equality or inequality of the Earth or Ground it is Sowed in and the Cultivation of the Husband-man whether managed with Prudence or the contrary And as it is with the Beasts and Vegetables even so it goes and the very same is to be understood in the Humane Ground a strong thing cannot arise and proceed from a weak one nor an equal from an unequal or a healthy from a sickly every Seed Fruit or Son carries in its central Bosome all the Qualifications Degrees and Temperaments of the original Stock or Father this being the very Ground and principal Cause why so many cruel Diseases that attend Mankind cannot be Cured neither by Medicines nor wholsome temperate Methods of Life Now if this Ground or true Foundation of Wisdom and Philosophy were well understood the Physician would be capable of giving good Advice and Precedents of Life and likewise others would be careful cautious and temperate both in the quality and quantity of their Meats and Drinks being sensible that from the Body and Spirits of each of them our Bodies and Spirits are continually Made Created and Generated and according to the degrees of Equality and Inequality Temperance or Intemperance such is the Humors such is the Blood such are the Spirits such Imaginations Dispositions Words and Works every thing according to its original Constitution and whatsoever Form hath obtained the Dominion in the central Fire always is generating and creating its own Species or Son who does in all particulars contain all the Properties Principles and Powers of the Father as is hinted before so that the Essences of each thing we Eat and Drink in order to support and continue our Bodies and Spirits do never depart but advance and confederate with their Similies and Likenesses and according to their goodness grossness cleanness and uncleanness such a Man is created generated or made This being the eternal and unalterable Law of the Great Father of all Powers and Creator of all Beings which no Man can withstand or obliterate therefore Equality Cleanness Order and Temperance are as it were the Originals of a Sound Healthy Body Harmonious Mind and a Pious Sober Clean temperate Off-spring For all things in the Good and Evil observe their Original Law every thing in its own way according to its Dignification in Evil or Good Equality or Inequality such a Child Son or Fruit it Brings or Widwifes into the World for this Cause Cleanness Temperance and Order have been so highly celebrated and commended by all the Seeing and Distinguishing Men both of former and latter Ages so that it is plain and manifest that most of those cruel and incurable Diseases that now reign in the Microcosmical World have been conveyed and entailed by their Progenitors or Parents and if Mankind should now take up and live on simple innocent Meats and harmless Drinks and free himself from Violence Uncleanness and Opression it would be two or three Ages before Man would be Healthy and Sound either in their Bodies or Minds so deeply are they wounded Which miserable and melancholy State or Error can never be mended neither in the Stock Branch Fruit nor Son till it be seen and known to be so and that the Eye of Wisdom be opened in Man's Mind by which he sees understands and distinguishes between the Intrinsick and Extrinsick Virtues Vices Cleanness and Uncleanness of their Food and Drink and all other things they join or communicate with Now as Fevers are more tolerable or violent according to the Form or Power that Operates Agitates or Invades the natural or central Fires for Fire is the root of motion and the true Strength and Pleasure of Life when it burns gently and calmly but when it is agitated or too violently awakened or stirred up then presently as with a rapid and turbulent motion it seizes the radical moisture and sweet Oil which is the true Life and Original being of the Fire but Burning too violently it consumes this Oily Body and violently attracts the thin Spirituous Airy Qualities or Powers unto it self for all heat or fire of what kind soever naturally and with great Ardency attracts or draws unto it self the Air it being its Life for without it it can neither burn nor subsist The Air thus drawn doth always carry in its Bosom the watry Spirit or Element which gives unto the Fire its bright clear shining Lustre but the Central Fires being thus agitated or awakened do in a moment destroy and consume both the radical Oily Body and also the Airy and Watry Spirits and Natural Powers which do presently as it were stagnate and prevent all the circular Motions and in a great measure stop the Vessels and Parts both Internally and Externally so that the Blood becomes thick gross hot and frothy and the Pores of the outward Members and Parts becomes hot narrow or stopt which doth prevent the Penetration Ingress Egress and Regress of the fine thin Spirituous Vapours of the Air from without So that if the fiery Spirit be violently awakened it breaks and destroys all the Circulations and Correspondence of the whole Body all the inward faculties being in an Agony or a tumultuous State and Operation and thereby the Life is sunk or destroyed as it were in a moment if some powerful Food or Medicine does not timely prevent by opening the doors and porous passages and to advance the Circulation of the Blood Spirits and all the Airy Motions and Faculties for should the healthiest and strongest Person 's External Pores be stopt but one Quarter of an Hour such a one would be seized with a Fever immediately For the fine thin Spirituous Vapours of the Air that do penetrate the Body on all sides and by the attractive qualities are sucked or drawn in by way of Pores which do refresh uphold increase and support all the natural Motions and Circulations of the Blood and Spirits and their fine thin Spirituous powers of the Air do never fail to carry and convey the transparent thin moist Vapours or Spirits of the Element of Water for as the Fire cannot burn nor subsist without the Airy Spirit so neither ean the Air continue its brisk lively motion without the support of the Fire which incorporates its self and dwells in the moist Vapour or Spirituous quality of the Water which Watry Spirit gives Life both to the Air and the bright shining light of the Fire one cannot subsist without the other For this cause if any Person is employed abroad in moist wet Weather and in or about Waters or Rivers sides such People have for the most part stronger and sharper Appetites than in dryer Seasons and Places for the Air being in moist Seasons provided there be not too much wet Weather filled or impregnated with the fine moist Spirits of the Water which doth give such a powerful life to the Air that both becomes rarified by which it more powerfully penetrates the whole Body through all parts and Members to the very
Center which by a Sympathetical Agreement reinforces all the material Motions causing a powerful and lively Circulation both of the Blood Spirits and all the Aliments from whence doth arise and proceed a lively brisk Motion Strength Agility and strong sharp Appetite for the more free and open the Trade and Commerce is between the outward and inward Elements or between the Microcosm and Macrocosm the better is the state and condition of Health both of the Body and Mind For this cause the oftner and more any Person doth expose his Body to the open Air and Elements the stronger the Appetite and Digestive Faculties of the Stomach are and such Persons are more strong and lively likewise they are more hardy and more free from Colds and Obstructions which are nothing else but a Condensation or a stoppage of the porous Passages from whence cruel Colds and a thousand Diseases proceed therefore it is not good to Cloath the Body too Warm but of the two Cold is to be preferred to heat provided it be not too much and that it be born with pleasure or without pain For the inward Virtues of the Elements of Air and Water are curious living Powers which do sustain and preserve all the wonderful Beings in this great World but in what Creature or Thing soever these living Powers and the thin penetrating moist Spirits and Vapours become stagnated or thickened then that Creature or Thing becomes dull heavy and full of Indispositions and Crudities Now when in any Creature the fore-mentioned central Fires Burn too violently attracting and drawing all the moist Spirituous Vapours both of the Air and Water consuming and destroying as is before mentioned then immediately the Pores are in a manner stopt and the Forms and Properties do press and as it were rub against each other by which the Fire Burns more intense and fierce like two sticks rubbed hard against each other the Internal central heat is thereby stirred up and awakened and so fiercely kindled that this Fire which lay hid and captivated in the very Center doth by this agitation and fierce motion burn up and destroy the whole Body in a moments time the Fire being the Original of Motion and the true pleasure of all the other Elements when it burns easie or gentle but when it loses its power in any Creature or Thing all becomes cold dull heavy congealed and as it were frozen in that Creature or Thing in which the Fire is impotent and that thing stands near the House of Death and the Melancholly Regions And though this Noble Element the Fire be as it were the Life and Original of all lively Motion and the Well-being of every Creature and when it incorporates or equally mixes with the other Elements burning gently notwithstanding its Excellency wonderful and various uses yet most of the Distempers of the publick State and also the Diseases incident to Mankind are as it were Originally occasioned by this Element and also most of the Outrages that are committed in the great World from Man to Man and likewise the greater part of the Diseases that so terribly torment and afflict Mankind which if Man observe with a clear Eye and Understanding he will then see and find that this great Evil hath fallen upon him for his great and deep Degeneration and Separation from the Unity of Gods Holy Powers and his not knowing and distinguishing the Powers and Principles of God in himself Now Man having lost his way and being sunk into Darkness and Ignorance he takes hold and uses the gross fiery sulphurous and Brimstone Spirit which Governs in Man as he stands in Self-fulness and separated from the Divine Fountain of Benignity or Holy Union not being mixed incorporated or allayed with the sweet Water of Eternal Life in Jesus Christ. This Spirit or Fire before mentioned as it stands divided from the Union is a high lofty exalted Power the Original of all Pride and a domineering Spirit and in what Creature soever it obtains the Government that Creature becomes proud and of an insulting Nature Now the chief and principal cause or reason is that this proud fiery domineering and as it were consuming Spirit of Fire hath obtained and gotten such an Ascendant in the Hearts and very Souls of Mankind and also that the exalted and predominating power in most Diseases is this fiery brimstone or sulphurous quality of Fire Now as any Form or Property obtains the chief Government in the Heart immediately this very quality doth Sign or Stamp its Character and as it were lay its Commands on the imaginative Power and so Signs the Inclinations Dispositions Words and Works from the Government of this lofty fiery Power and Spirit from whence proceeds all Vain-Glory Pride high and lofty Imaginatioâ—… Inclinations and Desires after base slavish violent oppressive Employments as also ardent and longing Desires after unclean gross Foods and high lofty strong Drinks for every Mouth will be fed with agreeable Food the Attraction Desires and Inclinations do always arise and proceed from the ruling Quality and Man being divided from the Union of God and his own Composition into Disunion the fiery envious spiteful Powers exalting themselves cause a direful Appetite in Man And from these very Qualities the violent oppressive Trade of Killing one another and Eating the flesh of the Undergraduates or Beasts having taken their Original Birth for every Spirit Principle and Power doth desire and is supported and maintained by its Similie so that it is most clear nothing being more manifest than from those high exalted fiery Spirits and Powers in Man have sprung such violent and direful Appetites and strong Inclinations after the Blood of their own Kind and to eat the Flesh and Blood of the Beasts likewise to drink hot fiery exalted Liquors so that there is a Concatenation between the Imaginations Inclinations Natural Spirits Dispositions Words and Works Communications Employments and the Diseases Man is most subject unto Now as all the fore-mentioned qualifications do arise and proceed from a fiery ground which do with great power and strong vigour attract proportionable Foods and Drinks therefore most of our Diseases cannot but be Signed with the Character of Fire for every Principle Form or Quality whensoever it hath gotten or attained the Ascendant in any Man it goes on in a streight regular constant Method to do its own Work viz. to nourish support and encrease its own Spirit and Power whether it be in the Good or in the Evil. Hence it is no wonder that Mankind is so frequently seized wounded and destroyed by so many sorts of fiery Diseases viz. Fevers when any thinking Person considers what Powers Principles and Qualities rule and govern in his Heart and Soul there being a Sympathetical Agreement and Inclination between the governing qualities in Mens Minds and their Meats and Drinks and likewise their Diseases all follow one another in a direct Method or Line Now the power and influence Meats and Drinks
all their Innate Influences and Commands so that it is most clear and manifest that if the Governor of any People or Prince of this or the other Nation have a mind or desire to make War or to spoil his Neighbouring Countries he can presently command his People or Subjects into Warlike postures and cause them to march into the Field where Twenty or Thirty Thousand are Slain in a Moment so that every one is subject to the good and ill Fate and Destiny of that Star or Constellation he has made his Governor and unto whose Laws he hath subjected himself This is farther demonstrated by all the under-graduated Creatures called Beasts viz. If any Person becomes Master of a Thousand Sheep Cows Horses or any other Creatures has not our Laws and Customs made him Lord over them and doth not their good and ill Fate depend only on him being unaccountable for all his Actions towards them whether good or Evil Life or Death are in and under his Power and Influence and cannot he dispose of those innocent Creatures several ways at his pleasure one part or number to the Hang-man or Butcher to be Slain all in one hour and another number to be preserved for some years and yet for all this those Creatures are Midwifed into this World not only at several times but under as various Ascendants and governing Constellations of Heaven as Mankind is so that it is clear let any Person be Born under what Ascendant or Constellation soever nevertheless he shall be compelled by the Laws of his Sublunary Gods Customs and Traditions of the Place or Country he lives in to submit and obey them For so soon as Mankind broke himself off from the innocent Influences and Government of the Law of God and the sweet Influences of the Heavenly Powers he immediately became subject to a Foreign or Tyrannical Power so that he is become altogether ignorant of all the great Mysteries Qualities and Principles his Creator hath endued him with the Eye of his Understanding and all the wonderful Faculties and Intellectual magick Powers become encircled with a dark Cloud of Ignorance so that he is now like a Ship that has neither Pilot nor Rudder tossed to and fro by the fierce invading Waves of the Sea that has no Harbour nor Centre but he is continually drawn by the dark ignorant insulting earthy Constellations Customs and Powers out of one Evil into another seeking Content and Rest in all his Undâ—…kings Enterprizes and Methods but rarely finds any Satisfation which cannot be obtained by any other way or method but only by Virtue and the Power of Regeneration that is to return and observe the Laws of God and Nature for Mankind cannot be a Subject of Heaven till he obeys and lives in and under the Laws and Influences thereof as our great Prophet and Saviour Jesus Christ or the Divine Eye or Principle hath told us His Servants ye are whom ye Obey Accept this in Answer to yours for the present from your Friend and Servant T. T. LETTER XXVIII Of the perpetual MOTION SIR I Have received yours of the 26th of May 1699 filled with complaints of the various Indispositions and Diseases that have lately invaded the Health both of your Body and Mind and the worst of all is these Intestine Enemies have not only beset you on all sides but they are numerous and powerful so that all the helps and succours that Nature with the aid and assistance either of Meats Drinks Exercises Airs or Medicines seem too short and feeble to restore you to your former Health However we shall freely give you our Advice which will be easie to be observed and practised if you will but stem the Tide of Custom and give your Mind to it viz. First We referr you to our Writings in which we have largely discoursed of the Preservation of Health also of the qualities and quantities of Meats and Drinks also of Exercises Airs and Communications where you will find both general and particular rules for Health Secondly The Foods that may be most valuable to recover and maintain your lost Health are several sorts of Pottages or Spoon-meats as Water-gruel Milk-pottage Pap made of Water and Flour or with Milk and Water Possets Bread and Milk as it comes from the Cow several sorts of Caudle made of Oat-meal Water Ale Wine or with Eggs Chocoalate all eaten with some Bread these are the principal Foods you ought to apply your self unto being easie of Digestion and are to be preferr'd before hard strong salt fat things for the Juices and Virtues are easie Distilling their Nutritive qualities in a silent Method making no noise nor give no Disturbance from whose innocent power and sweet vertues the Blood and all the motions of the Body becomes advanced into a better state of Health Thirdly Your Drink ought to be good Water or at least ways small Ale Wine allayed with Water c. Fourthly Exercise your self in open airy places and by running Rivers sides and you must above all refrain and withdraw your self from all Sedentary Business more especially that tedious and ineffectual Study of the perpetual Motion a thing that seems altogether impossible to be obtained because it doth Diametrically oppose all Gods Methods and Laws in this Visible World which you and others ought to have considered before such a Labour had been entered upon do but survey and contemplate all visible Beings and Off-springs of God and his great Powers called Stars Constellations and Elements as Earth Air Fire and Water by whom the Great Creator works all wonderful things are not their Productions and Created Beings limited in their Motions and all their Methods of Life or can any Creature break their Circle in which Gods Law hath bounded it and if the Sons and Daughters of the Elements have their set bounds and limits and cannot pass their several Periods of Time how then is it possible that we by a certain Art or Science should out-do our selves for Art and Science is but a third Birth from the Original and consequently but Grand Children now that which is endued with a perpetual Motion Old Age never overtakes them but they are as it were always Youthful and Vigorous and therefore may have the Character of Immortal and if the Off-spring and Children of the great Immortal Being be Mortal what then must the Arts and Sciences be that are produced or flowes from them as a third Birth or can that Creature which is Mortal produce that which is Immortal or Perpetual which is one and the same There is no Creature or Being in this Sublunary World that hath an Eternal Motion but only the Original or Grand Powers of God viz. the Sun Moon and innumerable Company of Stars and Constellations together with the ever teeming Elements viz. the Fire Water Earth and Air whose generating creating and preserving Motions are perpetual but their Progenies or Off-spring whose variety and number are beyond Humane Arithmetick which
wonderfully strange as it has been little enquired into by us For if we examine and enquire of Shepherds Cowherds Fowlers and all sorts of Field-men whose Business and Employments are in the Fields Woods Mountains Valleys about and upon both Fresh and Salt Waters they will tell you it is very rare that any sorts of Birds great or small are found dead unless wounded by some way or other Besides how is it likely any of them should die and their Feathers and Carcases not to be seen for Feathers are of such a hard tough Quality that the Elements cannot destroy or wear them out under a considerable time so that they must necessarily be found by one or other as all Birds that meet with Misfortunes are to which we may add that some Birds have large Bodies which dying and falling upon the Earth must infect the common Air with the evill Smells of the Carcase and be a sufficient Direction to find them out and is it possible that Dogs Swine and other Brutes would not seek them out to devour them which hereby as well as by the scattered Feathers could never be long concealed from Human Knowledge and Observation The like is be understood not only in our own but all other Countries of the World for if these Airy Creatures were found to die with particular Diseases or Epidemical Distempers in any other Climates or Regions of the Earth then we might have some reason to conclude that towards the approaching time of their Death they moved themselves accordingly as some say Swallows and many Birds do against Winter but to what Country Climate or Place they fly is yet to be decided that being in a manner as dark and unknown to Mankind as the place of their Exit which not having yet been determined by any I crave leave to thrust in a reasonable Conjecture viz. That they are buried or swallowed up in some superior Region or World wholly unknown to us as being most suited to their Natures wherein they very much excel all other terrestrial and watry Animals these being heavy dull and melancholy like the predominant Element in them and their Tones and Cries in like proportion while the Volatiles of the Air are quick full of Life and in their common Motion have a nearer Similitude to Incorporeal Beings whose blest Harmony above they do by their Singing in some degree imitate But to expatiate a little upon the Qualifications of these Airy Creatures in respect to other kinds the excellency thereof does arise from their original Composition of Air and fiery Sal Nitral Powers and Virtues which have the Ascendant or Predominancy in the Centre of their being whereas the contrary is to be understood of all other Creatures that Walk upon the Earth and Swim in the Water the Sal Nitral Properties of those grosser Elements having the governing Power in them and therefore they are like them I mean gross heavy and phlegmatick and their Food is accordingly and tho' all visible Creatures be made and compounded of the four Elements together with the four grand Qualities yet each Individual Creature or Thing is endued with Qualifications according to the Element that hath the Predominant Power whether it be Earth Water Air or Fire and each of them feed and preserve their own Children for which cause there is a wonderful variety and strange difference in the Nature and Complexion of the Creatures and Things appertaining to the Earthy Region and so of the other Elements that proceed from each Creatures Composition i. e. when the airy and fiery Elements have a large share in the Composition of any Terrestrials such are lively brisk and quick in Motion as tho' they had Wings to fly with and the same is to be understood in Vegetâ—… some Trees being tall and lofty and all others in proportion neither are the Creatures belonging to the watery and fiery Regions by no means to be excluded herefrom yea all the Inhabitants and Children of the four Elements do vary and differ in their Forms Shapes Figures Dispositions Inclinations Manners and Natures respectively according to their several Compositions degrees of each Element in them and the variety of the four grand Qualities together with the Sal Nitral Properties as is most manifest by the Off-spring and Children of each Element for what a vast and wonderful difference and how many degrees is there between the Mole whose Habitation is in the Earth and the high soaring Eagle and other Birds belonging to the airy Region Is not the same thing to be understood of the Phlegmatick Shoals or Scaley Inhabitants of the watry Element the Forms Figures and Natures of them all being in proportion to their various Compositions of the Elements and Sal Nitral Powers for which reason some are wonderfully large heavy and slow in Motion others swift c. but in all such wherein the watry Element is most Predominant and the other three are weak and impotent we see they can hardly live three minutes out of their own Element whereas some other Animals in whose Compositions the Elements of Earth and Air have a large share can both live in the Water and also out of it on the Earth for some time and the same is also to be understood of Creatures wherein the Earth and Air are most Predominant And give me leave farther to observe unto you that God's Creating and Preserving Power being in the very Centre of all Beings therefore each Element does not only midwife its Productions and wonderful variety of Beings into this visible World but at the same time gives Food and all Necessaries of Life too until each Creature or Thing has attained to its due Limits and then every Element receives her own Children again the Earth being the Grave of all Creatures wherein that lumpish Element did Predominant and so of the other three so that it may be fairly inferred that Birds upon the approach of their Death do withdraw themselves from Humane view to some Regions or Places not only unknown but invisible to us else why should not we find their Carcases upon the Earth as we do those that are tame and accustomed to our Company which undoubtedly were originally wild and as hard to come at as other Birds and Fowls of the Air It may be farther urged that all the Winged Troops are bounded and by Nature limited so as none of them can exceed in their Flights as all the Terrestrial Creatures many of which can run more Miles in a day than several sorts of Birds can fly and most Dogs could more easily catch Birds could they keep in sight and prevent them from resting on Trees and other places out of their reach nay many of them are so short of flight that Men and Boys can tire and catch them by ordinary running if they can but keep their Eyes on them and in short there is hardly any Bird that is able to Fly 100 or 150 Miles without resting divers
but the consideration thereof wiâ—… afford you some Benefit LETTER IV. Of the Sense of Seeing SIR BY the Receipt of yours I find you have a great desire to have my Iudgement of that most Stupendious and Wonderful Sense of Seeing in Answer whereunto I shall according to my Talent endeavour to Explicate the Variousness Virtues and Powers of that most amazing and admirable Faculty NOW as that wonderful Eye of Heaven the Sun is the very Centre of Light of all the numberless numbers of Creatures being the Foundation and Well being of them all who by its illuminating Beams Communicates Life and Light to all the Host of Heaven and Earth without which all would be a dark Chaos of Misery and Confusion Words are too short to set forth the Uses and Excellencies of this Sun of God in which the Preserving and Divine Power is understood and manifested And as this high illuminating Spirit and Power is the Eye which doth enlighten and preserve every Member and Part of the Great World being its Soul or Centre The like is to be understood of the Sense of Seeing in us for as the Sun is the Eye of the Macrocosm so is the Sense of Seeing the Light of the Microcosm which doth enlighten every Member and Part thereof for Man is a compleat Image of God and his Handmaid Nature and doth contain the true Nature and Properties of the whole and therefore is called a Little World or an Extract from the Great and as this high and mighty Power the Sun doth enlighten direct and conduct all and by whose Power and illuminating Beams all this wonderful variety of Beings and Creatures are understood and distinguished And as the World would be a miserable Chaos if the glorious Eye of Heaven were withdrawn but one moment even so it would be with Man for this Sense of Seeing is both in the Great and the Little World the true Guide of all Action and Motion and in this Sense or Light is contained the Secret or Central Fire which by Motion and continual Circulation of contrary Qualities becomes manifest warming and preserving the whole being the Root and Original of Vegetation and the true Father of the Light for Fire and Light are inseparable they dwell eternally together for this cause where the Light is weak or but little there the Fire is as impotent as is most manifest in all the Northern parts of the World most part of the Year being terrible-Cold Frosty Weather the Elements being Congealed for want of Heat The contrary is to be understood in the Southern parts of the World where there is Light Heat is always at hand and in what thing soever the Central Fires are potent there the Light is also strong powerful and lasting there being always a proportionable Nature between the Light Fire or Central Heat of each thing both in Animals Vegetables and Minerals for this cause Children and all Young People have a clearer and more penetrating Sense of Seeing than those of Age because their Light burns clearer and all their Humours are clean vigorous and free from dull cloudy Vapours the Elements of Water and Fire being thin and more pure do rarify each other by which the Oil of Life or Salnitral Vertues are clean and free from gross obstructing Matter from whence the Fire hath its bright clear shining Quality so that in Youth all the Operations of the Elements are more brisk lively and powerful than in Age as appears not only in the Sight but in all the Actions of Life For as the Natural and Central Fires decay the Light equally grows weak some sooner some later according to the degrees of the Decay or Weakness sometimes this decrease of natural Heat is Universal and when this happens the whole Body doth quickly dwindle and fall into Death but very often this Decay of the Natural Heat happens in the Intelligible part the Head by some accident of Obstruction the Vessels or Optick Nerves becoming stiff or as it were glewy the Porous Parts or Vessels being narrowed or small which does prevent the free Ingress Egress and Regress of the fine thin rarified Spirits that are generated thro' the whole Body which every moment doth ascend by certain Circular Motions into the Head or most Intelligible Part which if at any time the whole Road or common Passage of those fine thin rarified Spirits be stopt or obstructed the Person so Afflicted immediately falls and nothing but Death follows and that in a moments time this being the Original occasion of sudden Death so that many Sound Healthy Persons by such like Obstructions fall into Death who otherwise might have Lived many Years as being free from Diseases For this cause Temperance and Cleanness both in Quality and Quantity of Meats and Drinks are as it were the Spring-head of Health and the Generater of fine clean nutriment good Blood pure Spirits noble Dispositions and Inclinations whatever Cormorants and unclean Belly-gods may Dream to the contrary Nature and God's Law is always true and cannot lie Every thing under the Government of the glorious Eye of Heaven doth arise proceed and follow its first Matter and carries in its Bosom or Centre a Key that can readily join and unlock all the secret Doors of Nature's Cabinet and finding out and incorporating with its Simile encreasing and strengthening the same which is the highest Joy and Solace of all Corporal and Incorporal Beings For this cause as any Persons Meat Drink Employment and Communications are either from the dark cloudy Root clean or unclean so the Humours Blood Dispositions Inclinations Words and Works all proceed and go on in a streight Line or Method therefore to be either too much in the Sun or Shade begets Complexions for Meats and Drinks are the Centre and Substance of our Lives and in them are contained the true Nature and Property of all Qualities Principles and Dispositions enduing the Eater with their Qualifications If this were not true Man could not Subsist or have his Life continued whatever the unthinking do or may imagine to the contrary every thing knows its own Voice and Cries after its own Dam or Mother and the Senses are the Officers Carriers or Conveyers of all things to the Central parts and Understanding so that all the hidden Powers and Qualities are awakened each Quality having its peculiar Appetite do direct and draw unto its self both Corporally and Spiritually not intermeddling with the Business of its Neighbour So this wonderful penetrating Sense is the only Guide of the Body and capable Power to present unto the Understanding and Judgement the Forms and Signatures of all things in the Animal Vegitable and Mineral Worlds by which an enlightened Philosophical Mind can in some degree by the Form and Signature understand the Complexion of each and consequently their Uses It is this Sense that doth likewise present unto the Intellectual part of Man all delightful and pleasant Prospects serene Airs and agreeable clean
or as it were unknown Operation Mankind is changed either for the better or for the worse all according to the nature and ruling Property or Complexion of those things they work in or communicate with so that most or all Men immerse or plunge themselves into many great Troubles Vexations and Miseries and all for want of Understanding and distinguishing the variety of those Forms and Principles they are made and compounded of which is the highest degree of Depravation and a Calamity much to be Lamented for what evil is greater than for any person to lessen the true use and to be ignorant of himself and consequently is blind and ignorant of all other things for true understanding and distinguishing takes its Birth within his own Circle he being an Epitome of the whole Creation and of the variety of all the wonderful Beings therein contained that is the Original and Grand Principles and Fountain-spirits are Essentially in him and he is the very Thing or else Man could not contain the true Nature and Property of all visible and invisible Powers or obtain the name of being truly stiled or called the Likeness and Image of the Great Creator who is All in and through All. Now Scents and Smells that do advance Health and preserve the finer Spirits both Externally and Internally are as followeth viz. Of all Scents and Smells clean sweet Airs such as are free from the Commuâ—… the crouds of Men and more particularly those by running Rivers and hilly dry Fields that lies or joins to them where Flowers Trees and various sorts of fragrant Herbs send forth their most pleasant and oderiferous Scents and Smells which do incorporate with the fine Spirits of the Air and by the thinner Fumes proceeding from the Powers of the Element of Water impregnate or endue such Airs with a powerful and penetrating Virtue which Persons do find by Experiencing a lively Briskness and sharp Appetite The like is to be understood in all moist Seasons provided there be not too much Rain but moderate which when the moisture is temperate doth with its natural Key gently and softly open the inward and secret Gates of each thing freeing the finer Spirits so that they are thereby on the Wing rendring them capable to incorporate with the common Air impregnating it with its fine refreshing Virtues the truth of this all Persons do find when Exercised in the open Air in such Seasons and therefore all such as are troubled with or subject to any kind of Obstructions of the Breast or to Languishing Consumptive Diseases may be relieved and the Diseases in a great degree remedied by a constant Exercise of Walking and the like by River-sides or in such Seasons or whether the Air being the most sublimest of Elements and as it were the true Original of Life and therefore the finener and more free it is from Defilements the greater are the administring Virtues and Powers both to the Health of the Body and Mind the Magick Spirits and invisible Powers are the true and original Life of all Bodies according to the fineness thinness and unity of the Spirit And so on the contrary such is its Body and it hath its Form Figures and Qualifications from thence and the Element of Air being the finenest and thinest of all others as was mentioned before so the inward Virtue and Spiritual Powers thereof are in proportion more especially when it is defiled by Uncleanness chiefly such as proceed from the Putrifaction of the Animal Kingdom which is the grossest and more pernicious than any that proceed from the Vegetables more particularly from Slaughtered Beasts likewise the Airs of Gardens and Fields where Flowers and Herbs of various kinds grow are filled with the sweet odoriferous Virtues and Fumes of them and such places are thereby made very pleasant healthy and wholsome Now the best Perfumes and Sweets are such that grow in our own Climate and under the Elevation and Influences of our own Stars and Elements all being most agreeable to our Constitutitutions some being more suitable having a nearer Affinity to one Person than to another even as it is in Eatables or Foods the Complexions of Smells or Scents are as various and there is as great a variety in them as there is in Complexions Forms and Inclinations of Mankind by which means all Scents and Smells are agreeable to one or another and disagreeable to others all according to the degrees of the Sal Nitral Virtues or Magick Spirits so that what is a pleasant delightful Smell to one is a distasteful unpleasant Scent to another which is only to be understood in the Vegetable World and not in the Animal all is gross there and it is very rare that their Slaughtered Limbs do send forth Scents that are pleasant except to such as have their Senses depraved by the Use and Communication of gross things for the Scent or Smell of the best Flesh or Fish when prepared by Fire which opens all the Body and sends forth the inward Virtues as one may call it are strong and fulsome except to those as was mentioned before who are used to the eating of them whose Spirits and Bodies are daily made subsist and are continued by them but to others who do Live on cleaner Foods their Smells and Scents are no better than a strong stinking Fume or Vapour more especially when the Housewife or Cook hath not Judgement or doth not distinguish the Operation of things and the Method of preserving the Spirits and the contrary which is very rarely done by Preparers of Foods And it is to be noted that as all or most of the Animals and the Foods made thereof do naturally send forth gross loathsom Smells Scents and Fumes so on the contrary all or most of the Vegetables do as naturally breath forth sweet pleasant delightful Smells more especially all Eatables and many other of most delicate and fragrant Scents therefore they have been called by the Honourable Name of Angelical Food not only from their Fragrancy but Innocency of Birth and harmless Operation both on the Body and Spirits Cleanness and Fragrancy being two of the most valuable Virtues which Uncleanness and Depravity have almost Banished out of the World now Herbs that are pleasant and their Smells or Fumes most healthy are these viz. Southern-wood Hysop Tyme and Mother of Tyme Winter-savory Mint Penny-royal Sage Bawm and several other Sweets but these are the principal the next Sweets are Flowers some of the material are as followeth Pinks Gilly-flowers of several sorts Carnations Jessemy c. likewise a great number of Field Flowers which are less sweet but more Virtuous as to the Fumes sent forth into the Air as the Blossoms of several sorts of Grains and Fruit-trees which do fill or impregnate the Air with odoriferous Fumes There are likewise several other sorts of Herbs whose Smells and Scents are very delightful to some and healthful to all as Tansy Worm-wood Featherfew and all other bitter
so ignorantly Blind in this matter that there hath been but very few that have considered or as much as thought of it But to endeavour as much as lyes in me to satisfy your curiosity I shall set down some probable Guesses concerning them farther than which I do not pretend to go and they are reduced to the following Considerations 1. IN all Birds and Fowl that excellent Element the Air hath the ruling power to which their very Constitutions are subjected notwithstanding the variety of their Shapes Forms Natures and Dispositions as all Four Footed Beasts and other Animals of the Earth and Water have those Elements predominant in them And for this cause Birds do excel all other visible Creatures in the perfection of their Senses of Seeing Hearing Smelling Tasting and Feeling and that the Air has the principal government in them is very manifest first from their Voices Tones and Singing as that Element is known to be the very Life of all Tones and variety of Harmony wherein Birds exceed all other Sublunary Creatures Mankind alone excepted for which we may assign a reason in another place Secondly Their Flying and conveying their Bodies thro' the Air with a swift motion is a proof of it that being a Faculty that as far exceeds all the Inhabitants of this inferior World as Angels do them Thirdly They Build their Nests for the most part on Trees making the Heavens their Habitations wherein they mount aloft and with their speedy and swift motions can in a little while not only move themselves to great distances of places but at the same time behold the Earth creepers as I may term them grovelling in their heavy sluggish motions and herein have such exceeding advantages above even the rational part of this lower World that could a Man be but endued with this Flying Faculty as Birds enjoy it it cannot be thought he would be willing to lose or exchange such an Heavenly freedom and perfection for any Earthly Diadem or circumscribed dominion amongst us Fourthly Their manner of Subsistance for some parts of the year is in a manner unaccountable to us particularly in the Winter Season from about Christmas to the end of March which tho' subject to most pinching cold Winds Snow and Rainy Weather that never fail to cut off and destroy all Insects and Flies and that there is nothing visible to our Senses whereby such great numbers of Winged Creatures can be Sustained yet Birds of most sorts are then in the best case most Fat and so esteemed the best and most wholsom Food upon account of which Men double their diligence with Guns Snares and the like to destroy them without any consideration had either to their Innocency Harmonious Sounds and Voices or other Heavenly properties the Creator has endued them with above and in a far more excellent perfection than any other of the Sublunary Beings Now that these Creatures that are Corporeal and compounded of the same Elements and Qualities of Flesh and Blood as other Animals are should be able not only to support themselves from Starving but at such a time to grow Fat too when most other Creatures we know or communicate with sink and perish is very strange But as the Constitution and Composition of Birds are more Airy and Heavenly than other Creatures Inhabiting the dark cold lumpish Earth so their Support and Food must be more thin and Spirituous Fifthly Birds exceed all other Animals in their Love and Chastity and the Fidelity and Constancy of the Male and Female is admirable as I have set forth at large in my Complaint of the Birds which I know you have read with Satisfaction and as much may be said of them in respect to the Shortness Entireness and Intelligibility of their Language being well known to every one of the same Species and kind a Black-bird to be a Black-bird and so with the rest For Birds in their original Constitution are more Sublime than other inferiour Creatures or Beasts and still retain more of those excellent Branches entire than the most earthly since Mankind having had no commanding Power over them as over other Creatures besides Guns and Snares it must reasonably be supposed their Natures cannot be depraved as other Animals must needs be that are subject to the adulterated Methods of Men and this Preservation of theirs has been chiefly owing to that Noble and as it were heavenly Faculty of Flying in comparison whereof other Motions are dull heavy burthensom dark and melancholy seeming to be be but one degree behind that of Angels or the invisible Powers And this is most certain that the more entire any Creatures keep themselves from communicating with Mankind as has been just now hinted the more they keep or act within the Circle or Limits of their own original or first Love wherewith their Creator bound them so that is as the Fowls of the Air have a double Advantage over most if not all other Creatures for as by their first Constitution they are made more heavenly and Ethereal so by the Help and Assistance of these sublime Qualities they avoid those Evils and Adulterations of their natural constitutive Powers that other Creatures have been subjected to thro' the intollerable Burdens and Slaveries Men have imposed upon them for Mankind cannot but influence all the under-graduates whose Lives and Fortunes are at his Will and Pleasure with the same or the like Miseries and Depravities he has subjected himself unto which is plainly manifested by some of the winged Troops that are of grosser Compositions and familiar Dispositions such as Greese Hens Ducks Turkeys and others whose Bodies being gross in Quality and large in Quantity occasion them to lose most of their excellent Faculties and airy Qualifications and the like which they but very lamely perform in comparison of those that neither communicate with nor are fed by Men to say nothing of their being unhealthy liable to many Diseases and become short liv'd as all other Animals are which are governed by Mankind Sixthly As Birds and Fowls of the Air that do not converse with or are not fed by Men are much freer from Distempers than others so 't is to be observ'd that naturally there are but a few particular Diseases amongst them and that if they have any they are their own Physitians and 't is certain they have no sweeping or general Plagues amongst them so that they are not only healthy but long liv'd too and History tells us that some Birds have been observed to have lived three four or five hundred Years and yet appeared in youthful Dresses and undoubtedly their lives are very long and as unaccountable to us as their Diseases and more especially Deaths and Burial-places which few or none of the Ancient Historians or Philosophers have taken notice of and that we should remain I may say wholly ignorant hereof to this very day knowing nothing in what Climate Region or World those airy Beings make their Exit is as
which hath the nearest affinity to it Now if the truth of what we have said be considered understood and distiâ—…guished then such a one will know that Temperance Order and Cleanness are the Spring-head of all Virtues and as it were under God the Original not only of Health but of every good Work and Action so great so powerful and so wonderful are the Laws of God and the innocent Methods of Nature they Crown their Observers with the Blessings of Time and Eternity I do not doubt but when you have well considered of what I have already said as to your Distemper and what I shall say but that you will incline to observe the Methods I shall propose for the Cure of your ill Habit of Body and the Diseases attending you Now the Meats and Foods that are most suitable for the preventing your Fatness and other Evils are all such as are clean in their own Nature having no manifest quality too highly exalted for every sort of Food that is unequal doth increase your Maladie and leave a Wound behind it You may eat and probably with some success too Bread Butter Cheese Herbs Roots Fruits Gruels Chocolate Paps Milk-pottage and various sorts of other clean innocent Foods but it will be better for you not to spread your Table too large but confine your self to a less compass viz. to Bread Butter and Cheese Water-Gruel and Flour-Pap only with Salt and no Butter in it and let this be your Method viz. in the morning a Pint of thin Water-Gruel with a small piece of good well Baked Bread a little toasted bite your Bread and sup your Gruell the like when you eat Pap always drinking a quarter of a Pint of Water after it presently and forget not before or after you eat your Gruel to take a walk of a Mile or two in the most clean airy place you can or by running Rivers side for all Airs are much â—…ner by running Waters than else where for by the curious moist thin Spirituous Vapours that such Rivers do send or breathe forth incorporating or mixing with the common Air it both becomes rarifyed and thereby is made more transparent thin and Spirituous so that it easily penetrates into the very center of all parts of the Body opening all the passages and moving Obstructions causing the Circulations of all the Humors Blood and Spirits to pass more freely if this were not so People that walk by such Rivers sides and others that work on it would not have such pressing sharp Appetites even far greater than those that are exercised on the higher Grounds but if any Man Swim or go into such Rivers to wash themselves or do any other thing of that nature it will sharpen and increase the Appetite to a higher degree Now this comes to pass by the fineness of such Airs and the thin Spirituous Virtues that penetrate to the Body on all sides whichare sucked in by the Pores giving a certain recruit to all the natural Spirits in the Body It is likewise to be noted that such as travel or work in Windy Rainy Weather do thereby obtain a shâ—…rper and a stronger Appetite than by the like Exercises in dry Seasons and such a one will not so often want supplys of Drink because such seasons and places do afford them a much finer moisture and more agreeable to Nature You may take your walk before or after you have eaten your Gruel and Bread then Fast till Dinner about one or two of the Clock eat a small Sallad raw made of Parsley Spinage Sorrell and a few Onions with them and eat them with a little Salt and Vinegar no Oil but with Bread and Butter or Cheese and sometimes only with Bread drink with them fresh small Ale or good Water the last being Superior to the first then fast till Supper and about Seven of the Clock eat a Pint of Water-Gruell or Pap with a little piece of Bread toasted and once or twice a week take a walk of 5 6 7 8 or 10 Miles or more as you shall find your self able and as you grow stronger increase your walks to 20 30 or 40 Miles And you must always go till you be weary but not till you be Faint for Nature will not encrease her strength if you do not in a moderate degree exert her Faculties and put her to a little Hardship for it is an undeniable rule and it always holds true that Nature endeavours to strengthen and arm herself against all Affronts and invading Powers for this cause the more you Labour the more you may and the easier it becomes to you which most attribute to Custom which is true in a Sense but give me leave to tell you so soon as you put your self to any unusual Exercise or Labour Nature useth all her endeavours and powers not only to withstand such Labours but to overcome them that she may be a Conqueror with ease and therefore if any particular Member be more used in this Trade or other Employment whether it be a Leg or an Arm that Member or part in a little time grows more potent and strong than the other and for this cause after Tradesmen have done their common days Work most of them can walk and exercise themselves in many other things with delight and not feel half the dulness and weariness as they did at their Customary Employments or Labours which had worn out or dull'd the natural Spirits that supported those parts most employed and did undergo the greatest part of the labour of that Employment or Trade But all this while other Members and parts of the Body that were not so intent or employed in the said Labour remained as it were fresh lively and full of Spirits so that when such a one comes to another sort of Exercise or Labour wherein those Members or parts were not so much concerned as is said before then they do readily lend their Aid and Assistance by which a Man does exercise himself in another Employment for some time with ease and delight notwithstanding he was weary at his usual Trade or Employment The principal cause and reason of this is every part of the Body hath its particular Offices and the natural Spirits that support and supply it with strength and vigour which lyes as it were still and doth not exert its strength nor powers till that part or Member comes to be employed This being the original Cause that a Man after he is weary and dull at the long continuance of Labour in one thing and the whole Body seems to be tired yet at another Employ or Work he shall be as was said before fresh and lively which is by the supplies of the lively Spirits that centered in such Parts and Members whose supporting Strength and Powers were not called forth in the foregoing Labour For this Cause and Reason variety of Exercises and Employments are best and least burthensome to Nature being much easier performed and with more
have on all the Faculties of Nature no Wise man will or can deny as is before sufficiently demonstrated besides there is still another Ground and deep Original for the conveyance and generation of a great multitude of Diseases but more especially this fiery Distemper viz. the Seed being the compleat Image or Epitome of all the Properties Forms and Powers both of the Body Soul and Spirit and for this cause Man is called the Son or Off-spring of God or his Image The same is to be understood of Man when he Generates a Child is he not his Son and doth he not bear the Image and true Signature of his Father is he not endued with all the principles and powers of Body Soul and Spirits and if the Seed did not contain the true Nature and Property of the whole Father then the Fathers power or part thereof would not have an Essential Being in the Son neither would the Son be his true Image this being true as no Wiseman can doubt Then by the same rule Virtues and Vices of all Kinds are Sowed in the Seed and according as the Father and Mother are qualified and tempered in their Order Sobriety Temperance or Intemperance in their Meats Drinks and Employments Communications Imaginations Inclinations Dispositions Words and Works such is the Seed and the Fruit that is Generated Begotten and brought forth and is in Body Soul and Spirit the very same in all the principles and powers This being true what Conduct Temperance and Order what Cleanness Self-denial and Wisdom ought Parents to be endued with seeing they entail all their Virtues and Vices on their Posterity Now Mankind hath so far estranged himself from all those fore-mentioned Virtues by his gross Evils Violences Oppressions and Uncleannesses that he is run into the deepest degree of Depravity Blindness and Ignorance so that most do live under and are governed by the divided powers and forms of their own Composition where every quality and principle are at Enmity with each other so that he is hunted out of one evil into another Fierceness Violence and Oppression being his chief Delight and as it were the Pleasure and Pastime of most Men viz. Great Men study how they may destroy ruin and kill those of their own Kind and Species and the lower Ranks in hunting oppressing and killing the inferior Graduates and all the innocent harmless Inhabitants of the four Worlds and in Conformity and Proportion to these rapacious Employments are the principal Foods of Man so that there is a Concatenation and Sympathetical Agreement and Concurrence of all sorts and kinds of wrathful fierce Violence contrived and managed by the inbred fierce encroaching spiteful envious Powers which have not only sullyed but as it were obliterated the Noble light of Understanding and hath sunk Man into the deepest and darkest ignorance of himself and all that is good so that he neither sees hears nor understands any thing as he ought and thereby becomes subject to and is acted and governed by the fore-mentioned tyrannical Spirits Now there is no way or means to prevent those violent Diseases and other Distempers but by the wholsom rules of Order Temperance and Cleanness in Meats Drinks Communications Employment Words and Works which doth oppose all the fore-mentioned Customs as much as Light doth Darkness or the Day the Night by which the Observers may obtain a better Seed which will produce a Healthy and Virtuous Off-spring viz. The Foods material and suitable for this purpose are as followeth Bread and all Foods made of the Flour of Corn have the first place both for Cleanness Virtue and good Nourishment as Bread and Water-gruel Flour-pap boil'd Wheat boil'd Barley Hasty-pudding boil'd Bread and several sorts made of the Flours of Seeds and Corn Next to these are Milk Butter Cheese Eggs and a great number of other Exhilerating Foods made thereof The principal Drink alotted and ordained by God and the Law of undefiled Nature is pure clean Water Next to these are Communications which have great power over the Imaginations Inclinations Dispositions Words and Works either to encrease or advance Virtue or Vice and these Employments are very material viz. All such as are Humane free from Oppression or Violence either to Man or Beasts likewise all sorts of Husbandry or any Business in the open Air more especially such as is on or near the Water and to Travel in rainy moist Seasons Thirdly Thin or moderate Cloathing airy clean sweet Houses and Beds observing a mean in all things for Temperance and to understand the proper Measure both in Quantity and Quality are the Sinews of Health both of Body and Mind which to distinguish and understand in a Man's self is the Spring-head of all Blessings for whatsoever may or can be understood of God and of his unalterable Law is compleatly and entirely contained in Man Therefore the greatest Calamity the most miserable melancholy and deplorable Condition in the World is for a Man to be Ignorant of himself not to understand and distinguish the Powers of God and his own Composition for want of this inward true Knowledge he Judgeth of all things as a Blind Man doth of Colours and a Deaf Man of Musick all is done by Chance Trade or Custom so great and so deep is the Depravation of Man SIR Yours to Command T. T. LETTER XXIII Of EDUCATION SIR I Réceived yours of the 20th instant wherein you desire me to give you an Essential Method of Educating and Bringing up your Children they being all Young and of tender Age by which they are rendred capable of being taught and moulded into any Form Method and Government First I referr you to our Book entituled A New Method of Educating Children which I desire you would Read However I shall endeavour to gratify your Desire with those Talents the Lord hath given me not doubting but they will be thereby improved by your Prudent Conduct therefore please to observe these following Rules and Methods 1. YOU ought to understand and endeavour to be sensible that our Creator hath made Man in his own Image and a compleat Epitome of all Principles Qualities and Powers both of the Corporial and Incorporial Worlds all things have an Essential Being in Man's Soul viz. Virtue true Light and Darkness Love and Hate and if Men once come to be sensible of their own Composition and to distinguish between Good and Evil Virtue and Vice and from what Principles each takes its Birth they would hate and lament their ill Conduct both of their own Methods of Life and the bringing up of their Children it is impossible any Man should be capable to avoid the Errors of Educating Children if he doth not distinguish the two Grand Fountains of Good and Evil in himself and how the various Powers Qualities and Inclinations which do all arise and proceed from these two Fountains are to be Qualified Allaied and United for all sorts and kinds of Knowledge and Learning though it
ripe then nine Pounds or a Gallon of Juice makes but three quarters of a Pound of Muscovado Sugar and the like quantity of Molosses and this very frequently comes to pass For if the Canes be planted too thick which intercepts the Heat from penetrating thro them to the Roots or if the Season be too wet then some are ripe and some are not and in such a case the Sugar is neither so much in Quantity nor so good in Quality and there is as much difference between that made hereof and of the ripe Canes as there is between Cyder made of Apples growing on the Top and the outside of the Trees and of those that grow under the shady Boughs where the Sun cannot influence them with his warming Beams therefore it must be a grand Error to plant Canes so thick especially in moist or wet Seasons Now the Scums Dregs and excrementitious Parts which are separated from the finer and more essential Parts in making of Sugar are of some value for from the same being fermented and distilled is extracted a strong Spirit which they call Rumm so that you see Sir that the Juice of the Cane by Art and extream Labour is made into three considerable Commodities viz. Sugar Treacle and Rumm beside which the Servants and Negroes make a very good Drink with Molosses Water and some Ginger worked up all together the Strength being in proportion to the Quantity of Molosses put in as our Beer or Ale is stronger or smaller according to the Quantity of Malt and this Drink is called by the Indian name of Coow woow the same being altogether as wholsom as our Ale and rather stronger than the common sort and tho' there are many other sorts of Drinks made of Molosses Sugar and the Juices of Fruits yet this is one of the best and wholsomest if it be not kept till it be too stale but it being the cheapest and most common is a sufficient Reason with most that have wherewithal to make more chargeable Liquors to reject it But to leave this and come to the principal Ingredient used in making of Sugar in all parts of the World of which all eat but so very few know the manner and difficulty of the Preparation I am to acquaint you it 's the Sal Nitre of Stones I mean Lime slacked and infused in common Water which does as readily imbibe the Salt of the Lime as hot Water does the Sweetness of Malt in Brewing now the Boiler makes his Liquor stronger or weaker according to the Goodness of the Canes and there is never any brown nor white Sugar made nor can be made without this Lime-water or its Equivalent viz. Pot-Ashes which yet is very rarely used the same being neither so good nor so reasonably cheap whereas the other is experimentally found to be the best for bringing of Sugar to its highest Perfection Now Muscovado or Brown Sugar is made sometimes with stronger Lime-water than our Sugar-Bakers or Refiners do use in Refining white Sugar for the Juice of the Canes could never be made into Sugar that is into a firm substantial Body nor obtain a sparkling Grain without the Help and Assistance of this Lime-water but the same would remain forever a dull glewy fat Substance or Syrup of an heavy gross Nature and Operation neither wholsom nor pleasant For as the Juice of the Cane is a compleat Sweet wherein the saltish Astringent bitter and sharp Qualities are weak and impotent therefore with out the Assistance of the other three it cannot obtain a Body especially without an Astringent Quality of which Stones are endued with an ample Share from whence proceeds the strong hard Body or Coagulation in them and the harder they are the stronger and more powerful are the salnitral Vertues of Lime made thereof as all Builders and Workers in Mortar experimentally find seeing good Lime by the Assistance of Water and good management in tempering will obtain as hard and strong a Consistency or Coagulation as the Stone had or be rather harder than before it was turned into Lime For the fire you must know in the burning of Lime does not at all weaken the salnitral Astringency but breaks and melts down the cold gross Coagulation opening the hard Body and frees the more essential Parts and Vertues of Nature setting them at liberty which while such stones remained entire were not useful for any such purposes For this Sal Nitre or original Salt is encircled in the innermost Center of all things both in the Animal Vegetative and Mineral Kingdoms and each specifick Thing is cloathed with a suitable Body according to the Power Strength and Nature of the Sal Nitre or astringent part thereof therefore in what Man Beast Vegetable or Mineral the Salnitral forms are weak so the Body is alwâ—… in proportion Now this Salt of Stones is of great Use and the principal thing that brings Sugar as I have already said to perfection and as the Artist cannot perform the first part of the Operation without the Assistance of this Lime-water so the brown Sugar made or refined into white Sugar must also be boiled up with a proper Quantity thereof stronger or weaker according to the Strength Goodness or Badness of the Muscovado or brown Sugar for that Body and lively sparkling Grain which the brown sugar received from the Lime-water in the first preparation is in great part lost when it comes to the Refiners Pans or Coppers and melts down into a Syrup and therefore it must again be supplied with fresh Lime-water to reduce it to a firm Grain or Consistency or else it will remain a Syrup for ever And now pray give me leave to tell you is it not strange that the Brains of the Learned and others should condemn this wholsom and beneficial Ingredient by whose Assistance alone the Juices of the Sugar-Cane you see is brought to the highest Perfection and rendred useful to Mankind and without which it could be but of very little Advantage and whereas many thousands do suppose that the dusty stony quality of the Lime remains in white and other Sugars and for that reason several of our nice Madams Learned Physicians and Apothecaries will rather eat brown dirty or clayed Sugar than Refiners white Sugar It 's a grand mistake in them not but that such Sugars are good in their kind but not to be compared with our white refined Sugars this being a general and a sure Rule that the whiter any Sugar is the cleaner finer and wholsomer it is and the more it is purged from all Grossness and Impurity when on the other side the blacker duller and moister any Sugar is the fouler and grosser it must be and consequently the more unwholsom and unhealthy For the most if not all the Operations of boyling scumming clarifying and straining performed in making the gross crude Juices of the Sugar-Cane into Muscovado Sugar is done by the Refiners even to an higher degree and with great Charge
or separating Quality of the Stomach hide themselves and continue in the Arms and sweet Embraces of the uniting sweet Quality so that there is no such Division or Transmuting the Body and sweet Virtues into a fiery Principle as is done in Fermentation and Distilling therefore if the Meats and Drinks be temperate and equal in their Qualities the Nutritive Juices are the same thro' the whole Body and the Volatile Salt of such Foods influences the whole with its pleasant Virtues whence proceeds a brisâ—… lightsome Temper which is the highest pitch of Health not but that the equallest and best Meats and Drinks have the same fiery Principles hid in them as a Mystery which are not known nor perceived by the nicest and most curious Palates so long as is already hinted the Thing or Food remains entire But still they are there for they are the Father as we call it being the original of those things I mean the first and the last as is more apparent by the Excrements of all Animals and also by their Bodies when they fall into Putrefaction wherein there is a considerable quantity of Sal Petre or Nitre contained and in some more than others according as the Constitution of the Creature is hotter or colder but the hottest affords the most which being refin'd by Water and the help of Fire is separated from the phlegmy gross Parts of which Gun-powder is made that with the addition of other Sulphurs viz. Brimstone and Charcoal being the head Principle of that cruel fierce Fire which excâ—…eds all others as proceeding from grosser darker and more Excrementitious Matter and as it were generated in the very Abyss of evil Qualities wherein the Light and uniting good Qualities of Nature are wholly extinguished and as in the Art of Fermentation and Distillation all the sweet Virtues of the Vegetable Kingdom are Changed or Transmuted into a burning fiery Spirit the like Putrefaction does in the Bodies and Excrements of Animals and as this last is more heavy gross stinking and baneful so is the Production thereof And here give me leave to observe to you that there is no other way found out to separate or incircle the fiery Sal Nitral original Principles of Animals from their sweet Virtues than by Putrefaction all the Art and Skill of Man being not able to touch or unlock their Sulphur or Oily Bodies so strongly are their sweet Properties incircled by the Animal Digestion which does every moment advance and transmute Insensible into Sensible things and Inanimate into Animation by which wonderful Method and secret Operations of Nature Vegetables become higher Graduated and attain to the farthest pitch any Created thing can attain to which is a Sensitive Life and about which such a powerful and natural Circle is drawn as will admit of no farther Progression or Advance So that now it clearly follows that those things that have passed thro' the Animal Kingdom or Digestion of any sensitive Creature will not produce so clean a Nutriment and fine Spirits as Vegetables do each Production or Thing being mild or fierce and turbulent clean or the contrary according to the original from whence it proceeded and therefore I say farther 't is past the Skill of the most Ingenious Spagyricks to Extract any Cordial sweet Virtues from those original Sal Nitral Powers that all putrified Excrements or Bodies of Animals are endued with nor to cloath or reinvest them in their former Estate Beauty Virtue and Splendor that is to incircle them in the Royal Bodies of Phlegm wherein all the united Powers and four grand Qualities were contained before such Vegetations or Things had passed thro' the digesting Powers and Faculties of the Animal Kingdom that is the Stomach and all the circular Motions of Nature But this must be performed by the Progression and Hand-maid of God by whose circular Motions and Operations 't is effected For Example take some Compost or putrified Bodies or Excrements of Animals wherein is contained a considerable quantity of Sal Nitre or Salt Petre more or less according to the Disposition of the Creature for the original Salts from whence they proceed are of proportionable Complexions and therefore the Experienc'd Husband-man manages his Land accordingly some Dung being better for one sort than for anotâ—…r now lay these Excrements or putrified Matter upon poor Land wherein the Sal Nitral Qualities are weak and impotent and they do as it were in a moment by the assistance of Heat and Moisture together with the sweet Influences of the Sun and Elements mix and confederate with the fading Sal Nitral Properties of such Land whereby it brings forth considerable Crops of all sorts of Herbage Seeds Grains Trees and the like and this no Art is capable to imitate Now this degree of Equality that Vegetations have obtain'd by a gradual Progression and mystical Operation of Nature Fermentation does as it were in a moment disunite whereby the original Forms become tumultuous each Form with a rapid invading Motion laying as I may say violent Hands on the Child of Love which is the sweet Quality so that by this friction boiling and fierce Motion the whole Liquor or Thing becomes sharpned or racy which while the original Principles remain'd united to the sweet Quality all was silent and as it were asleep without Motion or Action and this is evident in the Art both of Brewing and Distilling and this turbulent Motion or Ferment is stronger or weaker according to the degrees and strength of the sweet Quality and heat of the Season Now Fermentation is an opposite and contrary Motion to Nature and so threatens the total Destruction of the whole being as it were a Death to the united Powers and uniform Principles and a prevention of all farther Progression and therefore whatever is done by Art this way can never be retrieved or the Forms and Properties of Nature united but only by the fore-mentioned way The same is to be understood in the Animal Kingdom for as soon as the four grand Qualities be awaken'd or rouz'd up then great Agonies are immediately felt according to the degrees of Fermentation and here by the way I am to observe that all Spagyrical Fermentations of Animals as aforesaid is Diametrically opposed and forbid by the Laws of God and Nature and indeed if that did not stand in Mankind's way it 's not to be doubted but he would long since have Extracted lofty high Drinks from the Blood Flesh and Fat of Animals as also from the Flesh of Fish seeing he loves such Liquors so well and consequently would have been Drunk with the Blood of his Fellow Creature and indeed there has been no Art wanting in Man to Extract the more Essential parts from the meaner that is to get the Blood and Gravey as they call it but instead of obtaining the finer cleaner Juices they have an addition of contrary Qualities that is heavy gross dull unclean Matter that is more subject to an hasty Putrefaction