and Harmony about the Sun If they be of that infinite vastness and distance one from another as that our World to one there should appear but as Punctum indivisibile small in respect as all our Copernical Heaven-Lopers and Neoterick Astrologers affirm as knowingly as if they had used Icaromenipus his wings in Lucian to have flown thither and seen what was done in Heaven Why may there not be then infinite Worlds Why may not an Infinite Cause as God is cause and produce Infinite Effects Iob insinuates as much Who shaketh the Earth out of her place Well may we then admit of Brunus infinite Worlds and Suns of Keplar's Lunar Geography and believe with Campanella Galilaeus Origanus c. that the Earth hath motion is a Planet and shines like the Moon to these Lunar Inhabitants Is not the World then in the Moon 's face as plain as the Nose in a mans face Credat Iudeas Appella Besides Is there not a World of Knavery Bribery Simony Falshood Deceit c And is not man himself another Microcosm the exact Epitome of the Greater contracted into a lesser form Since then every man is a World and in that little World are concentred a world of Fancies Imaginations Thoughts c. then certainly we may conclude that there are a World of Worlds besides this one material Orb of Air Earth and Water which we breathe in Paradoxical Assertion 3 Plures tollit Medicina quà m attollit That Physical Purgations kill more men then they cure A New Physician had need of a new Church-yard I dispute not who kills safest the Galenist or the Paracelsian 'T is all one whether a man dye by a Steletto or by a broad Sword Yet I say no doubt but God hath appointed the Means as well as the Cure though but few know the right Cause For the Lord hath created Medicines of the Earth and he that is wise will not abhor them I honour the Physician with the honour due unto him for in the sight of great men he shall be had in admiration But you 'l reply What shall become of Poor men that cannot entertain them Marry at that distance best admire their Confidence onely and have least to do with them for such onely are Healthiest and Happiest Where do they live longer then in the Orcades Forest of Arden Norway c or Sounder then there where the name of Physick is not once heard of Quot Themison aegros Autumno occideret uno Nay they are rewarded too for their murthers they are the Common Executioners their Art if one is but Conjectural full of Imposture the Devil Apollo the Inventor of it and if success follow it is by Chance not their Cunning or Nature had done it without them Many Diseases they cannot cure at all as the Stone Apoplexy Strangury Gout c. Tollere nodosam nescit medicina podagram What wise man then like the tender Lady or rich stall-fed Citizen would be so jealous of his Health that if his Finger or Head but ake or a Stitch vex his Side will straight consult the Physician aggravate his slender Malady make himself sick with Conceit as his Doctor with impertinency stir up a silent Disease with frequent Purgations purge his Soul out of his Body and kill himself in fine in right earnest What is this but to provoke Nature stir a Jakes trouble the Humor and not to discuss it or at least make a strong Body weaker as by often brushing fine Cloth is worn thin to play with Death or rather to fight with it to tempt God and to tire out our frail bodies with Physick when Nature alone is the best safest and wisest Physician A Iove principium Prayer and a bunch of Figs and that but outwardly applied prolonged Hezekiah's life fifteen years With this Pan-pharmacon alone Luke the Evangelist cured all Diseases And though our Saviour would work by means and cure the Blind man with Clay and Spittle yet how often was his onely Fiat or Be thou whole the Restorative No matter then whether Hippocrates or Paracelsus administer Paul or Apollo it is God that gives the increase of Health the Blessing As Paracelsus therefore adscribes Hippocrates fortunate Cures not to his Skill so much as to the peoples strong Conceit of his Worth and Skill so am I perswaded that many Patients through the strong Fancy they have of the Doctor let the Remedy be never so ordinary and by Gods help together recover The Physicians modesty with the Patients patience work it out sooner then the desperate practices of Mountebank Quacking Harpies who to get a Fee will purge the Purse to be sure and prescribe Death to the next comer or like Tinkers stope one hole and make two for it Change of Air which alone cures rotten sheep or Linen do refresh and often change the sick from the worse to the better Miserè vivit qui Medicè vivit A man had as good be buried alive as observe the strict nice Rules of our severe Lessians and Galenists The Physician here is the onely Disease or worse Their Method is a Torture First Phlebotomy A preparative Clyster Then a Purge Vomit Phlebotomy and Clyster repeated And then a Purge a Purge a Purge till nothing is left either in Purse or Body This causeth that Cacochymia they observe in the enervated body And then indeed Remedium omnium malorum Death follows the certain Cure of all Diseases In the cure of an Ague the very shame of all Physicians what can Aesculapius prescribe better then Exercise and Sweating which a laboring man cannot avoid What cures a Surfet Quartan c. like fasting For the small Pox a careful Nurse to keep the Patient in and to drive them out is best Experience tells us they onely dye that tamper for where one miscarries of it in the Countrey twenty dyes of it in the City though visited by the whole Colledge I approve not of Magical Charms Exorcisms Holy Water neither that 's to drive out one Devil with another worse Nor of the Turks obstinacy to neglect the Means because their Dayes are numbred No every man is a Fool or Physician to himself at least and best knows the Regiment of his own Health and what is most hurtful Let him but shun that and use but these three Prayer Fasting and Patience and the Cure is done and never Purge but in cases of great necessity Paradoxical Assertion 4. Nulla est in Conjugali Coitu Voluptas That there is no pleasure in the Coition with a Man 's own Wife IN defending this seeming Paradox I shall not assert any Opinion Heterodox to Theological Truth or Logical Reason I approve not of a plurality of Wives with the Turks now or none at all with the Benedictin Monks or Jewish Esseni who both supererogate in a fruitless Chastity I commend not the Irish Divorcement once in use who like the Syracusian in a tempest when the ship was to be exonerated of the
knowledge in Naturals their profound experience in Physick and Metaphysicks and set Sololomon aside who got his wisest knowledge too as may be presumed by his frequent converse with that Sex you shall finde more wit and cunning in some Women then you shall perceive in most Men. For observe it besides him and those few that came out of the East how few wise men are recorded in the Scriptures But for wise and holy Women how many Again if Witches who are generally reputed wise Women may fill up the number though Holy Writ mentions but one famous that of Endor yet with how many such Sages doth this latter and wiser Age swarm even to amazement And in holy Story how many Prophetesses were there I dare say far exceeding the number of the Prophets the small ones and all put together But what need I look so far back Though Epiphanius upbraided Marcion that he suffered Women to baptize and though he derided the Romanists that they made Women Bishops yet have we not had Pope Ioan of Mentz sitting supream in the Apostolick Chair poizing the Crosier with as much infallible judgement uncontroulable reason and with as much gravity and cunning experience as other Spinsters do handle their Distaff The pregnant Church then big with miracles implored the aid and Midwifery of a Woman-Bishop and may she not now again grown big with another Tympany of Heresie relie on the skill of another Iuno Lucina How diligent were these famous Empresses Eudoxia and Pulcheria courted and sollicited by the Pope for the establishment of Easter How did Pelagius strive by his frequent Letters to win the Empress to his side How considerable were Women then in Church-affairs And as Iulia in publique Coins had the honour to be stiled the Mother of the Army of the Gods the Senate and her Countrey So why may not the learned Women of this age if they but live unmarried without a head like Queen Elizabeth hope in time again to become heads themselves and Nursing-mothers of the Church For tell me where should Learning reside but in such compt and ornate heads Where should the Kernel of Knowledge dwell but in such sage and polite Shells Where should the saltness of Wit that seasons our souls borrow that sarcasmatical tartness they have but from their powdred Locks ingenuous Tiara's and gay Embelishments And though I will not use this as an Argument further then as daily experience proves it in the negative yet we may generally observe that there are not so many natural Fools of that Sex as of the other though it be termed the weakest All Anatomists have observed that Cor in homine Lingua in Faemina is ultimum moriens the Heart of a Man and the Tongue of a Woman hath the last motion which vigorous life in that nervous member doth sufficiently demonstrate that Nature who made nothing in vain did intend that the Womans Tongue should not be idle but be ever imployed for the benefit of Mankinde as from whom we do all indeed first learn our Mother Tongue For since Truth it self goes naked where should she be found but amongst Women who in imitation of her go almost naked also and keep their Pulpits ready both for Lay and Clergy-men to preach in To conclude then Speak they may and teach too but that ought to be the Catechism to their Children at home they may do neither in the Church and do things decently and orderly they ought as that they may best do in their Closets and Dairies Paradoxical Assertion 2. Plures sunt Mundi That there are more Worlds then one A Sophister amongst other Theses maintained this Non esse nisi unicum mundum which position his opponent sophistically confuted out of our Saviours words in St. Luke where the ten Lepers being cleansed and but one returning Christ expostulates after this manner Nonne decem facti sunt mundi If therefore said the Argumentator it be true which Christ hath averred then is the Position false and there are ten Worlds The ingenious Moderator instantly confuted this fallacious Argument out of the Context where Christ addes Sed novem ubi sunt Non est inventus nisi his unus Where are the nine There is none found save this one The re-party was as smart and quick-witted as the other fallax was idle and frivolous But I shall not need to bring such vain impertinent arguments into the field to maintain this Problem since upon very good grounds and reasons I shall evidence that there is another World to wit in the Moon and shall make that World appear as clear as the Sun it self to any man of Reason and Judgement that is not Moon-blind or pertinaciously obstinate Let not any man therefore conclude me Lunatick or mad in asserting this Novel before he hath weighed my Arguments in the equal scales of an unprejudicate understanding For let the indifferent and unbyassed Observatour look but into the bottom of this Well where this truth hath lain so long hid and he shall clearly see in the serenity thereof if not another world besides this one reflected yet at least a World of Reason by the help of which Reason he shall draw out thence many more Worlds then this Orbicular Globe of Water and Earth which we tread on Well may I therefore conclude that great Victor of the World Alexander most ignorant though Aristotle was his Tutor as well as most unhappy and miserable in wishing there were more Worlds to conquer who never knew or dreamt of any other World save this he lived in And in truth so may I conclude of all other prophane Worldlings like unto him who fix and set up their Herculean Pillars here supposing a Ne plus ultra here on earth For had that mighty Nimrod of Kingdoms lived but till now in this Speculative Age I should not onely have convinc'd him of this Plurality of Worlds but by Demonstration and that without the help of Galilaeo's Prospectives have shew'd him one more in the Moon besides this or that other hereafter Origen was of opinion there should be more worlds successively one after another fearing saith Bodin God should be idle or as Plato suggests lest Mankinde being destroyed God should want Praise and Sacrifice Ridiculous Conceits 'T is a plurality of Worlds at present I contend for Every Childe can see the Man in the Moon and shall not Men of riper Judgement and clearer Eye-sight see and conceive more men there and believe also that it is habitable Do not those dusky Spots there plainly represented perfectly resemble the Earth whilst the white and brighter parts there are the Sea as Plutarch Thales and Pythagoras affirm How manifestly doth a Melancholy Astrologer discover Hills and Dales there and the like Promontories and Concavities If the Sun then be the Centre of the World the Earth a Planet moved about the Sun the Planets inhabited each having his particular fixt Centre and they all dancing in a Celestial Chorus
weightiest things threw his Wife first over-board take any occasion to put away their Wives I shall not excuse Adultery upon our Saviours milde reprehension of the Woman in the Gospel nor argue with our Profaner Wits who because they are inhibited lying with another mans wife conclude it lawful thence for a man to lie with his own mans wife No Odi prophanum vulgus arceo I hate being evil for company or by such an ingenuous fallax like that old Sophister Satan to cozen my self and others with such Jesuitical Sophisms into direct Atheism I shall neither with the Câ—…thari condemn second Marriages or with Pope Siricius his false Gloss on the Text They that are in the flesh cannot please God thence draw this literal and Carnal Conclusion that they that are married but once also cannot please God No Marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled It is Ecclesiae seminarium and necessary for the propogation of mankinde I finde not onely the blessed Virgin and the Disciples but Christ himself a Guest at those Hymenaeal Ceremonies and honoring them with his first Miracle in Cana. I finde in the Old Testament God the first Priest marrying the first Couple and in the New the Mother of God before espoused to Ioseph overshadowed by the holy Ghost in that wonderful Mystery of the Incarnation I finde it honored again in the Old by that stupendious preserving of Eight Married persons in the Deludge and by Paring the rest of the Creatures then in Couples And in the New I finde the whole Trinity Blessing and Confirming it by espousing the Church and resembling his Love and her Espousals to a Marriage here on earth by knitting himself to her in that Mutuality with an everlasting union Since then God himself delighted in propagation by that sacred Product of the three Persons in the Trinity thus multiplied though co-eternal Since we are bound in imitation of and obedience to him being but his Tenants for life in this world to keep the same in continual repair And since it was Gods first Word of Command Bring forth and Multiply God forbid but we should obey him in this law of lawful Multiplication yet not to divide our selves amongst many Women as it was permitted the Patriarchs since change too often frustrates propagation nor to Multiply into Religious Monasteries with the Benedictin Monks without any Mothers at all I confess indeed when I consider the prerogative of Virgins to whom with Elias Elizeus and Iohn Baptist Heaven is given as one said Marriages replenish the earth but Virginity Paradise as I am a meer natural man I can finde no reason why Adam should have wooed Eve a small weak piece of himself for reason rather tells us the weaker should expect and sue for support from the stronger But when I consider that the woman was formed of the Rib of the man and that so probably the man believing he missed something was occasioned to seek for that lost part and being so â—…ear to joyn her again to his side And when I again consider that God had given her to man as a fit â—…elper I must conclude that Women are both necessary and good for all that God made was good and therefore useful Nature producing nothing in vain and therefore cannot believe them such necessary evils as many have too severely stiled them Yet I say they are necessary also that is for such as have not the gift of Continency for of too evils the least should be chosen But that he that can abstain from the world the flesh and the devil as in a wicked woman all three are concentred I shall ever hâ—…ld to be the wisest holiest and freest from worldly cares and consequently the happiest man But suppose that unruly Asmodeus cannot be cast out by Fasting and Prayer as we are bound to believe it may I know you will then say a Wife is the onely lawful Plasma to asswage that bilious humor 'T is true Omnis repletio â—…equirit 〈◊〉 Thus Physically I agree that Women may be good and consequently necessary but in a Metaphysical sense clean contrary For Bona magâ—… carendo quam fruendo sentimus The tired old man in Aesop casting down his burthen at Noon called for Death but when Death approached he wished him for nothing he said but to help him up with it again As it follows not therefore that though Death which was the Privation of that Burthen was ill the Burthen therefore was good so we must not therefore on the contrary conclude that a Wife which is the privatioâ—… of that Burthen of fleshly infirmity is good bâ—… cause the Burthen is evil The Astronomers tell you that whereas amongst the other Planets Conjunction creates the most perfect Amity yet the Sun onely on the contrary is good by his Aspect and Influence and evil by his Conjunction I shall thus endeavour to make it evident that women are best at distance and that there can be no perfect pleasure in the Fruition of any woman much less of one's own wife with whom he is yoaked and bound with Honourable and Golden 't is true but with perpetual Chains and Fetters I shall appeal to any Enamoreto but newly Married whether he took not more pleasure in the Acquist of his Mistresses Bonâ—…es graces before Marriage then afterwards in the dull cropping of her Virginal flower whether he was not more deâ—…ighted with his amorous courtships stollen kisses chaste embracements mutual glances and â—…omplacent treatments in wooing and pleasing her than afterwards in displeasing of himself perhaps by a too late repeâ—…tance Whether he took 〈◊〉 more true content in adoring a Coelia than â—…n undoing a Maid Whether he took not more pleasure in Weaving innocent true-love-knots than in untying the Virgin-zone or knitting that more than Gordian-knot which none but that inâ—…cible Alexander Death can untye Before he was free as the Air he breathed in now he is â—…akel'd and confin'd Before he might delight his opticks in the pleasant prospect of Natures variety and the best of her curious workmanship the fair Ideas of several ravishing Female beauties the contemplation of whose Divine perfections would transport a man to Seraphick extasies now he must pore but on one single object as in a glass seeing no face but his own and Narcissus-like fall in love with that which is but his own shadow Before he might Travel the World in delightful observations of forreign Climates and Affairs now he must be confin'd and onely conyersant in the Domistick Rules and Oeconomies of his private Family Before he might walk up and down like the Grand Seigniour in his Seraglio and Garden of pleasure smelling and plucking each Flower he lik'd to make up a compleat Posâ—…e of Delight now he must sate that smelling faculty with but one single Flower which if it happen to be a Rose the Odoriferouâ—… Quintessence of all Arabian Perfumes contracteâ—… into one perfect savour yet we know how sooâ—… those Fragrancies