all their Innate Influences and Commands so that it is most clear and manifest that if the Governor of any People or Prince of this or the other Nation have a mind or desire to make War or to spoil his Neighbouring Countries he can presently command his People or Subjects into Warlike postures and cause them to march into the Field where Twenty or Thirty Thousand are Slain in a Moment so that every one is subject to the good and ill Fate and Destiny of that Star or Constellation he has made his Governor and unto whose Laws he hath subjected himself This is farther demonstrated by all the under-graduated Creatures called Beasts viz. If any Person becomes Master of a Thousand Sheep Cows Horses or any other Creatures has not our Laws and Customs made him Lord over them and doth not their good and ill Fate depend only on him being unaccountable for all his Actions towards them whether good or Evil Life or Death are in and under his Power and Influence and cannot he dispose of those innocent Creatures several ways at his pleasure one part or number to the Hang-man or Butcher to be Slain all in one hour and another number to be preserved for some years and yet for all this those Creatures are Midwifed into this World not only at several times but under as various Ascendants and governing Constellations of Heaven as Mankind is so that it is clear let any Person be Born under what Ascendant or Constellation soever nevertheless he shall be compelled by the Laws of his Sublunary Gods Customs and Traditions of the Place or Country he lives in to submit and obey them For so soon as Mankind broke himself off from the innocent Influences and Government of the Law of God and the sweet Influences of the Heavenly Powers he immediately became subject to a Foreign or Tyrannical Power so that he is become altogether ignorant of all the great Mysteries Qualities and Principles his Creator hath endued him with the Eye of his Understanding and all the wonderful Faculties and Intellectual magick Powers become encircled with a dark Cloud of Ignorance so that he is now like a Ship that has neither Pilot nor Rudder tossed to and fro by the fierce invading Waves of the Sea that has no Harbour nor Centre but he is continually drawn by the dark ignorant insulting earthy Constellations Customs and Powers out of one Evil into another seeking Content and Rest in all his Undâ—…kings Enterprizes and Methods but rarely finds any Satisfation which cannot be obtained by any other way or method but only by Virtue and the Power of Regeneration that is to return and observe the Laws of God and Nature for Mankind cannot be a Subject of Heaven till he obeys and lives in and under the Laws and Influences thereof as our great Prophet and Saviour Jesus Christ or the Divine Eye or Principle hath told us His Servants ye are whom ye Obey Accept this in Answer to yours for the present from your Friend and Servant T. T. LETTER XXVIII Of the perpetual MOTION SIR I Have received yours of the 26th of May 1699 filled with complaints of the various Indispositions and Diseases that have lately invaded the Health both of your Body and Mind and the worst of all is these Intestine Enemies have not only beset you on all sides but they are numerous and powerful so that all the helps and succours that Nature with the aid and assistance either of Meats Drinks Exercises Airs or Medicines seem too short and feeble to restore you to your former Health However we shall freely give you our Advice which will be easie to be observed and practised if you will but stem the Tide of Custom and give your Mind to it viz. First We referr you to our Writings in which we have largely discoursed of the Preservation of Health also of the qualities and quantities of Meats and Drinks also of Exercises Airs and Communications where you will find both general and particular rules for Health Secondly The Foods that may be most valuable to recover and maintain your lost Health are several sorts of Pottages or Spoon-meats as Water-gruel Milk-pottage Pap made of Water and Flour or with Milk and Water Possets Bread and Milk as it comes from the Cow several sorts of Caudle made of Oat-meal Water Ale Wine or with Eggs Chocoalate all eaten with some Bread these are the principal Foods you ought to apply your self unto being easie of Digestion and are to be preferr'd before hard strong salt fat things for the Juices and Virtues are easie Distilling their Nutritive qualities in a silent Method making no noise nor give no Disturbance from whose innocent power and sweet vertues the Blood and all the motions of the Body becomes advanced into a better state of Health Thirdly Your Drink ought to be good Water or at least ways small Ale Wine allayed with Water c. Fourthly Exercise your self in open airy places and by running Rivers sides and you must above all refrain and withdraw your self from all Sedentary Business more especially that tedious and ineffectual Study of the perpetual Motion a thing that seems altogether impossible to be obtained because it doth Diametrically oppose all Gods Methods and Laws in this Visible World which you and others ought to have considered before such a Labour had been entered upon do but survey and contemplate all visible Beings and Off-springs of God and his great Powers called Stars Constellations and Elements as Earth Air Fire and Water by whom the Great Creator works all wonderful things are not their Productions and Created Beings limited in their Motions and all their Methods of Life or can any Creature break their Circle in which Gods Law hath bounded it and if the Sons and Daughters of the Elements have their set bounds and limits and cannot pass their several Periods of Time how then is it possible that we by a certain Art or Science should out-do our selves for Art and Science is but a third Birth from the Original and consequently but Grand Children now that which is endued with a perpetual Motion Old Age never overtakes them but they are as it were always Youthful and Vigorous and therefore may have the Character of Immortal and if the Off-spring and Children of the great Immortal Being be Mortal what then must the Arts and Sciences be that are produced or flowes from them as a third Birth or can that Creature which is Mortal produce that which is Immortal or Perpetual which is one and the same There is no Creature or Being in this Sublunary World that hath an Eternal Motion but only the Original or Grand Powers of God viz. the Sun Moon and innumerable Company of Stars and Constellations together with the ever teeming Elements viz. the Fire Water Earth and Air whose generating creating and preserving Motions are perpetual but their Progenies or Off-spring whose variety and number are beyond Humane Arithmetick which
Mathematicians do tell us that the Orb or Circle of each Planet is far greater than the whole Globe of Earth and Water which hitherto no Man in the general hath doubted what they have found true by the Observations of the most Learned and Ingenious of all Ages for some thousands of years and if so what morâ—…l Man can guess the wonderful Creatures and Inhabitants that may possibly dwell and inhabit those Spacious Airy Plains for so they seem to us and who can tell but that the Globe of Earth and Water may appear to the Creatures of those Worlds as they do to us and consequently that the Mathematicians and Astrologers of those unknown Worlds may make as great ado about the influences of our Planets Stars and Constellations as we do of theirs and give us the same Titles and Names as we do them but we have never ravelled in their Regions nor conversed with the People and World of the Moon and therefore shall submit and be silent in this guessing Philosophy It is further to be considered that the good and evil Successes or Fortunes to the Ascendants Planets and Significators that as Astrologers say are showered down upon Mankind by the benevolent and malignant influences of those great Luminaries and Coelestial Bodies which are various and strange if all be true as Philosophers say Now the Evils and Misfortunes are as it were beyond Humane number in comparison of the Good and whatsoever Misfortune or Evil doth happen or befall Mankind is by many of those cunning Men attributed to the Configurations and Directions of Planets and Significators or some one of them to Saturn they say when ill lignified he powerfully inclines his Sons and Daughters to Oppression Violence Killing Covetousness Back-biting Envy Strife and all kinds of evil Words and Works And the like is to be understood of the other Six Planets whereas it is as clear as the Sun Beams at Noon-day that all the Intemperances Evils and Outrages Mankind doth commit against God and his Neighbour are generated and midwifed into the World by Customs Presidents evil Communications and Examples as appears by the foregoing and if this be true how angry then will those great Illuminated Powers of Heaven be with Man for laying the Cause and Foundation of those great Evils upon them as when the fair Sex are vain proud wanton and foolish to say that Venus that great and wonderful Illuminated Body and Queen of Love is the cause that inclines them to such Wickedness or when a young Man is ingenious sharp and witty and turns all into Cheating to attribute it to Mercury and when any Person is vain wanton and unconstant to lay the cause on the Moon and her Influences or when a Man is fierce devilish hard-hearted cruel and subject to Wrath Passion and Violence to lay the cause on Mars and when false in Religion to attribute it to an unfortunate Iupiter and when proud and subject to Vain-glory and boasting to fix it on the Sun when in Truth the Original cause of most or all Evils and Sins take their first birth in the center of a Mans self and the People he Lives amongst and communicates with so that Mankind doth mightily add to his evil Course of Life by laying the cause where he should not and belying those innocent Powers which wicked Trade he hath followed ever since he transgressed Gods Holy Law and Commandment putting the evil from himself and laying the cause on some other thing of which its said that our Mother Eve was the first Precedent or Example Now what Mankind have to say for themselves when they shall be brought to the Test I cannot imagine for it seems impossible for Astrologers that they should pass their Accompt without making retalliation or satisfaction so that the Wisemen have made but poor work of their Studies It is likewise further to be Noted that no Creatures or Sublunary Bodies are subject or compelled to obey the Influences of the Heavenly Bodies but only such as have kept and Lived under the Law of God and observed and not broken the limits of their Natural Orbe or Circle in which each specifick Body or Creature was Originally Created and brought forth as we have hinted before for all the wonderful and most amazing of the Heavenly Luminaries called Stars Planets and Signs and though their number be far beyond all Humane Numeration nevertheless each of them doth keep within the limits and bounds of their Orbs and Original Circles and doth alway move with an exact and regular motion keeping and obeying the Voice and great Law of their Creator And for this cause all Corporeal Beings that live and move within the Limits of their first Law and have not at any time broken nor in any degree exceeded its bounds are all subject to the Laws Orders and Methods of Heaven and to all the Influences of those great Powers vulgarly called Stars Planets and Constellations and they do with the highest diligence endeavour to observe and imitate their Superior Powers every Creature observing both time and season so that all things are done and brought forth in an exact and wonderful Method and Order which is strangely amazing and surprizing to any considerate Person Do not all the numerous Off-springs of the Earth obey the Motions Influences and Voice of the Heavenly Bodi or Constellations And are not the Children or Fruits of our Mother Earth better or worse strong or weak vertuous or the contrary all according to the Benevolent or Malevolent Influences or Configurations of the Stars Constellations and Elements The like is to be understood of the Sensitive Creatures called Beasts of which there is an unaccountable variety nevertheless each doth in a most wonderful manner and curious method observe and constantly obey the Original Law God stamped on them and their Young Ones or Children learn and observe the same without the invading fierce Rods of School-Masters or Tutors and as the Heavenly Bodies and Governing Powers of the Great Creator do all work move and govern in a most exact and regular Order and Method The like is to be understood of all the Children or Off-spring of the Elements who keep their first Law and therefore they do all as exactly keep and observe their times and seasons alway moving within the compass and bounds of their own Circles or Orbs they were Created in and their whole business both of Motion Inclination and all the Actions of Life is to imitate and observe the Laws and Commands of their Superiors viz. the Heavenly Bodies But the contrary is to be understood of the Humane Race who have defaced their noble Image by breaking the Law of their Creator and thereby have destroyed the Orbs and Limits of their own Circle so that they are as it were blind and know little or nothing of the wonderful Operations of their own Heaven nor are they in any degree sensible of their own Natures or the Principles they are compounded
exemplify others and to add divers things in divers parts of them by way of Illustration which made them spin out to such a length as you see them and was wholly designed for the Reader 's Benefit and Satisfaction but if I have been so Unhappy as to fall short of my intended Aim I am sorry for it both upon his and my own account and heartily beg his Pardon who am His highly Oblig'd and Very humble Servant Thomas Tryon THE CONTENTS LEtter 1. Of the noble Sense of Hearing with the various Uses and great Benefits thereof Letter 2. Of the Sense of Smelling with its proper Seat Nature and Uses Letter 3. Of the Sense of Tasting and wherein also the great Mysteries thereof are set forth Letter 4. Of the Sense of Seeing and of its various Uses and Benefits Letter 5. Of the Sense of Feeling with its universal Benefits and Influences over the rest Letter 6. Of Fires and the best way to make Grates whereby a less quantity of Fuel is required and yet that rendreâ—… more useful and expeditious in the Preparation of Foods and upon other occasions than our common Fires Letter 7. Of the best Methods for Tempering of Clay Making of Mortar Tyles Flooring and Bricks together with an Account of different sorts of Earths and what Herbage Fruits Seeds Grains and Trees each is applicable to Letter 8. Of Religion with the Nature and Practice thereof and that the Knowledge of God and a Man's Self is the first step to all true and undefiled Religion Letter 9. Of Dropsies and the Nature of them with some Account of what Diet and Exercises such should use as also how to Retrench Expences by a Frugal Method of Living Letter 10. Of various Opinions in Religion and the Original Cause of those great Differences Oppressions and Violences proceeding therefrom with Remedies proposed for prevention thereof Letter 11. Of the Humanity of Christ shewing the Grounds from whence the great Differences concerning it do arise how it is to be understood and the great Benefits that accrew unto Mankind from it Letter 12. Of an Afflicted Mind and shewing how it may be prevented with some other Remarks Letter 13. Of Faith Hope and Charity with the Excellency and Benefit of each and how Mankind by practising the last imitates his Creator and renders himself capable of being United to all that is Good Letter 14. Of that part of Scripture wherein God commanded or rather permitted Beasts to be Killed and Eaten with the great Error of Mankind in misinterpreting the same and how they are rightly to be understood Letter 15. Of a Soldier 's Life shewing from what Principle that Bloody Employment takes its Birth how contradictory it is to the Divine Law and destructive to the Unity and Well-being of Mankind and that all other Creatures have an equal share in those Calamities Letter 16. Of the Fountain of Darkness with the Actions Employments and Inclinations arising therefrom and how they Govern in every particular Creature when evil Principles obtain the Ascendant Letter 17. Of the Fountain of Love and Light and what Actions Inclinations Dispositions Words and Works proceed therefrom and how they Govern in each particular Creature Letter 18. Of Cleanness with the Benefits thereof and the Mischief of the contrary as also what Foods in their Nature are clean and unclean Letter 19. Of Flesh Broaths and Potages and those made of Herbs Seeds and Grains with an Account of which is most clean and affords the best Nourishment Letter 20. Of the Right and Left Hands with the great Error of Peoples teaching their Children to distinguish them by such Terms Letter 21. Of the Corpulency of the Body with the Cause thereof and how to prevent and abate it Letter 22. Of the Nature and Causes of Fevers and how in some measure to prevent them Letter 23. Of Education wherein is set forth the right true and natural way of Bringing up Children Letter 24. Of the Nature of Smells and what Scents in their Original are Clean Good and Beneficial or the contrary Letter 25. Of Predestination and how it ought to be understood Letter 26. Of Death and why all Creatures especially Mankind are unwilling to Die Letter 27. Of the Science of Astrology wherein are shewed the Causes in Nature why Persons Born at one and the same minute and under the like Constellations are of different Shapes and Forms and of various Fortunes Letter 28. Of the Perpetual Motion wherein is shewed the Impossibility of the Humane Nature's being capable of it as being Diametrically opposite to all God's Methods and Laws Letter 29. Of the noble Science of Musick with the Defects of the best Teachers of it and Methods proposed for the speediest and certainest way to attain to the highest Perfection therein to which is added somewhat concerning the Art of right Speaking and Reading Letter 30. Of Languages and the easiest way for a Person in Years to attain to the true Pronunciatiâ—… of any Foreign Tongue Letter 31. Of the Times of Eating wherein in shewed that about 8 in the Morning and 3 or 4 in the Afternoon is the most proper Season with the Reason thereof Letter 32. To a Planter of Sugar concerning the Premoting of the Cotton Manufactury in our Plantation Letter 33. To a Gentleman in Barbadoes concerniâ—… the first Settlement Growth and Decay of our Sugâ—… Plantations and the necessity they lye under of Planâ—… ing other Vegetations c. Letter 34. To a Planter touching the Manufactuâ—… of Cotton wherein the Necessity and Advantagâ—… thereof is amply considered Letter 35. Of the Making of Sugar wherein the Myâ—… stery of it from the very first Planting of the Caâ—… to its highest pitch of Refining is Explicated wiâ—… the vast Benefits that do accrew therefrom to Engâ—… land where also the Art of Distilling is handled Letter 36. Of the Burial of Birds how unaccountaâ—… it is and the Author's Conceptions thereupon Letter 37. Of Fermentation with the Nature and Oâ—… riginal Invention thereof wherein is also shewed hâ—… Pernicious and Destructive Fermented Liquors 〈◊〉 to Mankind Twenty Seven Philosophical Letters UPON Several Occasions LETTER I. Of the Sense of Hearing SIR I Perceive by your Letter that you have been mightily affected with a Consideration of the Senses in admiring the wonderful Composition of the Organs and the nice and exquisite manner of their Operation for your encouragement to proceed in so commendable and useful Speculation I shall endeavour to Suggest some hints of Meditation to you which perhaps you have not yet thought of I Shall begin with the Ear that noble and brave Sense of Hearing and descant a little upon its Use and Benefits and the great disadvantages Mankind is subjected to through the want of it it is placed in the most Intelligible part of Man It has its residence in the Head and is therefore capable to distinguish between the good and evil qualities of Sounds For Man being a compleat Image or
this great Sense of Life viz. the Feeling is universal and no part of the Body can subsist without it not so much as one moment and therefore when this Sense is Disordered or any Obstruction or Distemper invades it the whole becomes heavy dull and melancholy and Death quickly ensues so on the other side when it is in order the Motions and Circulations of the Body and Members are free from Obstructions then it is the true Pleasure of Life and all the other Senses are Subservient to this and rejoice in its Prosperity as being their Prince and King the Industry of all the others is to support and maintain this For if this Sense of Feeling sink none of the others are or can be well by the Innate Power of this Mankind and all Creatures viz. Animals distinguish between Joy and Sorrow Grief and Pain Sickness and Health Temperance and Gluttony also Hunger and Fullness Heat and Cold Weight or Lightness Hardness and Softness Fineness and Courseness Smoothness and Roughness Thickness and Thinness in a word in this Sense is apprehended and comprehended all Pleasures Touches and Embraces and as it were the very Centre of all natural Enjoyments both of the Body and Mind and therefore the great various and wonderful Powers of the whole Bows before it and with all endeavours each in its respective place to serve it with the highest diligence for the Life and Centre both of Joy Sorrow Pain and Pleasure is in this universal Sense Therefore all Powers yield their Obedience to it for this cause whensoever this Sense is Encountred or Invaded by any universal Disorder Intemperance or Uncleanness the Life of that part that suffers the Disorder immediately Perishes This the Learned call the Dead Palsy and several other Names they give this Disease which of all others is one of the most Dolorous and Melancholy which do attack and invade many Persons through disorderly Living and Intemperance Drinking and Eating both in Quantity and Quality such things that are too gross hard spirituous and of a strong fulsom Composition and Preparation from whence Juices of a proportionable Nature are Extracted which do infallibly generate thick gross Blood and impure Spirits which do as it were narrow stop and swell the Highways and natural Roads viz. The Porous Passages of the Body and the Nerves do by these thick Juices become stiff and Glewy so that the Blood and Spirits being touched with these Diseases and Infirmities cannot have their free Ingress Egress Regress and Circulation but are waylaied and stopt according to the degrees of these Obstructions the Diseases and the Distempers are more or less Now all Fumes and Vapours that many thousands of People especially Women are subject to as the Gout and all Obstructions Falling Sickness and several other cruel Maladies they are procured and likewise transferred from one Age to another for want of Wisdom Temperance and Cleanness in the Methods of Life for every Person does desire and incline to such and such Meats and Drinks Exercises and Communications according to the ruling Qualities and predominant Humours and their Equality and Inequality and the Nourishment Humours Blood Spirits and Dispositions are in proportion whence the Seed is Generated as being the Essence of all the natural Properties and Powers for this cause most or all the variety of new and old Diseases are transferred conveyed and intailed on their Posterity c. Therefore there is hardly found any Medicine capable to Câ—… them being so deeply rooted in the very Centre of Nature Now as these Diseases have encreased since Trade hath advanced so likewise have improper Compositions and Hetrogenial Preparations gotten great footing in the World bâ—… which every Age doth produce a new Off-spring of Diseases 〈◊〉 known or hardly heard of before as in this Nation since Stroâ—… Beer Ale and Wine became common Drinks and our comâ—… Foods compounded and mixed with Spices Sugar Spanish Fâ—… and several other Ingredients we say since this there aâ—… great number of cruel Distempers started up in Man's Body 〈◊〉 were not heard of before for every sort of Meat and Drâ—… hath the Key in its self to seek embrace and feel out its own likeness and hath an Innate Power in its Bosom or Centre to generate an Off-spring of its own Nature in proportion to the Nourishment such a thing affords as the Gout Stone Rhumatism Rickets and many Leprous or Scabby Diseases which within 70 80 100 or 200 years have been Midwifed into our Nation Now it is to be observed that all the other four Senses when they have gratified themselves and taken Pleasure even to the highest degree of Luxury Do slip their Necks out of the Collar as the Proverb has it leaving all their evil Works and Deeds of Darkness to this poor and most deplorable Sense of Feeling who is bound under the Iron Gates of various severe and intollerable Diseases all their malignant Influences the Taste Smell Hearing and Seeing shut their Gates and take their Rest but the Feeling is rarely ever quiet or easy Sleep and Rest gives them Resurrection and a new Life but the Feeling remains uneasy every Member and Joint akes and the whole Body is Indisposed Sleep being nothing else but a Transitory Death or an Occultation to a Renovation and therefore no Man nor other Creature can Subsist and Live except they Die near or altogether a third part of the time that is alotted them So that our Lives are a constant or continual Dying this being Matter of Fact why should Mankind be so fearful and timerous of Death seeing he that Lives 100 years is Dead more than 30 of it which time is an unaccountable to him as those that are really in Eternity where there is neither Time nor Place Near and Far off being altogether the same and no Man would be more concerned to Die than he is to Sleep if he had not broken the Law of his Maker by invading and bringing Desolation on all the Host of Heaven and Earth which is the Secret and Original of Mankinds Fear and the true cause of his Uneasiness and Perplexity for in this World there is no Creature that Lives without a continual Dying or becoming as it were Invisible Do not all the Herbs Fruits Seeds and Grains and whatever else appears in Bodies Shapes and Forms They we say do daily Die that they may be capable to reinvest themselves in new vigorous Bodies and do not all the Beasts of the Field every moment as it were enter into Death that they may be able to maintain a short Momentary Life though the Beasts do not enter so deeply into Death as Man Their Sleep being but a kind of waking in comparison of Mans for what Creature in the World is so drowsy and heavy as Man Nor is there any thing that sleeps so sound and deep or do require so much as he except some few that are called by the name of Sleepers whose Nature Original
be manifest to our Senses till it has past through the several Fermentations and Operations of being made into Malt which manifests the hidden sweet Quality which was so central and captivated by the Martial and Saturnine Forms that without this Operation would still have lain hid or disappeared The like is to be understood in the Temperament of most sorts of Earth This is farther manifest in the Housewifes Art of making good Bread when there is a due quantity of Water put to the Meal and well wrought up together such Bread becomes not only smooth and firm without having either eyes or being subject to crumbling but it Eats sweeter and mellower and becomes easier of Concoction affording far better Nourishment than such as is over watered and not sufficiently Tempered provided the other Operations which belong to the making of good Bread be performed viz. Baking c. as we have formerly written in several of our Writings It is farther to be noted that the common Method of over watering both in the Tempering of Bricks Mortar Flooring c. proves baneful and destroys the end for which they are designed for the Labourers generally Temper their Mortar with great quantities of Water to make it easy in Working and greater dispatch in fitting it presently for use but this Method does not open the body so that the Astringent Sal nitral Powers of Nature lie hid as before in which consists the tough glewy binding Quality therefore such Mortar becoming dry is almost as brittle â—…s the Earth of which it was made and is the ruin of many noble Structures for the Labourers instead of putting on much Water at once ought to lay it on by degrees and mix and incorporate the Lime Sand and Water well together by continual Stroaks or Workings which will open their bodies and manifest the hidden sal nitral Virtues and glewy Qualities that make it tough smooth and binding for much Working makes and melts it into a soft smooth Consistency fit for Use with half the Water and raises a dewy Moisture out of its own body which knits and binds and when dry becomes as hard and as durable as the best of Stones Bricks thus Tempered become solid smooth hard and durable and one Brick thus made takes up near as much as a Brick and a half made the common way which are light full of cracks and spungy occasioned by the want of due Working and Management and the mixing of Ashes and light sandy Earth to make them work easy and with greater dispatch as also to save Culm or Coals in the Burning of them The excellency of Bricks consist chiefly in the first and last Operation for Bricks made of good Earth and well Tempered become solid and ponderous and therefore will take up a longer time in Drying and Burning than our common Bricks need Note that the well Drying of Bricks before they are Burned prevents cracking and crumbling in their Burning for when the Bricks are too wet they are then extreams which doth never well together The best way of ordering your Fire is to make it gentle at first and encrease it by degrees as your Bricks grow harder It is also to be noted that in what Earth or thing soever the sal nitral oily Virtues are weak hid or unmanifested that thing is not only dusty and brittle but consequently subject to decay as is most clear and manifest in Stones which tho' they are hard yet are very brittle and more subject to decay than the Lime made thereof for the fierceness of the Fire or Martial Violence doth loosen and open the strong cold Contraction of the Saturnine Quality which Contraction in the original arises from the Element of Water which hath as it were set the Sal nitral Virtues at liberty which were before captivated under the cold Coagulation of the original Forms so that adding a small quantity of Water to those Burned Stones or unslacked Lime will melt them down into a dusty or mealy Substance which being put into a quantity of Water will as readily impart or give forth its Virtues into the said Water as ground Malt will yield and give its sweet Virtues to the warm Liquor in the Mash Tub and leaves the Grains without Strength or Virtue The like is to be understood in slack'd Lime put into a quantity of Water which will draw forth and imbibe the Sal nitral and Oily Virtues of the Lime which will have no more Strength or Virtue than the aforesaid Grains for if you take this Lime thus Infused and join it with Sand or other Earth altho' you Temper it to a high degree yet it will never make a binding or lasting Mortar whence it appears that where the Central Powers or Sal nitral Virtues are hid or captivated or where they are drawn forth by any Art or destroyed by Accident they are of little or no Use for that thing for which they are designed If this were not so why should not Stones beaten into Powder make Mortar or Barley when broken and not Malted yield forth its Virtues into the Water Note that Water draws forth the sweet Virtues of the Barley Malted which makes various Exhilerating Liquors The like is to be understood of Water which hath imbib'd the Sal nitral Virtues and Astringent Qualities of slack'd Lime which renders it fit for many Uses both in Food and Physick viz. It is the only Ingredient that Sugar-Bakers use in the Making and Refining of Sugar for no Sugar can be made without it or its Equivalent viz. Pot-Ashes which are too Dear with us in England for without this Lime-water no Sugar could be Boiled up to a Body or Grain but would still remain a Syrup Sugar in its own Nature is an Extream viz. A compleat Sweet in which the other Qualities are wanting and for that cause cannot be raised to a Consistency and fit for Use without this or a like addition for the Sal nitral Virtues in Lime have their Original from the strong Astringent Band and might of the Fire which is wanting in the Juice of the Sugar Canes which being joined to it gives Life and Vigour to this heavy flat sweet Body and raises it to a hard sparkling Grain shining like Christial and renders it much more useful for Eating and all other Operations than otherwise Lime-water is also good taken inwardly against all inward Bleedings or Ulcerations as also outwardly to wash all Itchy and Leprous Sores and Humors a Poultice made thus viz. Take a quart of Lime-water and make it boiling hot infuse therein some Rosemary for a quarter of an hour keeping it hot but not boiling then add as much Bread to the Water and Roseâ—…ary as will make it thick with two Ounces of Refined Sugar stir it and incorporate it well together spread it on a Cloth and apply it every two or three hours and in a short time it will allay and take away any Swellings or Pains in the Head Neck
or other parts of the Body It is likewise to be noted that the more powerful the Original Forms in any Body are the stronger is the Coagulation and that Body or Thing produces a more powerful Salniter for this cause Chalk will not make so good Lime as hard Stones or Flints for a weak thing cannot produce a strong which appears fatal to many fine Structures in London Built with Lime made of Chalk for the Original Forms viz. The Astringency which is from Saturn that gives a Shell Skin or Covering to all Bodies both in the Animal Vegitable and Mineral Kingdoms and is as it were the House where the other Forms dwell and is the Original of all Coagulating Attracting or Indrawing Powers which preserves and keeps the Volatile Salnitral Spirits from Evaporation If it were not so no Creature or Thing could obtain its highest Limit or Perfection and therefore whensoever this hard tart or severe Astringency is broken or wounded the Salnitral Oils or Sweet Virtues suffer Violence and sink into Death without an application of a powerful Medicine or agreeable Remedy Now Chalk doth manifest by its colour and its soft mealy weakness that the forms and principles of Saturn and Martial Fires aâ—…e weak and impotent and that Venus and Mercury have the Dominion or Government thereof who always produce more Nice and Weak Sal Nitral Virtues The powers of Venus are further manifested by its white colour which in its own nature is innocent and yielding and as it were wanting of toughness and fire which the Saturnine and Martial quality always endues their Children with and according as the degrees of those original Forms are placed and qualified in each thing or Body so that thing or Body is harder softer bigger lesser stronger or weaker and their Virtues and Use are accordingly for this cause all Herbs that are harsh astringent hot or bitter afford not only greater Quantities of Sal Niter but more powerful sharp and penetrating as Wormwood and others that are under the Regiment of Saturn and Mars The like is to be understood of all sorts of Earth and Stones for where the Original or Saturnine quality is strong in the Sal Niter such Stones are contracted and drawn into the most compleat consistency or hardness when in Earth then such Earth is of a glewey sticking nature as Clay and all Earth that has Affinity therewith the Sal Nitral Virtues thereof in such Earth lies so hid in the tough Saturnine Body that it will not bring forth Vegitation without being Manured by Earth that has passed through a Ferment or some Digestion wherein the Martial Salt and Venereal propertys are strong from whence such Bodies have their brittle mealy or yeilding quality as Lime Chalk Ashes and Dung for in this sort of Earth the Martial Fires from whence bitterness has its Original are as it were wholly captivated in the Astringent Chamber of Saturn It is also to be noted that this Earth wants the assisting Qualities of Sol Iupiter and Venus for in what thing soever any one Original Form is powerful the Unity thereof is thereby destroyed and that thing may be good for particular Uses but for general it cannot As for Example If the Saturnine Power have the chief Government in any Thing or Creature that Thing or Creature becomes Hard Cold Constringent Melancholy and Pensive as is farther manifested in all Earths wherein Mars hath the chief Government and Dominion such Earths are endued with great Heat are Short Gravelly and Sandy full of small Stones so that in all hot dry Seasons the Vegitations proceeding therefrom are subject to Scorching and Withering It is likewise to be noted that this Martial or bitter Quality is strong in Trees and such Trees are Hard full of Knots and not tall in Stature but when the Taciturn or Astringent Form of Saturn is joined in any Tree or other thing with the Martial or bitter Quality then such Trees or Bodies are tall smooth hard and very dâ—…rable as Oaks and the like in which those Forms are powerful But if Sol or Venus or the sweet Quality have the chief Government in any Earth or other thing such Earth is mellow easy to be wrought and worked up especially if the Form of Iupiter be joined in Government then it is more deep mellow fit for Herbage Tillage and the best of Corn its colour is yellowish and very good for Wheat and not so apt to be Blasted by unseasonable Weather as other Herbage and Grain are where extream Qualities Govern for the nearer the Union the four grand Qualities stand in any Thing or Ceature the more useful and beneficial that thing becomes and its Shape and Form is the more beautiful for every Original principal Quality and Form is endued with peculiar Sal nitral Virtues which is the Original ground from whence arises the great variety of Complexions Forms and Figures Usefulness and the contrary though this be a Digression I don't doubt but it will be useful to the Understanding Reader Note The same Method that has been described about making of Bricks will do for Tyles Note A Wall or House may be made with unburned Bricks first let your Earth be high and well Tempered smooth and well Moulded as is mentioned before this must be done in the hottest Season then dried and turned after the manâ—…er of Brickmâ—…king only it must be longer exposed to the Sun and Elements till they become hard and tough with these Bricks you may make firm substantial Walls for a House after this manner Take Loam or a Brick Earth and mix therewith some good Lime Temper them very high till they become tough smooth and glewey let the Wall of your House be two Bricks or two Bricks and a half thick your unburn'd Bricks being laid in this well Tempered Mortar they will cement and become one hard solid body as if the whole were but one Brick or Stone when you have raised your Wall 4 or 5 Foot high from the Foundation then let it dry 2 or 3 days before you proceed farther then Build thereon 4 or 5 Foot more making the like pause as before and so proceed till your Wall is finished then Temper some of the same Earth the Wall was made of with a little more Lime than you used for the Wall which you must be sure to Temper very well and with this Mortar Plaster all your Wall well on the outside which will keep off the Weather for nothing injures this Wall but wet and moisture which this Coat will defend and if you would have it more beautiful it is only putting more Lime to it and less Loam and when this is dry you may Colour and Paint it with Red Blue or any other Colour that pleases you best Floors the best of them are made thus Take two thirds of Lime and one third of Coal-Ashes well sifted with a small quantity of Loamy Clay mix the whole quantity that you intend to use
of Unity whereby the Virgin Birth is obtained Let this serve to whet your Appetite after the improvement of Wisdom and Knowledge and remain a Memorial of the unfeigned friendship of Your Humble Servant T. T. LETTER XIX Of Flesh-BROTHS SIR I Have received yours wherein you desire my judgment of Flesh-Broths or Pottages their Nature Operation and Nourishment and likewise Pottages and Gruels made of Vegetables as Fruits and Herbs without Flesh and which of the two doth afford the best finest cleanest and healthiest Aliment to the Body and Mind This Question we have answered in several of our Writings nevertheless shall endeavour to gratifie your curious Philosophical Mind and longing desire after Wisdom And first shall give you an account of Pottages made with Flesh and of the Fat Gravy and Blood of Animals THe flesh of all Animals and Beasts is gross succulent and full freighted with many impurities and uncleannesses as we have demonstrated in our Book Entituled The Way to Health c. And to say nothing of the Bestial and revengeful passion of their Mind which after Deaths painful stroke centers in the Blood and Spirits and those violent incroaching Spirits do never fail to incorporate with their Similies in the Eaters it being the natural Law of God and the way of Nature which no Art can prevent For as Man is the compleat Image and Likeness of all things Creatures and Powers on the other side all Created Powers are an Epitome and likeness of Man so that in one Degree or another Man answâ—…s to all things and all things to him and as all Meats and Drinks are made and compounded both of Body and Spirits even as Man so from our Foods our Bodies and Spirits are continued made and sustained all according to the goodness badness cleanness or uncleanness of our Meats and Drinks for from the body of the said Foods Mans Body always is Created and made and from the Spirits Mans Spirits are from time to time generated and supported and so Nature still goes on for from the Spirits are made and do proceed Inclinations Dispositions Words and Works and they better or worse clean or unclean according as the Meats and Drinks and their respective Natures and Originals are Qualities always maintain and generate their like for the Children cannot but partake and be endued with the Principles Forms and Dispositions of the Father that begot them and from whence they proceeded and though they may alter as to the degrees some stronger some weaker yet are they the compleat Image of the Father which is the eternal and unalterable Law of our great Creator So that there is nothing more clear and manifest than that all Meats and Drinks are endued with an influential Vertue and Power to generate strengthen and maintain their own form and quality having in their own Bosom a Key to open all the secret Doors and Cabinets of Nature and there to incorporate joyn and reinforce all such forms principles and powers as are most agreeable to themselves So that it is the highest degree of Blindness Ignorance and Depravation for Man to imagine and think that there is little or no difference in the Nature and Operation of Meats and Drinks and that one thing is as good as another which deplorable and miserable Estate and Condition of Mankind is much to be lamented and highly pityed for so long as this Blindness and deepest Stupidity overwhelms People there can be no inclination to true Vertue Innocency and Regeneration viz. to be made better for all things both in Body and Spirit are better or worse vitious or vertuous according to the materials of which they are made and compounded To this all Men agree that a clean thing cannot be generated or proceed from an unclean nor a strong thing from a weak This is generally understood by every Man in his own Science Art Trade and Employment and in particular this is wonderfully demonstrative in Husbandry Painting and Manuring the Earth Yet this great and valuable Truth is not understood nor at all regarden in the Cultivation and Manuring their own Earth viz. their Bodies Souls and Spirits What a strange and unheard of Paradox is it that he who preâ—…nds to have Skill and Judgment and to manage and govern the World and all things therein should be so ignorant and know so little of himself or of the powers and principles of his own Composition Will not the Husbandman tell you that such and such Land or Earth will bring forth and bear such and such Grains Seeds Herbs Trees and Fruits better than others And will not the Lime-makers and such as are Skill'd in Mortar and Building tell you that strong Lime cannot be made of Chalk and that a strong thing cannot proceed and be made of a weak one but strong binding Lime must have a strong firm Original that is hard strong Stones wherein the Sal Nitral qualities of Saturn and Mars or the original Forms are powerful And will not the Husbandman tell you that if you will have your Cattel or Horses endued with the greatest strength and agility then you must give them the finest and cleanest Foods and such as by the Sun and Elements are purged from their gross flatulent juices for in such Foods the Spirits are clean free prompt and ready not being overwhelmed and drowned in gross matter and of all such Corn hath the first place And will not Drivers and Keepers of Horses tell you that dry clean Foods will enable them to go through more Labour without damage and hurt than Grass And do not Butchers and Tallow-Chandlers agree that Cattel fed with Corn and Hay their Flesh will take Salt better and keep longer and the Candles made of such Fat will not only burn best but also endure longer and are harder and more firm The like is to be understood in all other things every particular Species carries along even through all things its original Seeds both of vertue and vice strength and weakness always enduing their Children or Off-spring with their own original qualifications so constant so true are the ways and methods of Gods Law in Nature and who dares deny these Grand Truths Now my Friend if you understand and distinguish what here we have hinted at then you will easily make a judgment between Flesh-Pottages and those made of Herbs Fruits and Grains However for your satisfaction I shall give you a more particular account of them Flesh-Broths or Pottages are various better or worse according to the sorts they are made of and the season of the Year and the Food the Creature is fed with which our Writings give a particular account of as touching that Therefore I shall not enlarge The Fat Blood Gravy or Juices of all Beasts are exceedingly crude full of gross matter and dull heavy purblind Spirits with contaminated dolorous Species and when it comes into Boyling Water the Water immediately penetrates the whole substance and naturally draws forth
Stars and Configurations of the Heavens and yet all you say are of various Fortunes Shapes Figures Inclinations and Dispositions I answer now all that you take notice and affirm is a grand Truth and yet we must tell you that this doth not at all invalid or make void Judicial Astrology but that it is most evident that the Planets and Heavenly Bodies have an innate and powerful influence on all Suâ—…lunary Bodies or Things for it is most evident that by the circular Motions Configurations and Influences of those mighty Powers of God or Heavenly Bodies all material things are influenced altered and changed out of one thing or quality into another all the Elements bow before those great Powers and never fail to yield their Obedience and therefore as they retreat towards the Chambers of the South our fruitful Season ceases and the reviving Beams of the Great Eye of the World forsakes our Horrizon we are attended with cold Winds short Days long Nights Rainy Cloudy dark Weather with an intermixture of Frost and Snow which doth during the absence of the Sun and other ruling Constellations strip the Vegetable World of all its Ornaments so that Nature becomes like Old-Age and lies Bed-ridden till the return of this Glorious Body whose presence gives as it were a new Life Vigor and Strength unto all the Undergraduates and Off-spring of this World and for this cause no Man can or dare deny their influences conduct and power in and over visible things but as to the Forms Shapes Manners Strength Weakness Riches Poverty Honour Dishonour Healthiness and the contrary which variously do attend Persons in all Places and Countreys Born at one and the same time and under the same Stars and Constellations which as is said before doth not invalidate the Astrological Science or Influence of the Heavens on Mankind for the causes and reasons following viz. First every Seed produces or generates a Body and Spirit in some proportionable degree according to its Qualifications and Nature never failing to bring forth some new Essence that did not manifestly appear in the old Stock or Parents and although a thousand Persons should be Born at the rising of the same Constellation and under the same Elevation and Configuration of Heaven nevertheless each of these Persons will wonderfully and strangely vary both in their Shapes Forms Inclinations and Fortunes The reason is plain and as it were bare-fac'd for is there not a strange variety in the Foods Drinks Inclinations Dispositions Labours Communications Customs and Educations As for Example suppose that in one City or Town there are ten Persons have ten Sons Born at one and the same minute and they Educate and bring them up in ten several Arts and Trades every one of these Persons shall by the secret power of their Employment be influenced and subjected to the Method and Manners of those that are of the Employment Is not this clearly seen in all sorts of Business and the same is to be understood in Communication Now if those External Conversations as they may properly be termed are endued with such a mighty Energie and Power to seek out their Similies and thereby impose their propertys on the Humane Nature as in a great degree to encrease and change the Inclinations Dispositions Words and Works What then must Meats and Drinks do which are the very Essences and Substances of the Humane Nature every Son and Daughter is endued with all the Qualifications of their Parents and the Seed is made and generated from all the Qualifications of the Father and Mother First from the quality and quantity of their Meats and Drinks clean or unclean well or ill prepared proper or improper Mixtures Likewise it is influenced and as it were inspired by each Persons Employment Communication Words and Works for every Variation not only in Meats and Drinks but also in all other things or manners of Life do beget and produce variety of Shapes Forms Dispositions and Inclinations This is wonderfully manifested in the Husbandman's Art do not the mixtures of various Earths together alter and change the Vegetables for the better or worse stronger or weaker and every sort of Dung or Earth according to its quality and quantity is thereby rendred capable and do bring a newOff-spring of Vegetables called Weeds or Herbs that were never seen to appear in that spot of Land for the mixtures of Earths that are of differing qualities do alter and change the complexion of such Land or Earth by which secret power of Qualities that property that was strong becomes weak and that quality that was in the complexion weak and did as it were disappear becomes most powerful and manifest The very same is to be understood in the Art of Representation doth not a skilful Painter by an apt commixture of various Earths and Drugs most curiously represent all the wonderful variety of the Colours both of the Animal Vegetable and Mineral Worlds which is all done by the Sympathetical Power and Secret Operation of the mixtures and compounding the four grand qualities the Heavens and the Elements do continually sow and shower down Seeds of Varietys As for Example cast up Gravel or Clay that to all appearance is destitute of all the Sal Nitral or Seminary qualities of Vegetation nevertheless being for some time exposed to the Sun and common influences of the Elements such Gravel or Clay will become covered with various sorts of Herbage likewise it is farther to be observed that the Religion Customs and Manners of each Place or Countrey do powerfully alter and change the Complexions of Mankind either for the better or worse Virtue or Vice as suppose there should be a scrutiny made viz. a thousand Male Children of the most roughest fiercest cholerick Complexions should be sent to be Nursed and Educated in a Bannian Countrey where there is no Fighting Quarrelling not Killing either of Men or Beasts or of any Living Creature but all their Methods and Manners are sedate and calm where these young cholerick Sparks have nor do not see any other Precedent or Example but Clemency Mercy and an humble Deportment of their Elders to Men and Beasts esteeming it one of the greatest Sins or Crimes that Man is capable to commit against God and the whole Creation to oppress hurt or kill either Man or any Living Creature and let these Youths remain amongst them till they be 20 or 25 years of Age in which time they will be throughly grounded and fixed in their Religion and Customary Methods not letting them know from whence they came nor from what Parents they proceeded and then you may be assured that he that is fiercest by Complexion all the Rhetorick and profits or interest in the World will not be able to perswade such a one either to Kill Oppress be Drunk or go freely into the Armies of Princes to destroy those they never saw nor had no occasion of Quarrel The like is to be understood in all Religions can
so ignorantly Blind in this matter that there hath been but very few that have considered or as much as thought of it But to endeavour as much as lyes in me to satisfy your curiosity I shall set down some probable Guesses concerning them farther than which I do not pretend to go and they are reduced to the following Considerations 1. IN all Birds and Fowl that excellent Element the Air hath the ruling power to which their very Constitutions are subjected notwithstanding the variety of their Shapes Forms Natures and Dispositions as all Four Footed Beasts and other Animals of the Earth and Water have those Elements predominant in them And for this cause Birds do excel all other visible Creatures in the perfection of their Senses of Seeing Hearing Smelling Tasting and Feeling and that the Air has the principal government in them is very manifest first from their Voices Tones and Singing as that Element is known to be the very Life of all Tones and variety of Harmony wherein Birds exceed all other Sublunary Creatures Mankind alone excepted for which we may assign a reason in another place Secondly Their Flying and conveying their Bodies thro' the Air with a swift motion is a proof of it that being a Faculty that as far exceeds all the Inhabitants of this inferior World as Angels do them Thirdly They Build their Nests for the most part on Trees making the Heavens their Habitations wherein they mount aloft and with their speedy and swift motions can in a little while not only move themselves to great distances of places but at the same time behold the Earth creepers as I may term them grovelling in their heavy sluggish motions and herein have such exceeding advantages above even the rational part of this lower World that could a Man be but endued with this Flying Faculty as Birds enjoy it it cannot be thought he would be willing to lose or exchange such an Heavenly freedom and perfection for any Earthly Diadem or circumscribed dominion amongst us Fourthly Their manner of Subsistance for some parts of the year is in a manner unaccountable to us particularly in the Winter Season from about Christmas to the end of March which tho' subject to most pinching cold Winds Snow and Rainy Weather that never fail to cut off and destroy all Insects and Flies and that there is nothing visible to our Senses whereby such great numbers of Winged Creatures can be Sustained yet Birds of most sorts are then in the best case most Fat and so esteemed the best and most wholsom Food upon account of which Men double their diligence with Guns Snares and the like to destroy them without any consideration had either to their Innocency Harmonious Sounds and Voices or other Heavenly properties the Creator has endued them with above and in a far more excellent perfection than any other of the Sublunary Beings Now that these Creatures that are Corporeal and compounded of the same Elements and Qualities of Flesh and Blood as other Animals are should be able not only to support themselves from Starving but at such a time to grow Fat too when most other Creatures we know or communicate with sink and perish is very strange But as the Constitution and Composition of Birds are more Airy and Heavenly than other Creatures Inhabiting the dark cold lumpish Earth so their Support and Food must be more thin and Spirituous Fifthly Birds exceed all other Animals in their Love and Chastity and the Fidelity and Constancy of the Male and Female is admirable as I have set forth at large in my Complaint of the Birds which I know you have read with Satisfaction and as much may be said of them in respect to the Shortness Entireness and Intelligibility of their Language being well known to every one of the same Species and kind a Black-bird to be a Black-bird and so with the rest For Birds in their original Constitution are more Sublime than other inferiour Creatures or Beasts and still retain more of those excellent Branches entire than the most earthly since Mankind having had no commanding Power over them as over other Creatures besides Guns and Snares it must reasonably be supposed their Natures cannot be depraved as other Animals must needs be that are subject to the adulterated Methods of Men and this Preservation of theirs has been chiefly owing to that Noble and as it were heavenly Faculty of Flying in comparison whereof other Motions are dull heavy burthensom dark and melancholy seeming to be be but one degree behind that of Angels or the invisible Powers And this is most certain that the more entire any Creatures keep themselves from communicating with Mankind as has been just now hinted the more they keep or act within the Circle or Limits of their own original or first Love wherewith their Creator bound them so that is as the Fowls of the Air have a double Advantage over most if not all other Creatures for as by their first Constitution they are made more heavenly and Ethereal so by the Help and Assistance of these sublime Qualities they avoid those Evils and Adulterations of their natural constitutive Powers that other Creatures have been subjected to thro' the intollerable Burdens and Slaveries Men have imposed upon them for Mankind cannot but influence all the under-graduates whose Lives and Fortunes are at his Will and Pleasure with the same or the like Miseries and Depravities he has subjected himself unto which is plainly manifested by some of the winged Troops that are of grosser Compositions and familiar Dispositions such as Greese Hens Ducks Turkeys and others whose Bodies being gross in Quality and large in Quantity occasion them to lose most of their excellent Faculties and airy Qualifications and the like which they but very lamely perform in comparison of those that neither communicate with nor are fed by Men to say nothing of their being unhealthy liable to many Diseases and become short liv'd as all other Animals are which are governed by Mankind Sixthly As Birds and Fowls of the Air that do not converse with or are not fed by Men are much freer from Distempers than others so 't is to be observ'd that naturally there are but a few particular Diseases amongst them and that if they have any they are their own Physitians and 't is certain they have no sweeping or general Plagues amongst them so that they are not only healthy but long liv'd too and History tells us that some Birds have been observed to have lived three four or five hundred Years and yet appeared in youthful Dresses and undoubtedly their lives are very long and as unaccountable to us as their Diseases and more especially Deaths and Burial-places which few or none of the Ancient Historians or Philosophers have taken notice of and that we should remain I may say wholly ignorant hereof to this very day knowing nothing in what Climate Region or World those airy Beings make their Exit is as
wonderfully strange as it has been little enquired into by us For if we examine and enquire of Shepherds Cowherds Fowlers and all sorts of Field-men whose Business and Employments are in the Fields Woods Mountains Valleys about and upon both Fresh and Salt Waters they will tell you it is very rare that any sorts of Birds great or small are found dead unless wounded by some way or other Besides how is it likely any of them should die and their Feathers and Carcases not to be seen for Feathers are of such a hard tough Quality that the Elements cannot destroy or wear them out under a considerable time so that they must necessarily be found by one or other as all Birds that meet with Misfortunes are to which we may add that some Birds have large Bodies which dying and falling upon the Earth must infect the common Air with the evill Smells of the Carcase and be a sufficient Direction to find them out and is it possible that Dogs Swine and other Brutes would not seek them out to devour them which hereby as well as by the scattered Feathers could never be long concealed from Human Knowledge and Observation The like is be understood not only in our own but all other Countries of the World for if these Airy Creatures were found to die with particular Diseases or Epidemical Distempers in any other Climates or Regions of the Earth then we might have some reason to conclude that towards the approaching time of their Death they moved themselves accordingly as some say Swallows and many Birds do against Winter but to what Country Climate or Place they fly is yet to be decided that being in a manner as dark and unknown to Mankind as the place of their Exit which not having yet been determined by any I crave leave to thrust in a reasonable Conjecture viz. That they are buried or swallowed up in some superior Region or World wholly unknown to us as being most suited to their Natures wherein they very much excel all other terrestrial and watry Animals these being heavy dull and melancholy like the predominant Element in them and their Tones and Cries in like proportion while the Volatiles of the Air are quick full of Life and in their common Motion have a nearer Similitude to Incorporeal Beings whose blest Harmony above they do by their Singing in some degree imitate But to expatiate a little upon the Qualifications of these Airy Creatures in respect to other kinds the excellency thereof does arise from their original Composition of Air and fiery Sal Nitral Powers and Virtues which have the Ascendant or Predominancy in the Centre of their being whereas the contrary is to be understood of all other Creatures that Walk upon the Earth and Swim in the Water the Sal Nitral Properties of those grosser Elements having the governing Power in them and therefore they are like them I mean gross heavy and phlegmatick and their Food is accordingly and tho' all visible Creatures be made and compounded of the four Elements together with the four grand Qualities yet each Individual Creature or Thing is endued with Qualifications according to the Element that hath the Predominant Power whether it be Earth Water Air or Fire and each of them feed and preserve their own Children for which cause there is a wonderful variety and strange difference in the Nature and Complexion of the Creatures and Things appertaining to the Earthy Region and so of the other Elements that proceed from each Creatures Composition i. e. when the airy and fiery Elements have a large share in the Composition of any Terrestrials such are lively brisk and quick in Motion as tho' they had Wings to fly with and the same is to be understood in Vegetâ—… some Trees being tall and lofty and all others in proportion neither are the Creatures belonging to the watery and fiery Regions by no means to be excluded herefrom yea all the Inhabitants and Children of the four Elements do vary and differ in their Forms Shapes Figures Dispositions Inclinations Manners and Natures respectively according to their several Compositions degrees of each Element in them and the variety of the four grand Qualities together with the Sal Nitral Properties as is most manifest by the Off-spring and Children of each Element for what a vast and wonderful difference and how many degrees is there between the Mole whose Habitation is in the Earth and the high soaring Eagle and other Birds belonging to the airy Region Is not the same thing to be understood of the Phlegmatick Shoals or Scaley Inhabitants of the watry Element the Forms Figures and Natures of them all being in proportion to their various Compositions of the Elements and Sal Nitral Powers for which reason some are wonderfully large heavy and slow in Motion others swift c. but in all such wherein the watry Element is most Predominant and the other three are weak and impotent we see they can hardly live three minutes out of their own Element whereas some other Animals in whose Compositions the Elements of Earth and Air have a large share can both live in the Water and also out of it on the Earth for some time and the same is also to be understood of Creatures wherein the Earth and Air are most Predominant And give me leave farther to observe unto you that God's Creating and Preserving Power being in the very Centre of all Beings therefore each Element does not only midwife its Productions and wonderful variety of Beings into this visible World but at the same time gives Food and all Necessaries of Life too until each Creature or Thing has attained to its due Limits and then every Element receives her own Children again the Earth being the Grave of all Creatures wherein that lumpish Element did Predominant and so of the other three so that it may be fairly inferred that Birds upon the approach of their Death do withdraw themselves from Humane view to some Regions or Places not only unknown but invisible to us else why should not we find their Carcases upon the Earth as we do those that are tame and accustomed to our Company which undoubtedly were originally wild and as hard to come at as other Birds and Fowls of the Air It may be farther urged that all the Winged Troops are bounded and by Nature limited so as none of them can exceed in their Flights as all the Terrestrial Creatures many of which can run more Miles in a day than several sorts of Birds can fly and most Dogs could more easily catch Birds could they keep in sight and prevent them from resting on Trees and other places out of their reach nay many of them are so short of flight that Men and Boys can tire and catch them by ordinary running if they can but keep their Eyes on them and in short there is hardly any Bird that is able to Fly 100 or 150 Miles without resting divers
about themselves wherein many Thousands have not only been accessary to their own Destruction by the venemous fumes of their own Fires but inticed others into the same Mischiefs by their Lying Volumes left behind them which have had no small influence on many very Ingenuous Persons whose Inclinations prompted them to those curious Studies together with the hopes of Gain and to become Richer than the Princes of the Earth and who tho' they have been endued with much Wit and other ingenuous Faculties yet they are void of any spark of true light or distinguishing understanding in the wonderful Operations of Nature Gods Eternal Power and fixed Methods of his Law But admit we should suppose they could attain to a proper Ferment both in the Mineral and Animal Kingdoms and Seminary Qualities whereby they could Ferment all Minerals as also the Flesh and Blood of Animals yet they shall not be able thereby to obtain the multiplying quality of Nature let their Menstruum be what it will because Fermentation wheresoever it is effected does in a moment destroy the unity of that thing and all its Seminary Qualities from whence multiplication proceeds by this fierce motion awakening the Central Principles out of their rest as already mentioned Further I say if this Fermentation could have been effected in the Mineral and Animal Kingdoms these Gentlemen would be as far off an Universal Medicine as ever neither would they be able ever to have made better Work or Medicines than there are made of Vegetations in the method of Fermentation and Distillation nor probably so good because Minerals are harder crude and harsher by much than Herbs Fruits Grains and Seeds having as it were no proportionable assimilation with the Humane Nature to which they are great Strangers and so rendred not capable of being made Homogeneal insomuch that Metals this way could be of no real benefit to Mankind but rather increase our Evils and Intemperances and our Operators instead of preparing Universal Medicines would have made Universally destructive Liquors or Spirits which no Art could ever make agreeable to Humane Nature and must be much worse than the Spirits or Brandies made of Vegetables are Again whatever could that way be drawn or extracted from the Bestial Nature of Animals must of necessity be gross and unclean in proportion to the Original from whence it proceeds for Nature never lies but is constant and true in all her Operations I will not take upon me in this place to say that the Arts of Fermentation and Distillation in any kind had been better lost than found in the World tho' it is most certain that Fermentation in the strictest and best Sense is no other than a certain vegetative and insensible Delirium or Madness and therefore all its Operations when the Fermented Liquor is strong and spirituous are in proportion and the same as I may say being Disbanded from under the Government of its Superior Officers so soon as a quantity of it is introduced into Mans Body it plunders Nature of all its sweet Virtues by drying and parching them up and at the same time breaks the Government of the Sentes turning Reason and Wisdom adrift so that the Body is in no better condition than a Ship without either Pilot or Rudder and penetrating into all parts and corners awakens and stirs up the Original Fires and by confederating with the same the whole Man becomes Mad and like one out of his Wits For which cause the Egyptians and Eastern Countries where the Art is supposed to have been invented foreseeing the Evils that would necessarily ensue did both by Laws and customs prohibit the Drinking thereof confining the said Liquors to the circle of Medicines I might take upon me were it necessary to ennumerate here the many kinds of Evils and Distempers the Drinking of such Liquors has introduced into the World but to wave that as being well known and but too sensibly felt I shall touch a little upon the other Inconveniences that do attend Fermentation and Distilling Are not most of our noble Fruits Grains and Seeds very much wasted and destroyed hereby which if otherwise managed would be considerable Preservatives For Example one Bushel of good Barley made into Malt Ground Fermented and Distilled into what they call Common Proof-Spirit makes but about Five Quarts thereof which in weight is not above Eight Pounds and an Half whereas the Barley before it was so ordered as aforesaid weighed about Forty Five Pounds and would have made Bread enough to sustain Six or Seven Persons for a whole Week with some other Foods or if the said Bushel of Malt had been Brewed into Beer or Small Ale it would have made Twenty or Four and Twenty Gallons of good Drink And tho' this last be of much less value to Mankind than the said Corn made into Bread yet it far exceeds the Five Quarts of Brandy both in quality and in all its Uses The like is to be understood in most of our other Grains and Fruits In a word Fermentation and Distillation have Midwifed into the World all the enticing Drinks and Liquors that are Drunk and tho' these Arts may be allowed to advance some particular things to an higher degree of usefulness yet they are but few and might well enough be spared Indeed Bread and Flour of Corn being of a ponderous close glewy Body Fermentation doth advance and better accommodate it to our Stomachs making it of an easier Digestion tho' at the same time this virtue of putting Ferment into our common Bread the supposed advantages thereof proceed chiefly from custom for the Ancients whose Health and long Life far surpassed ours in these latter days according to the Testimony of History used neither Ferment nor Salt in their Cakes and many of the Eastern People do follow that custom to this day And it is also remarkable that among the Iews and other Religions too after some of them came to allow Drinking Wine and Fermented Liquors yet they would not admit of Bread that was Fermented either with Leven or Lees of Wine to be eaten in their Religious Rites or Worship esteeming the same unclean in comparison to that which had no Ferment or Leaven therein and this they called clean or unleavened Bread Neither is this also to be omitted concerning our common Bread that if the Yeast be too much in quantity such Bread becomes in a very short time dry and harsh losing its sweet pleasant taste and moisture And by the by I may add in like manner that Salt is a certain and sure Enemy to Bread not only by causing it to corrupt in a short time but also it takes away and doth as it were destroy the natural pleasant sweetness thereof and indeed there is no manner of thing to be urged but custom for putting it in and 't is well known that Bread which is designed to be kept for a considerable while must have neither Salt Ferment nor Yeast in it and this