into potentiam act into puissence positio into priuationem position into priuation But contrariwise when he meanes to reuiuifie and as it were cause the dead spirit of the world to rise or reuiue againe he sendeth out a Southerne spirit or blast of a cleane contrary property namely a wind whose nature is hot and moyst and therefore in the consequence of the foresaid Text it is said he sendeth out his word and melteth all these so soone as hee bloweth forth his wind the waters and spirits which were made dead spisse fixe congealed and opack are beocme aliue moueable fluent subtill and diaphanous or transparent If Mr. Foster like none of these testimonies I will yet goe a little further and make an ocular demonstration to proue it thereby the better to perswade him if hee will be pliable vnto her who is the mother of fooles namely experience Let him but looke therefore vpon the Kalander glasse an Instrument commonly knowne amongst vs here in England called by others the weather glasse and hee shall see that the ayre contained in it will be contracted and thickned by cold and to proue thus much hee shall finde the water to be drawne vp by so many degrees in the neck of the glasse as the externall cold hath dominion in the ayre which proueth euidently that cold doth contract the dilated ayre in the glasse from a larger roome into a straighter and consequently that the ayre is thicker and neerer to congelation fixation and rest then it was before Contrariwise hee shall finde that the ayre included feeling the heate of the externall ayre by little and little to get dominion ouer the cold will dilate it selfe and by dilatation is made more mobill subtill and liuely and therefore requireth a larger capacity as is ocularly proued thus namely because the water is strucke down by so many degrees lower by how many the externall heate doth vanquish the cold in the ayre But perchance my aduersary will say What haue we to doe with this These are naturall conclusions and not belonging to Gods act or property And how proue you that the other winds are the essentiall acts of God To this I say That if God operateth all and in all then this operation in the glasse much more that in the winds is the act of God and as wee finde that the incorruptible spirit doth moue and operate two manner of contrary wayes namely from the center to the circumference by â—…manation and dilatation by the which meanes it stirreth of it selfe who is the center of all things whose circumference is no where but comprehendeth all circumferences or bodies and maketh them to exist and liue so also this vniuersal centre contracting it selfe in it selfe maketh ' all things in act potentiall of a liuing creature a dead carcasse of an agill and mobill thing a stupid and vnmoueable one Lastly of an actuall positiue something a potentiall priuatiue nothing Wee see it plainely persormed according vnto the precedent Text of Dauid in the spirit of the world for as much as it is altered from one forme to his opposite according vnto the variety of the property or wil of him which is the internall agent of all the world The incorruptible spirit of the Lord saith Salomon is in all things If in al things then as it is the most worthy and of the highest digty and the most mobill and operatiue spirit of all spirits it worketh centrally and moueth all the externall wheeles of the whole machine of the creature in which it is and consequently operateth à centro ad circumferentiam If it doe quiescere in centro rest in the center all the externall wheeles haue lost their life For it is in him it liueth in him it mooueth and in him it existeth And therefore without he act all is stupid and dead like a senselesse stone as Dauid and Iob haue taught vs. Now to proue that it is this spirit of God which doth agitate and animate the winds we haue many other expresse Texts of Scripture to confirme it The whirle wind saith Iob commeth out of the South and the cold from the North wind at the breath of God the frost is giuen and the breadth of the waters is contracted Againe Ventus profectus a Iehoua abreptas coturnices à mari disseuit ad castra c. A wind proceeding from Iehona did scatter the Quailes which it brought from the sea in the camp Againe Vento tuo flauisti operuit eos mara Thou didst blow with thy breath or wind and the sea couered them Againe flatunarium tuarum coaceruatae sunt aquae The waters are accumulated and heaped together by the blast of thy nostrills And againe Iehoua adduxit ventum Eurum seâ—… Orientalem and God brought an Easterly wind Againe ventum Occidentalem vehementem immisit c. he sent out a vehement Westerly wind Againe ventus procellosus efficiens Verbum Dei the stormy wind doth effect the Word of God Wee doe not say that the wind is the reall breath of God but a created spirit or ayre animated by the increated spirit of the Lord who according vnto the will of him that sent it fooâ—…th doth sometimes contract his vertue in himselfe from the circumference of the creatures spirit and then the creature is dead and vnmoueable and starke cold for want of the warme and comfortable act of this spirits emanation from the centre to the circumference according to the words of Daâ—…ids former Text Deo abscondente faciem suam à creaturis conturbantur recipiente spiritum coruâ—… expirant God hiding his face from the creatures they are troubled and resuming his spirit againe they dye that is if in part he contracts himselfe or hides the viuifying beâ—…s of his countenance they are sicke and troubled but if hee withdraw the spirit of life wholly from the circumference of the the creatures spirit into it selfe who is in the centre and euery where vnto the circumference they dye or expire Master Foster may reply what is all this to the purpose of man who is the maine subiect wee haue in hand or what haue wee to doe though God by his Spirit worketh a priuatiue property in the spirit of the world by congealation or contracting it from the spirits circumference vnto the centre leauing the spirit cold destitute of heate congealed immobile and as it were dead and without life and that in his Northerne nature what doth this concerne our matter or what is this to the nature in man or how can it touch the act of curing in our Weapon-Salue I answere that as the selfe-same spirit is the cause of a foure-fold nature in the spirit of the great world and as it causeth death and priuation by his Northerne and congealing blasts and contrariwise life and position by the opposite or the relenting nature of his Southerne property euen the selfe-same operation it affecteth in the created
for that very cause the Text calleth it in one place latibulum Dei in another tigurium Dei and in another vehiculum currus â—…ehoua so that if lebâ—…ua maketh this organicall Tabernacle of ayre to vtter vnto mortall eares his voyce as Scriptures in many places doe testifie it is no sinne to say that his inferiour spirits haue for their externall bodies aëry substances which being granted what should hinder spirits by contraction of this their external substances to appeare when they please visibly and organically to talke with a person as the tempting spirit did to Christ and againe by an immediate dilatation of the same externall aëry spirit to become inuisible no otherwise then a smoake by dilatation vanisheth or a cloud or mist made of a compacted and thickned ayre doth oftentimes without the appearance of any drop of raine passe away inuisibly Was it not strange that Christ himselfe that had flesh and bones should appeare etiam clausis ianâ—…is and then immediately to vanish And yet if we consider that after he was risen he did put on a spirituall body euen that body for that cause could deponere Tabernaculum suum visibile tangibile and become by subtiliation and dilatation as subtile and impalpable as the voluntie of him who hath the spirituall body pleaseth and so can appeare and vanishat an instant It is an admirable speculation to ponder and consider duely how God worketh in this world by contraction and dilatation by priuation and position by darknesse and light by apparition and disparition as we see when his Spirit moueth from the North the common ayre is by the contractiue nature of that spirit turned from inuisibility to visibility from transparency to opacity from ayre to Snow Haile Frost Ice from leuity to ponderosity from agility and mobility to fixation and immobility Contrarywise by his blast from the East or South the said bodies are altered againe into water and water into ayre and ayre into fire by dilatation and in conclusion corporeity terrestriall into corporeity aëriall or celestiall hardnesse into saltnesse grossenesse into subtility opacity into transparency fixation into mobility rest into action darknesse into light And to conclude contraction caused by this Spirit of God into dilatation visibility into inuisibility What shall I say more If Angels of all kindes haue their externall from the aëry spirit of the World and their internall act from this externall viuifying spirit in whom is the property of the foure Windes and therefore the Prophet said Come O Spirit from the foure Windes whereby he did argue that this one Spirit as being the essentiall actor in the foure Windes had the properties of the foure Windes in himselfe by the which he acted all things whereupon the Prophet called it from the foure Windes wee ought not to make any question but that by vertue of that internall act and the substance of that their externall ayre they may contract themselues from a spirituall fiery and aëry inuisibility vnto a nebulous or watery yea and earthly visibility or snowie or Icie nature especially the grosse malignant and darke spirits which by their fall haue indued the grosser ayre as Augustine saith and therefore is Satan called by the Apostle The Prince of the ayre And this is the reason that the Deuill or euill spirits do in their contraction conuert themselues into solid or firme shapes of man or beast and appeare in touch to be so excessue cold according to Master Fosters confession namely because the spirit by which they liue contracting it selfe from the Circumference of dilated ayre into the Center of contracted earth leaueth the externall or aëry compacted composition chill and cold like Ice For it is by his emanation or dilatation from the Center vnto the Circumference that kindleth naturall heate in the externall of euery creature To conclude against those that affirme that spirits haue no corporeity It is most certaine that where there is rarum densum thin and thick there consequently is corporeity either thinne or thicke For whatsoeuer is in his substance transmutable vnto a thinner or thicker body must needs bee bodily though not a visible body So is a Starre of Heauen called Densior pars sui orbis that is The inuisible â—…thereall spirit or thin body of Heauen thickned into the visible body of a Starre So also may fire be condensed into ayre and ayre into water and water into earth And againe that earth may be rarified into water and water into ayre and ayre into fire For such is the naturall rotation of elements Now the externall of Angels must be created of the spirituall substance of the higher world or not at all according vnto Basils tenor and consequently it is bodily though of a thinner or thicker consistence according vnto the dignity of the Angell Doth not also Dauid acknowledge thus much in these words Qui facit Angelos spiritus seu aëra 〈◊〉 Ministros ignem vrentem who maketh his Angels spirits or windie ayre and his Ministers flames of fire And therefore it is a shame that such mysteries as these which are most apparent to the considerant should by the ignorant bee derided and esteemed not workes and operations of the Spirit of God in the common element of the world but of the Deuill and so through their blindnesse mistake euill for good darknesse for light of which sort of people the Prophet meaneth in these words Woe vnto them that speake good of euill and euill of good which put darknesse for light and light for darknesse that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Woe vnto them that are wise in their owne eyes and prudent in their owne sight Thus iudicious and vnpartiall Reader you may perceiue by that which hath bene expressed in this Member how vnable mine Aduersaries Sponge hath beene to wipe away the least tittle of that naturall value and diuine vertue which in my mysticall Anatomy I haue ascribed vnto the Weapon-Salue And therefore for all I can see hee may inuent some more substantiall meanes then is this windie Sponge an expresse argument of a light braine or fantastick wit to subuert a Medicine of so weighty an importance and admirable power in working Hee must haue I say strong Cable-ropes in stead of a light Sponge to remoue the foundation of verity and yet I feare they will cracke too before they will be able to draw wise men to beleeue that the good gifts of healing in this Weapon-Salue should proceed from the Deuill and not from God and his benigne mercies which is the onely giuer of health and goodnesse And now I must remember you by the way of one absurdity in our Sponge-bearing Author For he saith first that this manner of cure is Diabolicall and afterward hee seemeth to attribute the effect of it vnto the vrine of man His words are these Doctor Fludds directions are that the Weapon be left in the Vnguent-pot till the
reducis manum tuam nihil potest effugere Thou hatst the power of life and death in thine hand thou bringest into the mouth of the graue and deliuerest or bringest backe againe Whereby it is manifest that it is onely God who eyther miraculously or by vertue of his creatures which he hath instituted for this or that wholesome purpose that cureth and againe woundeth by the meanes of his organicall ministers be they angelicall or humane As for example hee causeth his Angell Raphiel to make vse of the fish his Liuer and Gall for the chasing away of the destroying Fiend and to heale the blind Tobias Also the Angel did giue the vertue of healing vnto the Lake Bethesdas And againe the Psalmist saith Plag a non appropinquabit tentorium tuum nam Angelis suis praecipiet de te but that by any authority of Text hee made vse of Satan or any of his darke angels to accomplish any such deed of light or to employ any of Gods creatures as are the Fat Blood or Flesh to cure a wounded or vlcerous creature when I can finde it in Scripture I will in some sort beleeue it but because that will proue too long a search for Master Foster and againe I finde the precedent places of Scripture to be generally against it therefore I conclude that the mysticall curing by the Weapon-Salue is the mercifull gift of God only Wherefore vnto him wholly and vnto no diuell in hell be ascribed all vertue power and glory for his mercies in generall and for this vertue and property of healing by the weapon-salue in particular for euer Amen Blessed I say with the Prophet Dauid be the Lord God of Israel who onely worketh all wonders and therefore effecteth this wonderfull manner of curing which passeth mans vnderstanding To him therefore be ascribed for it all praise and honour for euermore CHAP. III. How by an abstruse inquisition made into the mystery of Sacred Philosophy the question proposed concerning the lawfulnesse or vnlawfulnesse of the Weapon-salues vsage is resolued and Mr. Fosters Sponge well squeesed IN this precedent Chapter I haue proued Thelogically and that by pure examples out of Scripture that the diuell was the spirituall Organ ordained by God in the creation for an vse cleane opposite vnto that of curing and healing and therefore it is vnlikely that now in his latter dayes after so many destructions committed by him in his former age hee can become a sauer and healer of diseases Now wil I proue in a more euident manner and that by Sacred Philosophy that Gods viuifying Spirit mouing in the ayry Organ of the World doth by his vertuous application or aspect to the weapon-salue effect the cure of such as are wounded And I call this manner of prouing Theo-philosophicall or belonging vnto Sacred Philosophy because it respecteth the nature of this manner of curing as it receiueth his essentiall act and being from God mouing and acting in and by his created Spiriâ—…uall Organs in and ouer all Of this manner of Philosophy St. Paul speaketh thus Videte ne quis vos decipiat per philosophiam inanem fallaciam secunduÌ„ traditionem hâ—…minum secundum element a mundi non secundum Christum quia in ipso habitat omnis plenitudo diuinitatis corporaliter estis in illo repleti qui est Caput omnis principatus potestatis Beware lest there be any man that deceiue you through philosophy and vaine deceit according to the traditions of men according to the rudiments of the world and not after Christ for in him dwelleth the fulnesse of the God-head bodily and 〈◊〉 are complete in him who is the head of Principalities and Powers By which words hee seemeth to terme the Ethnick philosophy vaine and deceitfull forasmuch as it is framed out according to the rudiments of this world which doe ordaine many essentiall subalternate Agents acting and operating absolutely and simply of themselues without any consideration had vnto the Catholicke and supreme Power of God the Father of all things from whom radically all essentiall actions proceed which are afteward effected by our Lord Iesus Christ by whom all things haue their being and not from any subalternat agent or efficient creature For though they ferue as organicall ministers yet they are but dead except God apeareth and opperateth in them by his Spirit and therefore is all act and operation attributed vnto God as it is proued before by the Apostle saying One God operateth all in all And againe he saith Though there be that are called Gods in heauen and in earth yet vnto vs there is but one God who is the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things and wee by him For this cause is God called Alpha and Omeâ—…a the beginning and the end namely as in himselfe he decreeth all and by his Word he essentially operateth and effecteth all and that immediately Now that his very Spirit is in all things the wise Salomon doth intimate expressely saying that the incorruptible Spirit of the Lord is in all things and that from the Spirit of Gods mouth proceedeth the vertues of all things as the Prophet Dauid telleth vs which being so it must consequently follow that the essentiall forme or life of euery Creature in this world must depend on this Spirit and haue his centrall seate of Actiuity in proportion more or lesse from this Agent of Agents who as it acteth in the Center of all things so is it euen continuat vnto the circumference that is from Alpha or the Center vnto Omega or the Circumference for else would there bee a diuision of the diuine Essence which is impossible And for this cause is God said to fill all and to operate all in all wherefore the Apostle concludeth as before that the Ethnick Philosophy framed out by the tradition and inuention of mans wisdome is false and deceitfull but that which is founded onely vpon Christ is to bee embraced because that in him dwelleth the fullnes of Diuinity which operateth all in all according vnto the will and decree of his Father who is the head of all Potestates and principalities and consequently of all Angels And therefore Angels can effect nothing but as he acteth in them and by them as his spirituall Organs Loe this is therefore that Theosophicall subiect whereby I make my strickt Inquisition into the mystery of this manner of healing by the Weapon-Salue And thus much for a preamble to the discourse Now to the purpose Wee must obserue in the cure done by this Weapon-Salue three principall things namely the partie wounded the Oyntment curing and lastly the occulte actiuity which raigneth in the blood and issueth from the blood vnto the Oyntment The party wounded may rightly be compared to the world and therefore is called a little world he is composed of heauen and earth namely of spirit and body
and as the Creatour did send out his Spirit which moued vpon the waters and did informe animate and viuifie them so that as St. Peter saith of them and by them were the heauens and the earth framed and by this spirituall Word established vnto this day euen so mans heauen and his earth are fashioned out by the same eternall spirit of life on which it relyeth and continueth in his specificall succession euen vnto this very day And therfore is it said Ye are carued out of one and the same Spirituall Rocke and that In him wee line wee moue and haue our Being and that we are the Temples of the Holy Ghost and the Members of Christ and that We are in God the Father and by our Lord Iesus Christ as it is rehearsed before and that Regnum Dei sit intra nos The Kingdome of God is within vs Neither let vs ascribe this Gods goodnesse to our selues alone since that it extendeth it selfe to euery Creature besides though not so abundantly For in Verbo erat vita in the Word was life and Iudith saith in her prayer Seruiat Dcâ—…omnis omnis Creatura quia dixisti factae sunt misisti Spiritum tuum creatae sunt Let euery Creature serâ—…e thee O Lord because thou spakest the Word and they were made thou didst send forth thy spirit and they were created And the Prophet saith Haec dicit Deus creans coelos extendens eos firmans terram quae germinant in ea dans flatum populâ—… qui est supraeam spiritum calcantibus eam Thus saith the Lord who hath created the heauens and extended them and fastned the earth and all things that grow out of it who giueth breath vnto the people that is vpon it and spirit to those Creatures that tread vpon it And King Dauid Deo dante Creaturis colliguâ—… abscondente faciemsuam perturbantur recipiente spiritum eorum exspirant emittente spiritum suum receantur God giuing to the Creatures they receiue it hiding his face from them they are troubled taking back againe from them their spirit they dye and sending forth his spirit they are recreated or reuiued And Iob hominâ—…m constituit Deus super terram apponens ad â—…am animam suam si spiritum seu flatum eius adse reciperet deficeret exspiraret omnis caâ—… simul â—…omo in cinerem reverteretur God made man vpon earth giuing vnto him his soule or life If he should receiue or draw vnto himselfe his spirit or breath of life all flesh would dye and also man would returne to ashes By all these authorities we are taught that the life forme and nature of euery Creature doth essentially spring and proceed from God and therefore what gift of healing is found to proceed either from compounded or simple medicines be they Angelicall Celestiall Elementall or of an Animall Vegetable or minerall composition it proceedeth from their Creatour as being either bestowed vpon them in their Creation for that wholesome purpose or else miraculously and beyond the common course of Nature imparted vnto some Creatures to effect And therefore man ought not rashly to condemne a medicine because it worketh after an other manner then the vulgar doth For God hath allotted vnto some medicines occult hidden properties and therefore worke they not by an externall and euident elementarie qualitie And this occult vertue is called by some wise men Angelicus actus qui est tanquam inter Deum Naturam virtus media à quâ fiunt operationes in rebus quâ—…s natura earum vel non faceret vel sic faceret quas alij dicuut prouenire a proprietate occulta alij quia tales An Angelicall act which is as it were a middle vertue betweene God and nature whereby operations are effected in things which the elementarie Nature of them could not performe or would so bring to passe as they which are said by some to proceed of an occult quality and others quia sunt tales And such was the effect in curing by the water of the poole of Bethesdas not that the manifest elementary quality of the water did it But the Act of the Angell which mooued it In like manner can no man expresse any naturall reason that is manifest for the attraction of the Iron by the Loadstone or of straw by Amber or why the Loadstone looketh towards the North or why the Laurell or Baytree preserueth from the harmes of lightning and thunder and likewise how directly this cure is effected c. The causes of these things are occult and hidden vnto the common philosopher but to come a little neerer to the point It is apparant then that the incorruptible Spirit is in all things but most abundantly next vnto the great world in the little world called man For as in the great world God is said rightly by Ierome his translations leauing the corruption of others to haue put his Tabernacle in the Sunne from whence by a perpetuall and neuer dying motion hee sendeth forth life and multiplication to euery member and creature of the great world and by the agility of his Spirit for Salomon saith It is omni re mobilior the most moueable of all things hee moueth and giueth life vnto the whole Spirit of the world which also the same wise man doth iustifie in these words Sol gyrans à meridie flectitur ad Aquilonem lustrans vniuersain circuitu pergit spiritus The Sunne mouing from the South bendeth toward the North illuminating the whole world the spirit or ayre of it doth moue circularly Whereby hee argueth that the spirit in the Sunne animateth and giueth motion life and spirit vnto the ayrall spirit of the whole world for without his assiduall motion and act as Aristotle and all other Philosophers confesse the ayre would soone be corrupt and be as it were dead and of no validity for the reason heereof the holy Text concludeth that the Holy spirit of discipline filleth the whole world So also and in the very like manner the same incorruptible spirit filleth the little world est enim Templum Spiritus Sancti it is the Temple of the Holy Ghost and hath put his Tabernacle in the heart of man in which it moueth as in this proper macrocosmicall Sunne in Systole and Diastole namely by contraction and dilatation without ceasing and sendeth his beames of life ouer all the whole frame of man to illuminate giue life and circular motion vnto his spirit And thereupon the Apostle reciprocally saith of this little world as in another place of the great one In Deo viuimus mouemur sumus In God we liue moue and haue our being also as this abstruse spirit doth giue heate by his actiuity and essentiall motion vnto the great world the very same it doth effect in the little world and all things else when it doth not quiescere or in se delitescere that is not rest or withdraw
of this feate of occult curing and not rather such ingredients as are collected out of mans body being that they are neerer and more familiar vnto their kinde and therefore more benigne and affable vnto it then stranger Medicines as are vegetables or such like If the Reader will well ponder this he will perceiue all that our Sponge-carrier speaketh Pag. 8. is but foppery The Deuill saith he maketh the Mediciner beleeue it is spent by a vertue going to the wound whilst hee skilfull by long experience in all Arts and so in the Art of Medicine doth himselfe secretly apply some other vertuall operatiue Medicine to cure the wound to delude his credulous Mountebankes and makes them beleeue that this Salue which dropped out of the Hangmans bouget hath performed it O wonderous miracle and what getteth the Deuill by that namely to cure a man in that sort whose body and soule is in the hands of the Almighty In maâ—… Iehouae saith Iob est anima omnis 〈◊〉 spiritus 〈◊〉 carnis In the hand of God is the soule of euery creature and the spirit of all flesh Thinkes he that God will leese his owne by so weake and poore a sleight Nay more to giue or grant vnto the Deuill his Word which as Salomon saith 〈◊〉 all things to deceiue himselfe of his owne heritage What The Deuill doe good where no profit vnto him is to be expected And why not then by the virtuall contact of this Medicine being of a neerer consanguinity with man and therefore a more easie Curer then any other Medicine that can worke by any virtuall contact A goodly tale As if a man would perswade me that it is not the Load-stone that draweth the Iron but the Deuill vseth some other creature to doe the deed to coozen and deceiue the Philosopher or Mariner These are but fabulae Inuentions I say of a fantastick braine who to perswade vs vnto his imaginary and no way probable will would make vs beleeue that Castles are built in the Ayre and that we are in all our good actions deluded by the Deuill and that flying with the wings of Master Fosters wit we must needs be wafted on the clouds of error and so in a mist of ignorance forget the blessed workes of our good God and Sauiour and by Master Fosters palpable delusions to acknowledge them to be effected craftily by Gods enemy And how in Gods name hapneth it that the Deuill is become so great a Student in Physick and doth proue so expert in the art of curing who hath employed his whole cunning and bestowed the best fruits of his industry to play the Kill-cow and to destroy A very wonderous thing Master Foster said it ergo must we beleeue it No God forbid But blessed be our Lord God who by emitting forth the benignity of his countenance sendeth onely health where how and vnto whom he list But to proceede CHAP. IIII. This Chapter sheweth Master Fosters error in saying that the soule doth not reside after an hidden manner in the spirits The second attempt of the Sponge against the same Text. Fourthly I deny that the soule resideth after any hidden manner in the spirits The Stoicks indeed held that the spirits were vincula animae corporis but the Peripatetick and Diuines deeme this as needlesse seeing the body is generated for the soule and the soule created for the body and both make the totum compositum What needs there any bonds to fasten them together There is a reciprocall desire to come together at the first and an endeauour after the vnion to keepe together The soule cannot in any kinde depend on or reside in the spirits her instruments but the spirits in the soule c. We squeese once againe in this Argument this swelling and full-gorged Sponge after this manner Though in the precedent I answered sufficiently that point yet must I wring this Sponge a little harder or it will keepe some of the iuyce of verity in his porous paunch I said before that animaesedes was in sanguine and her chiefest vehicle was the humidum radicale as we see that the Spirit of life in the great world did place His Tabernacle in the Sunne of Heauen And againe it is said that the incorruptible Spirit is in all things but this is that spirit which viuifyeth all things and therefore it resideth in the blood and consequently in the spirits which are contained therein after a hidden and mysticall manner As touching the Peripateticks and some 〈◊〉 opinion who hold that it is needlesse there should be a tye betweene the soule and body verily that doctrine is most erroneous and false First because the soule and body are so contrary in complexion vnto one another that except an vnion were made betweene the two extremes it were impossible that they should meet together or if they should or could meete yet the pure and heauenly light of the soule would suddenly forsake the impure and earthly darknesse of the body For how can duo contraria conuenire in vnum Doe we not see that all influences from aboue must haue an ayrie Chariot vehicle or medium to conuey them into bodies and to vnite them together Why did God ordaine and place the Ayre betweene the Heauen and Earth but to serue as a vehicle to vnite celestiall things with terrestriall ones quasi amoris vinculo as it were with the band of loue Can we haue a better proofe hereof in this typicall world then that of the Archetypicall Is not the Father vnited to the Sonne by the Holy Spirit which Saint Augustine calleth and many others Diuinum amoris vinculum The Diuine tye or vnion of loue Now after the Archetypicall image were all things effected both in the little and great world For the Prophet saith By the Word of the Lord the Heauens were fashioned and by the Spirit of his mouth all the vertues of them So that the vertuous vnion or linke which is made betweene the effects of the Word in whom is life and the creature to be viuified is the Good and Incorruptible Spirit by which tye God hath his essentiall relation vnto the creature By this Spirit all the discordant elements are tyed in an vnion and louing consent whereupon it is called Peace and Loue and Concord which beareth as the Apostle saith and sustaineth all things by the Word of his vertue By it weight and proportion is assigned vnto the ayre and the clouds are fastened or hung vp in measure and the waters are tyed so fast in the thicke clouds that they cleaue not To conclude in the great World the Earth and the Heauens are established and linked together by the Word of God as the Apostle Peter telleth vs or else the elements would be continually at warre And by the same reason the soule and the body or Heauen and Earth in the little World are linked together by this intermediate eternall tye or