Gnomes Sylvesters and Lemâ—res Sylvestres and Lemures of which some are alotted to the mountains some to the woods some onely to the night But the Giants were parted into a third separation There are great distributed essences too as also strange miracles amongst men cattle and all things that grow which is a hard matter for any Phylosopher to find out and therefore t is thought they were made besides the order and measure of nature TEXT 16. How the complexions were brought forth After the four Elements were from the beginning separated from each other out of the onely matter as hath been said in which matter notwithstanding their complexion and essence was nâ—t the Complexions and natures issued out by that separation The hot and dry went into the heavens and firmament each cleaving apart into its own property The hot and moyst went into the aire by which the hot and moyst are invisibly separated The cold and moyst turned into the Sea and the parts adjoyning The cold and dry degenerated into the earth and all earthy things And even contraries arose from the separation of the Elements which have no likenesse at all to their Elements Of this sort is lime Lime comeeh out of the fire yet is not of a fiery nature which in respect of its own nature is not fire though it ariseth out of the fire The cause whereof is this because the dissolution went too far off from the fiery nature in the separation of the Element for the fire hath both cold and moyst in it The fire of lour sorts There is a fourfold fire Therefore the colours that are from the fire are not alwayes like unto it One fire causeth a white and azure colour The dry fire maketh a red and green The moyst fire maketh an ashie and black The moyst fire casteth a colour like saffron and red For this reason one procreation is hotter then another because one fire is more or lesse in degree than another Nor is there but one simple and onely fire and no more but there are some hundreds of fires Divers degrees of fire yet never a one of the same degree with another The procreation therefore of every of them is from its own subject as a kind of mysterie so ordained TEXT 17. Nor did the water obtaine one kind of complexion onely Various complexions of water For there were infinite waters in that Element which yet were all truly waters The Phylosopher cannot understand that the Element of water is onely cold and moyst of it selfe It is an hundred times more cold and not more moyst and yet is it not to be refer'd as well to the hotnesse as the coldnesse Nor doth the Element of water live and flourish onely in cold and moyst of one degree no neither is it fully and wholly of one degree Some waters are fountaines The differences of waters which are of many sorts Some are Seas which also are many and divers Other are streams and rivers none of which is like another Some watry Elements were disposed of into stones as the Berill Chrystall Calcedony Amethist Some into plants as Corall c. Some into juyce as the liquor of life Many into the earth as the moysture of the ground These are the Elements of water but in a manifold sort For that which groweth out of the earth from the seed that was sown that also belongs to the Element of water Nymphs So what was fleshy as the Nymphs belong also to the Element of water Though in this case we may conceive that the Element of water was changed into another complexion yet doth it never put off or passe from that very nature of the Element from which it proceeded Whatsoever is of the water turneth againe into water that which is of fire into fire that of earth into earth and that of aire into aire TEXT 18. In like manner must we think of the Element of the earth that all things that are out of the earth do retaine the nature thereof What the minerall moystures are Why brimstone burneth And though the minerall liquors may be taken for fire yet are they not fire Brimstone doth not therefore burn because it is of a fiery Element For that which is cold will burn as well as that which is hot That which burneth to ashes is not the Element of fire but the fire of the earth And that fire is not to be taken for the very Element Nor is it the Element but onely the wasting of the earth or of its substance Water may be made burn Water may burne and flame as well as any thing else and if it burn then is it watry fire Againe whereas the fire of earth will burn and blaze it is not therefore to be accounted fiery Whence a Philosopher should denominate things though it be somewhat like to fire He is but a silly and sensuall Philosopher that calleth the element according to that which he perceiveth Thus rather should he think that the Element it selfe is far another thing then such a fire as this And for what cause All that moystneth is not the Element of water Even the Element of Earth may be brought into water Earth may be reduc'd into water yet it remaineth earth still Whatsoever likewise is in the earth is of the Element of earth For it is and is known by the property of that our of which it proceeded and to which it is like A man may strike fire out of a flint and calcedony A flint and calcedony give fire That is not elementall fire but a strong expression out of great hardnesse TEXT 19. The Element of the aire hath many procreations in it all which are yet meer aire Every Philosopher should well understand this that no Element can begat another thing out of it selfe but that which it is of it selfe Like ever begetteth its like Like to like So then seeing the aire is invisible it can bring nothing visible out of it selfe And whereas it is impalpable it can produce nothing that may be touch'd Therefore as I may so say it doth melosinate And though that be from the aire yea be the very aire and nothing else What Melosinie is yet the conjunction is made in another Element which is the Earth For here may a conjunction be made from the aire to a man as it cometh to passe by Spirits in all witchcrafts and inchantments The same may be said here as was of the Nymphs who though they live in the Element of water What the Nymphs are and are nothing but water yet have they freedome to converse with things on the Earth and to generate with them The like compaction also is there from the aire which may be seen and felt yet as a procreation of the first separation but onely as a consequence For as a beetle is bred of dung so may a monster of the airy Element
about the channells and hollownesse of the centre within the other Elements and the skie What the water is This is the hutch of the Nymphs and monsters of the Sea The earth was coagulated into dry land What the Earth is It is sustained by the pillars of the Arcealtes and is upheld by none of the other Elements but is propt up by the pillars of the Archaltes These are the strange and wonderfull works of God The earth is the chest of those things that grow which are nourished by it This kind of separation was the beginning of all creatures and the first distribution both of these and all other creatures TEXT 12. After the Elements were thus brought forth into their essence and divided from each other that every one subsisted severally in its own place without prejudice to one another then a second separation followed the first which procceeded from the Elements The firc's separation and its kind Thus every thing that lay in the fire was transformed into the heavens one part thereof as into an Ark or cloyster another part proceeded out of it as a flower out of a stalk Thus the Stars Planets The second Stars sprang out of the second separation and whatsoever is in the Firmament were brought forth These sprang out of the Element not as a stalk groweth with its flowers out of the earth for these grow out of the earth it selfe but the Stars came out of the heavens by separation onely as the flowers of silver ascend How the Stars came out of heaven and separate themselves So that all the firmaments are separated from the fire But before the firmament was separated from the fire every jot thereof was but one Element of fire For as a tree in winter is but a tree but when the spring comes the same tree if that be separated from it that may be separated puts forth leaves flowers and fruit which is the time of its harvest and separation Just such another harvest was there in the separation of the great mysterie which could by no means with-hold or defer it selfe any longer TEXT 13. Another separation out of the Aire followed the separation of the Elements The separation of the aire and its kind at one and the same instant with that of the fire For the whole aire was predestinated unto all the Elements Yet is it not in the other Elements of mixture in any manner and measure but it doth assume and occupy all manner of things in all the Elements onely what was before surrounded it doth not possesse For no mixture of the Elements continued fast united but every Element betook it selfe to its own free power without dependance on another As soon as this Element thus parted from the rest out of the great mysterie presently out of it were distributed Fates impressions inchantments superstitions shrewd turns dreams divinations lotteries visions apparitions fatacests melosines spirits diemeae durdales and neuferans At the separation of the things aforesaid every thing had its proper place and peculiar essence appointed it Hence things invisible in themselves became sensible unto us No Element was by the supream Secret made more thin than the Aire The Diemeae dwell in the rocks Diemes live among the stones for such there created with the Aire unto a vacuity The Durdales betook themselves into woods for their separation was into such a kind of substance The Durdales Neuferans Melosines The Neuferans inhabit in the Aire or pores of the earth The Melosinies stept aside into mans blood for their separation from the aire was into bodies and flesh Spirits The Spirits were distributed into aire that is yet in a Chaos All the rest are in peculiar places of the Aire every one keeping its place assigned to it and separate from the Element of the Aire yet so as that it must of necessity live therein nor can it change that place for another TEXT 14. The separation of the water and its kind By the separation of the Elements the water was gathered into the place which the mysterie had alotted it Thus every thing whatsoever that lurked in the Elementary vertue and property thereof was more fully divided by a second separation and the water parted into many speciall mysteries all which had their matrix from the Element of water One part thereof became fishes and they are of many forms and kinds some beasts some salt much of it sea-plants as Corals Trines and Citrons Corall trine and citrons sea-plants a great deal of it sea-monsters contrary to the manner and naturall course of the Elements very much became Nymphs Syrenes Drames Lorind Nymphs Syrenes Dramae Lorind Nesder Nesder some reasonable creatures having something eternall in their body and propagating themselves some also that die totally and some that are againe separated in time For the perfect separation of the element of water is not yet made But as the great harvest hastneth and cometh on a new increase may spring up every year in the Element of water And this separation is made at the same instant when the other Elements are separated in one dayes work and by the motion of sequestration So that every thing thus living in the water was at once in a minute and moment of time created and made manifest by the separation TEXT 15. The separation of the earth and its kind In like manner when the Element of the earth was disjoyn'd from the rest the earthy separation was made to wit the separation of all things that doe or did spring in or out of the earth For at the first creation the four Elements lay hid in all things alike in the great mysterie which things also were separated after the same manner and in one instant and were divided among themselves one after another by a second separation which is Elementary And by this kind of Elementary separation out of the Element of the Earth things sensible and insensible those that are eternall and those that are not eternall were parted from one another every one obtaining its peculiar essence and free power All that was of a woody nature was made wood The next was mines of mettalls A third became marcasite The difference of Mineralls talke bisemute pomegranate mettallick cobalt milsto and many other things A fourth precious stones of many sorts and shapes as also stones sands and lime A fift was made into fruit flowers hearbs and seeds A sixt into sensible living creatures whereof some partake of eternity as men others doe not as calves sheep c. Whereof many kinds and differences might be reckoned up for many more kinds were separated in the earthy Element than in any other Earthy things are propagated by seed For by the seed of two are all things propagated that is by the coming together of father and mother which was not predestinated and ordained in the other Elements Here also are the Gnomi
made in the Element of water For Lorind is the commotion of the change of that Element of water What Lorind is When this moveth it selfe in the Element of water yet then is the Element of earth moved too Lorind is like a comet or blazing star The monster of the sea may be considered as the errour of the Firmament So that a peculiar world with its mysterie to the end of the world may be found out in the water They have the same principle with the other Elements Their end is no other but as the rest of the Elements is The onely difference is of the forms essence and natures that happen to them with their signatures and Elements How there are four worlds Hence we may find four worlds according to the four Elements and primary habitations but there is but one Eternall in righteousnesse equally to be known in all four TEXT 10. From the Element of Earth we may learn very much that out of it we came Man was made of the earth Every like knoweth its like The knowledge of the other Elements floweth from Philosophy But this is a thing like us issuing from experience out of which afterward Philosophy groweth up But as the Element of Earth procreated a signature so likewise did all the rest As we have stones There are stoâ—es in every Element so have the other Elements as many Indeed those stones are not like ours but are made after their own proper form The rest of the Elements have their mineralls too as well as we The celestiall Firmament hath mineralls both of flowers and stones which we may ranck amongst the miracles A mistake about celestial mineraâ—ls Though here we may easily be deceived and quickly run our selves aground while we stickle so much to have the natural courses reckoned among prodies and that this or that hue of the Firmament fore-sheweth some singular thing thus we praesage like Prophets whereas we should rather conclude that such things come to passe according to the naturall course of the Firmament But if any such thing should at any time so fâ—ll out we should believe that such was our course and state Mean while if any thing of the Elements be faulty that same will enfeeble the rest For all things should run in a perfect and uninterrupted course And though the other three Elements serve to nourish us yet are they ready to serve the Firmament and the aire and the water too and those things that are in them One thing is nourished by another as many trees in an orchard And we may take notice of the slips and failings of the Firmament as well as the Firmament doth observe our defects The same may be said of all the rest TEXT 11. It is silly and vaine Philosophy to place all happinesse and eternity in our Element of earth Earthy men are not happy A foolish opinion it is to boast that we onely of all creatures are the most noble There are more worlds than one nor are there none besides us in our own But this ignorance is much more capitall that we know not those men who are of the same Element with us as the Nocturnales Gnomes c. What the Nocturnales and Gnomes are Who though they live not in the clear glory of heaven nor have any light of the Firmament but hate what we love and love what we hate and though they are not like us in form essence or sustentation yet is there no cause of wonder For they were made such in the great Mystery We are not all that were made there are many more whom we know not of Therefore we must conclude that there were more bodies than onely one simple body shut up in the great Mystery though in generall there was but eternall and mortall there But in what various shapes and sorts they brought forth no man can tell This doubt will be wholly removed when the eternity of all those things shall meet together Then certainly many unknown things shall be fully found out and made known many wayes not onely of those things which have the eternall in themselves but also of those things which have sustain'd and nourished that eternall There is a twofold eternall The eternall is twofold One of the kingdome and domination the other of ornament and honour That flowers should not be eternall is clean contrary to Philosophy Flowers have the eternal in them which though they wither and perish yet at last they shall appear in the generall meeting together of all things There is nothing created out of the great Mysterie but shall have an image without the Firmament TEXT 12. There ought to be neither more nor lesse than four mothers of all things as all procreations shew Not that the great Mysterie whereof we now treat can be found out by way of universal demonstration what manner of thing it is according to its properties in the beginning But the great Mysterie is rather known and understood by the last mysteries and by the procreations which did spring and proceed out of the first By what the great Mystery may be known T is not the beginning but the end that maketh a man a Master and Philosopher The knowledge of a thing according to its perfect nature is found out onely in the end of its being Possibly there might have been more Elements made than now there be There are but four Elements in all things But in the utmost knowledge of all things there are but four to be found And though we may suppose that it had been easie for God who created but four to have made them many more yet when we see that all mortall things consist but of four onely we may conclude that more than these could not well stand together And it is most likely that when the said four Elements perish that then others shall arise according to every essence unlike the former or that after the destruction of the creatures already made there shall be a new great mysterie the knowledge whereof will be greater and better than of the former But this we lay not here as a fundamentall yet he that would understand the beginning of the world must of necessity consider that it had its rise out of the Elements Four world for four Elements and as there are four Elements so there are four worlds and in every one a peculiar kind taught how to subsist in their necessities TEXT 13. But though all things subsist in the said four Elements All the Elements are not in all things we doe not mean that the four Elements are in althings or that the four Elements dwell in all The reason is because the world which is seperated and procreated of the element of fire hath no need of ayr water or earth So the world of ayre needeth none of the other three Which is true also of the earth and water Concerning the elements we
whom they proceeded He is the Centre in that all things flow from him and because the Essence of all things pierceth also through all things God the Centre and Circle of all things He is the Circle because like an all-capacious Tabernacle he concludeth and comprehendeth all things Within God are all things and at the worlds end nothing shall be without him either of what was before or what hath been since the Creation what was either before it was brought forth or since it was brought forth So is Man Thus Man in imitation of his Creator is the Centre of the Creatures and the Circle of them all It was Gods pleasure that all things which he made should honour him by Man For all things in the world doe not onely look to him as their Guide and Governour for whom also they were all created but likewise on him all the Sphaeres bestow their beams operations reflections and influences and on him all the Creatures poure their vertues and effects as upon a middle Point and Retinacle or that by which they are stayed and supported As the Earth is a Receptive body of all seeds so also is Man Man is said to be the Circle in that he containeth all things in himselfe and with himselfe leadeth back all things that gushed out of that Summum Bonum or chiefest good unto the fountaine of Eternity from which they did originally spring and flow The world was the first figure or image of God Man is the image of the World the Animall or living creature is the image of Man the Zoophite or sensible hearb is the image of the Animall the Plant is the image of the Zoophite Mettalls are the image of the Plant stones represent the likenesse and images of Mettalls The great world is in every thing one with the little world as the child with its parent the prudent Ancients wilsely called Man a Microcosm or little World which few now a dayes understand that the great visible World was made Man As the great world is bipartite consisting of two parts visible and invisible so also the little world man is twofold visible in respect of his Body invisible in respect of his Spirit There are two Spirits in Man The first Spirit is from the Limbus or greater world the second from the word Fiat one a syderiall Spirit from the Firmament the other from the breath of life which is the Intellectuall Soul inspired from God and the mouth of the most High Man hath three parts a mortall Body with a Syderiall Spirit and an immortall Soule which is the cottage of the Image of God or of the holy Spirit in Man There is a two fâ—ld wisdom in Man Angelicall according to which he is to live and Animall which is not to be regarded Regeneration overcometh a bad birth If a man live sensually by his own proper and proud Will according to flesh and blood onely he is but a Brute or Beast and is known whether according to those Epithites in Scripture he be a Dog Fox Wolfe Sheep Sow or generation of Vipers of which I shall discourse more at large in my Treatise of Signatures and therefore shall forbear to speak more thereof at this time If he live Rationally then he is a Man The invisible or immortall body of Man from the breath of God is not subject to Stars or Astronomers and hath dominion over the living Creatures in his body But if he live according to the God-like Spirit upon the Tree of Life observing the property of the Image of God if I say he live according to the Talent and Treasure laid up in his Earthen Vessell and committed to him then hath he dominion over the Stars and all things else Man comprehends and carryeth all things about in himselfe whereof he is made that beareth he in himselfe He was made of the world he beareth the world about in him and is borne of the world Againe as the first matter which was a kind of ineffigiate confused Essence which Phylosophers call the Chaos and Hylen or Mother of the world was the seed of the great world so the great world is the seed of Adam or Man As the world was hid in the invisible Waters upon the Abysse or great deep Water is the Matrix of the world upon which the Spirit of God moved Gen. 1. The Earth plung'd or swam up out of the Water 2 Pet. 3.5 so Man Adam lay hid in the world The first matter was made a world and the great World was made Man As a Tree groweth from the seed the seed is the beginning of the Tree and the seed also is the end of the Tree for in every graine or seed of the Tree there lies hid another Tree So the First Matter which Paracelsus calleth the Limbus whose Earth was the WORD of the Lord was the seed of all things that were to be created As a Câ—rver and Potter out of word and clay can make a hundred severall shapes at pleasure so God extracted every creature out of the first matter and Man was the last of all as the perfect seed which againe is able out of himselfe to beget another Man like himself And though Man be not a seed as other seed is yet hath he power to cast seed out of himselfe whereby is begotten another Man like himselfe As Adam or Man carryeth the world and every creature in himselfe and is preserved by the world so every one that is borne of him bears about him that which he did viz. the whole world and is born and preserved by it as Adam was Man isâ— that Earth or field which hath all seeds in it self As the Son is not lesser then his Father so Man is not lesser then the World all men are but one man of flesh blood and spirit Therefore the knowledge of Man is to be taken from both Lights as the Son cannot be known from himselfe alone but from his Father Man hath two Fathers an Eternall whose Image he beareth and a Mortall one which is the whole world with all the creatures that is that Limus Terrae that slime of the earth or hidden Secret thing None can know the image unlesse he first know him whose image he is Hermes calleth Man an earthly God Gen. 2.7 and the most precious Esse or Being of all creatures which all Phylosophers Physitians Astronomers and Divines are to consider and diligently inquire into In the lesser world Man there is no member or part that doth not answer to some Element some Planet some Intelligence or other and to some measure and number in the Archetype or first pattern Man hath a visible body from the Elements as a fit garment and sutable cottage for the Soul From the Heaven or Firmament he hath an invisible Syderiall The perfection and dignity of Man Aetheriall and Astrall Body or chariot and vehicle of the Soule wherein the
preserveth nourisheth and cureth him When the fruits of the Earth Aire Water and Fire of the Microcosm are sick they must be restored by fruits like themselves of the Macrocosm Thus Nature doth strengthen and help its own Nature For Nature strengthened and assisted by its own Nature doth more forcibly drive out all its enemyes seeing every Nature is Naturally the best preserver of it selfe Thus Nature is not onely our companion but our friend and ready helper it alone being the genuine Physitian of all diseases as Galen witnesseth in his 13 Book of Method It is the First Mover of every cure without whose strength and vigour all Physick is in vaine and to no purpose Nature continued in its Temperature is in it selfe medicinable and it selfe healeth its own infirmities by the innate Mummy when that inward Nature is not the medicine all diseâ—ses prove mortal T is weâ—â— enough known that every thing by a kind of naturall instinct desireth to be perfected and preserved On the contrary it doth most vehemently abhorre the destruction of it selfe and desireth as much as may be to be kept from it dayly experience makes it plaine as when any part of our body is wounded with a sword or other weapon for those that are wounded perceive a presentaneous succour from Nature as of one hastening to helpe and so unwearyed that it will never be at quiet till it hath first cured the ugly wound and restord the wounded part to its former soundnesse And whereas some say that contraryes are to be cured by Contraryes they are not much mistaken if they have not respect to the qulaityes but the vertues of a contrary Nature For there are as many crosse and hurtfull vertues to nature as there be good and healthfull for it the goodnes of these is always busyed about and consisteth in the preservation of Nature as the continuall malice of the other is to the destruction of Nature If they therefore would destroy those are sent to succour strugling Nature that by their goodnesse they may preserve the twofold goodnesse of Nature but chase out and overcome the malice of the other Tâ—us the crosse and contrary vertues which are hurtfull to Natuâ—e are vanquisht and driven out by the adverse and contraâ—y vertues in Nature but contrary qualityes are not rooted out by contrary quallityes but rather are irritated and provoked to strife by each other by which discord Nature is more weakned then strengthned because Nature is not a quality but a vertue and chooseth to be assâ—sted rather by vertues then qualityes when it would succesfully prevaile and fight against its cruell enemy for it s not the Physitian that hunteth out the disease but Nature her selfe who is the Internall Mummy or inward Balsom expelled all ill contrary to her selfe when her own inward strength fayleth shee is to be supplyed with outward helpe by her servant the Physitian Though sometimes it may be the best medicine not to use any medicine at all but to leave the ooperation to the sole Archaeus or Art of Nature The Inward Physitian doth the work when the Naturall Physitian faileth for the Nature of the inward body cureth more diseases then the Physitian doth with all his medicines Wherefore if any be preserved in a raging pestilence by Opium which is most cold it is not by the coldnesse of Opium but but by the Specifick venemous vertue of the Opium which hath a greater degree of poyson then the occult venomous power of that Pestilence Thus Nature destroyeth one poyson by another it subdueth a weak evill by a stronger and fighteth against her enemy both with healthfull and hurtfull weapons that so shee may keep her own things in safety and beat her enemy out of her posession by any meanes whatsoever As winter doth not destroy summer nor summer winter but one gives place to the other so one quality doth not destroy another for without vertue the quallity is dead and wholly accidentall and consequently cannot afford any life or substance which the medicine must of necessity do if it would succor Nature indeed And here also it is worth the noting that Roots of diseases in the body of Man are neither hot nor cold but whereas nothing can be without heate therefore the disease also is said to be either hot or cold though those Accidents and Excrements are but the signes of the disease and not the disease it selfe For the most pernitious diseases and Traytors of the body do not spring out of the matter of the body or out of the four Humours but from the Nature of the Seed or Astra's and Invisible mechanick Spirits of the Three principles which Spirits also build their outward house and habitation with shells These Forgers and Invisible Astra's of diseases were not knowne to the Ancients Physick is a Spirit not a body which the Magician or wise man only can discerne Therefore the body or Earth of Simples is to be cast away and the vertue Heaven or Astrum of it only to be taken For in the Microcosm Medicine it is necessary that the life should worke upon the life and the Spirit upon the Spirit by sepration of the impure body as the intangible Sun Melteth Snow and causeth it to vanish away Such is the Nature of all Secrets that they worke without the matter and body because the diseases also are not bodyes This is the true and lively Anatomy This Mechanick and Forger of diseases is to be subdued and destroyed in his Roote and originall Paracelsus in the Tincture of medicines as the whole Tree cannot be destroyd in the branch but in the Seed thus the Mechanick Forger or principle of a Pear's generation hath his habitation in the Roote not in the branch So the grasse which groweth of its own accord is hindred from growing not by evultion but corruption of the Earth See the first Tract of the second book of great Surgery Degrees and complexions are not considered in diseases when the Centre Root and Seed of diseases are pluckt up and removed the worke is done Not the smoak arising from fire but the fire it selfe is to be quenched That Physitian which cureth by complexion is like him that would extinguish the hurtless flame and let alone the fire in the coals That which springeth from the seed is not to be taken for the disease but in doing the cure the Roote of the seed which containeth the vertues is to be taken in hand In his Book of ancient Physick When Paracelsus saith that like preserve their like and are destroyed by their contraryes he doth not meane the first nor second qualityes which he alwayes calleth Recollaceous and invalid ones but the substance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at least the Cherionic Hippocraticall powers and vertues as appears in the 18. Chap of â—he first Tract of the second part of his great Chyrurgye and in other places Like things are said to be the Remedies of
these corrupt and perilous times when Honour and basenesse Vertue and vice Truth and lyes are equally esteemed by the malicious world Besides almost all men have a burning desire after making Gold There are four Pillars of Physick Phylosophy Alchymistry Astronomy and the Physicall vertue or medicine but regard not the due preparation of their Medicines the onely cause thereof is their not knowing the Metaphysicks of Paracelsus the true Phylosophy and not first reading diligently those large Books which Theophrastus directeth unto in his Labyrinth of Physitians before they set upon the preparations separations and resolution of Naturall things I observe also that most Chymists betake themselves to Court and are turned from the truth by the glitter of Court-service deceived by vaine Courtly flattery that they either neglect those great works of God or rather are made incapable for such stupendious miracles of God as for many years I have taken notice that many have begun well but deluded with these toyes have made an ill end By which means this Divine Spagyrie the most wonderfull and approved Art though for many ages suspected of greatest uncertainty and most abominable deceit hath been very much disparaged by the ruder sort which oft befalls the best things and cast aside as contemptible with other deeper sciences even by those who intend the same businesse undervaluing it as not fit to get a living by it What is said of or spoken against abuse imposture and wicked arts is not that for which things otherwise good may or ought to be condemned For what is that thing which will not turne to Mans hurt or ruine if it be abused so that the bettter the thing is the more destructive is the abuse of it But who dares to oppose himselfe to the Athenian Thrasos who will have Light to be Darkenesse and Darkenesse to be Light They have almost all the whole filthy world standing in defence of their most vaine Vanities For the world seeketh not the Truth but its own Honour And therefore God giveth us up to a reprobate sence to hate and envy one another and that we our selves should be the cause of the imminent destruction of our own Kingdome O fountaine of Truth and Wisedome consider our condition and the hearts of those who with holy desires and ardent prayers strive night and day against this imminent and approaching change But the mow High will also in his own time put an end to these things and that of his goodnesse and mercy ere it be long I hope that God would stirr up the minds of some which may bring to light the Truth that is in sciences and Faculties for as yet the Invention of Arts hath not attained the utmost end that they may root out the Tares of sciences and confute the delusions and errours of the schoolmen not with words but deeds not Syllogistically but Really and indeed For when that which is perfect is come the time of Revocation and Regeneration drawing nigh every imperfect thing will of necessity come to nought For where Titles Degrees and glistering Names make men proud their is no humility no life of Christ no holy Spirit as appeareth too manifestly in most who suffer the Old man to be ruled by the Sydereall Spirit Now then the Lord enlighten all the lovers of Truth with his Holy Spirit and graciously deliver them from the chaines of Utter Darknesse and incessant janglings of Putatitious and conceited Schollers CHAP. IV. How and with what Vertue Physick worketh upon Mans body and cureth his Diseases THat which Physitians commonly dispute and contend for In lib. de flatibus is Whether according to Hippocrates his Maxim that Contraryes are to be cured with CONTRARYES or Like with LIKE according to Paracelsus Note that these Maxims may be both received in the Anatomy of Nature though they seem thwart one the other Thus many attaine not the Mind of Phylosophers which to them seems to be at variance because they cannot understand how to reconcile them by a seasonable and sutable interpretation For Physick is nothing else but an opposition of those things that are desired to wit a refreshing of the strength and Balsom and a removing of superfluityes or impurities that cause diseases Paracelsus therefore doth not find fault with Hippocrates for saying that hunger is to to be cured with meat thirst with drink fulnesse with evacuation inanition with reflection labour with rest idlenesse with labour and generally that Contraries cure Contraryes But he is poynt blanck against Galen who applyed that Contrariety of Hippocrates chiefly to those bare and naked qualityes which Hippocrates utterly disclaimed for he by an unhappy mistake referred the first and principall Idaea's of Cures to Refrigerations Calefactions Humectations Exsiccations with their companions The onely and alone NATURES of Physicall medicines as hath been said or those Hippocraticall vertues are they which doe the cures the Physitian is but the minister or servant And this very selfe same Nature which is our Life and Balsom or balsomicall Mummy that preserveth the body from all corruption by means of the Saline moysture that is of the inferiour Balsom springing up in the inferiour from the superiour I say this very Nature of ours which sometimes worketh wonders when the Physitians to their great disgrace and shame of their Profession could doe no good but have left their Patient to their Prognisticks is its own proper Physitian in Mans body who asketh nothing of the outward Physitian but Instauration or as t is commonly called fortification applyed to the diseased part by a most pure medicine when the like Nature is not at hand And thus the Medicinall Balsom like a coadjutour or privy counsellour assisteth the Vitall or Radicall and Naturall Balsom because of the simpathy and common agreement between them Thus it recovereth the Naturall decayed strength Nature cureth with like things which being restored it is of it selfe able as an inward and unknown Antidote to chase all its enemies out of its Monarchy by the onely power of the Vitall facultyes To go about to cure a disease with contrary qualities is to raise and stir up intrinsick commotions to the utter overthrow of Nature which is to much weakned and wasted already by intestine quarrells Besides Contraryes will not willingly entertertaine each other And if they close not one with the other nor work one upon another nor suffer any thing from each other then where there is no true action and passion there can follow no true Naturall effect Wherefore medicines should not be contrary to the grieved part but very agreeable to it and have the same Externall Nature because of the Harmony between the great and little world as the place affected hath the Inward that the Internall Nature which stands in need of it may both be strengthned and succoured by the superabundance of that Externall Nature Man is therefore called a Microcosm or little world because the whole world
are cut off yet is there nothing so needlesse and uselesse but can bring forth out of it selfe some other increase or fit matter thereof TEXT 6. Know therefore that severall and various chips or fragments fell out in the cutting or carving of the great mysterie whereof some became flesh of which there are infinite sorts and formes others were Sea-monsters of wonderfull variety also some became herbs other fell into wood abundance into stones and mettalls A twofold art of the Creatour in the separation of the Great Mysterie A twofold way or manner of Art may at least be considered by them that ask how the omnipotent God did or could carve out those things First in that he alwayes ordained life and increase Secondly in that it was not one only matter that fell off every where alike For if a Statue be cut out of a piece of timber all the chips thereof are wood But here it was not so but every thing received its own form and motion by it selfe TEXT 7. Thus the distribution followed the operation of the great mysterie and the things that were separated from those that were superfluous appeared more excellent at the same instant also divers other things proceeded out of those very superfluous things that were chipt off For the great mysterie was not Elementary though the Elements themselves lay hid therein Nor was it a carnall thing though all sorts of men were comprehended in it The mysterie was all things but without difference or distinction Neither was it wood or stone but such was the matter that it contained every mortall thing in its essence without difference or distinction and afterward indowed every one of them with its own particular essence and form in the separation An example whereof of we have in meat If a man eat it A comparison between the mysterie and meat he gathers flesh to which the meat was nothing like before when it is putrified it breeds grasse of which it had not resemblance before at all which holds much more true in the great mysterie For in the Mysteries it is most manifest that one thing became stones another flesh another hearbs and so afterwards passed into various and infinite formes TEXT 8. Now when the separation was made and every thing brought into its own form and property so as that it could subsist alone of it selfe then might the substantiall matter be known That which was fit to be put together was so compacted the rest in respect of substance remained voyd and thin For when things were first set together all could not equally be joyned but the greatest part remained vacant This is plainly to be seen in water which when it is frozen the ice thereof is but a very small quantity Whence and of how many sorts the things are that were compacted So was it in the separation of the Elements Whatsoever could be compacted was made stones flesh mettalls wood and such like The rest remained more rare and empty to wit every thing according to its nature and property of the Planets For when things were first compacted that great mysterie was just like smoke which spreadeth very wide A comparison between the mysterie and smoke yet hath it very little substance besides a small quantity of soot All the other space where the smoke is is very mere and pure aire as may be seen in the separation of the smoke from the soot TEXT 9. Separation is the begining of all generation Separation was the principle and mother of all Generation The greatest miracle of all in Philosophy is Separation Yet should not men study these things beyond their capacity and reason How such things were and might be made is somewhat to be known by this example viz. If you put vineger to warm milk you shall see a separation of the heterogeneous parts many wayes The force and nature of vineger Truphat Thus the Truphat or Traphat of mettalls brought every mettall into its own nature So was it in the Mystery For as the macerated tincture of silver so also the great penetrating mysterie reduced every thing into its essence distinguishing and separating all things with such wonderfull diligence that every substance had its due form The Magick that directed unto the Great Mysterie Now that Magick was a most singular secret that directed such an entrance Which if it were divinely done by the Deity it would be to no purpose to study for it Nor doth the Deity make known himselfe to us hereby But if that Magick were naturall certainly it was most wonderfull very excellent for quickness of penetration and swiftnesse of separation the like whereof Nature can never more give or expresse For whilst that was busie at work one piece fell into the Elements another into invisible things another into the vegetables which doubtlesse must needs be a very great and singular miracle TEXT 10. The first separation was made in created things In as much then as the great mystery was full of such Essence and Deity with an addition of the most eternall one the SEPARATION was before any creature When this began then every creature sprang forth and appeared in its majestie power and free will in which state also it shall still flourish even to the end of the world or that great harvest when all things shall be pregnant with fruit which shall then be gathered and carried into the barn For the harvest is the end of its fruit The harvest is the end of all things that came out of the mystery nor doth it intend ought but the corporall destruction of all things And though their number be almost infinite yet is there but one harvest onely when all the Creation shall be reaped and carried into the barn Nor will this harvest the end of all things be lesse admirable than that great mysterie was wonderfull in the beginning notwithstanding the free power of things be the cause of their mutuall affection and destruction The simpathy and antipathy of things is the cause of their mutation For there is nothing but hath both love and hatred The free will flourisheth and is conversant in vertues but is either friend or foe in our works But these things belong not to separation For that is the sequestratrix that gives to every thing its form and essence TEXT 11. When the great mysterie first separated all things The first Elements rose out of the separation of the mysterie What fire is What the aire is the first separation was of the Element so that before all other things the Elements brake forth into their act and essence The fire was made heaven and the wall of the firmament The aire was made a voyd space wherein nothing appeareth or is to be seen possessing that place wherein is no substance or corporall matter This is the coffer or inclosure of the invisible Destinies The water passed into liquor and took its place