Angels were created after the world as the soule of man was after his body So Gennadius and Acatius Yet Beda Cassiodorus and others are peremptory that the Angels were created within the sixe dayes And they followed the Divine S. Aug. for after Aug. almost all the Latines saith Ludovicus Vives de Civitate 10.9 and since them all the Schooles say all the Angels were created within the sixe dayes I boldly say Col. 1.16 By Christ were all things created that are in heaven earth whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers hee might have specialized Angels or Archangels Cherubims or Seraphims since hee added Al things were made by him and for him What some said of Origen I may say concerning those Greek Fathers that they rather Platonize than Christianize for Plato long before them in his booke de mundi opificio held the same opinion The reasoning of Augustine de Civitate Dei 11.9 is good That the creation of Angels is not left out only by Moses I thinke by this saith he it is said expresly God ended his worke on the seaventh day and hee rested the seaventh day from all his workes Gen. 2.2 And In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth Gen. 1.1 Now if he made nothing before the sixe dayes and rested from all his worke the seaventh day then the Angels must needes be created within that time But yet there is a plaine place Exod. 20.11 though it be not sufficiently expressed without some deduction In sixe dayes the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is The Angels are in heaven and on earth This is the assumption Therefore in the sixe dayes they were created Psalm 146.6 It is varied somewhat God made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that therein is From whence you may extract the same conclusion As man was created when all things were fitted for him and the soule is infused into the body when the body is prepared to receive it so as soone as the Heavens the Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now framed the Lord filled it with Angels Furthermore it is said Psalm 148.2 Praise the Lord all yee Angels of his the reason is added in the fifth verse Let them praise the name of the Lord for hee spake the word and they were made hee commanded and they were created not onely Sun and Moone not onely Starres of light not onely heavens of heavens and the waters above the heavens but Angels also and first of all are Angels placed when hee had formerly said Praise the Lord from the heavens And so are they comprized as well as other creatures within the sixe dayes compasse of the creation Augustine in the forecited booke and chapter argueth from the song of the three children in the midst of the fire though it be Apocrypha tous for in the 34. verse it is said All yee workes of the Lord blesse yee the Lord and in the next verse O yee heavens blesse yee the Lord the subsequent verse hath it O yee Angels of the Lord blesse yee the Lord as if they were created and indeed so they were so soone as their habitation was made and God had fitted them a dwelling place But that was done towards the beginning of the creation and therefore the Angels were then created Againe though there be not expresse mention in iisdem terminis sic terminantibus In plaine words and disert termes of baptizing of infants yet the Church justly profitably and excellently observeth it And thus it may be evinced by Scripture In the Apostles time they did baptize whole housholds 1 Cor. 1.16 I baptized the house of Stephanas Lydia was baptized and her houshold Act. 16.15 So the Jaylor was baptized hee and all his streight way Act. 16. verse 33. that is his children as well as his houshold servants Act 2 38. Be baptized every one of you For the promise is made to you and to your children vers 39. This were a silly reason if children might not be baptized but indeed it is a strong motive that they should bring their children to Baptisme and an argument faire enough that children were baptized for those to whom the promise is made must be baptized but the promise is made as much to children as to any others therefore children ought to be baptized Certainly the Apostles would never have named their children if none of them had any children but the converts in that place being some thousands it could not be otherwise but many of them had children yea and that their children were baptized with themselves as in the same day was Abraham circumcised and Ishmael his sonne and all the men of his houshold Gen. 17.26 For otherwise hee had beene disobedient to the holy Apostle who said Be baptized every one of you But no good Christian will or can thinke that those then converted were disobedient and therefore their children were baptized It is a ridiculous thing to thinke the Apostles chose out such housholds only as had no little infants in them leaving great and numerous families unbaptized because some little children were in them And fairelier we may conclude In many families there were some infants But many whole families were baptized therefore some infants If some why not others If others why not all And so all infants are to be baptized Againe Baptisme is necessary for us as Circumcision was for the Jewes This is proved because of the correspondence betweene the Type and Antitype which correspondency is so square and perfect betweene the Old and New Sacrament that the Apostle 2.11.12 in effect designeth out Baptisme by the name of Circumcision But their infants were circumcised Gen. 17.27 and therefore our infants must be Baptized Act. 2.41 In one day were added to the Church about 3000 soules yea daily the Lord added such to the Church as should be saved vers 47. but children are some of those that must be saved for of such is the Kingdome of God saith Christ Matth. 19.13 It is added Mark 10.15 verse Verily I say unto you Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdome of God as a little child hee shall not enter therein Lastly lest any should cavill these children were not very little but such as came of themselves unto Christ it is said in the same verse of Saint Matthew They brought little children unto him and some of those children so brought were infants Luk. 18.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it being significantly translated in our best and last translation They brought unto him also infants Therefore infants according to Christs yea the Apostles practise must be baptized For there is no likelihood but in such great multitudes as were together baptized and divers day by day but there were some infants Much more may be added to this point but Quantò diffusares est tantò substringenda nobis erit that I may use Tertullians phrase ad Nationes 2.12 The second Supper is not
PAR. 4. 2. SEcondly though Christ needed nothing for himselfe or his Apostles but was Lord of all the creatures and all things in heaven ayre water and earth would have ministred unto him according to his pleasure though when he sent them without Purse and scrip and shooes they lacked nothing Luk. 22.35 though if he would have prayed for helpe God would have presently given him more than 12. Legions of Angels Mat. 26.53 which number is a compleate Armie and every one of them able to overcome a contrary compleate Armie yet Christ for his Churches sake and to shew that it should ever be plentifully provided for both to abound themselves and to helpe others and to manifest in his owne presence and by his own example that they who partaked of our spirituall were bound in reason and Conscience to impart unto us their Temporalls therefore did our most wise and holy Saviour when he had healed certaine women of evill spirits and infirmities Luke 8.2 c. As Mary Magdalen and Ioanna the wife of Chuza Herods Steward and Susanna and many others permit them to be a patterne unto the world to minister unto him of their substance and to be a patterne to all succeeding ages what they should doe for the Church PAR. 5. LEt them who thinke no good Clergie man good unlesse he be galled and gelded in his tithes no evill Clergie man to be evill if he suffer them to swallow the sacred morsells let them consider I say by what law their soules shall be judged Divine or prophane for so the most learned M. Selden calleth that Quod fari religione non tenetur It was indeede Iudas who carryed the bagge But these two reasons are specialized wherefore the money was to be imployed to buy these things which Christ and his Apostles had neede of against the feast or to give something to the poore Iohn 13.29 PAR. 6. The fifth Occurrence of the fourth Generall THe next point to be handled is Iudas his speedy Egresse He then having received the Sop went immediately out Joh. 13.30 Whither Iudas his receiving the Sop be meant of or in his hand of or in his mouth or of or in his stomack may be questioned I doe guesse it is to be interpreted after he had eaten the sop or mouthfull to which the hand and mouth were but instruments yet necessary There is scarce an Authour who doth not professe his opinion that by receiving is meant the Orall manducation accomplished and that Iudas did really eate the sop Iohn 18.3 The Lanthornes though lights were in them and Torches though flaming shewed outward light but inward darkenesse And it was Night This deede of darkenesse carried darkenesse with it all the way to the end For this was their houre and the power of darkenesse Luk. 22.53 and his heart and wayes did rule the Prince of darkenes Occubuer at Iustitiae sol fulgentissima claritas sapientiae ideo crassissima caligine complebatur saith Iustinian The Sunne of righteousnesse and the most shining brightnesse of wisedome was now set and therefore was he filled with a most thicke Aegyptian darkenesse Iudas ipse nox erat Saith S. Augustine Iudas was night himselfe Iudas his going forth potuit esse horâ circiter tertiâ Noctis saith Faber Stapulensis on the place It might be about three a clocke at Night PAR. 7. QVando Iudas exivit fuit Nox quod notari solet in principio Noctis non in medio saith Suarez When Iudas went forth it was night which is commonly taken for the beginning of the Night not for the middle thereof Coena legalis lotio pedum ad Summum per duas horas durare potuerunt statim secutaest institutio Eucharistiae saith the same Suarez in Thomam pag. 487. The Passeover and washing of the Apostles feete could last at most but two houres and then immediatly followed the institution of the blessed Eucharist Stapulensis is much awry to allow about three houres to the Paschall and to the usuall Supper for the Paschall was but as a running banquet quickly performed And the ordinary Suppers of holy men extended not to that length of time Suarez better observeth at the utmost they could be but two houres Supping and washing and then presently followed the Institution of the Eucharist I met not with any who ever said it was mid-night when Iudas went forth Selneccerus de passione Christi pag. 442. thus stemmeth and distributeth the times by the night-watches In the first Watch of the night in Crepusculo in the twi-light from the beginning of sixe of the clocke till the end of eight three whole houres were they Supping washing and Christs Preaching In the second Watch of the night which he calleth Canticinium which word is mis-printed or otherwise Selneccerus was very ignorant to use that word instead of Galli Cantus or Gallicinium or for Conticinium which is the first part of the night from the crowing of the Cocke which he placeth in the second part or Watch in the night Circiter mediam noctem Galli primum cantum edunt saith Barradius Tom. 4. pag. 268. The Cockes doe use to crow first of all hard about midnight In the beginning of the ninth houre he went to Mount Olivet about an houre after betweene ten and eleven of the clocke he prayed sweated and was comforted by an Angell After eleven of the clocke Christ was betrayed and taken S. Peter cut off the eare of Malchus the Disciples flye In the third Watch of the night about twelve of the clocke Christ was brought to Annas and was boxed with the hand or beat with the rod of an Officer which stood by whom Christ reproved About one of the clocke in the morning he was brought to Caiaphas where being bound he was examined and confessed himselfe to be God About two of the clocke in the morning was Christ more strictly interrogated And now the Cocke crew and Peter denied him thrice and Christ pittying Peter looked backe on him and he repented went forth and wept bitterly In mine opinion here Selneccerus might better have placed his Canticinium or rather the Gallicinium or Cocke-crowing Selneccerus is in one extreame and would have the crowing of the Cocke in the second Watch before midnight Others hold the Gallicinium or Cocke-crowing to be onely in the fourth Watch of the night betweene the houres from three to foure foure to five five to sixe and they are in another extreame for Cocks crow not so much in the second Watch of the night as in the third And I confesse not so much in the third as in the fourth Watch yet seldome or never doe they crow before midnight unlesse it be at Christmasse as the good huswifes say or upon some extraordinary occasions as when they be troubled with noyse or moved or when they happen to see any accidently light by fire torch or candle or unlesse it be against change of weather But most commonly and ordinarily and
and prepared for the building of the Temple and David did in spirit foresee the particular both forme and matter of the Temple with the service of God though David lived not to see a Passeover kept there but Salomon made his dedication in the seventh moneth and in the first moneth of the yeare succeeding the fourteenth day of the moneth he kept the first Passeover at Hierusalem as he also observed the dayly offerings and the Sabbaticall offerings and offerings on the new-Moones and on their solemne Feasts three times in a yeare even in the Feast of unleavened bread which was the feast belonging unto the Passeover 2 Chron. 8.13 for though it be no where expressely said that Salomon kept the Passeover at Hierusalem yet it is not to be questioned but he who was so strict to provide the daily Sacrifice and other things according to the Commandement of Moses as is ibid did also himselfe observe it yearely according to the Law Neither doe I remember that Salomon is said to have kept ever after the Dedication or the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of weekes or any other of the Iewish Feasts observeable at Hierusalem but rather he is truely presupposed to have so done then punctually specialized for why did he build the Temple if not that the appointed Sacrifices should be performed and they were appointed to be performed yearely and therefore certainely were observed whilst the Iewish policie lasted whereupon I have reckoned the sacrificing and eating of the Passeover at Hierusalem to be one of the durable Rites thereof which Paschall offering as I said before the Iewes since the destruction of the Temple even to this day have not observed because that the Passeover was to be kept onely in Hierusalem PAR. 9. ONe objection seeming very strong is against the continuall observation of the Passeover at Hierusalem and this it is Did all the Israelites in all the twelve Tribes leave their severall houses in their severall Villages Townes and Cities and all the men and some women ascend up to Hierusalem as it were inviting their enemies to their undefended habitations and for a whole weeke besides their dies exitus redbitus their dayes of going and comming expose their yong ones and their cattell and wealth to danger I will answer in the words of holy writ Exod. 34 24. No man shall desire thy land when thou shalt goe up to appeare before the Lord thy God thrice in the yeare Vult intelligi ut securus quisque ascendat nee de terrâ suâ sollicitus sit deo promittente custodiam God would have them understand that every one might safely goe up to Hierusalem nor neede care for their lands God having promised to keepe them saith S. Augustin quaest 161 in Exod. Againe it is thus promised Levit. 25.8 Keepe and doe my judgements and ye shall dwell in the land in safety which is repeated ver 19. the Land shall yeeld her fruite and ye shall eate your fill and dwell therein in safety absque ullo pavore without any feare as the vulgar of Santandreanus hath it in the first place nullius impetum formid intes fearing no mans forces as it is in the 19. verse so likewise Huntenius The Interlinearie varieth it thus ad fiduciam ad confidentiam even to trust and confidence A mutuall Covenant as it were was betweene God and the Israelites if they regarded God and things divine God kept and cared for them and their humane affaires Oh let not us neglect things sacred and spirituall and God will watch over our Temporalls for our good If it were said to the Iew Exod. 23.15 None shall appeare before me emptie much more is it said to us saith Chrysostome Homil. 1. in 2. Epist ad Timoth. yet alas who thinkes of this to practise it Another use also may be made of this When thou commest into the Church if the poore lye not at the porch of the Temple but be absent yet the poore mans boxe is present That thou mayst obtaine mercy shew mercy woe worth the times the voluntary offertories are ceased prescription and custome even against the Almighty are commonly esteemed the onely guides of Devotions but when the children of Israel did breake the Covenant of their God when their will-worship was preferred before the prescript of Gods Law when the tradition of men carried it above the Commandements divine when the Isrelites made as it were the salt of the Covenant unsavory then God held himselfe discharged from the Covenant of salt Then did the Nations trample over them and lead Israel captive and there was none left but the Tribe of Iudah onely 2 King 17.2.6 18. verses After Senacherib tooke all the fenced cities of Iudah 2 King 18.13 And Hezekiah became Tributary to him ver 14. but in Zedekiah his dayes who did evill in the sight of the Lord 2 King 24.19 Nabuzaradan burnt the house of the Lord and the Kings house and the houses of Hierusalem and every great mans house and brake downe the walls of Hierusalem round about 2 King 25.9.10 And now could no more Passeover be kept in Hierusalem till the restauration of the Temple by Zorobabel No sooner was the Feast of the Dedication of the house of God kept for the Service of God which is at Hierusalem but they kept the Passeover Ezr 6.16.18.19 verses which holy duty they continued all the time of the second Temple till the destruction of it by Vespasian Titus ' Some indeede would have three Temples Salomons Zerubabels and Herods but these know not what the ancienter Iewes acknowledged that Herods worke was but an enlargement of the second Temple which second Temple being made not without much opposition as it is to be seene in Ezra and Nehemiah and perhaps by a forme prescribed and limited by the Heathen Monarch's was not so large as the first Temple but was at the last gloriously ampliated by Herod PAR 10. AGainst the learned and accute opinion of Genebrard on whose side are Elias Levita David Kimchi and Rabbi Iacob the Iesuite Ribera struggleth hard on Hag. 1. and 2. Chapters canvasing this poynt whether the five things were wanting in the second Temple which were in the first Temple Genebrard and many others of great note say that the fire from heaven which lighted on the Altar Levit. 9.24 was not in the second Temple Ribera affirmeth it from the authority of 2 Macc. 1 19. but say I that was rather water than fire No fire but thicke water ver 20. and if at the shining of the Sunne a great fire was kindled either the Sunnes heate might naturally burne the subjacent combustible things as it doth the Phoenix and her death-bed of Spices or if it were an heavenly fire extraordinary it was a new fire like that of Elijabs whose fire did kindle at the end of Eliah his short prayer whether the Sunne shined or no 1 Kin. 18.38 or like those descending fires which expected not
not Superinduced a Third Supper nor given us the most blessed Eucharist to be our Evangelicall Pasch or Passeover he had not actuated the Type nor accomplished the Figure nor established the new light and present truth in stead of the precedent shadow For when Christ was circumcised though he was obedient to the Law and thereby fulfilled that Law yet till he instituted Baptisme to be in the roome of Circumcision he did not Realize or Substantiate the Figure But when he had appointed new Sacraments more full of Grace and every way more excellent more easie and parable and fewer in number which were presigned and fore-destinied and presignified by the Types Then indeed and not till Then were the Figures substantiated And to returne homeward by the Eating of the most blessed Eucharist in Christ his Third and Last Supper is Christ become Our true Paschall Lambe Pascha nostrum immolatus est Christus 1 Cor. 5.7 Christ our Passeover is slaine I grant that S. Paul speaketh of the Crucifixion and the Lambe was a Type of his death and the manner thereof in many things as I instanced in before Yet was the Paschall Lambe a figure also of the sacred Eucharist Magis immediatè principaliter ceremonia agni paschalis fuit figura Eucharistiae quam Passionis saith Bellarmine de missa 1.7 The Ceremony of the Paschall Lambe was more immediately and more principally the figure of the blessed Eucharist than of Christs Passion Hierome on Matth. 26. and upon those words vers 26. commenteth thus Postquam Typicum pascha fuit impletum Agni carnes cum Apostolis comederat ad verum Paschae transgreditur Sacramentum After that the Typicall Passeover was fulfilled and Christ had eaten the flesh of the Lambe with his Apostles he passeth over to the True Sacrament of the Passeover Tertullian almost at the end of the fourth Booke against Marcion hath an odd Crotchet That Christ desired not to eate the Jewish Passeover but the Evangelicall Chrstus non concupivit vervecinam Iudaeorum cùm ait se desiderare Pascha edere He desired not to eate of a Jewish Wether Lambe or Sheepe But that Father did little consider Luk 22.24 I have desired to eate This Passeover This and vers 13. They made ready the Passeover that Passeover to eate which he purposely went up to Jerusalem for which purpose he sent this word to his Host Matth. 26.18 I will keepe the Passeover at thy house which are spoken all of them of the Jewish Passeover For all these Passages were spoken before the Supper of the Lord yea before the Second Supper Besides when Christ had desired to eate the Jewish Passeover he did not long to eate it quâ caro as it was flesh but quâ Sacramentum erat vâ—teris legis as it was a Sacrament of the old Law which he was bound to doe whosoever would fulfill the Law as Christ did and so he did eate it not as common profane meat but as a sacred duty which could not be performed without eating of it Hierome writ more soundly on Matth. 26. toward the beginning Christus finem carnali festivitati volens imponere umbraque trarseunte Paschae reddere veritatem dixit Desiderio desideravi Where he excludeth not as Tertullian needlesly did the first Supper but distinctly expresseth it and doth more than include the Last Supper For he saith Christ being willing to abrogate disannull and set an end to the Carnavalls or carnall Festivall of the Jewish Passeover and to make the Type appeare in substance and verity he said Desiderio desideravi I have much desired to eate thereof The Passeover was a Type of the Eucharist and principally figured out It. Bellarmine de Sacramento Eucharistiae 4.9 A Type but not an Antitype saith he Agnus paschalis erat figura evidentissima Eucharistiae Ibidem lib. 4. cap. 18. For the flesh was eaten and the blood sprinkled upon the doore-posts signified the blood of the Eucharist as may be gathered from Gregory Homilia 22. It was also in another degree a Figure of Christs Passion saith he ibid For if the Paschall Lambe was a Figure of the Eucharist and the Eucharist doth lively represent the Passion it must needs from thence result that the Passeover was a Figure of Christs Passion The Eucharist is not onely the figure or type of the body and blood of Christ but the Antitype because all Figures are not Antitypes but onely those quae nihil ferè differunt à veritate which very much resemble the Substance Bellarmine de Sacramento Euchastiae 2.15 Thus have I presumed to mend Bellarmine in this place PAR. 2. A Second Reason of the Institution of the Eucharist was to conferre more Grace upon us by it than was given unto the Jewes Figuratum non debet esse figurâ vilius saith Bellarmine de Missa 1.7 yea not to cloake the truth the Figure must come short in excellency to the thing Figured as the shadow to the body the Type to the thing typified Galat. 4.3 When we were children we were in bondage under the rudiments of the world And vers 9. How turne you backe to the weake and beggarly elements whereunto yee desire againe to be in bondage And this the Apostle spake of the Jewish Ceremonies So Colos 2.17 the Ceremonies of the Law are said to be the shadow of things to come but the body is Christ And Heb. 10.1 The Law had a shadow of good things to come and not the very Image of the things But he tearmeth the Law of Grace the time of Reformation Heb. 9.10 And the Tabernacle thereof a greater and more perfect Tabernacle vers 11. And Christ a Minister of the Sanctuary and of the True Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not Man Heb. 8.2 Christ not Moses Christ hath obtained a more excellent Ministery by how much also he is the Mediator of a better Covenant which was established upon better promises Heb. 8.6 Augustine in Psal 73. Our Sacraments are pauctora salubriora faciliora foeliciora fewer wholsomer easier happier Looke unto Bellarmine the Master of Controversies and to the Canvasers of him and they confesse unanimously what Saint Augustine taught the fuller and more gracious power of our Sacraments The quarrell-picking niceties on both sides I dislike Let one instance serve for all Whereas in the old Law The Sacrifices sprinkling the uncleane sanctified to the purifying of the flesh Heb. 9.13 Ours sâ—nctifie to the purifying both of bodies and soules Baptismus facit animam pulchram Deo dilectam haeredem Dei aperit regnum coelorum Baptisme makes a white soule beloved of God the heire of God and openeth the kingdome of heaven as the Fathers phrase it Christ sanctifieth and cleanseth the Church with the washing of water by the word That he might present it to himselfe a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or any such thing no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not inclining to a spot but
heare in All things whatsoever he shall say unto you and vers 26. God sent Jesus to blesse you turning away every one of you from his iniquities And in Heathen phrase Plato implyeth no lesse For Homer said that Minerva tooke away a cloud from Diomedes his eyes that he might discerne God from Man So said Socrates to his Alcibiades Darknesse must be removed from your eyes which now blindfoldeth you Then other things must be presented to you by which you may distinguish Good and Evill For now you are unfit for such matters And saith not the Scripture that the Spirit of the Lord sent Christ to preach Recovering of sight to the blinde Luk. 4.18 And Christ is the true Light who lightneth every man that commeth into the world Joh. 1.9 Alcibiades hoping to learne better things than he had before humbly professeth Let that great Teacher Rabbi or Instructor remove from me either that cloud if he will either the Festucam in mine eye or the Trabem if so he vouchsafe or any other impediment if he please For I am ready to omit nothing what he shall command whosoever he shall be so I may grow a Better man And we will offer our Crowne and all other decent things then when I shall know That day is come and it will not be long ere it come by the will of the Gods So Alcibiades Me thinks I heare him speake like one of the Magi in the East and professe to doe what they did Matth. 2.11 Or like the woman of Samaria Ioh. 4.25 I know That Messias commeth who is called Christ when he is come he will teach us All things If Plato had not thought of a Mediator God and Man what needed that comparison from Homer to distinguish one from the other If he had not knowne him to be God Plato could not have writ He hath a care of thee and doth wonderfully provide for thee and yet Shall come Hereafter and must be Waited for If he also had not thought him to be a Man who was to come he would never have ascribed unto him such offices of a Teacher a Reformer an Inlightner I think I shall not erre if I say Plato his thoughts accorded in substance with what Zacharias said Luk. 1.74 c. And what holy Simeon Luk. 2.32 and with what the Prophets prophecied of Christ And this Digression have I insisted upon to shew that Great doores hang on small Hinges and from a Little crany of light momentuall matters may be found That we are not to give over mining though the veyne seeme to be shrunke and shut up and that we cannot come to the fulnesse of knowledge but by degrees and that a small degree must serve and content us when we can attaine to no more That the Salt water of the Ocean may be made fresh and wholsome and nourishing is apparant by that excellent liquor being in Oysters at their first taking up than which juice the art of the Cooke or the Apothecary cannot make a compound of a more delicate taste and rellish and more gratefull and acceptable to the stomach Whether Art can imitate Nature in this or how farre it may proceed let others of lesse imployments search This I will say If a way were found to correct the Salt water to separate and remove the brackishnesse from it to reduce it to the taste and temper of fresh waters it would be most usefull and profitable for navigation and abundance of people might live and doe well which for want of it doe perish Some of our men have found the way of distillation good as Purchase hath it in his Pilgrims Secondly If you object The liquor of the Oyster to be salt I reply it is rather saltish seasonably brackish to sharpen the stomach every way inoffensive Againe What say you to this That the best of waters which rise on high hills and fountaines were once Salt waters but by running thorough the veynes of the earth become so sweet so refreshing so wholsome And may not the percolation by Art take its ground and example from the power of Nature as it were strayning the Salt water in the earth till it be purified sweet and wholsome Againe doth not the Sunne and divine powers exhale up vapours even out of the Salt Sea Did not a little cloud out of the Sea like a mans hand become rayne a great rayne that the heaven was blacke with clouds and winde 1 Kings 18.45 And will any man doubt but these showers of Rayne waters which fell were as sweet fresh and wholsome as ours Againe I have heard that toward the bottome of the Sea is fresh water if the bed of the Sea be very deepe And I have read of a River or two which keepe their freshnesse though they flow or run into the maine Ocean a great way the waters being unmingled and easily distinguishable by the freshet Moreover Aristotle in his Problems Section 23. Question 30. acknowledgeth that the upper part of the Sea is more salt and more warme than the lower parts And it is so also in Pits or Wells of water whose thinner lighter and sweeter parts are exhaled up or alembecked by the ayre and the Sunne whereby both most saltnesse yea and heavinesse it selfe contrary to nature floateth in the uppermost superficies of the water And in the next question he taketh as granted that That part of the Sea which is neerer the Land is sweeter than the more remote parts of it Therefore where Nature maketh such a diversity and separation and percolation I doubt not but Art may follow her and extract much good out of this disquisition Some have said that Clay well tempered is very effectuall to addulce Salt waters Yea I have heard that our Seamen have searched and found by a brasen iron or wooden vessell with a close and heavy cover which will shut of it selfe but open with a vice and descendeth naturally by its owne weight that it being let downe empty about three or foure fathoms into the Sea-water and then and there the vessell being opened according to Art and filled and shut againe and by ropes drawne up bringeth within it and up with it water usefull potable and healthy though not so perfectly fresh as our Rivers or Springs but somewhat resembling the taste of the liquor in the shell of the Oyster salso-dulce and wholsome What hath been invented I know not certainly but that Salt water may be made sweet and wholsome I doubt not The meanes may be various to the same end Those vast Cakes of Ice you may call them little mountaines if you please which are seene floating in the Northren frozen parts towards the Spring are not above three or foure fathome thick No cold can congeale or condensate deeper Nor did ever Ice in deepe Rivers or Seas reach downe and touch the earth but other waters some think fresh waters did glide along betweene the ice and the ground both by reason of