most proper for your Constitution and least prejudicial to your Health Of Oxen and Cows their Nature and Complexion Oxen and Cows are dignified with a Sanguine Melancholy Nature a little inclinable to the Phlegmatick therefore much moisture is an Enemy to these Creatures in whom the four Humours are pretty well mixt yet the Sanguine does predominate As they are of an indifferent equal Temâ—erature so they are indued with harmless Propertiâ—â— and innocent Inclinations They are clean in their Radixes and therefore refuse all filthy Food and the same is likewise manifest by their sweet breathings and the Dung that proceeds from them whereas on the contrary those Beasts and Creatures that are unclean in their Root do always desire and most rapinously feed on a proportionable unclean Food as Swine Bears Dogs c. which is further demonstrated by their Shapes Tones or Cries frightful and displeasing as also in the fierceness of their Spirits and cruel wrathful Natures all such Creatures are highly gratified with unclean Food viz. Flesh Blood and the like But Cows and Oxen do afford many excellent sorts of Food no Creature being more useful or profitable unto Mankind not only in labouring and dressing the Earth by which it becomes fruitful but how many sorts of most excellent Food are made of Milk And so natural and proper no Fruit that proceeds from any Creature is of so great use Milk in its own nature being so simple and innocent and having no manifest Quality that does too violently predominate but is indued with equality and concord easie of Concoction especially Raw as it comes from the Cow it gently cleanseth and frees the Passages from Obstructions which strong Fat Food does generate it has a sympathetical Union with the Stomach and natural Heat it silently and without making any disturbance insinuates its Vertues and Nourishment into all parts of the Body Milk also being mixt with Flour does make some of the most healthy and wholsomest Food that can be eaten for all sorts of People and Ages especially Children it being heretofore their almost only Food boiled with some Flour and a little Water without any other Ingredients which then in the Country was called Pap but of late Years in and about the City they call that Pap which is made of Bread and Water which is nothing near so good and since the frequent use of Spanish Fruits and Spices the aforesaid simple wholsom Food has much been laid aside which is one cause why our Children in this Age are so much troubled with Distempers in the Ioynts viz. Rickets and the like hardly known in former times Milk likewise altered and Manufactur'd if I may call it so by the good House-Wives Art and Industry yields many other sorts of good Food as Cheese and Butter and many more innocent as Milk-Pottage which I especially recommend there being such an agreement in the Ingredients viz. Milk Water and Oatmeal being boiled together briskly and not too long as it not only affords a good Nourishment but opens the Passages and is of a cleansing healing Nature and therefore those that do frequently use it do seldom want a good Appetite Cheese is a wholsom healthy Food a great strengthener of the Stomach affording a strong firm Nourishment and such People as eat much Bread and Cheese and do not want good Beer or Ale are generally the strongest of men abler to endure Labour and Travel than those that feed on Flesh there is as much difference between the one and the other as there is between Horses that are fed with Corn and Hay and those that are fed with Grass Most men being mistaken in Nature do believe that Flesh of all other sorts of Food affords the greatest and strongest Nourishment because 't is full of matter and Iuices the very same may be supposed of Grass compared with Hay But the Husbandman will tell you that those Cattel that feed on Grass are weak and faintish in comparison of those that are fed with Hay and Corn for the Grass contains too much gross Moisture which causeth the Nourishment to be unfirm whence doth proceed dull heavy Spirits the Flesh and Fat being soft and greazy which in case of Labour will waste and such Cattel are apt to tire But those that are fed with dry Food whereby the gross Humidity and Phlegm is dryed away or exhaled by the Sun and Elements are strong and lively of great Spirits quick and active little Bellies and clean Limbs The very same is to be understood of the Food of Men and if men could be as well satisfied as to their Minds with eating Bread Cheese Butter flour'd Milk Gruels Pottages Herbs in their Seasons and the like they would find by Experience how wonderfully such things support Nature beyond all the Flesh in the World for most of that matter which People suppose to be Nourishment in Flesh is a gross Iuice which turns to Putrifaction as the gross phlegmy part of Grass does in Cattel Butter does afford a good Nourishment but it ought not to be eaten in too great quantity for then it generates Choler oyls and furs the Passages dulls the edg of Appetite but moderately taken is of good use and healthy especially to such as are accustomed to it Of the Flesh of Oxen and Cows The Flesh of Oxen is to be preferred before that of Cows it being naturally clean and wholsom if such Cattel be free from Diseases and Surfeits it generates a strong firm Nourishment having a greater affinity with mans Nature than with any other and therefore more People love it and will be longer before they are cloy'd therewith than with any one particular sort whatsoever yet it is somewhat hard of Concoction therefore ought to be eaten sparingly except by strong working People it fills the Stomach and for the most part gives better satisfaction than any other It ought not to be eaten until it be well seasoned with Salt or if eaten fresh there ought to be good store of Salt eaten with it and boiled in plenty of Water which will sweeten and cleanse it from its grossness it likewise ought to be salted as soon as 't is throughly cold after 't is killed for the longer the Flesh is kept the harder 't is to take Salt because by keeping the pure spirituous parts evaporate and then the Salt cannot incorporate it self with the Flesh for 't is with the pure Spirits that it delights to joyn it self and thereby preserves them from Evaporation and consequently keeps the Meat sweet and sound and therefore Meat so salted will eat much sweeter and keep longer and generate better Blood and Nourishment and is easier of Concoction If Cattel of any kind receive damage by driving or any kind of Sickness attend them and they be killed before they have time to recover such Injuries all such Flesh is not only unwholsom but it will not take Salt to keep as others will the Reason is this because if
also of Beasts and Herbs and to what Virtues Vices and Diseases each of them are most subject and what food is most agreeable to Persons of every Constitution page 1. Of the Bitter Quality p. 3. Of the Sweet Quality p. 6. Of the Sour Quality p. 7. Of the Astringent or Saltish Quality p. 8. Of the Cholerick Complexion p. 11. Of the Phlegmatick Complexion p. 15. Of the Sanguine Complexion p. 19. Of the Melancholy Complexion p. 24. Chap. II. Of the excellency of Temperance the Knowledge of a Mans self and the mighty Benefits of Abstinence and Sobriety p. 33. which prepare the Body to be the Temple of the Lord 36 37. Of the Prophet Daniel's refusing the dainties that came from the King's Table p. 38. The Abstemious lives of the Rechabites a reproach to the Israelites Also of Sampson's drinking Wine c. p. 39. The cause of Leprous and Maingy Diseases c. p. 52. The cause of catching Cold p. 54. Of Fevers p. 56. Chap. III. A Discourse of the several sorts of Flesh viz. Of the Nature and Complexion of Oxen and Cows p. 59 60. Of their Flesh p. 63. The excellency of Butter Cheese and Milk-Pottage p. 62. Of Sheep their Complexions and Nature and of their Flesh p. 64. How to know whether the Mutton be perfectly good or not p. 68. Of Lamb. p. 69. Of the Flesh of Calves or Veal p. 71 72. Of the Flesh of Swine and their Nature and Complexion p. 72. Of the Flesh of Fowls p. 75. Chap. IV. The Proper and most Natural way of preparing viz Boyling Roasting Baking Stewing Frying and Broyling of Flesh and other Food from p. 78. to 89. Chap. V. The seasons of the year in which most People are liable to Diseases and Mortality and the Reasons why so many are sick and die more at one time than another Also what Food is best to preserve health at that time shewing also the Seasons of the year in which most sorts of Flesh are unclean and aptest to contract Diseases and what times Men may eat Flesh with least danger to their Health And of the Nature of Summer Fruits how they are good and the contrary from p. 94. to 106. Chap. VI. Of Waters Ale Beer and Tobacco To which is added the consideration of Clothing Houses and Beds and what great benefits arise from Moderation and Temperance in those things p. 106. Of Water in general both internal and external p. 108 109. Of Rain-Water and its Nature p. 110. Of River-Water and the Reasons why Vallies are so fruitful and Hills so barren p. 112. Of Spring or Fountain-Water p. 113. Of Pump or Well-Water p. 114. Of Ponds or standing Waters p. 115. Of Ale and its nature and operation as also of Beer and the most proper and natural way to Brew p. 116 117. How to extract the vertue of Hops p. 122. Of Tobacco its nature and operation p. 124 125. Of Clothing Bedding c. p. 133 134. Of particular Trades as Carpenters Joyners and particularly of Sea-men c. p. 142. The evil effects of the Liquor called Punch p. 144. Chap. VII Of Grains Herbs and Fruits viz. Of Wheat p. 145. Of Barley p. 149. Of Rye p. 150. Of Pease and Beans p. 151. Of Kidney or French Beans p. 153. Of Herbs raw and boyled p. ibid Of Colworts Cabbage and Collyflowers p. 156. Of Turnips p. 158. Of Carrots and Parsnips p. 159. That the Fruits Herbs and Grains which our own Climate produceth are more natural and proper to maintain Strength and preserve Health than those that come from other Countries p. 160. The Nature and Property of Spices Nutmegs Cloves Mace Cinnamon Pepper Ginger c. p. 162. The ill consequence of their being mixed among Childrens Food p. 164. Of Fish p. 168. Chap. VIII The Mischief of Variety of Meats and Drinks and the inconveniences of improper Mixtures and on the other side what Foods are fit to be compounded p. 169. A Digitation of the seven perfect Colours shewing how there being mixed two three or four of them together produce their several Complexions contrary to their own Colours p. 170 c. Of Plum-cakes which are composed of about ten disagreeing Ingredients p. 173. Of Bread-Puddings p. 174. Of Broth or Pottages that are heat a second time p. 175. The Reasons why boyled Water will not keep so well as Water newly taken from the Spring p. 177. Of Syrups p. 178. The fatal consequence sick People are confined to p. 179. Of Mince-Pyes c. p. 180. Several sorts of Food that are proper to be compounded as bearing a simile with each other p. 182. Chap. IX The Reasons in Nature why Cities and great Towns are subject to the Pestilence and other Diseases more than Country Villages The excellency of Solitude and Advantages of a retired Country-Life p. 184. That Mens Actions awaken the like Property in the Coelestial Bodies whether they be good or evil Shewing also what Violences they be that cause Wars Famine Pestilential Poysons Botches Byles Veneral Diseases Fevers Plagues Scabs Leprosies Spots in the Flesh Tumults Burning of Towns and Cities c. p. 186 c. The excellency of a retired Country Life p. 190. Chap. X. Of Infection or Catching-Diseases and how they are transferred from one to another p. 193. Chap. XI Of Women their Natures Complexions and Intemperances c. p. 200. The original cause of Vapours or Wind and Agues p. 201. The Evils that attend Wantonness in Women p. 202. The ill consequences of putting Women to hard robustick Labores and Cares p. 205. Particular Directions for Meats and Drinks that are proper and natural for Women p. 206 207. What causes the Scurvy p. 209. The cause of Fevers and Convulsions p. 211. What makes Travail in Child bearing burdensom p. 212. The Inconveniences of Men and Women lying always together p. 215 216. The Evils of hard swathing and binding their Children p. 217. 218. Food proper for Children p. 219. To prevent Convulsions and griping pains in the Stomachs of Children Also of Water-Pap p. 220. Of Melted-Butter p. 221. Of the Quantity of Childrens Food p. 222. Chap. XII The cause of Surfeits and how to prevent them and keep the Body in Health p. 226. The danger of Drinking after superfluous Meals p. 229. Of Suppers and what sort of People may use them without prejudice to their health p. 233 Chap. XIII Of Windy Diseases the Reasons thereof in Nature and why English People especially Women are so much troubled there-with c. p. 237. The Evils of eating and drinking Food too hot p. 238. The Mischief of eating and drinking between Meals p. 241. Of Fatness and what sort of People are subject thereto as also how to prevent Fatness p. 246. Chap. XIV Of FLESH and its operation on the Body and Mind That the common eating thereof does awaken the wrathful Nature in Mankind c. p. 249. Of the Children of Israels eating flesh in the Wilderness p. 251. A Paraphrase on the Apostle Peter's Vision Arise Peter kill and eat p. 273. The true Rise and Ground of Nobility as to Birth and Blood p. 284 c Who are truly Noble and Honourable p. 288. Why Flesh and
Blood is so much desired p. 291 c. A short Comment on Gen. 4. concerning Cain and Abel p. 301 c. The cause of Wars p. 311. Of Abraham's eating flesh with the Angels p. 315. Concerning the Resurrection p. 328. The grand Objection answered viz. If all People should live on Herbs c. what should we do with the Beasts They would over-run us c. p. 331. Chap. XV. The Voice of the Dumb or the Complaints of the Creatures expostulating with Man touching the cruel Usages they suffer from him very naturally expressed in a pleasant and useful Allegory p. 367. Chap. XVI A Treatise of most sorts of English Herbs either Physical or fit for common use shewing 1st the apt times to gather them Astrologically when the Planet that governs them is strong and well aspected the same being here calculated for Nineteen Years 2dly How to preserve and keep them without losing their Virtues And 3dly The best way of using them in Posset-Drinks Decoctions and Cordials so as not to destroy the pure spirituous parts of them p. 382 c. The Ignorance Blindness and Deceitfulness of the Doctors made manifest p. 396. A Copy of a learned Doctors confused Latin Bill to an Apothecary and some Observations thereon p. 404. The most natural and proper way of making of Cordials with any kind of Herbs Seeds Flowers Spices and Drugs either simple or compound p. 411. The proper and natural way of making Physical Decoctions Posset-Drinks c. with Herbs Seeds and Drugs p. 414. How Men came first to know the Virtues of several Herbs p. 417. Who were the great Masters of Physick which our modern Doctors make the foundation of their skill and the Reasons why their Rules ought not to be ours p. 421. Chap. XVII Of Bugs and from what Matter and Aliment they do proceed and how to prevent their Generation Of the excellency of clean sweet Beds and perniciousness of old stinking Feather-beds Also several Receipts how to kill Bugs and Fleas p. 434. Chap. XVIII A short Discourse of the Pain in the Teeth shewing from what cause it does chiefly proceed and how to prevent it p. 447. Chap. XIX Of Marriage and the Inconveniences of unequal Matches p. 452. Chap. XX. How to cure Wounds Cuts Pricks of Thorns and other Accidents without Salves Oyntments or Plaisters Also if any part of the Body or Flesh be poysoned it is a certain Remedy p. 474. Chap. XXI Of Harmony and the Power thereof the several sorts of Musical Instruments and under what Planet and Sign each of them is p. 479. A Dialogue between an East-Indian-Brackmanny or Heathen Philosopher and a French Gentleman concerning the present Affiairs in Europe p. 1. THE INTRODUCTION To the Whole TREATISE CHAPTER I. A Description of the four Grand Qualities whence the four Complexions proceed How every Man may know his own Complexion KNOW THY SELF was one of the first Precepts which the Ancients dictated to the Students of Wisdom nor is there a greater Happiness attainable upon Earth than to have in a Sound Body a Sound Mind To direct my Fellow-Mortals towards this great Point of Felicity is the Scope and Intendment of our Pains in this Book The Foundation-Principle of Wisdom being to understand Nature which is the Art of God and thereby our own Frame Powers Faculties and Constitution so as to imbrace what is good wholsom and agreeable and to eschew all that is evil and harmful and the End and Consummation thereof is to know the Supream Being Author of created Nature and to love obey and enjoy him for ever In Order hereunto Temperance and Sobriety are sublime Gifts and to be regarded with the highest esteem not only for the delight and pleasure they afford the Body and Mind but as they fortifie those that observe them against many Vices and Temptations as well as preserve them from a thousand racking Pains and torturing Diseases and so furnish them with the best Treasures of this World viz. Health not only of the Body but also of the Mind for 't is that Health that sweetens all God's Blessings and is the prime good of this Life What advantage or pleasure is there in the highest prepared Food or choice compounded Dishes of the rarest Dainties in the richest or most Cordial Drinks the gayest Apparel or the most flattering Addresses of Honour to a Person rackt with the Stone or tortur'd with an Iliaca passio or half-drown'd with an overflowing Dropsie or burning within like Mount AEtna with the raging violence of a Fever What are Riches and Fame to a Body full of Pain Or who would accept of a Crown upon condition that his Head should thenceforth perpetually Ake Now if the Body be distemper'd thro' disorder and superfluity the Mind and all the Senses are presently afflicted if the Harmony of the one be interrupted or destroyed the other cannot continue For the Spirit is the original whence the Body proceded and is the Life of every visible Substance and as the Properties or Qualities are in their degrees in the Spirit either strong or weak so also they are in the Elements of the Body That quality that doth predominate in the Spirit at the Incarnation and Birth that very same property doth carry the upper Dominion in the Body which is manifested by the Inclination Shape and Form Behaviour Words and Works and this is call'd a Man's COMPLEXION of which there are commonly reckon'd four kinds viz. the Cholerick the Phlegmatick the Sanguine and the Melancholy and since the true understanding of each of these does mainly conduce to a mans knowing and right regulating of himself we shall therefore treat of them severally But in the first place we will lay down a short Description of the four grand Qualities viz. the Bitter Sweet Sour Astringent or Saltish from whence the four Complexions proceed Of the Bitter Quality 1. Those that are dignified with this Quality are for the most part of strong Bodies thick well set of middle Stature of hard fierce Countenances Visage rather round than Oval big Bones Hair curling of quick piercing Eyes bold Behaviours ready of Speech and Apprehension of strong powerful Spirits able to go thro' much Labour and Action if Intemperance do not impede which many of this sort of People are subject to quickly moved to Passion but their Fires burn too fierce to hold long of strong natural Heats great Appetites therefore they are apt to be Gluttons the Diseases they are most subject to are Acute Fevers Gout Pox both small and great Food good for this sort of People are all sorts of Gruels Herbs Fruit small Drinks and all Food made of Milk and every other sort that is Simple and Natural and the contrary they are to
the pure Spirits and Radical Moisture be by any disorders hurt or wounded whether it be before they are killed or after the Salt cannot incorporate therewith as aforesaid nor purge out and destroy the humid gross parts in the Flesh whence all Putrifaction arises whereas when the strong powerful and sweet Spirits in Salt which are the inward Life thereof do joyn with and embrace the essential spirituous parts it does tye or hold the corruptive parts of the Flesh captive that they cannot proceed to Putrifaction and for a season it will remain as a fixed Body till by length of time those pure Essential spirituous parts both in the Flesh and Salt become either suffocated or evaporated through the great store of gross humidity which Flesh does contain tending always to Putrifaction and when any Flesh does begin to putrify or stink a second salting nor any other Art cannot recover it to its first state of Sweetness but if the second Salting be whilst the Putrifaction is but yet in the Bud and not too far gone then such Flesh may continue a little longer In a word If this sort of Flesh be free from the afore-mentioned Disorders and their natural Uncleannesses being seasonably seasoned with Salt not keept too long and well prepared by the House-wife and moderately eaten it is as sound and healthy Food for strong and working People as any Flesh whatsoever none excepted Of Sheep their Complexions and Nature and of their Flesh. Sheep are Creatures of great use and benefit to the Sons of men their Nature and Complexion is Sanguine Phlegmatick with a little mixture of Melancholy but the Sanguine Nature does predominate over all the other Qualities They are dignified with a meek humble Nature mild and friendly and wherein all the Properties and Elements do seem to stand in equal accord whence doth proceed those harmless innocent Inclinations hardly any Creature in the World to be compared to them they have as it were a glance of the divine Light shining in them for if Equality and Concord had not abounded in them our Saviour Iesus Christ would not so often have compared good and holy men unto them but it was no doubt to shew their Meekness Innocence and desires of doing good For this Creature is not only to be esteemed for their Natural Vertues but also for the manifold Benefits which they afford unto mankind both living and dead The Flesh of Sheep viz. Mutton is of a clean simple Nature of easier Concoction than the Flesh of Oxen it generates a good clean nourishment their Fat is the whitest of all Flesh which proceeds from the equal temperament of their Body and Spirits and the predominancy of the sweet Quality and because the Spirits are pure and undefiled For the white clear bright Gleam in every Creature be they what they will does arise and proceed from the divine Principle which made all things and is the essential Vertue and Power that does sustain and radically dwell in every Creature and all things in this World in each according to its Nature and also according to what degree it is in each Creature they become of a more friendly gentle Nature or the contrary For in what Creature soever this Vertue or Gleam of Light is predominant that Creature is of a most sweet Composition or Nature be it either Animal Vegetable or Mineral for of the pure white Colour in all things the Root is the divine Principle its Radix is clean Therefore in former Ages when any would declare their Innocency they cloathed themselve in white Garments because it proceeded from the innocency in Nature Also the Saints and Prophets in several places of the Scriptures by way of Simile compare Whiteness with the divine Power and Virtue being that the Saints and Angels are said to be cloathed in White which was not spoken without a divine understanding of the Nature of things which I shall forbear to speak further of in this place though to the intelligent Reader it would be no unuseful Digression But to return to the present subject The Flesh of Sheep is made better or worse according to the Accidents that do attend them no Flesh to be preferred before this if they are free from Surfeits and Diseases which this Creature is much subject to by reason of their tender Nature for all Creatures in whom the four Humours and Elements of their Bodies and Spirits stand nearest Equality are soonest wounded if any Violence be offered For this Creature cannot endure any violent motion without manifest prejudice and little over-driving will put them into such Heats as they cannot recover under a considerable time and at last they will break out with a Mainge or Scab if they are folded a little too close it will fret and corrupt their Blood give them the Scab and hinder them from growing over-wet Weather will corrupt them and cause them to Rot in moist low Grounds and in the best and highest Pasturage hinder them from proving so well as they would otherwise the very driving of Sheep and Lambs from the Market to the Slaughter-Houses especially in London where they are much hurried by their unmerciful drivers and other Accidents that they meet with in the Streets will give them the Mainge or the Scab were they to be turn'd back to their Pastures Therefore there is required the greatest understanding and care to preserve this Creature sound and free from these Disorders and Accidents which nothing can do but a tender gentle usage and government which suits their Tempers and hath unity with their Natures Their Flesh is far better and more healthy in the Winter season than in the Summer especially when the Summer proves Wet for as nothing more destroys and corrupts their Flesh more than wet Weather so in great Heats their tender Spirits on every Accident are apt to be Evaporated also they are apt to sweat much whence proceeds a fainty Indisposition especially when the Sun and Year declines the Grass being then more gross and full of Phlegmatick Juices therefore the Flesh of Sheep and Lambs ought to be sparingly eaten all the Summer especially the latter part thereof for this and indeed most other sorts of Flesh is best in the Winter and Spring viz. from December to Iune or thereabouts for cold Weather causeth the natural Heat to be much stronger and also more Central sharpens the Appetites of both Men and Beasts causeth a good Digestion because then Nature is able to make a perfect separation of the Food whence is generated good Blood and pure Spirits which renders the Flesh hard and firm besides the Food of most sorts of Cattel is then dry viz. Hay which does always breed a better and firmer nourishment than Grass or any green Food If Sheep be killed with any of the before-mentioned Inconveniences upon them then their flesh thereby loseth its pure sweetness and good Relish becomes of a gross dull heavy Nature and Operation generates abundance
and Communication for they saw the inconveniences and dangers that all such things brought on man but in this Dark Gluttonous and Drunken Age there is no regard had to such things every man does imagin himself to have greater Understanding than the Ancients and Prophets so that there is little or no distinction made accounting all things as it were of a like nature and operation whence doth proceed innumerable Disorders and Diseases for the total Preservation of mans Health both of Body and Mind does consist in the Quantity and Qality of Meats Drinks Exercises Communications Customs and the good or ill Properties of Food all things have a secret Power in themselves to alter and change Nature either for better or worse or to Vertue or Vice according to the Natures and Degrees either of Evil or Good in each thing Of the Flesh of Fowls There are various sorts of Fowls most of which men eat some Wild others Tame of the two the Wild are the wholsomest for Food their Nature is more airy and cleaner and of a dryer substance affording a better and firmer Nourishment better Blood and purer Spirits than the Tame the cause of this is the Cleanness of their Food great Motion and their continual being in the open pure Air next in Goodness to these are those Fowls that have free Egress and Regress and are chiefly fed with Corn such do also afford a good clean Nourishment But all such Fowls that are kept up and fatted and crambed in Coops being hindred both from Action and Motion their Flesh is of a grosser substance than the former not so wholsom hard of Concoction of a stronger Taste and Smell generates a thick gross Nourishment as indeed all other Creatures that are fed or made fat after that manner are much the Unwholsomer not being so Healthy if frequently eaten as those Creatures that are at their own Liberty for Motion and Action are absolutely necessary for to preserve Nature from Diseases and other evils not only in Men but also in all other things for it Purges and cleanses the Body from all such superfluous matter which is contracted by Meats and Drinks and other Accidents that happen to most Creatures it causeth the Blood to have its free Circulation and generates pure brisk lively Spirits as daily Experience doth teach Therefore all such unnatural ways and inventions of fatting any Creature after such a manner ought not to be if People have regard to their Health For all sorts of Flesh is in its own nature not only more Unclean but it is of a grosser substance affording more matter for the generation of Diseases than either Herbs Fruits or Grains neither is there any Art found whereby to exhale or destroy the gross Phlegmatick part of Flesh as there is in Fruits and Grains Therefore Flesh will sooner fall into Putrifaction than other things whose Humidity is exhaled by the vertue and power of the Sun and Elements It being a general mistake for to imagine that those Fowls and other Creatures that are hastily fatted by being penned up close and having superfluity of Food should have the best and most Nourishment Indeed they are fuller of gross Juices and Matter but good Nonrishment and pure Spirits and Blood do not proceed from the gross Phlegmatick body in any Creature but from the lively spirituous Parts and the more gross and phlegmy any Body is the fewer and duller are the Spirits of that thing if this were not so then Horses fed with Grass would be stronger and livelier than those that are fed with Hay and Corn. Are not all Creatures when their Bodies are fraighted with much matter disabled thereby to go through with their Labour or Exercise their Spirits quickly evaporated or spent and soon out of Breath faint and weak Which comes to pass through the super-abounding phlegmy matter which suffocates the Spirits and stops the Passages weakening the natural Heat and Action of the Stomach Therefore both Men and all other Creatures that do feed on Food that is of a dry Nature and Substance the gross Phlegm being destroyed as in Corn Hay Fruits and many other things and are inclined rather to Leanness than fulness are not only stronger and abler to endure Labour but they have far greater and more Lively Spirits are of quicker Apprehensions and fitter for Exercises both of the Body and Mind which does also further appear in all such Flesh that is so fatted it is not so sweet nor will it so readily take Salt nor keep so long without falling into Putrifaction Likewise the fat of all such flesh when salted will in a little time waste and consume the phlegmy gross part which is so strong that the pure essential spirituous parts thereof are destroyed whereas the very same Creatures being fed with Corn or dry Food having their Egress and Regress in the open Air being killed in their season and Salted will continue much longer than the former being much wholsomer and more pleasant breeding good Nâ—urishment better Blood and Spirits CHAP. IV. The Proper and most Natural way of Boyling Roasting Frying Baking c. of Flesh and other Food THE proper and natural way to Boyl Flesh and other Food that the Spirits and Life of it may be preserved is fiirst To put your Flesh into a Pot or Vessel that is large and can hold good store of Water For this Element of Water being of it self sweet and pleasant does cleanse and sweeten all things especially Flesh which is full of gross matter but you are to note that your Flesh is not to be put into your Pot or Vessel unless it first Boyl for if it lie in the Water and receives Heat but Gradually it dulls and makes flat the spirituous part thereof Likewise when your Flesh is put into your Vessel let your fire be increased that it may not lie long in the Water before it boyl and as soon as it boyls you are to uncover your Vessel and to keep it boyling quick without intermission till it is ready for eating The Pot or Vessel is not to be Covered any time of the boyling for thereby the sweet and refreshing Influences of the Air are hindered that they cannot have their free Egress and Regress which does as it were suffocate and destroy the pure and Volatile Spirits in the food for the Air is the Life and preserver of the Spirit and the Spirit is also the Life and preserver of the Balsamick Body in every thing and in what thing soever the Spirits suffer violence the sweet Body and Oyl turneth Sower as is most manifest in all fermented Liquors if such Liquors be exposed to the open Air the Spirits will evaporate and then the sweet Body turneth Sower and becomes of a heavy dull Nature and Operation but in the preparation of all gross phlegmy Bodies the free Influences of the Air keep the Spirit Living till such Bodies are digested and the Spirits set at Liberty then if
most of them of an opening and cleansinn Nature for they gently cleanse and purge the Passages and Bowels But all these Summer Fruits are best and safest Prepared being mixt with things of a drying and warming Quality or rather made into Drinks and when such Juices have passed through Fermentation the Phlegmy Body is digested and the spirituous Parts set at Liberty which do tincture the gross Body so that the Spirit and true Life is made thereby Predominant over the body of Phlegm such Drinks being drunk moderately prove very friendly to Nature especially to such as are Aged People which do most need spirituous Drinks Green Food is not capable either in Man or Beasts to generate so good Nourishment nor so firm as dry neither are the Spirits so brisk and lively the gross Juices of such Food do as it were suffocate the pure Spirits and turn the Balsamick Body sower as it farther appears by all sorts of Animals that live on green Food in this season are they not apt to faint and to be subject to many Diseases their Flesh and Fat being soft and greasy but those that live on dry Food their Bodies are freer from gross Phlegmatick matter their Fat and Flesh is of a firmer substance and their Spirits stronger and livelier and more capable they are to endure Labour without Prejudice to their Health it is also manifested by all Grains Seeds and other Fruits that are cut or gathered before the Sun and Elements have dryed away or exhaled the gross Phlegmy moisture all such things will presently Putrifie and Stink being loaded with so great store of Humidity but if they be gathered the Sun and Elements having dryed away the Humid Parts then all such things will keep sound and good for several Years for this cause all sorts of Food in which Phlegm does abound are very dangerous in this season if Temperance be wanting as our daily experience teaches 5thly In this Season the Sun also declines in strength and vigour which being the central Power and Life of all things they likewise do proportionably decline as appears in Herbage as for Example If you cut Grass in September which is then the Food of most sorts of Cattel the Hay made thereof is of a weak fading Nature and Vertue in comparison of that Hay which was made in Iune or Iuly which is of a lively brik strong substance and vertue for the Earth which is the Mother of all things in this Season is weak and impotent because she hath already put forth her strength and manifested her lively Vertues in the first spring or rising of the Sun for the Winter is the Rest and Sabbath of the Earth in which time she recovers strength-and vertue because she does then as it were cease from all her Labours and the Vegetative Quality stands as it were still and the more Frost and Snow and the drier the Winter is the more strength and vigour the Earth obtains such dry Weather cloaseth up the Pores by which the strength and vertue is prevented from having any Evacuations which is manifested by the goodness and great Increase of all Herbs Fruits and Grains being all filled with a Powerful Lively brisk Spirit and Vertue therefore in the first spring and rising of the Sun every thing rejoyceth and becomes very fragrant by vertue of the sweet Influences of this Coelestial Body and the Power of the Earth so that at this time all things seem to strive with a most lively motion to manifest their most inward Vertues this is the time for People to eat Herbs both Boyl'd and Raw Sallets and Pottages made thereof such Food at the Rising of the Sun are endued with a brisk lively Vertue and Strength and of an opening and cleansing Nature Purging the Blood and are good against all kind of Obstructions Also all sorts of Diseases are by vertue of Sobriety and Temperance and the use of good Medicines then easier cured than at any other of the Year it is also the Briskest and Healthiest Season and the same Intemperances and Disorders which may be the occasion of generating Diseases in the latter part of the Summer in this time will hardly be felt for now all things rejoyce and seem to concur for the Preservation of Nature 6thly In this Season viz. from the middle of Iune to the last of September most sorts of Cattel breed many Diseases First from the continual Heat and gross humid Air which in this season is more sulpherous the Pleasant Influences and Spirits of the Air are dull and thick which causes a dull and fainty Indisposition to possess the Bodies and Spirits of all Creatures Men themselves can witness the Truth of this Moreover all Creatures are more subject to sweat by which the Spirits do evaporate likewise the Food of most Creatures is Grass which is of a gross Phlegmatick Nature and generates not only an unfirm Nourishment but also fills the Body full of evil Juices the Fat and Flesh being of a soft greasy Nature having but few Spirits and those that are very impure the Blood of most Cattel being thick and gross which is the cause their Flesh will not take Salt as at other seasons also about this time most sorts of Cattel especially those that come from remote parts of great Cities are more or less Heated and Surfeited by Driving and other Accidents they being not formerly used to Driving the Weather being Hot and Fainty the Air thick and humid and they being loaded with much gross Flesh and Fat all these things concurring makes their Flesh unwholsom and subject to Corruption especially Sheep and Lambs whose Spirits and Lives are so tender that they cannot endure any kind of violent motion without manifest danger to their Health It is very rare that any Mutton or Lamb is good in this Season they not being free from the aforesaid Accidents you may easily distinguish by the Taste Smell and Colour of that which is killed off the Common without driving and other Accidents and that which is killed in London with driving the Bodies of all Creatures being in this season full of Phlegmy matter that every little Accident will wound the Spirit then presently the Body suffers many Inconveniencies and if such Cattel be kill'd before they have time to recover such Injuries their flesh is of a dull heavy Phlegmatick Nature the Spirits are few and those that are are impure for these reasons it will not take salt nor eat sweet as others will which are free from such Inconveniencies for salt has no Power to Preserve such Flesh from Putrifaction because as is mentioned before the Spirits are impure for those gross Bodies are Preserved by the Vertue and Power of the Spirit and in such flesh where the spirits are few and impure and the Flesh gross and full of Phlegmy matter the salt cannot incorporate therefore in this season use what Art you can in salting your Flesh it will not eat so sweet nor keep
Oates which opens unstops and cleanses the Passages from all kind of Obstructions This is further confirmed if we look into the Country where the Peasant that has no better than course Bread and other hard and mean fare is healthier stronger and more agile and sprightful than the City-Cormorant whose bruitish Appetite cannot be satisfied with any other thing than the costliest and richest Varieties that Nature can afford These latter sort of People accustoming themselves to the highest and finest Preparations of Food and Cordial Drinks are certainly the most unhealthful Men in the World because this sort of Food being in its own nature too Spirituous does prey upon the natural Heat causing either a suffocation or evaporation of the Spirits and contracting the Vessels of the Stomach whereby the whole body seems to languish Every sort of Food has its various operations upon the body and spirit of a Man and that by way of simile Therefore all Meats and Drinks ought to be equally compounded of a body and spirit as most things are in themselves before the Artist makes the separation the Food as the Man should be compounded both of body and spirit And to conclude I know of no separation that should be made of the one from the other but what is done inwardly by the act of the Stomach and natural Heat Of Pease and Beans Beans and Pease are Mars's Grains being drier and courser than the former Pease of the two are the finest and easiest of Concoction they are both of a Windy Quality yet being eaten when they are dryed are not only wholsomer than the Green but also afford a better and finer Nourishment not so apt to generate Crudities in the Body when they are boyled in plenty of Water the Winter-season is the most proper time for eating of them for then the natural Heat being more central the Stomach is much the stronger they are a good Food for young healthy People But Green-Pease and Beans are indued with a gross Phlegmatick Nature and being frequently eaten generate many gross raw Humours in the Body but in the declining part of the year when the Sun and Elements have consumed and dryed away the gross humid parts they thereby become firmer and wholsomer Food and will continue good and sound for several years but if they be cut down before the Sun has acted its part in extracting the gross Juices they will presently corrupt Therefore the frequent eating of such green Pease is of evil Consequence and detrimental to the Health they afford not only unfirm Nourishment but also cause Obstructions Fevers and Pains in the Bowels with Fluxes and a great many other Maladies That this kind of Nourishment is not good will further appear by giving you an Example from Cattle which when they are fed with green Food as Grass or the like their flesh and fat is soft greasy and full of phlegmy gross Matter neither will it take Salt nor keep half the time as that which is fed with Hay Corn and the like nay they are fainter and weaker and more apt to tire in their Labour and to take Surfeits than those that feed with Hay c. I do not say but green Pease may be eaten now and then for they are in their Nature opening and slippery which is caused by the great Quantity of Phlegmy Matter that is in them Yet these Rules should be observed in the dressing of them boyl them in good store of River-Water let your Fire be quick and your Pot open all the time of their boyling and they are to be put in when the Water begins to seeth and not before By this way of Preparation they are made wholsomer than otherwise they would be There is a sort of Bean called by the French English Bean but we commonly call them Kidney or French Beans they run upon sticks like Hops these are mostly eaten when Green they are of an opening and cleansing Nature purge by Urine and help Concoction the usual way of dressing them is to boyl them in the Shells and to eat them together They far exceed and are much better than other Pulses that are eaten green being in their nature and operation more mild and gentle Of Herbs Raw and Boyled The best raw Sallets are made of Spinage Parsley Sorrel Sage Pepper-grass with a small quantity of the Tops of Penny-Royal and Mint for all these have a chearing and warming Quality but Lettice and Onions should be sparingly put in because they are endowed with a gross thick Juice and are of a poysonous Nature sending Fumes into the Head whence proceeds a dull kind of Drowsiness and propensity to sleep which is offensive to the Eyes and Brain There are other Herbs made use of in Raw Sallets but the fore-mentioned are the best and most material Ingredients The proper season for eating them is from the beginning of February to the middle of Iune the earlier in the Spring so much the better and the more frequently they are eaten at this season so much the wholsomer for they are opening and cleansing powerfully the Blood is purified the natural Heat is tempered and encreased the Spirits are made brisk and lively the Appetite is quickned and Concoction facilitated Raw Herbs are a sublime kind of Food and are to be preferred before that which is boyled for the pure Volatile Spirit in the Herbs whence the Animals fragrancy proceeds cannot endure the violence of the fire but in boyling a great part of it is evaporated for this cause boyled Herbs lie heavier and colder in the Stomach than Raw which is scarcely credited by any for they that love boyled Herbs do generally eat much Flesh with them and so cannot discern the operation they have The strength and comforting Quality of every thing consists principally in the spirituous parts which are lost in the boyling and so they become just of another Nature that lively Tincture and spirituous part which it had whilst raw can never be retriv'd by all the Ingredients Nature or Ar 〈…〉 can afford Do not all Creatures eat their Herbs raw and are they not sustained by them to admiration They are powerful Preservers of Life and Health far beyond all the contriv'd Preparations of other Food In most Countries of this World the Inhabitants thereof do eat England excepted their Herbs Raw both in hot and cold Climates This kind of Food is preferrable to the great Quantities of Flesh Butter Cheese c. which are too often eaten among us these latter not only affording too great store of Nourishment but being naturally hot they over-heat the Blood and are heavy to be digested by reason of the oyly fat matter all such things do plentifully contain they dull the Appetite and obstruct and as it were fur the Passages Besides the Vertues we have ascribed to Raw Herbs God Almighty has created them for the use of Man and they were the first Food which was allotted him after the Fall where he
Treatise occasionally mentioned Flesh and that vulgar eating thereof is prejudicial yet we esteem it a matter of such Importance as deserves to be particularly and distinctly treated of in a Chapter by it self For there is greater Evil and Misery attends Mankind by killing hurrying and oppressing his Fellow-Creatures and eating their Flesh and that without distinction than is generally apprehended or imagined Man's strong Inclinations after Flesh and his making so light and small a matter of killing and oppressing the inferior Creatures does manifest what Principle has got the Dominion in him for had Man continued in the pure Law of God and lived in the power of the humane Nature and followed the Voice and Dictates of the Divine Principle which he was created to live in he would have been far from oppressing killing or eating the Flesh and Blood of the Beasts which was not allowed him in the beginning for Man was created to be obedient and to live in the power of the Divine Principle and therefore was put into a Garden amongst innocent Herbs Fruits and Grains which were intended and ordained for his Food and was forbidden that Fruit in which was manifest Good and Evil which should not have been awakened and made manifest in Men for all Hurrying Hunting Oppressing and Killing be it in what kind you will arises from one only Ground viz. from the wrathful Powers of Nature Now Herbs c. have an innocent Original and no Power to awaken or kindle any other Properties but what are like themselves but the Beasts are equally endued with Wrath Revenge Hate Envy Love and indeed with all the wrathful and sensual Passions For which cause their Flesh especially when unclean and Blood was so strictly forbidden by the holy Ancients for the humane Nature ought not to have incorporated it self with the bestial otherwise God would have indulged man the freedom of eating of Flesh in his first estate since he loves it so well but on the contrary the Diet prescribed him was this Every green Herb shall be unto thee for Meat There was no mention made or thoughts of Flesh. 2. It should be considered That Flesh and Fish cannot be eaten without violence and doing that which a man would not be done unto and making destruction of God's Creatures which are generally more profitable living than dead as Cows and Sheep which are the Creatures most eaten Now killing not only of those of our own kind but also of any other Creatures came in with the Transgression for Man was not made to be a Tyrant unto the rest of God's Creatures nor to live in the wrathful bestial Nature but in love and meekness to have dominion over all things for their good and to maintain Unity and Concord which can never be done unless he live in the Spirit of Love and Meekness whence ariseth that noble Vertue Compassion which opposeth all Violence as much as the Night doth the Day This all the wise Ancients understood but more especially the most learned and illuminate Prophet Moses who did use all possible Means both Natural and Divine to bring the Children of Israel off from eating of Flesh as appears first in their forty years Travel in the Wilderness during which they were not commonly admitted to eat Flesh as appears by their Murmurings after the Flesh-pots of Egypt which when the Lord heard he said unto Moses Give them Flesh. Moses answers Shall we kill our Flocks and Herds or where shall we have Flesh to feed this Multitude Which shews they did not use to kill and eat the Beasts in their March towards the Holy Land for if they did why then do they complain for want of it 'T is true the Lord gave them Flesh but it was in his Wrath and to their Destruction For they had awakened the Centre of Wrath which provoked the Lord for Flesh cannot be otherwise procured but this they ought not to have done for the Lord had brought them out of Egypt by his mighty Power that is out of the Vanity Violence and Oppression for so Egypt rightly signifies and the Wilderness does intimate the Path and Way of Regeneration that leads all that persevere in Self-denial to the holy eternal Land of Peace that flows with Milk and Honey Therefore none ought to look back or murmur that are once got through the Red-Sea lest they fall as the Children of Israel did and become like Lot's Wife Monuments of Vengeance 3. All kind of Violence whether towards our own kind or upon inferior Creatures and whether little or much does wholly arise from the awakened Wrath of God in Nature and from the very same Root does proceed all Back-biting Envy Strife Rancor and Contention and whatever else a Man can think of that is of that Nature there being but one only Foundation that does generate Discord and Inequality amongst all Creatures and whenever any man does hurt oppress kill or speak evil of any other Creature it proceeds from this original Spring of Wrath. On the other side from the Divine Principle of God's eternal Light and Love doth arise and flow as from an inexhaustible Fountain all Friendly Qualities Love Good-Will Meek innocent Compassion courteous Dispositions and Inclinations and whatever can be called or deserves the Name of Good No man did ever strike oppress use violence to or kill either Man or Beast from the excitement and power of this friendly Principle for all Contention Strife and Cruelty is as contrary to the Nature and Operation of this Principle as Light is to Darkness but from this Divine Fountain in Man does proceed that great Law of doing unto all Creatures as a man would be done unto which cannot therefore admit that any Violences or Injuries should be done unto God's Creatures either superior or inferior This our great and blessed Law-giver Iesus Christ did demonstrate whilst he was in the humane Property for all his Practices Examples Discourses and Preachings unto Mankind were tending to lead them into Peace Meekness and Unity and therefore he said unto Peter Put up thy Sword for my Kingdom is not of this World that is My Kingdom does not consist in Wrath Enmity Oppression Cutting off of Ears and Killing but in Peace Love and Concord So likewise have all the holy and enlightned Men in all Ages both by speaking and writing declared against Violence and endeavoured all that in them lay to draw all men to Unity which was the first state of Man and which he lost by suffering his Will and Desire to enter into Violence and Inequality viz. into dark Wrath which presently causeth uneven operations in his Soul which our Saviour Christ came to seek and to save that is to draw the Soul of Man back again out of Egypt through the Red Sea and Wilderness into the Land of Promise a state of Innocency and Unity For except Man do again depart from all Violence and from under the Government of the Spirit of Oppression and
comes to know somewhat of the operation of the Divine Principle he cannot be happy in this World nor in that which is to come This some of the Indian and Ethnick Philosophers seem to have been sensible of when they used all pains and diligence to bring those Savages from Cruelties and Inhumanities viz. from all Violence and killing the inferior Beasts of the Field and prohibiting them from eating their Flesh and Blood for Man being more highly graduated than any of the Beasts as being indued with divine and humane Wisdom and the Nature of all things viz. with the Treasures both of Time and Eternity ought not by any means enter with his Desires and Will into the savage Nature of wild Beasts neither should the depraved Property of Beasts be awakened in Man for whatsoever he joyns himself unto or communicates with whether it be Meats Drinks Employments or Communications that very thing be it what it will shall powerfully impose the true property of its Spirit on the Man by way of Simile Were not this so the wise Ancients would not have made such distinctions between clean and unclean Creatures neither would they so strictly have commanded that the Blood should be destroyed by Fire or buried in the Earth neither would the Apostle Paul have said That evil Communication corrupts good Manners that is evil Company or the evil Spirit in ill Men does awaken and strengthen its Likeness in the good Man and causes the divine Principle and Voice of Wisdom to withdraw or become captivated And it seems our Fore-Fathers even in this Nation have in some degree considered the great force and power of the wrathful savage Nature of the Beasts and that Men by accustomed violence towards them and their communication amongst slaughter'd Animals were rendered rash precipitate fierce and cruel and as it were destitute of Humanity and therefore by our ancient Laws and the immemorial Customs of this Realm Butchers and such People as are of Killing-Employments are not to be Iury men as being esteemed neither fit nor capable Judges of Life and Death And in the common Proverb if a man be fierce cruel and subjected to the Spirit of Violence we say Such a one is like a Butcher Nor can we but observe from daily experience that all sorts of People that are of rude robustick Employments and communicate much with fierce and strong Beasts as Bear-wards Hostlers Drovers and the like are generally headstrong rash fierce surly People and appear evidently to participate of the brutish Nature of those Animals with whom they converse And as the Sheep is one of the most innocent of Beasts so Shepherds have in all Ages been celebrated for the most harmless and best-humour'd of Men and therefore Governors both Temporal and Spiritual are recommended unto us under the Name of Pastors or Shepherds of the People 4. That killing and eating the Flesh and Blood of both clean and unclean Beasts was not in use from the beginning is clear from the Second Chapter of Genesis therefore we should consider when and by whom the same was introduced And first we must note That the first Beasts that were killed were not Cows and Sheep and the like useful Creatures whose Lives are far more profitable than their Deaths but wild savage Beasts and Birds of Prey the countenance of whose Lives was prejudicial unto Mankind and the rest of the Creatures nor were they hunted and slain to be eaten but to free Men and other Creatures from danger But after a little use and custom of Kiillng the Spirit of Wrath and Fierceness by the fierce Action in the Killer and the revengeful Spirits proceeding from the Creature killed both concurring was so powerfully stirred awakened and strengthened that Killing became as familiar as gathering of Fruit and the unclean brutish Nature encreasing they could not only kill without remorse but began to count it a delight and pleasure and then they could eat the Flesh and lap up the Blood of their Fellow-Creatures which they had slaughtered as freely and as greedily as Dogs and Lions or any other wild Beasts could do it for by continual use of Killing and Violence the very same savage wild Nature of those cruel Beasts of Prey were become predominant in Men so that now they could not only butcher and eat the Flesh of Beasts with pleasure and delight but they could also without remorse torture and slay those of their own kind and in some parts proceeded to eat them too as the Canibals who feed on Humane Flesh and will most savourly gnaw a Shoulder of a Man a Breast of a Woman or the Haunches of a Child and think it altogether as sweet and wholsome as my Lord does his Venison or my Lady her Partridge 5. It is to be noted That if Mankind had continued in its primitive State of Innocency and Unity there would have been no Hatred Strife Oppression Fighting or Killing one another no Slaughtering of Beasts Fish or Birds nor Eating their Flesh and Blood for that was not permitted until Man had immersed his Will into the warful savage unclean Nature of the worst of Beasts For there is no Creature in the World that has any desire to eat Flesh and Blood and tear the Creatures to pieces with violence except those in whom the fierce wrathful savage Nature does predominate And therefore after Man had awakened the Wrath and entred into the cruel Spirit of Killing the wise Prophets imposed special Commands not to eat the Flesh and Blood of such Creatures as Swine Dogs Bears Wolves c. But can we believe that Man was at first made like those savage unclean Beasts of Prey or indeed worse For so now he is and does exceed in Uncleanness and Cruelty the worst of Beasts as much as a Spar-Hawk exceeds a Titmouse for indeed Man is indued with all Properties and Qualities but the Wrath and evil unclean Nature ought not to have been manifested but the divine and humane Nature should have governed his Life but instead thereof the same are now as it were hid in Man and the cruel fierce Spirit does predominate which makes him so near affinity with all wild Beasts and Birds of Prey and to desire such Food as they do for that Nature that is chief in the government of any Creature 's Life be it either good or evil clean or unclean will stir up desires of Food suitable and correspondent therewith This is plain in several sorts of Beasts as those in whom the simple harmless clean Nature claims Dominion delight in a like clean and harmless Food and their Natures are satisfied therewith not but that there is an unclean Nature and fierce Quality in the cleanest and best of Beasts capable in some degree of being awakened for 't is not impossible by degrees and use to teach and bring Sheep Cows Horses and many other Creatures to eat Flesh and drink Wine and strong Drinks and after a little custom those
unclean fierce Qualities will grow so powerful that they will not only eat and drink such things but also desire them for all Creatures have one only foundation and each Particular contains the true Nature of the whole only the Qualities and Properties of Nature do differ so in one one Quality is strong in another the contrary which makes that great Variation which we see and admire amongst the Creatures as to their Dispositions Shapes Forms Tones Sounds c. And hence proceeds the possibility of altering changing strengthening and awakening of Dispositions Inclinations and Qualities in each Creature This was the grand cause in the beginning why Man was prohibited the eating of Flesh and Killing and why Moses in the Wilderness did not permit the Children of Israel to kill and eat Flesh during their forty years Travel for the Wilderness represents this World which all must pass through and deny themselves the Vanities oppression and Violences thereof or else they cannot enter the Holy Land but must fall in the Wilderness for those that have through the divine Power of the Lord escaped the hands of the Egyptians and are got clear of the Land of Bondage and have left Pharaoh and his Host swallowed up in the Red Sea ought not to long or lust after the Violences and Flesh Pots of the Land of Vanity but to continue in the Spirit of Meekness Love Humanity Self-denial and to do unto all Creatures as a man would be done unto himself which is the true Path of the New Life that leads into the right-hand-way and goes to the heavenly City For those wise Philosophical Seers into the divine and humane Mysteries were sensible of the manifold Evils that attended Mankind by his joyning himself with the unclean Beasts and by killing and eating their Flesh which did so powerfully-awaken and strengthen the inhumane Properties in Man that he by degrees became delighted in all kind of violent cruel bloody Actions not only to the inferiour Creatures but also to those of his own kind whence Cruelties and Murthers have been so mightily encouraged that scarce any have been counted of Noble Birth and Blood but such as have been famous Man slayers and destroyed many of their own Species Some of the Eastern-Sages from a true understanding of the Law of God in Nature declared against these Inhumanities and sanguinary Customs as Pythagoras and his Followers to this day in some Parts of the East-Indies who by their good Examples and innocent Lives do draw off many of the Savage People from the same to a more pure and peaceable course of Life For First They taught them the ill Consequences of Oppression Violences Killing and Eating the Flesh of their Inferiours and making themselves the Sepulchres of the dead Bodies of Beasts And when they had done this then it followed that they would not strike harm oppress or kill those of their own kind for he that does scruple to use violence unto or kill a Sheep or Cow will to be sure be far from hurting or murthering a Man And thus for many Ages have they led peaceable and harmless Lives in Unity and Amity with the whole Creation shewing all kind of Friendship and Equality not only to those of their own Species but to all other Creatures hurting or enslaving none but allowing them all those Privileges and Freedoms that the Creator had given to all the Inhabitants of the World nor cutting off the Thred of their Lives before their appointed time And it has been observed that these Men sinde their time of Love and Clemency to the Creatures have not only been bless'd with the Goods of this World and Dew of Heaven far above their wild savage Neighbours but also were never known to contend oppress fight kill or commit Man slaughter but have lived these many hundred Years in Peace and Concord with all the Creation whereas before they were convinced that it was an Evil to destroy and eat the Flesh and Blood of Beasts they made no more of killing and oppressing Men than a Wolf doth of devouing a Sheep or one of our Butchers of knocking down a Cow The very same and far greater Advantages would come to pass amongst Christians if they would cease from Contention Oppression and what tends and disposes them thereunto the killing of Beasts and eating their Flesh and Blood and in a short time humane murthers and devilish seuds and cruelties among each other would abate and perhaps scarce have a being amongst them For Separation has greater power than most imagine whether it be from evil or good for whatsoever any man separates himself from that Property in him is presently weakned As suppose a man separate himself from any kind of Intemperance Violence or Uncleanness and joyn himself to Vertue then presently the wrathful unclean Nature is weakned and grows faint for want of its proper Food but on the contrary the humane and divine Principle grows strong Likewise Separation does wonderfully dispel the dark Clouds of Ignorance and makes the Understanding able to distinguish between the good and evil Principles first in himself and then in all other things proportionably but so long as men live under the power of all kind of Uncleanness Violence and Oppression they cannot see any Evil therein because the humane and divine Principles are so weak feeble and as it were dead because their Counsels are continually disobey'd and instead thereof the Spirit of Errour is followed For this cause those that do not separate themselves from Uncleanness Oppression and the like Evils but are contented to follow the Multitude in the Left-hand way and resolve to continue the Religion of their Forefathers though thereby they do but mean Custom the greatest of Tyrants 'T is I say impossible for such People ever to understand or know any thing truly either of divine or humane Mysteries nor can any man penetrate thereinto except he first separate himself from all evil and unclean Ways of the Multitude and their Customs for 't is the departing from Evil and the practice of Good that crowns a Man with Wisdom Vertue and Understanding and renders him capable to put the right intrinsick Value upon things and reckon them at their true price for it is generally acknowledged amongst men the highest Folly to judge of those things which they have never known nor been experienced in Who would ask an honest Tarpawlin-Seaman's Advice in a Law-Case expect a Plough man should relish the Delicacies of an excellent Lesson of Musick or think a Cobler fit to value some curious Master-piece of Vandike or Lilly's Painting So improbable it is that men should have judgment in any Science Art or common Trade if they had not separated themselves from other Matters and applied themselves some time to such Crafts or Sciences And yet so vain are most men as to suppose themselves capable to judge of divine and humane Mysteries tho' they are still hurried with the Violences and wallow in
how the thing is in it self they themselves are as blind as Bats and the Reason is they are like the Old Hagg that Seneca somewhere mentions who never put her Eyes into her Head but when she went abroad Thus some of our silly Travellers will tell you forty Stories of France Spain and Italy but of the Rarities the Commodities the Manufactures the Laws and Privileges of England their Native Country they are utterly ignorant What a Madness is it for me with toil and hazard to ramble to the Ends of the Earth to dig in the Mines of Potosi or pick up the glittering Dirt of Guinea when God hath furnish'd me at home with a Soil that yields me precious Oar much more noble and useful Now that these Hear-say-Men or Book-Philosophers called The Learned are as ignorant as any nay commonly more than any others of the true knowledge of God in themselves appears undeniably by their walking contrary to the Ways of Vertue by their compelling and forcing others to their Self-invented Belly-Forms that are utterly destitute of the Life of Truth who do commit the greatest Outrages against God and against his People but chiefly the Learned It is they that set the Rabble on to torment the innocent and simple-hearted and all such as are of contraÌ„ry Forms to themselves All which are the Effects of the awakened fierce Wrath and does declare that the Devil and Hellish Powers do predominate in their hearts and that Love Mercy Meckness and doing as a Man would be done unto have no being in them and it will be so as long as Men prefer Vanity Tradition and their Belly before the Man that told the Woman of Samaria all things that ever she did which is Iesus Christ the true Light that enlightneth every Man that cometh into the World It was not therefore without deep Understanding that the more prudent in all Ages did esteem the knowledge of themselves before all other Attainments and recommended it as a thing principally necessary to every Man for all that do know the Power of God in themselves and are guided by the Voice of Wisdom and live in the friendly Love of God have abandoned and utterly exiled all Hatred Pride Malice Back-biting Fighting Killing Violence and Oppression whatsoever either of Man or Beast and in them meek innocent Dispositions and Inclinations do reign using and doing unto all Creatures as one would be used and done unto for Violence and all kind of Cruelty and Oppression is as contrary to such Natures as Darkness to Light And we may affirm That never any Men have harmed oppressed killed or used any kind of violence to any innocent Creature from the excitement or power of this Divine Principle Therefore let every one consider this they that find Hatred Envy the Spirit of Oppression and Violence to dwell in them may certainly conclude themselves in the fierce wrath of God for all such Dispositions and Inclinations do proceed from that dark Root of Bitterness which is all contrary to the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Great is the whole Mystery of Godliness but especially Christ manifest in the Flesh viz. That the eternal Love and Light of God should dwell essentially in man for after Man suffered his Will and Desires to enter into Vanity and Bestiality the Lord said It is not good nor safe for Man to be alone but promised him the Seed of the Woman the holy Principle of divine Light and Love which will bruise the head of the Serpent in all that adhere to and follow its Counsel that is it will destroy the works of the Devil and then all Violence and Oppression departs from that Man and that Saying is fulfilled The Lord is my Strength my Safeguard and Portion And every Man thus qualified is taught of God Iehovah is his Tutor and his Guide the mighty Counsellor so that he will no longer run after other Gods nor contend for any thing but Truth and Righteousness and to live a sober harmless innocent Life in the sight of God and Man and doing unto all as he would be done unto And such purified Souls amidst all the Hurries the Storms and Agitations of the World round about them do securely ride at Anchor in a blissful Calm and are satisfied with their Portions and know their Centre and to them all Contention ceaseth and there is Peace on Earth as in Heaven 9. There is no necessity for Mankind to oppress burry and kill the Beasts and eat their Flesh and Blood as many ignorantly affiâ—m crying out What shall we do with them They will over run us and eat us up if we do not kill and eat them But I answer That there is no sort of Cattel but is otherwise of use besides to be eaten and Horses are not eaten and yet what Nation complains of having too many of them But some will say Many of them are killed by Violence and Oppression which is confessed But if there were no Horses destroyed that way but used moderately and gently yet there would be no fear of having too many of them the like may be said of other innocent Creatures 10. The eating of Flesh and killing of Creatures for that purpose was never begun nor is now continued for want or necessity or for the Maintenance of Health but chiefly because the high lofty Spirit of Wrath and Sensuality had gotten the Dominion in Man over the meek Love and innocent harmless Nature and being so rampant could not be satisfied except it had a proportionable Food and of all others Flesh has the greatest affinity as is mentioned before And if all Men would refrain eating of Flesh there would be no cause for them to complain for want of Food for the Almighty has in all particulars been gracious and bountiful unto all Creatures but more especially unto Mankind for whom he hath spread a plentiful Table furnishing the whole Earth with a great multitude of variety of Herbs Fruits Grains and Seeds fit for Food which do afford a Nourishment of a most excellent Substance and far beyond Flesh as it doth appear by all that have applied themselves to such harmless innocent Foods especially in decayed Natures and sick as all with one voice consent as well the Learned as they call them as the Simple For when People are ill and Nature weakned with Distempers they all advise them to Pottages Grewels and various sorts of Foods made of Herbs Fruits and Grains but no Flesh must come near them during their Weakness Now if these Vegetables and Fruits do afford such an excellent nourishment and have such a natural and secret Power to help and recover Nature and restore lost Health and Srength how much more then shall they maintain and preserve it when it is restored But Flesh was never desired because Men found any defect in the nourishment of Vegetables and the like but because it hath a Simile with that unclean Nature and fierce Wrath that now became predominant
with the Ferocity of their Nature which prompts them to tear and hurry their Fellow-Creatures and eat their Flesh and Blood as Dogs Cats Swine Bears Lions Tigers Foxes and many others divers of which our Saviour likened Men unto because he saw that the same fierce unclean savage Nature of such Beasts did rule in them and thence the said Men were more fierce ravenous and hungry after Blood and all other Uncleanness than the very Beasts of Prey themselves so greatly mischievous is the depraved Nature of Mankind when he suffers his Will and Desires to enter into and live in the power of the Wrath of God in Nature But to eat Bread or any other Food with unwashen hands provided the Food be clean and not too much in Quantity nor of a contrary Quality is no manner of Uncleanness but a vain Superstition in the Pharisees who did love to make clean the Outside of the Cup but did not matter the Inside whereas the Work of Christ was to clean the Inward Man from every unclean Thought Desire and Inclination And when this cleansing state can be witnessed by any Man then no Meats Drinks nor other unclean thing can enter into him so as to defile him because his Desires thereunto are cut off in the Bud and utterly mortified for no Man ever did commit any Uncleanness or Intemperance but first the contrivance thereof was in the Heart nay when Men first think to commit an Uncleanness or Violence there does oft-times happen in the Heart great controversie or strugling between the divine Principle and the Wrath and which of these two does prevail and get the dominion accordingly the Man acts or forbears and sometimes it comes to pass that in this inward contest the evil Imaginations are cut off in the Bud that is when the divine Principle prevails and will not susser them to proceed into Act and attain unto a Substance but when the wrathful Nature gets the Day then every unclean Thought and Desire is accomplish'd and becomes a substantial Evil. Thus you see the grand Root and Cause of all kinds of Vertue and Vice is inward not outward each Man's Fruits manifest from what Principle they derive their Birth The external Cleanness and Vertue is only a manifestation of what Property does reign in the Soul Therefore the first step to Vertue Cleanness Sobriety and Temperance is to turn the eye of the understanding inward and there examine try what kind of Spirit rules in the Heart This Knowledge of a Man's self and to distinguish between the good and evil Principle of Nature in himself is of absolute necessity to every person for he that cannot distinguish the two Seeds viz. that of the Woman and that of the Serpent within can never be able to judge of Good or Evil Clean and the contrary without A true inward Knowledge goes before Self denial he that cannot distinguish the Properties of his own Nature cannot know what to deny himself of or what to embrace But happy is the Man that getteth Wisdom and findeth Understanding 12. We read in the Acts of the Apostles chap. 10. That the Apostle Peter had a Vision in which appeared before him all manner of Beasts Fowls and Creeping Things both clean and unclean and the Lord said unto him Arise Peter kill and eat Who answered Lord I have not at any time eaten any thing that is common and unclean And the Lord said What I have cleansed call thou not unclean Then Peter arose and said Of a Truth the Lord is no respecter of Persons neither to Jew nor Gentiles Bond nor Free but every one that feareth God and worketh Righteousness is respected and accepted of him This Vision was intended not so much to shew the lawfulness of eating clean Flesh or the contrary but to convince Peter and to take off the Scruple he had touching preaching the Gospel to the Uncireumcised or Gentiles for in the Vision was rep resented to him all kinds of Creatures as well poysonous creeping Vermin as clean and unclean Beasts which was a true Figure of the unregenerate state of Mankind and how the bestial fierce Wrath of the clean and unclean Beasts does reign in him and also that the poysonous Qualities of all sorts of creeping Creatures and Vermin have a being and rule in Men. This is a great Figure which did shew our depraved state and that the Creator did not respect one more than another but every one that would receive the Counsel of the Divine Light and through the good power and vertue thereof purge and cleanse themselves from the unclean bestial and poysonous Nature should be accepted of him and that Peter should preach the Gospel freely both to Iew and Gentile Therefore whosoever shall interpret this Text otherwise are mistaken as is apparent because as I said but now there were represented in the Sheet poysonous creeping things and Vermin never known to be eaten by any Nation or Sect but which did aptly denote the unclean state of Man and that poysonous unclean Property of all sorts of unclean Beasts and Vermin that does rule in and defile his Heart and Soul whence proceed those brutish Inclinations and Dispositions to Oppression and all kind of Evil as also Intemperances Superfluities Gluttony and the desire after unclean Food which evil Nature and venomous Contagion Iesus Christ the Cleanser and Purger of Souls came to destroy which Peter's Vision did manifest in that he was commanded to preach unto all Men the glad Tidings viz. That Christ the Redeemer was come to seek and to save that which was lost viz. the Soul of Man captivated under every inferiour bestial and unclean Power which Christ by his holy Grace and divine Power does destroy if its Counsel be obeyed for no sooner does it come to have dominion in the Heart but all those Beasts of Prey viz. Pride Revenge Ambition and Cruelty and those creeping venomous Vermin Lust Treachery c. are overcome and their Principle so weakned that in a little time they will find no place in the Soul for there is the same possibility and energy in the divine Principle in Man as there is the wrathful cruel Principle if the Will and Desires adhere unto and follow the first then that grows strong and gets the dominion and purgeth out of the Heart Violence and Oppession and destroys all Sensuality But if the Counsel of the fierce wrathful bitter Root prevail then the Man's Mind becomes a Cage of unclean Birds and is filled with Bestiality and poysonous Inclinations whereby Men come to exceed all the Savages of the Desart in Cruelty and Uncleanness and most of them that have Power live upon the spoil of others Labours and by killing and oppressing as well those of their own Kind as all other Creatures Hence because Man that was originally formed the Image of God and the Rival of Angels had now so far degenerated and depraved himself as to engross all the worst
And if we may descend to grosser Pleasures have not the meanest of Men as great content and satisfaction with his poor Russet-Coated Wife as the greatest Prince with his Gayest Bride Whence the Poets always feign LOVE the noblest of the Passions to be bred amongst the Villagers and a Companion of Rusticks and Shepherdesses Nay to go higher has not the great All Wise Creator given the most friendly Element the Air in Gavil-kind to all the Sons of Men every one enjoying an equal Portion And are not the greatest of Men subject to all the Injuries of the Elements and Necessities and Accidents of Natural Life viz. Heat Cold Hunger Thirst Diseases and even Death it self as much and as frequently and as certainly as the Poor And yet still men are so foolish and so vain as to vaunt of their Great Birth and their Noble Blood Can any thing be mote extravagantly ridiculous True it is all that are Governors Magistrates and Officers of the People ought to be honoured and respected in their Places according to their respective Dignities and so much the more if they govern according to the Law of God and Nature doing every man Justice and Right and being a Terror unto evil doers and a Praise unto them that do well But this real Honour contracted on Political Considerations of Office and Vertue is nothing to that Fantastick Glory derived meerly from Ancestors and the brave Feats done by our Great-Grandsires Grand-Fathers so much boasted of by those who please themselves in being Great rather by their Mother's Labours than their own 14. It is to be noted that most sorts of Flesh and Fish as to their operations on the Body and Senses are not so innocent brisk aery and lively as Herbs Seeds Grains Fruits and various sorts of excellent Food made of them though many of our English Belly-Gods suppose Flesh to be most mighty in its operation but they are grosly mistaken and no wonder since their Brains Wits and Understandings are through Intemperance Superfluity and Gluttony sunk into their Bellies for Flesh is of a gross substance dull and heavy in its operation fills the Body with abundance of slimy corrupt Juices bad Blood and in many Constitutions too great a quantity and causeth the Animal Spirits to be very impure whence arise Boils Scabs King's-Evils Leprosies and sometimes clotted Blood like pieces of Flesh which lie in some of the Vessels of the Stomach till being gathered into hard Lumps they sorely oppress Nature and cause Distempers which are the Death of Multitudes Flesh and Blood is too near of kin to the Animal Life in Man to be a proper Food for him 't is like the Marrying of Brothers and Sisters Therefore the Ancients were curious in forbidding especially the eating of the Flesh of any of those Beasts that would naturally eat the Flesh of their Fellow-Creatures and we need go no farther than every Man's experience to know that all such Flesh and also Fish have a rank strong fulsome Taste and affords a like Nourishment Nor has Flesh and Blood grown into great reputation from the excellency of its Taste or Nourishment but chiefly as we have elsewhere observed from the near affinity it has with the awaken'd Wrath and bestial Nature which in most men predominates Hence when once Men have tasted Flesh with the Blood the Bestial Qualities are presently irritated and so pleased that nothing else will afford them such satisfaction because of its great affinity with the Bestial and Animal Life the hunger grows so strong in many that they will eat Flesh or Fish that stinks and is half putrified if they cannot have other rather than feed upon Bread Butter Cheese or the like which is an bundred-fold beyond it both as to Taste Nourishment and Vertue The same is to be understood of all sorts of unclean Birds and Beastss of Prey As for example If a Dog chance to suck the Blood and eat the raw Flesh of any Creature it does so violently open the gate of the fierce Quality that the Hunger grows so great that he becomes ten-fold more eager revenous and fierce than before This every one almost doth know and if they consider it well shall find the very same Effects in Bodies humane as each man may feel in himself if he be a diligent observer of his own Nature If this had not been so Moses and many wise men in most Ages had never made such strict Laws against eating of Flesh without distinction and that such Flesh as was allowed to be eaten should be throughly cleansed from the Blood c. Which rendered such Flesh far wholsomer and to afford a better nourishment but not so much as our way of Killing and Dressing which in truth in most Creatures as Cows Oxen c. is next door to strangling whereby the natural Spirits are suffocated and causes the Blood and fierce wrathful Spirits to centre and lodge themselves in all parts of the Body and hinders them that they pass not so freely away where the wound is made This the Apostles understood very well We have no other Commandment to lay on you but that you abstain from Blood Fornications things offered to Idols and things strangled there being more Evil in all sorts of Flesh and Fish that is so killed than most do imagine for when there is no Wound made the animal bestial wrathful fierce original poysonous Spirits become suffocated and Death's stroke brings the whole Nature into such amazing frightful Agonies as few Men or Killers of Beasts are sensible of or endued with so much humanity to consider for if they did suffer Compassion to arise in them their leud Trade of killing would not be so easie to them I say the central Poysons being awakened by the stroke of Death and finding no Passage they seize the pure Spirits whose Habitation is the Blood and then presently the sweet Oyl or Balsamick Property turns sower strong and fulsome as is manifest every where both in Animals and Vegetables whensoever the pure spirituous parts are by any improper preparation or other Accidents wounded suffocated or evaporated then in a moment's time the sweet balsamick Property is depraved and turns eager and unwholesome Hence it is that the Flesh of those Creatures that are strangled does neither look so well nor eat so sweet nor is so healthy as other Flesh for when any Creature perceives its Life in danger there is such a strugling and horror within as none can imagine but such only as have been near dead by the like means it being the very same in a Beast as in Men. This being better understood by the Ancients than now-a-days it was therefore amongst them not lawful to kill any Creature that was to be eaten without making a Wound by which means the Blood did pass freely away and with it the fierce and wrathful Spirits and Poysons and so the Flesh was purged and freed from many sorts of Uncleanness and even this
in them and without them the fierce Wrath of God and Nature as the Blood of innocent Abel did cry awaken the Lord whence Cain's Judgment proceeded And withal we are to remember that the Offerings of such as live the in power and operation of the Spirit of Cain are not accepted of the Lord because they are tainted with the Spirit of Violence and Oppression for every Principle is moved by a sympathetical operation and therefore when Men live and act in the power of God's Love and Light in Jesus Christ the Offerings of such are most grateful and powerfully attract the sweet Influences of God and Nature but where the wrathful Principle reigns without the Love and Light of God it is a meer Devil and does attract Venom and Poyson out of every thing to the encreasing and strengthening of it self The holy Ancients have in many other places of the Scriptures deciphered and endeavoured to describe these two grand Fountains or Principles under the Allegory or Figure of two Brothers But it is to be noted that the younger always obtained the Blessing as the case of Iacob Esau and Isaac and Ishmael which doth contain many great Mysteries for Ishmael is the Son of the Bond-woman where the Forms and Properties of Nature are at strife and contention the same is said of Esau that he was a rough man and a Hunter which Names in the Radix do signifie strong men in the Wrath and Principle of the wild Nature into which most men are fallen nor doth any Religion or Form of Godliness bring profit to the Soul but that only that is void of violence and therefore the Offerings of Cain Ishmael and Esau and many others were not accepted of by the Lord for the fierce Wrath and violent Spirit did reign in them and thence their Offerings proceeded and so could not awaken or open any other Principle but only what was like and from the same Root and Centre If this were well considered so many persons would not content themselves in Religious Forms and giving God long Prayers whilst all this while their hearts are full of Envy Back-biting Contention Oppression Hurrying and Killing Men and Beasts most of them counting it their Right to domineer over the meek humble Spirit of Abel but the Blood of Abel doth cry unto the Lord for Vengeance for this is the great Law of God in Nature that there can be no Evil Violence or unjust Action done be it either to the superiour or inferiour Creatures but there must be retaliation made for the Groans of the oppressed have a natural Force and powerful Inclination to open the Gate of God's Wrath and draw down the Judgments of the Lord because all things were made by one therefore they have but one only Root and Foundation proceeding from that one Lord and Creator they all live and move in him and by his Power and Spirit and are all sustained by his divine hand of Providence which does not respect one and neglect another there being in him no variation or shadow of Change or Passion but equally distributes his Blessings to all his according to the Nature of each one having given every thing it s well being in its self and allotted thereto a certain number of days and ordained proper Food for every Creature therefore whensoever Men shall violate these Laws of God in Nature and work contrary unto them by oppressing the Creatures then the Wrath of the Creator is kindled for every Creature when it is in danger of being hurt or pursued for its Life does as naturally and powerfully cry to the Creator for help in their own natural Language as Men do and tend and fly to that Fountain of Being and Protection for their Lives are as sweet and their Desires to continue it are as strong as Man's 17. Here 't is like I shall be complained of and condemned by the wise Men of this World who count it their right in Nature as Cain did to domineer and Lord it over all Creatures who will say The Creator hath no respect or regard to the preservation or well-being of inferiour Animals but only unto Men and that his Will is that Men should destroy and live upon them and use them as they please Were they not made for that purpose and if we should not destroy them they would destroy us c. Thus they object but the Truth tells every one That there are no Creatures that will hurt or be injurious unto Mankind but only Dogs Bears Foxes and other of the like Nature who are Beasts of Prey and fierce by kind few or none of which are eaten But this Allegation I shall more particularly consider in its proper place Others more materially will urge the Authority of the holy Scriptures to prove that killing and eating of Flesh was according to the Will of God which is true in a certain Sense but from the beginning it was not so but only after Man had disobeyed the Lord his Maker and broken his pure Law and imbarked his corrupt Will and tainted Desires in the fierce Spirit of Oppression and suffered the bestial savage Nature to predominate in him over the divine Principle of God's Love and holy Light as the Scripture doth testifie Gen. 6. The Lord looked down from Heaven and behold every imagination of Man's Heart was evil altogether evil and that continually Also the Lord said The Earth is filled with violence it repenteth me that I have made Man and the Earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence for all Flesh had corrupted his way upon the Earth c Here it appears Man had with his Will and Desires entred into the violent Spirit which had corrupted the Earth and all things therein whence the desire of killing and eating of Flesh and Blood of Beasts did proceed and for this reason the Lord was so provoked to Anger that he said My Spirit shall not always strive with Man for that he is Flesh yet his days shall be an Hundred and Twenty Here the Lord shortned the Days of Mankind as David saith in another place The Wicked shall not live out half his days If Man had not thus entred into the violent Spirit of wrath the Lord had not destroyed Mankind but being thus incensed he commanded Noah to build an Ark which signifies a place of Safety Peace and Mercy and to take the clean Beasts by Sevens which is a holy Number in Nature comprehending all Mysteries but the unclean by Pairs or Two's which is a Number of Contention as being the first that separates from Unity He was likewise required to take all sorts of Food both for himself and for the Beasts but there was no mention made of Flesh and all the Creatures both clean and unclean that he took with him into the Ark he delivered out again after the wrath of God was assuaged there was no Oppression Violence nor Killing in all that time for if there
had then would the wrath have been again awakened and Noah with the Creatures would have been comprehended in the same Judgment with those without the Ark For the Ark does truly signifie the heavenly Principle of God's eternal Love in which he has established his Covenant with Mankind and all Men that safeguard their desires and wills in this holy Ark denying themselves and abandoning all kinds of Violence but taking with them all kinds of Food that do bear a Simile with this friendly Principle shall be preserved from that deluge of Wickedness and Misery wherein the rest of the World is overwhelmed Now after this Deluge the Lord did permit Man to eat Flesh but not without distinction not with the Blood for Man would not be obedient nor keep himself within the Bounds and Limits of the holy Ark of God but turned their Wills into the wild bestial Nature and so longed after the Essences and Qualities of the Beasts whence arises the desire of killing and devouring of Flesh. This the Lord did well know and also his Prophets viz. That if Man did not obey the Voice of Wisdom and abstain front eating of the Fruit that grows in the midst of the Garden viz. in his Heart which is the wrathful violent Spirit of Oppression he should die which Spirit should not have been manifested nor have had any Government in Man As for the Tree that grows in the midst of the Garden 't is called the Tree of Life but not without a great Mystery for the Centre of Life stands in the Wrath's Property or fierce Fire whence proceeds the Sensibility and knowing Part in Man and therefore he was forbidden to eat thereof that is he should not have awakened it by his Imaginations and Desires but have continued in Resignation and Self-denial and then the Evil would not have been manifested in him nor have overcome him but as it came to pass well might the Prophets call it The Tree of Death For when Man did eat of the Fruit thereof be died unto the divine Life and lived in the Power of the fiery Spirit of wrath which has corrupted all Flesh even the very Earth and all things therein 'T was after this was come to pass when Man had by his Longing and Lusts precipitated himself into the fierce Spirit and wild Nature that the Lord permitted him to kill and eat the Flesh of the Beasts but it must be understood that this License or Permission of killing or eating of Flesh proceeded from the wrath of God in Nature as the Scripture saith in another place Such as the People are such is their God For the Lord appears to every one according to what Spirit and Property they live in whether it be in his Love or his Anger If they live in the divine Principle of his eternal Love then he appears to them in the same Principle as a loving Father and the God of all Consolation And on the contrary when men introduce their Wills and Desires into the fierce wrath then the Lord appears to them in the same Spirit dreadful and Terrible As the Scripture saith in another place Unto those that fear my Name and obey my Commandments I will be merciful and gracious but to those that despise my Commandments I will be an angry jealous God and a consuming Fire Or as the Apostle saith To one a savour of Life unto Life to the other of Death unto Death Thus all shall glorifie God either in his Love or Anger and remain Monuments of his Mercy or Trophies of his Justice Thus it happened to the Men of old whom the Lord permitted to kill their fellow-Creatures and eat their Flesh their Cruelties and Oppressions soon awakened the Wrath of the Lord even as the Blood of innocent Abel did therefore the Lord said He would go down and see if it were so Which Expression of God's coming down does intimate the kindling and awakening of his Wrath in the external Element as it came to pass in the ensuing Deluge when the Element of Water was enraged from this very Property of the awakened Wrath did the permission proceed for killing and eating of Flesh as also all the Commands for Fighting and the like for if the Lord's People in former Ages had continued their Obedience and lived in his fear there had never been any cause or foundation for Wars nor Oppression for as our Saviour saith The Tempter cometh but findeth nothing in me that is he findeth no Wrath nor Violence awakened in him and therefore he could have no ground to work on nor matter to entertain him or that would suit his Principle The like is to be understood of all Men that do live in the Power of God's Love and Light for whensoever the Lord suffers any to sight or engage in War with his People the original cause thereof hath been Sin in that they have forsaken the ways of Truth and Righteousness and entred into Oppression Pride and Cruelty which awaken the evil Principle and cry for vengeance and strengthen the common Enemy of Mankind and then the Lord suffers Wrath to take place Now whereas Men say It is lawful in the sight of God to fight kill and destroy one another and oppress and kill all other Creatures 't is true if it be understood as it ought to be viz. in the sight of the Principle of his Wrath as he is a consuming Fire and a jealous God but not as he is a God of everlasting Love and Mercy in Jesus Christ for in that respect all Fighting and other Violences are as contrary to him as Light is to Larkness Therefore in the Revelations to the Souls that were under the Altar crying to God to avenge their Cause being slain for the Testimony of Jesus it is answered Rest for a season which was as much as to say Be still do not awaken the Powers of Wrath for no Man can call for Vengeance but from the Power of that Principle and therefore White Garments were given unto them that is they were more replenished with the blessed Power and Vertue of the Love of God in Jesus Christ. Some may say If we should not fight and be ready to withstand our Enemies and neighbouring Nations we should quickly be brought into subjection This is very true if Men should leave off fighting and yet live such wicked ungodly Lives as they do but if any Nation would repent of the Evil of their Ways and enter with one mind into Unity and live in the power and operation of the Love of God c. they then should have no occasion to fear or dread any outward Enemies having so perfectly subdued those within they should rest secure This the Children of Israel did often witness when they did fear the Lord and refrain from Idols that is when they did not set their Hearts and Affections upon the Creatures nor live in Wantonness c. Then their Enemies were bowed before them and the very
to corrupt the very Air In the other you have delicate Fruits of most excellent Tastes wholesome Medicinal Herbs savoury Grains and most beautiful fragrant Flowers whose various Scents Colours c. make at once a Banquet to all the Senses and nourish the purer Spirits and refresh the very Souls of such who pass through them and perfume all the circumambient Air with redolent Exhalations This was the Place and Food ordained for Mankind in the beginning The Lord planted a Garden for him replenish'd with all manner of ravishing Fruits and Herbs There was no Flesh-Markets nor Shambles talk'd of in the primitive times But every green Herb Fruit and Seed shall be for Food to Man saith the Creator Which if it had been still observed Man had not contracted so many Diseases in his Body and cruel Vices in his Soul by making his Throat an open Sepulchre wherein to entomb the dead Bodies of Beasts nor should the Noble Image of the Deity have been thus shamefully defiled with Brutalities Creatures of Sea and Land we slay And in our Maws do bury And worse by half than Beasts of Prey Are at their Fun'rals merry How shall they but Bestial grow That thus to feed on Beasts are willing Or why should they a long Life know Who daily practise KILLING 22. There remains yet one Question which I have been often ask'd viz. If all People should live on Fruits Herbs and the like what should we do with the Beasts and what would become of them They would grow so numerous that they would be prejudicial to Mankind c. To all which I answer 1. That these are rather Suppositions than Arguments meer Fancies weak and unconcluding because unexperienced There is and pity it is that there is but little likelihood of the generality of Peoples forsaking this ill and harmful but too long continued devouring of Flesh and consequently there is no great force in this Objection yet still it may not be amiss to warn the Lovers of Virtue and Piety to abstain for the many Reasons aforesaid but these are but a few and the Multitude will still pursue and ingulf themselves in their accustomed Cruelties and Superfluities 2. Should any Nation or great number of People through the divine sight and true Wisdom scruple Violence Oppression Killing and Eating the Flesh of their Fellow-Creatures of an inferiour Rank the same Wisdom would teach them what to do with and how to order the Beasts 3. There are abundance of several sorts of these Creatures in the World that Men do not kill and eat and yet there are no more of them than are useful or not so many as to occasion any such prejudice to Mankind as this Objection supposes but find room enough in their proper Elements and the almighty Providence liberally sustains them To instance in one most common and useful Species viz. Horses they are not any where that I know of usually killed to be eaten and yet I never heard of any Country in the World that complained of being over-stock'd with them It may perhaps be alledged That the hard usage and tyranny which Men inflict upon them do destroy great Numbers of them I confess this is too true but yet if there were no such Exorbitances committed there would not be too many nor would their Troops be burthensome unto Mankind For are there not various sorts of Birds many of them not fit to be eaten and others that for the most part escape the Stratagems and Snares of the Fowler and yet we do not find too many of them nor indeed shall you but very seldom find any of them dead though they cannot hide their dead since their Feathers would betray them The Raven as unfit for Food because of its rapacious preying on dead Carcases and the pretty Robin-red-breast for its Innocency are very seldom killed and yet they do not become offensive to Men. 4. How many sorts of Beasts and Birds both wild and tame are there in other Countries that are rarely killed by Men and yet there is a natural consumption of them nay there are divers kinds whom to kill or injure is to this day accounted ominous or foreboding Mischief to those that meddle with them for which cause most People forbear to offer violence to them unless by accident and yet there are no more extant in the World than of others whom Men make it their Business and Interest and Diversion to destroy 5. If People had not occasion for so many Sheep for their Wool or Cows for their Milk c. they might as easily lessen the Numbers of them as increase them which every Husbandman might be sensible of by keeping the Males from the Females and not suffering them to generate too young whereby such Beasts would he larger stronger and more healthy whereas now so many Cattel are industriously bred up in many places that when a Scarcity happens of Grass Hay or Corn multitudes of them perish for Cattel being now become a grand Commodity and as it were a Manufacture Husbandmen for the most part living at rack'd Rents are forced to raise as many of them as possibly they can and to keep them on improper and unhealthy Pasturages and to over-labour both themselves and their Beasts merely to raise Rents for their idle extravagant Landlords who only aim to satisfie their Pride and Superfluity 6. 'T is certain that God and Nature who do nothing in vain never created or made more Creatures in any of the four Worlds or Elements whether visible or invisible than the same would nourish and maintain as in the Element of Water if there were never any killed by Men their Mother-Element that brought them forth would be sufficient to nurse them up and maintain them The like is to be said of the Fowls of the Air and Beasts of the Earth for do we not see even in Desarts and Wildernesses all Nature's Productions are liberally provided for and fewer there of every Species than in those we call Civilized Regions So gross an Error 't is to imagine That if Men should not kill them the Earth would be over-run and that there would be so many of them as would not be sustained but that they would be injurious to Mankind For in truth nothing would or could hurt or injure Man if he lived in Innocency and did not first outrage them for as Innocency hurts nothing so nothing can hurt it 23. Now it is farther to be considered That if any Nation or People should leave off or scruple killing Men and the inferiour Creatures and eating their Flesh and Blood from a true understanding of God's Law in Nature and in obedience to the friendly and innocent Principle of God's Love and Light then all Oppression Violence Controversies and Killing would cease and that excellent Saying of the Prophet would take place viz. That every Man would be taught of the Lord All outward Enquiries would have an end then would not Men build outward
Vine viz. under the Government of the divine Principle of God's Eternal Love Here all Contention ceaseth no hideous Cries nor mournful Groans are heard neither of Man nor Beast no Chanels running with the Blood of slaughter'd Beasts no stinking Shambles nor bloody Butchers no roaring of Canons nor firing of Towns no loathsome stinking Prisons nor Iron Grates to keep Men from enjoying Wife Children and the pleasant Air nor no crying for want of Food and Cloths no Rioting nor wanton Inventions to destroy as much in one day as a Thousand can get by their hard Labour and Travel no swearing nor stabbing Heaven with dreadful Execrations no galloping Horses up Hills without any consideration or fellow-feeling of the Creatures pains and burthens no deflouring of Virgins and then expose both them and their own Seed to all the Miserie 's imaginable nor no Letting Lands and Farms so dear that the Farmer must be forced to oppress himself Servants and Cattle almost to death and all too little to pay his Rent no Disobedience of the Inferiour nor Oppression of the Superiour but the first knows how to obey and the last how to govern neither is there any Want because there is no Superfluity nor Gluttony No Noise nor Cries of wounded Men no need of Chirurgeons to cut Bullets out of their Flesh nor no cutting off Hands broken Legs and Arms no roaring nor crying out with the torturing pains of the Gout nor other painful Diseases as Leporous and Consumptive Distempers except through Age and the Relicks of some Strains they got whilst they lived in intemperate Egypt neither are their Children afflicted with such a great number of Diseases but are as free from Distempers as Lambs Calves or the young ones of any of the Beasts who are preserved sound and healthful because they have not outraged God's Law in Nature the breaking of which is the Foundation of most or all cruel Diseases that afflict Mankind there being nothing that makes the difference between Man and Beasts as to Health but only Superfluity and Intemperance both in Quality and Quantity Man in his first state was made the soundest healthiest of the greatest Spirit and the longest life'd as witness the Antients in the first Ages of the World But when Man enter'd with his Will into Violence Oppression and Cruelty then the Lord said That Man had corrupted the Earth and filled it with Violence that is the Elements and Properties of the Humane Nature was corrupted and become unequal in their Operation every particular Quality did endeavour to get the upper hand Here the Harmony was broken and Discord took place here was the Strife Then the Lord shortned Man's Life but not before he became intemperate and did Violence not only unto himself but to all other Creatures therefore they do groan to be delivered into that first State and glorious Liberty Man was created in which if he had continued in Obedience and lived under the Government of the innocent Principle of God's Light and Love all the inferiour Creatures would have enjoyed all the Privileges and Liberty which were ordained for them according to their Capacity For this Cause whensoever any of the inferiour Creatures are oppressed hurt or killed they do by a natural Disposition and Inclination cry unto the Fountain whence they proceeded and groan for Deliverance which will never be until Men with their Wills and Desires enter into the innocent Principle of God's Love and holy Light whence doth arise no Disposition of Hatred Violence or Oppression it being as contrary to it as Light is to Darkness All Cruelty and Blood-shedding do proceed from another Fountain as different in Nature and Operation as the common consuming Fire doth differ from the Light thereof which is of a most friendly pleasant Quality and benevolent Operation but the Fire is fierce and altogether the contrary yet nevertheless the harsh Fire is the cause of the Light and if there were no Fire there would be no Light The Fire is the Father and the Light is the Son and they are Emblems of the Father and Son or of the internal Fire and Light The Light of this internal Fire is a most pleasant chearing Quality of Life but the Fire in its own Nature is a strong harsh sulphurous Property a devouring lofty proud Spirit who endeavours to consume all things and the internal dark Fire is its Root and the Scripture saith Who can dwell with everlasting Burnings God is a Consuming Fire to all that are not cloathed with the Son's Wedding-Garment of Light Love and Innocency therefore the scrupling Violence and Oppression both to Man and Beast and denying our selves of other Vanities and Superfluities is of great moment and the only Path that leads Men to the holy Land preserving both the Body and Soul in health For this Cause in the Beginning the Lord put Man into a Garden which doth truly signifie Innocency and gave him a great number of fragrant Herbs Seeds Fruits and Grains which are all endued with an innocent Nature and Operation but when he had precipitated his Will and Desires into the Principle of Wrath then presently the Earth was filled with Violence and the Element of his Body and Soul was corrupted then Distemperatures took place in him and his Life was shortned but not before Therefore the Eating of Herbs Seeds Grains and Fruits is of far greater consequence than most imagine and they may justly be esteemed the Food of good Angels for their Innocency excellent Virtues Fragrancies and Odours and therefore they were the Food ordain'd for Man whilst he remained in his Angelical State and if he had continued in Innocency he would never have desired any other Food but when by Desire he awaken'd the fierce Wrath and lived under the Power and Government of its Nature then he could not be satisfied without doing Violence and Killing for innocent Herbs and Fruits had no Simile with that Nature that had gotten the upper Dominion in him for every Property as I have told you before must have its own Food or else it cannot subsist then it was and not before that the Lord permitted Men to kill and eat the Flesh and Blood of Beasts which would never have been had Man continued in Innocency And therefore great are the Benefits and manifold Privileges that now do accompany all those that have attained to that state of Purity and Innocency which our first Parents were cloathed with their Minds being freed from Snares and their Bodies from superfluous Labours therefore can say We have no need of Lawyers Honesty Justice and Prudence makes their Trade nothing worth and but a few Physicians and none of them keep neither Coaches nor Chariots they are not clothed with Gold Silver nor Plush Coats our Temperance keeps them poor The true Knowledge of God and Nature in our selves destroys the Trade of divining for Money Our Superiours are not proud nor ambitious neither do they spend the choicest and
behind them a disorder'd Body and a perplexed Soul the Memory of which calls for Repentance and do ingender in the Mind Sottishness and insolency and a Forgetfulness of all Good making the Body an House of Sorrow and the Soul a Den of Thieves Intemperance never goes alone having many other Evils and perverse Companions attending her but at her first appearance doth court her Lovers with a curious painted smiling Countenance which doth allure and draw after her a great Train of young Gallants by her counterfeit Beauties but we through the good Favour of the Lord know her Snares and that she is that Woman the wise Man saith Sits in the Corners of the Streets of Man's City alluring and inviting the foolish Ones by her fading Delights and Pleasures therefore we warn our Citizens to beware of her Charms But Vertue who is our Captain though at first she do appear to us with a dismay'd Face and in modest plain Garments and neither decked with feigned Speeches nor with fading Beauties but with other most sublime and durable Riches as Temperance Cleanness Separation Self-denial which is a little austere and burthensome at first to old Adam and to those that have spent most of their days in the Intemperances and Oppressions of Egypt nevertheless a little Use Custom and Self-denial makes them most friendly both to the Body and Mind for she freeth them both from Ignorance vain Opinions Self-conceitedness and all other Snares and Troubles and crowns the Soul with eternal Felicity If our Children are gluttonous idle or disobedient to Parents our Law and Custom constrains them to make retaliation by Servitude in our publick Houses and Places provided for that purpose We do not enslave our Bodies by Labours nor put our more noble Parts on the Rack by carking Cares to maintain our Wives and Children because we observe order and count that unlawful that is not needful a little serves and supports the necessity of Nature where Superfluity is laid aside The more Children we have the richer we do esteem our selves we do not pray and wish that we may have no more Children and at the same time continue the Means neither do we hinder Conception for fear of Disgrace Trouble or that we shall have more Children than we can maintain all those things we esteem to be Sins against God and his Law in Nature We are contented and highly gratified with the most pleasant Fruits of the Gardens and desire as much as we can to imitate our first state of Innocency counting every green Herb and Seed our principal Food having a Simile with the friendly Principle in Man We fear all Inclinations after Flesh and Blood they smell of the Original Sin and of the awakened fierce Wrath of God which renders man fitter to live in a Flesh-Market and Butcher's Shambles than in a Garden there being no more affinity between Slaughter-houses Shambles Butchers-Shops and Sheep than there is between a pleasant Garden and the Fruits that grow therein and Dogs Lions Bears and the like wild Beasts of Prey We do not complain and say If we should not eat Flesh and Blood we should die as some will meaning the death of the Body this none need to fear but the main thing lies occult they are not willing to kill and destroy the Government of the violent wrathful Spirit and ravenous Nature which most Men love to practise all such things that support and keep that Spirit in motion which would quickly be weakned if Man did not supply it with its proper Food and Aliment If Violence nor Oppression did not come into the noble Tents of Men then Man would be like a pleasant Field in May where there grow various sorts of fragrant Herbs Fruits Grains and Seeds of different Forms Shapes Colours Beauties Odours and Natures but they have but one Mother whence they have and receieve Virtue Life and Power standing all in quietness and silence suffering all sorts of Winds to blow on them they complain not neither do they grutch or envy each other because they are not all alike or that one is more beautiful and fairer than another no they all thrust forth their Virtues in quietness to God's Praise and Glory even so it would be with Man if he did fear the Lord as he ought and lay aside Violence and live in Innocency then the Tempter would lose his labour 2. If any amongst us be idle gluttonous or commit any evil and will not amend his Life and become sober at the first second or third Reproof then they are committed to Houses and Places appointed for several sorts of Work and there they are put to such Labour Arts or Trades as they shall be capable of being well furnished with Meat Drink Cloathing sweet wholesome Chambers and Beds there to continue until they have made retaliation their greatest Punishment is they are confined to work double the time that is allotted for others viz. twelve hours in a day for we do not oppress our selves nor Servants with labour it being not lawful among us to work above six hours in a day which doth bountifully support us with plenty of all things where Superfluity is not there needs not much labour neither to Man nor Beast the remaining time is set apart for Prayer Meditations and Contemplations of the divine and natural Mysteries of God as Arts and Sciences and all lawful innocent Recreation We do account none capable to know the hidden Mysteries of God and the Creation but those that become even as Nature her self viz. true simple constant patient and pious no ways hurtful to any thing viz. a regenerated Man none else are fit for the search and speculation of divine Mysteries but those that are thus qualified when by an innocent pious Life we have made God our Friend then the Heavens the Earth Elements and all the Terrene and Celestial Influences are constrained to come to our help We draw Peace Love and Vertue out of all things for every Likeness doth forcibly draw proper Aliment out of all things for the increase and support of its own Body both in good and evil and for this same purpose we do often meet together for our outward occasions do not hinder us where we do speak and discourse freely like so many Children keeping nothing back or hidden whether it be good or evil but manifesting the inward secrets of our Hearts and the Mystical Operations of the various Properties of our own Nature and of the Force Power Vertue and Vice of each Quality and of their rising and continual contest amongst themselves for Mastery and also the manner and way the divine Principle of God in us doth open the seven Seals and call the Soul back out of Egypt viz. out of Discord and Inequality into Concord and Harmony We do not admit of any Discourse that is not filled with Vertue and Experience either of divine or natural Wisdom by which the low mean Capacities are rais'd by
wise not in that Degree as when it does not bleed For which cause all such Beasts Fowls or Fish as are killed to be eaten if they bleed freely their Flesh becomes sweeter and pleasanter to the Pallate and easier of concoction and breeds better Nourishment and is far Wholsomer and Healthier than those Creatures that are strangled in their Blood as many Land-Creatures are commonly and Fish in general which is Uncleanness in the highest Degree and proves unhealthy to the Eaters thereof But because this Remedy here prescribed is so easily procured without Money or Price and so truly Natural I am still afraid that not only the Learned but many of the Vulgar will despise this simple way For Man is so depraved from the innocent Ways of God and Nature that he despiseth all in comparison of his own Art and most men esteem and give place to those things they do not understand and on the contrary despise and slight the things that they do know and so long as any particular thing remains a Mystery they admire but as soon as they come to know it they trample it under their Feet with disdain Therefore all the Phylosophical Ancients hid the Divine and Natural Reasons of Things because they could not find any or very few capable of that Doctrine CHAP. XXI Of Harmony and the Power thereof the several sorts of Musical Instruments and under what Planet and Sign each of them is AS the end of natural Motions is Rest and nothing more refreshes a Mind wearied with Labours than the sweet Airs of Musick and Harmony so now drawing towards a Conclusion of this Treatise I shall put a period thereto with some unvulgar Considerations of the Nature of Sounds and Melody Of all kinds of Harmony as well Vocal as Instrumental whose variety is beyond any Humane Number together with the various Notes Cryes and Tones of Birds and Beasts the Number Seven is the Radix viz. the seven Properties or Constellations as is manifest by the seven Notes or Distances on Musical Instruments for those Seven Notes are the Basis of all Musical Composition The Number Eight is a Beginning again or a Replication or Repetition of the same And which soever of these Seven Forms or Constellations does carry the Upper Dominion either in any Instrument of Musick Words or Voices of Men Sounds Notes or Cries of Birds or Beasts that same Property does impress its Signature thereon The same is to be understood of the variety of Shapes Figures and Forms in the Animal Vegetable and Mineral Kingdoms and also of Colours there being but Seven Perfect Colours from which a Skilful Painter can very lively imitate all Appearances Shapes or Colours in the Universe the Number Seven being the Fountain whence all the Wonders of the Creator do proceed it being the highest Number in the outward Principle Thus when the Saturnine Property shall have the chief Dominion or Government in any Creature or Instrument of Musick then the Words Voice Cries Tones or Sounds thereof are sad hoarse heavy slow melancholy and unpleasant as if they were pressed to the Centre But when Mars shall bear sway then their Notes Words Cries or Sounds are rough loud fieree sharp threatning and jarring as if the Centre of Wrath were kindled for this Cause all Words of Men Sounds of Instruments and Notes or Tones of other Creatures in whom the Properties of Saturn and Mars do predominate are dolorous melancholy and frightful as is manifest by all sorts of Wild Savage Beasts and Birds of Prey as Wolves Swine Bears Lyons Owles Kites Ravens c. all which are chiefly under the Regiment of Saturn and Mars But all Creatures and Instruments in which Iupiter is predominant their Sound Words Notes and Tones are grave constant sweet and friendly Where Sol rules they are venerable filled with Majesty and a certain kind of lofty Grace When the Property of Venus bears sway the Voice or Notes are delicate fluent merry charming and voluptuous carrying with them a sweet Violence If Mercury have the greatest Interest then they are more remiss and various but very sweet and pleasant And lastly when the Moon shall have Dominion the Tones Sounds or Voices are loud shrill wanton and unconstant yet fluent pleasant merry and fit for Revelling It is to be noted that every particular Creature but more especially Man does contain the true Properties and Natures of all these seven Forms or Constellations but that Form or Constellation which does predominate does sign the Words Sounds Voices and Notes in each Creature and all the other do follow and intermix their Sounds and Tones in subserviency therewith that so in some where the Properties are near an equality 't is a difficult matter to judge what Quality is chief but those that can distinguish the Forms and what Sounds each gives may with regard had to the shape and figure of each Creature be capable to determine the Complexion and what Property has the chief dominion over it But still it is to be noted That each Creature can alter and vary its Words Voice Sounds and Notes by an innate Power according to the state of the Mind for the Will in all Creatures according to the capacity and nature of each is the Primum Mobile having power as it pleaseth and as occasion and necessity requires to stir up and awaken other Centres or Natures either for the better or the worse as the Will shall give it self unto or be precipitated in any of the Seven Forms or Properties whence often do proceed various gestures motions words sounds and voices which do vary and differ from the predominant Quality of the Complexion being at some times more sanguine mild and friendly but at other times fierce and angry or dull heavy venomous and melancholly or hollow and strained as if Nature were forced out of her way Thus 't is apparent Man may speak friendly to one and fierce and doggedly to another at the same time as his occasions passions and interests are for every word sound voice note or cry of Men and other Creatures does not only declare what Centre and Property it proceeded from and which does predominate in them but does also stir up the like Centres or Properties and thereby excite those of their own kind to various Passions according to the equality or inequality of the Fountain Spirit or Form whence they were generated either to Love Trouble Ioy Grief Pleasure Anger Concord or the contrary and so make Impressions and impose their Properties on those to whom they were directed Every Word Sound Tone or Note having the Key in it self to open the Gate of its like Property and there to joyn or incorporate for this cause Angry words beget Anger and on the other side A soft Answer turneth away wrath Whence is manifested the great power and efficacy of words sounds and harmony especially if the Composition shall be agreeable unto and follow the Coelestial Harmony it will
contrary for many thousands are destroyed both by Quantity and Quality of Meats and Drinks but they are first defiled in the Root of their Spirits But on the contrary no Meats or Drinks have power to hurt or defile that man whose Heart and Desires are governed and moderated by Wisdom and therefore saith the Apostle From whence proceed Wars and Fightings all Lusts false Imaginations and Intemperances Do they not all proceed from within For if a man be ignorant of the true Nature of things his Understanding and Soul darkened then he is subject to be defiled by every thing for if the Nature of things be not discerned nor distinguished by the Spirit such are always liable to be defiled by every sort of Food or Drink either in Quantity or Quality For where Ignorance governs the extravagant Desires are not bounded For first Every man is defiled by his desires and imaginations as our Saviour Christ saith in another case He that looketh on a Woman and lusteth is defiled thereby the very same is to be understood of all other Uncleannesses both of Body and Mind only the Evils and Defilements are greater when a man proceeds to put in practice those things which he first conceived within by Imaginations for no outward Uncleanness could ever hurt any man if the inside were kept clean If Understanding and the pure Spirit govern within then all unclean Desires and Imaginations are as it were cut off in the bud and not suffered to proceed to a substance and then a man is not desiled either by that which goes out nor by any sorts of Meats Drinks or other things that gointo the Body And so on the contrary when the evil corrupt Nature is awakened and has gotten the inward Government then all the Desires and Imaginations are formed and do proceed from the evil Principle which first defiles the Soul and then afterwards the Body This is the very Root and Foundation of all Uncleanness Superfluity and Intemperance for every property in Nature must be supported and fed on its own Food Hence all sorts of Animals whose predominant Quality and Ascendent chiefly proceeds from the wrathful and unclean Nature do desire a proportionable Food viz. raw flesh and Sordities But on the contrary those Animals whose Dignifications and chief Quality stands in and proceeds from the clean Nature such Creatures also do desire clean Food The same is to be understood in the humane Nature according to the Principle or Property that is awakened and most predominant so is the man either clean or unclean good or evil from thence are all his Desires and Imaginations framed Thus we see that Cleanness and Sobriety in Meats Drinks Exercises c. have a greater Virtue and Excellency in them than People think for their power proceeds from an inward Principle and they endow their Observers with the Riches both of Time and Eternity for Temperance makes all her Lovers truly sensible of God's blessings How sweet is every mean thing to the sober mind And how ready are such men to give the Lord Thanks and humble Acknowledgments for his Mercies They see feel and taste the most pleasant operation of the divine Hand in all things their Bodies are delighted with the meanest of Food their Minds satisfied their Beds easie and their sleep sound they are not subject to indispositions nor molested with Fevers their Heads are not dulled with Fumes nor their Stomachs oppressed with fainting Fits or windy griping Humours they rise as fresh as the Morning Sun and are fit for all Exercises both of the Body and Mind their Radical Moisture flows freely throw every part like a pleasant gale of Wind which moderates the central Fires that they burn not too violently But this excellent state it not obtainable without Self-denial and suffering now and then a little gentle Hunger which cleanseth the Stomach and Passages from all superfluous Matter frees the Spirits from all Imperfections prevents all Obstructions and preserves Health far better than any Physical Evacuations It hath a certain Occult Quality for the digestive Faculty and natural Heat is never idle therefore when the Stomach is not filled with superfluity of Food and often eating it draws away all the superfluous matter that furs and stops the Passages and which were apt to cause shortness of Breath send troublesom Fumes and Vapours to the Crown hinder the free Circulation of the Blood and make the spirits impure These Evils and many others Temperance and moderate Fastings do prevent the Stomach naturally drawing this phlegmy Substance out of all the Vessels and Passages when Meats and Drinks come not too quick and casts the lighter part thereof upwards and the more gross heavier parts downwarns into the Bowels for this reason when a man does fast a little longer than ordinary he will feel a kind of a gnawing or disorder in his Stomach for a little time and then it will cease and after some space do so again the occasion of which is this the natural Heat does very powerfully draw matter unto it self for Sustenance but finding no proper Nourishment makes a separation of the gross phlegmy substance that lodges in the Vessels of the Stomach and casts it forth both upwards and downwards and having done this craves afresh for more work and more proper matter of Aliment Nor should a little Trouble thwarting our Humours debaucht with ill Customs and Wantonness or some small Inconveniencies divert us from getting our selves possest of this Jewel Temperance the true Philosophers-Stone which turns all into the Golden Elixir of Health Content and Serenity since we see none of the little perishing Goods of this World are to be obtained without trouble and difficulty do not Youths serve seven years enduring hard Labour and many other Inconveniencies for a Trade whereby to get an outward Livelihood Do not Men Travel by Sea and Land through a thousand Miseries even to the hazarding of their Lives and Liberties for Meat Drink and a little Rayment And those few that do obtain their desired ends if Temperanee be wanting the enjoyment of them proves not only burdensom but so full of Snares that they had better been without them for Plenty has destroyed more than Necessity some say than the Sword the one having wherewithal to gratifie his superfluous desires and so destroy himself which the other has not What a deal of pains and charge are People at to please their Liquorish Pallates The Indies must be sent to for Rarities and the utmost parts of the Earth for Dainties such abundance such variety provided as if all the Beasts and Fowls in Noah's Ark with an addition of all the Fishes in the Waters and Vegetables of Earth were scarce enough to furnish one Luxurious Board And then what Curiosity in Sawces What fantastick Humors for Dressing The more extravagant and unnatural the more genteel and acceptable forsooth Whereas those things that are necessary to support and preserve the Body in perfect
such Preparations or Digestions be continued the spirituous parts will also either become suffocated or evaporated according to the Nature of the thing as in making and preparing of Hay the gross phlegmatick Body in Grass could not be digested or exhibited but by vertue and power of the Sun and Air but when they have destroyed the gross Humidity and Phlegm if the preparation and making of it be continued that is the Hay continued in the Sun and Air it will exhale and cause the spirituous part to evaporate also The very same or like is to be understood in the preparations of Food for these fiery sulpherous Fumes and Vapours which proceed out of these Vessels all the time of the Boyling being forced back and kept in because gradually more intense and raging and because of the want of the free Influences of the Air the pure Spirits and Balsamick Body are wounded which does destroy the true Natural Colour with the pure Smell and Taste also it makes it lumpish close heavy dull and gross on the Pallate this kind of preparation is likewise heavy and hard of digestion in the Stomach and generates thick Blood and gross Nourishment from whence proceeds dull indispositions with Fumes flying into the Head For the digestive Faculty and true Virtue of all sorts of Food does consist in the Spirituous parts and if any Violence be done to them in the Preparation then such Food becomes dull and half dead for those Fumes and Vapours that Pots and Vessels send forth are of a sulpherous and poysonous Nature as you may perceive if you take up any sort of Food when boyled and presently whilst it is hot cover it close which will force those fiery Fumes back insomuch that the re-entring the Food destroys and suffocates the pure Spirits therefore all such Food will not only be heavy but it will have a dull gross Taste and Smell very unpleasant both to the Pallate and strong of Concoction the truth of this every one knows if they would be so wise as to take notice of it for those sulpherous fumes that Food sends forth as also the Vessels is altogether of a contrary nature to the Heat and genuine Virtue of the Food as you also may perceive so soon as the Food is prepared and taken from the Fire this fiery Heat will of its own accord evaporate and separate it self from the Food it dwells no longer therewith than it is forced by the continuation of the Fire it hath no natural Simile with the Food therefore it will not incorporate its self with it and nothing is more unnatural than to eat and drink any kind of Food whilst those fiery Steems and Fumes be in it for it swells the Body and generates Wind sends Fumes and Vapours into the Head it also infects the Blood with a hot sharp Humour but this unnatural Heat is made by custom the more friendly as you may perceive if you give Dogs or any other Creature Pottage or the like whilst they are Hot will cause a Mange in their Blood The very same operation it hath in men but not so violent because of the continual use of such things In this particular I shall be blamed by many For say they I have found by Experience that cold Food will not agree with my Stomach neither will it satisfie my Appetite This may be true yet nevertheless this does not make it Healthful nor Wholsom for if you use your self and Stomach to the frequent eating and drinking of Physical things your Stomach will long after them and will not be satisfied without them One Example we have amongst others in taking of Tobacco which at first is most unpleasant and loathsom but through Custom and by degrees it hath awakened its Simile in the Elements of the Body and made that Quality strong which at the first taking of it was weak or lay as it were hid under the Qualities that did predominate therefore at the first taking of such poysonous or physical things they generally disorder People but when as it is mentioned before the continual use hath made this weak Quality strong then it oft-times proves as great a difficulty to Refrain it as it was to make it Friendly at the first taking or rather more For in Men is contained the true Nature of all things only one Property does predominate and is stronger than the other which Quality hath the chief dominion in the government of Life Therefore there is a possibility in the Humane Nature to alter or change himself for the better or worse that is through Use and Custom of Meats Drinks Exercises and Communications viz. to make that Quality that in the Radix was weak to become strong and on the contrary that which was strong weak so great is the power of Custom and the continual use of things for every thing be it what it will hath a secret power in its self to awaken its Simile both in the Evil and also in the Good Likewise there ought to be a great care taken that the Food be not over nor under prepared of the two it had better be a little under for as soon as the gross Phlegmatick Body in the Food is digested the pure spirituous parts become Volatile and then if the Preparations be continued they evaporate and go backward towards the Center of Saturn and so loseth its pure Colour Smell and Taste and becomes of a heavy dull Quality and especially if the Vessel be close covered for so soon as the Egress and Regress of the Air is hindred immediately the Spirits suffer Violence For the pure essential Spirits which dwell in the sweet Oyl whence the Fire has its bright shining pleasant and friendly Quality will not endure those violent raging Fumes and Vapours their Nature being understood by their furious Motion and if those fiery Fumes be by the force of covering the Vessel kept in then they become ten-fold more Terrible and Fierce as you may perceive when any Vessel is boyling if you uncover it the Steems fly out like a clap of Thunder indeed all such Fumes and Vapours are of a dark fiery Nature and Operation for being kept in by force they seek out their Center and do by way of Simile incorporate themselves with their like spirits in the Food or whatever else it be so that those fiery sulpherous dark Spirits and Fumes become stronger and more powerful in their operation for they being of a Saturnine and Martial Nature the nature of Saturn is to contract and very vigorously draw and inclose the Spirit which Mars cannot endure and the more Saturn contracteth the more furious and raging Mars becomes as you may perceive by the fiery quick furious Motion such sulpherous Fumes have when you open such Vessels that do boyl which do wound the pure spirituous parts and the Balsamick Body becomes wounded and sick more especially if the preparation of such Food be continued too long For so soon as
so long without corrupting as at other times of the Year but on the contrary in other seasons and when the Flesh is free from the afore-mentioned Inconveniences their Blood being thin and well tempered with brisk and lively Spirits such Flesh being salted as soon as it is cold the Salt will greedily Penetrate it and incorporate it self with the well-tempered Blood and pure Supirits so that it does hold the corrupt Phlegmy part of the Flesh captive that the humidity thereof cannot turn to Putrifaction untill those brisk lively Spirits both in Flesh and Salt be through length of time wasted or suffocated which comes to pass in six eight or twelve Months more or less according to the goodness of it and well ordering and other Accidents and then it will fall into corruption and there is no recovery for it but if the Salt had cleansed and purged the Flesh from its gross humid parts as some say it does then such Flesh would have kept a longer time as all other gross Bodies will when the Sun and Elements have dryed away and exhaled the Phlegmy gross parts and left remaining the more firm and Spirituous which will continue sound and good many Years as many sorts of Corn Fruits and Hay which are altogether as subject to Corruption as Flesh when green and full of Phlegmy Juices but their Putrifaction is not so loathsom nor so offensive to Nature neither will such things generate such pernicious Vermin as Flesh will the matter in Flesh being grosser It was not without great Reason Wisdom that the Ancients commanded that Flesh should be eaten sparingly that there should be a particular care not only taken about the good state of the Bodies of such Cattel but also in the killing and preparing of it the dressing and preparing of all other sorts of Food being left to every ones discretion But the learned Prophet Moses was sensible that the common and frequent eating of Flesh was very dangerous as to the health of the Body and also of the Mind if care and understanding be not used in the Preparation thereof therefore he gave Laws and particular Directions for the ordering and preparing of Flesh but no mention made of other Food therefore Flesh in its best state and otherwise well ordered if much eaten is apt to load the Body with gross Humours and evil Juices but much more in the fore-mentioned seasons 7thly In this season all men do find themselves more subject to Indispositions the Spirits dull and heavy apt to faintness and sooner wearied with Labour than at any other time the Appetite not so quick and lively therefore all sorts of People ought to have double the care as to their Health at this time both in Meats Drinks and Labours also in Quality and Quantity for Intemperances are not so dangerous in the Winter or Spring Nature being then strong and able to bear with less Prejudice This is the time of the Year in which also most sorts of Cattel are subject to Sickness as Sheep to the Rot and other Cattel to Murrains And do not almost the double Number of People sicken and die in this season And is not the flesh of all sorts of Fowls in hot weather lean and poor altho they have more plenty of Food than in Winter But it lies not in the Quantity of Food but in the season of the Year and the Weather for all Heat when it does exceed the Medium evaporates and spends the Spirits and then Nature does presently Languish and the sweet Oyl in the Body turns as it were sower so that there is a general weakness and fainty Indisposition in all Creatures and their Flesh is rendered thereby the more unwholsom and apt to breed Diseases in the Eaters thereof If Sobriety and Temperance were observed and other Circumstances belonging to Health a little Physick would serve But in this Age men may speak and write of Temperance until they are weary for there is not one of an hundred that is willing to observe and conform to its safe and healthful Rules though it cannot be denied but that It is one of the Principal things which puts a delectable sweetness on all our other Enjoyments But few in Health consider these things most being rather of an approving and admiring than a Practising Temper especially of those things they are not in Possession of many men also slight and have no esteem for those things they do or may enjoy letting go the substance and eagerly Pursuing after shadows But seeing that in this Intemperate Age most Persons do live irregular Lives few or none being willing to observe the Rules of Health in their Meats Drinks and Exercises therefore it is convenient for the continuation of Health to take Proper Purgative Medicines both at Spring and Fall tho they are not sensible of any manifest Indisposition by which means they may easily prevent the generation of matter for when Sickness and Distempers have invaded the Body then it will be a difficult point to get such Medicines as are suitable to the Disease and can by their Vertue cure them when the Spirits are wounded and the Distempers and Obstructions in the Body have gotten great power over Nature in such cases the best Medicines do often fail most Diseases being generated gradually as the Intemperances are committed for Nature ever hides the Evil Matter whence Distempers do Proceed as long as she is able but when once the Diseases do manifest themselves with any kind of Violence then there is danger at hand most People being mistaken in Nature for they generally attribute the cause of their Diseases to the least Intemperance or taking Cold or the like never considering how many Disorders and Intemperances they have formerly committed every Act of Intemperance does in some degree obstruct Nature and by degrees sows the seeds of future Diseases not but that outward Colds and the like do hurt Nature and oft-times awaken the matter which lies in the inward Parts and bring it to manifestation but on the contrary when the in-side is clean and free from Obstructions and other Evils the body doth then very rarely receive any injury by such outward Accidents for Nature still endeavours to overcome and withstand the evil matter in the Body and makes several Essays to throw such Disorders off but if Irregularities in Meats Drinks and Labours be continued the Evil at last grows so great that then Nature must bow and Distempers take place This is always to be noted that if any Member or Part of the Body be weakened either by inward Obstructions or outward Accidents as Falls Bruises broken Bones c. and the Person be guilty of any Intemperance or disorderly Living the weak or hurted part first feels it according to the old Proverb The Weakest goes to the Wall It will be convenient if any upon particular occasions be excessive in Meats and Drinks to observe the following Rules which they 'l find to
digestive Quality and there is as great a necessity of the one as the other for the support of Health that which is accounted the worst is as good and benefical to Nature as the best for when the finest Flour is separated from the coursest and branny parts neither the one nor the other have the true Operations of the Flour of Wheat This may be illustrated by the Example of Milk which of it self is mild and nutritive but when it is turned into a Curd or thick Substance there remains a thin and wheyey part both which has not the true Nature Quality and Operation of Milk the Curd being of a hard tough and obstructing Nature and the Whey of a cleansing cold Nature affording but a little Nourishment By what has been said we may gather that the eating of fine Bread is inimical to Health and contrary both to Nature and Reason and was at first invented to gratifie Wanton and Luxurious Persons who are ignorant both of themselves and the true Vertue and Efficacy of natural things But there is a great deal of Care and Skill to be observed in making of Bread that Bread which is Leavened provided it be not too much is the best for the sower Quality that is in it does much help Digestion and sharpens the Appetite and is altogether as pleasant to those that are used to it as Bread made with Yest it is both Wholsomer and of greater Antiquity and more agreeable to the Stomach likewise that Bread is best that is light and full of small Eyes as they call it being well kneaded and throughly baked for the good working of Bread does not only make it pleasant to the Pallat but also renders it easier of Concoction smooth and free from crumbling some make it with warm others with cold Water it matters not which is used for good Bread may be made with either but it is to be noted that after you have wetted and kneaded your Dough you should let it lie an hour or two then work it up into Loaves this way of doing it will make it more light and pleasant but let not your Loves be too big nor too little for your Bread both bakes and eats best when the Loaves are of a middle Size In some Countries they make their Bread with Leaven and the mixture of the Lees of Wine and this makes excellent Bread but care must be taken that your Oven be not too hot nor your Fire too quick but it should be heated gradually and if your Oven chance to be too hot let it stand a while until the fierceness of the Heat be gone or else your Bread will not only be scorched and burned on the outside but will be also unbaked in the in-side if it is not baked enough then it is offensive to the Stomach heavy and unpleasant to the Pallat if over-baked then it is dry and does not afford good Nourishment moreover it is to be baked with a good brisk Heat and not to stand long in the Oven for thereby it will lose that brave Colour wherein it resembles that which it is made of viz. Wheat Bread is one of the best sorts of Food free from Corruption and other evil qualities yet it is made better and worse according to the Judgment of those that make it and according to the kneading and baking thereof that which is not well-wrought will neither bake so well nor so soon as the other Wheaten Bread bakes sooner without than with Rye or Barley Barley is of a Saturnine Grain and of a courser and colder quality than Wheat and affords less Nourishment if the branny parts be not separated from the Flour thereof then it makes excellent Bread and is as well Physick as Nourishment for those that are afflicted with Obstructions of the breast especially such as have proceeded from superfluous and frequent eating of Fat Meats and excessive drinking of strong Liquors the Bread being of a drying and apperitive operation helps Concoction and cleanses Nature and is to be preferred before fine Wheaten Bread Our Citizens and others that live at ease and feed too plentifully on rich and fat Meats have their Stomachs made so slippery by the oily kind of quality of the things they eat that the Retentive faculty of the Stomach cannot long retain the Nourishment but letting it slip out of the Stomach as it were half Concocted causeth griping Pains in the Bowels and flatuous gouty Humours in the Joynts Barley Bread and other mean Food with drinking moderately and using Field Labour and Exercises are excellent Antidotes against these and many other Diseases Rie also is an excellent Grain of a cooling opening Quality it makes some of the best Bread if it be mixed with Wheat for it is not so apt to obstruct Nature as Bread made of Wheat alone 'T is true this Bread at first will not be very toothsome and pleasant to those that are accustomed to eat and drink of the best and richest things neither will it appear to be so wholsom for it is apt to gripe a little but this proceeds from the Nature of the Grain which is to open and cleanse And I dare affirm that they who use it will attribute many good Vertues to it such as these It cools the Body it opens and frees the Passages from Obstructions and prepares and sharpens the Appetite but it is to be supposed that the branny parts be used with the flour otherwise it is not so wholsom yet the coursest of the Bran is to be separated from the other I have more than once told you that the purest and finest of the Flour of most Grains is of a glutinating clamming and obstructing Nature But on the contrary this Grain contains within it a certain slippery and moist Quality which helps Concoction and sharpens the Appetite therefore they are not to be separated for as the one has a Nutrimentive Quality and Operation so the other has a Digestive and opening Quality the Qualities of Nature standing as it were in equal weight and measure there can be no supervacuous and unnecessary Property in this or any other sort of Bread for when once the sweet Harmony and Concord of the parts are broken the Nature of the thing is changed and contrary operations must needs follow in one and the same body That the branny and husky part is good in any Grain it will further appear by this one familiar Example If you give to Horses that commonly eat Oates Wheat Barley c. wherein is more flour and less brau than in the other it will heat the Blood and cause Diseases for as the latter is stopping and obstructive and over-heats the body so the other is cooling and cleansing but the better way of feeding this kind of Animals is to give them the Corn in the Straw which upon trial will be found to be excellent strengthening and nourishing Food and that from the Straw and Chaffy part mixed with their
Flesh sparingly as most Nations do England excepted In France Spain and Portugal and other Countries a pound of Flesh with Herbs and Roots will make a Dinner for four or five People But an English man will eat at one Meal a Pound or two of fat Flesh and scarcely a bit of Bread with it there are but too many in this Nation that follow this dangerous and noxious custom Turnips being a very good and wholsom Root I recommend them to every Bodies use especially to those that eat Flesh plentifully I confess when they are eaten by themselves they afford but weak Nourishment and are a Phlegmatick kind of Food you must have a care what Ground you sow them in for all sorts of Ground will not bear good Turnips Doctors say that they are a Physical Root and an Antidote and Remedy against Consumptions and several other Diseases but I know no such Vertue in them yet they are good for weak Stomachs being easie of Concoction for always weak heats should have a proportionate quantity of Food And I cannot think as some imagin that they are so proper for languishing Diseases because they are of a watry cold Nature in themselves and do breed but unfirm Nourishment besides they seldom come to Maturity until the declining part of the Year viz. September and October c. at which time the central heat of the Earth being weak all its Productions are also weak and endowed with gross phlegmy and cold Juices for the Sun being in its Declension brings all things under the like Circumstance Therefore all things viz. Herbs and Roots which are brought forth in this Season are of a sainty and weak Nature neither are they so good for Food or Physick besides Roots are not so good in cold Countries as Fruits and Herbs are being generally more cold and earthy because they want the friendly Influences of the Sun and Air Therefore Roots have not that pleasant fragrant Smell and Taste which Herbs Fruits c. have But Turnips Potatoes c. that grow almost in the top and surface of the Earth are better than other Roots and more familiar to our Natures than such as grow deeper in the Ground because they participate more of the Influences both of the Air and Sun than the other when they are boyled in good Water and eaten with Butter Salt and Bread they are good food both for the Sick and the Healthy The Carrot is a Root next in Goodness and Vertue to this the best sort of them are those which are of the deepest Red Colour when they are eat in their proper season they are a pleasant wholsom Root which is from the Month of July to the Month of December or thereabout after that time they are not so wholsom especially those that are taken out of the Ground and kept all the Winter and Spring This Root being eaten presently after it is pulled up out of the Ground and when it is well ordered is not much inferiour to Turnips they being of an opening and cleansing Nature easie of Concoction and may with safety be eaten plentifully either without or with Flesh. The Colour of Carrots do declare that there is an excellent Vertue in them Next to this is a Parsnip which is a good hearty Root yet not so good a Friend to Nature as the other two for they are harder of Concoction and being eaten are much apter to create Obstructions in the Stomach and breed a grosser kind of Nourisâ—ment and consequently a thicker and grosser Blood It is not good to keep this Root above a day or two before 't is used for then they 'll prove dull upon the Pallat strong in their taste and smell heavy and hard of Digestion and this proceeds from the evaporation of the spirituous parts as well before as in their preparation for the Spirit is the Life of the oily body and the oily body is the House of the Spirit and the one cannot subsist without the other the eating of them immediately after they are plucked up out of the Ground must then be the fittest time That the Fruits Herbs and Grains which our own Climate produceth are more Natural and Proper to maintain Strength and preserve Health than those that come from other Countries especially from hot Every Country and Climate does by God's Divine Appointment and good Providence bring forth such Herbs Fruits and Grains as are proper and most agreeable to the Constitutions of the People born in that place both for Food and Physick as the Lord in the beginning did tell Adam That every green Herb and Seed should be for Food Do we not see that those that are born and bred in Spain or Italy and they that dwell in Turkey do differ much from us both in their Complexions Manners and also in their Customs every Country differing from another in their distinct Inclinations and Fashions according to the Nature of that place and the Elevation of the Pole they are under And as each Country has distinct Languages which cannot be understood by People born in other Climates so have they likewise different Constitutions Inclinations and Complexions their Herbs Fruits and Grains differing in their Quality and Operation These great differences both of Languages and of all other things that is between each Country is not caused by the Sea which divides each Country from another but from the differences of places for every Hundred Miles through the whole Universe the People differ and their Speech so that if a man Travel five Hundred Miles he shall not be capable to understand one Word of an Hundred Do we not see this in our own Country where those that live in the North cannot understand those of the West which is caused from the differing Elevations of the Pole and Influences of the Sun with concurring Constellations which also causes all other things to differ both in their Nature and Operations for this Reason one place is more famous than another in respect of divers things and if our own Country doth vary and differ so much in the compass of three or four hundred Miles what do those remote parts that are distant from us many thousand Miles as the East and West-Indies The People of those places in all particulars do much differ from us in their Complexions Constitutions Religions Inclinations Governments Shapes and Languages their Animals such as their Beasts Birds Fishes c. are all of them of a different Nature Shape and Form from ours so also are their Herbs Fruits and Grains both those that are proper for Food and also for Physick Do not the Northern cold Climates give all the beasts of the Field hardy Constitutions and Natures and warm Cloathing From whence come your brave thick Furs Do not the Creatures in cold Countries produce them And do not the Sheep in cold Climates afford abundance of strong Wool Whereas the Sheep in hot Countries produce but a little Wool and that which is very
fine and many of their Creatures have hardly any Wool or Hair on them The wonderful and wise Creator hath endued every Country and Climate with such a permanent Nature even in the beginning as brings forth Herbs Fruits and Grains which are proper and most agreeable to the Natures and Constitutions of the People born in that place And as the cold Countries produce abundance of Cloth and Furs so on the contrary hot Climates afford Silks and find Calicoes and the like which are not proper nor useful for us neither are ours for them How contrary to Reason and Nature it is for men in cold Countries to cloath themselves with Silk and fine Calico And so on the contrary for those in hot Countries to cloath themselves with our strong thick Woolen Cloth and Furs But mens Health is not so much endangered by outward Garments as by too great an Indulgence of Nature in the use of Meats and Drinks the one being External and the other Internal It is known by Experience that the mixing of the East and West-Indian and Spanish Fruits with our Food and Drinks have encreased Diseases and made the People more sickly than in former Ages with many new Distempers which had not any existence among us for most or all those things that are brought from those Countries are not proper for Food and are also endued with contrary Natures to the Fruits and Grains our own Country produceth as all sorts of Spices Nutmegs Cloves Mace Cinnamon Pepper and Ginger they are all extream hot and dry and are not proper to be used but in a Physical way and indeed we do not need them in that way neither for we have Herbs and Roots that grow in our own Climate more proper for that use though the Physicians have been as willing to deceive the People as the Merchants by telling them the many excellent Vertues contained in them Yet it cannot be denied but that those Spices are Excellent in their Nature and Operation though not proper for our Constitutions nor to be mixed among our Food and Drinks for that Food in which such things are mixed does by degrees destroy the Natural Heat of the Stomach drying up the Radical Moisture and those cool Vapours which would otherwise refresh the whole Body keeping of it pleasant making the Spirits brisk and full of Life this pleasant Quality is destroyed by Eating and Drinking such things in which Spices Sugars and Spanish Fruits are mixed it makes the Blood also of a hot sharp keen quality and causes thick hot Fumes to ascend into the Head making the Head Hands and Feet and all the external parts to glow with an unnatural Heat it deadens and dulls the Action of the Stomach and takes away the sharpness of the Appetite this may be known to every one if they would observe the operation of such things for they are unequal in their parts the heat bearing a predominacy in them they do by Similes cause all sorts of Foods and Drinks with which the are mixed to become like themselves viz. Unequal if great care be not taken And the worst of all is after our Stomachs are accustomed to such things we cannot be well satisfied without them for they are in some degree like Wine whereof if a man drink frequently he cannot without a great deal of Trouble and some Hazard as to his Health refrain from it the like is true in drinking of Brandy and taking of Tobacco which Customs are far more dangerous than the former For every sort of Food and Drink in which Nature is in its Properties Unequal does powerfully stir up and beget its likeness in the Stomach causeth Nature to be unequal in her Operations for no sorts of Meats or Drinks do more destroy the Health and Welfare of Nature than those that contain too much Nourishment and whose predominant quality is too hot which generally is the effects of all such Foods and Drinks in which the above-mentioned Ingredients are mixed When I consider the strange and unnatural mixture and the variety of Meats and Drinks that are too commonly used I cannot admire the Unhealthiness of our Age And certainly if this Nation do continue and encrease their eating and drinking the improper Fruits Spices Wines and other things that are the Products and Growths of other Countries as has been done for these forty or fifty years last past we shall be corrupted in our Radixes as too many are already all those things being now commonly used which have greatly encouraged other Nations to make such quantities of them as that they are become so Cheap that it is scarcely worth the Merchants while to bring them over for where there was one pound of Sugar spent forty or fity years ago now there is a Thousand and where there was then one quart of Wine drunk there is now Ten Thousand The use of Tobacco and Brandy a hundred years since was hardly known nay the use of our Ale and Beer has hardly been above two hundred years which now we account most Natural there is somewhat may be said against Beer but because it is made of our own Grain I shall not say any thing here of its Nature or Operation having treated of it in another place Great hath been the Increase of those Foreign Ingredients of late years insomuch that they are esteemed good to be mixed among common Food and Drinks as also to be taken Physically for you may hear many say that Tobacco is good to prevent Fumes and Vapours from flying into the Head and so make it their constant practice to take it Now if this had any such operation as they say the constant use of it would destroy its Vertues the same may be alledged of Brandy Wine Spices c. It is to be noted and pitied that Aged People do not only eat and drink such things as are hurtful but they mix Spices Sugars and Fruits among all their Childrens Food and between whiles give them Wine and strong Drink which must be very Injurious to their Health for all Children are tender both as to their Spirits and Bodies and because they are growing their Nature requires great store of moisture which can be no otherways maintained but by a simple and mean Food and Drink If you mix their Food with Sugars Wine Spices and Spanish Fruits they will certainly over-heat the Body stop the Pores dry up the Radical Moisture hinder the pure moist Vapours of the Air that they cannot penetrate the Body These destroy the Stomach blunt the edg of the Appetite contracting the Vessels of their Stomachs making them lean or Consumptive and in others breed abundance of gross Phlegmatick Humors all according to the Nature of each Child's Constitution It causeth likewise all their external parts to burn and glow with unnatural Heat generating many Windy and Watery Diseases and Evil Juices in their Joynts All these Maladies are much augmented by other indulgent ways Women use towards
weak that they are not able to make a perfect Concoction or Separation for such Food is apt to fur the Passages and breed abundance of evil Juices which fills the whole with gross Phlegmatick Humours that makes it dull heavy and indisposed 5. Women ought not to drink Wine or strong Drink which are bad for Men but an hundred fold worse for Women especially Brandy and all distilled Liquors and Spirits for all such Drinks do not only destroy the natural Heat causing the Stomach to become cold and attended with a sick qualmishness but also send Fumes into the Head weaken the whole Body and giveoccasion for the Generation of Windy Diseases and Vapours and indeed all strong Drinks if not very sparingly taken destroy the Health of the Female Sex being contrary to their Tempers for their Heats being weak in comparison of Mens and their Spirits few therefore every inequality is harmful to them and their Children Besides they are subject to various Diseases which cannot happen to Men and of all these strong Liquor is an especial promoter and therefore the Philosophical Ancients alotted only Water for Womens drink And if our Women were but sensible of the ill Consequences of their frequent Sipping of strong Drinks they would be as far from doing it as those in other Countries there being hardly any Women in the known World that are such great Drinkers and lovers of strong Liquors as the English neither are any so turbulent fiery and Masculine Spirited as accordingly they are troubled with various Diseases to which the Women in other Countries are strangers Furthermore strong Drinks if not sparingly taken heat the Blood causing sharp salt Humours to possess it which also makes their Milk hot and windy very prejudicial to Children for whatever Inconveniences the Mother suffers the Child partakes thereof both in the time of Pregnancy or breeding and whilst it sucks Therefore Moderation and Temperance both in quantity and quality is highly necessary for them because the whole preservation of mankind does in an especial manner depend on their prudent living 6. If Women have regard to their own Health and the Preservation of their Children they ought not to eat any Food hotter than their Blood but after their Food is prepared let it stand open that the fiery sulpherous Vapours may freely pass and fly away for those Steems are very prejudicial to all Peoples Heath but more especially to the Females And this ought to be observed in Flesh above all other Food and also in Puddings and the like things that are of a gross strong Quality and so have the greater power to retain those fiery Steams which are of an hot griping windy Nature and causing a Mank or Scurvy in the Blood and makes the Milk windy and sharp which violently gripes the poor young tender Babe that sucks it 'T is true Use not only Familiarizes the most unnatural things but renders them as it were Natural and in some respects almost Necessary witness Tobacco-smoaking to such as are besotted to it so that often times the leaving off those ill Habits do prove very hard and difficult nay sometimes the abrupt leaving them is as dangerous as the Evils that flow from the constant use of them so easily is Nature depraved and turn'd out of her simple way Thus such as have long used themselves to hot Foods if at any time they miss them and are forc'd to make shift with cold then their Stomach seems empty and unsatisfied only because 't is depraved and for want of a little Custom of eating cold Hence many believe that there is good Nourishment and Vertue in hot Food viz. better than in the same Food cold or as warm as the Blood nay many are so fond of this fiery sulpherous Steam or pernicious Vapour that the good Dame will be angry with her Maid if by any neglect she let this precious Steam fly away calling all the Family to come quickly lest the Meat be cold and as she calls it gâ—â—d for nothing Whereas in truth it will be then much the more wholsom for those pernicious sulpherous Fumes ought to be separated from the Meat before it be received into the Body And a little use of eating cold Food would remove all such ill Habits and make cold Meats and Drinks more friendly and satisfactory to Nature and help to prevent the Generation of all windy Diseases Furthermore as cold Food does sharpen the Appetite so neither will the same quantity thereof swell the Body or indispose Nature so much as the like quantity of hot Victuals will and the Body will feel it self more airy and lightsomer 'T is true hot Food will heat the Body especially all the external parts but then it is an unnatural heat which is more burthensom than pleasant for the fiery sulpherous Steems that remain in Food after 't is prepared are of the very same Nature and Operation as the heat of Charcoal and so Experience will teach you that 't is very unwholsom to hold ones Head over the Steems that proceed either from boyld or baked Foods or over Furnaces or Pots or which proceed from Ovens for they take away the Complexion and make People look Pale and Weakly now if their Operations externally have such a visible ill effect how much more Prejudicial will they be when internally received and with the Food swallowed into the Body Possibly in some strong Constitutions those Inconveniences may not be felt till Age comes on but few then are free from them tho insensibly from what causes they proceed Also it is to be noted that this fiery heat Food does retain after 't is prepared is contrary unto the natural Heat both of the Food and the Stomach too and will no longer remain than whilst 't is forced by the constant heat of the Fire and then of its own accord will separate and fly away as soon as 't is removed from the Fire in an humid Vapour which Fumes if they be stopt by covering such Foods so that they cannot separate and fly away then they will re-enter and â—â—use the Meat to eat strong and fulsom In a word 't is nothing but Custom that makes hot Foods easie and agreeable but all the Custom in the World can never make them so natural and friendly as Cold after a little use 7. They ought to accustom themselves to moderate Exercises in open Airs which is profitable for all People but especially for those of the fair Sex for it hardens and strengthens Nature begets a good Appetite prevents Obstructions breeds good Blood and pure Spirits which renders the whole Body lightsom and pleasant nothing next Temperance in Meats and Drinks being more profitable than moderate Motion and Airy Houses and Rooms and not to pen up themselves as many do in close hot Rooms with great Fires which prevents the most pleasant and friendly Element the Air that it cannot have its free Influencies and so what Air does remain in
of their Blood obstructed which occasions many Infirmities as loss of Appetite stoppages of the Breast and Generation of that universal Disease the Wind which is a mortal Enemy to Children Also this hard binding does often deform the Body and destroy the Proportions of the Limbs and Joynts which are easily forced out of due place in those tender Years which brings a great deal of uneasiness and torture to them and proves of very evil consequence as to Health as many of our fine-Citizens Wives and others may know by woful Experience Indeed these preposterous ways are so contrary and disagreeing to Nature that thereby is destroyed the chief pleasure and delight of young Children but to make them amends for such their hard Usage and Deformities if they happen with difficulty to out-live Childhood their Parents being much concerned at the crookedness and disproportions of their Children which themselves have chiefly occasioned must needs send for the Iron or Steel-Bodice-maker which rarely doth any good but generally the contrary putting Youth to unspeakable Misery to no purpose and this conceited Remedy proves of as dangerous consequence to many as the first Original Evil Therefore these Courses ought to be avoided for they bring many Distempers on the Body which Nature is never able to out-grow especially in weak Constitutions for they infeeble the whole Body cause the Contusion of the Breast lay Foundations for Consumptions and cause many to have pale thin Complexions weak Joynts c. Of Food fit for Children and the contrary Also of Quantity and Quality The best Food for young Children next their Mothers Milk is good Cows Milk raw with some crumbs of Bread in it always observing that it first stand till it be cold after 't is milkt before you give it them For 't is a great Error in Physicians and others to advise consumptive People to drink Milk hot from the Cow for that Heat is of a Windy Quality that swells the Body and sends Fumes into the Head and is harder of concoction than the same Milk is when 't is cold Touching which I desire not that any Body should take my bare Word in opposition to the Learned but it being so easie and familiar a thing let them try and then they shall know by Experience Therefore I say in Summer your Children may eat it Cold but in the Winter you may warm it as hot as your Blood or if you have a desire to alter it the best way is to boyl it adding some Water to it with a little Flour and sometimes Oat-meal but remember that it do not boyl too long nor too thick for that makes it of a grosser Nature and harder of Digestion and breeds thicker Blood which is of ill consequence to Children I know Mistress Nurse will be offended that I talk of giving Children Raw Milk But I must tell her that properly the same ought not to be called Raw because it hath passed through several Digestions and Fermentations even to the highest degree so that it is not inferior to Womens Milk and much better than most of theirs because of their Infirmities and improper Foods and Drinks And Womens Milk may as properly be counted Raw as the Cows to whom I know no Creature comparable for Sweetness Cleanness and Wholsomness their breathing is an excellent Perfume and their very Excrement is little less and yet our good Dames would think it a sad business if they should give their Children unboyled Milk whereas the boyling thereof destroys the wheyey part of it and fixes it and makes it thicker and harder of Concoction but on the contrary Raw Milk as they call it that is unboyled is of a cleansing Quality easie of Digestion carries away downwards all windy matter out of the Stomach and Vessels and causeth it to pass away freely there being no sort of Food or Physick like it so that 't is an excellent Remedy to prevent all Convulsions and griping Pains of the Stomach attending windy Diseases in Children And when Children begin to be capable to eat harder Food then Bread and Butter and Bread and Cheese will be good Food for them provided that the Cheese be not too old nor too stale and strong for such Cheese is very injurious to Children heating the Blood and causing too great a Drought But most Foods that are in use in this wanton superfluous Age are improper for Children one of which is much in use among the richest sort and indeed most People now-a-days feed their Children with it viz. Water-Pap that is Bread and Water supposing that sort of Food to be light of Concoction which is a great mistake for Bread the chief Ingredient therein has already passed through the highest Preparation it is capable of for the first preparation in all sorts of Food does digest and destroy the crude Body of Phlegm and sets the spirituous parts at liberty which by a second Preparation must be destroyed and then such Foods and Drinks become dull and heavy and lie hard upon the Stomach yielding but a bad Nourishment breeding thick gross Blood whence proceed Stoppages and many Infirmities of the Breast and are so contrary to Nature that those that do prepare any sort of Food a second time are forced to add some predominating strong Ingredients that are rich as Sugar Spice and Spanish Fruits to hide the Qualities of the first and grand Ingredients for who could indure to eat Bread and Water boyled together alone or Bread and Ale or Bread and Wine And yet all these in themselves and without any alteration are very pleasant and wholsom Furthermore all fat Flesh is very hurtful to Children for it furs and oyls the Stomach and Passages and in some Children whose retentive and digestive Faculties are weak and the Expulsive strong it quickly slips out of the Stomach into the Bowels and loosens the Belly too violently causing griping Pains especially when Flesh is not good and at some certain seasons of the Year Likewise all kinds of strong Drinks are Abomination unto the Natures of Children it drys and heats them infects the Blood with sharp mangy Humours and Diseases evaporates the pure volatile Spirits c. But of all sorts of Drinks the most fit and proper for Children is Water the next is small Beer that is well brewed All kind of melted Butter and fryed Food be they what they will are hurtful to the Health of all People if not very sparingly taken but more especially to Children for Butter has passed through several Digestions and Fermentations that have opened the gross body and made the spirituous parts flying or volatile and therefore if Butter stand open a little while in the Air it destroys the goodness and pure brisk taste of it but if it be committed to the Fire then the pure Vertue is immediately suffocated or evaporated and then it turns into a gross strong Oyl which is very offensive to Nature but many to prevent its running into Oyl will
but they are never the better satisfied nor eased but rather increase the Pain thereby I am confident abundance of People can witness this to be true from their own Experience and yet will not consider or regard the true Reason or Causes of it For it is a gross Mistake when any shall feel their Stomachs gnaw or gripe in this manner to run presently to the Cupbord and think thereby to cure that defect which for the most part does but increase it and no longer gives ease than the Food or Drink is in the Mouth for this evil habit of the Stomach does not proceed from want of Food or Nourishment but through sharp crude superfluous Matter which dulls and disables the Natural Heat that it cannot perform its due Office of Digestion for where Food is thus too frequently cramm'd in the digestive Faculty has not power to make separation which does as it were suffocate the pure Spirits and then presently the sweet Oyl or Juices of such Food turns either of a keen sowr or bitter Quality according to the disorder or nature of each man's Stomach and Constitution which depraved Juices disperse themselves into several parts of the Body enfeebling the Joynts and Members wounding the Spirits and making room for outward Colds and the like Accidents to take place for Colds do rarely seize any part of the Body provided the Accident be not too extream except first there be some inward defect or weakness as may appear by those that are troubled with stoppages of the Breast whom every petty Accident nay even the alteration of the Air shall sensibly afflict But as Nature abhors all Extreams so on the other side over-long Fasting does help to generate windy Diseases especially in infirm People whose natural Heats are weak and Spirits few for they will soon grow fainty and Fumes and Vapors will be apt to fly up into their Heads and when they come to eat a small matter makes them sick for too long fasting does spend and evaporate the Spirits and waste the Radical Moisture and hurt the digestive Faculty so that after eating and drinking the Senses seem to be stupified and the whole Body sleepy and indisposed and besides after such long Fasting People are apt to strain Nature by taking more Meat and Drink than she can bear Therefore a Mean is safest in all things for if any refrain from Food too long the Action of the Stomach is so vigorous and its attractive Faculty so powerful that it preys on the natural Spirits and radical Moisture so that you shall then find a very imperfect Appetite whence comes that common Saying I have out-fasted my self or My Stomach is gone For the strength and perfection of the Palate and Stomach consists in the strength and vigor of the Spirits and radical Moisture therefore both superfluous eating and drinking and also immoderate fasting do generate Diseases and cause Indispositions both in the Body and Mind Therefore it is not so commendable nor so healthy to make but one Meal in twenty four hours as to make two moderate Meals in that space for otherwise there is apt to be too great an Emptiness and too eager an Hunger which makes People give themselves such a freedom of eating as thereby the Vessels aâ—e stretched by the great quantities of Food which makes such have great Bellies and prove fat and gross But though they will eat but once a day yet many of them that are able to come by it do give themselves the liberty of drinking lusty Evening-draughts which do so stupifie the Senses and heat the Blood and furr the Passages so that it is no wonder that they are not prepared for a Breakfast In a word there is nothing so safe nothing so pleafant as Temperance and to observe proper times and feasons for eating and drinking and keeping within the bounds of what is necessary both in quantity and quality And this we must aver That as the world goes few there are that hurt their Health with Fasting in comparison of those Multitudes that destroy themselves by Superfluities nor is it so dangerous a consequence if any competent care be taken It is also to be observed That all kinds of Food ill prepared is hurtful and apt to forward those Windy Distempers for any Food that is too much or too little drest or under or over-prepared is prejudicial to the Health but over-prepared is the more hurtful of the two unless where it is very much too little done for over-preparation be it of what you will does in a great measure destroy the brisk lively Spirits which renders such Food of a heavy dull gross Nature and Operation so that it cannot administer such proper Nourishment nor can the natural heat of the Stomach draw such pure Spirits from it as otherwise it would yield for it cannot give what it has not 'T is therefore a great Error as to Health to overprepare Food as the custom of some is viz. to boil Flesh so long till 't is ready to fall to pieces which many do because the Broth should draw forth all the strength and vertue also they boil it in but small quantity of Water with the Pot or Vessel covered by which means the Broth loseth its proper and natural Complexion and becomes of a dull reddish Colour mixt with black which is very pernicious both to those that are in health and such as are already sickly but especially for weak consumptive people whom Physicians generally order to eat of such Pottages for their natural Heats being weak and Spirits low these unnatural Preparations gross Foods do further the growth of their Distempers for all such Pottages have lost their pure spirituous parts and volatile vertues in the preparation and are loathsom to Nature especially to weak people because by the small quantity of Water long boiling and the grosness of such Flesh the lively Vertues and Tiuctures are destroyed and therefore such Goods lose their natural Colour and fragrant Sent and become strong and fulsome for no preparation ought to be continued any longer than the crude body be opened and the gross matter digested for if it be continued longer then the pure spirituous parts will evaporate The Intention of kinds of Preparation is to digest the phlegmatick gross Parts that thereby the spiritual Vertues may he set at liberty but then if the Preparation be continued your Fire will serve you as the Celestial Fire viz. the Sun and Elements do the Husband-man when he makes his Hay or the Malster his Malt for first the Sun exhales the gross Body and phlegmatick Parts of the Grass or Herbs and sets the Spirit at liberty which perfumes the whole Field with most delectable Odors but if this Hay be continued too long in the Sun and open Air its spirituous Quality will also be exhaled and then it will become like Salt that hath lost its savour good for little but the Dunghil The very same is to be
of his Pope or the command or instigation of some bloody sottish Belly-God devilish Priest be ready nay zealous to kill burn and destroy the Innocent and lay waste whole Countries all which is contrary to all kinds of Friendliness and Humanity and also to God's Law in Nature and to the Law of God recorded in th Scriptures Which shews that Men are gone from and do trample under their feet the divine friendly Love and Light of God and all natural Affection and Humanity and have immersedtheir Wills and their whole Hearts and Souls and precipitated them into the fiery stern Wrath of God having no humane clemency but acted by the cruel fierce nature of Dogs Lions Swine c And as those savage Beasts do delight to kill hurry oppress tear and eat the Blood of their Fellow Creatures so most men place their chief delight and pleasure in hunting killing oppressing and devouring not only those of their own kind which is contrary to most of the worst of Beasts for few of them will prey upon or worry those of their own Species but all other Creatures None of the Elements are free from his Snares and Cruelties the Earth the Air the Sea cannot preserve their innocent Inhabitants from his pursuits and outrages but he rifles the whole Creation and yet still all is too little to satisfie his insatiate Mind and ungodly devouring Paunch so great a Tyrant and Devil is he become to all the rest of his Fellow-Citizens of the World 'T is this proud and troublesome Thing called Man that fills the Earth with Blood and the Air with mutherous Minerals and Sulphur no wonder then if the very sight of a Man be more dreadful to most Creatures than that of a Bear or Lion and they will flie from him as fast Those Beasts that are called clean are such as do refuse all kind of unclean Food for the predominate Quality in them consists in the friendly Nature or their Properties are nearer the Equality Therefore such Creatures as they are more clean so also are they more gentle and friendly in Inclinations and Dispositions it being contrary to their Natures to worry oppress or seek the Lives of their Fellow-Creatures but are contented with their innocent and natural Food they are the only useful and beneficial Creatures unto Man his perpetual Friends by vertue of their Fruits his Life is sustained but for the multitude of their Benefits he rewards them with Oppression and Death nor will content himself with the good things they produce for his Sustenance as Milk Butter Cheese Eggs c. but must also kill them and eat their Blood and dead Carcasses Now if Man had not suffered the Hellish Devilish Nature to have been awakened in him he then would not have desired nor longed after the Oppressions and Flesh-pots of Egypt but would have rested content with innocent harmless Food of the Land of Canaan but the wrathful Fire being so greatly moved and predominating in the Hearts and Souls of Mankind above and over the divine friendly Love of God no Food will give satisfaction unto nor answer the hunger and desires of that awakened wrathful Property so well as Flesh and Blood because it is the highest Life and hath a nearer Affinity to that predominating Quality that so bears sway in most Men's Hearts I look upon it as a great Mistake for a Man to say and believe That all these good Creatures were made to be killed and eaten and that Men's Lives should be sustain'd thereby The Lord made all Creatures for his honour and glory and for the reasonable service and use of Mankind whom he ordered to have dominion over all Creatures which Man has lost by suffering his Desires to enter into the wrathful fierce bestial nature which the Humanity ought not to have touch'd for Man is higher graduated and ought not to have bowed himself to those inferiour Powers nor suffered their low bestial Spirits to enter him for God made Man in his own Image the Horizon of both Worlds the Epitome of the whole Creation so that he is liable to be wrought upon by all inferiour things If this were not so there would not be any such danger of infecting the humane Nature by Communications oppressing killing and eating the Flesh of the Beasts for where nothing is there nothing can be awakened as our Saviour Christ said If your Children ask you for Bread will you give them a Stone There being no affinity between the Stomach and a Stone but on the contrary there is agreement between Bread and the Stomach Whatsoever Man gives way or joyns himself unto the same through a little custom and practice will have power to impose its own Property and captivate the Soul Hence it comes to pass that Butchers Souldiers and all Men that are of robustick slavish Employments are for the most part cruel inhumane subject to all the savage Bestiality that the wild Beasts and Birds of Prey are and oft-times far worse for Beasts do only live in the wrath of the outward Nature but Man does both partake and live in the operation of the outward and also of the hellish Nature Therefore 't is no fit comparison to liken some sorts of cruel Men to savage Beasts for thereby the poor dumb Creatures are abused They do according to their kind but Man was made for another Life viz. to live in the power and operation of the divine Principle of God's eternal Light and Love but he has degenerated from his first state of Innocency and many Men by giving way to Cruelty and Violence are become so bad that they cannot be compared to any Creature in Nature but merely to Devils O! how abominable and wicked a thing it is in the sight of the Lord and his friendly Love in Iesus Christ for Men to take his holy Name in vain by their Swearing Lying Stealing Cheating Circumventing each other Fighting Killing counting it no Evil to hurry oppress worry both Man and Beast spending their precious time in Wantonness and all kind of Superfluity of Naughtiness and Intemperance making it a Sport and Pastime Good-Fellowship and Civil Neighbourhood to be drunk to eat to Gluttony and to keep Tables filled with Superfluities is counted Hospitality and a Thing of State On the contrary to eat and drik only for ends and necessities of Nature of ready simple harmless Meats and Drinks is held poor base and beggarly and derided by most that have wherewithal to do otherwise making the Creator as it were the cause of their Wantonness saying Has not God given us those Creatures freely for our use May we not do what we will with them Are they not cur own These are the common Excuses of these wretched Belly-Slaves not considering that most or all those good Creatures which they spend on their Lusts and to gratifie their wicked Inclinations are gotten by their oppressing both Man and Beast eating and drinking the Blood of the poor and the
with Superfluity but they are plain noble and modest sufficient to defend us from the Injuries of the Elements We use not many Words in our Buying and Selling neither do we praise the things we sell beyond the true Value nor dispraise the things we buy for Interest or without understanding the true Goodness or Value We flatter not those we get by and speak lightly of better Men We suffer not our Commodities to be undervalued and our selves to have the Lye without giving them Reproof in hopes we shall get a Chap-man nor are we patient when abused by our Chap-men holding our peace for hopes of Gain neither are we moved to Passion for the like Affront when Interest is not at stake Our Nobles Governours and Princes are not distinguished from the meaner sort of People by their great Palaces rich Cloathing and Ornaments or number of Chariots Foot-men Horses and the like they have no other Marks of Distinction but only their white Robe Our Clergy do not command a Day to be set apart for divine Worship and suffer the Rich to make their Servants and Cattel work and take no notice of them and punish the Poor for the like Offence We can send our Children to Market to buy any Commodity if they can but speak plain and not fear being wronged Nay we can send them to Smithfield to buy Horses for we have no Jockies or Horse-Coursers amongst us who do make it their chief Business to sell counterfeit Wares Neither do our Leathern Doublets stock their Cows that is not to milk them in three or four Days before they bring them to Market or expose them to Sale which doth not only put the Creatures to much pain but it stints them that they will give but little Milk the following Summer We do not make that Day which we set apart for the Worship of God a Day of Feasting Drunkenness and Gluttony Neither do we deck our selves with rich Ornaments to draw unto us every gazing Eye which doth render the Mind uncapable of every good Work Neither do we live in Superfluity and at the same time suffer our Poor to want Bread For this cause those Days that are by us set apart for divine Worship we with one Consent do fast or live more than ordinarily abstemious which done every one casts up his Account and what he doth find he hath saved of what his usual Expence is that he gives to the use of the Poor Also we have many other Fasting Days in the Year as Christmass Easter Whitsuntide and the like at which times we observe an extraordinary degree of Temperance and what we save thereby we put into the Poor's Box. Also when there are any extraordinary Bargains made between Buyers and Sellers whereas the Men of Mode do agree to have chargeable Treats and superfluous Dinners which we give to the Poor and many other things of this nature And at the Years end every Man casts up his Account and for every Pound he hath increased his Stock so many Six Pences he gives into the common Treasure for the use of the Poor so that they are well provided for and Money to spare for other necessary Uses What we formerly spent in superfluous Feasts Garments and other Extravagances of this nature we now put to good Uses as the Planting of Trees of all sorts especially of Fruit which do supply us with Drink and Food and bring forth without plowing or sowing Also we employ a great number of People in making of good Roads and High-ways both for Foot and Horse but especially for Foot for we do accustom our selves to go on foot we seldom ride except on extraordinary Occasions We have but one Apothecary in a City and he is admitted to sell no other Cordial but only good Wine neither is Wine to be sold in any other place We never eat or very rarely drink between Meals our Set-Times of Eating are at Nine in the Morning and Five in the Afternoon Neither do we sit an Hour or two feeding on Varieties nor entice one another by feigned Intreaties to eat more than Nature requires but every one of us take as much Food and Drink as is fit and suitable to Nature as Reason and Wisdom shall govern him We eat many sorts of Food without any other Preparation but only what Nature hath done to our hands as Milk various sorts of Herbs Fruits and sometimes Eggs Neither do we eat any of our Food hotter than our Blood but for the most part quite cold especially in Summer and moderate Seasons We account our selves Gluttons if we do not feel our selves more pleasant airy brisk and lively after Eating than before We use our selves to gentle Exercises in open airy places Our Beds are sweet hard and clean and Chambers airy We admit not above two at most to lie in a Bed together nor the Young with the Old or the Diseased with the Sound Our Day-Garments are neither thick nor thin but of the two rather thin than thick We count it an Evil to have our external Members to glow with an unnatural Heat after Eating and Drinking We prevent scabby and Leporous Diseases by Temperance and Cleanness and not by Physick Our Women observe the time of their Uncleanness and separate themselves according to the great Law of Moses Our Seers have good skill in curing Diseases by Sympathy and Antipathy They never give Advice nor administer any Medicine before they have bowed themselves before the Altar and enquired of the Oracle of God in themselves We esteem none fit for Physicians but only those that are from their Radixes born with natural Gifts and afterwards who have learned themselves nor esteem any Man for his Babylonical Gibberish We press every one when they find themselves disordered either in Body or Mind to stand still and cease as much as possible from Imaginations or lending an Ear to every Woman's Story or Medicine but first call on the Lord desiring his Counsel and whatsoever the Oracle or divine Principle doth shew you though it be the meanest of Medicines as Herbs Fruits Seeds Drugs or Minerals that be sure to do as the Mother of Christ said to the Servants that waited at the Marriage where Christ wrought his first Miracle and made Water Wine What soever he bids you do that do Every mean thing becomes effectual where the Directions proceed from the right Fountain and if Faith and an innocent Life be not wanting Also we prohibit our young People from eating unripe Fruits as Apples Pears Plumbs Cherries and the like or eating of them after full Meals or between Meals or when they have been gathered and exposed to the gross Airs of Cities or Towns two or three Days Neither is it a Custom amongst us to compound ripe and unripe Fruits together nor lawful for any of us to eat Sweet-Meats or delicious Tarts after we have eaten sufficiently of other simple and natural Food Our Custom will not admit us
sordid Interest the chief end of their Practice as most do For Physicians of all sorts of People should be the most Knowing the most Iust the most Charitable and the most Temperate But whatever Titles men may have or how many Books soever they may have tumbled over if they abandon the study of Virtue and Piety and aim at mercenary Lucre and vain Glory instead of doing Good to men and bringing Glory to God 't is vain to expect any benefit from such Peoples hands They are all as the Scripture saith in another case Physicians of no value nay they have not that Natural Distinguishing and Sense as is common to many Beasts for the man that is not directed by the Spirit of the Lord is an hundred fold more ignorant of the Operations of Nature than a Beast that lives under the Laws of Nature and therefore we see many Dumb Creatures have more Sense to discern what is for their Preservation than Men and Men have learned the Virtues of many Physical Herbs from them as the Tortoise when hunted by the Adder is said to fortifie himself by eating of Originum and the same is said of the Stork when she has eaten Snakes she seeks for the same Herb Originum and finds a Remedy it is also related that when the Weezle goes to fight with any poysonous Creature it first eats Rue whence men came to know that Originum and Rue are good Antidotes against Poyson so in some other Animals there is an in-bred skill and Medicinal Art as when the Toad is wounded 't is said she will go to Sage or Rue and rub the Wound and so escapes the Danger We are told that Swallows first taught us that Celendine is Medicinal for the Eyes being the same wherewith they cure the Eyes of their Young Ones The Pye when sick puts a Bay-leaf into her Nest and recovers So Cranes Daws Partridges Black-birds and Crows purge their sick Stomachs with the same It is reported If a Lion be sick he is recovered by eating of an Ape The Lapwing being surfeited cures her self with Southernwood the wounded Hart runs to his restorative Ditany Swine when stung by Snakes eat the Snakes and are well and Dogs when wounded cure themselves by continual licking of the Wound also they purge their nauseous Stomachs by eating of Grass as Cats do theirs by eating the Herb Nipp Philebotomy or Letting of Blood Physitians as is written learned this practice first of a Beast call'd Hyppopotamus living in the River Nilus which being of a ravenous Nature and therefore often overcharged with much eating is wont to seek in the Banks for some sharp stub of a Reed upon which pricking his Leg he thereby easeth his full Body stopping the bleeding afterward with Mud. So that some men who are curious in Observation have learned many Medicinal Virtues of Herbs from Brutes which they are led unto by a natural inclination which we call Instinct having always obeyed the Law of God in Nature and lived under the simple Influence and Operations thereof and do therefore retain those natural Faculties and Self-preservations which the Lord endued them with in the Creation But Man that was made but a little lower than the Angels and superior to all the Creatures of this sublunary World having transgressed both the Divine and Natural Law of God has thereby corrupted the Earth and all the Elements and made all its Inhabitants to mourn and groan by reason of his Violence and Oppression by which he hath depraved himself both of the Divine and Natural Understanding and has not the common Sense of distinguishing what is for their own preservation so well as many Brutes have which is much to be lamented that man should so prodigiously degrade dishonour and incaptivate himself There is another thing worthy to be considered by all men but more especially by those that apply themselves to Physick that the most celebrated Authors of that Art and such as have written of the Nature Virtues and Uses of Herbs Drugs Fruits Seeds and Grains and whose Rules and Prescriptions our Modern Doctors make the foundation of their Skill and the limits of their Practice were born and bred and lived in places far remote from us in other parts of the World and in different Climates whose Productions vary as much in Magnitude Forms and Qualities as one Colour does from another and as the Elevation of the Pole being either more Southern or Northern alters the Language or Speech and the Nature Shape Complexion Inclinations and Dispositions of the People and the more remote each Countrey is the greater is the Variation of their Constitutions and Manners and as all their Beasts Birds and Fish do differ in Name Nature Shape and Form the very same is to be understood of their Herbs Drugs Flowers Seeds Fruits and Grains they all differ both in their Virtues and Vices from ours and tho some of theirs may be and are translated and through a great deal or Care and Industry will grow yet still they are not so Natural nor are their Virtues so Genuine as those that originally spring up from that proper matter or Salnitral Quality which our own Mother Earth affords under our own Elevation and that peculiar operation of the Coelestials under which we breathe neither are such Exotick Herbs or Plants endued with so proper or genuine Medicinal Virtue as they have in their natural Climate Now let us consider where and when most of the Great Masters of Physick who are the Beams and Eyes of our Doctors and the Foundations of our Colleges â—lived Hypocrates was a Grecian of the Isle of Chios in the Mediterranian above two Thousand Years ago Galen born at Pergamus in Asia about the Year of our Lord 140. and being Physician to an Emperor rich and high in favour at Court he scrap'd together all the Books of Physick that he could hear of and took the Receipts and most material parts thereof and set them forth as his own Works concealing the Original Authors and destroying their Works which was easy for him to do so long before Printing came up when Copies were so very few and scarce and by this fraud and base ambitious Trick he became celebrated as the only Father of the Art of Healing and to this Day remains the Idol of the Methodists as they call themselves that is the Sons of Tradition and Implicit Faith These two Authors wrote in Greek not so much to puzzle their Readers or keep up their Learning from People as our Modern Men write all their Bills in Latin meerly that the Absurdity of their Prescriptions may not appear but because Greek was their natural Mother Tongue Averroes and Avicenna were Arabians and lived about the Year of our Lord 1160. Dioscorides was of Anoharba a Town in Cilicia and lived before Christ's Incarnation so that he and the two first were Heathens and other two were Mahometans and great Blasphemers of the Sacred Writings of our
which proves not only chargeable but many times continues their ill Habits of Body and this is apt to make Men grumble fret and repine and thereunto the other Cross-accidents usually attending Married Persons as encrease of Charge the uncertain Gains and the certain Expences the hazards of Child-bearing the crying and noise of Children and their Death the Lamentation of a tender loving Wife refusing to be comforted for her Children because they are not or if there be no Children then the Discontents of Barrenness and Rachel's out-cry Give me Children or else I dye All these Troubles Inconveniences and many others too tedious to instance are apt to hover round the Marriage-Bed and therefore it ought to be well fortified with a fixed and unalterable Love founded on Virtue Piety and Iudgment for want of which Multitudes of both Sexes as soon as the Honey-Moon is past and the first fervours of their Passion glutted and slipt away as a Dream do become burthened and uneasy and spend in vain a thousand Wishes That they were single again For in truth Marriage does very rarely answer the Ends of those that chiefly propose Pleasure Money or the satisfaction of any particular Lust or Passion therefore none are happy or can answer the End for which Marriage was ordained but only those who chuse their Yoke-fellows in the fear of the Lord and from a well-composed Disposition and pure natural Affections not having an Eye to Money Honour Idleness Lusts or a petulant Abuse of the Creative Power of God for Man is the Image of God and his Son and Off-spring therefore they ought not to take unto themselves Wives of all that they like as the Sons of God are complained of to have done Gen. 6. They saw the Daughters of Men were fair and they chose unto themselves Wives of all that they liked not what the Lord liked nor in his fear but what themselves liked that is for Lust Honour Self-ends which was all contrary to God's Law and Commandment therefore the Lord was provoked to Wrath and they brought forth Gyants Monsters and Destroyers and the Lord cut short their days My Spirit shall not always strive with Man nevertheless his days shall be an hundred and twenty years Here you see Man's Life was abridged by reason of their unfit Marriages and the Corruption of their Conversation whereby Mankind became corrupted in the very Root whence proceeds not only fierce beastial Inclinations and Dispositions but a great number of Diseases which many bring into the World with them of which most are incurable 6. There are but very few Persons that do keep to or observe the Rules of Temperance in the use of the Marriage-Bed but are generally too indulgent and immoderate in the Pleasures of Venus which of all others are most inticing and seems more natural than any other Superfluity but it is also the most dangerous both to the health of the Body and Mind for when Men give themselves up thereunto it destroys the vigour of the Understanding make the mind poor base and effeminate and as to the Elements of the Body it weakens and consumes them and by degrees Contracts such Diseases as strike at and corrupt the very Root of Nature In a word nothing more Unmans a Man than this sort of Intemperance therefore the following Rules and Observations will be beneficial to all that shall observe them 1st Every one ought to be Temperate in Meats and Drinks and to eat those things as are naturally equal in their parts and to avoid all Rich Cordial Drinks and Spiced Compositions for such things over-heat the Blood and open all the Gates of the Venereal Property whence proceed irregular and vehement Inclinations which ought to be avoided Instead of such Excesses you will do well to entertain proper Labour and Exercise which will prevent the Generation of such Superfluous Matter and this will be the more effectual if sometimes you will be so kind as by Abstinence to give Nature time to Concoct her Crudities and Fast at the least eight or ten hours between your Meals For in truth were People but sensible what Benefits attend moderate Fasting there would not be so many secret Gluttons in the World and a great part of that Debauchery whereby so many Estates are swallowed so many Families dishonoured and so many Persons Bodies weakened and decayed would be prevented 2dly All young People ought to refrain the reading the Books of Romances Plays c. whose chief Subject is to treat of Wanton Love-stories and also to avoid idle Venereal Discourses and Lascivious Pictures which do secretly and insensibly stir up and strengthen the Venereal Qualities of Nature and cause Youth to think and do that which otherwise would never have fallen within their Imagination and having once got possession in the Soul they will soon wholly subdue and captivate it for when once a young Person of either Sex has bassled Modesty the Life-guard of Chastity or if once they have suffered the fort of their Virginity to be irregularly stormed tho they shall never so much repent of and resolve against such Folly for the future yet they will find it a very hard Task to obtain the Gift or Power of Continency again tho they seek it with Tears as Esau did his Birth-right 'T is easier to Prevent than Repent and not so hard for those who never violated their Integrity to perish therein as for those that have once trangressed to conduct the rest of their Lives according to the Prescripts of Chastity and Virtue for the latter are for the most part subjected by every Snare to all inferior Powers and the Vanities and Wantonness of the Flesh whereby they commit great Outrages against God's Law in Nature Add to this that Lasciviousness does much lessen that esteem which Men ought to have for Women and brings Contempt upon a Matrimonial Life and withal contracts many incurable Diseases and consumes the outward Substance 3dly As the first Errors in any kind are generally of fatal Consequence so most young People New-married inconsiderately lay a foundation for their future Discontents and Miseries like ill Horse-men they Whip and Spur so at their first setting out that 't is no wonder if they Tyre before they arrive at their Journies end contracting Surfeits Gouts general Weaknesses alteration of the Complexion Consumptions and other languishing Diseases as may appear by many young Men and Women especially Men who grow Pale and their Flesh wastes and their Joynts grow feeble and their Nerves tremble and an universal Indisposition seizes and spreads it self through the whole Body and then what can be expected but that their Children should become weakly and subject to Diseases Nay many times for this very reason they are radically tinctured with Infirmities and branded with Diseases even in the very Womb and thence by way of Rebound or Retaliation variety of Diseases result back again to their Mothers before they are yet disburthened or can imagine
Blood so let forth was to be buried in the ground or burned and so the bestial Spirits prevented from Evaporations or incorporating themselves with the Air and consequently from entring into and infecting the humane Nature with their wrathful Effluviums and dreadful Species that the Blood of all Creatures are full of when killed in their health and perfect strength The greatest Excellency and common Virtue of men's eating much Flesh and Fish is that it makes them surly robustick sordid and of cruel inhumane Dispositions and Inclinations it being the most proper for Soldiers Hunters Moss-Troopers and all such as would have the bestial savage Nature strengthened and encreased and have a mind to be Lions and Devils not only to their own kind but all other Creatures and so long as People give their Wills up unto the fierce proud wrathful poysonous Nature we may not expect any other Trade to be driven amongst us whence we sind that the meek friendly Principle is trodden under foot Compassion has little or no place in Man farther than it is a Custom and he seems wholly given up to Rapine Oppression and Wickedness Whereas on the contrary Herbs Fruits Grains and many other the like innocent sorts of Food are more pleasant to the Eye of a better Scent and Smell afford a more grateful Taste to the Palate Nourishment finer and of better Substance to the Stomach they are of an easier Concoction breed better Blood are much more readily procured the Creation groans not or sighs there 's no Pain Violence or Cruelty committed in the Use of them they generate purer Spirits and make the Body lightsome and pleasant free the Mind from Dulness Care and Heaviness quicken all the Senses make a good Understanding preserve Innocency increase Compassion Love Humility and Charity give the Spirit of distinction between Good and Evil Clean and Unclean and help us with many opportunities for the study of all true Wisdom both of God Nature and our selves In a word the Virtues both Divine and Natural that follow Abstinence and Cleanness are not to be numbred many of them I know by experience through the mercy and good favour of the Lord It makes a man hate all rude vain talkative Company and the many Inconveniences that attend such a course of Life it also makes the observers thereof capable at all Seasons to speak the Words of Wisdom either divine or humane being but like large Glass-Windows to an House it lets in the pleasant light Air by giving opportunities to all the noble Faculties of man's Soul to exercise their Functions it tunes the Properties of Nature whence proceeds most excellent Harmony and whoever shall try it shall certainly find much more satisfaction and advantages than is here related or indeed than can be expressed in Words 15. It is farther to be noted that all kind of Inventions and Arts that encourage Violence and Oppression have proceeded from the fierce harsh wrath of God and the uneven properties of Saturn and Mars as Gun-powder Guns Drums and all Warlike Instruments of Musick There is nothing that does more manifest this than Gun-powder where the pure spirituous Parts and balsamick Vertues in all the Ingredients are suffocated and destroyed so that it becomes a meer composition of Wrath and Fierceness for every Property of Nature becomes fierce and terrible or strong fulsome and poysonous if the virtue and light thereofbe destroyed or separated from it for every particular Creature or Substance both Vegetable Mineral and Animal does consist of Fire and Light Love and Anger Ioy and Sorrow Good and Evil These are the Radixes of each Subject throughout all the three Kingdoms of Nature and if in any thing you violate the lovely light part then the angry Properties appear in their own Forms an Instance whereof we have before mentioned in Charcoal which is one Ingredient towards Gun-powder and all the rest are alike being of a terrible rending tearing devilish fierce nature and in it is a true Figure of the Wrath of God in the outward nature So likewise the sound of Drums and all Weapons of War and Violence proceed from the same Root of Wrath and accordingly the use of all such things do much encourage and strengthen the wrathful Properties in Mankind who if they had not or did not suffer their Wills and Desires to enter into the Wrath and fierce Properties of Nature in themselves and were not acted and influenced by it there would never have been any of those Hellish Inventions as Swords Guns Powder Drums Bows Arrows and other murthering Engines nor any thoughts of Killing Oppressing and Destroying those of their own Kind nor any other Creatures but Man should have kept that Dominion over the Creatures wherewith the Creator invested him in the beginning and no Creature should have had power to have influenced him or imposed their Properties upon him Hence then touching all Fighting Oppressing and Killing let it be little or much and the pretence what it will we affirm from a true light and ground That the same do arise and proceed from the fierce wrath of God and from that devilish hellish nature in Man which is as contrary to the friendly Love and Light of God in Jesus Christ as the Night is to the Day for if in man or any other Creature the evil Property do predominate and is most manifest there the good Qualities and friendly Light is overcome and so on the contrary For every Property and Principle does manifest and bring forth its own fruit as our Saviour Christ says Every Tree is known by its Fruits a good Tree cannot bring forth evil Fruit nor an evil Tree good Fruit. According to what Property does rule in the Heart of any Man such are his Thoughts Words and Actions where the divine Principle of God's eternal Love and Light doth predominate such Persons bring forth those good and precious Fruits of Love Mercy Compassion courteous Speeches Works of Charity and doing unto all men as they would be done unto but those in whom the hellish Principle bears sway their Fruits are worse than Briars and Thorns such as Back-biting Hatred Oppression Killing not only inferiour Creatures but even those of their own Kind and working all sorts of Impiety with greediness Therefore 't is of unspeakable moment to be able to distinguish in our selves the Two Principles and their respective Fruits and to be careful to deny and root out the Evil and cherish and follow the Counsel of the holy Light which if obeyed is sufficient to destroy all the mischievous Works of Self-hood and the Devil for as the more men habituate themselves to Cruelty Oppression Unmercifulness Killing and the like the stronger the hellish Principle of Wrath does grow and the worse and more cruel they become So in the practice of Vertue every Property and Principle grows strong by Use and Exercise and he that enters into the narrow Path of Regeneration and Self-denial ought always