with the channell they do belong unto and then the order of Angels which doth first receive them After this I will set down the celestiall Orbes or Stars into the which as unto their particular store-houses they are conveyed And lastly I will speak somewhat of the effects that these influences which are conveyed down from their starry treasury into the elementary world do effect both in the aire seas or water and earth Touching therefore the Names or attributes of God as also their emanations or streaming forth of beams with their peculiar properties I have in few words written them in the precedent Chapter as for the rest I would have the Reader to know that those ten severall divine emissions of ten severall lights out of so many Sephiroticall or Cabalisticall spouts or channells into the vast cavity of the world to accomplish the will of the Creator have their particular angelicall waggoners or conductors for in this the best Theosophers agree that as the upper Order of the Angels do receive their light and bright emanations immediately from God so do they emit them and manifest them unto the inferiour Orders and for this reason they are called Mirrours because they receive their light from the face of God or his eternall catholick emanation which as I have proved before is the head and fountain of all these Angelicall lights And again as the secret Theologians have by their serious observation of the holy Bible espied ten distinct properties as also ten divers cognominations or Names of God appropriated unto them so they perceived that there was a singular Angel appointed to receive each of these emissions of beams endued with the self-same property or condition as the lights which they receive do possesse forasmuch as these Spirits do live and are animated by them being that as the externall of the Angell is a spirituall aire so the internall of it is the formall irradiation or emanation which is according unto Gods will emitted into it And this is a generall note amongst all the secret Theologians unto whom Bartholomaeus and St. Dennis do adhere touching this point that no Angell can intermeddle with anothers businesse or take upon him the work that belongeth unto another except it be such inferiour Angels as are destinated to serve under their Arch-angels in the same function or property as shall be said more at large We must therefore understand that the office of the great and catholick Angell Mitattron was so universall that it was employed first about the information of the whole world and the division of light from darknesse as also for the vivifying of the watry spirit of the world and the diurnall rouling about of the heavens And therefore it is said and not without a good cause That it was the divine and generall Emanation that is the eternall Sapience which for this reason is said to be created before all things by whom afterward all things were made or created And for this reason it is said That this Angel doth contain in it all the angelicall perfection no otherwise than the universall beams of the Sun are comprehended in the body of the Sun Wherefore we
do with the Hebrew Rabbies justly apply the essence of the first emanation unto Mitattron which emanation is said to enter by the royall port or gate Cheter or Corona For know that this catholick Angell is said to be the first creature because it importeth the spirit of the world which did first receive the first-born son or the Emperiall emanation from the Attribute of God called EHIAH which is a name of eternity for that it containeth and doth respect the time past the time present and the time to come For this cause therefore doth this great Angel style it self Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end The first influence therefore which was of universall life and essence is received by the Angel Mitattron which is for this reason called Donum Dei after it was shouted down from the port Cheter into the highest order of the Angells called Seraphin which by reason of their propinquity unto the throne of God are said to burn or be set on fire with divine love And hereupon these have their excellent beauty and clearnesse by reason of this sacred influence which is so full of the loving benignity of the Father of light From thence this potent angelicall nature conducts the beams of this light into the convexity of the aetheriall heaven and there bestowes it as in a generall magazin or store-house which place it afterwards informs or vivifieth insomuch that by the admirable action and motion thereof it is called Primum mobile or that sphear which moveth first in the heavens and by his motion it turneth the naturall or temporall world round about from the East unto the West in twenty four houres The mover is this catholick Angel of the world full of this eternall emanation by which it animates the world Therefore also is Sapientia said to be omnium rerum priùs creata the first of all creatures and Fluxus virtutis Dei emanaâ—io claritatis ejus omni re mobilior penetrans ubique propter suam munditiam permanens in se omnia innovans It is an influence of the vertue of God and the shining forth of his brightnesse which is the most movable of all things penetrating all things by his purenesse and being one in essence reneweth all things that is it reviveth every thing By which it is plain that this catholick emanation is the soul of the world having endued or put on the universall angelicall spirit and therefore is called by the holy Text a Creature so that the catholick created spirit of the world is the Primum mobile for by this first-born emanation from God it is animated and moved as by the swiftest mover in the world and the mover is tearmed Primus motor both together or called Mundi anima which therefore is defined to be in respect of the created spirit thus animated Primum mobile spoâ—te per se mobile The first thing moved which is moved voluntarily and by it self And for this reason also the animal faculty in man which is sedes animae intellectulis is said to move voluntarily when the action â—f the vitall and naturall faculty compared unto the etheriall and elementary heaven do move unvoluntarily that is at the will of the first mover And this work is therefore assigned unto this sphear with the legions of intelligences that are derived from and created there by their catholick head which is the said grand Arch-angell as beams from one Sun partly to hinder the starry lights which were after created from burning the elementary world or working by their long continued impression too violent and unnaturall alterations as also to make a proportionable day and night unto the earth To conclude by this angelicall act the whole spirit of the world was generally inacted The divine emanation which issued from the second Sephiret or port called Hochma which is sent out by the Attribute IAH passeth into the order of the Cherubins which signifieth the plenitude of Science and abundance of the gifts of Wisdom and is received of the Arch-angel Zophiel which by the etymology of his name argueth pulchritude as being replenished with an infinity of particular beams of life But another calleth this keeper and conductor of these beams Ruziel who immediately doth direct them into the firmament or heaven of the fixt starrs and principally into the broad girdle of the starry heaven which is called the Zodiack arguing by the etymology of his name that the beams of this emanation do chiefly work and fashion out ideally the liniments of an infinity of particularities in the elementary world as shall be demonstrated hereafter The third effluxion which is made from the port Binah under the protection of the name ELOHIM descendeth immediately into the order of the Thrones arguing thereby Gods severe property full of â—udgment and is received by the Arch-angel Zabkiel or as others will have it of Kaspiel which is as much to say as Genius Cholerae magnae and this effluxion is conducted down into the next sphear below the firmament which it informeth according unto the naturall property of the divine influx and it procreateth the globe of Saturn which it replenisheth with spirits or inferiour intelligences called by the name of Saturnine Intelligences which send down these influences into the elementary world to produce effects according unto their nature as well in the aire and water as in and upon the earth The fourth emanation which is derived from the conduit-pipe of Chesed over which the word EL hath dominion is received of the angelicall order of Dominations which import power against evill spirits and the benefit of life and breath and then is committed unto the Arch-angel Zadkiel which is by interpretation Genius justitiae and this Angel according unto the nature of the influence which it carrieth is a friend unto the true Justice in the proportion of the elements and a friend unto the creature's life wherefore it conducteth the beams of this property into the next or be below Saturn which they make a dwelling place for an infinity of spirits that are created out of the same informing influence and therefore are of its property This Terra Angelica Olympi is tearmed the Star of Jupiter and these kinds of Olympick spirits are tearmed Jovial Intelligences which do poure forth the streams of their influence into the elementary regions and animateth the spirits of its nature which work effects appropriated unto the property of this influence The fifth eradiation or emission of divine beams is out of the Sephiroticall numeration or port called Geburah whose President is the divine Attribute ELOHIM GIBBOR and these beams are said to passe directly into the order of Potestats and the Arch-angell unto the which these beams are committed is called Samaâ—l or as others will Hamael and it is a Genius which importeth horrour and this Intelligence doth conduct the beams of its Emanation into the Sphere which is below that of Jupiter and informeth the spirits
infinity of his formall beams we may perceive that these mysticall Hebraick Theosophers did understand that very power which the Apostle doth in the place before mentioned assigne unto our Lord Jesus Christ. Being that as they made this Mitattron the catholick Angell or Praefectum universitati the ruler of the world proceeding by emanation from Ensoph or Infinity so the Apostle saith that all forms and what else proceedeth from God the Father and have their being from our Lord Jesus Christ. To our purpose therefore As God ordained from his infinite fountain of Unity two principles of a clean contrary nature namely Light and Darknesse so the first-born of Darknesse was Litigium or the Prince of darknesse which was termed Sathan and his rule is in darknesse and over all dark things or privative properties and he hath his four-fold Angels or Demons of a different nature which have their dominions over the winds and elements and are ready to effect their Prince his behests in a businesse of darknesse and therefore of discord and privation be it of the property of what winde that bloweth according unto that of the Apocalyps I saw four angels standing upon the four angles of the earth being presidents over the four winds of the earth unto whom it was granted to hurt the earth and the seas c. Now each of these Angells have many divisions and subdivisions of legions under them who do then act at their volunty when they have dominion to blow and trouble the aire All these are animated by the influences which are sent down from the Olympick spirits as they likewise have their animation and times of dominion appointed them by the Emperiall Arch-angell And these are the immediate dispensators of the will of their eternall head and well-spring For this reason therefore as we ocularly behold that the Sun-beams do illuminate wholly what object soever the same looketh upon being enlightned by reason of an infinity of beams which are united in and upon it So also all emanations which are carried down unto the stars do fill them with an infinity of beams which are insteed of subdivided Angells having the nature of all that whole emanation which did animate the stars And therefore all the Olympick spirits of each star are alike in property The self-same reason also there is from the angelicall beams which issue from each wind and fill the whole aire and water and earth with an innumerable number of hurtfull spirits of their nature And yet it is sure that as God made all things to exist and be as Solomon saith he had a care to appoint over the winds as many good Angells with their inferiour spirits which arise from their good beams to over-rule the malice of the bad spirits with their subjects which also have their abidings in the aire And that each of these hurting or harmfull angelicall Presidents of the winds have a master to curb his malice it appeareth by the consequence of the foresaid Text Et vidi angelum ascendentem ab ortu solis habentem signum Dei vivi clamavit voce magna quatuor angelis quibus datum est nocere terrae mari dicens Noliâ—e nocere terrae mari neque arboribus c. And I saw another angel ascend from the east having the seal of the living God and he cryed with a great voice unto the four angels in whose power it was to hurt the earth and the seas and the trees c. So that we see here that there is an Emperiall Angell which is a spirit or Intelligence of goodnesse and preservation who hath power over the Angells of the world as well bad as good and consequently is a Lord and commander over the harmfull Angels not onely of that Easterly quarter but also over all the other three and that was Michael unto whom the government of the Sun and East is ascribed And this great and soveraigne Angell by others is said to be Mitattron of which we have spoke before whom others esteem to be the image of the eternall Sapience by which all things were made Howsoever it was that emperiall Angell that had victory over the Dragon and his Angells and therefore hath them his vassalls So that as Satan is the Prince of darknesse and an enemy unto light and therefore unto Christ and his creatures so this great Angell in whom is JEHOVA's Name as the Scripture affirms in which is life and in whom is light without darknesse is the Prince of light and hath power over light position and life and therefore an utter enemy unto darknesse with the Prince thereof And for that cause as Satan hath his armies scattered in the aire by the four winds so also hath the emperiall and victorious Prince of light his conducting Angells dispersed over the face of the earth and waters and in every place over the catholick element of the aire to resist the violent and subtle or invisible assaults of the army or spirits of darkness which good spirits also are under the conduct of four good Captains of the nature of the four winds which Captains are full of goodness and grace Therefore the Mysticall Theologians and Cabalists do aver Quod ut in exercitu Dei quatuor sunt Ante signani nempe Michael Gabriel Uriel Raphael Sic in exercitu pariter Satanae latissima gerunt signiferi ultores vela Samael Azaeel Azael Mahazael as Mnahem Racanat affirmeth Whereof the first of each kind do war in the East the second in the North the third in the South and the fourth in the West For these four spirituall Captains of Satan are thought to be the four harmfuls Angell which are said to cause the four winds to blow and as for the other four of God's Captains that they are also Presidents of the four winds we find it confirmed by Rabbi Tedacus Levi in this sense Deus quatuor ventis creavit quatuor Angelos qui praefecti sunt super eos in die in nocte Michael qui est ex parte clementiae miserationis constituitur Mamona i. e. praefectus super ventum orientalem usque ad dimidium diei usque ad noctem regit que ventum Occidentalem Raphael qui similiter est de parte clementiae Tum Gabriel in virtute judicii severitatis praefectus est cum vento boreali super dimidium noctis duas mensuras mundi Noriel verò vel Uriel praesidet Austro God created for the four winds four Angels which are Rulers or Presidents over them in the day-time and in the night Michael which is of the part of clemency and commiseration is made the Lord and Ruler over the East wind untill midday and untill night And Raphael which is also of the part of misericord doth govern the West Then Gabriel in the power of judgment and severity is constituted Lord over the North wind And Noriel or Uriel is made Overseer of the South So that
we see that as well there are good beams or benigne spirits which by a secret and hidden Emanation do stream forth from the fountain of the winds namely those which are poured out by JEHOVA's benigne Attributes as are El by Jupiter Eloach by the Sun Sadai by Venus and then Michael Raphael Gabriel c. do by their Legions execute God's Will And there are bad and corrupt or privative emission of spirits of a contrary fortitude from the winds which have their Originall from Elohim Elohim Gibbor and Adonaia which make Saturn Mars and the Moon their store-house neither would I have any one to wonder that I should derive the multiplicity of the good and the bad properties which are effected by the winds from one Divine essence which imparteth his Will by the diversity of his lively properties unto the 4 Archangells since the Prophet saith Vem spiritus à quatuor ventis insuffla interfectos istos ut revivi scant Come O Spirit from the four winds and breathe on these slain persons that they may live again Here the Prophet acknowledgeth that it is but one essentiall vivifying Spirit that effecteth all this and consequently that the four opposite properties in the four Angells which are the Governors of the winds are the influences or essentiall beams of one and the same Spirit of life in essence By reason of these spirits of a contrary fortitude in the aire sometimes good and propitious events befall the creatures of this lower world namely when the good spirits raigne and wholsome winds do blow which happen when the benign starrs and Planets have dominion in heaven and consequently their influences below and again somtimes bad and dysastrous accidents armed with privative and destructive effects befall the creatures of this Elementary region by reason of severe emissions of beams from the winds which animate those evill spirits that in infinite multitudes do hover though invisible in the aire who are rejoyced and revived at the blasts which issue from the stations of their cruell Princes and are as it were summons and all-arms to stir and excite them unto wrath and to blow the coles of their sleeping malice All this we may gather from this speech extracted out of Joseph Castaliensis A terra usque ad firmamentum non est locus vacuus sed omne plenum formis ex illis purae ex illis capaces gratiae ac mâ—serationum sunt infernis multae effigies foedae noxiae tentatrices omnes commorantes volantes in aëâ—e Et non a terra usque in coelum locus vacuus quin totum sunt species ex iis ad pacem ex iis ad bellum ex iis ad bonum ex iis ad malum ex iis ad vitam ex iis ad mortem omne id in habitatione inferiori in qua nos sumus From the earth unto the firmament there is not a void place but all is full of forms Of the which some are pure and some are capable of grace and mercy and there are beneath many foul hurtfull and tempting shapes and of all these do abide and flie up and down in the aire And from the earth unto the heaven there is not one sparâ— place but all is full of forms whereof some are enclined to peace some to war some of them are given to goodness some to naughtiness and some of them are Agents to life and some unto death and all this chanceth in the lower habitation in the which we are c. Whereby he signifieth that the whole air is replenished as well with spirits of darknesse as with spirits of light And therefore there is a continuall conflict made here below betwixt these spirits of opposit conditions Whereof the one do attend upon their Prince of darknesse being alwaies ready to accomplish his behests and consequently are very familiar unto the humid nature or matter of the world which is the child of the dark Chaos and for that cause have naturally a great dominion and power over it which by reason of its inclination unto darkness is easy to be tempted and allured from the Society of formal Light And hereupon the materiall world the flesh and the Devill are joyned together as also Satan is termed by the Apostle the Prince of the aire which is the off-spring of the waters from whence the materiall substance of the world was taken The other do wait on the Prince of Light their Master who is the eternall Wisdom which springeth from the bright word of eternity And these two dignify the world with life and do employ their greatest care to animate vivify and preserve it with such salutary beams as they receive immediatly from the eternall Emanation or fiery Word in which is the essence of life and being By this means therefore namely from the opposition of these two spirits of a contrary fortitude all the passions in the spirit and consequently of the Soul yea and body as well of the great world and all the creatures therein as of the little world have their immediate beginning namely the good passions as are joy charity hope confidence misericord humanity in the little world which are caused by dilatation of the heart and concord appetite Sympathy desire or concupiscence delight audaâ—ity jucundity caused by dilatation from the Center unto the circumference and by consequence Anâ—ipathy in the great world And again the bad passions in the little world's spirit as are sadness hatred desperatness timidity anger furor and bashfulness which arise from the contraction of the heart and in the great world and his creatures as are stupidity or congelation discord hatred irascibility fear c. and in conclusion Antipathy which comes by contracting from the circumference unto the Center All which are certain passions either well affecting and reviving the vital spirits with comfort by dilatation of those spirits with the beams of a kind of joy and delight or else choaking or suffocating them with the gloomy fog of darkness by contracting of those spirits with the mist of grief or privative sadness CHAP. V. What Actions in the Spirit or Soul in generall do produce Sympathy and what Antipathy How Sympathy or Compassion proceedeth from a certain dilatation of spirits in two or more particulars or an emitting of their internall beams of life or essence positively and benignly from the Center unto the Circumference attempting thereby to make a concord or union betweâ—â—â—wo or more like or homogenial natures and contrariwise Antipathy by contracting the said beams from the Circumference unto the Center moveth after an opposite manner namely by division or discord that is quite contrary unto the beams of the other which are emitted I Have signified unto you first in my precedent discourse that two properties were Archetypically or Ideally and after a complicite manner comprehended in one radicall Unity or Essence namely the one effected by its Nolunty the other by its Volunty Lo here
after an Astrologicall manner seemeth to aver so much in these words Si alâ—cu datum esset totam conditionem coelestis harmoniae comprehendere mundum elementorum cum suis singulis contentis in quocunque loco quocunque tempore plene cognosceret tanquam causatum per causas si etâ—am aliquam rem hujus mundi in tota sua conditione cognosceret coelestis harmoniae conditio ipsum non lateret sed etiam causam tanquam per effectum suum comprehenderet omnis enâ—mâ—res quanâ—umcunque modica in mundo elementorum agens totius coelestis harmoniae est effectus Whosoever doth comprehend the whole condition of the celestiall harmony he may fully know the whole elementary world with every content of the same in every place and at all times as the effect by the cause Also if he understand any thing of this world in his totall nature and condition the celestiall disposition and condition will not be hidden from him but will be discovered unto him as the cause is by the effect For every thing in this world how little soever it be that acteth is the effect of the whole harmony of the heaven By which words Alkindus being deeply seen in the mystery of nature seemeth to aver that as there is a descent from unity unto multitude so all that multitude is in that unity as also that unity filleth all the multitude so is 1 in 2 and 2 in 3 and 3 in 4 and 4 in 5 c. and yet that unity which is the beginning is the end and all in all So light enforms the angelicall creature the angelicall the starry creature the starry creature the elements and the elements the compound creature Wherefore open the compound creature and look upon the elements divide the Elements and you shall find the starry and quintessentiall nature open these and you shall conceive the subtill alterity of the Angelicall spirit in which is the Divine act or immediate beam from God In this work therefore there concurreth in the separation of the first a sensible aspect in the other we must behold with intellectuall eies So that you may observe how all is in every thing and every thing in all Hereupon it was also that Hermes said speaking mystically and not after the common sense Qui fornacem cum vase nostro construit novum mundum conflat He which maketh our furnace with the glass to it he maketh a new world But what needs more words when we find all this confirmed by demonstration For we know that the Load-stone is but a part of the Earth and yet it hath all his Circles and both his Poles yea and that very nature in all respects between each Pole and Circle that the whole Earth hath and thereupon it is termed Terrella or a little Earth and so may the whole earth be tearmed parvus mundus being it containeth the Poles circles and astrall yea and Elementall natures of the great world no otherwise then the great world doth in all those respects represent the Archetype which is carved out intellectually in the all-working Spirit of Wisdom or sacred Emanation yea and we go yet deeper into our diminutives For if a piece of Iron rod which naturally aspecteth the North and South be brok off that small piece will have also as exactly his North and South Pole and consequently his circles as the whole rod and nevertheless the rod keepeth still his North and South point as before The like in the Load-stone will happen as experience shall hereafter make it appeare more plainly That we may come a little nearer to the explication of this Mystery ye must understand that this eternall catholick Emanation is the essentiall and spirituall rock out of which first the great world in generall and then all particular things therein were carved or framed by generalities first according unto the Ten generall Emanations and their properties which the Ethnicks in some sort referred unto their Ten generall Predicaments and this again had their specialities or subalternate degrees of many ranks and orders of dignities all which were at last made apparent by the infinity of individualls which they did in their kinds produce according unto those divers beams of the multiplicite Will or Volunty of God which this eternall Emanation poured out into them All which particular beams more or lesse being not divided in essence from the universall Emanation or the Spirit of Wisdome which made all things are the spirituall Corner-stone on which every creature as well particular as universall doth formally or essentially consist and this Corner-stone is that internall essence in every thing which as it giveth life so also it is all and over all the things that it inacteth with life and therefore also the soul whose Center this Corner-stone is is said to be in all and every part I will leave to speak of its action in other creatures and will onely insist on our main Subject in hand which is the earth and her off-spring or progenie amongst the which the feminine Load-stone and his ferruginous mass are chiefly reckoned Divine Philosophy teacheth us that the Globe of the Earth is sustained by this Corner-stone and consequently hath her manifold Virtues from it Ubinam eras saith JEHOVAH quando fundebam terram quis disposuit mensuras ejus aut quis extendit super eam lineam Super quo bases ejus defixae sunt Aut quis jecit lapidem ejus Angularem Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the earth Who disposed of the measures thereof and who did extend over it a line upon what basis or foundation was it sustained or who laid the corner-stone thereof In the Weather-glass which I have described in my precedent Philosophicall discourse you may discerne two points corresponding unto the two Poles namely the mattras head above resembling the Northern Pole and the water below compared to the Southern Pole the aire interposed betwixt them unto the spatious heaven or sublunary spirit which is betwixt these two Poles the middle of which in the figure 1. the Aequinoctiall doth â—ut as being in the mid-way betwixt the two Poles We find evermore that when the aire included in the top of the Mattras or bolts-head is cold namely when the northern blasts are sent forth it will be contracted and consequently will suck or draw up the water and thereupon we are taught the reason of the attractive nature not onely in the northern or septentrionall winds but also in the Load-stone and all other things which by contraction of the aire do draw and suck unto them namely that they have that property from the power of Gods Spirit which by his angelicall organs doth blow from the north By this also it is made evident why one Pole doth suck and attract from the other in the Load stone namely by the continuity of the spirituall axle-tree which is made and animated by one corner-stone or essentiall and centrall spirit
as is said though of two opposite conditions in which also it worketh after many diversities of degrees and therefore Solomon tearmeth it simplex or unicus simple or one in regard of his divine nature and multiplex in respect that it worketh and operateth after a manifold manner for as it worketh about the poles of the axle-tree by attracting and sucking unto it by cold and drought so about the Aequinoctiall and that more and more approching from the poles towards the Aequinoctiall it varieth in ten thousand proportions more or less in dilatation by reason of the manifold degrees of heat which this centrall Sun of life imparteth unto the aire And this is not onely manifested in the foresaid Weather-glass forasmuch as we find that by how much the more the heavenly Sun with his divine centrall agent approacheth unto us by so much the more the externall aire being dilated by his heat doth also dilate the aire contained in the neck of the mattras or bolts-head and driveth down the water that is it repelleth back the cold of winter which came in by showers of rain sent from the south unto his proper pole So that we see as the nature of the cold pole is to draw or suck unto it by condensation which is effected by contraction or made by a Saturnine faculty so the nature of the hot Aequinoctiall and his adjacent parts is to expell his opposite by dilatation which is effected by a subtiliating heat And this is the reason as is already demonstrated that the Aequinoctiall of the Load-stone detesteth to be joyned unto the pole as on the contrary side the pole abhorreth reciprocally the Aequinoctiall Also this is the reason that in the pole of the said stone there is so great power of attraction and that it sucketh the iron unto it ad angulos rectos that is after a perpendicular manner and then the nearer the needle or piece of steel or iron-wier approacheth unto the Aequinoctiall of the stone the more will his obliquity in coition or conjunction be with the stone So that when it commeth directly unto the Aequinoctiall it will lose all angular contact and lie flat as it were on its belly as you may see by this true observation following But because these demonstrations may seem unto the vulgar somewhat intricate as being ignorant of the centrall sun of the earth which the Philosophers call Archaeum naturae or The master-workman of nature As also it will be difficult for them to conceive what an axiltree of the earth may be and what his poles And again the right use of the Load-stone or practise in the Weather-glass is unknown unto many a man I will proceed unto a kind of proof and explication of this matter which is familiar unto each person of what degree soever It cannot be gainsaid but that Man and all other creatures as well vegetable as animal are composed of a living soul which is internall and a body being his externall The self-same also we ought to judge of the earth for it hath an inward spirit whereby it operateth diversly And again as there is no animal nor vegetable that can exist without the aire forasmuch as by it each thing liveth and existeth by inspiration for by that means they suck in the celestiall influence so also the aiery element doth feed the inward spirit of the earth and conveyeth from above all the heavenly influences into her body and maketh her the mother of all mineralls and vegetables I told you before that all inferiour things with their operations are the types or similitudes of things above and that God did animate the Angels the Angels did inform the stars and the starry demons or olympick spirits send down influences unto the winds and the winds do inform the catholick element of the aire four-foldly that is to say according unto the nature of the four winds which four-fold information doth give or assigne a name unto the four elements And although in the catholick aire there is but one onely substance in essence yet it varieth in nature after a four-fold condition according unto the will and property of that one Spirit which onely is the efficient actor or agent in this metamorphosis or Protean transmutation from one nature or form unto another although he useth as well angelicall as starry organs and is said to ride upon the cherubins and to glide upon the wings of the winds For this reason therefore the Prophet saies Come O spirit from the four winds and breathe upon these slain bodies that they may live He said not Come O spirits but Come O spirit whereby he argued that it is but one Spirit which bloweth essentially from the four winds and consequently that this one spirit in essence is but onely one thing though four-fold in regard of his property and that as in this archetypicall spirit the whole world was ideally divided into poles and portions distinguished by spirituall circles so also in all the regions of the world he observeth constantly the self-same character of position namely in the starry world as in the airy and in the airy as in the water and earth For in the heavens the northern pole is pointed at and marked out with the starry character which is found in the Tail of the great Bear in the aire it is manifested in that very point from whence Boreas or the north-wind bloweth which doth exactly correspond unto the pole-star Again that the earth observeth the very same order in the direction of her pole is confirmed by the conversion of the Load-stone and Iron unto the north-star Thus you see that it is one onely spirit in essence that worketh all in all I proceed therefore thus to my demonstration which is so familiar to each person that not any one who is in his senses can deny it for I am sure no man can be ignorant that when the north-wind bloweth the aire is of nature cold and dry and therefore is converted into the condition and consistence of earth namely from a clear transparent light subtle dissolved and dilated consistence of aire into a troubled opake or dark gross ponderous and contracted substance for experience doth teach us that it is transmuted into snow hail frost and ice that is from an aery spirit unto an earthly and solâ—d body from an invisible and mobile estate unto a visible and fixt disposition And in conclusion the whole aire is changed into a spirituall and corporall earth and this transmutation it hath from that cold dry and attractive form which it borrowed from the northern wind or septentrionall property of the divine spirit which ordereth all things and altereth them from one form unto another by the breath of his nostrills as Scriptures allegoriously speak or by those windy emissions or angelicall emanations which it sendeth from the four corners of the earth So that by his breath from the north he exerciseth that property in the lower world by the
which he draweth or attracteth from the circumference unto the center and so congealeth inspissateth and hardeneth soft spirits by contraction and coarctation of those parts which before were porous and dilated But some will perchance reply and say How is it likely that the emanation or emission of spirits from the port of Binah under the Attribute of ELOHIM or the streaming forth of the breath or blasts from Boreas and his two collateralls can harden by contraction or suck and draw in spirits from the circumference unto the center when their emissions are straight from the north southward and make no reflexion whereby any such motion à circumferentia ad centrum should be made I answer That this is effected after a wonderfull fashion and worthy to be pondered by the choisest wits We must consider therefore in the first place that the property of the Attribute ELOHIM was before all beginning ordained to indue the negative or contractive nature of the eternall Unity's Nolunty namely of darkness for when God will not shew the light of his countenance he reflecteth his light in himself that is he withdraweth it from the circumference to the center and leaveth onely darkness unto the creatures This property of God is antipatheticall unto such parts of the world as also unto all such creatures as have their life from a naturall heat which heat had its beginning from Gods benevolent emanation that is from the act of unity by an emission or dilatation from the center unto the circumference I mean from unity into multitude It followeth therefore that though the emission of winds from the north be streight yet their essentiall property proceeding immediately from Gods angelicall organ is contractive and attracting from the circumference unto the center seeing that it is an emission which by the divine Spirits emanation and action in the nature of ELOHIM is cold dry coagulative or congealing and apt to rest and is therefore antipatheticall and oppugnant unto the disposition of the air forasmuch as it is hot and moist and consequently is animated by the dilative action which the catholick spirit sendeth or breatheth out of the celestiall Sun and other vivifying stars as are Jupiter and Venus And for this cause it followeth that when the Boreall spirits are sent forth into the aire it must needs succeed that at the antipatheticall contract of these cold spirits the naturall heat or life of the aire flyeth or with-draweth it self from its circumference unto its center and so partly by that contractive motion in it self caused per antiperistasin or by reason of the antipatheticall occurrence or meeting of his contrary and partly by mingling of a new terrestriall form it is congealed and falleth to the earth as if it were dead because unmovable in the form of snow hail frost and ice In like manner we see that the aery life in other creatures whose formall beeing consisteth of Gods dilating property is forced to fly from the circumference unto the center leaving the externall parts chil cold and apt to a deadly congelation or lethall repose which we observe not onely in animal creatures but also in vegetables seeing that their blood as I may tearm it or vitall suck is congealed by the winter and northern cold and is as it were liveless untill by the vivifying and dilative sorce of the ensuing Vernall or Springly and Australl vertue it is resolved and melted again and the severe tye or icy knot of the northern nature undone For this reason therefore you may discern that there is but one catholick element which is partly subject and obnoxious unto the privative and dark contracting and consequently attracting property of Gods Spirit and partly capable to endue his positive and light dilating disposition and that this common subject is the spirit or aire of the sublunary world which by lesse inspissation or contraction caused by the west winds is made water and by more compression and constriction caused by the northern and winter blasts becommeth snowy or icy earth And contrariwise by lesse dilatation and subtiliation is made aery or vaporous caused by the spring season and south wind and by a greater rarefaction and exaltation it is made fire by the dominion of such spirits as are sent out from the east and summers heat and both these main two-fold divided properties belong unto one and the same Spirit as is before related Verily this common demonstration can deceive no man being that the very unreasonable creatures are moved by a naturall inclination either to sympathize and rejoyce with the clemency and comfort of the one property or to fly from or eschew the severer assaults of the other which do antipathize with their nature But to our main business It is manifest by that which is already said that the northern breath is contractive attractive inspissative and apt to darkness immobility and rest and that the south-winde or rather the winde from the Aequinoctiall is contrary in nature unto it as being ready to undo all that the north winde did effect namely to dissolve the congealed aire which was made snow frost hail ice into water and water into aire to make transparent that which was dark and render thin that which was before thick And therefore between these properties there is no more sympathy then I have shewed you to be between the Load-stones Aequinoctiall and the Pole And again that both these opposite natures proceed and spring from one and the same divine and catholick spirit which operateth all in all every where and consequently as well in earth as in heaven this testimony of the true Philosophy doth manifestly confirm and import Deo emittente sermonem suum in terram quam celerrimè excurrit qui nives emittit sicut lanam pruâ—nam quasi cineres dispergit dejicit gelu tanquam frusta coram frigore ejus quis consistat Emittit verbum suum liquefacit ista simul ac efflat ventum suum effluunt aquae God sendeth forth his word it runneth forth most swiftly upon the earth who produceth snow like wool and spreadeth abroad the frost like ashes and casteth down the ice as it were pieces Who is able to resist against his cold He sendeth forth his word and melteth or dissolveth all these so soon as he breatheth forth his wind or Spirit the congealed waters begin to flow and move Whereby it appeareth that the Word or Spirit of God congealeth by one property and dissolveth by another and consequently as God is all one in essence so it is one and the same Spirit that effecteth these four-fold alterations in one catholick spirit of the world which are by the Ancients called distinct Elements because they cuold never as yet throughly determine what was the essentiall form of the Elements But if they had well considered the four Elements of the which they spake so much and as it should seem understood essentially but little or had they well conceived that
which allureth and draweth down magnetickly beams from above and holdeth them fast to multiply its own nature even like the fowler that maketh use of a captived bird to allure others of the same kind unto his netts But as for the female mineral nature because the body of it is more compacted and not corruptible it sucketh unto it for the self-same reason namely by the attractive virtue of his stiptick and attractive salt the essentiall beams of Iron as from a star of his own nature to solace and redeem his spirits and consequently with the spirit it sucketh also the masculine body forasmuch as the one cannot be well devided from the other and when it hath them it retaineth them partly for a consolation and corroboration and partly for a multiplication of his essence And therefore those Philosophers are deceived which averre that the Load-stone doth not secretly feed upon the formall spirits of Iron because though its force was preserved by immersing or burying of it in a bag of filings or scales of Iron yet because neither the Load-stone was augmented nor the Iron diminished in waight they conclude that it doth not nourish But they ought to know that the formall beams in the aire doth adde no more waight unto it then the light of a candle doth to the glass or water in which it shineth and yet it nourisheth formally that is it multiplieth in formall essence though not in materiall substance or quantity To conclude as the externall cold causeth the formall heat in the aire to contract it self in flying and retiring it self from the circumference unto the Center to eschew the assaults of his adversary so also the externall cold doth compact it into a more solid space by an antiperistaticall reverberation and contraction caused by the Northern cold's penetration But in the Load-stone the spirit is Saturnine and doth not otherwise suck in his like by the assistance also of a Saturnine body animated by the drouth of a Martial nature which also is by some ascribed unto the North But moreover it affecteth his like in the Iron and therefore by a sympatheticall desire is the more animated unto that business of Attraction And it should appear besides all this that there is an attractive property also in the body of the Iron which sucketh unto it the spirits of the Loadstone no otherwise than the male or Mars doth in his nature covet and affect Venus but because the female by reason of her coldness doth most affect and desire the company of the male the spirituall beams of her affection doth with the most fervency desire and covet and therefore draw and alluâ—e the beams of the male which is of a hotter and for that reason of a more perfect nature unto her and this is observed in the Iron which I take for the male for though it of it self without the Load-stones assistance doth convert his poles by a naturall inclination unto the poles of the world yet we observe that it is more slowly and with the lesser appetite and therefore more formall than materiall I collect therefore upon that which is already said that two like things which are of the nature of the Aequinoctiall and temperate Zone do affect and embrace one another by a sympatheticall emission of beams from the center unto the circumference and such is the love of those creatures which live by the property of a positive emanation as are animals which are of a hot disposition be they dry or moist and therefore they do not sensibly draw one spirit unto another but work by the union which is made by a conjunction or concurrency together of lights after an emission of their formall beams And these have a reference unto the spirits property which issueth from the east and south winds whose natures are to dilate from the center and therefore not to contract from the circumference Contrariwise two like natures which embrace the property of the Poles and cold Zones do affect and hug one another by contraction namely by sucking and drawing of each nature from the circumference unto their center even as we see one Load-stone divided in the middle will draw and suck another unto it self till both parts of it be fitly joyned together in the very place or equinoctiall of their division and after this fashion also is that attractive affection made which is between the iron and the Loadstone which are creatures subject unto Saturn Vâ—rgo and the Pole-star From these Physicall and Astronomicall assertions of ours the Chimycall contemplation varieth not much for if in that kind of speculation we do observe the nature of the Load-stone we shall find it not to spring from any naturall but rather from a monstrous birth or generation forasmuch as it is noted to proceed from unequall and unlike parents as the Mule doth for if we observe well the manner of its composition we shall finde that his mother or passive corporeall masse is a common stony and earthly Mercury and that his father or active form is a metallick or sulphureous Martiall spirit And in conclusion we shall perceive that their mixtion is effected in this manner The Mercuriall liquor of a stony earthly or Saturnine nature being as yet in its first matter or shell as it were and being a near neighbour unto the Mercury of Mars for these two natures are most commonly found near and in company one of another did hereupon and for this cause acquire unto it self a light transmutation and so do appear to be joyned together by a streight contiguous and almost continued union so that the composition doth obtain a mean existence between the nature of a Martiall mettle and a Saturnine stone and may well be tearmed a Mercury metamorphosed by halves or a kind of a Hermophroditicall Saturnine Mercury into the which when the Sulphureous Martiall spirits as the metallick form do enter it receiveth those Martiall spirits and conserveth them in its womb as their proper passive and mother and by that means the mass is coagulated into a stony body Now since every spirit and consequently this of the Load-stone desireth to be nourished by that which is nearest and likest unto his own nature the which nature or spirit is onely found in Iron it happeneth for this reason that the inward martiall spirit of the Load-stone doth draw the body of Iron unto it and after an occult manner doth seem to suck his nourishment out of it I conceive therefore that the fixt salt in the Iron or Load-stone is partly of a hot and dry Martiall nature and consequently of a fiery earthly condition and partly of a cold and dry stiptick and Saturnine faculty which also it receiveth from its earth and therefore there concurreth two testimonies of strange attraction in the Load-stone And because Venus is said to be the female friend and companion unto Mars she doth add a strong concupiscible desire unto the attraction and bridleth the irascible
he operateth on the left hand yet shall I not see him he will cover the right quarter of the world and yet shall I not behold him So that what Pagnâ—nâ— maketh the orient angle of the world Tremellius maketh the face or fore-part of the world and so-forth Whence it appeareth and that as I think without further controversy that the direct disposition of man according unto the situation of the great world is when his face is disposed unto the orient or east angle of the earth And for this reason are the two eyes of man disposed in the frontispice of his fabrick as also of all other creatures that they might after a long nocturnall darknesse behold with delight the orientall Sun that by the presence thereof they might adore the Creator thereof in whose power it is by his golden aspect to banish the presence of the gloomy night and consequently to salute it as being the visible type of the eternall Sun 's invisible beauty who also as Scriptures hath taught us will appear at the last day from that easterly point to renovate and purifie by fire the corrupt world If followeth therefore that mans right hand or right part must respect the south as his left hand the north All which are by so much the more apparent by how much they agree and concord with Philosophicall reason For the Liver being on the right side of man doth most conveniently sympathise with the southern nature being that it engendereth by its vertue warm aery blood and sendeth it forth by the channells of the veins every where over the microcosmicall earth to make it to vegetate even as the southern wind produceth tepid or madid showers to water the microcosmicall earth that thereby the plants and heâ—bage which groweth on it may encrease and multiply by vegetation The left side or left hand is rightly compared unto the worlds Boreal quarter or the Arctick pâ—le for as in that angle the aire water or earth is cold and dry apt to congelation of a contractive and stiptick or restrictive nature so also we find that the spleen which lyeth in the left part of mans body is the receptacle of melancholy or congealed cold black sowre and earthly humours and as the northern blasts of the macroâ—osmicall or great world do obscure and mask or eclipse oft-times the fair sun-shine of the east and by that means do procure an obscure darknesse over all the hemisphear even so in the little world the flatuous fumes sent forth from this northern splene contracteth the heart and instead of wholsome and bright passionâ— namely of joy mirth and gladness which the beauteous sun-shine of life procureth unto man it bringeth forth dark passions as are sadness fear dispair and such like yea and causeth the heart to suffer the effects of syncopes and palpitations Thus therefore you see the two opposite poles of the little world to concur in effect and that in all respects with that of the great world counting the southern pole from the Aequinoctiall For if we divide the Load-stone in the middle that part in the Aequinoctiall which is next the north-pole will serve and stand in place of the South Pole and if again that half be divided in the Tropick of Cancer the division about the Tropick of Cancer will be his South Pole But to look more internally yet into the little world we find that it consisteth on that spirituall Corner-stone by which the world was made and the earth sustained and consequently in which the world and every point thereof was ideally delineated from the beginning before it was made after the manner of the earth which is said to be full of the Spirit of Wisdom Hereupon it is termed the Temple of God the body and members of Christ and the habitacle of the Holy Spirit as is said before For this cause therefore we must think that there are secret Poles circles and starrs assigned unto man as well spirituall as corporall no otherwise then there is unto the earth and every Magneticall portion thereof So that in man is the properties of the Macrocosmicall winds and consequently in it may passions be bred and produced which are as well Antipatheticall as Sympatheticall Now verily if in the second place we shall duly observe the nature of the Load-stone we shall not a little admire at the rare and singular properties thereof yea truly we shall find it almost to passe man's reason and understanding that a hard mineral stone unmoveable and stupid should neverthelesse be possessor of such spirits which are able insensibly to display and transmit their occult faculties and virtues quite through or a travers the hardest stones the most solid and closest grained wood the thick and intranspirable plates of mettal yea the impenetrable glass it self and other such compacted stuffe which have not any sensible Spiracle or porosity and that it should work on it self and on Iron and that it should behold the Pole Arctick at so long a distance as there cannot be a greater in our regard namely from the earth unto the highest heavens or the eighth Shpere the which is almost incommensurable I mean unto the Pole-star I dare boldly say that all the Schoole of the Peripateticks who made profession to give a reason of all things and to be ignorant of nothing that toucheth the most occult and intimate secrets of nature would find themselves much troubled and puzzeled and as it were inclosed in a confused Labyrinth of phantasticall imaginations and Chimerian surmises before they could discusse and unvaile this misty business or unrip the fardill of so profound a riddle that is to say ere they could hit the mark or attain unto the wished end of this inquirie which is onely pointed at and demonstrated by the finger of a far truer and diviner Philosophy whose main Subject of all actions and power is the spirituall Corner-stone Jesus Christ in whom is the plenitude of Divinity as St. Paul teacheth us Is it not wonderfull that this spirit can pass like that celestiall one in Man where the aire is not able to penetrate Is it not an evident Argument that it is of an aethereall race which is able to operate these effects quite through such solid bodies Wherefore let not Plutarch make his brags as he hath done where he striveth to undo this intricate Gordian knot or tye reputing it a shame and defect in such learned men as have medled herein and have not dived into the depth thereof being that at last he himself sheweth palpably herein his error after he had made so strict an inquisition For he concludeth that the insensible emanations or emissions or effluxions which issue out of the Load-stone and produce his attractive effects are gross and flatuous whereas if he had a little better considered the businesse he would have found that the subtilest and most rarified aire is not able to find any porosity or spiracle to breathe through thick
aire insomuch as he hath power to stir up tempests in the seas and storms in the elementary heavens and therefore the aire by some is called The Synagogue of Satan What! must we therefore abhor the aire and winds because the devill doth at sometimes act by and in them his mischievous feats when as the aire is cleared and purified from all corruption as Aristotle saith rightly by agitation of the winds for if it were not excited and moved by the winds it would putrifie as the standing waters doth Again if we should fly from and loath the aire how should we live when the airy spirit is the spirituall seed of our life We read also in Scriptures that God causeth the Sun indifferently to rise upon the good and bad and that the Sun and Moon do harm or hurt some as again they are comfortable and propitious unto others and therefore David saith The Sun shall not harm thee by day nor the moon by night The Moon which is termed by the Poets Hâ—ccate is the goddess of witches for unto her did the famous Enchantress Medaea make her orisons for the furthering of her purposes and yet the aire the water and the earth are seasoned with her humid or madid vertues and the plants yea and animals do acknowledge her the Patroness of vegetation the maketh the seas to swell and again by another kind of her position or aspect the seas are abated in their pride and humours are more scanty in every living or vegetating thing Yea we finde that all the malignant watry spirits are subject unto her influences and that Satan also taketh his advantage on the diverse positions of her or conjunctions and applications with other as well fixt as erratik starrs to work his feats for he is an old beaten Souldier in Astrology and knoweth the effects of every situation of the heavens and therefore can take the advantage of their strongest influences upon animal vegetable or minerall creatures which are subject unto them he knoweth the due times when they are poured down upon them and is expert in their virtues which are then onely of greatest efficacy and force when the powerfull point of their proper constellation striketh upon them and stirreth up their Centrall spirits to shew forth the uttermost of their occult or arcane natures and conditions and then at the very instant he collecteth the herb or stone or maketh use of the Animal's members or teacheth such as are Sorcerers to do it without knowing the mystery of the constellation 's concurrence or application at that time of the collection with the naturall creatures so collected So that when they attempt to make use of the same Simples at another time they find them weak and of none effect because the spirits of every herb animal or minerall are weakest when the starre which is their nursing celestiall mother hath least power or dominion in heaven All which the true Astrologicall Philosopher knoweth right well by experience to be true For gathering of a Simple at the point when the constellation as well fixt as erratick which hath the essentiall dominion over it is in his greatest dignity and power in heaven he findeth an admirable efficacy in it as well in his occult as evident property when contrariwise if it be collected at a season wherein the heavenly Patron is weak and feeble they will appear as it were faint and almost dead in their power Whereby it is most apparent that it is the naturall creature 's which by their own essentiall natures work even as well those sympatheticall as antipatheticall effects which the devill doth make use of to perform his devices even as the Physitian Philosopher or naturall Magitian doth to effect their own ends What shall we say then what that whosoever shall use or operate by the same creatures be they animals vegetabls or minerals are Cacomagicians and their work diabolicall because the devill at some times maketh use of their subtil and abstruse action to build himself a name amongst fools Is it not God that worketh such effects in these his creatures Did he not by his Word bestow such virtues on them in their Creation and continued it in their sucession by generation Why then is it not as possible unto Man who is framed after God's Image to know the true time of the collection of these creatures with the uses and virtues thereof as well as the devill What because forsooth he since the fall Adam is blinded with ignorance and cannot see or distinguish light from dakness That Adam knew the virtues of the starrs and of every particular earthly creature subject unto every one of these starrs we partly gather out of Scripture For else could he not have assigned a proper name unto each of them agreeing to his nature But if the sucession of Adam is blind and cannot distinguish of colours and therfore is ignorant also in these hidden treasures of God How I pray you came the devill to have so deep an insight in them being that he fell for his rebellion farre deeper than Man and is clogged with a darker vayl than he and therefore is called the Prince of darkness Oh you reply the devill is a spirit without body and therefore is able to discern the hidden things of God in nature sooner and beter then Man who is a gross bodily creature And again Man dieth every Age but the devill by reason of his long continuance is of great experience I answer That though Man die and continueth not long and though he be obscured in his understanding by reason of his Fore-fathers fall and though he be clad or indued with a dark and combersom body yet hath he the revelation of the Truth and a discovery of the abstruce mysteries of Naturall things first from God bequeathed and left unto him by succession that is by a Cabalisticall tradition even from our Fore-father Adam and by the revelation of God's Wisdom or the good Spirit which he hath bestowed upon the Elect For by it as Solomon himself doth restifie he came to know the disposition of the Earth the virtue of the Elements the beginning end and middle of times the change of manners the division of times the course of the year the disposition of the staâ—rs the natures of living creatures the condition of beasts the force of the winds the differences of Plants the virtues of roots yea saith he and I discovered all hidden and abstruce things For Wisdom who is the worker of all things taught it me c. And again it is said that he knew and was instructed in the mysteries of all Plants even from the lowly Hysop unto the lofty Cedar of Libanon Was it then a diabolicall action in Solomon to look after and to practise upon the abstruce natures of Plants and Animals and to find out by his skill in Astrology the proper starrs which are their true Patrons and charitable Mothers in heaven and to make
transplanting of it into a vegetable plant herb or tree as in the progress of this Book shall be more amply declared But because the order of these things in our demonstration à posteriori or by progression from the effect unto the originall cause of these things will be most convenient for the common and vulgar capacity I will begin to ascend in this mine explication from grosser elements unto more subtle intricate and abstruce things as if by proportionate degrees I should mount from the earth into heaven I purpose therefore first to express and demonstrate unto you those things magnetically which are onely wrought by the corporall contact of two severall bodies of the same naturall condition But before I will begin with the Mummy which is taken out of mans dead body I think it in the first place most necessary to entreat of the dead carcase his mystery that we may proceed the more methodically in our intent CHAP. II. That there are four sorts of corporall Mummy whereof one onely is usefull and necessary for salutary purposes In this Chapter also is set down an experiment with certain ocular Demonstrations confirming the magneticall or a tractive vertue of the Basamick spirits which are in the usefull Mummy SUch as have profoundly considered and deeply respected as well the externall as internall nature of man have perceived that the microcosmicall Mummy is of two conditions namely corporall or spirituall of the first I purpose to speak in this present Chapter the second shall be handled hereafter and that at large Touching the corporall Mummy it is either naturally sympatheticall or unnaturally antipatheticall We find therefore by experience that the naturall Mummy is onely medicinable and salutiferous after his due preparation which is effected chiefly by his own magnetick property the rest are apter to breed diseases and to infect such persons as are in health than to afford them any salutary relief or consolation for as according unto the nature of the four elements there are four kinds of corporall and substantiall Mummyes so also are they distinguished according unto those elements whose natures they have endued of the which three of these are corruptible and inducers of death and sickness namely the earthly the watery and the fiery and onely that which is airy is util to mans life and amicable unto his nature Concerning those three kinds of Mummy which breed corruption the reason why they prove corruptible is this We must hold it first for a generall axiom in Philosophy Quod corruptum corrumpentis naturam in se induit That the thing corrupted doth endue the nature of the thing corrupting As for example If the dead carcase of a man be corrupted in the earth it is changed and passeth into the nature of the earth and becommeth inutil for mans health and indeed rather destructive then constructive or wholsome Again if the corruption be made in the water then the corrupted flesh or dead body will acquire or endue a waterish and masseluginous disposition which also will prove very incommodious or unprofitable for the conservation of the vitall spirits And lastly by the inordinate violence of fire the spirits in the Mummiall body will be consumed wasted or expired Now the reason why these said corporall Mummie's in those estates are inconvenient for the conservation of health is Because the foresaid three do so destroy and corrupt the body of them that they make and constrain his earth his water and his fire to return unto their first matter so that whereas the earth and the water are ordained to be the receptaâ—les of two vivifying elements namely of fire and aire which onely can be conserved in a body that is incorrupted it must of necessity follow that in the three foresaid Mummies those vivifying spirits must needs vanish and fly away for want of a naturall body which is now become corrupted and destroyed and therefore unnaturall Seeing therefore nothing is required in the true Mummy more then that which is apt and proper for the conservation of life yea for life it self which is the aire which is banished and expelled from the three forsaid Mummies therefore nothing can be extracted out of them but sickness death and destruction and consequently antipatheticall effects so that if a sound murthered oâ— strangled body do rot under the earth or in the water it is not fit or proper for the wholsome use of mans body The very self-same regard is to be had unto such bodies as die through infirmityes and diseases and although they are not visibly corrupted by the three foresaid externall elements yet nevertheless it happeneth so that a certain invisible corruptible influence and impression is made or caused from the externall elements into the internall From hence therefore proceedeth that intestine war in mans body whereby the elements do kill and corrupt one another but after a divers fashion namely otherwise in one body than in another according as one element or elementall alteration is said to have dominion or rule over the other And this is the reason that such variety of diseases do haunt mans body as for example The Dropsie commeth of the strong impression of water the Hectick or burning Feavor of fiery insultations and the Leprosie of the dominion of earth c. And therefore also where any such elementary corruption happeneth unto the body there the wholsome spirit of the corporall Mummy with his habitacle or dwelling mansion is utterly overthrown and the spirit is forced to depart and consequently contrary Mummiall spirits do dominere and are ready to operate antipathetically as shall be expressed in the second member of this Book But if the sound body that is not haveing any infirmity be killed onely by and in the Element of aire that is to say through strangling or by hanging then there will be found no impression of the foresaid Elements in the corporall Mass of mans carcass And for that reason it will remain incorrupted and will not suffer any Elementall resolution so long as it is conserved in the aire If therefore the body or tabernacle of the spirits and vital Balsom remaineth entire then that aereall vitall Balsom is not compelled to depart from his lodging so long as the body is not resolved by nature or art But if it be resolved then it will forsake the body as the soul doth as also the animal astral spirit which did reconcile the one with the other But the vitall vegetable and Balsamick spirit remaineth in the incorrupted body It followeth therefore that this airy kind of Microcosmicall Mummy is most proper for the conservation of vitall spirits in the living man being extracted prepared and rightly after preparation to be applied I will therefore come briefly unto our Magneticall Experiences touching this Mummiall Subject The Proposition If this salutary kind of airy Mummy with his vehicle or Magneticall instrument be taken or chosen or selected rightly it will indue by reason of the
absence of actuall life and the dominion of cold the condition of the Northern pole and consequently by that reason those airy included spirits which were whilst the body was living of an hot aequinoctiall nature and therefore more dilative from the Center of the Circumference than attractive are now by death made to act from the Circumference to the Center if they be excited by their like spirits which are aequinoctiall and lively and then they become attractive of the aequinoctiall Mummy namely by contracting themselves into the Center and consequently this airy microcosmicall Mummy must be indued with the Magneticall property of the Northern pole and therefore by a contactuall application of it to his like the living man it will suck and attract greedily his like nature and having drawn it in will retain it So that it may by a due preparation be made sympatheticall and reduced into a singular medicine for mans health and conservation Or it may be so contaminated and made antipatheticall with the impure and infectious Mummy of the infirm living creature that it may free the infirm by extracting out the poyson which did infect it and infect a wholsome and sound body unto the which it shall be given inwardly An Experiment upon this I collected a portion of this Northern Mummy namely of the flesh of a man strangled in the aire in which the spritual Mummy was Centrally contracted by cold and I applied it typically unto the part of my body which was nearest unto it in naturall position I found it in the contact passing cold and as it were ice and Northern After it had remained on a certain time I found that in the exciting of his frozen and Northernly contracted spirits by the aequinoctiall heat of my body they drew off my Mummiall and vivifying spirits greedily and at some times and as it were by fits I felt them in their Magnetick operation sensibly and after a kind of dolorous fashion to tug and pull some adjacent parts close about it in conclusion after a certain time I took it off and found it much altered in smell and view by reason of the quantity of my spirits which they attracted unto them both which Mummiall spirits so Magnetically congregated together I extracted and prepared after my manner for the use of mine own body But because my assertion will perchance be of little credit I will prove the feisibility of it and probability of every particle or member hereof by many and sundry examples or Demonstrations I. Demonstration or Proof made by a Relation unto the Microcosmicall nature To prove and demonstrate that the airy spirit of the Microcosme is apt to take any polar impression as well as the aire of the Macrocosm and by consequence is more Magneticall or attractive in his Northern or cold property than in his aequinoctiall or Southern habit Look considerately upon the aire included in the Wether-glass which served as a catholick demonstration unto my precedent Philosophy and you shall see that when the aequinoctiall namely the Eastern and Southern winds do blow in the aire the particular included aire and therefore the universall Element of air excluded is less Magnetick or attractive than when the Northern winds do blow The proof is made evident because that when those winds do blow the externall aire and therefore the internall is more apt to be dilated by reason of the Emanation of the Sulphureous or celestiall spirits which are included in each airy spirit from the Center unto the Circumference making thereby a certain expulsion or rather expansion of airy parts by ratifying of the body of it And therefore it is observed in the Instrument not to draw the water higher then the figure 1. but to repell it down lower Contrariwise when the North winds blow the dilated and mobil aire is by attraction or condensation contracted into immobil snow that is to say into an earthly condition So that we see that the aire in this estate is admirably contractive as it is expressed to the life in the demonstrative Instrument or Wether-glass For the included spirit attracteth the ponderous water upward and contracteth it self out of a large room or place into a narrow Angle or space as it appeareth when the Northern Snow and Frosts have had long dominion in the Macrocosmicall world by a Northern breath at which time we shall find the water against his nature to be sucked up unto the upper figure 7. The reason whereof I have shewed you before namely because the occult Sulphurous nature or spirit which is the Sun of light and the actor in life being carried in his airy vehicle flieth from the persecuting cold which is his adversary and armeth it self about in the Center with a condensed aire to hinder or break the universall assault of cold which is the impe of darknesse and therefore hath his seat at the pole which is furthest off from the presence of the Sun In like manner the dead and cold Mummial spirits being for this reason Centrally contracted and as it were mortified and congealed by application of it to the lively Spirits as the cold Northern aire or spirit unto the aequinoctiall or Southern Sun then reviving and incited by the living man's contactuall or contiguous presence do greedily draw them in as imploring their aid against their cold adversary and having the possession of them seemeth better satisfied I will prove this to be so by this demonstrative Example taken from the Load-stone II. Demonstration That the dead spirits in a body will not attract unto them dead spirits nor that lively spirits in a body will not suck unto them Magnetically lively spirits but very moderatly it is argued by the operation of the Load-stone in this manner Problem 1. The Southern pole of one Load-stone doth with a certain hatred flie from and eschew the Southern pole of another and will by no means be joyned together in friendship but avoideth by a naturall antipathy the contact of one another But if the Northern pole of the one be applied unto the Southern pole of the other they will sticke and cleave together by a strong attraction As for Example Take a Load-stone with his distinct poles namely his Australl and Boreall pole being marked out put it into a little vessell or boat to flote in a basin or cestern or tub of water in such a manner that the two poles thereof be disposed unto the plain of the Horizon then hold in your hand another Load-stone whose poles are well known unto you So that the South-pole of that in your hand be directed to the North of that which floteth the two not being far from one another and you shall find that the boat will follow your hand whither soever it moveth and will not leave untill it cleaveth unto it But if contrariwise you shall offer or apply the North-pole of that in your hand unto the North-pole of that in the boat or the south-pole of
though not so subtilly and spiritually as the Elementary or airy Northern Mummy doth from the lively or Southern natured man I could tell you of many vegetables which have a Magnetick property to suck and draw unto them being applied unto the soles of the feet or pulses of the wrists or armes for divers Aguish distempers But that I should in so doing prove perchance too tedious unto you and therefore I will proceed unto the second degree of the Magneticall virtue in the Mummy which is to draw or suck unto it his like not by contact or touch onely but ad distans and that by a spirituall attraction in the aire and at an unknown longitude as shall better appeare in these Chapters following CHAP. III. How by relation of Naturall things unto one another they do after that a corporall contact or touch is maâ—e betwixt them operate wonderfully and that by a Magneticall concent or Spirituall continuity both after a contact or touch is made in the curing of maladies or wasting his like by a mutuall operation at an unknown distance I Will proceed as I began from a generall proposition unto diversities of experiences the which afterwards I will prove feisible and possible by divers Demonstrative relations The Proposition It is possible that two Mummyes of opposite condition that is to say the one being of a deadly Boreall condition and the other of a lively and Southern or aequinoctiall property may after a corporall contact made betwixt them operate from one to another a far distance by a spirituall relation which is continued between them as well antipathetically as sympathetically Experiment to confirm the same An Italian Lord by an accident had his nose cut off and by the counsel of his Physician made a wound in one of his slaves armes and clapped his mutâ—lated nose unto it and so continued it untill a perfect union was made betwixt the flesh of the slave and his Master Afterwards a gobbit of the slaves flesh which cleaved to the nose was cut out and formed into the shape of a nose The servant's wound was healed up and for his painfull service during this exploit was manumitted or freed and with store of money in his purse went unto Naples which was above a hundred miles from the place where his Master remained whose adopted flesh on his nose prospered and did nourish from the veins so long as the man which was made free did live It came to pass that the manumitted person did die at Naples and thereupon immediatly the adopted flesh unto the Master's nose did decay and begun to gangrenate insomuch that if he had not cuâ— it off it would have marred all the rest and killed him This relation is known to be so true and certain that to this day it is famous over all Italy and in every man's mouth of that Country and testified by some German Writers and maintained as well by some Scotch as English men which have been in that Country By this History therefore we may seâ— that so long as the two bodies which made contact were of one disposition namely Southern or aequinoctiall they though being in body far remote from one another did operate spiritually and were present in spirit that is they did concur together with the aspect of their sympatheticall beams and the flesh was spiritually vivified from the slave 's lively fountain even as the grain of Wheat hath 〈◊〉 nourishment and viviâ—ieth by the application of the Sun's beams unto it but when the Southern or aequinoctiall or lively property of the bondman's spirit was changed into a deadly Northern and cold disposition then the vivifying spirit did â—â—ase to apply any more unto the adopted flesh and in liew of it the deadly Northern spirit did suck or draw away that which the Southern had bestowed upon it no otherwise then the Northern Frost in the world killeth and draweth out the life of the grain or seed or plant or herb by his contractive and Boreall property And for this cause the Gangrene which is a Northern diseaâ—e did take the borrowed portion of flesh on the nose Here therefore we see how the same spirit altered from a Southern or aequinoctiall unto a Northern condition operateth by a contrary and unnaturall and depriving means and that secretly and a far off I. A Corollary Demonstration taken from the Macrocosmâ— We see in the Wether-glass of which I spoke before that between the bolts-head and the place of the water to wit in the whole pipe of the Mattras there is an invisible airy spirit which though it be not seen of it self yet doth it operate visibly in effect Foâ— if the externall aire be very hot then it dilateth the aire included in the bolts-head whereby the water at the other end is observed to sinck down though no ocular Agent may be found but by intellectuall eies we may discern that it is done through the virtue and lively Emanation of Sulphurous Light in the aire by the secret emission of whose beams the aire is rareâ—â—ed and by rarefaction beateth the water downward and contrariwise by Northern cold the water is lift up through the contraction of the emitted Spirits So that we may discern how lively Emanations and consequently acting and vivifying spirits are sent forth from the lively and Microcosmicall fountain unto the creatures which are apt to animate and vivify but if the fountain become cold and icie in liew of a Southern acting addition of life it induceth a moâ—tifying and privative substraction and that as you may perceive in the Wether-glass by a spirituall concurrence or rather an invisible and insensible continuity which is between both extreams as you may easily see it demonstrated in the Wether-glass II. A Demonstration derived from the Load-stone's property If we shall take an ovall Load-stone namely and shall divide it in the middle namely in the aequinoctial about B C and then shal expose the part A B into his little vessel to flote on the water and also put the oâ—her half C D in another little boat or vessel in the same water we shall find that these two halves B C being of one aequinoctiall nature will desire to be joyned again together and to be reduced into the same continuity it was before and for that reason the spirit which is continued between them though the body be divided being invisibly united unto both divided portions doth direct them both and by an actuall emanation out of each of them attract suck and agglutinate as it were each of them in their naturall position as they were before Application By this therefore the continuation of spirits betwixt the flesh of the forementioned captive at Naples and that which the master borrowed remaining elsewhere is evidently argued and confirmed And though it may be alleaged that the Load-stone doth not draw without his orbe yet I say that though men do guess at the sensible attraction of weights yet can they
minerall be divided into parts the spirituall nature of these parts do alwaies tend unto Unity although these parts be divided far from one another which is an Argument that they are no continued thing in spirits and therefore one part doth directly co-operate and send out actuall beams of sympatheticall identity unto another though the bodily divided parts be absent or distant in space from one another A Demonstration to confirm this This is sufficiently proved by the ocular Demonstrations recited for the confirmation of the first member but more especially by the second Demonstration of the eighth Chapter of this present Book where I have shewed you that if a long Load-stone be divided in the middle between the two Poles that is to say about the aequinoctial line and each of these divided parts be put to flote in his small vessell or bark on the still water The influentiall spirit which is one in essence and continued between them doth desire and covet to unite the divided minerall bodies whose limbs are by a wound or Solution of continuity separated and to reduce them into the naturall estate they were in at the first and for that cause B and C whereof the one is Meridionall namely B and the other Septentrionall to wit C which were at the first continuated parts but now divided are by that unseparable Spirit which giveth life unto both the parts reunited sucked and drawn together and reduced unto the estate of their pristine continuity that is of two stones they are made one so that the portion of spirit in C draweth and attracteth the bodily B unto it and the proportion of spirit in B sucketh and inticeth C unto it For we must note that the unity of spirit doth evermore desire and effect the unity of the body in which it dwelleth for the quintessentiall or formall spirit delighteth not in the variable disposition of the airy spirit and therefore coveteth to inhabit the close specificall house or pallace which it did possesse immediatly after his discent from his celestiall starry parents This is the reason that one specifick spirit is most easy yea and rejoyceth to communicate with his like but especially one and the same spirit must needs act with and never be absent from the other and therfore when the frozen Northern and as it were congealed nature is incited and stirred up by the aequinoctiall or Southern property if it be rightly adopted and the Southern Iron 's property is touched with the Magneticall North-pole of the other they will effect attraction the better and to this purpose speaketh this Problem Problem If Magneticall bodies be divided or any part broken off from the whole each part so broken off will have his North and South And therefore each particle of Iron or of the Load stone being divided from the whole will have a Northern property and a Southern which doth manifestly confirm unto wise men's capacities that the spirit of every Specifick yea of every individuall hath a Northern and a Southern condition and consequently an attractive and dilative property and not only the spirit of the whole but also of every particular of it if it may be spoken being that the formall spirit is in all and in every part Application Yee may therefore perceive by this how possible and fezible it is that the spirit in the dead blood or weapon being transferred and as it were transplanted at a far distance in the Ointment as having a Balsome not differing from the animall nature but especially in respect of the vegetable Salt of the Uzneas in the which altogether lurke spirits which by the present application of the Southern lively and warm spirits in the wounded man guided unto it by the spirits transported or transplanted bood doth re-vivify and co-operate with the same spirit not onely in the stanching of the flowing blood but also in the healing and consolidating of the wound as shall be shewed you more amply hereafter The third Member of the Proposition is confiâ—med by these proofs Thirdly that it is not the animal's externall blood but the internall in the externall which being separated from his fountain and transplanted on another unctuous stock doth operate Magnetically from the stock on which it is planted unto the fountain or spring from whence it floweth And it is maintained thus A Demonstration to confirm this first Problem It is not any corporeall thing which floweth from the Load-stone or which penetrateth into Iron or that is poured or extracted out of the Iron being awaked by the Load-stone's power but one Load-stone disposeth another by an originall or primary Form and the Load-stone doth revoke and disposeth the Iron which is familiar unto his nature together with it self unto a formed vigour for which reason the Iron runs unto the Load-stone and doth greedily conform it self unto it each forces or vigours symphoniacally provoking Application Therefore it is a formall spirit or subtle celestiall influence which doth operate mutually from the wounded body unto the transported or transplanted blood and not the body or the blood or the aire or the oyntment in which the transported blood or bloody spirits are contained so that the excited spirits in the oyntment do apply their regard unto the beams of the exciter the north spiracle unto the southern and so a union is made between the spirits of the oyntment with the adopted blood and those of the wounded body And as we see that by the concourse in the macrocosmicall aire of the north-wind and the south both spirits are united into one form and are magnetically with their airy vehicle contracted into a clowd which containeth in it a formall fire or lightning and a watry body So the two emanations do cause a contracted aery spirit in the place of their concourse or application which doth in his contraction attract the balsamick spirit which the oyntment doth send forth even as we see in the Weather-glass that the contracted aire sucketh up with it the masse of the water and yet the aire so contracted is not for all that visible But this is further confirmed by this Problem 2 Problem Iron is allured and drawn onely by the immateriall act of form that is to say by an incorporeall proceeding the which doth act and is conceived in the iron subject as in a continuate homogeneall body And this is the reason that Iron is moved and drawn unto the Load-stone without being impedited or hindred by the interposition of dense and well-compacted bodies between them And again Iron draweth to it the Load-stone it self and the concourse unto unity is moved by a mutuall consent and vigour the which concourse is vulgarly termed Attraction Application Here we see that reference which is between the Magnet and the Mine out of which that spirit which doth animate the Magnet is drawn As for example In the forementioned Chapter the spirit of the microcosmicall Mummy is in the excrementitious
excrescence transported unto the Plant and so the plant animated by that spirit becommeth a magnet which directeth his vegetating spirit to apply unto the spirit or beam of the weak member c. I come now to the proof of the fourth Member The fourth Member of the Proposition is demonstratively proved thus Fourthly that there is a spirituall penetration made from one body unto another before any magneticall operation can be effected Demonstration This member is sufficiently confirmed by that which is already said in the other members and yet it is more plainly expressed by this Problem Problem The Load-stone doth guide and direct magneticall things the which do conceive vigour and force from it not onely in their extremities but also in their interiours and very marrow As for example A piece of Iron so soon as it is touched or attainted with the very breath of the Load-stone it is excited magnetically at the end at which it is touched or regarded and that very power which it received by that touch passeth quite through from the end touched unto the other not onely superficially but also centrally and as I may say at the very marrow Application It appeareth evidently by this that as the formall beams of one Load-stone doth penetrate unto the very center of the other and the other again reciprocally into the very center of it so also the spirit of the wounded man doth penetrate partly by emission from it self and partly by attraction of his like in the oyntment into the bowels of the oyntment unto the spirits of his own kind that are hid in it and reciprocally the oyntment being made a magnet by the imbibing of the Mummial spirits of the blood applyeth his attractive beams unto those which are emitted from the wound being directed therein by the spirit of the dead blood in the unguent as shall be shewed hereafter more at large The fifth Member of the Proposition with the Proofs Fifthly that the magneticall act and operation of celestiall astralicall or starry and influentiall spirits are not to be limited nor yet to be impedited or hindred in their motion if we look into the mystery of this business with intellectuall eyes We must distinguish this Member for your better understanding into two severall articles or branches whereof the first must shew that the extension of the emanations made from two astralicall or starry spirits are not to be limited by mans understanding howsoever by an externall effect it may at random be guessed at These one shall prove that such influentiall starry beams or quintessentiall emissions as are sent forth from the Load-stone unto the Iron or from one Load-stone unto his like in nature and consequently from all other magneticall bodies oâ— like condition in essence cannot be hindered by the interposition of any solid or well-compacted bodies as some Fool losophers rather than Philosophers have â—emerariously averred in their writings Touching the first which includeth the imaginary termination or bounding of beamy or formall extensions or emanations from magneticall bodies within a setled or known limited sphear of activity the impossibility thereof howsoever our Peripatetick Philosophers have feigned the contrary is argued by these following problematicall Demonstrations Certain Problematicall Demonstrations confirming the contents of this Members first Article 1. Problem The vigour in heavenly bodies whereby they move themselves doth argue a soul in them and for that reason they are esteemed by the wisest Philosophers to be endued and animated with a divine act or spirit by means whereof they move which being so the extension of application of their beams must also prove uncertain and therefore without limit being that their spirits after the emanation made do concur sometimes in the aire sometimes in the water and sometimes without resistance they pierce even unto the center of the earth to operate upon the mineral Kingdom bestowing on the earthly subjects that are under them of that very formall act and vertue whereby they operate in their acute penetration And therefore these inferiour creatures of a like nature are able to send forth and extend their astralaicall or beamy vertues as far and to apply their beams at as an unterminable distance as their stars in heaven are observed to do 2 Problem It is rightly then said that the Load-stone doth move the Load-stone and doth both dispose of one another by their primary form which it receiveth from his starry fountain And therefore it was not any absurdity in the wise man Thales Milesius nor yet any madness in Scaliger to assigne a soul unto the Magnet seeing that by it it is centrally incited directed and carried or moved circularly As for example Example If two Magnets be put one against the other in their small barkes upon the water they will not presently concur together but first they do mutually conforme themselves unto one another or else the lesser doth obey the greater moving it self after a circular fashion and when at the last they are disposed according unto their naturall position they run or concurr together The like effect also will appeare between the Magnet and the Iron and the Iron and the Iron as shall be expressed hereafter An Addition Whereby although it may be replied that this Act of the Load-stone with the Load-stone or it with the Iron doth by effect seem to be limited within a certain dimension and therefore what I say proveth not much as yet for the unbounded dimension of the Magneticall bodie 's emanation I answer That the sensible act which is between the Load-stone and Load-stone doth not argue that because the two ponderous bodies have their motion but at such a distance therefore their spirits can extend themselves or apply their beams no further For it is one thing to operate sensibly by a violent attraction of a heavy mass and another thing for one Form onely to embrace and concur in a naturall rejoycing sympathy with another And this alteration is verified even of such as are well practised in the Load-stone's property by this following Problem 3. Problem The Orbe of the internall or spirituall Magneticall virtue doth extend it self at a larger distance than the Orbe of any sensible or externall or visible motion can warrant For the thing that is Magneticall is effected in the extremity of it a far off although it doth not move by a locall motion But if the Load-stone be applied nearer unto it then will also the whole Magnetick mass move corporally unto it Whereby is acknowledged that the virtuous extention of the Magnet is farre beyond the limits of the Orbe of visible Magneticall motion But I will prove it by degrees more evidently namely that the starry influentiall virtue in the Magnet extendeth it self beyond the limits of any sensible capacity 4. Problem The needle touched Magnetically will aspect the North-pole even from the aequinoctiall point which is an Argument of the unlimited extention of the Load-stones
virtue As for example Let there be a long Load-stone prepared and directly in the middle upon the aequinoctial B where the Axis runneth plant an incited needle and it will look directly unto the North-pole A. Also if within the Orbe you place another incited needle without the Stone in C it will also look directly upon the said Pole whereby we may discern the long distance which is between the aspect of the Magnet and that of the incited body namely 90 Degrees Again each part or fragment that is divided from the Magnet be it animal vegetable or minerall hath therefore the self-same dimension because it is as well indued with his polar virtues as the whole And this is sufficiently testified by this Problem 5. Problem If Magneticall subjects be divided or any piece be broken off from it by any means every part so broken off from the whole will have an end as well Septentrional as Meridional as well as the whole had As for example If a smaller part or piece be taken out of a greater Load-stone it will be indued wich the same life and vigor which the whole Magnet had no otherwise then the child will touching his life wholly correspond with the Father in life parts and it will be as it were a new creature and will have his poles and aequinoctial as well as the whole Stone had Also if an Iron-rod as is that of the Curtain be hung up and have his position North and South without being touched for being to god North and South it will indue those properties namely the polar virtues and move in the aire being hung up by a thread or put into a boat on the water unto the North and South If I say a small piece of the rod be broke off from the North part it will have his North and South-pole as well as the whole rod of Iron from the which it was broken Whereby it is apparent that if every portion or fragment of the Load-stone or Iron have his pole as well as the whole then the spirit which is within hath his relation or application with the Northern pole-star of the great world and doth also behold the Southern Virtue with his South-pole for except there were the Scintil of the Anima mundi which is in it and operateth in it according unto the small proportion of it no otherwise then it doth in the great world it could not aspect each Pole as it is observed by experience to do and consequently as the actions of the Anima mundi are so catholick that they cannot be limited so are the spirituall quintessentiall or astralicall Emanations I prove it further thus 6. Problem If you take an Iron rod made of good Iron and hang it up in the aire on a thread as if it were touched with a Load-stone c. The Experience is this Take a straight piece of Iron or steel of six foot long and a finger thick hang it up in a close chamber into the which there cometh no wind and therefore this experiment ought to be tried when the aire is calm and the day not windy and must hang on a silken thread which is not twisted but woven and the Iron must hang directly equilibrous or in an equall ballance and you shall discern it slowly to move and by little and little to attain with his extremities or ends of the points of North and South no otherwise then the needl's do in the Dialls which are touched with the Load-stone Moreover we shall find that the Load-stone or any thing else that is touched or excited by the Load-stone will direct their aspect being planted in small boats on the needle on his vertical unto the North-pole The Conclusion Wherefore it is made manifest that the extention of the Load-stone's spirituall or formall Emanation as also that of other Magneticall bodies is not to be limited being that they do act and apply their beams unto the very state of the Pole-star and the Pole-star by his like emitted influences doth operate reciprocally and apply unto or aspect the Load-stone and so make a continuated Spirituall union betwixt them being that we ocularly discern that both it and the Iron doth diligently and with a manifest Sympathy aspect and actually move unto the said star And then after this is well considered let us but think and ponder the distance which is between the Pole-star and the Magnet namely betwixt the eighth Sphere and the earth and he will perceive it to be in a manner infinite and incommensurable and consequently the emitted beams of the Load-stone cannot by any phantasticall Sphere of sensible and sensuall Philosophers be comprehended or limited But if the act of the Pole-star on the Magnet be denied And Fracastorius his opinion with that of many other learned men be received namely that the Load-stone the Iron and the needle touched do tend unto the North-pole by reason of the attraction of certain Rocks of Load-stone which are in the Hyperboreal mountains if this opinion I say were admitted to be true yet may we see by it that the act of the Magnet and the actuall respect which the Magneticall body beareth unto it is not to be limited being that so they will be observed to co-operate from the aequinoctiall unto the Northern Hyperborean Rocks But this opinion hath been proved false by us in another place and shall hereafter be demonstrated by us to be so We will now come to our Application touching this first Article Application The first and second Problem teacheth us that there is such a celestiall or astralicall subtle spirit in all magneticall bodies of the earth as is in the heavenly ones and consequently that the beams of each of them may penetrate as far though they be not discerned by sense as the beams of each star By this therefore we may be assured that mans heavenly spirit being of a more pure and subtle a stuff than is that of the Load-stone may send forth the astralicall beams of his vertue not onely to the mark that the Load-stone aimeth at but also unto the highest throne of divinity Again hereby it is argued that the spirit in the transplanted blood is able to operate at any distance on the wound and the beamy spirit of the wound again to co-operate and have a continuated union and respect unto one another The third instructeth us that though the oyntment and blood in it do not appear mobil or movable at a far distance yet they may co-operate and be conjoyned with the spirit of the wounded at an unknown proportion of space By the fourth and fifth we learn that the extension of the northern bloods aspect unto the southern may be so far as the aequinoctiall is from the pole namely 90 degrees But I say that as the northern and southern emanation of the soul of the world filleth all the cavity of the world so also by it and in it may this act of
do concur and meet with a sympathetical embracing 4. Problem The naturall union of Magneticall Spirits is when the condition is made by contrary parts as by the pole North or South Application So the Northern blood or the spirits in the transported blood that are congealed and have assumed a Northern property will easily concur with spirits of a Southern or aequinoctial nature namely with the spirits of the lively fountain from whence they come being that like doth naturally covet his like especially when it is compassed about by the cold and crude aire and so constrained to contract it self with its airy vehicle from his cold adversary for spirits that are derived from the aequinoctial do eschew by a naturall instinct even as the airy nature doth the chill disposition of the earth and therefore being fled or contracted into the Center it draws unto it the lively beams of the Southern blood This is the reason in the Macrocosm that when the North-wind bloweth strongly and the South wind not so strongly the aire is often times condensed into a cloud by the contraction of the fiery formal and aequinoctial or astrall beams in the aire so condensed which by reason of the outward cold do fly from the air's Circumference unto the Center Insomuch that for this reason often times it is seen that it breaketh out into Lightnings and Coruscations This contraction also in the included aire when the externall aire is cold is easily discerned in effect by the Wether-glass namely when the water is drawn up and the included aire contracted or coarcted into a narrow room The ninth Member of the Proposition with his Proofs The ninth member of the Proposition is that the strong attractive faculties of every Magnet is of a Northern condition or Boreal property and consequently hath his chief attractive faculty from the pole-star And therefore after the manner of the Load-stone it draweth from the Circumference unto the Center Again all things coveted or beloved forasmuch as they are formal do participare of the aequinoctiall faculty which emitteth beams by dilatation from the Center and therefore their union by application maketh a mixtion of temper which is between the Northern-pole and the aequinoctial that is partly attractive and partly dilative as is mans vitall spirit which acteth in Systole and Diastole or contraction and dilatation even such is the Act of Magneticall coition Certain Problematical Demonstrations to confirm this Member First I will prove unto you demonstratively and that by a relation made unto the Load-stone that the most vigorous Magneticall attraction is from the North-pole and consequently that by the blood's induing of a Northern and congelative faculty it must needs become most attractive and contractive of his like as we see that the movable and thin expansed aire becometh thick Snow when the North wind doth blow or ice or frost or hail 1. Problem The North-pole is alwaies the most vigorous and strong pole to all Magneticall purposes if he have the quantiry the South hath Application Therefore the bloody spirit induing the natute of the North is most efficacious to operate upon the Southern nature Magnetically or attractively 2 Problem The Loadstone draweth the Iron more strongly from the North-pole than any point else of the said Stone Application This confirmeth the fore-said Problem To conclude the Magneticall attraction of the Northern blood is the cause of planting the light of more spirits in the unctuous Magnet whereby it is made stronger in his operation 3. Problem The Loadstone hath his points that is to say his true poles in the which do abide his greatest virtue And for this cause it doth not attract the Iron with equal force from every part and also the Magneticall Subject doth not move or flow unto every part of the Magnet 4 Problem The parts that are nearest the North-pole are the strongest in attraction and the parts that are remote are observed to be the weaker and more infirm in their drawing virtue Demonstration Now that the greatest attractive virtue is from the North I demonstrate it many waies And first If we shall hang up a long piece of Iron by a threed as is said before the Northen part of the world will attract unto it the end of it So that it will stand directly North and South Secondly if a wier of four or five inches in length be thrust through a cork and touched by the Load-stone and the cork be put into the water the Northern-Star will suck the end of the Iron unto it Thirdly if a long Iron be forged North and South and so be laid to cool in the same situation it will be animated and indued with the virtue of the Pole and move in the aire being hung up by a threed or put into a boat on the water and it will be drawn by the North and have as it were a coition with the North-star Fourthly if a long piece of clay newly burnt doth cool North and South it will then receive a Magneticall power from the earth and pole Fiftly set two Load-stones with their poles of one denomination namely the North-pole or South-pole of each at each end of a piece of clay while it cooleth and both ends will be of one nature Sixtly put a piece of clay of a long form into the fire and afterwards let it cool North and South and it will receive a polar virtue After that burn it again in the fire and let that end which cooled first North cool now South and it will be changed into the nature of the South and the other into the nature of the North. Application By the first therefore of these Problems and experiments it is apparent that the fountain of vigorous attraction is from the pole because that the property of Northern cold is to attract and therefore the bloody Spirit induing the nature of the North becommeth Magneticall as well as that of clay or Iron I will come now therefore to demonstrate the effect that this Northern spirit and the Southern do make by their mutuall concourse and union as we see that the Northern and Southern-pole by their intermediate concourse do produce an aequinoctial nature which is vernall and temperate that is to say hot and moist as is the living blood So that a Media natura or mean nature which participates of both extreams is produced between the confluence of their aspect or application which receiveth from the one and communicateth with the other My magneticall proofs are these 5 Problem Two magneticall bodies being joyned together at their poles those two poles that touch together have the nature of the Aequator or equinoctiall and will not excite or hold a needle thus touching Application The northern or contracted bloody spirit joyning by application with the southern equinoctiall or lively or dilated one will endue by this conjunction an equinoctiall nature which will have relation unto each
extremity namely by receiving from the oyntments spirits and giving or imparting them sympathetically unto the wound The tenth Member of the Proposition with his Proofs The tenth Member of the Proposition is that by a lively southern spirit a portion of his like being made by effusion of it into the open and cold air weak drooping northern or congealed may after transplantation be revived quickened and corroborated and so by returning again unto his southern or equinoctiall nature may by a sympatheticall union be made all one homogeneall nature with the lively bloody spirit conferring along with it by little and little the nature of the plant or animal mass in which he is grafted and so may cause each extream nature to participate with the symptoms of one another be they good and salutary or bad and dolorous Certain Problematicall Demonstrations to confirm this Member 1 Problem If a Magnet of no force or strength that can easily be discerned be set on the pole of a Load-stone that is strong he will shew a vigour as if he were as strong as the Load-stone is whereunto he is united but after he is taken away he will be as weak as before unless it be often done Application The Southern blood penetrating through the unctuous Magnet doth animate it and by animation doth revive it and as well preserving the transplanted spirit from the externall aire 's inclemency as calefacting or heating of it by his attracted southern nature it doth revive again the dead spirits of the fainting blood so transported even as we see the spirits in the dead grain of Wheat buried in the earth is by the earth animated with the Sun-beams being revived as it were from death to life But if that a part of the oyntment be taken away from the place of the weapon where the blood doth stick or the bloody spirits did penetrate then will the revived spirits faint again and the wound will be dolorous as it was before the blood was buried in the oyntment even as also if the earth be removed from the vigorous spirits in the dead grain they will fade and the plant will not grow and multiply But if the oyntment animated as before be re-applyed the wound will prosper and heal without pain no otherwise also then if the earth that was removed from the revived spirit in the grain be re-applyed unto it suddainly it will prosper again 2 Problem If a weak Magnet be rubbed at one of his poles with a stronger Magnet it wil be bettered by it in vigour and vertue if not augmented therein Application This typicall proof doth confirm also exactly the same member namely the lively spirits will vigorate fainting-ones 3 Problem The Magnet will lose some of his attractive vertue and will as it were languish with old age if it be long exposed unto the open aire and be not put again and reserved or buried in the filings of Iron Application So also mans blood effused out of his Mine and exposed into the open air doth languish and becommeth weak if it be not preserved in the weapon-salve which is of his nature 4 Problem One Iron being touched doth recreate another and instruct it unto magneticall motions Application So the Mummiall unguent animated by the emitted beams of the lively blood doth recreate incite and corroborate the spirits in the transported blood The eleventh Member of this Proposition with his Proofs The eleventh Member is That the alteration of the aire doth operate equally upon either extream which is an evident argument of a continued unity in spirit between the transplanted blood in the oyntment and the wound so that what passion the distempered or unclement aire operateth in the one is felt by the other no otherwise than if a thread be tyed at both ends of a Gallem the one end being touched the other end doth sympathize or act likewise by consent which is an evident argument that the aire is the medium or vehicle in which the spirituall influence doth pass and that the said formall celestiall or influentiall spirit which is carried in it doth by an immediate contact communicate with the distempers of its airy vehicle and by consequence it is by that means changed by turns and by portions into a northern or southern disposition And therefore by the externall air 's cold it sucketh spirits from the wound and leaveth it distempered and dolorous it being by that kind of attraction deprived of some naturall heat So that sympathy is turned into antipathy as it appeareth when the oyntment is taken off from the wounding place of the weapon either totally or in part as is said before Certain Problematicall Demonstrations to confirm this Member 1 Problem In the Weather-glass so often mentioned before you shall find between the bolts-head or mattras above and the water below a continued aire in the neck of the glass and you must imagine that such included aire is not without his sulphureous spirits which by dilatation of themselves do also dilate the airy vehicle they are in and with the dilated vehicle the water is stricken down and by contraction of themselves the airy vehicle is also contracted and the water is sucked up And yet we see that the aire which is between both extreams is all one continued aire from the one extream unto the other and therefore much more the occult and celestiall sulphureous spirit which dwelleth and acteth within it and is as the soul in a body in toto in qualibet parte and that indivisibly or not separated into parts And because this included acting spirit being but one in number is derived from the soul of the world Look as the generall worketh in the great world namely from the north or from the south even so also doth this member of the generall operate in his included aire For if the catholick spirit of the world acteth or breatheth from the north and bringeth forth in the air congealative and contractive effects then the centrall spirit in the glass doth operate likewise after the same manner for it contracteth his vehicle and sucketh up the water But if the world's catholick spirit bloweth from the south then is the aire before contracted now again dilated and then also will the included formall spirits in the glass operate after the same fashion and dissipate or extend out their airy vehicle in a larger proportion or manner as by ocular observation you may discern in the said Instrument 2 Problem The north wind blowing in the great world continueth the essence of his blast from north to south but the nearer that it approacheth the equinoctiall line the more weak is his effect in contraction and congelation agreeing in this with the Magnet or Load-stone whose parts the nearer they are unto the pole the more potent are they in their operative or attractive power and the farther they are off the more infirm and debil they are But this emanating spirit from
the north to the equinoctiall is one and the same spirit in essence although in property it varieth in his parts Likewise the south wind having dominion doth send out from the equinoctiall unto the north his blast without any discontinuance of his essence and yet the nearer it approcheth unto the north the weaker is his force in dilatation and dissolution and yet the spirit is one and the same in essence with that of the north for it is but one anima mundi or vivifying spirit of the world which the Platonist esteem to have his dwelling in the Sun And David saith He put his tabernacle in the Sun And therefore the winds are called by some Titanei filiI the sons of Titan or the Sun And the Prophet argueth aswell the Unity as the Omnipotency of this vivifying Spirit where he saith Veni Spiritus a quatuor ventis insuffla interfectos istos ut reviviscant Come Spirit from the four winds and breathe upon these slain persons that they may live Where he argueth that it is but one essentiall Spirit which as Solomon saith filleth the world and is in every thing of the world but after a manifold property The conclusive Application We conclude therefore that the spirit in the wounded man's blood not exhausted and that in the blood exhausted is all one spirit in essence howsoever it vary in property and therefore being continuate and indivisible in essence it is no marvell though it acteth from one extreame unto another diversly namely Magnetically and attractively from the Oyntment for there by reason of its absence from the Southern or lively blood in the body it indueth a Northern nature and sucketh or attracteth his like being emanated in the aire and the Southern-pole or aequinoctial point by dilatation sendeth out his spirit to be attracted and so there is made a communication betwixt the Balsamick nature and the wounded the self-same spirit operating diversly And I will express unto you a notable example in the great world When the Sun is beyond the aequinoctial Southward which happeneth in the winter then is the Northern nature most powerfull in attraction congelation and inspissation on this side the aequinoctial As contrariwise the Southern nature is most vigorous and efficacious in dilatation dissolution and subtiliation and yet you shall plainly discern how one and the same Spirit in the world doth operate from the one extream unto the other For when the Sun in the South doth dilate the aire and the waters there which the precedent winter had thickened and incrassated by attraction of cold and by dilatation doth dissipate it then that aire and water so dissipated requireth a larger place and flieth from the aspect of the Sun Northward And again the Northern propertie of the same spirit being now in the winter time most potent doth by attraction suck and direct Magnetically those spirits which are chased from the South and the nearer it draweth them unto the pole the more suddenly it condenseth them into clouds which by reason of the Sulphureous nature which it bringeth from the Summer or aequinoctial do immediatly dissolve themselves into rains And this is the reason that the Southern winds are so rife among us in the winter and consequently that we have so much rain in that season So that we may see how the double property of one and the same spirit doth operate at one and the same time about the effecting of one and the same thing in one and the same catholick aire of the world as I have told you before in my foregoing Discourse As also in the ascending or descending of fountains in each Hemisphere the like is effected All which is most lively demonstrated and performed in the Weather-glass as I have expressed before Whereby it is confirmed that being the Microcosmicall spirit is all one in condition with the Macrocosmicall It followeth thâ—t though the body of it be divided yet the spirit remains indivisible and can dilate and contract it self at any extention as is proved by the properties of the two contrary winds whose spirit is continued from both extremities and by the small pieces in the Load-stone which have their compleat poles as well as the whole Also by this a man way see that this spirit's operation is not to be limited by any of the Peripateticks imaginary Sphere of activity and consequently that it may work at any distance being directed and guided by a right and homogeniall Magnet that is to say agreeing at the least-wise in speciality if not in individuality or both as the blood of the wounded which is transplanted and that in the body both which are identity in nature and also as is the Uznea and Mummy in the Oyntment which is of the same Specifick though not of the Individuall You see therefore Learned Reader how plainly this business or the fore-said Proposition hath been demonstrated as well by the Load-stone as the naturall practise in the great world and in practise of the Weather-glass which I term my Demonstrative Instrument But because there are some strange accidents which happen in this cure by chance and unlooked for a reason whereof could never hitheto be expressed I will speak a word or two of them in a second Proposition and so I will end this Chapter The second Proposition It hath been observed in the cure of wounds by the Weapon-salve that if there happen in the time of the cure any issue of blood from some other part of the wounded man as bleeding at the nose pissing of blood or by some other wound or else if he have to do with any menstruous woman in the mean time the force of the Ointment will be diverted and the efficacy of it will stand but in little stead and the reason that I can give is because the Southern bloody spirit which raigning in the veins did emit and direct his beams unto the Oyntment was easily attracted and imbibed by the Oyntment but when that spirit is diverted and turned another way and is attracted by a contrary Magneticall Subject then will a divorce as it were be made by the second Magnet betwixt the emanating Spirit and the attractive in the Oyntment And I will maintain and demonstrate this to be true by this Magneticall experiment A Problem to confirm the Proposition out of Gilb. lib. 2. de Mag cap. 31. Two Load-stones or Irons excited rightly cohaering by the comming of another fresher and stronger Load-stone or Iron excited do make an abort and the new commer will easily drive away the other with a contrary face and will command him and so the endeavour or the desire of the other two which were first joyned will end Application Thus you see how fitly these two do concur namely the fore-recited animal act with these of the mineral I end this Chapter with this Assertion Spirits that have their subtiliation and action from natural heat do act livelily so long as they abide within
destroying of them So that this formall Champion of Light namely Heat warreth perpetually against the cold gardian of Darknesse For the one can have no dominion in the Aire untill the other by little and little be exiled And therefore as the Light principle with all his branches is said to be the Father of posiâ—ion act information plenitude motion life health and Heat So also doth Heat operate according unto the nature of his restless and ever operating Father which is Light to destroy the effects of darkness and cold as we see in the nature of the hot winds namely that of the South and East or Orient For as the Northern cold wind doth congregate contract harden thicken or condense make ponderous fix immovable and opake the aire changing it by inspissation into the nature of more ponderous Elements So contrariwise the said hot winds or spirits do dissipate dilate mollify rarify and make thin and light volatil movable and transparent what the cold winds did so change and alter and all this is effected by the Act spagerick or separative Act of God's Spirit or Word And therefore the Prophet said in the Text mentioned before Emittens verbum suum liquefacit ista simul ac efflaâ— ventum suum effluunt aquae God sending forth his Word that is causing his bright vertue to shine forth he did undo or melt the Snow Frost and Ice which God in his hidden or contractive property had caused and that under the form of an Angelicall wind And therefore it is said So soon as he bloweth forth his breath or wind the waters flow that is to say the Snow is melted and of a fix and opake substance becometh movable lively fluent and diaphan or transparent So also the heat of the Easterly wind destroyeth and dissipateth the watery effects of the Westerly wind and therefore the Prophet saith Postquam veniente Euro vento IEHOVAE è deserto exaruerit scaturigo ejus siccatus fuerit fons ejus Afterwards by the Easterly wind of the Lord coming from the desert his spring withered and his Fountain was dried up As if he had said the water was changed by the heat of that wind into Aire by rarefaction or subtiliation Thus have you understood how these two opposit Vertues namely Cold and Heat do spring from one and the same Spirit in radicall essence by which it operateth actually and essentially by a double property Forasmuch as they produce in the Catholick Element of the sublunary world opposite effects to effect the will of the Creator in the Aire and upon the Earth and Seas Now I will speak a word or two of the Procreation or Generation of such passive Natures as are brought forth by the mutuall action and opposition of the two foresaid essentiall Vertues which do spring and have their root or beginning either in the Divine Nature's Nolunty and privative existence or Volunty and positive emanation These passive qualities do essentially depend upon the former and do no otherwise belong unto them then the female or passive do unto the male or active And first I will tell you my mind touching the birth of Humidity and afterward I will come to speak of Siccity We must imagine that when there was no formall Light to inact the deformed Abysse or Chaos and consequently no Heat to act and make a division of Light from Darkness then all the dark Chaos was inclining unto drouth and wet congealed with cold For cold hath an infinite power and dominion where Heat is absent as we see about the Northen Pole all the waters are frozen into a dry and cold clod or heap by reason of the absence of the Sun's heat In like manner where the Sun or burning Easterly winde doth send forth directly their spiracles of Heat there Cold is banished and the Earth is turned into a dry thirsty and spongy masse Even so and after the like pattern are those or rather these after those patterns For the Chaos was a confused a cold and a dry heap untill the Light did appear and began to operate Also the Light of it self as it was considered without any action upon the passive masse was of a fiery condition that is to say heat and drouth did only appear in it it followeth therefore that as cold in effect is nothing else but the act of the divine puissance made potent and evident by the absence of Heat So also is drouth or dryness nothing else but an apparent passive nature evermore accompanying the two foresaid active powers in their absolute intention where moysture is totally absent Now moysture is as it were a mongrell begotten between the two opposite actives which is proved thus The North wind by his dominion turneth the Aire into Snow Hail Ice or Frost that is into a cold and dry Substance But when the Southerly or Easterly wind doth begin to have dominion then their blasts do penetrate by little and little the said dry masses or substances and undoeth them and coverteth them into a moist or humid nature according unto the tenor of those forementioned words of David So soon saith he as he bloweth forth his wind the waters flow So soon as he sendeth forth his Word they are liquefied So that moisture is nothing else but a mixtion of heat and cold in one solid Substance which is fluxible in potentia and then by little and little doth the cold and drouth depart and become faint according as the power of the wind is more or less vigorous in Heat For thus much we must observe that as cold doth make immobil and fix So it is an evident signe that the Southern or Eastern Heat hath taken possession of the Mass when by their action it beginneth to moysten to revive and move again forasmuch as nothing doth effect that function but Heat In the very same manner also the increated and all-creating Spirit of Light moving upon the face of the dark abysse did operate in it and made the congealed Mass to relent and then it was called by Moses waters and by Hermes humida natura or the humid nature And so they continue unto this day being altered from one nature unto another according unto the will of God which he effecteth by his Ministers the Angelicall winds causing the Spirituall waters to change and wheel about from one nature into another And we must observe in these changes that even the visible waters were first made and derived from the invisible waters according unto St. Paul's doctrine before mentioned For Heaven was before the Sea and Earth which were as it were the feces dregs or grosser part of the catholick Sublunary Element An ocular Demonstration confirming the Divine properties or Vertues above-mentioned Before we proceed unto our ocular demonstration which shall be made in and by our Experimentall instrument we must consider in the first place that the Catholick Aire or Sublunary Heaven is the subtiler and more spiritual portion