ways as for example when a man is onely entred upon the beginning of any year he counts the same inclusively with the other years of his age notwithstanding that the said year be not yet ended but onely begun Have not we reason then to think that a very particular hidden meaning lies wrapt up in these words of Lamech and whether they may not import thus much when he saith I have stain a man to my wounding and a young man to my hurt that by the man Cain is to be understood and by the young man his Brother Abel And will not this interpretation lay a fair ground for the opening of many other misteries in a due and right order As amongst other things we learn from hence that both the Brothers Cain and Abel did from the time of their conception until Cain was killed inseparably continue together viz. Abel in Cain for his vengeance and punishment But that after Cain was killed they no longer continued Twins but separated themselves from each other and by Revolution were afterwards born of two distinct Mothers Where again we may observe that Abel who was the first conceived in Eve now became the first-born of Ada and was now named Jabal and his Brother Jubal which denotes the year of Jubile and continnes now his former course of life being a keeper of Cattle as he was before whereas Cain who was the first-born of Eve is here the youngest Son of Zillah and his name now is Tubal Cain which signifies the world of Cain and his exercise and labour is in the earth viz. about Minerals and Metals and his Sister is Naëmah which denotes Beauty of whom no further mention is made in Scripture but according to the common tradition of the Jews she and her Daughters did intice and seduce all men by their Beauty according to what is mentioned Gen. 6. 1. That the Sons of God were inticed by the Daughters of men But what may be the reason that in Holy Writ after the mentioning of Lamech's Speech to his Wives nothing further is declared concerning his being avenged nor any account of the Actions of Cain or Lamech's posterity May not we suppose that it was because they were all of them entred upon Revolution For how could they any other way have been so often avenged except that they themselves were present and born anew into this World And did not all of them afterwards perish in the Deluge and by this means enter into Noah for to be revolved in him in order to their perfection which they in process of time after Christs Resurrection according to Gods wise and good Disposal in part attained And is not this plain and evident from many places of Scripture particularly 1 Pet. 3. 19 20. where we are told that Christ as the Greek Text doth declare compared with v. 22. after his Ascension into Heaven preached in Spirit by which he was raised again to Life to the Spirits in Prison even to the same Spirits who formerly were unbelieving in the days of Noah while the Ark was a preparing wherein few that is eight Souls were saved Doth it not therefore follow from hence that all those Spirits whose Bodies perished in the Deluge and to whom afterwards Christ after his Ascension in that Spirit by which he was raised again to life and which was poured forth upon the Apostles preached in and by them which Spirits at that time appeared again in bodies in this world from the which they could not be separated forasmuch as they had not yet attained to their full and final perfection and consequently were in a condition to hear the Sermons of the Apostles in flesh I say may we not infer from hence that all these Spirits entred into these eight Souls in order to their Revolution and so consequently were propagated by them until the time of Christ 5 Q. Noah now as who derived his descent from Adam and Seth was an upright perfect man and begat three sons Japhet Sem and Cham Gen. 9. 24. and Chap. 10. 21. And may not we suppose that in him a new World began and that the same day he entred into the Ark for to bring forth a new World he represented the Spirit of God which in the beginning of the Creation moved upon the Waters And may we not compare the six hundredth year of Noah's age in which he entred into the Ark with the sixth day of the Creation in which Man and all Beasts were created In like manner may not Cham his youngest Son be supposed to represent Adam forasmuch as Adam in his Central Spirit in the Garden of Eden by his eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil desired through Knowledge which is a seeing of the Spirit to behold his Source and Original by which means Adam fell out of the inner into the outward and so begat Seth in his own likeness and not in the Image of God in which he was created Now Cham did the same also though in a more gross and material manner when he gazed upon his Fathers nakedness wherefore also he was cursed by his Father and made a Servant of Servants whereas his other two Brothers Japhet and Sem went backwards with a Garment upon their shoulders to cover their Fathers nakedness whereupon they obtained the Blessing as Adam likewise might have done in case he had behaved himself as they did which indeed he ought to have done in his Central Spirit viz. he should have gone backwards and wrought out the whole Creation which was created before him and of which â—he was the last viz. from the sixth day to the third which is the middle of the six days and not have gone from one extreme to the other as from the End to the Beginning viz. from Man immediately to the Trees but beginning from himself should have gone through all Beasts backwards and wrought them out one after another and glorified them in himself unto the very last of them counting backwards which are the creeping things as the first bestial Life which had their Original from the putrefaction of Herbs and Trees Is not this likewise the reason why the spiritual Serpent as being the head and chief amongst all the spiritual creeping Creatures in the spiritual World of Man did first speak in Adam 6 Q. When after the Deluge the Children of Noah who were saved in the Ark and in whom all the Souls that lived before the Deluge except Henoch alone whom the Scripture exempts and perished in it were ingrafted had now propagated and multiplied themselves until the number of their Children and Grand-children was grown very great and perceived in themselves one Mindâ— Speech and Expression but withal considering that this unity of theirs could not be lasting and constant but that in process of time they would be divided May we not suppose therefore that from an apprehension of such a Division and aâ— endeavour to prevent the same when in their
the cause thereof be given R. That there is in the Air an inflammable sulphurous spiritual Being hath in part been made out before where we treated concerning the Sun viz. how by means of the Air and the Sun 's shining into the Water such a Being is generated and the same may also in the Air it self be wrought out into a corporal Pitch and Brimstone such as was rained down at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah That likewise a subtile spiritual Salt-petre and Salt is in the Air some Salt-petre-men know very well who when they have digged so much Earth out of Stables as will employ them a whole year to elixiviate or draw out the Salt from it never after need to dig up any more fresh Earth for to extract their Salt-petre therefrom For at the years end they find their elixiviated Earth after it is again exposed to be stored with Salt-petre anew as being impregnated by the Air which they afterwards again boyl out of the same Earth and in refining the said Salt-petre they separate a great quantity of common Salt From whence it is most clear and evident that there inflammable Materials viz. Brimstone Salt-petre and Salt are spiritually in the Air from whence the Thunder and Lightning are produced CHAP. III. SECT I. Concerning the Water and Quick-sand 1 Q. HItherto hath been treated concerning the Air its Essence Operation and Properties as also that the same hath a spiritual ruling essential body which is united with the Sun Moon and Stars and by means of its spiritual essential powers and firmness is fit and proper to unite the Earth as being the Out-working of the said heavenly Lights with them and so to compleat as it were Jacob's Ladder before-mentioned Now we see that this lower part of the Great World viz. the Earth is made up and doth consist of several Waters Seas and Rivers and of different sorts of Sand Stones and Metals c. The Query therefore is how we may come to understand all these things with the Natures and Properties of them R. In order to this a brief Introduction shall be here set down from proper experience that there by an occasion may be presented to others to search out and advance further in the knowledge of these things We find everywhere in the World in digging whether it be in Vallies for Springs or in Mountains for to get out Metals that though the same be never so high yet at the bottom is always a Quick-sand found beyond which there is no digging any further for this Quick-sand drives with the water and is therefore called in High-dutch Triebsands that is Drift or Drive-sand and in English Quick-sand from its continual motion and is always mingled with the same Now this water with which the Quick-sand is mingled and this Sand which is continually made in the water is the foundation of the whole Earth and of the highest and vastest Mountains as being that on which they rest and are supported and is indeed the very Root from whence the whole Earth all Mountains and other visible Bodies do arise and have their original as is expressed Gen. 1. v. 25. and from whence they likewise receive and enjoy their nourishment as from their Mother all which may be made out visibly to the eye 2 Q. How can it be made out first that the water and the Quick-sand are the foundation of the Earth and the Creatures that are in it And in the next place how are the same the Root and Original of all Terrestrial Bodies R. As to what concerns the first Question the same may be cleared in part from this instance viz. we find in plain and low grounds as in Brabant near Boisleduc that we cannot dig above four or five foot deep in the Earth without coming to the Quick-sand so that when in these parts they go about to build a high weighty and square Church-steeple of Bricks or the like they first lay a row of Oaken or other boards that will not rot in the water but continue always sound and undamag'd in the same upon the Quick-sand and upon the said Boards they begin to build the Church-steeple about three hundred feet high which proves a most strong and lasting foundation as appears from several Steeples that have been in this manner built upon the Quick-sand and have continued firm and unmovable for many hundreds of years Adde to this that when in those parts any one digs a Pond for water and that he digs up more Sand than is fitting thinking thereby to make his Pond Pit or Well the deeper he soon after perceives he is in a mistake for that the Sand flows and falls in again continually so that the Well or Pond continues still of the same depth Moreover he will find by experience that if there be built such a Steeple as was just now mentioned within three or four thousand foot from the said Pit Pond or Well the same will begin to sink and incline toward that side where the Pit is digged forasmuch as its foundation viz. the Quick-sand is drawn away from that side From all which it incontestably follows that seeing such great and massie Buildings do for so many years continue firm and stedfast upon this watery Quick-sand without giving way or sinking and that on the contrary by the fleeting away of the said Quick sand those Buildings are endangered that the said watery Quick-sand is the foundation of all material Bodies as deriving its original from above viz. from the Sun Moon and Stars and mounteth again from beneath upwards through several and multifarious alterations and meliorations in a â—â—â—â—tinual Revolution by means of which the 〈◊〉 World is kept firm and unmoveable on its center Now the reason why this makes such a stedfast and unmovable foundation is because neither the Water nor the Quick-sand both which are very nigh of kin to one another for that the Sand is produced by the Water and continually renewed by the same of which more in its due place will suffer themselves to be thrust down or pressed together but always preserve their wonted station and measure as shall be more fully made out in what follows And as to what respects the second Question viz. Whether this Water and the watery Quick-sand are the Root of all other sublunary Bodies this is evident from the Testimony of Nature it self For first that the Quick-sand is produced by the Water hath been found by true and proper experience viz. in a certain place in the Province of Brabant some of this Quick-sand-water hath been taken and being distilled hath always left some sand in the bottom of the Glass and when in order to a more certain knowledge of this matter the Water hath been before filtred through several Papers that so it might be evident that no sand could remain in the water yet notwithstanding when distilled it hath left sand at the bottom of the Glass as before And as
it is commonly known that water in several places as in Mountains and Rocks is changed into stones so here we find it changed into sand Furthermore Experience teacheth us that in Mountains and Rocks the water which continually mounts upwards from the Quick-sand is still changed into many different sorts of sand and stones The same may also be perceived in Mines when the Miners have gone very deep to search for Metals that though the Rock hath been so hard that it would not suffer it self to be cut with any steel Instrument but the Miners have been forced to break it down or burst it asunder by fire and yet in those very Stones that were thus broke off with Instruments a water hath been found within which went through and through them and was their food and nourishment and could be distilled from them in great quantity Again we find that Firr-trees do grow upon hard high and smooth shining Rocks where they have no Earth at all and yet that they do not die or wither notwithstanding that their root is onely fastened to the stony Rock so as the very ends and extremities of the said roots may be seen as not having the least Earth to cover them From whence we gather that these Trees must draw the moisture which feeds and makes them to grow out of the said stony Rocks This Wood also which grows upon such high Rocks is of great use to many purposes as is well known to the experienced Makers of Musical Instruments that the Firr-wood which comes from the high Mountains of Tyrol is far better to make the belly of their Musical Instruments than other sort of wood for that the Firr-trees and all strait Timber that hath had its growth from out of the mortified Rocks are more airy and partake more of the nature of those Rocks and consequently give a better sound And here by the way it will not be amiss to take notice that the Seed of these Trees is not lost or annihilated by their being burnt down on the ground where they stand but that they are meliorated and increased by means of their being burnt by fire forasmuch as it hath been found by experience that after the burning down of several whole Woods and many high-grown Firr-trees all the said ground which was of a considerable extent hath been afterwards over grown and fill'd with innumerable Burch-trees and all that onely from the ashes of the said Firr-trees which Metamorphosis the Ancients have alluded to and intimated to us by their Fable of the Phaenix This self-same water to return to our former matter mounts up from the Quick-sand through the pores of the Earth to a vast heighth as hath been said just as the sap and moisture of a Tree mounts up from the root to the very top of it spreading it self through the whole body and all the branches and boughs thereof And like as Joyners find by daily experience that wood changeth as it grows and is not the same at the top as it is beneath so Stone-cutters likewise find the same in the stones of the Mountains and Rocks viz. that they have several changes and various differences notwithstanding that it be all but one continued piece Likewise as the Sap or nourishing Juice of a Tree doth change both its nature and taste as it mounts from the root to the top-branches so also it is found in the Mountains for the self-same life and the same regent power is in the Mountains and Rocks which are found to be in Trees which Life for its food and nourishment takes in several sorts or various kinds of moistures or waters and gives them out again that is manifesteth them in their bodies and the parts which they grow into and produce according to the proportion and measure of every part and member of its body Moreover also forasmuch as it may easily be observed how a Tree or Vegetable consists of divers various parts which are not all the same as for example the Roots the Trunks or Bodies the Branches Leaves Flowers Fruits c. yea what more is the same sort of parts as for example the Leaves of one and the same Plant do all of them differ each from other as may be proved by observation of any two Leaves of a Tree or Plant which will be found to have differing Veins or nourishing Vessels which in their texture and distribution are not alike c. Like as Man who in his Body hath divers Members Bones Nerves and Bloud though all his parts be nourished with one and the same Bloud yet we find that the Sweat which comes out through the pores of his Body hath its peculiar distinct smell in every part of the same And in like manner doth the Water of the Earth and Mountains differ also 3 Q. From what hath been already mentioned we may understand and conclude that the Water and Quick-sand are the foundation of the Earth and that the Water as the common Mother of all sublunary Bodies being produced by the Moon and Stars doth bring forth the Quick-sand and maintain the same and afterwards through the Quick-sand which is born of it and together with the same by a continual alteration and multiplication brings forth several sorts of Stones and Rocks So that from hence we may conclude according to what hath already in part been mentioned concerning the Sun Moon and Stars as likewise of the Air that the universal Spirit of the World by means of a continual Revolution and multifarious Glorification doth work out it self to perfection that so in like manner in this Sand and Water there is a continual Revolution in order to melioration and exaltation and that the said Catholick Spirit rules and works as well in this water and sand as above in the celestial Lights and the Air as also that there is a spiritual operative life in both these the sand as well as the water That such a spirit and life is in the water hath been made out before in the discourse about the Nocturnal Luminaries it remains therefore to query how it can be evidenced that this spirit and life is in the sand also R. This appears very clearly of it self for if the Sand had no life in it how could it move it self in and with the water as hath been shewed before that out of this Sand making water sand is produced by distillation and propagates itself in so fruitful a multiplication through stones and other things whose source and original it is forasmuch as the Life doth consist in this motion and out-working as in part hath been already shewed that it doth The same may likewise plainly be seen by spreading some of the said Sands upon a black Table and considering them through a Microscope for so we shall find that every grain of this sand hath a different shape and figure so as not one of them is like another from whence we may undoubtedly conclude that as every one of
these grains is of a different form so likewise there must in every one of them as also in every particular Being of the whole Creation as shall be more amply and fully declared hereafter be a different life and specifick seed which gave it such a form and preserves the same Moreover every one of these grains of sand contains within it self its own nutritive and spermatick moisture or water which it drew in specificated and digested by its life and the powers thereof and after its own particular ripeness or maturity is attained to it further advanceth that its primogenial moisture till it become fit to be given forth again as its milk to its fruit propagation and off-spring and this in proportion as well as the greatest Mountains or any other Being whatever Furthermore it is observed that there is not one though the very least grain of Sand but contains a little spiritual subtil Gold and Silver which are nothing else but the light influence and very being of the Sun and Moon which is specificated and wrought up in them but it is in so small a quantity that it requires much pains and charges to extract it and is onely of use to demonstrate that such astral powers are there and to teach men that all beings come from thence and consist thereof Having thus shewed that this Sand is to be esteemed as the second Mother and Root of all Sublunary Bodies for the first Mother of all beings is the water accounting from the center of all upwards we may from hence take occasion to enquire how those words Gen. 2. v. 7. are to be understood that Adam was formed or fashioned of Aphar Adamach Aphar signifies in the Hebrew Dust of the Earth Gold viz. the least of the living Gold that is in the Sand and Earth as also it signifies the world We may also from hence amongst other things in part understand the reason why God first commanded Abraham to count the Stars and told him that his Seed should be so as in Gen. 15. v. 5. And in Gen. 22. 17. promised him that he would bless his seed in multiplying it as the Stars of Heaven and as the sand which is on the sea-shore viz. because the upper and under agree together in a continual beautiful Revolution and Harmony and help to compleat and make up the perfect body of the world in a wise and comely order 4 Q. Forasmuch then as it appears that in general there is such a Revolution from things above to things beneath and again from beneath to above and that in a living or vital out-working and propagation and also that it hath been already declared that the Revolution of the Superiour Being coming downwards doth proceed and is carried on in order the Query is how we may come to know and perceive this order also in these inferiour bodies viz. how the Revolution from below to above from the Quick-sand to Stones Metals c. even up to the very highest Mountains is performed R. That the Sand-making water and the moveable Quick-sand that is in it are the foundation and root of all other Sublunary Bodies hath hitherto been made evident Now then first of all that the other sort of sand which is on the Sea-shore as well as that which is at the bottom of it and elsewhere also on the dry ground is formed out of it and also wrought out by it may be gathered from hence because in the bottom of the Sea immediately below the other sort of sand a Quick-sand is likewise found in which Quick-sand an Anker cannot take so very well hold but only on the upper and other sort of sand as is well known amongst Sea-men These other sorts of sand therefore which are as an out-birth from the Quick-sand do also in part take in water from the Sea and as it were do digest it in themselves which they afterwards give out again through the Communication which they have with the other sand of the Mountains Rocks and other parts of the Earth from which as from their original or source afterwards Fountains Springs Brooks and Rivers do arise Now all Rivers as they thus come out of the Sea through this means of their Revolution so they therefore run back again into the same and that with gain forasmuch as they are thus made partakers of the essence and virtue of all those other Beings through which they have passed and that in a continual Revolution in order to perfection For every thing must be continually fed nourished and renewed the very Stones and Rocks not excepted for that they have also some part of Life in them and cannot be separated from the whole viz. the body of this world as hath been briefly mentioned already and will be more fully declared in what follows But before we proceed any farther we will briefly Treat somewhat concerning the other waters viz. of the Seas forasmuch as they have their Rise from the Deep and by means of a continual Revolution through the Quick-sand and the other sorts of Sand and that in order to their being continually new-born or formed and further propagated and multiplied SECT II. Concerning the Waters of the Seas 1 Q. WHat is the operation and effect of water properly forasmuch as we find so many different waters Seas and Rivers every where throughout the whole earth R. The Seas which within themselves contain many Currents and go forth in many differing streams which by Circulation return to the Sea again do stand or run as before is mentioned and daily experience teacheth over the Sand which is the product of the Quick-sand and have their particular Life Rule Government and Circulation in all their innumerable grains or parts as before hath been mentioned of the Sand. 2 Q. Would it not therefore be needful to set down a more plain declaration how and in what manner the waters have their Regiment and operation R. Yes forasmuch as that the Seas have a distint Being Life and Regiment in themselves which may partly be observed from their out-working or products whereas they bring forth several sorts of Creatures devoid of breathing and without Lungs Experience also teacheth that in the inland Seas Lakes and many great Rivers every month new sorts of fish are caught which neither were there before nor can be found afterwards until the same time of the next year Thus it is well known that in the Boden-Sea in Switzerland through which the Rhine runs Herrings are caught at the self-same time that they are caught in the Sea and in the same manner even many Millions of them in sholes together but neither before nor after till the next year at the same time from whence we must conclude that the Boden-Sea which brings them forth doth likewise consume them in like manner as the earth consumes all things which are in it in order to renew them for no seed which God hath Created can go to nothing 3 Q. What may
it takes a liking to it so as to set his love upon it and put a trust in it we shall find that such a man who is a great lover of his Ship shall effect more with this his Ship than any other shall do with theirs In like manner also a Horse-man that hath a good Horse upon which he relies and loves him so that it hath been known that some have escaped and saved their lives by riding eighteen German miles in one day with one Horse for to get out of the Empire into Switzerland by which means they have escaped the Gallows and that without any prejudice to their Horse too In like manner it is matter of experience that persons who have been in love have performed so great Journeys in one day on Horse-back as was impossible for another to do the like From whence we may take notice that the Spirit and Confidence of Man is operative in union with Vegetables and Animals By this also we may guess at the reason how it came to pass that when a certain person had bought some young Trees of another who assured him that if any of them happened to wither he would stand to the damage and make it good again that all of them prov'd well But at another time buying othersome without any such assurance from the Seller they all died viz. for that the Buyer being covetous had no fear concerning the former-mentioned Trees because of the inâ—rance but wanting that for the latter he became doubting and fearful and communicated his fear to the Trees and thereby killed them 5 Q. It hath been declared before that the Water and Quick-sand do generate and produce all other sorts of Sand and Water but before we proceed further it will not be improper here to inquire forasmuch as it is notorious that in Pits we can dig no deeper than till we come to the Quick-sand and that this is but an inconsiderable depth compared to the whole Globe of the Earth from the Circumference to its Center whether I say this immense Bulk from the Quick-sand to the Center be nothing else but meer Quick-sand and Water R. That cannot be because the Quick-sand always and continually gives forth water and that not salt but sweet and fresh in all places yet with several continued alterations from the beginning until it hath transmuted it self in every little grain of other sort of Sand which hath its own essence and property as hath been shewed neither can the Quick-sand receive or take in water from without as will be made plain from what here follows 1. In Fish-ponds that are dugg in some places where the Quick-sand lieth but shallow and a little below the surface of the Earth until they come to the Quick-sand the water doth not rise to above half a foot high or thereabouts so that they are forced to convey Rain or other water into the same for to fill it up Now we find that the water thus added and conveyed doth always keep its own heighth and doth not sink into the Quick-sand as it doth into other moist sand which is at some good distance above the Quick-sand for such Sand as is known will according to a certain proportion drink up a vast quantity of water 2. Some Diggers of Wells are not unacquainted with this who oft deceive people that have bargained with them to dig a Well unto the Quick-sand and so cause that the water may stand three or four foot high in the same who when they see that the Spring cannot rise so high they privately fill it up to that heighth with other water which continues so and doth not sink into the sand but when the Owners come afterwards and fetch water from thence they then perceive they have been deceived forasmuch as the water still decreaseth and doth not fill up again which the Undertakers had promised to perform 3. Forasmuch as the watery Quick-sand is the foundation of the whole building of the Earth therefore it lets no water into it self for it is impossible that two bodies of one and the same nature should enter into each other and consequently that water should enter into water without increasing of its bulk c. that is to say should so corporally unite it self with the other water as that the other water and this new-added water should be numerically one and the same water without all increase of its quantity From all which it is most clear and evident seeing the Quick-sand hath continually from the very beginning of the World given forth water from it self and that it can do no other as having been created for this end and that the circumference of this water is not lessened nor its quantity diminished therefore it must of necessity follow that what the Quick-sand gives out must be made good and restored to it again from within as the following Query with its Answer will more fully demonstrate 6 Q. Seeing then that this is the nature of the Quick-sand how is it possible that it should subsist or how can it be that since it continually gives out water and yet can take in no water externally from above but that thus at last it must be left emptied and destitute of all water which cannot be allowed neither from whence is it then that it receives the water which it gives forth continually R. Here remains no other cause to be assigned than this natural one viz. that as hath been said the waters are continually made by the Sun Moon and Stars for that they as spiritual Beings are onely able to penetrate the water and sand But forasmuch as the Sun Moon and Stars can make no water in the water and yet continually do bring forth water both below as well as above we must therefore conclude that there must be a great space and place of abode for the Air in the Centre of the Earth in which the Sun Moon and Stars do perform their operation and where afterwards their spiritual and continually descending Rays as they mount from thence upwards again do change themselves into water that so all may proceed in a beautiful order forasmuch as the beginning and the end with their whole circumference according to all parts not the least excepted do continually circulate until their full age maturity and perfection And is it not worth our enquiry whether this space below before-mentioned be not spoke of in Scripture under the name of Abyss as Psal. 42. v. 8. and elsewhere as that above is in Scripture-phrase called the Sling 1 Sam. 25. v. 29. For the lower waters must in like manner be generated of a grosser Air and comporting with their property as the upper waters viz. the Air are born of a more subtile and spiritual Air. And this water that is here below forasmuch as it continually comes down from above for to be wrought out cannot be dead but must mount upwards again towards its original and beginning because it cannot
is and particularly in the Principality of Sultzbach in the upper Palatinate near Bohemia where there is a Spring whose water divides itself into two currents of which the one runs East and the other West and poure forth themselves into the Rhine and Donaw In the same place thou wilt meet with many Mountains and high Rocks which are altogether mouldred and mortified and others that decay and dye daily For in many places you see stones standing right up of different heights it may be a hundred foot high more or less and ten twenty thirty or forty foot broad which you may judge to have been the heart or kernel of some great Mountain that formerly stood there and now is so far spent and decayed and as it were died away Below upon the ground near these great standing stones are several great and unmovable stones that are fallen down and in many places thereabouts thou wilt perceive that the lesser stones wherewith the fields thereabouts are filled are in part every year plainly and so as cannot be denied mouldred and turned into an Earth or fat clay by which means the fields are made so fruitful that there is no need of dunging them before they sow Corn there In the said Principality of Sultzbach thou wilt also find many holes or Caverns under the said perished Rocks and that their Root is consumed and devoured like as wood is by worms insomuch that many passages are found there into which those that enter must take lighted Torches with them that they may be able to find their way in the said Caves which extend themselves to many miles In like manner thou wilt find there many curious high stone-arches which are higher than any that are found in Churches From which instances thou mayst clearly see and know that in some parts of the world the Mountains and Rocks do die and perish and are changed into valleys 5 Q. The question is whether it be possible that a man within the short limit and time of his life should himself see and be assured that new stones are produced which were not before R. In the fore-mentioned Caverns and vast stony arches in the Principality of Sultzbach and elsewhere in such stony places thou wilt find a clear transparent water which men and beasts do drink of and hath no singular distinguishing tast and which drops down from the old perished arch and doth by degrees fill up the said hollow or cavern again with another new production or birth distinct from the former viz. with an hard transparent stone which is fixt in the fire Moreover thou wilt find in sundry places where the said water hath dropt down that great pillars or columns are made by it of different figures which look like ice and are greater than any pillars of Churches Thou wilt also find in other streams and Rivers that the water produceth several sorts of stones and there is one stone among the rest which in a short time is produced by the water called Terass-stone which when it is ground and mixed with Quicklime in the stead of other Sand the same abides firm in the water and unites well with the Lime 6 Q. Might not another and clearer instance of this matter be produced R. In the fore-mentioned Principality thou wilt find very hard Rocks which may wholly be burnt into Lime and within the same in the midst of the firm stone thou wilt see several great and lesser holes of two three or four inches or more round which within are grown over with a transparent white skin as it were or rind full of sparkling shining glittering and polished Chrystals like Diamonds and set in so curious an order as it is impossible for any Artificer to imitate them some of which are one or two inches long all of them six cornerd and every one of them most curiously polished All these Chrystals are fixt in the fire so that they are of another nature than their Mother of whom they are born and brought forth which as hath been said is a hard Lime-stone And like as these Crystals are found in these Rocks so in other Rocks thou wilt meet with divers other sorts of stones 7 Q. Is it possible for a man in his life-time to see how the Rocks makes holes in themselves and in them bring forth other stones And how these again are changed and yet other properties and figures R. Thou wilt find in Tyrol at a place called Schwatz in the Silver Mine there a sort of very hard stone which is fix in the fire transparent and of a whitish colour which opens itself visible to the eye like an Ulcer or Fistula and doth by degrees through a little hole thrust forth its birth or foetus in the appearance of a green and blewish thick moist pulp or seed which afterwards grows hard and changeth itself into a green and blew stone which is called a Malachite and is good against many diseases And the deeper men cut their way into the said Rock the more of such places do they find which are filled up with the â—oresaid Malachite So that it cannot be denied put that the Rock as a Mother opens her self for to bring forth her Child and this Child doth afterwards still change it self into other shapes untill it arrive to its perfection For thou wilt often find such Sexangular Crystals which in one part continue transparent whilst the other part of them remains opace dark and metallick and becomes heavier in weight without any increase of its outward bulk and keeping its former shape and figure It is further observable that these Crystals have every where in all their parts their own water as the nourishment which they have from their Mother that by means thereof they may further work out themselves even as the Rocks which are their Mothers do And this water may be got out of them by distillation 8 Q. Is it not possible to find out a mean to know the further specialities concerning these young Chrystals and other Stones viz. Whether they do grow on to a greater bulk until they have attained to their due magnitude age and maturity And whether their growth and increase be by opposition of something from without Or whether they increase in all their parts by means of their inward powers and life even as a Child grows up to be a man As also whether a way might not be found out whereby we might be assured of this truth and also find it so to be by experience almost everywhere and consequently that we should not need meerly to believe it or to take a Journey to those places where these Rocks are as if this truth were limited to onely or shut up in one place but rather that she might everywhere stand open to the eyes of all as is highly necessary it should be for Wisdom is everywhere according to the testimony of Solomon Prov. 8. vers 1 2 3. R. Observe therefore such Stones which
be joyned again and gathered together Ephes. 1. 10. and further propagate themselves and be meliorated still more and more and without ceasing be advanced from one degree of glory to another Because else it would follow that God either continually must create things a new which is not onely contrary to the unchangeableness of God which God himself confirms to Moses Exod. 3. 14. in these words I AM THAT I AM compared with the 102 Psal. v. 26 27. and Heb. 1. 11 12. but it is also contradictory to the clear and express Testimony of the Spirit of God in Holy Writ That there is no new thing under the Sun but that that which was is the same that shall be hereafter In like manner that there is nothing of which we can say that it is new for it hath been heretofore in former times that were before us Eccles. 1. 9 10 11. and 3 15. Or we must conclude that if ever this continual Renovation Melioration and Glorification of the Creatures of God should come to cease that the Creatures by this means viz by ceasing from rising higher and higher would either come to a stand or else go backwards towards nothing neither of which can be admitted not the first because God always works in his Creatures not the latter because this working of God in his Creatures is in order to their perfection and advancement and not to their annihilation or destruction It would also follow from hence that God would thus finally cease from Creating seeing as hath been hinted before that no new thing is created which would also oppose the infiniteness of God who is from Eternity to Eternity Syr. 43. 21. And who is also immutable and present in all things Likewise it is against the Holy Scripture which witnesseth that whatsoever God doth continues for ever Also that wisdom continues the same she is and yet renews all things Moreover that whatsoever is lives and continues for ever Eccles. 13. 14 Wisd. 7. 27. Syr. 43. 24. Now whatsoever it is that hath life must likewise have a continual out-going or out-working of the said life 3 Q. Seeing then that Man the Little World being created by God must come to such a state wherein continually without ceasing he may be meliorated and raised from one degree of glory to another and so becometh still more and more God-like if I may speak so or be incessantly advanced because by this continual Revolution and Glorification he still comes nearer to God and yet can never come to an end of his approaches forasmuch as in God there is neither Beginning nor End but this melioration and glorification must continue without end And will it not follow from hence that man as being a Compendium of all the Creatures of God hath had no absolute though a respective beginning because if otherwise they must also have an end It follows also if they have had a Beginning that before the same they were not and consequently that they sprang and came of nothing Now seeing that this cannot be because by this means a nothing must be conceived to be in God whereas indeed he is the Eternal Being of all Beings Blessed for ever They indeed who imagine to themselves a Creaturely God and according to their gross conceptions or their outward senses shut up God in a determinate place or circumference consistently with this their imagination must suppose that a Nothing which neither is nor can be conceived of or comprehended by themselves or others before the Creation of the world did exist together with God For whatsoever is beyond the bound which they have set themselves that they call a Nothing Or else they must assert that God made a Nothing out of which he afterwards created all things which is a contradiction because a Nothing cannot be made but whatsoever is made or is must be something Moreover according to this assertion God must have made himself to a Nothing because there was Nothing then but God which is very absurd Since then I say that this cannot stand the Question is whether we must not conclude that all whatsoever is must be without beginning or end and consequently have an Eternal Nature and Being in it self which without end or ceasing must further and further work out it self and that in order to its rising to a still higher and higher degree of perfection but yet so as it never can become God himself though continually it be made more and more like unto him 4 Q. Seeing then that all the Creatures of God in order to their melioration and glorification stand in an endless Revolution in order to perfection and yet must be known and comprehended and a thing cannot be known otherwise than by its end and operation or out-working as a Tree by its fruits and that the lesser world is the end and comprizal of all Creatures and Works of God and consequently an Out-birth of the great world wherein all other Creatures are comprized the question then is whether there be any other way by which man may attain to a right knowledge of the great world with and in all its parts than in and out of himself especially since in him as in the end and abridgement of all things the Begining hath manifested itself for the End is nothing else but a Beginning wrought out that is displayed into act and manifested so that the End is hid in the Beginning And whether consequently to this both the worlds have not a great affinity and perfect likeness yea and unity one with the other and whether they must not be wrought out with one another and thereby arrive at their highest perfection 5 Q Now even as both these world 's the greater and lesser must always stand in harmony and agreement and as in the great world according to what in the first Part hath been shewed the Sun Moon and Stars together with all other Creatures of the great world according to all their parts do every moment continually flow forth and again take in so as still a perpetual Revolution is performed in them in order to their perfection Must not then the same consequently happen with Man also who is the Out-birth of the greater world Must not he I say in like manner flow forth and take in and that as to his whole Man and in all his parts So that an entire Spiritual Ideal Man may proportionably without ceasing slow forth from him as a fountain gusheth forth water according to all its parts so as no part can be assign'd of which it may be said that it is not water and return to him again As we daily see before our eyes that this Ideal man as he flows forth from every man so he is again taken in by every one that receives him through the senses and stays with the receiver in order to a Spiritual operation or out-working which is performed in the Head and Heart in order to its union with the
five inward Senses all which so unite in a centre where Eyes Ears Nose and Mouth meet together so that the four Senses are â—nited in the fifth of Feeling even as the four fingers which are the working instruments of the Head are joyned and united with the Thumb And these five inward and five outward Senses make up the number Ten. Do not we find here â—hen the ground of the number Five and in part of â—he number Ten also I. Concerning the Eyes and Sight 9 Q. We find in those that have a strong eyeâ—â—ght that when they rub their eyes in the night â—â—me they excite a small fiery light and can see it as it were before them which is a good sign that they have yet life and strength and if it be in the time of sickness it gives hopes of recovering former health In like manner when any one hath a pain in his eyes or receives a stroke upon them a fiery light is perceived as it were to come from them May not we therefore conclude from these instances that the eyes have a fiery operative life in them like to that of the Sun which flows from within from the centre of the eye commonly called the Pupilla or Apple of the eye which when by reason of the decay of life it becomes wide and fixed in that wideness this fiery operative light withdraws from the eyes from whence ariseth a distemper or blindness which is called in the German Tongue Dieschwartre Staar 10 Q. That the Eyes have waters or humors in them is evident from Anatomy forasmuch as within the Eye three several humors are contained the first and last of which are properly a humour or water the first being called Humor Aqueus or the watry humour the latter Humor Vitreus or the glassie humour but the middlemost commonly called Humor Crystallinus or the Crystalline humour consists of a small cloudy soft and pulpy substance which may be reputed as the brain of the eye in order to the working out of the Idea's which we may experimentally find by taking the Eye of a Beast and letting it freeze wherein then with the help of a Microscope the said pulpy substance may be easily discerned and clearly distinguished from both the foresaid liquors And seeing that the Aqueous humor or water is continually renewed in the Eyes and hath its Revolutions quickly as being the Sea of the Eyes insomuch as we find often both with men and Beasts that when by reason of a wound in their Eyes the said water is shed or poured forth that other new water will come and supply its place without hurting of their eye-sight Doth it not follow from hence that this water hath a similitude and agreement with the waters of the great world And that the foresaid fiery Being which is in the Eyes doth work in the water of the Eyes in order to the perfecting of the said watery substance even as the Sun of the greater World works in its own waters 11 Q. Forasmuch as the right Eye of man is ordained to work out and the left Eye for to draw in and receive to the heart by which the left side is known and these two are like Man and Wife for to bring forth a spiritual Birth the right Eye being the Man and the left the Wife For without this Birth of a spiritual Idea we should presently forget any thing we had seen and therefore this Idea must abide in man to the end he may be able to compare the Copy with its Original Now then seeing that in manner as hath been said there is a continual Revolution in the Eye-sight viz. from the right Eye to the left from the outward to the inward as it is in the great World may not we by all this perceive a great agreement between both Worlds viz. the Greater and Lesser 12 Q. Seeing that man receives his sight from the Sun and the Sun Moon and Stars as his Father and Mother from which as long as he is fastened to this World and hath not yet wrought them out he cannot be separated are a right spiritual Being and communicate themselves to us as a true Being or Essence insomuch as what we receive from them is nothing else but a true essence which is subject to a continual Revolution For the Sun by means of his daily circumvolution from East to West makes all things to become operative and puts them in motion In like manner when the Sun in a years time passeth through the twelve Signes of the Zodiack it doth from every Signe communicate to us that of which our Essence consists and by means of its out-flowing and generative light and life from whence also we receive our Eye-sight which when the Sun Moon and Stars are just above the Horizon can at once see no further than over a twelfth part of the World Doth not this give us a certain intimation that we must continually be made partakers of the said course or circumvolution of the Sun and that we cannot be separated from the same And therefore the said Circumvolution of the Sun continues still to the end it might work without ceasing in us who are its Seed for to bring us at last for Reward to the seven thousand years Sabbath Moreover because we can find in our selves the four distinct times of the natural day how that in the night-time as in death when man is asleep by means of the Moon and Stars the female fleeting waters in him are united from whence afterwards the essential thoughts are orderly wrought out in him which with the approach of day when the Sun hath performed his whole course about the Earth and appears again in our Hemisphere are further wrought out and perfected into words as so many Births Psal. 19. 1 2 3 4 5 6. 13 Q. These changes by taking in and giving forth are confirmed and made out to us by many Examples as when in a darkened Room we leave onely a little round hole in the window so as the light can come in through that alone if we hang and spread forth a white Cloath opposite to the said hole we can see all the Objects that pass by without as in a Glass but turned upside down In like manner if we take a white Stone-horse or of any other colour and artificially spot and paint him with what colour we please and then place him at the end of a Water-pond or the like making a partition overthwart the water by means of a piece of Cloath or such-like and on the overside of the Pond place a Mare over against the Stone-horse in such manner as that by means of the said partition coming between they shall not be able to see each others form otherwise than in the water If we let them stand thus for several days together each of them bound in his own place until their Lust to one another become strong and vehement then if we loose the Stone-horse and let
is still drawn in yet so as that a certain part of this first attracted and wrought-out air remains in the Belly which serves to the necessary strengthening and maintaining 〈◊〉 Life And may not we from all this in part understand that in the Little World the Body 〈◊〉 Man as well as in the Great World there is a continual Revolution without ceasing 19 Q. Do not we in like manner perceive this continual Revolution of the Air in the Body of Man and the Communication of the same from the Belly to all parts of the Body and that by means of the same the Life of man is without ceasing fed and maintained in this instance That when in aged Persons and sometimes young who by over-hard labour have already given forth their Life and Strength this Revolution comes to be weakened and draws to a period the Dropsie follows upon it because the living power and virtue in the Air can no more be taken in by that party and that consequently the Night and Moon as the Lady of Water gets the upper hand And thus the Water takes up its residence in the hollow of the Body where the Air before had its abode and from thence pours forth itself into the Legs and Feet where the Air bore sway before And upon this account it is that the Dropsie proves incurable when it seizeth persons in whom this revolutional power of Life is wholly lost either by reason of old age or over-hard labour or long-continued sickness 20 Q. May not we further perceive of how great concern this Revolution of the Air in the Body of Man is from hence that when the Dropsie is onely caused by some obstruction or disorder by means of which this Revolution is hindred and that the Life be not wholly wasted then it may be cured as is known by experience that many who have had life enough and by the help of Medicines have had this disorder appeased and reduced have been perfectly cured of this sickness and that by different ways in case the Disease have not yet taken an entire possession of man so as to rule over him 1. It hath been found by experience that Opium prepared in manner here specified hath proved very successful in the cure of this Distemper Take one pound of Opium to eight pounds of the Juice of Quinces with other Spices or Drugs that shall be thought fit digest and ferment these together the space of three weeks whereby it is spiritualized and made more fit for due operation the press it out and boyl it to a thick consistence and give the Patient daily of this six seven eight nine ten grains or more with regard had to his strength as well as the strength of the Opium in some warm Vehicle taking care that he be kept warm in Bed This I say is an experienced Cure of this Distemper for it makes the Patient to sweat and opens the obstructed hidden passages In like manner for cure of the Quartan Ague which is nothing else but a bare custom left by the Agues going before whereby Nature doth as it were return back from a Tertian to a Quartan in which case we give some grains of this prepared Opium upon the first invasion of the Paroxysm in some warm Vehicle and then compose the Patient to sweat in a Bed and repeat this if need be nine or ten times until the Patient do mend and be restored by which means many have been recovered The same likewise is commonly of great use in all those Diseases which proceed from an ebullition of the Bloud or from a contrariety aversion risen in Nature such as are the Cholick Gripes Bloudy Flux Pleurisie c. for to bring Nature to rest and quiet again but in cases where Vomits are necessary as in foulness of the stomach or Palsey this Opiate must not be given 2. Toads cut up in the midst and their intrails taken out and afterwards dried and beaten to powder with a like quantity of Sugar give the Patient a thimble full of this Powder fasting in Wine and it will strongly drive forth the water of the Dropsie by Urine 3. Where it is yet seasonable and the sick party is not wholly over-powered by the Disease the vulnerary Herb called Asclepias or Wince-toxicum taken inwardly every day is very good and profitable in this case Another means serviceable in the curing of this Disease hath already been set down in the former part of this Treatise to which we remit the curious Reader 21 Q. Forasmuch then as we do perceive that the Great and Lesser World do stand in an harmony and agreement together and that the Moon and Stars do continually produce water and bear rule in the same and that the Sun continually works in the said waters in order to the perfecting of them in that he makes a fiery water by which means a perfect Revolution is brought about And do not we find that the same thing happens also in Man the Little World so that his Moon and Stars continually generate a water in him and bear rule in the same And whenever this Revolution doth not happen so that the light of the Sun cannot work orderly in the said waters doth not then the nature of the Nocturnal Light get the dominion And forasmuch as the same doth continually produce water and that the said water cannot circulate for want of the light of the Sun must not then this standing water of necessity produce the Dropsie And according to this Hypothesis can the cure of the Dropsie consist in ought else but in appeasing of the disturbed solar life by which means the Sun being again duly united with the waters doth reduce the waters to their former out-working subtilty and life seeing that the light of the Sun Moon and Stars which pierceth through all bodies how hard soever they may be doth again open the hidden spiritual passages that were obstructed which are far more subtile and minute than to be perceived by any Anatomist or the outward eyes of any man whatsoever and through the said opened passages it afterwards by means of the Air drives forth that water by Sweat Urine and Stool But when for want of knowledge of a true Medicine they tap the Patient and by making an Incision in his body let out the water in cases where the said Disease is come to such an height that by reason of the weakness of Nature the Physicians cannot any other way cure the same all at once through unskilfulness and want of experience how can it be otherwise but that sudden death must needs follow because the life which is yet in the said water and cannot in this way be separated from it is let out together with the water In like manner also when some unexperienced Physicians mistake the Tympanites or Wind-Dropsie for the Water-Dropsie and according to this imagination of theirs make an Incision in order to the letting out of the supposed water and
birth comes forth viz. another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This new 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enters with his new point as with the lower 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the shut-up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the Mother or Womb in order to multiplication And that is the cause why this syllable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Hebrews always signifies the plural number Now Love is nothing else neither can it be represented otherwise than as a Mother with her Child and seeing that a Child before it comes to be so was onely humane Seed and that this Seed of Man the Lesser World proceeds from the Seed of the Greater World which is Wheat as being the chiefest Food of Man and that the Wheat when it turns downwards into a root doth bring forth a Fruit and turns to that we call Earth-nuts and Rachel having for so long a time together before their cohabiting together so heartily loved her Husband Jacob and by him again been spiritually beloved and thereby also was spiritually impregnated by him which multiplied impregnation seeing it was spiritual went up to the head as being the first seat of Love and abode there until the time of their coming together when his Seed being united with hers by reason of a long-continued custom having past so many Revolutions still went upwards till at length these spiritual impregnations were so greatly multiplied as to make her burst out into these words which she spake to Jacob Give me children or else I die From which manifold spiritual impregnation at last Joseph whose name imports multiplicity was born May not this therefore be supposed to have been the reason why seeing that Rachel knew that the impregnation in her which formerly in a wrong order went upwards to bring forth fruit in Idea onely and in the head before that the same could take root beneath must needs first be conveyed from above downwards before ever she could bring forth Children therefore she desired the Dudaim because she knew that they were a Fruit that had also grown in a wrong order yea wholly according to what was said of her impregnation viz. their upper part was turn'd downwards that so by means of this Seed of the Great World in which the blessing of God or generative power did lie might cause in her the Seed of the Little World which went wrongly upwards into her head in Idea's of love to her Husband to descend rightly downwards in order to corporeal birth Now that upon every cohabitation of Man and Wife a spiritual Seed also doth come into the woman and abide there and is not annihilated may not this be evidenced from the example of Thamar who after the death of both her Husbands had their Seed raised and excited in her by her Father-in-law Judah Gen. 38. 32 Q. Forasmuch as we perceive that the whole Mouth of Man above beneath and on both sides as well as the Tongue and Teeth do every one of them continually and without ceasing give forth a distinct circulating moisture so that in the Mouth there is a twofold water one above and the other beneath both which must be united by means of the Tongue in order both to eating and speaking which latter is formed by the Tongue which therefore is as a Spunge moving and turning itself to all parts of the Mouth destinated for the forming of all the living Images and Letters and the sounds of them in the mouth as we may see in the printed Hebrew Letters that they have the same figure and form as they are shaped and formed by the Tongue in the Mouth especially when any one is forced to speak loud to another at a distance as is more largely declared in the said Alphabet of Nature And may not we again in this circulation of waters in the Mouth of Man perceive an evident harmony and agreement between the greater and lesser Worlds in their continual Revolutions 33 Q. Now that the lower waters which come from beneath viz. from the Belly up into the Mouth be of Lunar Nocturnal and Terrestrial property and consequently do incline us to fleep and allay pains may we not perceive this from hence that when the sweat of a mans feet is taken by the mouth and swallowed down it asswageth the pains of the Cholick as hath been experienced by some and as it is commonly known that by applying the soals of a Stocking sore Throats are cured In like manner also that the Spittle of any one taken in the night-time as soon as they awake and applied to the place where a Ring-worm or Tetter is doth take away the same when on the contrary our Spittle by day so applied doth increase the Malady And may not this perhaps be the reason why the lower waters are of such a nature as hath been now said viz. for that our Feet from whence these waters come considered with their ten Toes are as it were the roots wherein as in the roots of a Tree all nourishment must die as descending into the roots if ever they are to arrive at an operative power and to bring forth Fruit through the Arms. Hands and Fingers as through Boughs and Branches An example of which we have in Women with Child who when by reason of a longing they have for any Fruit or from a sudden Fright and Amazement at any thing they lay their hand on any part of their body the Child also which is in their Womb will in the very sâ—me part of its body get an answerable mark or tâ—ken which retains a sympathy with the Fruit longed for or with the thing which was the cause of the Mothers affrightment From whence we may see that the hands are nothing else but the essential Out-workers of the thoughts of the head We might further enquire here seeing Man hath his beginning and life from the Trees by his feeding upon their Fruit whether therefore an arboreal essence be not in the first original and most inward imaging of his outward body And whether this Mystery be not hinted to us in the New Testament in which all Wisdom as in the highest divine Philosophy is contained in the story of the blind man Mark 8. 23 24 c. where it is related how Christ spit in the blind man's eye and laid his hand upon him and asked him whether he saw any thing whereupon he looked up and said I see men walk like trees But that afterwards when Christ a second time had laid his hand upon his eyes he saw all things clearly 34 Q. May not the foresaid continual Circulation and Revolution of waters in the Mouth be supposed to be for the reason as follows Inasmuch as the said waters must give the first serment and must kindle the first life in the Food which we take in whereby our Food comes to be united with us of which also even the Americans themselves do not seem to be ignorant viz. that these waters are a true
living Spirit who when they prepare their strong Drink called Perino they take a great Root called Cassava which they grate and after they have pressed out the Juice which is poyson bake the remainder of the grated Roots upon hot stones into Cakes of a finger thick which they eat instead of Bread Another part of the 〈◊〉 grated or rasped Root they sleep in common water and their women take some of the foresaid Cakes and chew them and spit what they have chew'd into the water in which the Cassava is put to sleep and this makes the Liquor to ferment which afterwards serves them for a usual Drink 35 Q. Furthermore is not the Revolution of the said waters partly also evidenced from hence that when women make use of mercurial waters outwardly for to beautifie themselves if then when they go to sleep they put one or two Ducats into their mouths because they know by experience that the Mercury doth revolve or circulate the said Ducats become white but when put into the fire the Mercury flies away and so the Ducats come again to their first golden colour In like manner when some take Mercury inwardly in order to salivation by which means an internal Revolution is brought to pass now the Mercury by its Circulation causeth salivation because not being digested he is not wholly estranged nor changed from his mercurial quality but doth as yet in part retain the same as may be urged from this Argument viz. that he doth first set upon and kill that life of the parts of mans body which yet is not absolutely the first wherewith man is born such are the Teeth which are not born with man these I say he lays hold of in such a manner as to cause a corruption of the Gums and falling out of the Teeth when the said Mercury is unmeasurably and unskilfully taken or made use off And the reason hereof is forasmuch as the said Mercury is not yet wholly changed and therefore cannot pass through the Teeth which are some of the Rocks and Stones of the Microcosm 36 Q. That a certain water or moisture passeth through the Teeth and that amongst other ends they were especially formed for this likewise viz. to afford waters in quantity as also that the water in all and every part of the body must suffer a change to the end it may distribute to every part and member of mans body its due food and nourishment even as we may observe that the sweat of man in each several member hath a different odour so may not we also partly form the said judgment from hence inasmuch as we find some of the Teeth so fashioned and formed that when we look upon them through a Microscope we can perceive in the middle or hollow part of them many spungy bladders by which they continually draw unto themselves much moisture and also do renew the same Might not we from hence likewise gather in some measure that the Teeth of man the Lesser World bears somewhat a resemblance to the Mountains of the Great World which continually give forth their waters for to feed and nourish the Earth and this the rather for that we find that a great strength and force is in the Teeth forasmuch as we daily take notice that when Children come to get their Teeth they about the same time also begin to speak And on the contrary when the Teeth by reason of age or else through infirmity or other accidents do fall out notwithstanding that the party may be able to speak all words as plainly as before yet will he not be able to hold on a discourse so well as formerly but will soon be tired And lastly doth it not follow that the Teeth were chiefly given to man for these three reasons and uses 1. To afford water or to give a ferment and thereby to excite life 2. To bite and chew his Food 3. To speak that is to help to form his voice Moreover seeing that the Teeth are ordinarily thirty two in number even just as many as the Hebrew Letters are which likewise make up thirty two the Consonants and Vowels being reckoned together viz. twenty two Consonants and ten Vowels which are formed by the Tongue and by means of the little Arches which make the roof of the mouth and which are above the upper gums inwardly which Teeth together with the foresaid parts help to form the speech and words which are afterwards uttered through the Teeth and Lips so that through the concurrence of all these a word is produced or born Must not therefore both these viz. the Teeth and Letters have a great analogy and agreement with one another 37 Q. Forasmuch as we treat here concerning the Mouth wherein the speech or words of man 〈◊〉 formed and born it may give just occasion to the starting of this Question viz. Seeing that a 〈◊〉 and his word must be united or made one 〈◊〉 that accordingly the words which flow from his heart can as little be annihilated as the man himself can be whether then this being so all the powers of man must not concur to the production and birth of his word And forasmuch as the voice and word of man are his Off-spring and Children viz. his out-flown Spirits and Angels which continually from the beginning of his life until his death go out from him and make up the whole man Whether or no then man must not give an account of his words which do follow him as well as his works or thoughts And whether or no his words should not be his subjects over which his Central Life-spirit ought to rule as a King yea and as a Priest offer them up continually to the most High and that so long until his perfect Revolution be accomplished and his total Perfection attained to the end that man might be capacitated to enjoy the thousand years Sabbath which is made and consists of the weekly Sabbaths and obtain a spiritual body and be united with Christ For seeing that God hath made his beloved ones Kings and Priests how could he have made them Kings in case they had no Subjects Or Priests if they had nothing to offer up to him Forasmuch then as the words of Man are to be his Subjects and consequently must belong to his Regiment or Government and that they as well as his Sight and all his Outbirths through all his Senses and Desires are a spiritual endless and everlasting Being as well as he himself is how is it then possible that ever they should be separated from man or that they should lose themselves or perish in the Great World which is Mans Mother any more than a man is able to lose himself As for example let us suppose that if some thousands of men should be taken away from their Wives viz. by the Turks or the like and carried away Captives into great slavery and that then there should a man be found who should redeem them all
Teeth notwithstanding that his Ears be close stop'd up Moreover the same may be further confirmed because as hath been mentioned a twofold Seed flows down from the Brain of man into the center or mid-part of the Head where all the Senses meet and there becomes divided one part of it going forwards towards the Nose the other backwards to the Throat Is not the same likewise further apparent from hence that when we use a Collyrium or Eye-water to our Eyes as for instance Aloes with a little Copperas dissolved in Rose-water we presently perceive the taste of the Aloes in our Throat from whence we see that there is a continual Revolution of water from the Eyes to the Throat The same being yet further demonstrable from hence that when men weep for joy or grief and shed many tears that at the same time much water runs down from the Eyes to the Nose and Mouth also 45 Q. Seeing we have here made mention of the water of the Eyes may we not take occasion from hence to enquire for what end and purpose the natural faculty of Weeping and Laughing was given to Man And whether or no it were not chiefly given him for this end viz. that Man keeping himself betwixt both those Extreams might not turn foolish because we see that when a man by his imagination doth frame to himself an Image which proves to be according to his desires and such as he delights in he thereupon is pleased and laughs and his Eyes give forth their water proportionably to the excess of his love for the said Image which in order to its being perfected ought to be free whereas in this case the party by reason of his love to the said Image lays hold on the same as his propriety for to drown the said Image and so take away the excess of love to it And on the contrary is it not for this reason that we find that Fools which have no understanding laugh very much by which means they are hindred from framing any due Images And will not this likewise be found to be the reason of their weeping who are seized with grief and sorrow for that when they have lost the beloved Image which they would willingly have kept as their propriety they begin to shed tears in which the said Image is drowned and their excess towards it taken away It being a thing of daily experience that when any one that is in sorrow cannot weep his sorrow increaseth and the Image that causeth it grows stronger so as sometimes the party by means thereof becomes a Mope or Fool and sometimes dies for grief but as soon as the party comes to weep so that his Eyes Nose and Mouth give forth their water he thereby is delivered and eased of his sorrow and the more plentiful his weeping is and the more abundantly his Tears and Mouth-water do gush forth the sooner is he eased forasmuch as the grief-causing Image is deluged and drowned in the said waters 46 Q. Now that sorrow without tears doth oft take away the dolorifick Image and Life together is not this alas too notorious from manifold experience And that the very same may be caused by a violent and excessive Laughter without tears is not this also matter of experience For hath it not been known that young wanton Children playing together have so long tickled one another till by excess of Laughter they have lost their breath and swoned away And some wicked ungodly Souldiers were not ignorant of this who in the late German War which continued thirty years together when they were minded to force the Country-people to tell them where their Money was did bind them fast on a Stool or Bench and having pull'd off their Shoes and Stockings they anointed the soals of their Feet with Cream or rubbed them with Salt and let a Goat lick it off again by means of which tickling motion they were forced to extreme Laughter but without tears and by this means having lost their strength they were forced to confess all and discover to them where they had hid their monies 47 Q. Seeing we have many instances of mad people or Lunaticks who by chance falling into the water and by letting in the same into the upper part of their body so as the air in their Lungs hath been quite choak'd thereby though not the air which was in their bellies have been drowned to appearance and held by all for dead who afterwards having been laid upon their bellies with their heads and upper parts inclining downwards and some body blowing strongly into their Fundament through a Knife-sheath with the end cut off or other convenient Pipe have thereupon begun to vomit up all the water they had taken down and thus have not onely been restored to life but at the same time also have been cured of their madness and restored to the perfect use of their Reason and continued so And for a full and convincing evidence of all this there is a certain Physician who having made this observation out of my Fathers Writings hath put the same in practice so as to make a Profession of it viz. he takes mad people and binds their hands behind them and ties their feet together with a Rope which he runs through a Pulley and there by lets down the upper parts of their body into a Vessel of water and lets them hang till he think it to be enough then he pulls them up out of the water and blows into their Fundaments by which means they void the water they have taken in which having drowned the Image of their madness the said Lunaticks have thereby been delivered and freed from the dominion of the Moon May we not therefore conclude from hence that when the water of a mans own Little World viz. his tears of weeping or laughter as aforementioned are not sufficient to drown the undue Images man hath framed he is then forced to have recourse to the waters of the Great World 48 Q. Is it not likewise very observable on this occasion that a Dog being a Beast of a very quick scent hath a very cold Nose which coldness is a main cause of the quickness of his scent because the odoriferous emanations from persons and things are by the said cold condensed contracted and repercussed and therefore made the more perceptible Now a Dog by means of this his quick scentedness and the spiritual emanation which continually goes forth from together with the love he bears to his Master is able to trace the way he is gone and to distinguish him from all others which a man cannot do for if he had so quick a scent his Senses would thereby be dissipated and avocated and his activity or out-working would be weakened But Man when he stands aright is capable of an higher perfection than this forasmuch as when he hath perfectionated and wrought out his outward smelling he then obtains a spiritual smelling and the same may be said
concerning all his other Senses and thus becomes enabled to enjoy and rule over all So that in this particular also he far excells a Dog and all other Beasts in case he will but apply himself to it and retire into himself in his Central Spirit Now it is upon the same account as aforesaid that a Dog doth so love his Master and others that are his Benefactors insomuch that he gives up himself willingly to death for them And forasmuch as his quick scent makes him to be watchful and of no sound sleep which sleep notwithstanding all Creatures stand in need of to the end that the old Images that are in their waters might be drowned by means of the overflowing Night-water and so be renewed and bettered And is it not worth our taking notice that when these internal waters in a Dog through divers causes as Hunger over-great Heat or Cold are turned the contrary way and disordered so that he cannot take his due rest the Image of Love he had for his Master is turned to Enmity and by this means grows mad and becomes shie of the outward water forasmuch as he is at enmity with his inward water the Images formed out of it so that he hates it and cannot endure it and that because his internal disordered waters are thereby put in motion And whilst he is thus distempered if he chance to bite another Dog Beast or Man or if he do but touch their skin with the foame of his mouth immediately the Spirit of his perverted and disordered waters and Image doth enter into them and causeth the same disorder in their waters so that they in like manner become shie of the outward water Furthermore it hath been found by experience that the best means for curing this Distemper is lightly to burn or cauterize the skin of the bitten man or beast with a small red-hot Iron or Copper and by this means to put them into a fright of fire or else by plunging them well under water for thus the outward Fire or Water-spirit of the Great World which stands in its due and right order will be predominant over and master the disordered Spirit of the Little World and turn about and set to right the disordered waters of the same And is not this well worth our animadversion and consideration 49 Q. Doth it not appear very probable from all this that the ancient wise men amongst the Jews did well understand this effect or operation of the waters as who without doubt by a paternal tradition from Moses or it may be yet further from Noah had received and learnt this Seeing that baptizing or plunging under water was very frequent amongst them in the Old Testament until the time of Christ and is so even to this day so as it is plain that this Ceremony is derived from them And we find it frequently asserted in the Writings of their Doctors that there can be no Repentance without Prayers Fasting and of Alms and being baptized or plunged under water And that the Jews in Christs time were of this opinion doth not that clearly appear from the Questions which their Messengers propounded to John the Baptist asking him why that he baptized seeing that he was neither the Messias nor Elias nor that Prophet Yea there are at this very day some amongst the Jews who endeavour to excel others in Holiness that do often yea two or three times a week plunge themselves under water Moreover in all places where Jews dwell they must have a place for men and women to bathe in the women always making use of the same apart or by themselves for after that they have accomplished the six weeks of their Purification before they can again cohabit with their Husbands the first thing they do is to go into the Bath This Bath is a living water or springing Fountain into which the woman enters stark naked without keeping so much as a Ring on her finger and by some understanding women is let down so deep into the same that the water quite covers her head for not so much as one hair of her head must abide above water And this the Jews do to the end that the old remaining Idea or Image might be drowned by the water and renewed This Bath when made as it ought to be is contrived after this manner First in some convenient place where a living Spring is they dig five or six foot deep and having made it of a fitting compass they wall it round within and fix a Stone-Table at the bottom of it on which the woman that is to be baptized or plunged doth seat her self in the water which then as hath been said covers her head under her feet is a Stone-step for a Foot-stool upon which when she stands upright her head is above the waters and so comes up by the steps made for that purpose in the Bath out of the water Now that after a preceding birth there yet remains in women an Idea of the said former birth which afterwards may become operative in case it be not thus drowned and renewed in the water do not we find this by experience Thus we see that a Fool so long as he continues in his foolishness and is not recovered thereof by being plunged under water doth beget no Children but what are meer Fools Is there not ground therefore to fear that a woman who hath had a Fool for her Husband hath even after his death something of the old Idea of her deceased Husband abiding with her And do not we partly meet with an instance hereof amongst irrational Creatures For when a young Mare hath the first time been covered by an Ass and Conception follows she brings forth a Mule and when the next time she is covered with a Stone-horse she indeed brings forth a Horse but yet so distinguished as that all those who understand Horses can easily perceive that the Dam of it the time before was covered by an Ass forasmuch as the said Horse retains still somewhat of the properties and shape of the Mule 50 Q. Forasmuch as we have here made mention of Baptism or Plunging under water it will not be amiss further to observe that Baptism is to be considered under a twofold notion viz. either as particular onely of which hitherto hath been spoken or as common and universal as was that of John the Baptist who was sent to baptize unto Repentance and the Baptism of Christ with the Holy Ghost and with Fire In imitation of which Baptism of John it happened about four years since that an old pious simple Jew came amongst his Brethren who imagined himself and declared as much publickly to the Jews to be sent to baptize unto Repentance as a Forerunner of the Messiah for that the time of the Messiah as he declared was near whereupon several simple Jews were baptized by him but the learned and understanding men amongst them were not so ready to approve of this
People they were and why God upon the account of this their relation to Lot and Abraham and their wonderful Original did take care of them and expresly commanded the Children of Israel that in destroying the other Nations they should spare these All which we pass by to avoid prolixity And as for Lot who was the third Person that was an instrument of implanting the Sodomites into Abraham was not he himself two several ways ingrafted in and united with Abraham viz. First by his Birth as being his Brothers Son and then again when Abraham with the hazard of his own Life delivered him together with all the Inhabitants of Sodom out of the hand of their Enemies 10 Q. How the Philistines became ingrafted into Abraham may not this be easily gathered from the 20 Chapter of Genesis as being most expresly hinted throughout that whole Chapter from the beginning to the end which the inquisitive Reader may be pleased to turn to and read over well weighing and considering the several passages of it viz. how Sarah became spiritually impregnated by Abimelech the Father of Kings according to the signification of that name in the Hebrew and how all the Births of his House and of his whole Kingdom entred into her which may it not be inferred from hence For that all the wombs of Abimelech's house were shut up by the Lord for Sarah Abrahams wife's sake Which afterwards were opened again upon Abraham's Prayer and so were healed and restored by the fruitful and proliferous intercession of Abraham with whom they were already spiritually united This I leave to the understanding Readers own consideration 11 Q. Do not we likewise find a plain Argument and Evidence for proof of the Revolution of Souls in the History of Dinah Gen. 34. For can any firmer or surer union and alliance of two different People be imagined than was that which was entered upon and concluded betwixt Jacob and his Sons on the one side and Hamor and his Son Sichem and all the People of the Land on the other side as being ratified by the strong and indissoluble tie of Matrimonial Union And seeing that this high and weighty undertaking which was carried on with so much earnestness and concern did to outward appearance come to nothing What may we therefore suppose was the cause why the Divine Wisdom ordered the same to be so exactly and carefully set down in writing without omitting of the least circumstance thereto belonging if there were not some exceeding great Mystery hidden in Spirit under this History And what can this Mystery be else but the spiritual union transplantation and ingrafting of this People by means of a conjugal band and the slaughter which followed thereupon into the Tribes of the Children of Israel especially those of Simeon and Levi who had already in their wrath Prophesied and said That they would be United and become one People in case they would be Circumcised and who killed them and took all their Goods Children and Wives to themselves For that a peculiar providence of God did superintend this whole affair and directed all to an end sutable and comporting with the Divine Wisdom and Designe is not this clear from hence that God caused a fear and terrour to fall upon the inhabitants of the land so that they did not pursue after Jacob and his sons as we see Gen. 35. 5. 12 Q. And are not some other passages concerning Jacob and his Sons well worth our consideration with referrence to his Hypothesis As that concerning Judah who was the fourth Son of Jacob by Leah of whose Tribe Jesus was born how he raised the seed of both his Sons in his Daughter-in-Law Thamar concerning which mention hath been made already 13 Q. And is not the History of Moses and the Children of Israel alike memorable And the Doctrine of Revolution very plainly held forth in the same For seeing that God began a new Union in Moses in order to reveal himself to produce a new World and to settle a new Government as before he had done in Noah and Abraham Is it not on this account that the Wisdom of God not without a singular Mystery represents to us Exod. 2. 2 3. how Moses when he was yet a Child swam upon the waters in an Ark of Rushes as before in the Creation Gen. 1. it is mentioned that the Spirit of God moved upon the Waters and as Gen. 7. 8. Noah saved himself in the Ark upon the Waters as was formerly mentioned And forasmuch as Divine Wisdom had chosen Moses to be a Leader and Governour of this new rising Birth and that no new one can be without a dying of the old and foregoing was it not therefore fitting that Moses himself from the very beginning of the work should enter upon dying as when the Lord came unto him and would have killed him Exod. 4. 24. And seeing that by means of him all the Egyptians were to be transplanted into the Israelites and consequently be made partakers of Circumcision was not that expression of Zipporah Prophetical think we when she said to Moses Thou art to me a bridegroom of bloods and that because of Circumcision Now in order to the production of this new World and Birth was it not needful for the old to perish and that in the Water as being the first matter forasmuch as every new Birth and Creation proceeds from the water as Christ himself witnesseth John 3. 5. Now this great Renovation as a kind of new Creation which was to be carried on for the good and salvation of two Nations in order to the rising of a new Life what was it else but the transplantation of the Egyptians into the Israelites And to the end that the same might be brought about was it not necessary for the Egyptians to die before forasmuch as without the Death of the old Birth no such new one can arise according to the testimony of Christ John 12. 24. And forasmuch as every Birth must take its beginning from a Child-like Being may it not have been for this reason that the Divine Wisdom so ordered it that Pharaoh who was the head of the Egyptians and their Center caused all the male Children of the Israelites to be drowned to the end that afterward by the right of Retalliation the Egyptians might be drowned likewise and by means of the drowned Children of the Israelites be transplanted into their Mothers For may not we suppose that the troubled and vengeance-crying spirit of the Fathers and Mothers did constantly remain united with their drowned Children as in whom their Life was entred in the water and was operative there until the right of Retalliation was fulfilled and executed upon those that were the cause of their Deaths 14 Q. To the end therefore that this right of Retalliation might be fulfilled upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians and they drowned likewise was it not necessary that an union of the Spirits of both Nations should precede so as