Thy Wâ—…rd O Lord healeth all things And Saint Iohn hath it that In the Word was life c. Ergo all healing and viuifying power commeth from him as ordained by him the speaker or Creator from the beginning to informe viuifie and create all things Whereas contrariewise in the Diuell is Death and Destruction for the Prophet doth testifie that he was created to destroy Ergo nothing but afflictioâ—… and wounding with sicknesse death and destruction are to be expected of him in his created property and that especially after his fall But I know Master Foster will reply that it is true he is Causa primaria principalis the prime and principall cause of all things but there are many sâ—…balternate efficient causes which operat by themselues that according to their owne inclinations some to good and some to euill To this I â—…swer that it is granted if he meaneth organicall causes and not Essentially Efficients for such are the Angels the starres the winds the Elements the meteors or imperfect bodies and the perfect or compounded Creatures But it is most euident that onely God worketh essentially in them and by them all And I proue it by many places of holy writ harmonically agreeing in one sense As for example Ego Dominus saith the Lord by the Prophet faciens omnia solus nullus mecum I am the Lord who operate and act all things alone not hauing any one to helpe or assist me in mine action or operation And againe Iuxta voluntatem suam facit tam coeli virtutibus quam c. Hee doth what hee list as well with the vertues and powers of Heauen as with the dwellers on the earth and there is not any that can resist his hand Whereby it is most euident that onely God alone without any Co-assisting Creature doth essentially worke in each organicall Subiect as in an Instrument created for him to operate his will and pleasure by as well in Heauen as in Earth and that the creature without that act is as a dead stocke a plaine inane vacuum without all vertue act and operation being vnable to doe more then the pipe without the blast of the piper And to this effect speakes the Prophet thus Consilium meum stabit omnis voluntas mea flet c. My counsell shall stand and my will shall bee accomplished calling a bird from the East Quarter of tâ—…e world and a man of my will from a remote Countrey I haue said it and I will bring it to passe I haue created it and I will doe it whereby it is euident that as the Spirit of his mouth which hee hath sent out for the animating of euery Creature moueth which way the will of the Creatour or inspirer pleaseth So the Spirit of the Creature which is partaker of his Power and Will is immediately obedient and bringeth his bodily case or instrument along with it to performe his Creators Will which is irresistible according to that other place Deus quodcunque voluit hoc facit what God would haue done that he effecteth And this operation of God as well by himselfe as in his created Organs doth extend it selfe not only vnto vulgar manifest actions and effects but also vnto arcane or hidden yea and to such as are miraculous wonderful euen as this cure by the weapon-salue appeareth to be vnto the fantasies oâ—… worldly men making them to admire and wonder at it as a company of birds doe at an Owle in an Iuie bush censuring after the wisedome of this world diuersly and that according to euery mans imagination Some boldly and presumptuously proclaiming it to be the work of the Diuell Some auerre it to bee a maine fopperie and vaine imagination in too credulous persons who by hauing only a good opinion of the thing are cured Some condemne it as a superstitious and abominable manner of healing for as much as the election of ingredients must be done by an Astrological obseruation And others approacâ—… nearer the truth terme it a Naturall Magia or a Magneticall or secret act of Nature And some more essentially grounded and religiously obseruing the prescribed order of holy writ doe as true Christians are bound to doe referre both this miraculous and wonderous act in curing euery other wonderous worke besides vnto that glorious God who hath made both heauen and earth and assigned to them by his spirit as well those vertues which worke in the eyes of worldlings miraculously or wonderfully as others which appeare more familiar vnto their sense according vnto that of Dauid verbo Domini firmati sunt coeli spiritu ab ore eius omnis virtus corum by the Word of the Lord the heauens were established and by the breath of his mouth each vertue or power thereof And their maine ground and foundation for the maintainance of Gods right and the abolishing or taking away of all such miraculous and wonderfull power as is falsely by blind worldlings ascribed vnto the Diuell is prescribed them out of this diuine and truth-telling hymne of the Royall Prophet Blessed bee the Lord God of Israel who onely and by himselfe worketh mâ—…ruailes Or as he hath it in another place Praise the Lord for his mercie endureth for euer who onely doth great meruailes And consequently not any Diuell nor Angell nor man nor medicine but God onely performeth it by that spirituall Gift of healing he hath imparted vnto man and his creatures in their creation and continued it in them from generation to generation It is manifest therefore that onely God operateth all in all essentially and not any created organ bee it spirituall or corporall and consequently not the Diuell who is the organ of darknesse ordained and animated or agitated to effect onely deeds of darkenesse as are sicknesse and destruction and not to be conuersant in goodnesse and especially about deeds of light as are life healing and preseruing As who should say that God acting and operating essentially in all and ouer all had not created good Angels or spirituall Organs to bring to passe and effect the gifts of life and health which hee hath of his mercy imparted vnto his creatures but hee must make election of that spirituall Organ to performe such good deedes whom he created for a cleane contrarie purpose as shall be forthwith proued Gods purpose and will as well in his Creation as after it cannot be withstood that is there cannot be produced an effect contrarie to his will or decree But Gods will and purpose was to make the Deuill his instrument or minister to punish and afflict with diseases sickenesse and death Ergo this his purpose as well in the Deuils creation as by ordination after his fall cannot bee withstood or contradicted by any effect which is contrarie vnto that first will and decree of God Now for the confirmation of the Major we find it thus written Deus iuxta voluntatem suam
reducis manum tuam nihil potest effugere Thou hatst the power of life and death in thine hand thou bringest into the mouth of the graue and deliuerest or bringest backe againe Whereby it is manifest that it is onely God who eyther miraculously or by vertue of his creatures which he hath instituted for this or that wholesome purpose that cureth and againe woundeth by the meanes of his organicall ministers be they angelicall or humane As for example hee causeth his Angell Raphiel to make vse of the fish his Liuer and Gall for the chasing away of the destroying Fiend and to heale the blind Tobias Also the Angel did giue the vertue of healing vnto the Lake Bethesdas And againe the Psalmist saith Plag a non appropinquabit tentorium tuum nam Angelis suis praecipiet de te but that by any authority of Text hee made vse of Satan or any of his darke angels to accomplish any such deed of light or to employ any of Gods creatures as are the Fat Blood or Flesh to cure a wounded or vlcerous creature when I can finde it in Scripture I will in some sort beleeue it but because that will proue too long a search for Master Foster and againe I finde the precedent places of Scripture to be generally against it therefore I conclude that the mysticall curing by the Weapon-Salue is the mercifull gift of God only Wherefore vnto him wholly and vnto no diuell in hell be ascribed all vertue power and glory for his mercies in generall and for this vertue and property of healing by the weapon-salue in particular for euer Amen Blessed I say with the Prophet Dauid be the Lord God of Israel who onely worketh all wonders and therefore effecteth this wonderfull manner of curing which passeth mans vnderstanding To him therefore be ascribed for it all praise and honour for euermore CHAP. III. How by an abstruse inquisition made into the mystery of Sacred Philosophy the question proposed concerning the lawfulnesse or vnlawfulnesse of the Weapon-salues vsage is resolued and Mr. Fosters Sponge well squeesed IN this precedent Chapter I haue proued Thelogically and that by pure examples out of Scripture that the diuell was the spirituall Organ ordained by God in the creation for an vse cleane opposite vnto that of curing and healing and therefore it is vnlikely that now in his latter dayes after so many destructions committed by him in his former age hee can become a sauer and healer of diseases Now wil I proue in a more euident manner and that by Sacred Philosophy that Gods viuifying Spirit mouing in the ayry Organ of the World doth by his vertuous application or aspect to the weapon-salue effect the cure of such as are wounded And I call this manner of prouing Theo-philosophicall or belonging vnto Sacred Philosophy because it respecteth the nature of this manner of curing as it receiueth his essentiall act and being from God mouing and acting in and by his created Spiriâ—…uall Organs in and ouer all Of this manner of Philosophy St. Paul speaketh thus Videte ne quis vos decipiat per philosophiam inanem fallaciam secunduÌ„ traditionem hâ—…minum secundum element a mundi non secundum Christum quia in ipso habitat omnis plenitudo diuinitatis corporaliter estis in illo repleti qui est Caput omnis principatus potestatis Beware lest there be any man that deceiue you through philosophy and vaine deceit according to the traditions of men according to the rudiments of the world and not after Christ for in him dwelleth the fulnesse of the God-head bodily and 〈◊〉 are complete in him who is the head of Principalities and Powers By which words hee seemeth to terme the Ethnick philosophy vaine and deceitfull forasmuch as it is framed out according to the rudiments of this world which doe ordaine many essentiall subalternate Agents acting and operating absolutely and simply of themselues without any consideration had vnto the Catholicke and supreme Power of God the Father of all things from whom radically all essentiall actions proceed which are afteward effected by our Lord Iesus Christ by whom all things haue their being and not from any subalternat agent or efficient creature For though they ferue as organicall ministers yet they are but dead except God apeareth and opperateth in them by his Spirit and therefore is all act and operation attributed vnto God as it is proued before by the Apostle saying One God operateth all in all And againe he saith Though there be that are called Gods in heauen and in earth yet vnto vs there is but one God who is the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things and wee by him For this cause is God called Alpha and Omeâ—…a the beginning and the end namely as in himselfe he decreeth all and by his Word he essentially operateth and effecteth all and that immediately Now that his very Spirit is in all things the wise Salomon doth intimate expressely saying that the incorruptible Spirit of the Lord is in all things and that from the Spirit of Gods mouth proceedeth the vertues of all things as the Prophet Dauid telleth vs which being so it must consequently follow that the essentiall forme or life of euery Creature in this world must depend on this Spirit and haue his centrall seate of Actiuity in proportion more or lesse from this Agent of Agents who as it acteth in the Center of all things so is it euen continuat vnto the circumference that is from Alpha or the Center vnto Omega or the Circumference for else would there bee a diuision of the diuine Essence which is impossible And for this cause is God said to fill all and to operate all in all wherefore the Apostle concludeth as before that the Ethnick Philosophy framed out by the tradition and inuention of mans wisdome is false and deceitfull but that which is founded onely vpon Christ is to bee embraced because that in him dwelleth the fullnes of Diuinity which operateth all in all according vnto the will and decree of his Father who is the head of all Potestates and principalities and consequently of all Angels And therefore Angels can effect nothing but as he acteth in them and by them as his spirituall Organs Loe this is therefore that Theosophicall subiect whereby I make my strickt Inquisition into the mystery of this manner of healing by the Weapon-Salue And thus much for a preamble to the discourse Now to the purpose Wee must obserue in the cure done by this Weapon-Salue three principall things namely the partie wounded the Oyntment curing and lastly the occulte actiuity which raigneth in the blood and issueth from the blood vnto the Oyntment The party wounded may rightly be compared to the world and therefore is called a little world he is composed of heauen and earth namely of spirit and body
and as the Creatour did send out his Spirit which moued vpon the waters and did informe animate and viuifie them so that as St. Peter saith of them and by them were the heauens and the earth framed and by this spirituall Word established vnto this day euen so mans heauen and his earth are fashioned out by the same eternall spirit of life on which it relyeth and continueth in his specificall succession euen vnto this very day And therfore is it said Ye are carued out of one and the same Spirituall Rocke and that In him wee line wee moue and haue our Being and that we are the Temples of the Holy Ghost and the Members of Christ and that We are in God the Father and by our Lord Iesus Christ as it is rehearsed before and that Regnum Dei sit intra nos The Kingdome of God is within vs Neither let vs ascribe this Gods goodnesse to our selues alone since that it extendeth it selfe to euery Creature besides though not so abundantly For in Verbo erat vita in the Word was life and Iudith saith in her prayer Seruiat Dcâ—…omnis omnis Creatura quia dixisti factae sunt misisti Spiritum tuum creatae sunt Let euery Creature serâ—…e thee O Lord because thou spakest the Word and they were made thou didst send forth thy spirit and they were created And the Prophet saith Haec dicit Deus creans coelos extendens eos firmans terram quae germinant in ea dans flatum populâ—… qui est supraeam spiritum calcantibus eam Thus saith the Lord who hath created the heauens and extended them and fastned the earth and all things that grow out of it who giueth breath vnto the people that is vpon it and spirit to those Creatures that tread vpon it And King Dauid Deo dante Creaturis colliguâ—… abscondente faciemsuam perturbantur recipiente spiritum eorum exspirant emittente spiritum suum receantur God giuing to the Creatures they receiue it hiding his face from them they are troubled taking back againe from them their spirit they dye and sending forth his spirit they are recreated or reuiued And Iob hominâ—…m constituit Deus super terram apponens ad â—…am animam suam si spiritum seu flatum eius adse reciperet deficeret exspiraret omnis caâ—… simul â—…omo in cinerem reverteretur God made man vpon earth giuing vnto him his soule or life If he should receiue or draw vnto himselfe his spirit or breath of life all flesh would dye and also man would returne to ashes By all these authorities we are taught that the life forme and nature of euery Creature doth essentially spring and proceed from God and therefore what gift of healing is found to proceed either from compounded or simple medicines be they Angelicall Celestiall Elementall or of an Animall Vegetable or minerall composition it proceedeth from their Creatour as being either bestowed vpon them in their Creation for that wholesome purpose or else miraculously and beyond the common course of Nature imparted vnto some Creatures to effect And therefore man ought not rashly to condemne a medicine because it worketh after an other manner then the vulgar doth For God hath allotted vnto some medicines occult hidden properties and therefore worke they not by an externall and euident elementarie qualitie And this occult vertue is called by some wise men Angelicus actus qui est tanquam inter Deum Naturam virtus media à quâ fiunt operationes in rebus quâ—…s natura earum vel non faceret vel sic faceret quas alij dicuut prouenire a proprietate occulta alij quia tales An Angelicall act which is as it were a middle vertue betweene God and nature whereby operations are effected in things which the elementarie Nature of them could not performe or would so bring to passe as they which are said by some to proceed of an occult quality and others quia sunt tales And such was the effect in curing by the water of the poole of Bethesdas not that the manifest elementary quality of the water did it But the Act of the Angell which mooued it In like manner can no man expresse any naturall reason that is manifest for the attraction of the Iron by the Loadstone or of straw by Amber or why the Loadstone looketh towards the North or why the Laurell or Baytree preserueth from the harmes of lightning and thunder and likewise how directly this cure is effected c. The causes of these things are occult and hidden vnto the common philosopher but to come a little neerer to the point It is apparant then that the incorruptible Spirit is in all things but most abundantly next vnto the great world in the little world called man For as in the great world God is said rightly by Ierome his translations leauing the corruption of others to haue put his Tabernacle in the Sunne from whence by a perpetuall and neuer dying motion hee sendeth forth life and multiplication to euery member and creature of the great world and by the agility of his Spirit for Salomon saith It is omni re mobilior the most moueable of all things hee moueth and giueth life vnto the whole Spirit of the world which also the same wise man doth iustifie in these words Sol gyrans à meridie flectitur ad Aquilonem lustrans vniuersain circuitu pergit spiritus The Sunne mouing from the South bendeth toward the North illuminating the whole world the spirit or ayre of it doth moue circularly Whereby hee argueth that the spirit in the Sunne animateth and giueth motion life and spirit vnto the ayrall spirit of the whole world for without his assiduall motion and act as Aristotle and all other Philosophers confesse the ayre would soone be corrupt and be as it were dead and of no validity for the reason heereof the holy Text concludeth that the Holy spirit of discipline filleth the whole world So also and in the very like manner the same incorruptible spirit filleth the little world est enim Templum Spiritus Sancti it is the Temple of the Holy Ghost and hath put his Tabernacle in the heart of man in which it moueth as in this proper macrocosmicall Sunne in Systole and Diastole namely by contraction and dilatation without ceasing and sendeth his beames of life ouer all the whole frame of man to illuminate giue life and circular motion vnto his spirit And thereupon the Apostle reciprocally saith of this little world as in another place of the great one In Deo viuimus mouemur sumus In God we liue moue and haue our being also as this abstruse spirit doth giue heate by his actiuity and essentiall motion vnto the great world the very same it doth effect in the little world and all things else when it doth not quiescere or in se delitescere that is not rest or withdraw
vnto the Diuell Doe I thinke you doe amisse Was it not I pray you for these very words of Paul that in his Sermon at Athens Demetrius and his crafts men were so much offended with him The Lord saith he who hath made heauen and earth dwelleth not in Temples made with hands netther is worshipped with mens hands as though he needed any thing seeing he giueth to all life and breath and all things and hath made of one blood all mankind c For in him we liue and moue and haue our Being for wee are also his generation For as much then as wee are the Generation of God wee ought not to thinke that the Godhead is like vnto gold or siluer or ston◅ grauen by art and the inuention of man c. This angred Demetrius and his company namely to say that the Godhead is not like vnto gold or siluer grauen by art which if they had suffered no body would haue bought the images of Diana framed by them In like manner this Chirurgicall faction decryes the Weapon-Salue fearing that few wounded persons would trouble them for their cure being that frustra fit per plura quod potest fieri per pauciora it would bee but vaine for a wounded man to bee tormented by flashing eating corrosiues incisions and dolorous tentings of Chirurgions besides great bargaines and compacts for the cures and perchance also little attendance when the immediate Act of God doth operate the ◅ure gratis gently without dolorous tents or grieuous incision and that honestly without an ill conscience seeing that it is Gods Spirit which doth operate as well in the blood as salue For I beseech you obserue the words of Saint Paul which if they moue in some degree the Ephesian siluer-smiths they will much more nettle such couetous Chirurgians as would suffocate and smoother this excellent and diuine vertue in the Weapon-Salue whose originall is ofblood The which words that you may with the better solidity conceiue you must gather or collect out of them these three seuerall things First that the Lord of Lords is hee who hath made heauen and earth whereupon wee collect tha the which hath made heauen and earth is the guider and operatour both in the spirit and body of both the great and little world called man and therefore neither Hag nor diuel can work to the health sustentation or preseruation of either as the consequence shall confirme For the Text saith Hee giueth life breath and all things Next hee hath made all mankind of one blood and spirit And therefore he operateth all in all in mans blood in generall as well to life as health And againe the spirit of the dead mans bones and consequently their excrescence which issued originally out of mans blood in the which in part lurketh Gods Spirit of life hath an homogeniall reference vnto the liuely blood of man for as much as the Text saith that all mankind is made of one blood onely and therefore this vnion of symphoniacall or sympatheticall harmony is not easily to bee limited by Master Fosters phantasticall spheare of actiuity For the text following vnto the Athenians is In him wee liue and moue and haue our Being And lastly that wee are the Generation of God and for that cause Christ did not disdaine to call vs his Brethren and the Sonnes of God Neither is it sufficient to say as these precisians doe that this is ment onely of the Beleeuers and not of the Infidels For Saint Paul at that very time when hee preached this doctrine spake vnto the Idolaters and such as worshiped vnknowne gods and he did let them to know th◅s much namely that they liued moued and had their being in the true God and that this Lord of Lords giueth life and breath and being and that they were all of Gods Generation All this hee truely taught that thereby they might leaue their false gods and betake themselues vnto their right Lord only God from whom by whom in whom they exist and persist in their being as hee declareth else-where Let therefore Demetrius his Goddesse Diana be forgotten and let Fosters healing diuell be depriued from all his imaginary power practice in curing of wounds And lastly let all couetuous Chirurgians expectations be thorowly quashed and disanulled by this inuiolable assertion of the Apostle Though there be that are called Gods whether in heauen or in earth as there be many gods and many lords yet vnto vs there is but one God which is that Father of whom are all things and wee in him and one Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him but euery man hath not that knowledge Let M. Foster mark this as who shouldsay though the Ephesian Demetrius with his complices did attribute all power vnto the false Goddesse Diana and Foster the secret maruellous power of healing by the weapon-salue vnto the diuell as the prince of this world without any consideration vnto this Text yet it is certaine that it is God the Father of whom are al things and consequētly this act in curing and by our Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things and therefore each blessed gift of healing For Salomon auerreth that it is the Word that cureth all things But saith the Text Euery man hath not this knowledge c. Wherefore Mr. Foster is the more to be blamed to professe the name of Gods Minister and to be ignorant in this point Or at the leastwise if he knew it hee is to be blamed both before God and man to speake so bluntly and against his conscience for any pruiuate companies cause or worldly affection yea it may appeare that hee was troubled in his conscience when hee writ so staggeringly and vnaduisedly touching the originall cause of this cure For first of all pag. 8. he saith that it is not the salue that cureth but the diuell by the secret applications of other medicines In another place namely pag. 17. hee acknowledgeth that the act of curing is the salue but concludeth it to be magicall by reason of the superstitious obseruations in the collection or gathering of the ingrediences and in the anoynting of the weapon Then pag. 39. hee seemeth to auerre that it is the bathing of the wound with Vrin and the keeping it cleane which doth effect this cure whereby hee taketh away all vertue from the salue and acting power from the diuell But pag. 7. hee saith that it is onely God that cureth at such a distance for as much as his essence is infinite and is omnia in omnibus and not any Angell The Gentleman you see is in many minds God amend him and make his head-piece more setled and of a more solid consistence and constant nature or wee shall be troubled heereafter with many words but little substance appertaining to the right matter I heare he threatneth me with a volume of some impieties and I know not what which hee hath found in
of this feate of occult curing and not rather such ingredients as are collected out of mans body being that they are neerer and more familiar vnto their kinde and therefore more benigne and affable vnto it then stranger Medicines as are vegetables or such like If the Reader will well ponder this he will perceiue all that our Sponge-carrier speaketh Pag. 8. is but foppery The Deuill saith he maketh the Mediciner beleeue it is spent by a vertue going to the wound whilst hee skilfull by long experience in all Arts and so in the Art of Medicine doth himselfe secretly apply some other vertuall operatiue Medicine to cure the wound to delude his credulous Mountebankes and makes them beleeue that this Salue which dropped out of the Hangmans bouget hath performed it O wonderous miracle and what getteth the Deuill by that namely to cure a man in that sort whose body and soule is in the hands of the Almighty In maâ—… Iehouae saith Iob est anima omnis 〈◊〉 spiritus 〈◊〉 carnis In the hand of God is the soule of euery creature and the spirit of all flesh Thinkes he that God will leese his owne by so weake and poore a sleight Nay more to giue or grant vnto the Deuill his Word which as Salomon saith 〈◊〉 all things to deceiue himselfe of his owne heritage What The Deuill doe good where no profit vnto him is to be expected And why not then by the virtuall contact of this Medicine being of a neerer consanguinity with man and therefore a more easie Curer then any other Medicine that can worke by any virtuall contact A goodly tale As if a man would perswade me that it is not the Load-stone that draweth the Iron but the Deuill vseth some other creature to doe the deed to coozen and deceiue the Philosopher or Mariner These are but fabulae Inuentions I say of a fantastick braine who to perswade vs vnto his imaginary and no way probable will would make vs beleeue that Castles are built in the Ayre and that we are in all our good actions deluded by the Deuill and that flying with the wings of Master Fosters wit we must needs be wafted on the clouds of error and so in a mist of ignorance forget the blessed workes of our good God and Sauiour and by Master Fosters palpable delusions to acknowledge them to be effected craftily by Gods enemy And how in Gods name hapneth it that the Deuill is become so great a Student in Physick and doth proue so expert in the art of curing who hath employed his whole cunning and bestowed the best fruits of his industry to play the Kill-cow and to destroy A very wonderous thing Master Foster said it ergo must we beleeue it No God forbid But blessed be our Lord God who by emitting forth the benignity of his countenance sendeth onely health where how and vnto whom he list But to proceede CHAP. IIII. This Chapter sheweth Master Fosters error in saying that the soule doth not reside after an hidden manner in the spirits The second attempt of the Sponge against the same Text. Fourthly I deny that the soule resideth after any hidden manner in the spirits The Stoicks indeed held that the spirits were vincula animae corporis but the Peripatetick and Diuines deeme this as needlesse seeing the body is generated for the soule and the soule created for the body and both make the totum compositum What needs there any bonds to fasten them together There is a reciprocall desire to come together at the first and an endeauour after the vnion to keepe together The soule cannot in any kinde depend on or reside in the spirits her instruments but the spirits in the soule c. We squeese once againe in this Argument this swelling and full-gorged Sponge after this manner Though in the precedent I answered sufficiently that point yet must I wring this Sponge a little harder or it will keepe some of the iuyce of verity in his porous paunch I said before that animaesedes was in sanguine and her chiefest vehicle was the humidum radicale as we see that the Spirit of life in the great world did place His Tabernacle in the Sunne of Heauen And againe it is said that the incorruptible Spirit is in all things but this is that spirit which viuifyeth all things and therefore it resideth in the blood and consequently in the spirits which are contained therein after a hidden and mysticall manner As touching the Peripateticks and some 〈◊〉 opinion who hold that it is needlesse there should be a tye betweene the soule and body verily that doctrine is most erroneous and false First because the soule and body are so contrary in complexion vnto one another that except an vnion were made betweene the two extremes it were impossible that they should meet together or if they should or could meete yet the pure and heauenly light of the soule would suddenly forsake the impure and earthly darknesse of the body For how can duo contraria conuenire in vnum Doe we not see that all influences from aboue must haue an ayrie Chariot vehicle or medium to conuey them into bodies and to vnite them together Why did God ordaine and place the Ayre betweene the Heauen and Earth but to serue as a vehicle to vnite celestiall things with terrestriall ones quasi amoris vinculo as it were with the band of loue Can we haue a better proofe hereof in this typicall world then that of the Archetypicall Is not the Father vnited to the Sonne by the Holy Spirit which Saint Augustine calleth and many others Diuinum amoris vinculum The Diuine tye or vnion of loue Now after the Archetypicall image were all things effected both in the little and great world For the Prophet saith By the Word of the Lord the Heauens were fashioned and by the Spirit of his mouth all the vertues of them So that the vertuous vnion or linke which is made betweene the effects of the Word in whom is life and the creature to be viuified is the Good and Incorruptible Spirit by which tye God hath his essentiall relation vnto the creature By this Spirit all the discordant elements are tyed in an vnion and louing consent whereupon it is called Peace and Loue and Concord which beareth as the Apostle saith and sustaineth all things by the Word of his vertue By it weight and proportion is assigned vnto the ayre and the clouds are fastened or hung vp in measure and the waters are tyed so fast in the thicke clouds that they cleaue not To conclude in the great World the Earth and the Heauens are established and linked together by the Word of God as the Apostle Peter telleth vs or else the elements would be continually at warre And by the same reason the soule and the body or Heauen and Earth in the little World are linked together by this intermediate eternall tye or
in composition I meane it not as a part compounding but as the sole Compounder in composition Againe if he were absent from composition the word could not be said to be incarnated nor the Incorruptible Spirit to be in all things neither could God by the Apostle be said to be ouer all and in all But leauing this paratticall or parasiticall garb He bringeth the authorities of Scripture And what are they Saint Paul hath this We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spirituall wickednesse or euill spirits in high places And therefore Christ said Handle me and touch me for a spirit hath not flesh nor bones as yee see mee haue But Deuils can not be handled Therefore they haue no bodies Here is a stout Argument because Deuils as they are in their thinne aëriall bodies cannot bee handled Ergo they haue not any corpulency I would faine know of this acute Arguer what organicall body for speech this spirit had when hee in reciprocall words and speech did tempt our Sauiour Doth he thinke that the very ayre which is the externall of the Deuill as shall be proued is not a spirituall body when it may be felt heard or vnderstood though not as flesh and bones Doth not the Apostle make mention of a spirituall or heauenly and thin body and an earthly or grosse and thick body It is most true that there are some of the Fathers and Schoolemen who are of opinion that the Angels are absolutely incorporeal as Damascene Thomas Aquin Denis and so forth But there are as many yea and more of the learneder sort who giue a contrary sentence touching the bodily existence of these spirits and say flatly that an Angel is a corporeal substance and consequently that Angels may without any error be termed bodily creatures and amongst this number of the Fathers are ranked Basil Origen Gregory Augustine Isidorus Peter Lombard and of Philosophers Mercurius Trismegistus with all the Schoole of the Academicks And as for S. Augustine he saith in his Booke vpon Genesis in expresse words quòd Daemones sunt aërea ignea animalia that the Daemons or Angelicall spirits are aëry and fiery Animals and consequently assigneth vnto them aëry bodies Againe he affirmeth in another place that the Angels had in their creation aëry bodies to wit framed and fashioned out of the purer part of the superior ayre made more apt and proper to act then to suffer and hee auerreth that the euill angels were by reason of their fall changed as touching their bodies or externall being into the nature of the grosser ayre that they might be the rather made to suffer the torments of fire And Fetrus Lombardus saith Angeli corpora in quibus hominibus apparent de summo aëre sumunt solidamque speciem ex coelesti elemento induunt vt humanis obtutibus manifestiùs demonstrentur So that it is euident that Augustine and he agree in one Also Basil doth teach vs what manner of bodies the Angels haue when he saith they are thinne aëry and pure Spirits Againe Arteplius that wise man saith in his great Key of wisedome That the externall of the Deuill is ayre but his internall is fire For the which reason he sheweth that it is easie for him namely in regard of his externall or body to insinuate and communicate with the aëry and bloody spirit in man and consequently to engender in him hot and fiery diseases But why should we rely onely as Master Foster doth on bare Authorities I will come vnto plaine Philosophicall proofes to shew and demonstrate that Angels haue soules and bodies or externall and internall First you must know that if they were Identity that is of all one simple formall being they would be all one in essence with God their Creator who is called Identitas or absolute and simple vnity but for as much as they are compounded of two namely of light which is the beame of God which they receiue to informe them and make them creatures and spirit which as polished Looking-glasse receiueth the glory of that diuine light they are called Alteritas or Alterity that is composed of two And this is most liuely expressed by Saint Denis when he termeth them Algamatha that is most cleare Mirrours or Looking-glasses receiuing the light of God And therefore he defineth an Angel to bee the Image of God the shewing forth of bid light a mirrour pure and most bright And Damascen saith That they are intellectuall spirits hauing light as their soules from the first Light And Salomon describing the Prince of all Angels which as Ecclesiasticus saith was ante omnia creatus that it was candor lucis aeternae speculum sine macula Maiâ—…slatis Dei or the brightnesse of eternall light and a glasse without spot of the Maiesty of God Whereby it is euident that the Angels internall and as it were his soule is the brightnesse of Gods emanation his polished or pure aëry internall is his 〈◊〉 body which receiueth this light For we must note That in the beginning Heauen and Earth were made of water and by water consisting by the Word as S. Peter speakes And therefore the whole World was composed of an internall or inuisible which is the soule or spirit animated by Gods Word and an externall and visible earth and water which is the body So euery creature must needs be compounded of an internall or actiue soule and an externall or organicall receptacle of that soule which is the body Is it not apparent That when the Spirit of the Lord did moue vpon the waters the water was the Catholick Patient and the spirit the internall Agent For Saint Augustine super Genesim saith Spiritus ferebatur super aquas igneum â—…s vigorem impertiens The Spirit moued on the waters imparting vnto them a fiery vigor or vertue that is a viuifying nature So that the spirituall created Catholick waters were animated by the spirituall increated Catholick breath and light of life whose Spirit in euery creature is the Spirit of life and therefore their centrall soule and the creature animated is the body Wherefore as the purest and most spirituall part of water or ayre is the externall of the Angell so his internall is the lucid act of Gods Spirit Now I conclude thus If the externall substance of the Angel be ayre for either it must be of spirituall water or else of the substance of God which is meerely formall and not materiall then wee know by the rules of Philosophy that ayre subtiliated is fire and againe ayre inspissated is a vapour a mist a cloud and so by inspissation ayre inuisible becommeth a visible substance yea and a bodily vocall organ too as it appeareth by lightning the which soule of the cloud except it haue his cloudy organ or bodily instrument will not speake in thunder We finde therefore out of Holy Writ that God is said to speake out of his organic all cloud And
Patient bee cured and that the wound bee kept cleane with a linnen cloth wet euery morning in his vrine Whether this be a fallacy or no I commend it to the iudgement of those who are expert in Chirurgery For let the Doctor be sure to keepe a wound cleane and I suppose they will tell him that it will cicatrize without his Weapon-Salue To this I answer that Oportet mendacem esse memorem it behoueth a lyer to haue a good memory For Master Foster must remember that in another place he saith The Deuill doth secretly apply some other virtuall operatiue Medicine to cure the wound and delude the incredulous Mâ—…untebancks c. And here he openeth that the cause of the cure is the keeping of the wound cleane with the clout dipped in vrine and applyed not by the Deuill but by man saying That therein alone consisteth the cure without the Weapon-Salue and he calleth all the cunning Chirurgic all Artists to witnesse and verifie his words to be true which being so what a Gods blessing is become of the Deuils cunning in this Physicall cure or wherein can it appeare Diabolicall or how doth he apply any thing craftily to delude the incredulous Mountebanks Oh the wauering of a tottering braine to forget his argument and vnawares to eate his owne words CHAP. VII In which this whole Subiect is in few words contracted and abbreuiated YEe may perceiue courteous and well minded Reader by this which is already told you that although our Aduersary hath attempted as the Iewes did vnto our Sauiour to crucifie or rather smoother in obliuion the truth as well of the Weapon-Salues operating vertue as of mine honest endeauours on the Cacomagicall crosse of slander and doth offer vnto vs in our Agony namely when our reputation lyeth a bleeding a destructiue or abolishing Sponge swelling with vineger and gall I meane with the sharp sauce of calumniation and the bitter taste of his vncharitable indignation in stead of a Christian-like consolation yea although I say the tempestuous blast of his harsh spirit hath done his best to make the reputation of vs both as it were to suffer shipwracke and to be cast like another Ionas into the troubled seas of this worlds censure where the sourging billowes of various affections doe stormingly iustle and as it were shoulder and withstand one another For since the maxime is Quot homines tot sentontiae how is it possible to please and content euery man in his humour And though the spongie Leuiathan or proudly swelling and infulting Whale of Master Foster did swallow for a time into his paunch of obliuion the honour and credit of both this Salue and me for a season yet I thanke my God he hath imparted vnto me the grace so to squeese and crush this his prestigious Whale or deuouring Sponge which is also an ofspring of the Sea that now it is forced euen so to vomit vp againe that truth vpon this our coast not a little infected with the incredulity of this manner of curing as the true Whale did in times past the Prophet Ionas vpon the shore of the misbeleeuing Niniuites that the infidelity and suspition of such icalous persons as haue beene seduced by our Aduersaries Leuiathan or spongie Monster may the easier be abolished by making the deuoured truth to be reuiued and as it were to shine forth and rise againe that by the light thereof all those darke cloudes which haue begot and fostered such incredulity namely the religious veile of Master Fosters worldly policy the error of his doctrine and the healing power which he erroneously ascribeth vnto the Deuill may be discouered vnto the eyes of each wise and iudicious Reader and that the misbeleeuers may with the Niniuites repeÌ„t their error and turne from such Idolatrous inducements as haue perswaded them to ascribe the pious and charitable gifts of healing by the Weapon-Salue vnto the false Prince of darknesse who through mans error doth vsurpe vnto himselfe the title of Prince or Lord of this World which of right and that from all eternity belongeth vnto the true God of Light who hath made both Heauen and Earth and inriched them with all manner of vertues whatsoeuer But if it shall happen hereafter that some silly incredulous persons the appearingly zealous I meane without vnderstanding of which Saint Paul speaketh shall like Dogs returne vnto their vomit I must then say and confesse that they doe but according vnto their kinde and therefore are rather to be pittied then enuied and consequently our Sauiours Words so vnfitly applyed by our Aduersary in his Dedicatory Epistle are most aptly to be powred out vnto God for these men Father forgiue them for they know not what they doe For this cause therefore I chiefly direct this my small Pamphlet vnto all such as are vnderstandingly zealous and iudiciously learned beseeching them earnestly to take this short modell of our disputation into their more mature or riper considerations and to ponder euery parcell thereof truely all partiality being laid apart in the ballance of their most honest and pious discretions Let them examine I say in their choycest thoughts and that seriously whether this Cure proceedeth from that vertuous gift which God hath imparted in the creation vnto these his naturall creatures and continued it in them by succession of generation and multiplication through his all-sufficient Word euen vnto this day or else from the meere act and assistance of the Deuill whose property soone after his creation by his fall became to strike plague and destroy and not to cure and proue so great a Benefactor vnto mankinde Let them consider the words of the Apostle affirming that God operateth all in all and therefore he acteth when he pleaseth in and by the Deuill onely to sicknesse death and destruction but not vnto health and conseruation Obserue the text of Dauid auerring that God by his Word did heale such as were struck with diseases when they turned vnto him and doth he not by the said Word cure all yes verily For Salomon saith Hee extended his misericord vnto the afflicted with Serpents and sent forth his Word to cure them euen his Word that health all things But the Deuill is neither God nor Gods Word wherefore I will conclude with this inâ—…iolable Argument If our mercifull God cureth all things in his benignity and that by his Word then the Deuill can cure nothing But our God in his mercy and benignity cureth all things by his Word Ergò the Deuill can cure nothing and consequently cannot prestigiously make a shew of curing vnder the shadow and pretence of the Weapon-Salue The Maior is euident because if the Word cureth all then that superior generality concludes all inferior particularities and therefore all absolute faculty of curing is exempted from the Deuill The Minor also is confirmed and strengthned by the foresaid words first of the Prophet Dauid Hee sendeth his Word and healeth them and
diuell was ordained for another vse quite contrary vnto the pious and mercifull act of healing The Minor is proued by that which is said already as also the words of our Sauiour are very efficacious for this our purpose For when he had cured one that was both blinde and dumbe and possessed with an euill spirit so that as the Text saith He that was blind and dumbe could see and speake The Pharises said This man casteth out diuells no otherwise then by Belzebub the prince of diuells But Christ answered Euery kingdome diuided against it selfe is brought to naught and euery house or citty diuided against it selfe shall not stand so if Satan cast out Satan hee is diuided against himselfe Whereby it is cleare that being all diseases as well internall as externall are by Gods decree inflicted by the diuell and his angels as being created ministers by which and in which God vseth to execute vengeance and to punish mortall creatures It were a wrong vnto the Office assigned vnto him in or immediately after his creation to worke violence against his owne subiects by casting them out or curing the harmes they haue effected Wee haue many places in holy writ to confirme that Satan and his angels are contrary to the Art of curing and are alwayes ready to hurt with sicknesses and afflict with death but we câ—…not find one to testifie any curing faculty in him As for example It is sayd that there was power assigned vnto the foure Angells which were by God made presidents of the soure Windes to hurt the earth the Sea and the trees Now euery one of these were Princes of many Legions of euill and wounding spirits Againe the Prophet saith God commeth from the South the heauens were couered with his glory and the earth was full of his praise at his feet was death or as S. Ieremy haâ—…h it Egredietur diabolus ante pedes eius the diuel â—…ill goe forth before his feete but other interpreters say the pestilence went before him and the contagion raging and destroying in the South And Dauid saith Doe not feare the plague raging in the South as some interpreters haue it But S. Ierome saith a Daemonia meridiano from the Dâ—…on or spirit of the South We find that it was Satan that was Gods Instrument or Organ by which hee wrought his will on Iob and thereupon hee said to his Creator Lay thou but thy hand vpon him c. by which words it may be signified that he vsed more reuerence vnto his Creator in that his acknowledgement then Mr. Foster doth in making this Organ of sickenesse a peremptory and absolute actor as well in the effect of healing as destroying namely of himselfe and not as hee is onely the Organ or Instrument by which God doth essentially worke his owne ends of vengeance against offenders This therefore was he that wounded patient Iob with a foule botch or vlcer and incited in his spirits a fiery feauer which made him thus to cry out in his anguish The arrows of the Omnipotent are grieuous against mee their poyson drinketh vp my spirits and the troubles of God which are sharply set against mee doe oppose mee where hee attributed all vnto God and not vnto Satan who is his wounding Organ Also Dauid saw the destroying angell of the Lord betwixt heauen and earth with a naked sword in his hand extended against Ierusalem who strucke a great many with the pestilence Also Iehoua sent the killing angell into the campe of the Assyrians who destroyed euery valiant man at armes in one nights space Also Moses by the destroying Organ of God vsing in steed of the weapon-curing-salue which was contrary to his office art and skill the aspersion of an infectious powder afflicted the Egyptians with vlcers and pustules Now that it is not the Angelicall Organ but God himselfe in the Organ which doth essentially act and strike it apppeareth by this place where Iehoâ—…a saith Circa mediam noctem ego egressurus ero in medium Aegypti morietur omnis primogenitus about midnight I will goe out into the midst of Egypt and euery first borne shall die But in the next Chapter it is said Iehoua transibit praeter portam illam non sinet interfectorem seu percussorem seu vastatorem domos vestras vastare God will passe ouer that dore and will not suffer the destroyer to strike or hurt your houses Whereby it is apparant that the essentiall Act of God is present with the organicall destroyer and doth act in it Lastly to shew you that it was wicked spirits which by the agitation of their Creator did cause these diseases in Egypt the Kingly Prophet argueth in these words before mentioned Immisit in eos iram in dignationis suae iram tribulatinem per malos angelos Hee sent amongst them the fiercenesse of â—…is anger wrath and indignation by euill angells I can prooue this by many more examples of holy Text namely how God doth punish and plague with sickenesse diseases and death by these his destroying ministers or organicall causes which hee created of set purpose to performe his will in this afflicting manner but it cannot be prooued that hee did imploy them in the contrary office namely in that of healing and curing For when he is pleased to cure or heale he hath an infinity of good Angels to performe that office all which are concluded vnder the dominion of the Archangel Raphael which therefore hath that name Quasi medicina Dei as who should say the medicine of God I must therefore conclude that as the onely act of God is as well to wound as to cure so hath he ordained Instruments or Organs to serue his turne in the execution ofboth these operations which are so contrary one to the other in condition as light is to darkenesse or good to euill Now that it is the act onely of God as well to heale by his good Organs as to strike and wound by his destroying Organs wee learne out of many places of Scripture Si plaga afficiet Iehoua Aegyptum qui plagis afsecit sanat cum conuersi fuerint ad Iehouam If God will afftict Egypt with plagues hee that â—…leth with diseases can againe heale the afflicted when they turne vnto him And yet Dauid confesseth that he did afflict them with euill angels and Iob saith Deusest qui vulnerat medetur percutit sanat It is God that woundeth and cureth he striketh and healeth and yet it was Satan which was Gods hand to act Iobs misery And in another place Ego occidam viuere faciaâ—… percutiam sanabo non est qui de manu mea possit cruere I will kill and I will make to liue I will strike and I will heale and there is not one that can escape my hand And Salomon Tu vitae mortis potestatem habes deducis ad portas infâ—…ni
nature and the operations thereof yea as if the three wise Kings of the East did discouer that the true King of the Iewes was borne by diabolicall Magick How now Master Foster were these three wise men Cacomagicall Magitians or such as the Scripture did allow of and we Christians keepe a holy day in their remembrance Right Friar Mersennus his ape For he condemneth all Magia without exceptions of kinds not remembring that Magus is in the Persian tongue interpreted a wise man or a priest And in the very same manner this Gentleman after his Masters custome condemneth all Astrologie for that members sake which is truely superstitious and vnlawfull not considering that the verity in both the true Magick and Astrology hath been falsely contaminated and abused by superstitious worldlings and thereupon made the good in the eyes of the ignorant to bee abolished and condemned with the bad for the bad sake and so goodnesse by vile men is swallowed without any difference by darknesse I would therefore haue our Sponge-bearing aduersary know that there are foure parts or kinds of Astrology in generall The first is conuersant about the mutation of the aire and foretelling of tempests diseases famine or plenty c. The second foretelleth the alterations of states as also wars or a pacifick dispotion in the minds of men The third intreateth of the election of times and of natiuities The last is directed vnto the fabricating of characters seales and Images the which because it mingleth it selfe with superstitious actions is made an instrument for the abuses of impious persons and especially because a diabolicall insinuation vnto vice and impiety may easily be perceiued in it is of all good Christians to be repudiated and condemned for vnlawfull What Is the Almanack makers Science for this Mr. Fosters exceptions to be put downe or must Physicians be forced to forsake or neglect their houres of election ingathering of simples or letting blood or cutting the hayre and nailes or stopping laxes or making the belly lubricke for this mans caueat Doth not Amicus medicorum auerre that the influence of heauen may helpe the working of medicines For saith hee Oftentimes medicines laxatiue are by vnskilfull Phisicians giuen vnder an influence of heauen that worketh a contrary or stiptick effect so are hindred Also saith he Sometimes medicine is giuen to stop when the disposition of the heauens are lubrick and laxactiue and then the medicine loseth his effect And for this cause Haly saith the Physician that is ignorant in Astrology is as a blinde man searching out his way without a staffe groping and reeling this way and that way And Ptolomeus that a good Astrologian may auert many effects of the stars which are to come Doth not Galene Hipocrates speake much in their critical treatises of the necessity of obseruing the Moones motion But letting this passe What say wee to the husbandmans obseruation of times and seasons as well in sowing as in reaping If this will not serue to stop our Aduersaries violence wee will comevnto the testimonie of Scriptures for the confirmation as well of election of seasons as to proue that the influence of the heauens doth operate as well good as euill effects For the first it is said Est tempus plantandi tempus exstirpandi quod fuit plantatum Est tempus belli est tempus pacis c. There is a time to plant and a time to pull vp what is planted there is a time of war and a time of peace And the Son of Syrach in the good day enioy that which is good and beware of the euill day as God made the one so also 〈◊〉 ordained the other An S. Paul wisheth vs to put on the armour of God that wee may resist the diuell in the vnfortunate day Now if the starres be the distinguisher and guider of times as Moses telleth vs surely the influence eyther good or bad for them maketh good or bad Angells to haue more or lesse dominion ouer creatures That there are bad influences from aboue these words of Dauid doe testifie Deus est custos tuus Sol non percutiet dierno tempore nec Luna nocte God is thy preseruer the Sunne shall not strike or wound thee by day nor the Moone by night c. And is it not acknowledged that the Moone is the procurer of the Epilepticke disease Where it is said in the Euangelist in plaine termes that the possessed was Lunatick Also that there are good influences from aboue it is argued by this Text of Iob Canst thou restraine the sweet influences of the Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in their time Canst thou also guide Arcturus with his sonnes Knowest thou the course of heauen or canst thou set the rule thereof on the earth c For in this Text wee finde the good influences of the starres are mentioned and heere also it is expressely noted that the heauens haue their powers on the earth I boldly affirme therefore that all Astrology is not forbidden for as much as there is an especiall obseruation to be had by wise men of the influence of the stars And for that purpose there are houres of election duely to be obserued according vnto this or that influence which is most proper and conuenient for our worke Againe whereas Mr. Foster seemeth to make so slight account of the 12. Signes and their essentiall operations on the earth he may see that such as haue made their allaterall notes vpon the Text doe interpret the word Mazzaroth to signifie the 12. signes which doe possesse the 12. houses of the Zodiack which being so marke the Texts conclusion Canst thou set the rule thereof on the earth whereby it is euident that the 12. signes haue an especiall rule ouer the earth and the creatures thereof and that by Gods ordinance and appointment By this it is made manifest that there is no Cacomagicall superstition in obseruing times daies or houres in which this or that starre hath dominion for the collecting of ingrediences or preparation and adaption of medicines or other matters proper for the cure of man as Mr. Foster doth vniustly auerre To conclude therfore this point we may discerne by the foresaid experiment how the vegetatiue force of the plant operateth in the excrementitious parts of the withered member no otherwise then the ointment in the amputed blood and how the spirit of those nailes and haire and skin do participate with that of the withered member no otherwise then that of the blood in the oyntment doth with the bloody spirits of the wounded or as the vrinall excrements with the blood inâ—…ected with the â—…aunders as shall be told you heereafter or else they could not conferre or exspire the vegetating spirit of the plant vnto the decayed member neither could the spirit in the decayed member magnetically draw the vegetating spirit of the plant vnto it that by the
must the vse of causticke vesicatory healing fluxing and such like other externall Medicines daily vsed by christian Physicians be reputed for vnlawfull Magicall Diabolicall because they are not registred in Scripture Or is nothing instituted by God but what Scripture maketh mention of how then can that saying of the Apostle be true that God worketh all and in all If all and in all then worketh hee also all Acts and operations as well occult and mysticall as those which are manifest and apparent vnto sense and therefore all Acts are instituted by God Because according to Scripture Quod Deus non vult non facit what he will not he doth not but when he list and according vnto his will hee worketh in Heauen and in Earth As therefore he instituteth nothing but what must bee effected so nothing is in the whole world effected which hee doth not will institute and decree Whereupon the said Apostle concludingly saith Of him by him and in him are all things But I will shew this more at large where I will handle this very Question negatiuely namely where I prooue the weapon-oyntment lawfull and not cacomagicall Vnto your second I say that it is of no more validitie then the first The maine Axiom of the vulgar Philosophers vpon which you ground your proofe for the excluding of this Salue out of the list of nature is this Nullum agens agit ad distans Vpon this you frame out this Argument Whatsoeuer worketh Naturally worketh by corporall or vertuall Contact But this worketh by neither Ergo it worketh not naturally First concerning that Axiome in Philosophy I know and can proue it by experience to bee false For the fire heateth ad distans The lightning out of the cloud blasteth ad distans The Bay tree operateth against the power of thunder and lightning ad distans The force of the canons bullet killeth without touching ad distans The sunne and fire doe act in illuminating ad distans The Loadstone doth operate vpon the Iron ad distans The plague Dysenterie small pocks infect ad distans c. But to make all this good you adde to the Axiome and say agit vel per corporalem vel virtualem contactum instead of Agit ad distans I will answer first that the Maior is vnfirme For I would haue you know that lightning may moue the Aire violently and the Aire mooued by contact of the Agent which is Lightning may stupifie and strike dead so that in this case there is neither vertuall or corporall contact of the Agent but an Accidentall comming betweene the vertuall Agent and the Patient The like is euident in the Canons bullet which flying by a person without any vertuall or corporall contact doth cast the person on the ground for the Agent being the bullet moueth the Medium or the Aire violently and the Aire being so moued casteth downe the person But though I let the Maior passe for currant yet neuerthelesse the Minor is altogether halting For I affirme and it is euident to euery mans capacity that this medicine doth cure by a vertual contact namely by a Simpathetical property which doth operate inter terminum à quo 〈◊〉 ad quem betweene the beginning and end magnetically and occultly or mystically The Minor or Assuâ—…ption is proued thus All Agents working by a vertuall Contact worke within a certaine distance and limited spheare of Actiuity The Loadstone worketh vpon Iron by a vertuall Contact but it workes but at a small distance Fire is the most raging Agent of all but a fire of 10. miles compasse cannot burne heate or warme a man 2. miles distant from it The Planets excell in virtuall operation all sublunarie Agents The Sunnes light goes through the whole world but yet a little cloud obscureth the light and abateth the heate The Earth keepeth the light from the Antipodes The body of the Moone eclipseth the Sunne Now then shall terrestriall Agents by distance or Interposition be totally and celestiall partly hindred and shall this weapon-Salue worke from the weapon to the wound at all distances Shall the interposition of neither aire woods fire water walls houses castells citties mountaines heate cold shall nothing hinder or stay the deriuation of the vertue of it What a doe wee haue about little or nothing to the purpose I thought you would haue proceeded Syllogistically to the period of your proofes as you begunne but I see that you finde such blocks in the way to proue your proposition that like a tired Iade you giue ouer that manner of demonstration in the midway wherefore I must teare this your long reply into textes the more peculiarly to answer by piece-meale euery particular thereof All Agents working by vertuall contact worke within a certaine distance and limited sphaere of Actiuity The Loadstone worketh vpon Iron by a vertuall contact but it worketh but at a small distance Who saith that any vertuall Contact can worke in infinitum when the very world it selfe is limited But by your eaue Sr the self same specifical vertue worketh her operation either further or nearer as it is exalted in her actuall power and essence As for example one kinâ—… of gunne powder carrieth to a further marke then another one lightning from aboue penetrateth deeper then another In so much that it hath beene obserued that by his subtility in pâ—…cing and force in multiplication it hath entred not only deepe into the hard rocke but also strucke through the solidity of the sword in the scabord and melted it whereas other fires or lightnings from aboue haue come short of their vertuall Contact Also we find that one Loadst one is of a greater power and agiâ—…ity in working then an other and therfore it draweth Iron vnto it both at a further distance and with a stronger force Doth not the Scripture teach vs that God hath giuen his gifts to some men more and to some lesse As also some inferiour Creatures he hath made in the very same kind more vertuous in working then another For we ought to obserue euermore because you speake of a spheare of Actiuity that the more vertuous the centrall Agent is in any thing the larger will his semidiameters be and consequently his circumference As for example the more powerful the fire is the further will it cast it's heate Circularly So that the spheare of actiuity of the very same agent in kind will be no way certaine but further or shorter according vnto the power of the same Agent And consequently obserueth no certaine limited spheare of Actiuity To conclude little doth Master Foster know the admirable power of mans vitall spirits being dilated or emitted neither can it any way bee compared with the weake power of common Creatures or the Elementarie fire It is a subtill influence in puritie and penetration as piercing yea and rather more then the influence of any star in Heauen it is not hindered by
clouds or stopped by walls or mountaines it is a power essentiall proceeding radically from God who animateth it mouing alwayes in an airey medium Doe not you acknowledge so much when with the Apostle you say In â—…od wee liâ—…e moâ—…e and haue our being But to proceed The fire is the most raging agent of all but a fire of 10. miles compasse cannot burne heate or warme a man at two miles distance Truely Master Foster I can scarce beleeue you For I am sure you would find a larger spheare of Actiuity in such a proportion of fire then your bodie would be able to endure without roasting For if Vis vnita sit fortioâ—…r if I say force added to force produceth a greater force will you haue a fire of ten miles compasse not to heate nay not to scortch burne two miles â—…ff Againe pardon mee Sir for I say your artificiall fire is not the most ragingest Agent of all For the lightning of heauen is more forcible in it's operation then our artificiall fire for though it bee a of lesser compasse then the hundred part of 10 miles yet it so inflameth the aire for many miles compasse that it maketh the Creature to sweat againe with heate Moreouer the Olympicke and starrie fire excelleth this so farre that it pierceth many degrees further then the Elementall fire can doe for though the Elementall fire be full of Actiuity yet it is cloathed with so thicke a spirit in which it is carried that though it be subtile and of the fountaine of celestiall Fire in it selfe yet by reason it cannot mooue but in his medium or thick vehicle namely the artificiall fire beneath without the thick fume or smoake of the thing combustible and naturall elementall without the clouds and aire in which it is carried it is for that cause impedited or hindred for making so great a spheare or Diameter in his Actiuity because the vehicle being thick cannot without some resistance of the Aire penetrate into the same But the celestiall fire which is the fountaine of the fire of life by reason of his subtile spirit which is his Aetheriall vehicle pierceth all things being nothing else but a subtile influence which according to the best Philosophers aduice doth pierce without any resistance thorow rocks and stones euen to the very center of the earth as experience it selfe doth witnesse For else say the Philosophers this Influence could not by little and little produce in the bowels of the earth the formes of metalls and precious stones more or lesse noble according to the worthinesse of that starrie spirit which sent downe that influence and purenesse of that mercuriall vapour which it animateth But yet the life of man I meane that refined spirit by which man liueth is more subtile pure and exalted then it And therefore of a greater Actiuity as shall be manifested hereafter The Starres celestiall excell all sublunarie Agents the Sunns light goeth through the world but yet a little cloud obscureth the light and abateth the heate The earth keepeth the light from the Antipodes The body of the Moone eclipseth the sunne c. If the starres celestiall excell the sublunarie Agents then was Master Foster to blame to say before that the terrestriall fire was the most ragingest and powerfullest Agent of all But in this hee commeth to me for if the celestiall Agents be more potent then the sublunarie it argueth that it hath a greater spheare of Actiuity and can send out his Diametrall beames further then either Loadstone fire or such like sublunarie things in which though the agent celestiall be yet it is so cloied and encombred with a grosse spirit or compacted body that it cannot operat as in the graine of corne it appeareth whose internall and centrall fire except it be set at libertie will not moue from the superficies of the Earth vp toward heauen and multiplie But to the purpose what a story doth our Author tell vs of the Sunne the Sunns light the Eclipse the Interposition of the Earth betwixt the Sunne in our Horizon and the Antipodes the impediting of the Sunns light by the interposition of a cloud Verily it is more to shew his small skill in Astronomy and Philosophie then to touch truely any thing that is material to our argumeÌ„t For I am sure he is not ignorant that there are two things more besides light which are exactly by Philosophers to be considered to wit motion and influence If he will say that influence can be stoped by clouds by interposition of starres by aire by water or by earth he erreth and knoweth no Philosophy motu lumine influentiâ operantur stellae non solo lumine The starres operate by motion light and Influence not by light onely The visible light may bee obscured to vs but the Influence will flow without resistance And to this purpose speake the wisest Philosophers Now then shall terrestriall agents by distance or interposition be totally and celestiall be partly hindered and shall this Weapon-salue worke from the weapon to the wound at all distances Shall the interposition I say neither of ayre woods fire water walls houses castles cities mountaine c hinder the deriuation of the vertue of it First I say that the originall act in this cure issueth from the wounded person to the ointment and not as he saith from the ointment to the wound Next I told this busie Gentleman before that makes so much adoe now about nothing that for asmuch as this spirit proceedeth from a celestiall influence animated by God therefore it hath no such stopps and rubbes neither is this subtill of all subtill creatures any way impedited in his descent to feed nourish that species vnto which from the creation of the species it was ordained but we must know thus much that before it came downe it was Catholicke and generall but after it did penetrate into bodies it endueth a specificall and particular nature and hath an especiall Sympathie with a nature like it selfe and for this reason the wounded mans spirit penetrateth through the vehicle of Aire in which the bloud is conuayed vnto the ointment and naturally affects the oyntment so much the rather because that bloud was ayre and ayre is dilated bloud in his internall and that I can ocularly demonstrate and also the principall ingredient of the oyntment was of the bloud wherefore as we see the Sunne by his beames doth send out his spirit into a graine of corne in the Earth and hath his liuely influence or essentiall beames of Emission continuateÌ„d with his like nay the very same that lurketh in the dead and corrupted graine and so by little and little reuiueth that which was as it were dead and buried in corruption making it to thriue and vegetate with multiplication euen so and no otherwise the Sunne of life in man liuing and mouing yet in man as the Sunne in the great world hath his liuely beame
of influence continued vnto the spirituall sparke in the dead bloud which is all one with the influeÌ„ce emitting but buried in a dead bloody corporall graine namely the dead blood conueyed to the oyntment the which oyntment we compare vnto a good a wholesome or a comfortable earth most proper for the nourishing of such a hidden spirit as lurketh in the bloud being that they namely the ointment and the bloud transferred or committed vnto it are no strangers to one an other but as homogeneall or rather as well acquainted as one specificall body is vnto a Spirit of the same degree in nature for as much as the body of the oyntment is compounded according vnto my receipt ofbloud fat-flesh and the mosse or excresence of the bones of the same Microcosmicall Species though not indiuiduum all which are animated from that Spirit of life which abideth in mans bloud The Influence therefore of life issuing from the Microcosmicall or humane Sonne and assisting reuiuifying and multiplying by little and little the hidden graine of life in the amputated bloud now in the oyntment and also exciting the potentiall or sopified Spirit in the oyntment no otherwise then we see the Sunne of Heauen to stirre vp in the spring time the Spirits of the earth which the cold winter had stupefied and benummed leaueth not to operate betweene both extremes vntill the party doth recouer This is the true Mystery of the Question and I will stand to it that the vse of the earth to rott rayse vp and multiplie the graine of wheat is Magicall Diabolicall and vnlawfull if it can be truely demonstrated that the vse of this oyntment is witchcraft and vnsufferable for their mysterie of multiplication reviuification and coniunction of the viuifying spirit of the one with the viuified spirit of the other is all one and the same It was a type by which St. Paul doth teach vs the Resurrection namely by the dying and rotting of corne in the earth and as for the operation of the Sunne in the graines multiplication euery plowman will instruct you in it Now for a conclusion vnto this we see that sometimes the Sunne is further off and somtimes nearer and yet more or lesse he doth not cease to operate by vegetating and multiplying in Animals vegetables and mettalls I must now heare his conclusion O Agent aboue all Agents certainely the Angels of Heauen cannot worke at such a distance onely God whose Essence is infinite who is omnia in omnibus All in all can worke thus because from him nothing is distant at all 〈◊〉 in him we liue moue and haue our being Acts 17. Leaue your admiration It is nothing to this our text you haue opened your owne Absurdity I would haue you now abandon the abolishing of our Weapon-Salue and make vse of your Sponge to wipe away the staines of your owne error which you haue fully expressed in this your assertion for by it you haue ouerthrowne your tenent you say after your admiration aboue admiration that the Angells of heauen cannot worke at such a distance Therfore I conclude thus Ergò much lesse the Angells of hell for they are darker and therefore of a lesse extension Now you said before that a cloud will take away the Sunnes Light therefore surely the Diuell being an Angell of darkenesse must be more impedited in his vertuall operations and consequently in the extension of his power then the Angells of light But say you it is the power of the Diuell that makes this oyntment to doe such feates at so farre a distance for else it were not witch-craft nor diabolicall Then you conclude thus for me onely God whose Essence is infinite and is all in all can worke thus c And can hee so indeed And will Master Foster then attribute this act vnto the Diuell the worst of Angells and so commit worse then ordinary Idolatry to arrogate that to the Creature nay to the Diuell which by his owne confession belongeth to God Will you confesse that he is all and in all and will you make the goodnesse more All in the goodnesse of healing then God himselfe Will you acknowledge with the Apostle that God operats all in all and will you attribute his worke the fruits whereof is goodnesse vnto the Diuell whom he predestined and ordained to punish destroy and marre and not to make and heale Doe not you absolutely conclude for the Weapon Salue in saying In him we liue moue c. Proh Deum atque hominuÌ„ fidem What an error is this in so eminent an appearing Philosopher nay in a Theosopher The world may perceiue by this that Quaedam videntur non sunt But to proceed vnto the period Let the iudicious and Religious Reader iudge then if the weapon-curing mediciners make not a God of their vnguent and commit not Idolatry in attributing that to a little smearing oyntment of their owne making which is proper to God onely the Maker of all things You are deceiued Sir they make not a God of the vnguent but giue hearty thanks vnto him for that blessed gift of miraculous healing he hath bestowed on the vnguent Neither did the Iewes attribute the curing property vnto the Poole of Bethesdaes but vnto Gods curing or salutiferous Angell which imparted that gift vnto it Wherefore I would haue you good Sir and all the world besides to know that all suspicion of Idolatry is in this case taken away from the mediciners for asmuch as due acknowledgment and veneration is ascribed by them vnto God onely for his grace in healing manifested by this oyntment Yea verily rather the stile of an Idolater ought rightly to be imputed to your selfe Sir who so impiously dare to attribut these good healing blessings of God vnto the Deuill the worst of creatures Againe we deny that it is the artificiall composition made with mans hands that cureth but the naturall ingredients of the composition which God hath originally endued with such an occult and mysticall vertue in â—…uring To conclude this point if the iudicious Reader will well ponder the words of M. Fosters Text he shall finde him to be in it an Aâ—…stat or Heriticke vnto his owne tenent or Doctrine for his assertion which hee seemeth so Giant-like to maintaine is that the Weapon-Salues cure is diabolicall or effected by the subtill art of the Deuill but in this Text hee dotingly saith that the mediciners attribute that vnto the Salue or little Smearing oyntment which is proper to God onely which if it bee true as true it is then is Master Foster in an abominable errour to affirme this cure to be onely the act and operation of the Deuill Thus Gentle Reader you see the efficacie of this mans reasons as well Philosophicall as Theologicall whereby he seemeth through the Ignorance of the cause to maske Gods Goodnesse with a prestigious visard of the Deuill you see the improbability of it But as penitent sinners at
facit c. as before God doth his will and pleasure as well with the celestiall vertues powers as with the dwellers on the earth and there is not any that can resist his hand And againe Quodcunque voluit hoc facit what God would haue that doth he And againe as touching his will in the creation as before Consilium meum stabit omnis voluntas mea fiet My Counsell shall stand and my will shall be established And hence it is written in Genesis Voluntati Dci num possumus resistere Can we resist the Will of God And the Apostle hath it Voluntati Dei quis resistat Who can resist the VVill of God Not any creature and a reason is giuen by the wise Salomon because volunt as Domini in aeternum permanebit The will of the Lord shall endure for euer And by whom I pray now doth he operat bring to effect this his Will and decree to goodnesse and healing What by the Deuill Contrarie to his originall ordinance euen by him who is a rebell vnto all goodnesse Is it possible that hee that hath not a lot of goodnesse in him could produce and bring to passe such a gift of goodnesse and charity as is that of healing No this is performed by Iesus the Catholick Sauiour who is the head of potestats and powers who altereth not one Tittle in effecting Gods Will in heauen and in earth as it i said Voluntatem vt faciam eius qui misit me de coelo descendi I came down from heauen to doe his will that sent me It is therefore onely our Spirituall Lord Iesus vnto whom power is giuen from his Father who bringeth all things to that absolute effect which without all contradicton was decreed by the Father And not false gods nor Angels nor Deuils nor men according vnto that before mentioned Though there bee that are called Gods as well in heauen as in earth yet vnto vs there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and one Iesus Christ by whom are all things Whereby it is argued that God the Father decreeth as the father and root of all things in whom complicitly and ideally they were before all beginning but the Sonne essentially effecteth his will and maketh euery Ideal thing to appeare explicitly and really and therefore neyther Angels nor diuels nor starres nor any thing else but onely our Lord Iesus Christ mouing in his Ministers as well spirituall as corporall effecteth both in and after the creation all things that exist and consequently the art of curing And hereupon by Scripture as it is sayd before wee are taught that it is the Word that cureth all those dolorous effects of sickenesse which the diuell brings to passe For first the Psalmist saith Immisit in eos iram indignationis suae iram tribulationem per malos Angelos Hee sent out amongst them the anger of his indignation anger and tribulation by euill angells c. Heere therefore you see the effects of the ministery of Satan and his angels which is to strike and wound with sickenesse And then in another place he sheweth the immediate curer of these diuellish effects in these words Misit verbum sanauitâ—…eos Hee sent his Word and healed them And the Wise man saith Non herba aut malagmate sed verbo tuo quod sanat omnia curasti eos verily I say vnto you also that it is not the herbe or animall or minerall medicine but the gift of healing in the said creatures assigned vnto them in their creation by the word that healeth As for the Minor it is confirmed by the expresse words of the Prophet speaking in the person of God himselfe Ecce ego creaui fabrum sufflantem in igne prunas proferentem vas in opus suum ego creaui interfectorem ad disper dendum Behold I haue created a Smith to blow the coales in the fire and to produce a vessell in his worke and I created the Destroyer to destroy whereby wee may see that the will of God was not that hee should be created or at the least ordayned afâ—…er his fall for a healer preseruer or maker but for a Wounder and Destroyer yea his nature was made so cancrous and malicious that hee doth not only enuy at mans prosperity and therefore cannot against the nature of the office which God assigned to him in his creation or after his fall be his curing angell but also he repineth at the excellency of God his Creator as may appeare by the third of Genesis Whereupon Salomon saith Diaboli inuidia mors introiuit in orbem terrarum Death and destruction entred into the world by the malice of the diuell and therefore hee is farre from doing the office of healing and preseruing It is Christ which hath the office of life preseruation and health who for this cause was sent by his Father to withstand the bad acts of the diuel Diabolum habentem mortis imperium saith S. Paul Christus suâ morte destruxit Christ by his death destroyed the diuell hauing the power of death vnder him It is that salutiferous emanation of God the Father of life which was from all beginnings ordained to quell the diuell aâ—…d his malicious intents or effects Forasmuch as Diabolus aduersarius tanquam Leo rugiens â—…uit quaerens quem deuoret The common aduersary the diuell doth compasse about seeking whom hee may deâ—…oure and now is he become a physician and a turne-coat vnto that office for the which by Gods will hee was created Did hee kill so many when hee was a young physician and hath hee inuented now after his long experience the weapon-salue to cure some A pretty witty conclusion of Master Foster and the Iesuiticall Ioannes Roberti his foster father in this blind conceit But now I will be so bold as to produce an argument for this oyntment not vnlike to that which Master Foster hath framed If there be no diuine institution or authority out of holy writ to warrant any curing effect or Art by the diuell eyther by supernaturall or naturall means then is there no reason to beleeue that the cure done by the weapon-salue is effected by the worke of the diuell But in holy writ there is not found any such warrant for the curing of wounds by the diuell through the helpe eyther of Supernaturall or Naturall meanes Therefore it is not to be credited that the curing by the weapon-salue can be effected by the Art or act of the diuell The Maior is of the selfe-same effect with that of M. Fosters argument where he seemeth to auer that because the vse of this weapon-salue is not effected by diuine institution nor yet hath any testimony or example to confirme it out of holy writ therefore it is prestigious And againe as is said before what God hath originally decreed in the archetypicall Idaea that cannot be altered but the
Spirit of God by whom wee liue moue and exist All this Mercurius Tresmegistus that diuine Philosopher seemeth to confirme in these words Anima hominis in hunc vehitur modum mens in anima anima in spiritu spiritus in corpore Spiritus per venas arteriasque sanguinemque diffusus animal vndique ciet Mans soule is carried in this manner the mentall beame is carried in the soule the soule in the spirit or ayre the spirit in the body The Spirit being dispersed through the veynes and arteryes doth stirre vp and moue the liuing creature in euery part These things being thus euidently proued out of holy writ we will now proceed vnto a greater mystery concerning the double propertie of this Spirit of life in both worlds that thereby we may demonstratiuely come by little and little vnto the very point or perfect resolution of the question in hand That eternall Lord God who is all one and the same Spirit because of an indiuisible Essence is he that viuifieth the Creature and againe taketh away the life of it at his pleasure as hath been prooued already for that he operateth all in all according to the Apostles words and meruaile not though I say hee worketh contrary effects although he be but one indiuisible Essence for these are the words of Salomon Spiritus Disciplinae sanctus est vnicus seu simplex multiplex c. The Spirit of Wisdome is one and simple and yet manifold simple in himselfe but manifold in operation And doth not Dauid acknowledge so much when he saith Deo emittente spiritum suum recreantur Creaturae abscondente faciem suam conturbantur recipiente Spiritum eorum exspiâ—…ant c God sending forth his Spirit recreateth the Creatures but at the hiding of his face they are troubled and when he receiueth or taketh vnto him their spirit they dye c. Touching the first member of this axiom of Dauid he proueth it else-where thus Vita aaesâ—… beneuolentiâ Iehoâ—… Life proceedeth from the benignity of Iehoua Vitae restaurator est Iehoua Iehoua is the Giuer of life Vitae meae Fontes omnes à Deo all the Fountaines of my Life are from God Vitae prolongatio est Benignitasâ—… Iehouae the prolongation of of Life is the Benignitie of Iehoua Whereupon it is euident that the Spirit of God is the immediate Creatour Actor Preseruer and Multiplier of Life As for the second Member thus much Deus malos relinquit abscondit faciem sâ—…am ab iâ—…ys vt obveniant â—…s mala multa angustiae God leaueth the wicked and hideth his face from the impious that euill and necessity may encomber them Sic increpare solet mortales in lectulo thus doth hee chide and punish mortalls in their beds as Iob hath it Thus did hee send his plagues vpon the Egyptians Thus made hee Ieroboams hand to wither Thus did he strike with leprosie Miriam Arons Sister Thus did hee afflict with the Hemorrhoides the Ashdedomans Thus laid he the plague on Ezekias namely by hiding or with-holding his Spirit And againe by emitting his beames of life he recouered him And therefore saith Dauid Vitae hominis spatium est miserum absque benignitate Iehouae The space of a mans life is miserable without the benigne Presence of God For hee that is sicke seemeth to be still dying Now to the last clause of the aforesaid text of Dauid God said when hee perceiued the wickednesse of men Non permanebit spiritus meus in homine in aeternum quia caro est eruntque dies illius centum viginti annorum My Spirit shall not remaine perpetually in man because he is flesh and his dayes shall bee an hundred yeeres and twenty And Iob saith as before Hominem const ituit Deus super terram apponens ad â—…m animam suam si spiritum seu flatum eius ad se reciperet vel traheret deficeret exspiraret omnis Caro simul homo in cinereâ—… reuertetur God made man vpon earth giuing vnto him his soule or life if hee should receiue or draw to himselfe his spirit or breath of life all flesh would faile and dye and man also together with them would returne vnto ashes And againe Spiritus Dei fecit me inspiratio omnipotentis â—…ficauit me The Spirit of God made me and the breath of the omnipotent did viuifie mee For this reason therefore the aforesaid action of Dauid shall be the maine foundation on which I will rely as well in my proofe as also to shew the various properties of this diuine and incorruptible essence in the spirit of both the worlds and I will prooue vnto you euidently that as this spirit worketh in the greater world so also in euery respect it bringeth foorth the like effects in the lesser Wee finde that it is but one spirit in the great world though in a contrary propertie that animateth foueefoldly the foure winds which are sent from the foure corners of the earth to blow and thus I proue it Deus edit glaciem flatu suo flante Deo concrescit gelu seu glacies coarctatur superficies aquarum God by his breath procureth Ice when hee bloweth from the North hee maketh the Ice to congeale and grow together and doth contract or straighten the superficies of the waters into Ice And the Kingly Prophet more pertinently Deo imittente sermonem suum in terram quà m celerimè excurrit verbum qui niues dispergit sicut lanam pruinam quasi cineres deâ—…cit gelu suum tanquam frusta coram frigore eius quis consist at Emittit verbum suum liquefacit ista simul ac 〈◊〉 ventum suum effluuntaquâ—… God sending forth his Word vpon earth it runneth swiftly which spreadeth the snow as wooll vpon the earth and the froâ—…t like ashes and casteth downe the Ice as gobbets who is able to resist his cold hee sendeth forth his Word and melâ—…eth these congealed bodies againe so soone as hee bloweth foorth his Wind the congealed waters moue and flow againe Here it is euident that the diuine Spirit is the essentiall actor in this Northern blast which is an enemy to the act of life For as God did emit and send forth the beames of his light from the infinit fountaine of his being to chase away cold by dilatation of spirits and to breede a hot humidity in the spirit of the world thereby to inact it with life and motion and to make those spirits fluent and actiue which before were congealed with the power of his contracting property that is opposite vnto the other so againe by the priuatiue Agent or his Boreall attribute and property which is cold hee contracts dilated spirits and maketh them of moueable fixe of light transparent dark and opack of liuely spirits substances without life of liquid and fluid vnmoueable and congealed and in conclusion motus is so turned into quies motion I say into rest actus
latter day and cause him to rise againe but wee must vnderstand this after their owne sence and not vulgarly Let this I beseech you be remembred that the touch of Eliseus his bones caused the dead to rise from death to life In the third place I come to the manner of conueying of the blood from the wound vnto the oyntment The blood is taken from the liuing fountaine of blood in the wounded eyther as it is smeared on the weapon that did the deed or as it is fastened on some sticke Iron or other thing and so conueyed vnto the oyntment at any reasonable distance Now a reason is to be shewed how it is possible that there can be any certaine relation betweene the wound and the oyntment For as Mr. Foster saith there may be Castles hills walls and grosse ayre betweene the oyntment and the wounded which may hinder the cure First wee must remember that wee haue expressed in our precedent discourse the excellency of the animating spirit in whom is all the vertue and each property of the foure winds and being it is the spirit of spirits Et spiritus spirat vbi vult What I pray you can hinder his act or operation And with what distance can his actiuity be limited being that it is the spirit of the winds and the soule of the lightnings and the essence of the Sunne and starres of heauen which by his animation doe cast their beames periferically vnto euery angle of the Horison or Hemispheare Can this spirir because contained in mans blood not penatrate many hundred miles by emanation out of his bloody vehicle as it doth out of his cloudy Tabernacle in the forme or rather vehicle oflightning or out from his Phoebean Palace in golden beames whereupon it is said In lumine numen in numine lumen In light is diuinity and in diuinity is light so saith the Psalmist Amictus lumine quasi vestimento Hee is clothed with light as with a garment I tell you this is all one spirit which is in man and that which operateth in the wings and therefore it was said Come O spirit from the foure winds This spirit cannot be diuided into parts It filleth as Salomon saith the whole earth and hath his seate in heauen and therefore resideth in mans body and spirit as is said Esdras speaking of this spirit saith as before The spirit of God Omnipotent hath made all things and searcheth out all things in the bowells or secret places of the earth Whereby it appeareth that this very spirit by which man breathed cannot be limited in his penetrating and extensiue dimension nor yet hindred in his passage by any intermediate obstacle To conclude that man that beleeueth and relyeth on this spirit may effect what he desireth For euen by the true knowledge and vse of it the Prophets and Apostles did wonders as well in curing as effecting matters of greater admiration This spirit therefore which is called intellectuall as hee maketh to vnderstand Inspiratio omnipotentis saith Iob facit intelligere Vitall in respect of his viuification Spiritus Dei fortis fecit me saith he spiraculum omnipotentis viuificauit me And naturall in respect of vegetation and multiplication visitatio tua saith hee else where conseruauit spiritum meum doth act and shine forth by secret beames v to that obiect of the dead blood which is carryed from it vnto the oyntment in which amputated blood lurketh a portion of spirit resting without action Now the nature of the one is reioyced in the nature of the other forasmuch as both doe sympathise together being that they are all of one consonance or degree or vnison in vitall loue as for example I take two Lutes or Vialls or any other such like instruments I set one of them at one end of the table set the other at the other end I put a small straw vpon one of the strings of the one Lute which importeth A-la-mi-re or De-la-sol-re and then striâ—… the Gam-vt of the other Lute and the straw will not once stirre because theydoe not sympathise in one sound and proportion of wauing ayre therefore haue they not a relation one vnto another so also if the blood be carryed vnto an oyntment heterogeneall in nature vnto the party wounded it will doe nothing in this cure but if you put a straw on the Gam-vt or A-re of the one and strike the other on Gam-vt or Are being vnisons you shall perceiue the straw presently to leap of the other string by reason of the ouer great vibration or louing actiuity and like formall proportion which he sympatheticall harmony betwixt each strings causeth to other in the aire yea this effect wil happen though there be put boords or other such like obstacles as may hinder the direct line of the vibration in the aire or medium betwixt the two Lutes In which experiment you may note that the string strucke is aptly compared vnto the blood of the wounded being stil animated in his body who doth by a secret emanation or emission and that by a naturall inclination and sympathy cause in the selfe-same tone a secret communication between the still and occult spirit in the congealed blood which is in the oyntment which I compare to the string which the straw hath on it so that the string though it be of it selfe still yet at the acting of that other chord which is really moued with the actuall spirit of the chord strucken by meere concent stirreth vp the still chord to act also and by action to send backe againe a salutiferous harmony vnto the acting spirit which is as neere vnto his owne still or potentiall nature as the tone of one Lute acting or strucke vnto that of the other not strucke For as both are but one spirit though they seeme to differ in distance as doe the chord of both Lutes so likewise are those two tones but one tone though they seeme to differ and therefore make but one vnisone But because the one spirit cannot essentially be separated from the other no more then can diuinity effentially be diuided into parts as also the one tone cannot be essentially distinguished from the other therefore it doth liuely extend it selfe à termino à quo ad terminum ad quem from the wound vnto the oyntment as being all one spirit continuated euen as wee see one thred extended from one end of a Chamber vnto the other Now being this spirit requireth a spirituall vehicle like it selfe it is carried quasi super alas venti as it were vpon the wings of the wind in the hidden spirit of the blood which seemeth as a vehicle no otherwise then the essentiall spirit of the wind is carryed by the ayre and obserueth no limited distance neyther is hindred by mountaines woods or walls to worke his effect as wee see the Northwind doth produce in Lumbardy frost Ice snow c. Although the high Alpin mountaines
it pleaseth and therefore at what distance it listeth as well with the vertues of heauen as with the dwellers on the earth If this great Aduersary to the Weapon-Salue-Salue would but consider the wonderfull operation that this Catholicke spirit produceth in this cold and contracting facultie as when he moueth from the North and maketh snow frost and Ice by the contracting of the thin spirit of the world into a thick body and sucketh vp the fountaines of the earth on high all which is done by contracting his action from the circumference vnto the center or emission from the center to the circumference causing the common element to alter from a dilated spirit to a contracted body And againe from a contracted body to a dilated one for by an alteration quite opposite to his Boreall act or Northerne disposition it vndoeth in his dilating property and resolueth all that it did effect by his cold condition in mouing and making aliue againe the waters that were congealed rendring them diaphanous or transparent and spirituall or inuisible things though they were before thick opack dark corporall and visible And againe if he with discretion would consider how it doth depresse and strike downe into the earth the fountaines by his presence in his Sunny tabernacle which by his cold propertie were raysed out of the eartâ—… If I say hee would well ponder with himselfe how the â—…unne being now in the South beyond the Equinoctiall doth subtilitate there the thick Ayre and dissolue the frosty snowy and Icy effects which the cold did make in that Hemispheare whilest the Sunnes presence in the Northerne world did worke â—…ere contrary effects and how on this side the Equinoctiall by his contractiue faculty it partly sucketh vp the fountaines of the Southerne world out of the earth and partly by his dilatiue action depresseth on that side the said fountaines appearing in the Northerne Climats Then would he not call the action of this most potent spirit in question or limit it according to the phantastick opinion of some men within an imaginary spheare of actiuity being that this spirit is from him who filleth all and operateth all and in all and therefore consequently effecteth the great works of contraction and dilatation which are so apparant in euery Angle of the world Will he circumscribe this action of eleuating fountaines and againe depressing them within any spheare or orbe except it bee that of the round world Will hee thinke that this action made betweene the potentiall habit of priuation or cold and that of life and position which is heate requireth a small interuall to make the two extremes so farre distant from each other as the North is from the South to meete and concurre in a Symphoniacall proportion The hotter and more intemperate and consequently the more dilatiue the one Hemispheare is the colder and more contractiue is the opposite And therefore the more depression of fountaines there is by extreme heate in the one Hemispheare the more are they sucked drawne vp out of the earth by the attâ—…actiue vertue of the extreme cold of the other This I can and will be ready to demonstrate to any one that doubteth of this point by an ocular conclusion or demonstration It is euident therfore by this which we haue produced that this magneticall kind of cure is Donum Dei the Gift of God according vnto Paracelsus his opinion and not the act of the Deuill as Master Foster most vnchristianly hath published attributing against reason and conscience that vnto the Deuill the worst and foulest of spirits whose office is onely destructiue and wounding and not constructiue or healing which is the onely property of this best fayrest or purest of all spirits on whom attend all good Angels to doe his will as the Deuill hath his bad angels to destroy You may therefore see by this Gentle Reader how life is breathed into the creature by Gods good Spirit of life how his seate or vehicle in which he moueth is the blood how that fat flesh and bones haue their life and vegetation from the spirit that moueth in the blood how this spirit operateth priuatiuely by contracting his beames of life from the circumference vnto the center of the Creature where it resteth or rather ceaseth to operate the effects of his office of life as it is made manifest in the dead congealed blood or graineof wheat and againe it operateth positiuely to life by which it reuiueth that which was dead by sending out his act from the centre to the circumference of the creature as it doth in the graine of Wheat buryed in the ground or the congealed blood cleauing eyther to stick or weapon conueyed to the oyntment as his most naturalest earth I shewed you how the spirit is all one and vndiuisible and therefore that this which resideth in the salue and that which operateth in the body are concatenated or continuated essentially one to another as being all one spirit though it commeth from the foure winds not diuided I say in essence but onely differing in property for it worketh contractingly by eold dilatingly by heate also that there is but one common vehicle which carryeth this spirit in the Etheriall substance of the blood And lastly that because the oyntment is made of mans blood mans fat mans flesh or mummy and the fumous excrescence of mans bones called vznie or the mosse that groweth on the skull according vnto my receit and for that the nature of the Catholike spirit thus specified is in the oyntment though not working and is stirred vp to operate by the vnion which it hath now from the beames of the liâ—…ely and operating spirit of the wounded no otherwise then the Sunne doth operate on the earth in which the dead graine of Wheat lyeth and with it calleth or stirreth vp the centrall spirit occult in the dead blood to operate as the Sunne beame doth the atome of life which is in the graine Therefore the mixtion of these two spirits now operating in one viuifying vnion makes them to tend vnto the fountaine of life as the graine rifing out of the earth would carry also his like which was clad in earth vpward toward his natiue home did not the heauy coats of the elements hinder his further ascent But because this earth or salue is more spirituall it sendeth out his power vnto the blood by that harmony which the continuation of spirit doth effect namely as it were by an vnison by reason of the vniformity of the specifick spirit belonging vnto man by the vnion whereof the foure discordant elements and euery member of mans body are vnited vnto a fympatheticall harmony adopted to the vse of life in the creature yea also forasmuch as the blood flesh fat and bones in all other vnreasonable creatures are framed out of one kinde of elementary forme and fashioned alike by the same operating spirit it is no maruell if his blood being brought vnto the
learned who at the first scoffed at this kind of cure as a thing impossible And after that he perceiued that it was true indeed he was terrified by such scare-crowes as Mr. Foster is to put it in practice forasmuch as he was made beleeue that there was a prestigious deceit or cacomagical vertue and operation in it For which cause he did abstaine from the vse and practice thereof although he did acknowledge the act of it to be wonderfull And yet neuerthelesse beause his curiosity did incite him to diue a little further into the truth of this mystery hee did at the last desire to speake with one Captaine Stiles a man well knowne by his acquaintance to be both wise religious as also aduerse vnto all superstitious actions or ceremonies because hee was noted to be a great practitioner in this manner of cure His earnest desire of him was first to see with his owne eyes for his better satisfaction euery particular ingredient apart which went into the composition of this salue and afterwards to obserue each ingredients preparation and lastly to behold their mixtion or vnion in composition that thereby hee might the better discerne whether any vnlawfull act or diabolicall superstition did concurre with the making thereof the Captaine consenteth whereupon this Noble man to be the better informed in this matter called vnto this composition a learned Diuine and a well esteemed Doctor of Physicke who with one consent after the complement of the businesse did affirme that there was neither any damnable superstition in the making of this oyntment as was falsely suggested nor yet any Cacomagicall disposition in the ingredients as was vainely surmised by some precise persons And for that reason they did ioyntly conclude that both the medicine in it selfe and the practice of this cure were naturall and consequently lawfull for any good Christian to vse Hereupon this Honourable Personage did for a twelue moneths space with happy and fortunate successe practise this manner of cure on many that were wounded and yet for all this it should appeare that some busie Buzzards or rather buzzing flies of this nature did put into his head new suspicions insinuating vnto him that the Captaine might vse some secret superstitious meanes or vnknowne charmes in the collecting or preparing of the principall ingredients which he could not discerne and that without this those mysticall effects could not be wrought whereupon one twelue moneth being past he vndertooke for his more assurance to make the composition himselfe and to haue the ingredients gotten and prepared by his owne direction namely the mosse of mans bones c. And for this cause hee maketh Mr. Cooke the Apothecary to beat into fine powder such of the ingrediences as were to be powdred and afterwards to compound it and to make it vp which when he had effected he found that this his owne composition had the selfe-same healing vertue and prosperous successe in curing that the other had by reason whereof hee rests euer since so confident in the safety and lawfulnesse of this cure that not one of these phantasticall Butterflies by their painted shewes without any solide substance can alter his minde from this practice which when our valiant Sponge-carrier perceiueth and seeing that all the vayne perswasions of his too too scrupulous and suspicious faction could not effect hee as a Praeco or crying Orator for the rest vttereth forth these fragments of his outward and counterfeit zeale for asmuch as it is stuffed internally with an hypocriticall and politike intent as shall be more at large expressed hereafter His words in his dedicatory Epistle are these That which moued me to write this booke was a commiseration of the case of some Persons of quality reputed religious which vse the weapon-salue I pitty these I presume they imagine no harme in it I pray for them in our Sauiour Christ his owne words Father forgiue them for they know not what they doe Is not this a pretty hood of zeale and religion besmeared ouer with the fard of dissimulation a smooth faced vaile I say of hypocrisie to couer and conceale the nakednesse of a priuate worldly policy namely to apply vniustly and make a wrong vse of the righteous words of our blessed Sauiour lesus Christ for the decrying and abolishing of that good gift of healing which by his viuifying spirit is effected vpon his wounded and infirm creatures ' and that which is worse by attributing it falsly vnto the diuel an enemy both to God man and thereby to defraud the Creator and actor in all things of his right and that before the face of all his reasonable creatures whom he created after his owne Image perswading them to beleeue that all mysticall and occult healing in these latter dayes is the vertuous operation of the Father of lies and enemy of goodnesse And that chiefely for the company of Chirurgions cause as shall forth-with be more plainely expressed As who should say that God had in this last age of the world lost all his operatiue vertue and power in mysticall and hidden workings as wel in his creatures as by miracles that good God I say the Creator both of heauen and earth and therefore hee that worketh wonders euerlastingly as well occultly as manifestly hath lost his operatiue vertue or assigned it as it were by succession ouer vnto the diuell May not that Noble man and many other religious persons at which Master Foster in the precedent Text aymeth with a better conscience retort his foresaid speach vpon him and say I am moued with a commiseration of the cause of this person or Parson reputed by reason of his profession religious who condemneth attempteth with his Sponge to wipe away the weapon-salue to abolish the reputation of that vertue which God hath bestowed on it for mans good and for the reliefe of distressed wounded creatures I pitty him if he doe it of ignorance for then I presume he imagineth no harme and therefore I will pray for him in our Sauiour Christ his owne words Father forgiue him for he knoweth not what he doth But if he doth it wittingly and maketh vse of these holy words of Christ for policies sake or to procure the worldly gaine of others I must speake vnto him in these very words which Christ spake vnto Peter Get thee behind mee Satan for thou vnderstandst not the things that are of God but the things that are of men Now verily I will make it appeare that hee hideth his worldly craft vnder the cloke of sanctity and consequently hee walloweth the deeper in the puddle of sinne wherefore his reward must needes correspond with his desert For God who searcheth the heart and reynes of euery man is iust and righteous I would haue each obseruant Reader therefore to note that there is a double reason in this Mr. Fosters endeauour to wipe away the weapon-salue whereof the first is the weakest namely a witting ignorance or an
intreaty I condescended to this vndertaking c. Here you see his religious vaile and againe he discouereth his hidden policy He pretendeth zeale for the saluation of many and afterward hee saith that hee condescended vnto it at the intreaty of some of his friends whereof some in plaine great Letters he quotes in the margent namely I. S. and E. C. now who these are explicitly the title of his Latine Epistle expresseth You will finde them no doubt when you know them stout iudicious persons and of a deepe reach to determine so great a doubt as this which wee haue in hand Stout Iury-men I say to giue their verdit on so profound a Philosophicall Mystery God preserue their demure worships Amicis meis saith he Ioanni Scotâ—… Edwardo Chalaeo c. Now this taske concernes none more as I said then theChirurgians that he esteemeth them his especiall friends the consequence will confirme The second obseruation is because this our aduerse Author was a Barber Chirurgians sonne Hence came that mighty reuerence that he beareth them in giuing them the title of Esquires The third is made manifest by that stately and vnusuall Latin Epistle in an English booke that hee hath dedicated vnto them Lastly because some of them as I am aduertised did goe along with him to grace him and to procure him the licensing of his booke to be printed as well against the weapon-salue as my selfe by name whereas more modesty and discretion might haue guided them then so earnestly to haue moued and pressed the licensing of a scandalousPamphlet a part whereof I say doth in an ignominious and infamous maner point at my selfe by name of purpose to preiudice and wound as far as in it lay my vntainted reputation and that immediately after the immodest and rash composer thereof had been reprehended and repulsed by two discreete and learned personages for the very same slanderous and immorall insolencies I am much beholding vnto these fauourers of mine aduersary and so much the more for as much also as vnto one or two of my fellow Collegues some of them geered and scoffed at me for those slanders which he vauntingly had expressed in his booke against me both before the licensing of it and afterwards But as I neglect their scorne as being too shallow to drowne my reputation so I pray God forgiue them their follies and abate their malice I accuse not all but some For I know there are amongst them of a more learned discreet and modest carriage Vnto such therefore because I deeme them free from this malignant action I wish all happinesse and desire their pardon if I speake iustly and that vnto the matter when I find my selfe so spightfully netled by some of their society if I cared for them or it Wherefore by their good leaues I will proceed thus in my History The aboue mentioned Noble Personage and Captaine Stiles with Sir Beuis Thelwell who had his oyntment from that Noble Personage and hath performed by it many strange and desperate cures and Mr. Wells of Dedford a learned and honest Gentleman haue cured as they will make good at the least a thousand persons by this manner of cure and now there are many other as well men as women which haue got of this weapon-salue and doe daily an infinity of good in this kingdome Hinc dolor hinc lacrimae From hence I say commeth the griefe vnto the Chirurgians as well of this City of London as of euery Countrey about And haue they not good reason for it when they lose such a masse of practice aswould well haue stuffed their Pouches Was not I beseech you this the Siluer-smiths of Ephesus case who when they perceiued that their gaines which in their Trade they got by Dianas Image was likely to perish through S. Pauls miraculous vertue as well in healing as otherwise for it is in the same Chapter said that God wrought no small miracles by the hands of Paul so that from his body were brought vnto the sicke Kirchiefes or hand-kirchiefes and the diseases departed from them and the euill spirit went ' out of them and salutiferous preaching of Iesus Câ—…rist they put the whole citty in an vproare by the perswasion and Oration of a certaine man named Demetrius a Siluer-smith that thereby they might decry and put downe those preachings and miraculous operations of St. Paul as well in healing as otherwise which hee did effect not onely in that Citty but ouer all Asia crying out against all truth and reason Great is Diana of the Ephesians inferring thereby falsely that Pauls Doctrine and curing was erronious and his miracles diabolicall Doth not this Champion for the Chirurgians I meane Mr. Foster resemble in euery point the Ephesian Demetrius for as much as hee conspireth with the Artists of his fathers Trade to moue the whole Citty yea and countrey to murmur and repine at the vertuous act of that gift which God hath imparted vnto the weapon-falue and exclaime against such as vse it vnto Gods glory and the good of mankinde because it doth derogate and taketh away the profit and gaine from the Trade of Chirurgians Did not Demetrius vnder pretence of zeale and Religion vnto the false and Ethnick Goddesse Diana derogate all he could from the honour and glory of Iesus Christ and that chiefely for the Company of Siluer-smiths profit and gaines sake And doth not Foster in the very same manner vnder an hypocriticall shaddow or vaile of sincerity ascribe the power of healing by the weapon-salue vnto the diuell the falfe god of this world and in so doing doth derogate from the diuine honour and vertue of the true God who made heauen and earth thereby to poyson and intoxicate the opinions of vertuous or well minded men and to distract them from the truth by his false perswasions as Demetrius attempted to doe with the honest Ephesians For as much as he with his Chirurgicall faction seemeth to cry out like another Demetrius Great is our Esculapius the god of Chirurgians and his inuentions of balmes emplasters and salues and consequently diabolicall is the Weapon-Salue which cureth all wounds miraculously at a distance and not by Contact Did not Galen in the like manner raile and scoffe at Christ and his Disciples for their curing so strangly at distance and that without any ocular demonstration And the reason why was because he could not cure spiritually at distance but onely grossely and by an immediate contact If I therefore like the Ephesian towne-Clarke shall with words of reason and truth seeke to appease the vniust rumours and needlesse iealousies stirred vp by this our Sponge-bearing Demetrius and ascribe with the words of verity that vnto God the Father and his Sonne Iesus Christ which belongeth to him and tell the Diuell and his minister vnto his face that all goodnesse and therefore each healing property belongeth vnto God the Creatour of all things and not to any vile creature much lesse
and fight against the Icteritious humor in the vrin which fading and being by little and little conquered maketh his like in the sicke body to dye and vanish Besides all this the spirit lurking in the salt and exuscitated partly by the excited spirit of the plant and partly by the emanating spirit of the sicke body doth send or carry backe a curatiue property vnto the whole bulke of the blood I leaue this vnto the more serious consideration of the learned who can better iudge of the hidden and abstruse operations of Gods incorruptible spirit closing vp a-l in these very words of the Apostle Deus operatur omnia in omnibus God worketh all in all ex eo per eum in eo sunt omnia of him by him in him are all things Deus viuificat omnia God viuifieth all things And finally Dij sunt qui dicuntur in coelis in terra nobis autem vnus Pater à quo omnia nos in illo vnus Dominus Iesus Christus per quem omnia nos per illum There are in the estimation of some men gods in heauen and in earth but vnto vs there are no more then one God the Father from whom doe proceed all things and we are in him and â—…ne Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him Ergò it is vainely and presumptuously said of Mr. Foster that the cure of the weapon-salue is effected by the diuell the enemy of Iesus Christ and not by Christ himselfe being that Iesus is the only Sauiour and curer or healer both of soule body who as he hath all powers potestates vnder his dominion vseth his good Angels to work his goodnesse and not the bad Angels which hee did ordaine for a cleane contrary office I will not say that this assertion of his is a kinde of blasphemy but it is little better At the leastwise it is the grossest sort of Idolatry to ascribe the good works of God vnto the essentiall act of the worst and most wickedest of all his creatures whom God instituted for a clean contraryvse namely to be his punishing and destroying minister or angel Now I will proceed vnto the particular defence of mine owne doctrine expressed in my mysticall Anatomy Against the which Master Foster doth enueigh so bitterly and with so great a confidence He crowes there like a Cocke on his owne dunghill before hee hath occasion and challengeth gloriously the palme and proclaimeth the trophey of his owne prayses before he hath got the victory The end crownes all for truth is not boulstered vp with high and braging termes It had beene best for Master Foster to haue heard me speake before hee had publikely slandered me and set vp the Titles of his booke on the posts of my doore in my disgrace whether it was discreetly done of him or not I leaue it to the censure of the world and so I moue to the last Member of this Treatise The Third Member Wherein the Author doth disannull all those Arguments and Obiections which M. Foster with such inuincible confidence hath produced for the refelling of his opinion expressed in his mysticall Anatomy where he proueth that the action of curing by the Weapon-Salue is meerely Naturall and no way Magicall or Diabolicall The Prelude to this Member Wherein the Author doth expresse that his Aduersaries slanders of him are grounded on malice and not on any â—…ust desert of his Here also he sheweth the method of his proceeding in this Member with the Reason thereof EAch discreet Reader may discerne by M. Fosters scandalous vehemency against mee for composing in my mysticall Anatomy the subiect of this Member that it is more of enuy and malice then for any desert in me or offence committed by me either against him for as much as I know him not or any other person else For out of doubt he would not else vpon so slight an occasion as was this short chapter expressed in the foresaid place haue so slandered me with the title ofa Magician as he hath and alledged his wise Master the Frier Mersennus his authority for it as profound an Author for rayling and false slander as himselfe But why I beseech you should he induce Mersennus his scandalous words against mee in this his writing when he seeth that the Frier is so taunted by his friend and champion Gassendus for it that in his Reply which he maketh with Gassendus and Lanouius against me after that I had thorowly nettled and gauled him for his follies hee dared not to vtter or repeate one word against me touching the precedent slanders of Magicke which in his Booke on Genesis vpon little or no ground hee laid vnto my charge but grafted all his spight and malice in that Reply vpon certaine Impieties as hee termeth them which hee most weakely layeth vnto my charge Againe whereas this our home-bred Aduersary saith that I haue excused my selfe from Magick in a Booke intituled Sophiae cum Moria certamen and that Lanouius saith Cuius contrarium verum est I must tell him that it doth ill become a man of his Profession to vtter such a falshood For Lanouius though in as malicious a manner as he could doth cleare me of that crime alledging that mine vnskilfulnesse or insufficiency in such things made him to thinke the contrary And therefore I must tell this my English calumniatour that there is a Starre-chamber to punish such abuses and consequently he may perchance heare of mee sooner then he doth expect vnlesse hee bridleth his slanderous tongue the better hereafter It is an Argument of little Philosophie and lesse Diuinity to rayle vnreasonably and scandalize with immorality For Philosophie is Sapientiae amor the loue of Wisedome and the Wise man saith It is the part of a foole to rayle Againe all Diuinity is founded on Loue and Charity and Christ his chiefest preaching wasto loue our Brethren and to affect our Neighbours as our selues and to admonish vs that wee iudge not our Brethren rashly But to come vnto our businesse Hath this Chapter of mine iudicious Reader in which our diligent Inquisitor hath made so strict a search and against which he hath framed so punctuall a confutation any Cacomagicall busines in it that I should so hardly be censured by our quick-witted Confuter at the very entrance into it Doe you discerne in it any thing that should cause our Aduersary to make such a scandalous and vnchristian-like ingression into the inquiry of it that thereby the simpler sort of men may deeme me a Witch or Magician As for such as are of the wiser sort I am sure they laugh at it But is not this an argument of enuy founded on no solid foundation And is not he as well for his vnreasonable spight as some things else of each good Christian to be pittied For what hath he in him should deserue enuy being that he confesseth in his Epistle
else the body and soule would neuer abide together but warre against one another being that they are as contrary in nature as fire and water But vnlesse the spirit of ayre were put betweene these two contrary elements to ioyne them together they would neuer agree nor abide in their spheares no more would the soule and body without a spirituall meane Now as we see that the Heaven of the great World is composed of light and spirit proportioned and as it were glewed together by the eternall Spirit which is the Infuser of life in them both so also is the spirit in man so firmely vnited vnto the soule by the spirituall Word which is the tye or glew of life that it is not possible to be separated the one from the other except it be by that Spirit which did ioyne them together And this may easily be gathered out of these words of the Apostle Viuus est sermo Dei efficax 〈◊〉 omni gladio ancipiti pertingens vsque ad diuisionem animae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Word of God is liuely and effectuall and more piercing then a â—…edged Sword and attaineth euen to the diuision of the soule from the spirit Whereby it argueth that the life consisteth of soule and spirit and that these two are so vnited together by the tye of the Word that nothing but the composer or binder can make any separation of them And for this reason wee may see that there is a strong tye as well betweene the spirit and the soule as betweene the soule and the body And therefore as the soule is more worthy then the spirit so the spirit excelleth in dignity the body and consequently the spirit is by proportion interposed betweene the soule and the body no otherwise then the Ayre betweene the Sunne and Earth Wherefore it is an absurdity in the Peripateticks to deny this tye and vnion and more absurd for Master Foster to make such a poore excuse as to say that the body was generated for the soule and the soule created for the body and therefore that there needeth no bands to faften them A poore conclusion I say of so eminently appearing a Philosopher and Theosopher as who fhould say two extremes could more be ioyned together without a medium or middle tye or intermediate spirit to conioyne and vnite them then the two extremes of a Diameter in a Circle without a middle point or Center And more absurd it is in him to say that there can be a reciprocall desire of two extremes and contrary opposites to come and dwell together at the 〈◊〉 when they are so contrary that the Wise man saith Corpus infestum corruptioni aggrauat animam terrena habitatio deprimit mentem multis curis plenam The body which is subiect to corruption doth ouerburthen and aggrauate the soule and the earthly habitation doth depresse and keepe vnder the minde that is full of cares Is it not strange and vnnaturall that any captiue spirit should not desire his freedome and liberty especially the bright soule which is captiued in her darke bodily prison For this reason therefore Iamblicus saith that Anima dormiat in corpore humano The soule sleepeth in mans body And Porphyrie hath it That it is alwayes 〈◊〉 in the body And Mercurie Trismegistus That the body is vnto the soule a veile of ignorance Whereupon it is certaine that there is a spirit which keepeth it in this his darke prison By this therefore you may see what goodly doctrine this is of Master Fosters But to mend the matter he proceedeth thus And they endeauour after vnion so to keepe together c. It is true if he speaketh in the behalfe of the darke body who is â—…oth to leaue the bright soule which is his treasure But as for the soule we see how many there are that to escape the fetter of this prison doe sluce out their owne blood or destroy themselues and many as well amongst the Elect as by Scriptures we finde it as among the common Worldlings desire earnestly of God as being weary of this World to be dissolued and to passe out of this life Cupio dissolui esse cum Christo saith the one c. Whereby it is apparent that the soule doth not desire to liue in the body or with the body as Master Foster concludeth And when she departeth she cannot leaue her body without the spirit so firme is their vnion as the Apostle sheweth in the text before mentioned neither can the spirit wholly forsake that relation it hath to the body as is said I conclude therefore â—…at against Master Fosters assertion that the soule doth with a strict vnion depend and rely on the spirit and reciprocally the spirits rely on the soule no otherwise then the Agent can not be esteemed as an Agent without the Patient nor the Patient without the Agent And therefore they must both of them be vnited in one And consequently as an essentiall Agent doth act from the Center vnto the Circumference euen so it is to be conceiued that the agile soule is contained in the spirits as the Agent in the Patient or soule in the body or lightning in the cloud And thus farre haue we proceeded to squeese out all Master Fosters Sponges validity touching this matter I come vnto the next CHAP. V. The Authors essentiall Carrier of sympathetical vertue giueth in this Chapter vnto our Sponge-bearer but Iack Drummes entertainment for calling him Tom Long the Carrier Reade and you shall see the manner The naked assertion of D. Fludds Text. VVHereupon it is manifest that 〈◊〉 spirituall Line being inuisibly protracted or extended in the Ayre betweene the places of the wounded person and the Box or Pot of Oyntment doth carry along with it his animal forme the which soule or spirit of life is no lesse to bee diuided from his whole or integrality contained in the body of the â—…unded then the beame of the Sunne is from the Sunne Therefore as the beame of the Sunne swimming in the 〈◊〉 of the world is as it were a Messenger betweene Heauen and Earth euen so this animal beame is the faithfull conductor of the healing nature from the Box of the Balsam vnto the wounded body and this medium or directing and carrying Line namely that which conueyeth the wholesome and salutiferous spirit by meanes of the soule or spirit of life is that spirit which is inuisibly extended or drawne out in the ayre the which vnlesse it had beene in a hidden manner figured and fashioned forth the vertue of the Oyntment would euaporate or sluce out this way or that way and so would bring no benefit vnto the wounded Master Fosters Collection The spirit of the bloodshed is carried by the ayre which is the carrier of the spirit of euery thing vnto his body this spirit going by this ayre in a direct inuisible Line carrieth the sanatiue vertue from the anointed Weapon to the wounded party For the
Weapon communicateth it to the blood fixed on it the blood to the spirits the spirits conducted by the ayre communicate it to the body and so the Patient is without application of plaister healed naturally c. It is plainely and euidently here to be discerned how he corrupteth my text to make it serue his owne ends For first I make no mention of a streight or direct Line onely I speake of carrying and direction of the vitall spirits from the body wounded vnto the Box of Oyntment and then of the magneticall attraction of the sanatiue vertue back againe by an inuisible Line protracted in the ayre Then he saith as from my text that the Weapon doth communicate the vertue of the Oyntment vnto the blood fixed on it But I neither said or meant any such matter for there is a neerer consanguinity betwixt the Oyntment and the blood then betweene the Weapon and the Oyntment But I care so little for him and his deuices as that I will let him haue his will The act of his cleansing Sponge vpon this Fiftly â—…deny Master Doctors Carrier viz. his direct inuisible Line carrying the sanatiue vertue so many miles from the Weapon vnto the Wound Surely this is Tom Long the Carrier who will neuer doe his arrant But the Sunne with his beames is a true Messenger betweene Heauen and Earth and so this Salue 〈◊〉 the Weapon and the Wound O incomparable comparison The Sunne is called quasi solus as hauing no pecre no creature working like it But the Doctor like another Archimedes can make one working by sending forth beames like it Though you call this my Messenger Tom Long the Carrier yet shall it doe his aâ—…ant so surely and returne so suddenly vpon you his slanderer being carried on the swift wings of verity that in the conclusion of this text it shall giue you but Iack Drummes entertainment for your reward I doe not say good Sir that as the Sunne-beame is a true Messenger betwixt Heauen and Earth so the Salue is a Messenger betwixt the Weapon and the Wound O admirable capacity of so learned a Gentleman in his owne conceit to imagine things that are not but I say that as the Sunne-beame is a Messenger betwixt Heauen and Earth so is the beame of the viuifying and incorruptible Spirit in the inward man which is his Heauen vnto the blood which lyeth hid in the Oyntment no otherwise then the graine of Corne in a good and fertill earth receiueth the viuifying comfort of the Sunne-beames by which after putrifaction of the graine it doth by a magnetick power draw the little soule now at liberty vpward towards his Fountaine of life from whence it descended the yeere before for the multiplying of the graine But because it is hindred by his elementary body it remaines houering in the ayre and by sucking down from aboue more of his like it multiplyeth from one graine vnto a great many Is it therefore impossible that the like might happen betweene the beame issuing from the body and the corrupted blood in the Oyntment the small Atome of life by 〈◊〉 of the dead blood arising and without impediment of his vnctuous earth sucked by little and little vnto his Fountaine of life But because all this is liuely expressed in mine answer vnto the very selfesame obiection made in the first and second Chapter of the second Member of this Treatise I will refer the Reader vnto those places where he shall finde all the Contents of this his insufficient Confutation answered his Sponge thorowly squeesed and all his rancor and venom pretended against this my Text quite crushed out and annihilated Then he proceedeth thus The Sunne is called quasi solus as bauing no peere no creature working like it but the Doctor like another Archimedes c. Good Master Parson semper excipio Platonem That incorruptible Spirit which as the Sonne of Syrach telleth vs was created before all things must be excepted Doe you marke this Sir For I told you that your Sponge in the inquisition of this text would haue but Iack Drummes entertainment I hope you will not preferre the visible Sunne either in glory or actiuity before this Diuine Spirit which giueth it glory and actiuity What The creature before the Creator The matter before the forme The Patient before the Agent Is this Master Parsons good diuinity Or doth Philosophy teach him thus much Whatsoeuer Tully telleth vs that this is reuer â solus in mundo actor It is certaine that it was this Spirit which put his Tabernacle in the Sunne of Heauen and by it only the Sunne liueth moueth and operateth here below and there aboue and it is one and the same Spirit which imparteth vnto all creatures and consequently vnto vs men the spirit of life by which we liue moue and haue our being It is he that hath reciprocally put his Tabernacle in man as well as in the Sunne and therefore are we termed the Members of Christ and Temples of the Holy Ghost Whereby the wisdome of Master Foster nay of a Christian Diuine may bee well skanned and discerned in saying in his text But D. Fludd like another Archimedes can make one working by sending forth beames like it c. No verily I will not be so bold to ascribe vnto my selfe that which belongeth onely vnto God my Creator howsoeuer Master Foster would ascribe it to the Deuill Concerning the full answer vnto this his Confutation I referre you as is said vnto the second Member of this Treatise I will proceede now vnto the greatest assault wherein his Sponge rubbeth very hard against my Text but preuaileth no more then they which goe about to wash away the colour of a Black-moore It will proue I hope a meere labour in vaine CHAP. VI. How contrary vnto our Spongy Cabalists intention it is proued first that euill spirits may contaminate and alter into their nature the aëry spirit of man as also that Deuils haue aëry bodies allotted vnto them in their creation Lastly the mutability and vnconstancy of the Consutor in his mayne Argument is discouered Doctor Fludds Text. FRom hence therefore ariseth that secret combination and vnion which is made betweene the euill spirit and the Cacomagicians or Witches by the which foolish men 〈◊〉 filthily deceiued by the Deuill whereupon the Deuill or malignant spirit by the alluerment of such a reward doth accomplish the will or desire of the witch And hereupon a compact is made betweene them namely that the spirit in what shape soeuer may sucke daily a portion of blood whereby the spirit lurking in the blood of the Magician may be made of one nature and condition with that of the malignant spirit and so his spirit was conuerted into a 〈◊〉 condition whereby it is impossible for him to depart from the worship of the Deuill Master Fosters Collection from the Text. That there is such a sympathy betwixt the blood in the body and
for that very cause the Text calleth it in one place latibulum Dei in another tigurium Dei and in another vehiculum currus â—…ehoua so that if lebâ—…ua maketh this organicall Tabernacle of ayre to vtter vnto mortall eares his voyce as Scriptures in many places doe testifie it is no sinne to say that his inferiour spirits haue for their externall bodies aëry substances which being granted what should hinder spirits by contraction of this their external substances to appeare when they please visibly and organically to talke with a person as the tempting spirit did to Christ and againe by an immediate dilatation of the same externall aëry spirit to become inuisible no otherwise then a smoake by dilatation vanisheth or a cloud or mist made of a compacted and thickned ayre doth oftentimes without the appearance of any drop of raine passe away inuisibly Was it not strange that Christ himselfe that had flesh and bones should appeare etiam clausis ianâ—…is and then immediately to vanish And yet if we consider that after he was risen he did put on a spirituall body euen that body for that cause could deponere Tabernaculum suum visibile tangibile and become by subtiliation and dilatation as subtile and impalpable as the voluntie of him who hath the spirituall body pleaseth and so can appeare and vanishat an instant It is an admirable speculation to ponder and consider duely how God worketh in this world by contraction and dilatation by priuation and position by darknesse and light by apparition and disparition as we see when his Spirit moueth from the North the common ayre is by the contractiue nature of that spirit turned from inuisibility to visibility from transparency to opacity from ayre to Snow Haile Frost Ice from leuity to ponderosity from agility and mobility to fixation and immobility Contrarywise by his blast from the East or South the said bodies are altered againe into water and water into ayre and ayre into fire by dilatation and in conclusion corporeity terrestriall into corporeity aëriall or celestiall hardnesse into saltnesse grossenesse into subtility opacity into transparency fixation into mobility rest into action darknesse into light And to conclude contraction caused by this Spirit of God into dilatation visibility into inuisibility What shall I say more If Angels of all kindes haue their externall from the aëry spirit of the World and their internall act from this externall viuifying spirit in whom is the property of the foure Windes and therefore the Prophet said Come O Spirit from the foure Windes whereby he did argue that this one Spirit as being the essentiall actor in the foure Windes had the properties of the foure Windes in himselfe by the which he acted all things whereupon the Prophet called it from the foure Windes wee ought not to make any question but that by vertue of that internall act and the substance of that their externall ayre they may contract themselues from a spirituall fiery and aëry inuisibility vnto a nebulous or watery yea and earthly visibility or snowie or Icie nature especially the grosse malignant and darke spirits which by their fall haue indued the grosser ayre as Augustine saith and therefore is Satan called by the Apostle The Prince of the ayre And this is the reason that the Deuill or euill spirits do in their contraction conuert themselues into solid or firme shapes of man or beast and appeare in touch to be so excessue cold according to Master Fosters confession namely because the spirit by which they liue contracting it selfe from the Circumference of dilated ayre into the Center of contracted earth leaueth the externall or aëry compacted composition chill and cold like Ice For it is by his emanation or dilatation from the Center vnto the Circumference that kindleth naturall heate in the externall of euery creature To conclude against those that affirme that spirits haue no corporeity It is most certaine that where there is rarum densum thin and thick there consequently is corporeity either thinne or thicke For whatsoeuer is in his substance transmutable vnto a thinner or thicker body must needs bee bodily though not a visible body So is a Starre of Heauen called Densior pars sui orbis that is The inuisible â—…thereall spirit or thin body of Heauen thickned into the visible body of a Starre So also may fire be condensed into ayre and ayre into water and water into earth And againe that earth may be rarified into water and water into ayre and ayre into fire For such is the naturall rotation of elements Now the externall of Angels must be created of the spirituall substance of the higher world or not at all according vnto Basils tenor and consequently it is bodily though of a thinner or thicker consistence according vnto the dignity of the Angell Doth not also Dauid acknowledge thus much in these words Qui facit Angelos spiritus seu aëra 〈◊〉 Ministros ignem vrentem who maketh his Angels spirits or windie ayre and his Ministers flames of fire And therefore it is a shame that such mysteries as these which are most apparent to the considerant should by the ignorant bee derided and esteemed not workes and operations of the Spirit of God in the common element of the world but of the Deuill and so through their blindnesse mistake euill for good darknesse for light of which sort of people the Prophet meaneth in these words Woe vnto them that speake good of euill and euill of good which put darknesse for light and light for darknesse that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Woe vnto them that are wise in their owne eyes and prudent in their owne sight Thus iudicious and vnpartiall Reader you may perceiue by that which hath bene expressed in this Member how vnable mine Aduersaries Sponge hath beene to wipe away the least tittle of that naturall value and diuine vertue which in my mysticall Anatomy I haue ascribed vnto the Weapon-Salue And therefore for all I can see hee may inuent some more substantiall meanes then is this windie Sponge an expresse argument of a light braine or fantastick wit to subuert a Medicine of so weighty an importance and admirable power in working Hee must haue I say strong Cable-ropes in stead of a light Sponge to remoue the foundation of verity and yet I feare they will cracke too before they will be able to draw wise men to beleeue that the good gifts of healing in this Weapon-Salue should proceed from the Deuill and not from God and his benigne mercies which is the onely giuer of health and goodnesse And now I must remember you by the way of one absurdity in our Sponge-bearing Author For he saith first that this manner of cure is Diabolicall and afterward hee seemeth to attribute the effect of it vnto the vrine of man His words are these Doctor Fludds directions are that the Weapon be left in the Vnguent-pot till the