the Sun or common fire in these parts for if we take clear rain-water and put it into a well closed glass and set it for a long time in the Sun or to digest in warm water it will putrifie and praecipitate and the water when distilled will yield an Oyl Thus in like manner in Holland when the Sun shines into the water the faeces are praecipitated of which Turff are made which in those parts they make use of for their common firing It is likewise observed that where fish-ponds lye exposed to the Sun that the fish in them are much greater and multiply more abundantly than in those that are shaded from it We see also in the Countrey about Boisleduc and other places besides where the Earth is not deep nor far from the Quick-sand that when it rains and the rain-rain-water by reason of the nearness of the Quick-sand cannot sink deep in the Earth the water stands in pools and when the Sun by shining into the same doth putrifie and dry it up some brown faeces are found upon the white sand and when this hath been oftentimes repeated a sulphurous Earth is produced which burns like Brimstone In the same Countries when the rain-Rain-water falls on a place which is not above a foot or two above the Quick-sand so as the said brown Sulphur can reach the lower water which is a Sand-making water which water containing all seeds the said Sulphur takes to it self from thence the seed of Iron and so between this Brimstone and the sand-making water Iron-oare is produced for that we see that in such places whole great plates of such Iron-oare two fingers thick have been sound under the grass In the same Countries upon the Moor called the Peel which is all Turff and nine miles over I have met with people of an hundred years of age who themselves had digged up Turff there twenty foot deep who shewed me from place to place where formerly forty fifty sixty and seventy years agone they had digged up Turff which were by degrees filled up again as before And at the bottom of these pits from whence the Turff is digged a yellow clay is found of which the Potters make their earthen ware Now from all these instances we may undeniably conclude that the living and vivifying heat of the Sun is in it self a true Spiritual Essence and that out of the same as from their Universal Father all real tangible bodies are produced And forasmuch as we see that by means of the swift motion of a little common fire so vast a quantity of combustible matter is reduced into a Spiritual Being as into Fire or Heat and also that afterwards as but now was mentioned this invisible Being is brought to a Body again it is well worth our consideration what a vast quantity of Matter and Corporeal substance the Sun who as the Father source and original of all fire doth by the Central effusion of his Rayes feed and maintain all comprehensible tangible Beings of this world whether they be above or below doth daily and without ceasing produce and work out or give forth from himself as shall be more amply evidenced in what follows when of all the several parts we shall have made a whole and shewed how all and every comprehensible Body works together in order to one only Being 13 Q. It is before mentioned that the Light or Heat of the Sun which was called the Light of the day is the Male or Father of all comprehensible Beings and so consequently must be a true Spiritual Being in it self now the Query is how we are to understand that the Cooling and refrigerating power of the Moon which is the Night light and the Stars is the Mother of all comprehensible Beings and likewise in it self a true Spiritual Being R. We have before said that the Sun as the Father generates and produceth an essential Birth in the water forasmuch as in the same the Heat of the Sun becomes corporified from whence afterwards Stones Metals Trees Herbs and Animals are brought forth Now it is notorious that no Birth can be produced without the Union of Father and Mother Now then if Father and Mother must be united that so from their union a Birth as a third thing may be accordingly brought forth it is necessary that they viz. the Male or Father and the Female or Mother must be of kin and symbolize with each other forasmuch as the Birth which proceeds from them both must be compleatly and in all its parts partaker of both their Natures and Essences without which it cannot be a true and perfect Birth Now this Union of Father and Mother in order to a Birth can by no means be performed in and according to the body as Body yet not for the reason which our Modern Philosophers assigne who suppose that all bodies as such and in themselves are devoid of all life and can never be made partakers of the same but in and according to the Spirit of which the body is made and doth consist and into which after it hath attained its perfection it must with improvement and advance be again reduced For a Body when considered and looked upon as a dead and wholly lifeless thing and as being an Aggregate onely of corporeal parts put together corporeally may touch another Body but cannot be united with it though its parts were brought to the utmost smalness imaginable for that Union is to be performed in unity and indivisibility that is to say in spirituality and indefinitness which hath made the Body and cannot be attributed to a Body as a Body To which we may superadde this that no Union can be performed unless that the things to be united do through and through penetrate or pierce one another Now it is notorious that sensible and comprehensible Bodies cannot so intimately pervade and pierce one another but can onely outwardly touch and be contiguous It follows therefore that all Union is to be performed in and according to the Spirit and by no means in and according to the Body as being that which is not susceptive of inward and penetrating Union except it be first reduced to a kind of spiritual body And such a spiritual and not corporeal Being must we suppose the coolness of the Moon to be by means of the spiritual coalition and commixture of which with the spiritual warmth of the Sun all comprehensible Beings are produced and in due time again reduced into Spirit 14 Q. How is this Union of Father and Mother the Sun and Moon performed and how is the said Birth brought forth by and from them R. A Birth cannot be without a preceding Impregnation neither can this Impregnation be without two viz. Father and Mother For according to the common and usual course of Nature the Father cannot impregnate himself nor the Mother her self neither can the Mother impregnate the Father so then it onely remains that the Father must impregnate the Mother
after a narrow search that that part which is white in the Stone was before the red and that the white brought forth the red for thou wilt perceive in some places of them many white parts which in their growth and increase were once conjoyned but by means of the red are separated from each other though they did before belong to one another and that the red parts as their bloud proceed from them We proceed now to a brief declaration of the operation and being of Metals and partly how they are interwoven together which Metals are six in number or seven if we count Mercury together with them which is a water from whence the other Metals are produced or born and withal we shall set down some short Remarks concerning Minerals and also Salts which are few in number and stand in harmony together that the understanding of man might the more easily be able to comprehend them in order to give the Reader a small hint how he may be able to discourse with them as well as with the Stones forasmuch as they are very nigh of kin and that there is a great union between them for that the Stones are the Mother and Work-house of the Metals SECT II. Concerning Metals Minerals and Salts ANd here first of all Mars appears in his whole Armour wherefore it is fit to put this Query to him 1 Q. Why art thou the first of all the rest who appear'st and shewest thy self R. Seest thou not that I must have a nearer alliance in many respects with all the Metals more than they the rest of my Brethren have one with another And seeing that men cannot be without me and I amongst all the Metals am of greatest use to them both inwardly and outwardly by water and by land therefore at Sea they must make use of my Needle in their Compass because I have the North-Pole for my propriety as my Magnetical living power doth demonstrate as also doth my Minera the Magnet it self which here in England is found near the Tinn-Oare Moreover the whole Earth is everywhere as it were sowed over with Iron-Oare And besides this all other Metals are best known unto me so that I am best able to give an account concerning them 2. What meanest thou by that expression when thou sayst that thou art profitable to man both inwardly and outwardly R. Ask the Earth and the plow'd lands where Corn grows from whence both Beasts and Men do receive their life and nourishment 3 Q. How am I to understand this R. Look into my several Changes and thou wilt find by experience that when I am polished I shine like a Looking-glass and am the hardest amongst all Metals especially when I am changed into Steel so that between my Hammer and my Anvil all Instruments of Life and Death and of Peace and War are made and formed out of me and through me alone can be prepared Moreover I amongst all Metals am soonest changed into Earth or Clay for when I am moistened with water I become rusty and by means of this corruption corrosion and suffering am changed into a yellow-colour'd body which Painters use and is called Oker this Oker when put into the fire is changed into a red colour forasmuch as it still retains the nature of Iron and into which the greatest part of it can be changed again This foresaid yellow Oker thou wilt find in many places where my Mine or Oare is which when it is again joyned to me by those that are skilful and experienced it makes a softer and better Iron than the ordinary because my superfluous sulphur is meliorated in the said yellow-colour'd body through rust and is no more so apt to melt but withal is less stony and brittle whereas the other Iron wherein the said sulphur doth abound is more apt to melt but more stony and brittle when it grows cold 4 Q. How can the Sulphur have this effect upon Iron R. When thou takest a red-hot glowing and fiery piece or gad of Steel and holdest to it a piece of Brimstone then the Steel will drop down melted together with the Brimstone and the drops will be hard stony brittle and unmalleable though more easie to melt but when the said drops are oft put into the fire until the Brimstone be burnt away from them then they become harder to melt again but withal are softer and more malleable as they are cold 5 Q. What further changes is this foresaid Oker subject to when it is not melted down to Iron but is permitted to die and perish R. When the said Oker it is changed into a yellow Earth or Clay which by means of the fire is afterwards baked or burnt into red Bricks which by their red colour shew that there is some Iron left in them which in the fire by means of some additions may be separated from them And forasmuch as we find everywhere throughout the whole World such innumerable multitudes of Fields which consist of such a yellow Clay or Earth what can we else conclude from thence but this that the said Earth was formerly Iron-oare which now partly of it self and partly by means of the Plough-share is every year more and more cut off from its Root or Mine whereby its mortification is promoted so that it can be changed or transmuted into Grass Herbs Trees and Corn from whence men and Beasts have their Food and Being And from all this thou mayst lear the great inward profit and advantage I do afford to mankind 6 Q. From this it may seem as if the advantage which ariseth from this change or alteration were the reason of the Iron Age so called wherein men forasmuch as they were sed herewith became Iron-like and cannot yet change the food and consequently also the essâ—â—ce which they receive from the Iron-like Earth into a better and more noble essence viz. into Love so that the Iron-like nature of their food still remains which they as being also Iron-like do draw magnetically into themselves and therefore must be ruled with a Rod of Iron to the end that the said Iron-like nature through multifarious mortifications and advances may be gradually improved transmuted and lost through fire and be changed into the Gold of Love and Unity which is fix in the fire Give me therefore now an account also of the outward advantage or profit thou affordest men R. Concerning my Hammer and Anvil I have by the way mentioned something before to which may be yet added more particulars according as Dr. Gilbert hath described them When I am formed into the Needle of a Compass and made hot if then they let me lie upon the Anvil towards the North till I am cold I shall by this means better turn my self towards the North than if I had received that impression from the touch of the Magnet Moreover all sorts of Instruments which men make use of throughout the whole course of their lives in times of Peace
again R. Forasmuch as according to Scripture-indication Psal. 90. 4. 2 Pet. 3. 8. One day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day and whereas the World was created in seven days whereof each consists of a thousand years it follows clearly that the whole Age of this World doth reach to seven thousand years of which six thousand are the six work-days but the seventh thousand of years is the day of Rest or Sabbath of this World which is the reason why God commanded the day of Rest to be observed and the seventh day to be sanctified to the end that in the six days we might end all our works and offer them up to God for to enjoy a Rest the seventh day in order to a new week 23 Q. Forasmuch as heretofore mention hath been made of the continual Revolution of the Sun Moon and Stars and that without ceasing they give out and take in again the Query is Whether this might not somewhat more clearly be represented and held forth to the Reader R. That this indeed is so may be further cleared by this Example that man perceives and experienceth in all visible and living Creatures not one excepted and particularly in himself a natural hunger he hath continually to draw something into him as to take in the Air and Food for his support and maintenance and to restore and fill up what continually he gives forth from him And in like manner it happens also in the Great World for Man who is the Little World must have the self-same Life and Being in him as hath the Great World because he hath all the parts of it in him and is united with the same CHAP. II. Concerning the Air. 1 Q. COncerning the Lights of Heaven their Working and Revolution some Propositions have already been laid down as also that the Great and Little World do relate to each other and stand in harmony and agreement Now we see that Man the Little World hath a body which in all its parts is perfectly united the Query therefore is How we may come to see and know the like perfect Union in all and every part of the Great World which there is between the members of one body For seeing that the heavenly Lights do onely touch one another with their Rays by means of which they work with and upon one another and are no otherwise united with the lower parts of the Great World their fellow-members than by the influence and darting down of their Rays how can they be said to make up one onely Body together with the other parts of the Macrocosm And what a strange kind of body must that be in which we find so great a distance between the upper parts of it and this Earth R. We do see indeed that the Air interposeth between the upper and these lower parts of the World in which Air the Birds do flie who likewise are a part of the body of this Great World And this Air is not a Nothing nor an empty space but it is likewise a member of and in the body of this World and hath an essential body of its own which admits of being weighed as may be seen in my Alphabet of Nature printed at Sultzbach 1657. pag. 49. where the same is demonstrated 2 Q. When therefore in manner as is there expressed we by force separate a part of the Air from the rest of its body and so weigh it being shut up in a Glass what then is that other Essence which stays behind and from which the part we weigh is separated is that a vacuum or empty thing in which neither life nor activity is left R. No it is not an empty Being or without any virtue or power but rather the most powerful and virtuous of all for whereas the force of other things is earthly and tends downwards this continually tends and carries upwards and consequently is more spiritual and heavenly For we â—ee that when an ounce of Air is with violence drawn out of the Glass Vessel and separated from the other remaining Air it then endeavours with greater force and strength to make up again the defect of this separation and division of its parts forasmuch as it hath been found by experience that the remaining Air hath attracted twenty two measures of Water instead of the Air which was drawn out from it so as it hath left no room or void space remaining in the Glass From whence we find that this subtile spiritual Essence can unite it self to the Water and dwell in it without increasing the bulk of it Of this spiritual Being the Weather-glasses are made which represent to us the changes of the Weather and Air. So that we may perceive even by the eye what a great Regiment there is in this spiritual Being or Essence of the Air which is indeed the vigour and strength of the Macrocosm 3 Q. What doth this spiritual Being which is called the spiritual vigour and strength of the Macrocosm work or effect in the Air R. Even as in the Microcosm there be many continual Revolutions of various sorts of water and bloud and that according to what shall be shewed hereafter when we shall treat concerning the Microcosm the flesh and sinews take their original from the bones as also several living humours and winds salt and sulphurous essences c. In like manner in the Great World this vigour and strength in the Air which are as the spiritual strength of the Macrocosm do cause many and various Revolutions in the Air streams and drivings of the Clouds and Winds and several sorts of Thunder and Lightning c. 4 Q. What kind of operation doth this spiritual Being in the Air perform in Thunder and Lightning R. The Thunder and Lightning which smell like Brimstone and Gunpowder have their own proper and peculiar nature and working Thus in the month of May we have little kind of Thunders which in Hebrew are called Ramses which promote the fruitfulness of the Earth so that not onely by the Rain which follows upon the said Thunder but also by the change of the Air which then happens the Earth is made fruitful And therefore we read Gen. 47. v. 11. that the best part of the Land of Egypt where Joseph placed his Father and Brethren was called Ramses Now that the Thunder hath its peculiar working may be partly perceived from hence that at the time when it thunders Beer Milk c. turn sower in the Cellars and some that are troubled with the Gout fell their pains much increased So that we find that the Thunder doth everywhere introduce corruption and putrefaction yea and in the Earth also in order to a new Life or Generation And as hath been before said concerning this spiritual Essence in the Air that it can pierce through the water and unite it self through the same so we may likewise perceive the same in other Bodies how that it pierceth them
it is commonly known that water in several places as in Mountains and Rocks is changed into stones so here we find it changed into sand Furthermore Experience teacheth us that in Mountains and Rocks the water which continually mounts upwards from the Quick-sand is still changed into many different sorts of sand and stones The same may also be perceived in Mines when the Miners have gone very deep to search for Metals that though the Rock hath been so hard that it would not suffer it self to be cut with any steel Instrument but the Miners have been forced to break it down or burst it asunder by fire and yet in those very Stones that were thus broke off with Instruments a water hath been found within which went through and through them and was their food and nourishment and could be distilled from them in great quantity Again we find that Firr-trees do grow upon hard high and smooth shining Rocks where they have no Earth at all and yet that they do not die or wither notwithstanding that their root is onely fastened to the stony Rock so as the very ends and extremities of the said roots may be seen as not having the least Earth to cover them From whence we gather that these Trees must draw the moisture which feeds and makes them to grow out of the said stony Rocks This Wood also which grows upon such high Rocks is of great use to many purposes as is well known to the experienced Makers of Musical Instruments that the Firr-wood which comes from the high Mountains of Tyrol is far better to make the belly of their Musical Instruments than other sort of wood for that the Firr-trees and all strait Timber that hath had its growth from out of the mortified Rocks are more airy and partake more of the nature of those Rocks and consequently give a better sound And here by the way it will not be amiss to take notice that the Seed of these Trees is not lost or annihilated by their being burnt down on the ground where they stand but that they are meliorated and increased by means of their being burnt by fire forasmuch as it hath been found by experience that after the burning down of several whole Woods and many high-grown Firr-trees all the said ground which was of a considerable extent hath been afterwards over grown and fill'd with innumerable Burch-trees and all that onely from the ashes of the said Firr-trees which Metamorphosis the Ancients have alluded to and intimated to us by their Fable of the Phaenix This self-same water to return to our former matter mounts up from the Quick-sand through the pores of the Earth to a vast heighth as hath been said just as the sap and moisture of a Tree mounts up from the root to the very top of it spreading it self through the whole body and all the branches and boughs thereof And like as Joyners find by daily experience that wood changeth as it grows and is not the same at the top as it is beneath so Stone-cutters likewise find the same in the stones of the Mountains and Rocks viz. that they have several changes and various differences notwithstanding that it be all but one continued piece Likewise as the Sap or nourishing Juice of a Tree doth change both its nature and taste as it mounts from the root to the top-branches so also it is found in the Mountains for the self-same life and the same regent power is in the Mountains and Rocks which are found to be in Trees which Life for its food and nourishment takes in several sorts or various kinds of moistures or waters and gives them out again that is manifesteth them in their bodies and the parts which they grow into and produce according to the proportion and measure of every part and member of its body Moreover also forasmuch as it may easily be observed how a Tree or Vegetable consists of divers various parts which are not all the same as for example the Roots the Trunks or Bodies the Branches Leaves Flowers Fruits c. yea what more is the same sort of parts as for example the Leaves of one and the same Plant do all of them differ each from other as may be proved by observation of any two Leaves of a Tree or Plant which will be found to have differing Veins or nourishing Vessels which in their texture and distribution are not alike c. Like as Man who in his Body hath divers Members Bones Nerves and Bloud though all his parts be nourished with one and the same Bloud yet we find that the Sweat which comes out through the pores of his Body hath its peculiar distinct smell in every part of the same And in like manner doth the Water of the Earth and Mountains differ also 3 Q. From what hath been already mentioned we may understand and conclude that the Water and Quick-sand are the foundation of the Earth and that the Water as the common Mother of all sublunary Bodies being produced by the Moon and Stars doth bring forth the Quick-sand and maintain the same and afterwards through the Quick-sand which is born of it and together with the same by a continual alteration and multiplication brings forth several sorts of Stones and Rocks So that from hence we may conclude according to what hath already in part been mentioned concerning the Sun Moon and Stars as likewise of the Air that the universal Spirit of the World by means of a continual Revolution and multifarious Glorification doth work out it self to perfection that so in like manner in this Sand and Water there is a continual Revolution in order to melioration and exaltation and that the said Catholick Spirit rules and works as well in this water and sand as above in the celestial Lights and the Air as also that there is a spiritual operative life in both these the sand as well as the water That such a spirit and life is in the water hath been made out before in the discourse about the Nocturnal Luminaries it remains therefore to query how it can be evidenced that this spirit and life is in the sand also R. This appears very clearly of it self for if the Sand had no life in it how could it move it self in and with the water as hath been shewed before that out of this Sand making water sand is produced by distillation and propagates itself in so fruitful a multiplication through stones and other things whose source and original it is forasmuch as the Life doth consist in this motion and out-working as in part hath been already shewed that it doth The same may likewise plainly be seen by spreading some of the said Sands upon a black Table and considering them through a Microscope for so we shall find that every grain of this sand hath a different shape and figure so as not one of them is like another from whence we may undoubtedly conclude that as every one of
it takes a liking to it so as to set his love upon it and put a trust in it we shall find that such a man who is a great lover of his Ship shall effect more with this his Ship than any other shall do with theirs In like manner also a Horse-man that hath a good Horse upon which he relies and loves him so that it hath been known that some have escaped and saved their lives by riding eighteen German miles in one day with one Horse for to get out of the Empire into Switzerland by which means they have escaped the Gallows and that without any prejudice to their Horse too In like manner it is matter of experience that persons who have been in love have performed so great Journeys in one day on Horse-back as was impossible for another to do the like From whence we may take notice that the Spirit and Confidence of Man is operative in union with Vegetables and Animals By this also we may guess at the reason how it came to pass that when a certain person had bought some young Trees of another who assured him that if any of them happened to wither he would stand to the damage and make it good again that all of them prov'd well But at another time buying othersome without any such assurance from the Seller they all died viz. for that the Buyer being covetous had no fear concerning the former-mentioned Trees because of the inâ—rance but wanting that for the latter he became doubting and fearful and communicated his fear to the Trees and thereby killed them 5 Q. It hath been declared before that the Water and Quick-sand do generate and produce all other sorts of Sand and Water but before we proceed further it will not be improper here to inquire forasmuch as it is notorious that in Pits we can dig no deeper than till we come to the Quick-sand and that this is but an inconsiderable depth compared to the whole Globe of the Earth from the Circumference to its Center whether I say this immense Bulk from the Quick-sand to the Center be nothing else but meer Quick-sand and Water R. That cannot be because the Quick-sand always and continually gives forth water and that not salt but sweet and fresh in all places yet with several continued alterations from the beginning until it hath transmuted it self in every little grain of other sort of Sand which hath its own essence and property as hath been shewed neither can the Quick-sand receive or take in water from without as will be made plain from what here follows 1. In Fish-ponds that are dugg in some places where the Quick-sand lieth but shallow and a little below the surface of the Earth until they come to the Quick-sand the water doth not rise to above half a foot high or thereabouts so that they are forced to convey Rain or other water into the same for to fill it up Now we find that the water thus added and conveyed doth always keep its own heighth and doth not sink into the Quick-sand as it doth into other moist sand which is at some good distance above the Quick-sand for such Sand as is known will according to a certain proportion drink up a vast quantity of water 2. Some Diggers of Wells are not unacquainted with this who oft deceive people that have bargained with them to dig a Well unto the Quick-sand and so cause that the water may stand three or four foot high in the same who when they see that the Spring cannot rise so high they privately fill it up to that heighth with other water which continues so and doth not sink into the sand but when the Owners come afterwards and fetch water from thence they then perceive they have been deceived forasmuch as the water still decreaseth and doth not fill up again which the Undertakers had promised to perform 3. Forasmuch as the watery Quick-sand is the foundation of the whole building of the Earth therefore it lets no water into it self for it is impossible that two bodies of one and the same nature should enter into each other and consequently that water should enter into water without increasing of its bulk c. that is to say should so corporally unite it self with the other water as that the other water and this new-added water should be numerically one and the same water without all increase of its quantity From all which it is most clear and evident seeing the Quick-sand hath continually from the very beginning of the World given forth water from it self and that it can do no other as having been created for this end and that the circumference of this water is not lessened nor its quantity diminished therefore it must of necessity follow that what the Quick-sand gives out must be made good and restored to it again from within as the following Query with its Answer will more fully demonstrate 6 Q. Seeing then that this is the nature of the Quick-sand how is it possible that it should subsist or how can it be that since it continually gives out water and yet can take in no water externally from above but that thus at last it must be left emptied and destitute of all water which cannot be allowed neither from whence is it then that it receives the water which it gives forth continually R. Here remains no other cause to be assigned than this natural one viz. that as hath been said the waters are continually made by the Sun Moon and Stars for that they as spiritual Beings are onely able to penetrate the water and sand But forasmuch as the Sun Moon and Stars can make no water in the water and yet continually do bring forth water both below as well as above we must therefore conclude that there must be a great space and place of abode for the Air in the Centre of the Earth in which the Sun Moon and Stars do perform their operation and where afterwards their spiritual and continually descending Rays as they mount from thence upwards again do change themselves into water that so all may proceed in a beautiful order forasmuch as the beginning and the end with their whole circumference according to all parts not the least excepted do continually circulate until their full age maturity and perfection And is it not worth our enquiry whether this space below before-mentioned be not spoke of in Scripture under the name of Abyss as Psal. 42. v. 8. and elsewhere as that above is in Scripture-phrase called the Sling 1 Sam. 25. v. 29. For the lower waters must in like manner be generated of a grosser Air and comporting with their property as the upper waters viz. the Air are born of a more subtile and spiritual Air. And this water that is here below forasmuch as it continually comes down from above for to be wrought out cannot be dead but must mount upwards again towards its original and beginning because it cannot
concerning all his other Senses and thus becomes enabled to enjoy and rule over all So that in this particular also he far excells a Dog and all other Beasts in case he will but apply himself to it and retire into himself in his Central Spirit Now it is upon the same account as aforesaid that a Dog doth so love his Master and others that are his Benefactors insomuch that he gives up himself willingly to death for them And forasmuch as his quick scent makes him to be watchful and of no sound sleep which sleep notwithstanding all Creatures stand in need of to the end that the old Images that are in their waters might be drowned by means of the overflowing Night-water and so be renewed and bettered And is it not worth our taking notice that when these internal waters in a Dog through divers causes as Hunger over-great Heat or Cold are turned the contrary way and disordered so that he cannot take his due rest the Image of Love he had for his Master is turned to Enmity and by this means grows mad and becomes shie of the outward water forasmuch as he is at enmity with his inward water the Images formed out of it so that he hates it and cannot endure it and that because his internal disordered waters are thereby put in motion And whilst he is thus distempered if he chance to bite another Dog Beast or Man or if he do but touch their skin with the foame of his mouth immediately the Spirit of his perverted and disordered waters and Image doth enter into them and causeth the same disorder in their waters so that they in like manner become shie of the outward water Furthermore it hath been found by experience that the best means for curing this Distemper is lightly to burn or cauterize the skin of the bitten man or beast with a small red-hot Iron or Copper and by this means to put them into a fright of fire or else by plunging them well under water for thus the outward Fire or Water-spirit of the Great World which stands in its due and right order will be predominant over and master the disordered Spirit of the Little World and turn about and set to right the disordered waters of the same And is not this well worth our animadversion and consideration 49 Q. Doth it not appear very probable from all this that the ancient wise men amongst the Jews did well understand this effect or operation of the waters as who without doubt by a paternal tradition from Moses or it may be yet further from Noah had received and learnt this Seeing that baptizing or plunging under water was very frequent amongst them in the Old Testament until the time of Christ and is so even to this day so as it is plain that this Ceremony is derived from them And we find it frequently asserted in the Writings of their Doctors that there can be no Repentance without Prayers Fasting and of Alms and being baptized or plunged under water And that the Jews in Christs time were of this opinion doth not that clearly appear from the Questions which their Messengers propounded to John the Baptist asking him why that he baptized seeing that he was neither the Messias nor Elias nor that Prophet Yea there are at this very day some amongst the Jews who endeavour to excel others in Holiness that do often yea two or three times a week plunge themselves under water Moreover in all places where Jews dwell they must have a place for men and women to bathe in the women always making use of the same apart or by themselves for after that they have accomplished the six weeks of their Purification before they can again cohabit with their Husbands the first thing they do is to go into the Bath This Bath is a living water or springing Fountain into which the woman enters stark naked without keeping so much as a Ring on her finger and by some understanding women is let down so deep into the same that the water quite covers her head for not so much as one hair of her head must abide above water And this the Jews do to the end that the old remaining Idea or Image might be drowned by the water and renewed This Bath when made as it ought to be is contrived after this manner First in some convenient place where a living Spring is they dig five or six foot deep and having made it of a fitting compass they wall it round within and fix a Stone-Table at the bottom of it on which the woman that is to be baptized or plunged doth seat her self in the water which then as hath been said covers her head under her feet is a Stone-step for a Foot-stool upon which when she stands upright her head is above the waters and so comes up by the steps made for that purpose in the Bath out of the water Now that after a preceding birth there yet remains in women an Idea of the said former birth which afterwards may become operative in case it be not thus drowned and renewed in the water do not we find this by experience Thus we see that a Fool so long as he continues in his foolishness and is not recovered thereof by being plunged under water doth beget no Children but what are meer Fools Is there not ground therefore to fear that a woman who hath had a Fool for her Husband hath even after his death something of the old Idea of her deceased Husband abiding with her And do not we partly meet with an instance hereof amongst irrational Creatures For when a young Mare hath the first time been covered by an Ass and Conception follows she brings forth a Mule and when the next time she is covered with a Stone-horse she indeed brings forth a Horse but yet so distinguished as that all those who understand Horses can easily perceive that the Dam of it the time before was covered by an Ass forasmuch as the said Horse retains still somewhat of the properties and shape of the Mule 50 Q. Forasmuch as we have here made mention of Baptism or Plunging under water it will not be amiss further to observe that Baptism is to be considered under a twofold notion viz. either as particular onely of which hitherto hath been spoken or as common and universal as was that of John the Baptist who was sent to baptize unto Repentance and the Baptism of Christ with the Holy Ghost and with Fire In imitation of which Baptism of John it happened about four years since that an old pious simple Jew came amongst his Brethren who imagined himself and declared as much publickly to the Jews to be sent to baptize unto Repentance as a Forerunner of the Messiah for that the time of the Messiah as he declared was near whereupon several simple Jews were baptized by him but the learned and understanding men amongst them were not so ready to approve of this
Now if this Impregnation is to be performed which is nothing else but the spiritual Union of both their spiritual Natures and Essences in order to the birth of a third Being or Body which resembleth them they the Parents must needs according to Nature be of the same specifical nature or of kin and symbolize together so as the Father must be partaker of the Mother's and the Mother of the Father's nature Now forasmuch as naturally they are of kin and both of them work together in one in order to the bringing forth of one onely third Being it must needs follow that before the said Impregnation they both proceeded from the same Unity and were once united together and that this Union of both was in the man as he that hath the pre-eminence above his Wife and doth not come from the woman but the woman from the man as shall be shewn hereafter when we shall in particular treat of Man From whence then it is evident that the Mother the Moon must of necessity lie hid in the Father the Sun and be one with the same and that in a far more high and noble degree than she is in her self viz. according to the nature and property of the Father viz. the Sun Forasmuch then as we may suppose it evident from what hath been said that the Sun impregnates the Moon and that he dwells in her and not that the Moon impregnates the Sun or that she should dwell in him Neither can it in like manner be demonstrated that as the Sun which is a Fire and the Day-light becomes corporified in the Water which is an out-working and out-birth of the Night-light viz. the Moon and Stars so the Moon and Stars cannot become corporeal in the Sun which if it were so would cause a great confusion in Nature 15 Q. What kind of Essence or Being is that which the Night-lights the Moon and Stars after that they are impregnated by the Sun their Male do work out and bring forth R. The Night-light viz. the Moon and Stars do by day with great desire and longing draw in for their life increase and melioration the Sun as the Day-light Now every Star as well as the Moon have each of them their own distinct substantial Life Essence and Nature and every one of them draws in the power of the Sun according to the kind and property of their own Essence and in it self changeth the same into its own property and afterward by night gives forth again in part this attracted virtue of the Sun together with some part of its own Essence viz. the Night And thus the out-birth or working and efflux of the Stars downwards into the Moon as the Center of the Night-light happens according to the kind and property of the distinct Essence of each Star And in this manner the universal distinct efflux or out-birth of all and every Star becomes concentred in the Moon into an upper aethereal water which in comparison of the lower and grosser is a spiritual water which also is cool and more subtile than that in and upon which the Birds flie viz. the Air even as the Fish swim in the lower grosser waters which last water is made or produced under the Quick-sand in the Center of the Earth concerning which we shall speak more when we come to treat of a Vacuum improperly so called This foresaid living essential virtue of all and every Star which at first proceeded from the Sun in the which they in and with the Moon as an Army under their General were all hid as their Seed which was sowed above in the Heavens these virtues of the Stars I say after that by their entring into the Moon they are united and concentred in the same as the universal Night-light do work and bring forth out off or from themselves by means of an universal co-operation of all and every one these lower waters which forasmuch as they be the universal common effect and outworking of all and every Star it follows that every part of the same even the very least and most imperceptible drop must comprehend and contain in it self the innumerable multiplicity of powers essences and out-births of all and every Star that is of all together and each in particular all which are comprehended together in one onely indivisible Being which is the very body and essential out-birth of the Stars who therein have conjoyned themselves into a body And as the outward water is produced out of the universal Night-light viz. the cooling refrigerating virtue which is a spiritual Essence so can likewise this coolness as being the Spirit of this water-body pierce through the said water and all bodies proceeding from the same nourish support and work in them altogether in the same manner as the heat of the Sun goes through all Bodies From hence therefore we may plainly see and acknowledge that as the Out-birth of the Sun in these lower waters as before-mentioned is an Oyl Balsome and sulphurous Essence into which the heat or light of the Sun is changed in the water so likewise the Out-working or Out-birth of the Moon and Stars is this lower and material water which is without form and therefore susceptive of all as being the Mother of all sublunary Creatures that are produced from the spiritual Union of all Stars and the Moon and that the coolness of the Night-lights is as well a true spiritual Being from whence all sublunary Creatures do in part receive their support and nourishment as the heat of the Sun 16 Q. According to what hath been said hitherto doth it not appear as if in the Out-working as well of the Sun when he brings forth out of himself the Moon and Stars as well as of the Moon and Stars in their producing the lower material water all and every part of the Out-birth as the circumference did perfectly contain in it self the whole and the center which at this rate seems to run out into a kind of infinity R. It is so indeed and may be clearly enough demonstrated by an example from Quicksilver which is like a Looking-glass being a round or globular metalline water If we take a quantity of this Mercury and lay it in some place under the open Heaven we can see the whole Horizon with all its parts or objects very plainly represented in the same and when this Mercury is reduced into sublimate and by means of sublimation divided into an innumerable multiplicity of little globular bodies which by reason of their smalness must be distinguished by a Microscope we shall find that the whole Horizon as was said before will appear in every one of them altogether in the same manner as they appeared in the said greater quantity of Quicksilver And in case the said division should be yet further carried on into more minute parts than these of the sublimate yet the same Phaenomena would still appear in them also 17 Q. From what hath been said it is
evident that as well the spiritual life and the spiritual living operation of the Sun as of the Moon and Stars are in themselves a true spiritual Essence and can by means of an Out-working be reduced to a true essential comprehensible body which then is a true Out-birth of their spiritual contexture joyn'd together in one united Seed Now it is further queried whether the Sun as well as the Moon and Stars do grow less or are diminished by parting with that which they continually give forth from themselves as their Out-working or Out-birth and so finally may be brought to nothing Or whether they receive again what they give out from other Heavens and consequently may continue the same without any change in their own Beings R. Neither of these can be admitted for if the first should be allowed viz. that they should still give forth before they had attained to their due perfection then by means of this their giving forth the heavenly Lights would at last be brought to nothing and this World on the contrary would grow to an immense confused and monstrous bigness which would be contrary to Nature who as was said before conducts all things from an Unity into an innumerable and incomprehensible multiplication or increase and melioration whereas in this case the quite contrary would happen because all particular Out-workings would go to nothing and perish and all of them without the glorification and melioration of all and every natural Essence or being be reduced into an unripe unseasonable and confused Mass like an Abortion And in case we should admit of the other Hypothesis then by reason of this never-ceasing and ever-renewed Influx this World with all its parts and members would never arise to its destinated and appointed age perfection and glorification because still new Essences and Bodies would be produced by which means the bulk or mass of matter would be continually increased and at last mount to such an height that it would reach beyond Sun Moon and Stars and swallow up the same in it self from whence necessarily a total confusion would over-spread Nature 18 Q. Forasmuch then as neither of these Hypotheses can stand as drawing impossibilities after them and that this World and all Beings of the same did receive a beginning from their Creator from a Being that never had a beginning and therefore can have no end who placed and bounded them in a measured and exactly-determined time in which they must work out themselves to their due perfection and glorification in all parts what way or means is then left by which the heavenly Lights may so work out themselves in their several set-times in a right beautiful order and harmony that without losing their own proper Beings and without hindring the due perfection of Nature every one of them according to their measure might work together to the glorification as well of themselves as of this lower World R. This way is no other nor can there be any other than that which is represented by Jacob's Ladder for even as upon the same the Angels of God ascended and descended so likewise the essential living Powers or spiritual Bodies of the heavenly Lights do continually descend from above through the aethereal Air to this lower World as from the head to the feet and afterward when they have finished their Out-working there to their own improvement and melioration they mount upwards again from below to the head for to be united again with the same and by means of the said Union to be more and more advanced bettered and glorified until after the consummation of the destinated and set-time all the particular imperfect parts and beings may gradually be conducted to obtain their perfection And this Ascension and Descension of the heavenly Powers and the continual melioration and glorification of the same which depend thereon and proceed from thence endures and continues still without intermission and must needs do so Now Descension and Ascension is performed with a twofold difference viz. as is fore-mentioned according to Day and Night Sun Moon and Stars or a male and female property and that in all and every Creature after one and the same manner as shall be declared more amply hereafter when we shall come to speak of Man and his Revolution and how the same is likewise done in his body The descension of the Sun as the male is chiefly in the day-time and that of the Moon and Stars as the female-part mostly by night The Sun by his descension or influence generates a fire in the Creatures which in Man is to be likened to his bloud but the influential descent of the Moon and Stars generates a water both of which are driven about with the self-same circulation in Man the Microcosm as they are in the Macrocosm or greater World 19 Q. It is evident then that there must be a never-ceasing Revolution by means of which as well the fiâ—ry and male virtue of the Sun as the cool watry and female influx of the Moon are first darted from above and afterwards must mount up again without ceasing if ever they shall obtain a perfect spiritual body and consequently thereby arrive to their full perfection according to the kind and property of a perfect World And because the Ascendings and Descendings are twofold and of two different kinds and properties as also that the same are become a spiritual body it will follow that there must needs be a third as an Uniter of both the said Essences of which the said spiritual Body or Birth doth consist as before hath been shewed and that the said Uniter must be more subtile than they both and therefore in comparison of them a Spirit or right true spiritual Being much more spiritual than either of them and that to the end it may be able to pierce through them work in them and rule them in a wise order and harmony being united with and dwelling in them that so by means of this Spirit both these may attain to their due melioration and perfection by continually approaching nearer to the same and becoming more like unto it until finally they be perfectly united with the same Now the Question is whether this Spirit be â—he same in all and every Creature or whether it â—t is different in every Creature according to the Creatures particular kind and property And whether it admits of a particular exaltation and melioration in it self R. Many Questions are here joyned together which may be answered in two parts for first as â—o what belongs to the first Question the same brings its answer along with it and as for the other Questions which are Whether the said Spirit be one and the same in all Creatures or different â—s also whether it admitteth of its particular exalâ—ation The Answer to these may be best held forth in this Example A Stone is a part of the Great World as of the whole and is a right true living member in
also because it is living and ruling Hence it is that we experience when it is kindled into a living Lightning that it melts the blade of a Sword in its sheath without hurting the sheath which an artificial Fire or Gunpowder cannot do So likewise its necessary and glorious regiment and motion is so swift that as Christ saith Mat. 24. 27. it reacheth in less than the twinkling of an eye from East to West 5 Q. It hath formerly been mentioned that this spiritual essence of the Air doth cause and effect many and different courses and streams of Clouds and Winds in the Air the Query therefore is Whether and how we may know this by experience R. That there are different streams or currents of Clouds and Winds in the Air in order to an universal effect or out-working appears from hence that we often see that the Winds and Clouds go together but again at other times we find that the Wind goes the contrary way to the Clouds Moreover we do often find that when many Ships lie together in the Haven wind-bound that the stream or drift of Wind sometimes is so narrow that one Ship can get out into Sea when another Ship that lies near to it is forced to abide in the Haven for want of wind to get out to Sea Now this stream or course of wind is oft excited and moved by the sympathetical faith or man which faith likewise is the cause why some experienced courageous and believing Masters of Ships have been still delivered from all the dangers they have met with at Sea For all they that stand in order themselves and understand the same do know that all Storms and Winds are good and that they can onely hurt those that stand in confusion and are affrighted at them because they do not know the order of the Universe but are contrary to it by which means they come into danger and suffer loss And therefore our Saviour reproved his Disciples for their being fearful upon the Sea Mat. 8. v. 26. 6 Q. From what hath been said appears clearly that the Wind of necessity must have its peculiar passages courses and operations but may not the same be made out more fully from other instances R. We find in several Countries where high Mountains are as for instance upon the Alps that one Region or Layer of the Air is more healthy for some than others And according as we mount higher and higher upon the Alps we perceive several sorts of Air And it hath been oft found by experience that when men have been at the top of the Alps they have not perceived any wind at all but as soon as they came down a little lower they have found a wind to purpose This hath been expresly tried several times for to know the certainty of it and it hath always been found that the Air within a very small distance sometimes of no more than twenty foot hath been very different On the same Alps we likewise observe that the higher any one goes up the same the shriller and sharper he finds the voice of the People that dwell there which effect proceeds also from the difference of the Air. It is likewise notorious in those places that when a little Mist not above two or three foot broad like a thin Smoak mounts up on high as through a Chimney and reacheth another Region of the Air that then infallibly Wind or Rain follows and sometimes also Thunder and Lightning And that sometimes Winds and Storms are raised inwardly in the Mountains and from thence break forth is alas but too well known by Miners that work in the same several known Miners having been struck down and kill'd in the Mines by such subterraneous Storms That also sometimes a Wind arises out of the Water is undeniable for it is observed upon the Boden-Sea in Switzerland it being a thing very well know thereabouts that when the water of the said Sea begins to look as it were boyling or troubled and that a thin steam ariseth up from the same then those that are upon it must haste to land as fast as they can for as soon as the said steam or mist is mounted four foot high where two different Regions of the Air meet there follows always so violent a Storm that there is no abiding upon the Sea In like manner by another instance it may yet further be proved that the motion of the water onely doth sometimes cause a Wind for in several parts of Italy where there is a Rivulet that hath a fall of fifteen or sixteen foot if near the same an arched Vault be made and above in the midst of the said arched Vault be put a square Pipe passing thorough into the hollowness of the Vault and below the said Pipe a round Stone-table of three or four foot broad be set also within the Vault and underneath the Table a four square hole be made with a Register to widen or lessen the said hole according to pleasure and so to let out the water in a due proportion to its income above When now the water from above is let down through the square Pipe so as no air can come in with it then the water makes a great noise and froth by falling upon the Table and when the said four-square hole which is under the Table is so adjusted as that no Air can come in nor out of it then the Vault will be filled with a strong wind or air and when afterward a Pipe is opened which is placed in the side of the said arched Room there proceeds so strong a blast from the same as serves instead of a Bellows continually day and night for to melt down Iron-ore When water is stirred by fire it likewise causeth wind as is well known that when we take a hollow brass Globe or Shell in which there is a little hole and fill the same with water and then set it against a fire with the hole of it turned towards another fire a strong blast will proceed from the said hole as long as any water is left in the Aeolipylae or round hollow of brass as is commonly known by Chymists Furthermore that the motion of the water produceth a wind Sea-men are very well acquainted with who when they have a great calm at Sea so that they are forced to lie still they wait for the Flood that the water may be put in motion forasmuch as they know that then they shall get a gale of wind Where by the way we may take notice that the ebbing and flowing of the Sea is nothing â—lse but a continual Revolution such as is to be â—ound in all other things 7 Q. Hitherto hath been spoken concerning the several causes of Winds but forasmuch as mention hath been already made of Thunder and Lightning which are the work and effect of the foresaid spiritual Being in the Air that they smell like Brimstone and Gunpowder may not some further account of
the cause thereof be given R. That there is in the Air an inflammable sulphurous spiritual Being hath in part been made out before where we treated concerning the Sun viz. how by means of the Air and the Sun 's shining into the Water such a Being is generated and the same may also in the Air it self be wrought out into a corporal Pitch and Brimstone such as was rained down at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah That likewise a subtile spiritual Salt-petre and Salt is in the Air some Salt-petre-men know very well who when they have digged so much Earth out of Stables as will employ them a whole year to elixiviate or draw out the Salt from it never after need to dig up any more fresh Earth for to extract their Salt-petre therefrom For at the years end they find their elixiviated Earth after it is again exposed to be stored with Salt-petre anew as being impregnated by the Air which they afterwards again boyl out of the same Earth and in refining the said Salt-petre they separate a great quantity of common Salt From whence it is most clear and evident that there inflammable Materials viz. Brimstone Salt-petre and Salt are spiritually in the Air from whence the Thunder and Lightning are produced CHAP. III. SECT I. Concerning the Water and Quick-sand 1 Q. HItherto hath been treated concerning the Air its Essence Operation and Properties as also that the same hath a spiritual ruling essential body which is united with the Sun Moon and Stars and by means of its spiritual essential powers and firmness is fit and proper to unite the Earth as being the Out-working of the said heavenly Lights with them and so to compleat as it were Jacob's Ladder before-mentioned Now we see that this lower part of the Great World viz. the Earth is made up and doth consist of several Waters Seas and Rivers and of different sorts of Sand Stones and Metals c. The Query therefore is how we may come to understand all these things with the Natures and Properties of them R. In order to this a brief Introduction shall be here set down from proper experience that there by an occasion may be presented to others to search out and advance further in the knowledge of these things We find everywhere in the World in digging whether it be in Vallies for Springs or in Mountains for to get out Metals that though the same be never so high yet at the bottom is always a Quick-sand found beyond which there is no digging any further for this Quick-sand drives with the water and is therefore called in High-dutch Triebsands that is Drift or Drive-sand and in English Quick-sand from its continual motion and is always mingled with the same Now this water with which the Quick-sand is mingled and this Sand which is continually made in the water is the foundation of the whole Earth and of the highest and vastest Mountains as being that on which they rest and are supported and is indeed the very Root from whence the whole Earth all Mountains and other visible Bodies do arise and have their original as is expressed Gen. 1. v. 25. and from whence they likewise receive and enjoy their nourishment as from their Mother all which may be made out visibly to the eye 2 Q. How can it be made out first that the water and the Quick-sand are the foundation of the Earth and the Creatures that are in it And in the next place how are the same the Root and Original of all Terrestrial Bodies R. As to what concerns the first Question the same may be cleared in part from this instance viz. we find in plain and low grounds as in Brabant near Boisleduc that we cannot dig above four or five foot deep in the Earth without coming to the Quick-sand so that when in these parts they go about to build a high weighty and square Church-steeple of Bricks or the like they first lay a row of Oaken or other boards that will not rot in the water but continue always sound and undamag'd in the same upon the Quick-sand and upon the said Boards they begin to build the Church-steeple about three hundred feet high which proves a most strong and lasting foundation as appears from several Steeples that have been in this manner built upon the Quick-sand and have continued firm and unmovable for many hundreds of years Adde to this that when in those parts any one digs a Pond for water and that he digs up more Sand than is fitting thinking thereby to make his Pond Pit or Well the deeper he soon after perceives he is in a mistake for that the Sand flows and falls in again continually so that the Well or Pond continues still of the same depth Moreover he will find by experience that if there be built such a Steeple as was just now mentioned within three or four thousand foot from the said Pit Pond or Well the same will begin to sink and incline toward that side where the Pit is digged forasmuch as its foundation viz. the Quick-sand is drawn away from that side From all which it incontestably follows that seeing such great and massie Buildings do for so many years continue firm and stedfast upon this watery Quick-sand without giving way or sinking and that on the contrary by the fleeting away of the said Quick sand those Buildings are endangered that the said watery Quick-sand is the foundation of all material Bodies as deriving its original from above viz. from the Sun Moon and Stars and mounteth again from beneath upwards through several and multifarious alterations and meliorations in a â—â—â—â—tinual Revolution by means of which the 〈◊〉 World is kept firm and unmoveable on its center Now the reason why this makes such a stedfast and unmovable foundation is because neither the Water nor the Quick-sand both which are very nigh of kin to one another for that the Sand is produced by the Water and continually renewed by the same of which more in its due place will suffer themselves to be thrust down or pressed together but always preserve their wonted station and measure as shall be more fully made out in what follows And as to what respects the second Question viz. Whether this Water and the watery Quick-sand are the Root of all other sublunary Bodies this is evident from the Testimony of Nature it self For first that the Quick-sand is produced by the Water hath been found by true and proper experience viz. in a certain place in the Province of Brabant some of this Quick-sand-water hath been taken and being distilled hath always left some sand in the bottom of the Glass and when in order to a more certain knowledge of this matter the Water hath been before filtred through several Papers that so it might be evident that no sand could remain in the water yet notwithstanding when distilled it hath left sand at the bottom of the Glass as before And as
be the reason why the Seas are so salt and that in one place more than another R. Of this many reasons may be given amongst which this is one of the chief and most considerable viz. that from the Sea all Currents do in manner abovesaid proceed and circulate to the same again as well to be made partakers of its vital operation as likewise that by the power they receive from the same they might be able to produce all living Creatures Upon which account it is necessary for the Sea to have much salt which is a a power of life and a good thing as Christ himself witnesseth Luke 14. 34. And as we find that there is Salt in the Sea so likewise it is found in every other Creature for all of them stand in need of Salt for to preserve and keep themselves in life and to renew and propagate themselves And this Salt they make themselves as we see in Kine Sheep and other Beasts who feed upon nothing but Grass and drink nothing but fresh Water and yet notwithstanding they turn a great part of this their nourishment into Salt as may be perceived by their Sweat Urine c. which are very salt And the same likewise may be seen in Man who the more sound and healthful he is the salter his Sweat and Urine will be and the salter they are the stronger is his life From whence likewise we may partly gather why every Sacrifice in the Temple at Jerusalem was to be salted with Salt Yea for the same reason also it is conducible to mans health to use much Salt as a Blessing which comes to him from above for we see that the Air which in part resembleth the upper waters and without which man cannot live forasmuch as the Air gives him life doth contain Salt in it self as was mentioned where we spake of Salt-petre 4 Q. Forasmuch then as the Seas have their own Regiment within themselves in order to a further working out as may in part be gathered from the motion and rowling of the water and seeing that these great motions of the Sea are as well found on the Ocean as on other Seas and that they oft cause great trouble to Sea-men rightly to understand them and to find out their true course and that this is the most difficult and troublesome case for Sea-men that when they are up on the Sea and can see neither Sun Moon nor Stars and consequently know not whereabouts they be Whether therefore a way might not be found out whereby we might arrive to a greater certainty in Navigation than hitherto hath been had and by means of which Sea-men might in such cases be able to know their right course R. That there be many things in Navigation which ought further to be inquir'd into and search'd out by experience is not to be questioned Of which we may have an instance in this common thing viz. that when the Tackle of a Ship is made of clean good and well-dressed Hemp and the same finely spun it is not needful then to have the said Tackle made so thick as commonly they are because all the filth of the Hemp is left in them and yet notwithstanding this Tackle made of fine spun Hemp shall be much stronger and last longer and that because the fine Hemp may be wrought much closer together so that when they are dipt in Tarr no rain nor water can pierce them And because they have but half the thickness of the other therefore are more pliable and consequently more easily to be managed so that the labour of one man shall go further and dispatch more with this fine Tacle than the labour of two shall with the coarser sort so that the greater charge will be recompensed with double profit Amongst other things it may be matter of our admiration that Sea-men have not all this while found out a way whereby they might measure exactly the length of their Course at Sea as well as an Instrument hath been invented which being fastened to a Coach or to a Person that travels afoot as oft as the wheels of the Coach turn round or a man steps forward doth exactly measure the way that either of them makes Now why might not in like manner a Water-wheel or Mill of about a foot and a half diameter be to this purpose fastened to the bottom of the Ship about the third part of the Ship towards the Helm the same Water-wheel or Mill being fastened to an Axel-tree or hollow Pipe which must reach to the top of the Ship which then by its turning about will give a certain and infallible indication whether the Ship makes great or small way And upon this occasion it will not be amiss here to relate the Experience of a known understanding and curious Person who to satisfie his own mind caus'd two Ships to be built both of them of one and the same wood grown in the same place and both of one form and bulk ordered also all the Timber and Boards to be made of one thickness and length The one of these Ships he caus'd to be built according to the common and cheapest way for to spare Boards by laying the Boards in length together on the sides with their ends turned from one another viz. the upper or top-part of one Board against the root-end of the other so as that the lower part of the one made up one breadth with the upper part of the other which was narrower The other Ship he order'd to be built another way viz. he made the Boards to be all saw'd of one breadth and to be laid side by side together according to the nature of the wood as it grew that is top to top and root-end to root-end and that the top-ends of the Timber should be all turned forwards and thus throughout the whole Ship as far as could be Whereupon he found by experience that this last-mentioned Ship did always out-sail the other that was made of the same wood yea and all other Ships besides so as to get soon out of their sight The occasion which led him to this Invention was that he had in other cases and at other times experienced that Timber even after that it was cut down sawed and built did notwithstanding yet retain a life in it in all its parts and thus he perceived that the said wood did still take in the Air and in part enjoy it in the same order which Nature hath appointed and as it did before when it was yet growing it did enjoy the same And that Wood or Trees do attract the Air for their growth and nourishment we may plainly see in a Tree that is planted under a Covert which as it grows up doth incline and bend it self towards the Air. This life of the Timber in a Ship of which we have spoken is also made Partaker of the life of Man and his Spirit for when a Ship doth good service so that the Master of
be separated from the nature of its Origine And this drawing or Magnetisme is the cause of its continual Revolution and wheeling about unto Perfection CHAP. IV. Concerning the Earth Stones Minerals and Metals SECT I. Concerning Stones 1 Q. FOrasmuch as the Revolution and Propagation of the Quick-sand and Water hath in part been already declared it will not be amiss to make inquiry how and in what manner this Revolution proceeds and is carried on further And seeing that everywhere we meet with so ma-many stones in the water as well as in and upon the Earth how the same are generated and to what end and use they be R. The Lord and Creator of this beautiful living World had and hath the Idea of the same in his mind and therefore it is impossible there should be the least failure or oversight in the order of it but all even from the highest Star to the very Center of the Earth and again backwards from the Center to above must work joyntly in one harmony to the end that the whole may work together in a continual Revolution to perfection and old age and that so as not the least atome or grain of sand forasmuch as it is a Creature by it self though it belongs to the whole can be forgotten â—r shut out for it is a part of the whole and â—herefore no body can say that he doth not enjoy â—he same or that he hath no need of it no more than we can say that the least point or particle which God hath created in man should be in vain â—nd not concordant and agreeing with the whole Body Because Man is the Little World and the Center of the Great and therefore cannot be separated from it which if we speak with understanding and any ground of truth cannot be denied by us as hath already in part been made â—ut and shall be more largely insisted on when we shall speak of Man as being a Compendium and an Abstract of all this World Thus we see as oft hath been mentioned that the Quick-sand is as the second Universal Mother that brings forth and maintains an innumerable and incomprehensible multitude of sands many sorts of Stones Metals and Minerals of different and seemingly to the ignorant of contrary kinds and properties all which notwithstanding in one Union work to one good end and are changed into an Earth which is the more immediate Mother of Herbs Trees Beasts and Men which have their Seed in themselves as is said Gen. 1. v. 11 12. But at present for brevities sake we shall onely make mention of the chief and most remarkable Stones from whence others hereafter may take occasion from their own experience to search out this point further All stones are by a constant and continual râ—â—volution generated and maintained by the sand For when we consider the several heads in every particular member of the world we find that every sand to the very least grain doth according tâ— its kind and nature continually and without ceasing give forth food and nourishment to the stone as a Mother doth her Milk to her Children which are born of her and who from thence must have their growth and increase In like manner alâ—â— these stones produce other stones and feed anâ— maintain the same even up to the very surface 〈◊〉 the earth where also many and different sorts 〈◊〉 stone grow as well of the common as precious forâ— or kind Now the life or milk and moisture 〈◊〉 this incomprehensible multitude of different stones contributes much to the fruitfulness of the earth from whence as hath been mentioned Herbs and Trees in every Country according to their kind are brought forth from which afterwards Beasts and men do take their nourishment Our Saviour himself bears witness to this that there is a life in stones Luke 19 v. 40. where he faith If these should hold their peace the stones would cry out And John the Baptist hath a very remarkable saying Matth. 3. v. 9. That God is able of stones to raise up children to Abraham Now that stones conduce to the fruitfulness of the earth experience teacheth us for when some Country-men have carried away from off their ground some sorts of Pebble-stones that their â—and hath not proved so fruitful as before conâ—rning which a larger account shall be given in â—hat follows 2 Q. But what way is there to reduce all stones 〈◊〉 some general heads to the end we may distinâ—uish them the better and learn to know them R. The Stones and Rocks which grow in the â—and Metals and Minerals excepted are 1. Such as cannot endure the fire but when put â—nto it are burnt to Lime 2. Another sort is of such stones which without the addition of any thing else are by fire melâ—ed into Glass 3. A third sort is of those that do of themselves endure the fire but with Salts and other additions suffer themselves to be run down or melted into Glass Now all these stones are not wholly devoid of Metal for they are operative and living as well as all other stones in general whether great or small the high Mountains and Rocks not excepted and every one of them in the measure and order wherein they are placed are parts of the great body of the world 3 Q. What is properly the Nature and Essence of the first of these three sorts of stones viz. of those which do not abide the fire but are burnt to Lime R. These stones are partly of a Sulphurous nature as we may perceive by several of them that when they are rub'd together a sulphurous smell comes from them In these stones the fire continues after calcination so that afterwards they may in part be reduced to a fixed Salt and forasmuch as some part of the fire is entred into them and together with them turned to Salt as before hath been shewed that Heat being a Spiritual Essence pierceth into Bodies and dwells in them and forasmuch as by reason of the violence of the fire the said stone hath lost its stony nature it endeavours to return to its own nature again as to its rest and therefore it attracts the water with such violence that the water is heated thereby as daily experience teacheth Afterwards when this Lime is made up into Mortar it turns again into stone wherewith Houses may be built upon the land yea and in the water also But when the Lime in any building is exposed to a moist air the said building cannot continue long but the Lime will become impregnated with Salt-petre for the Salt-petre which is in the air is by means of moisture conveyed into the Mortar or Lime and mortifies it and quickens the small quantity of Salt which is in the Lime into Salt-petre and common salt which happens the sooner in a place where Privies or Stables are as Salt-petre men know very well how to ripen and reduce Ashes and Lime to Salt-petre by means of Salt-petre water Here
is and particularly in the Principality of Sultzbach in the upper Palatinate near Bohemia where there is a Spring whose water divides itself into two currents of which the one runs East and the other West and poure forth themselves into the Rhine and Donaw In the same place thou wilt meet with many Mountains and high Rocks which are altogether mouldred and mortified and others that decay and dye daily For in many places you see stones standing right up of different heights it may be a hundred foot high more or less and ten twenty thirty or forty foot broad which you may judge to have been the heart or kernel of some great Mountain that formerly stood there and now is so far spent and decayed and as it were died away Below upon the ground near these great standing stones are several great and unmovable stones that are fallen down and in many places thereabouts thou wilt perceive that the lesser stones wherewith the fields thereabouts are filled are in part every year plainly and so as cannot be denied mouldred and turned into an Earth or fat clay by which means the fields are made so fruitful that there is no need of dunging them before they sow Corn there In the said Principality of Sultzbach thou wilt also find many holes or Caverns under the said perished Rocks and that their Root is consumed and devoured like as wood is by worms insomuch that many passages are found there into which those that enter must take lighted Torches with them that they may be able to find their way in the said Caves which extend themselves to many miles In like manner thou wilt find there many curious high stone-arches which are higher than any that are found in Churches From which instances thou mayst clearly see and know that in some parts of the world the Mountains and Rocks do die and perish and are changed into valleys 5 Q. The question is whether it be possible that a man within the short limit and time of his life should himself see and be assured that new stones are produced which were not before R. In the fore-mentioned Caverns and vast stony arches in the Principality of Sultzbach and elsewhere in such stony places thou wilt find a clear transparent water which men and beasts do drink of and hath no singular distinguishing tast and which drops down from the old perished arch and doth by degrees fill up the said hollow or cavern again with another new production or birth distinct from the former viz. with an hard transparent stone which is fixt in the fire Moreover thou wilt find in sundry places where the said water hath dropt down that great pillars or columns are made by it of different figures which look like ice and are greater than any pillars of Churches Thou wilt also find in other streams and Rivers that the water produceth several sorts of stones and there is one stone among the rest which in a short time is produced by the water called Terass-stone which when it is ground and mixed with Quicklime in the stead of other Sand the same abides firm in the water and unites well with the Lime 6 Q. Might not another and clearer instance of this matter be produced R. In the fore-mentioned Principality thou wilt find very hard Rocks which may wholly be burnt into Lime and within the same in the midst of the firm stone thou wilt see several great and lesser holes of two three or four inches or more round which within are grown over with a transparent white skin as it were or rind full of sparkling shining glittering and polished Chrystals like Diamonds and set in so curious an order as it is impossible for any Artificer to imitate them some of which are one or two inches long all of them six cornerd and every one of them most curiously polished All these Chrystals are fixt in the fire so that they are of another nature than their Mother of whom they are born and brought forth which as hath been said is a hard Lime-stone And like as these Crystals are found in these Rocks so in other Rocks thou wilt meet with divers other sorts of stones 7 Q. Is it possible for a man in his life-time to see how the Rocks makes holes in themselves and in them bring forth other stones And how these again are changed and yet other properties and figures R. Thou wilt find in Tyrol at a place called Schwatz in the Silver Mine there a sort of very hard stone which is fix in the fire transparent and of a whitish colour which opens itself visible to the eye like an Ulcer or Fistula and doth by degrees through a little hole thrust forth its birth or foetus in the appearance of a green and blewish thick moist pulp or seed which afterwards grows hard and changeth itself into a green and blew stone which is called a Malachite and is good against many diseases And the deeper men cut their way into the said Rock the more of such places do they find which are filled up with the â—oresaid Malachite So that it cannot be denied put that the Rock as a Mother opens her self for to bring forth her Child and this Child doth afterwards still change it self into other shapes untill it arrive to its perfection For thou wilt often find such Sexangular Crystals which in one part continue transparent whilst the other part of them remains opace dark and metallick and becomes heavier in weight without any increase of its outward bulk and keeping its former shape and figure It is further observable that these Crystals have every where in all their parts their own water as the nourishment which they have from their Mother that by means thereof they may further work out themselves even as the Rocks which are their Mothers do And this water may be got out of them by distillation 8 Q. Is it not possible to find out a mean to know the further specialities concerning these young Chrystals and other Stones viz. Whether they do grow on to a greater bulk until they have attained to their due magnitude age and maturity And whether their growth and increase be by opposition of something from without Or whether they increase in all their parts by means of their inward powers and life even as a Child grows up to be a man As also whether a way might not be found out whereby we might be assured of this truth and also find it so to be by experience almost everywhere and consequently that we should not need meerly to believe it or to take a Journey to those places where these Rocks are as if this truth were limited to onely or shut up in one place but rather that she might everywhere stand open to the eyes of all as is highly necessary it should be for Wisdom is everywhere according to the testimony of Solomon Prov. 8. vers 1 2 3. R. Observe therefore such Stones which
five inward Senses all which so unite in a centre where Eyes Ears Nose and Mouth meet together so that the four Senses are â—nited in the fifth of Feeling even as the four fingers which are the working instruments of the Head are joyned and united with the Thumb And these five inward and five outward Senses make up the number Ten. Do not we find here â—hen the ground of the number Five and in part of â—he number Ten also I. Concerning the Eyes and Sight 9 Q. We find in those that have a strong eyeâ—â—ght that when they rub their eyes in the night â—â—me they excite a small fiery light and can see it as it were before them which is a good sign that they have yet life and strength and if it be in the time of sickness it gives hopes of recovering former health In like manner when any one hath a pain in his eyes or receives a stroke upon them a fiery light is perceived as it were to come from them May not we therefore conclude from these instances that the eyes have a fiery operative life in them like to that of the Sun which flows from within from the centre of the eye commonly called the Pupilla or Apple of the eye which when by reason of the decay of life it becomes wide and fixed in that wideness this fiery operative light withdraws from the eyes from whence ariseth a distemper or blindness which is called in the German Tongue Dieschwartre Staar 10 Q. That the Eyes have waters or humors in them is evident from Anatomy forasmuch as within the Eye three several humors are contained the first and last of which are properly a humour or water the first being called Humor Aqueus or the watry humour the latter Humor Vitreus or the glassie humour but the middlemost commonly called Humor Crystallinus or the Crystalline humour consists of a small cloudy soft and pulpy substance which may be reputed as the brain of the eye in order to the working out of the Idea's which we may experimentally find by taking the Eye of a Beast and letting it freeze wherein then with the help of a Microscope the said pulpy substance may be easily discerned and clearly distinguished from both the foresaid liquors And seeing that the Aqueous humor or water is continually renewed in the Eyes and hath its Revolutions quickly as being the Sea of the Eyes insomuch as we find often both with men and Beasts that when by reason of a wound in their Eyes the said water is shed or poured forth that other new water will come and supply its place without hurting of their eye-sight Doth it not follow from hence that this water hath a similitude and agreement with the waters of the great world And that the foresaid fiery Being which is in the Eyes doth work in the water of the Eyes in order to the perfecting of the said watery substance even as the Sun of the greater World works in its own waters 11 Q. Forasmuch as the right Eye of man is ordained to work out and the left Eye for to draw in and receive to the heart by which the left side is known and these two are like Man and Wife for to bring forth a spiritual Birth the right Eye being the Man and the left the Wife For without this Birth of a spiritual Idea we should presently forget any thing we had seen and therefore this Idea must abide in man to the end he may be able to compare the Copy with its Original Now then seeing that in manner as hath been said there is a continual Revolution in the Eye-sight viz. from the right Eye to the left from the outward to the inward as it is in the great World may not we by all this perceive a great agreement between both Worlds viz. the Greater and Lesser 12 Q. Seeing that man receives his sight from the Sun and the Sun Moon and Stars as his Father and Mother from which as long as he is fastened to this World and hath not yet wrought them out he cannot be separated are a right spiritual Being and communicate themselves to us as a true Being or Essence insomuch as what we receive from them is nothing else but a true essence which is subject to a continual Revolution For the Sun by means of his daily circumvolution from East to West makes all things to become operative and puts them in motion In like manner when the Sun in a years time passeth through the twelve Signes of the Zodiack it doth from every Signe communicate to us that of which our Essence consists and by means of its out-flowing and generative light and life from whence also we receive our Eye-sight which when the Sun Moon and Stars are just above the Horizon can at once see no further than over a twelfth part of the World Doth not this give us a certain intimation that we must continually be made partakers of the said course or circumvolution of the Sun and that we cannot be separated from the same And therefore the said Circumvolution of the Sun continues still to the end it might work without ceasing in us who are its Seed for to bring us at last for Reward to the seven thousand years Sabbath Moreover because we can find in our selves the four distinct times of the natural day how that in the night-time as in death when man is asleep by means of the Moon and Stars the female fleeting waters in him are united from whence afterwards the essential thoughts are orderly wrought out in him which with the approach of day when the Sun hath performed his whole course about the Earth and appears again in our Hemisphere are further wrought out and perfected into words as so many Births Psal. 19. 1 2 3 4 5 6. 13 Q. These changes by taking in and giving forth are confirmed and made out to us by many Examples as when in a darkened Room we leave onely a little round hole in the window so as the light can come in through that alone if we hang and spread forth a white Cloath opposite to the said hole we can see all the Objects that pass by without as in a Glass but turned upside down In like manner if we take a white Stone-horse or of any other colour and artificially spot and paint him with what colour we please and then place him at the end of a Water-pond or the like making a partition overthwart the water by means of a piece of Cloath or such-like and on the overside of the Pond place a Mare over against the Stone-horse in such manner as that by means of the said partition coming between they shall not be able to see each others form otherwise than in the water If we let them stand thus for several days together each of them bound in his own place until their Lust to one another become strong and vehement then if we loose the Stone-horse and let
birth comes forth viz. another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This new 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enters with his new point as with the lower 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the shut-up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the Mother or Womb in order to multiplication And that is the cause why this syllable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Hebrews always signifies the plural number Now Love is nothing else neither can it be represented otherwise than as a Mother with her Child and seeing that a Child before it comes to be so was onely humane Seed and that this Seed of Man the Lesser World proceeds from the Seed of the Greater World which is Wheat as being the chiefest Food of Man and that the Wheat when it turns downwards into a root doth bring forth a Fruit and turns to that we call Earth-nuts and Rachel having for so long a time together before their cohabiting together so heartily loved her Husband Jacob and by him again been spiritually beloved and thereby also was spiritually impregnated by him which multiplied impregnation seeing it was spiritual went up to the head as being the first seat of Love and abode there until the time of their coming together when his Seed being united with hers by reason of a long-continued custom having past so many Revolutions still went upwards till at length these spiritual impregnations were so greatly multiplied as to make her burst out into these words which she spake to Jacob Give me children or else I die From which manifold spiritual impregnation at last Joseph whose name imports multiplicity was born May not this therefore be supposed to have been the reason why seeing that Rachel knew that the impregnation in her which formerly in a wrong order went upwards to bring forth fruit in Idea onely and in the head before that the same could take root beneath must needs first be conveyed from above downwards before ever she could bring forth Children therefore she desired the Dudaim because she knew that they were a Fruit that had also grown in a wrong order yea wholly according to what was said of her impregnation viz. their upper part was turn'd downwards that so by means of this Seed of the Great World in which the blessing of God or generative power did lie might cause in her the Seed of the Little World which went wrongly upwards into her head in Idea's of love to her Husband to descend rightly downwards in order to corporeal birth Now that upon every cohabitation of Man and Wife a spiritual Seed also doth come into the woman and abide there and is not annihilated may not this be evidenced from the example of Thamar who after the death of both her Husbands had their Seed raised and excited in her by her Father-in-law Judah Gen. 38. 32 Q. Forasmuch as we perceive that the whole Mouth of Man above beneath and on both sides as well as the Tongue and Teeth do every one of them continually and without ceasing give forth a distinct circulating moisture so that in the Mouth there is a twofold water one above and the other beneath both which must be united by means of the Tongue in order both to eating and speaking which latter is formed by the Tongue which therefore is as a Spunge moving and turning itself to all parts of the Mouth destinated for the forming of all the living Images and Letters and the sounds of them in the mouth as we may see in the printed Hebrew Letters that they have the same figure and form as they are shaped and formed by the Tongue in the Mouth especially when any one is forced to speak loud to another at a distance as is more largely declared in the said Alphabet of Nature And may not we again in this circulation of waters in the Mouth of Man perceive an evident harmony and agreement between the greater and lesser Worlds in their continual Revolutions 33 Q. Now that the lower waters which come from beneath viz. from the Belly up into the Mouth be of Lunar Nocturnal and Terrestrial property and consequently do incline us to fleep and allay pains may we not perceive this from hence that when the sweat of a mans feet is taken by the mouth and swallowed down it asswageth the pains of the Cholick as hath been experienced by some and as it is commonly known that by applying the soals of a Stocking sore Throats are cured In like manner also that the Spittle of any one taken in the night-time as soon as they awake and applied to the place where a Ring-worm or Tetter is doth take away the same when on the contrary our Spittle by day so applied doth increase the Malady And may not this perhaps be the reason why the lower waters are of such a nature as hath been now said viz. for that our Feet from whence these waters come considered with their ten Toes are as it were the roots wherein as in the roots of a Tree all nourishment must die as descending into the roots if ever they are to arrive at an operative power and to bring forth Fruit through the Arms. Hands and Fingers as through Boughs and Branches An example of which we have in Women with Child who when by reason of a longing they have for any Fruit or from a sudden Fright and Amazement at any thing they lay their hand on any part of their body the Child also which is in their Womb will in the very sâ—me part of its body get an answerable mark or tâ—ken which retains a sympathy with the Fruit longed for or with the thing which was the cause of the Mothers affrightment From whence we may see that the hands are nothing else but the essential Out-workers of the thoughts of the head We might further enquire here seeing Man hath his beginning and life from the Trees by his feeding upon their Fruit whether therefore an arboreal essence be not in the first original and most inward imaging of his outward body And whether this Mystery be not hinted to us in the New Testament in which all Wisdom as in the highest divine Philosophy is contained in the story of the blind man Mark 8. 23 24 c. where it is related how Christ spit in the blind man's eye and laid his hand upon him and asked him whether he saw any thing whereupon he looked up and said I see men walk like trees But that afterwards when Christ a second time had laid his hand upon his eyes he saw all things clearly 34 Q. May not the foresaid continual Circulation and Revolution of waters in the Mouth be supposed to be for the reason as follows Inasmuch as the said waters must give the first serment and must kindle the first life in the Food which we take in whereby our Food comes to be united with us of which also even the Americans themselves do not seem to be ignorant viz. that these waters are a true
living Spirit who when they prepare their strong Drink called Perino they take a great Root called Cassava which they grate and after they have pressed out the Juice which is poyson bake the remainder of the grated Roots upon hot stones into Cakes of a finger thick which they eat instead of Bread Another part of the 〈◊〉 grated or rasped Root they sleep in common water and their women take some of the foresaid Cakes and chew them and spit what they have chew'd into the water in which the Cassava is put to sleep and this makes the Liquor to ferment which afterwards serves them for a usual Drink 35 Q. Furthermore is not the Revolution of the said waters partly also evidenced from hence that when women make use of mercurial waters outwardly for to beautifie themselves if then when they go to sleep they put one or two Ducats into their mouths because they know by experience that the Mercury doth revolve or circulate the said Ducats become white but when put into the fire the Mercury flies away and so the Ducats come again to their first golden colour In like manner when some take Mercury inwardly in order to salivation by which means an internal Revolution is brought to pass now the Mercury by its Circulation causeth salivation because not being digested he is not wholly estranged nor changed from his mercurial quality but doth as yet in part retain the same as may be urged from this Argument viz. that he doth first set upon and kill that life of the parts of mans body which yet is not absolutely the first wherewith man is born such are the Teeth which are not born with man these I say he lays hold of in such a manner as to cause a corruption of the Gums and falling out of the Teeth when the said Mercury is unmeasurably and unskilfully taken or made use off And the reason hereof is forasmuch as the said Mercury is not yet wholly changed and therefore cannot pass through the Teeth which are some of the Rocks and Stones of the Microcosm 36 Q. That a certain water or moisture passeth through the Teeth and that amongst other ends they were especially formed for this likewise viz. to afford waters in quantity as also that the water in all and every part of the body must suffer a change to the end it may distribute to every part and member of mans body its due food and nourishment even as we may observe that the sweat of man in each several member hath a different odour so may not we also partly form the said judgment from hence inasmuch as we find some of the Teeth so fashioned and formed that when we look upon them through a Microscope we can perceive in the middle or hollow part of them many spungy bladders by which they continually draw unto themselves much moisture and also do renew the same Might not we from hence likewise gather in some measure that the Teeth of man the Lesser World bears somewhat a resemblance to the Mountains of the Great World which continually give forth their waters for to feed and nourish the Earth and this the rather for that we find that a great strength and force is in the Teeth forasmuch as we daily take notice that when Children come to get their Teeth they about the same time also begin to speak And on the contrary when the Teeth by reason of age or else through infirmity or other accidents do fall out notwithstanding that the party may be able to speak all words as plainly as before yet will he not be able to hold on a discourse so well as formerly but will soon be tired And lastly doth it not follow that the Teeth were chiefly given to man for these three reasons and uses 1. To afford water or to give a ferment and thereby to excite life 2. To bite and chew his Food 3. To speak that is to help to form his voice Moreover seeing that the Teeth are ordinarily thirty two in number even just as many as the Hebrew Letters are which likewise make up thirty two the Consonants and Vowels being reckoned together viz. twenty two Consonants and ten Vowels which are formed by the Tongue and by means of the little Arches which make the roof of the mouth and which are above the upper gums inwardly which Teeth together with the foresaid parts help to form the speech and words which are afterwards uttered through the Teeth and Lips so that through the concurrence of all these a word is produced or born Must not therefore both these viz. the Teeth and Letters have a great analogy and agreement with one another 37 Q. Forasmuch as we treat here concerning the Mouth wherein the speech or words of man 〈◊〉 formed and born it may give just occasion to the starting of this Question viz. Seeing that a 〈◊〉 and his word must be united or made one 〈◊〉 that accordingly the words which flow from his heart can as little be annihilated as the man himself can be whether then this being so all the powers of man must not concur to the production and birth of his word And forasmuch as the voice and word of man are his Off-spring and Children viz. his out-flown Spirits and Angels which continually from the beginning of his life until his death go out from him and make up the whole man Whether or no then man must not give an account of his words which do follow him as well as his works or thoughts And whether or no his words should not be his subjects over which his Central Life-spirit ought to rule as a King yea and as a Priest offer them up continually to the most High and that so long until his perfect Revolution be accomplished and his total Perfection attained to the end that man might be capacitated to enjoy the thousand years Sabbath which is made and consists of the weekly Sabbaths and obtain a spiritual body and be united with Christ For seeing that God hath made his beloved ones Kings and Priests how could he have made them Kings in case they had no Subjects Or Priests if they had nothing to offer up to him Forasmuch then as the words of Man are to be his Subjects and consequently must belong to his Regiment or Government and that they as well as his Sight and all his Outbirths through all his Senses and Desires are a spiritual endless and everlasting Being as well as he himself is how is it then possible that ever they should be separated from man or that they should lose themselves or perish in the Great World which is Mans Mother any more than a man is able to lose himself As for example let us suppose that if some thousands of men should be taken away from their Wives viz. by the Turks or the like and carried away Captives into great slavery and that then there should a man be found who should redeem them all
Teeth notwithstanding that his Ears be close stop'd up Moreover the same may be further confirmed because as hath been mentioned a twofold Seed flows down from the Brain of man into the center or mid-part of the Head where all the Senses meet and there becomes divided one part of it going forwards towards the Nose the other backwards to the Throat Is not the same likewise further apparent from hence that when we use a Collyrium or Eye-water to our Eyes as for instance Aloes with a little Copperas dissolved in Rose-water we presently perceive the taste of the Aloes in our Throat from whence we see that there is a continual Revolution of water from the Eyes to the Throat The same being yet further demonstrable from hence that when men weep for joy or grief and shed many tears that at the same time much water runs down from the Eyes to the Nose and Mouth also 45 Q. Seeing we have here made mention of the water of the Eyes may we not take occasion from hence to enquire for what end and purpose the natural faculty of Weeping and Laughing was given to Man And whether or no it were not chiefly given him for this end viz. that Man keeping himself betwixt both those Extreams might not turn foolish because we see that when a man by his imagination doth frame to himself an Image which proves to be according to his desires and such as he delights in he thereupon is pleased and laughs and his Eyes give forth their water proportionably to the excess of his love for the said Image which in order to its being perfected ought to be free whereas in this case the party by reason of his love to the said Image lays hold on the same as his propriety for to drown the said Image and so take away the excess of love to it And on the contrary is it not for this reason that we find that Fools which have no understanding laugh very much by which means they are hindred from framing any due Images And will not this likewise be found to be the reason of their weeping who are seized with grief and sorrow for that when they have lost the beloved Image which they would willingly have kept as their propriety they begin to shed tears in which the said Image is drowned and their excess towards it taken away It being a thing of daily experience that when any one that is in sorrow cannot weep his sorrow increaseth and the Image that causeth it grows stronger so as sometimes the party by means thereof becomes a Mope or Fool and sometimes dies for grief but as soon as the party comes to weep so that his Eyes Nose and Mouth give forth their water he thereby is delivered and eased of his sorrow and the more plentiful his weeping is and the more abundantly his Tears and Mouth-water do gush forth the sooner is he eased forasmuch as the grief-causing Image is deluged and drowned in the said waters 46 Q. Now that sorrow without tears doth oft take away the dolorifick Image and Life together is not this alas too notorious from manifold experience And that the very same may be caused by a violent and excessive Laughter without tears is not this also matter of experience For hath it not been known that young wanton Children playing together have so long tickled one another till by excess of Laughter they have lost their breath and swoned away And some wicked ungodly Souldiers were not ignorant of this who in the late German War which continued thirty years together when they were minded to force the Country-people to tell them where their Money was did bind them fast on a Stool or Bench and having pull'd off their Shoes and Stockings they anointed the soals of their Feet with Cream or rubbed them with Salt and let a Goat lick it off again by means of which tickling motion they were forced to extreme Laughter but without tears and by this means having lost their strength they were forced to confess all and discover to them where they had hid their monies 47 Q. Seeing we have many instances of mad people or Lunaticks who by chance falling into the water and by letting in the same into the upper part of their body so as the air in their Lungs hath been quite choak'd thereby though not the air which was in their bellies have been drowned to appearance and held by all for dead who afterwards having been laid upon their bellies with their heads and upper parts inclining downwards and some body blowing strongly into their Fundament through a Knife-sheath with the end cut off or other convenient Pipe have thereupon begun to vomit up all the water they had taken down and thus have not onely been restored to life but at the same time also have been cured of their madness and restored to the perfect use of their Reason and continued so And for a full and convincing evidence of all this there is a certain Physician who having made this observation out of my Fathers Writings hath put the same in practice so as to make a Profession of it viz. he takes mad people and binds their hands behind them and ties their feet together with a Rope which he runs through a Pulley and there by lets down the upper parts of their body into a Vessel of water and lets them hang till he think it to be enough then he pulls them up out of the water and blows into their Fundaments by which means they void the water they have taken in which having drowned the Image of their madness the said Lunaticks have thereby been delivered and freed from the dominion of the Moon May we not therefore conclude from hence that when the water of a mans own Little World viz. his tears of weeping or laughter as aforementioned are not sufficient to drown the undue Images man hath framed he is then forced to have recourse to the waters of the Great World 48 Q. Is it not likewise very observable on this occasion that a Dog being a Beast of a very quick scent hath a very cold Nose which coldness is a main cause of the quickness of his scent because the odoriferous emanations from persons and things are by the said cold condensed contracted and repercussed and therefore made the more perceptible Now a Dog by means of this his quick scentedness and the spiritual emanation which continually goes forth from together with the love he bears to his Master is able to trace the way he is gone and to distinguish him from all others which a man cannot do for if he had so quick a scent his Senses would thereby be dissipated and avocated and his activity or out-working would be weakened But Man when he stands aright is capable of an higher perfection than this forasmuch as when he hath perfectionated and wrought out his outward smelling he then obtains a spiritual smelling and the same may be said
seeing that the Stomack is a wise and understanding Purveyor for the whole body which must and doth continually renew all and every part of it not one of them excepted by a continual circulation in a two-fold form of Blood and Water may not we for these reasons likewise suppose the Stomach to be the universal Physician that cures all Diseases the rather because we experience that when the Stomach hath lost its strength no Medicine can be helpful to the sick And whether it be not therefore necessary to preserve the same in its strength and vigour to the â—end that the whole body may be kept so likewise For must not the ferment of the Stomach which is its own proper fire do all that is to be done in order to the preserving of the Life of Man and no Strange fire even as it was forbid to bring any strange fire to the Altar at Jerusalem Ought not we therefore in this case to observe to that old Verse Principiis obsta serò Medicina paratur c. And is it not so much the less strange that 〈◊〉 peculiar fire should be found in man forasmuch as the same was very well known amongst the Jews who look'd upon this fire when abundantly perceiv'd in or about any person as a great Omen 〈◊〉 Presage of something very extraordinary according to what is mentioned of Achitophel in Cabale denudatae Tomo secundo in tractatu de Revolutionibus Animarum which Treatise some years since I got translated by a Friend and was not long since printed at Francfort on the Mayn viz. that fire proceeded from his Member And that such a fire as this is contained in mans Urine and is preserved in the water as a close baked and compacted slime may not we plainly perceive this by the Phosphorus which a few years since was found out in Germany which is made in this manner First you evaporate a great quantity of Urine until it become as thick as Honey and then mix the same with three parts of Sand which mixture being put into a coated Retort and a large Recipient joyn'd to it with water in it and the Retort placed in a convenient Furnace and driven with a sufficiently strong fire at last a shining matter comes over which after settles it self into a thick substance and when taken out of the water doth give light and shine in the dark and being rubbed upon Paper doth set it in a light flame It will not be thought unreasonable here for us to enquire whether from what hath been said we may not in some sort understand the Analogy resemblance there is between that glorious fire which in former times came down from Heaven upon the Altar at Jerusalem and the fire which is in Man And might not we likewise find out an agreement between the Stomach of Man the Little World and the Grave which is the Womb of the Woman of the Great World forasmuch as in them both all things must perform their Revolutions in manner as was mentioned before when we treated concerning the Earth 68 Q. Now when all things in the Stomach of man are in good and due order may not we conclude that it must then needs communicate health to the whole body of man especially to the heart and head And like as in the Body the Heart is a more principal part than the Stomach might we not compare the same with the most holy place in the Temple Moreover as the Temple was open above and that the Head of man is placed above and is the upper part of the body might we not compare it to Heaven whither the smell and savour of the Burnt-offerings and Incense mounted continually And when all this is done in its due order will it not again come down from the Head as from Heaven and so perform its Revolution in order to perfection 69 Q. Now for the way and means how this right and due order may be kept and observed in the Body of Man hath not God fully declared this to the People of Israel by Moses and ordered the same to be registred in Scripture as an everlasting Record viz. that they should eat no Creatures preduced by Putrefaction nor such as be of a ravenous nature but onely clean Beasts that divide the Hoof and chew the Cud and revolving so the Meat And doth not God hereby point out to us that such Creatures as these were the next to Man and the fittest to be enobled into his nature And whereas the Beasts amongst the Jews were to be killed without any affrightment as much as possible to this end their slaughtering Knives were most sharp and keen without the least notch in them and that for this end that all cause of pain and fright to the Beasts might be removed whereby otherwise their bloud might be obstructed 70 Q. Forasmuch then as Man ought to be a King and Governour in his Kingdom which is within him in his Heart must he not in order to keep good rule by means of his spiritual upper under Officers each in his own place and order so rule the whole Body that all that is in it may be dispensed and regulated in good order And by consequence must not there be many under Officers all under the command of the Stomach which can and must distinguish what is good or had for man According as we see in some sick persons in whom there is yet some strength of life left that oft-times there ariseth in them an appetite to some strange thing by means of which when they can get it and feed upon it they soon after recover And may not the wonderful healing renewing and out-working power and property which is in these under Officers be further discerned in Women with Child in that those things many time serve to procure their health and recovery which would be the 〈◊〉 of others if they should take them 71 Q. Moreover may not the extraordinary sensibleness of these Spirits be gathered from those who have a natural abhorrence and antipathy against many things as for instance those who cannot endure Cheese c. how ill they grow as soon as the smell of it doth reach their Nostrils so that their Stomach by a peculiar aversion it hath from it is ready to vomit And when at any time we go about to cozen them by mixing Cheese with any of their Meat though so as cannot be perceived by them yet into what disorder doth it cast them Thus we observe likewise that excess in eating or drinking which makes others sick doth not hurt fools notwithstanding that the quantity be very extraordinary but they can eat and drink whatsoever is set before them because they have no apprehension of it May not we likewise observe a further evidence of this in those that cannot endure Cats as having a natural antipathy against them who as soon as they come into a place where a Cat is though hid from their
People they were and why God upon the account of this their relation to Lot and Abraham and their wonderful Original did take care of them and expresly commanded the Children of Israel that in destroying the other Nations they should spare these All which we pass by to avoid prolixity And as for Lot who was the third Person that was an instrument of implanting the Sodomites into Abraham was not he himself two several ways ingrafted in and united with Abraham viz. First by his Birth as being his Brothers Son and then again when Abraham with the hazard of his own Life delivered him together with all the Inhabitants of Sodom out of the hand of their Enemies 10 Q. How the Philistines became ingrafted into Abraham may not this be easily gathered from the 20 Chapter of Genesis as being most expresly hinted throughout that whole Chapter from the beginning to the end which the inquisitive Reader may be pleased to turn to and read over well weighing and considering the several passages of it viz. how Sarah became spiritually impregnated by Abimelech the Father of Kings according to the signification of that name in the Hebrew and how all the Births of his House and of his whole Kingdom entred into her which may it not be inferred from hence For that all the wombs of Abimelech's house were shut up by the Lord for Sarah Abrahams wife's sake Which afterwards were opened again upon Abraham's Prayer and so were healed and restored by the fruitful and proliferous intercession of Abraham with whom they were already spiritually united This I leave to the understanding Readers own consideration 11 Q. Do not we likewise find a plain Argument and Evidence for proof of the Revolution of Souls in the History of Dinah Gen. 34. For can any firmer or surer union and alliance of two different People be imagined than was that which was entered upon and concluded betwixt Jacob and his Sons on the one side and Hamor and his Son Sichem and all the People of the Land on the other side as being ratified by the strong and indissoluble tie of Matrimonial Union And seeing that this high and weighty undertaking which was carried on with so much earnestness and concern did to outward appearance come to nothing What may we therefore suppose was the cause why the Divine Wisdom ordered the same to be so exactly and carefully set down in writing without omitting of the least circumstance thereto belonging if there were not some exceeding great Mystery hidden in Spirit under this History And what can this Mystery be else but the spiritual union transplantation and ingrafting of this People by means of a conjugal band and the slaughter which followed thereupon into the Tribes of the Children of Israel especially those of Simeon and Levi who had already in their wrath Prophesied and said That they would be United and become one People in case they would be Circumcised and who killed them and took all their Goods Children and Wives to themselves For that a peculiar providence of God did superintend this whole affair and directed all to an end sutable and comporting with the Divine Wisdom and Designe is not this clear from hence that God caused a fear and terrour to fall upon the inhabitants of the land so that they did not pursue after Jacob and his sons as we see Gen. 35. 5. 12 Q. And are not some other passages concerning Jacob and his Sons well worth our consideration with referrence to his Hypothesis As that concerning Judah who was the fourth Son of Jacob by Leah of whose Tribe Jesus was born how he raised the seed of both his Sons in his Daughter-in-Law Thamar concerning which mention hath been made already 13 Q. And is not the History of Moses and the Children of Israel alike memorable And the Doctrine of Revolution very plainly held forth in the same For seeing that God began a new Union in Moses in order to reveal himself to produce a new World and to settle a new Government as before he had done in Noah and Abraham Is it not on this account that the Wisdom of God not without a singular Mystery represents to us Exod. 2. 2 3. how Moses when he was yet a Child swam upon the waters in an Ark of Rushes as before in the Creation Gen. 1. it is mentioned that the Spirit of God moved upon the Waters and as Gen. 7. 8. Noah saved himself in the Ark upon the Waters as was formerly mentioned And forasmuch as Divine Wisdom had chosen Moses to be a Leader and Governour of this new rising Birth and that no new one can be without a dying of the old and foregoing was it not therefore fitting that Moses himself from the very beginning of the work should enter upon dying as when the Lord came unto him and would have killed him Exod. 4. 24. And seeing that by means of him all the Egyptians were to be transplanted into the Israelites and consequently be made partakers of Circumcision was not that expression of Zipporah Prophetical think we when she said to Moses Thou art to me a bridegroom of bloods and that because of Circumcision Now in order to the production of this new World and Birth was it not needful for the old to perish and that in the Water as being the first matter forasmuch as every new Birth and Creation proceeds from the water as Christ himself witnesseth John 3. 5. Now this great Renovation as a kind of new Creation which was to be carried on for the good and salvation of two Nations in order to the rising of a new Life what was it else but the transplantation of the Egyptians into the Israelites And to the end that the same might be brought about was it not necessary for the Egyptians to die before forasmuch as without the Death of the old Birth no such new one can arise according to the testimony of Christ John 12. 24. And forasmuch as every Birth must take its beginning from a Child-like Being may it not have been for this reason that the Divine Wisdom so ordered it that Pharaoh who was the head of the Egyptians and their Center caused all the male Children of the Israelites to be drowned to the end that afterward by the right of Retalliation the Egyptians might be drowned likewise and by means of the drowned Children of the Israelites be transplanted into their Mothers For may not we suppose that the troubled and vengeance-crying spirit of the Fathers and Mothers did constantly remain united with their drowned Children as in whom their Life was entred in the water and was operative there until the right of Retalliation was fulfilled and executed upon those that were the cause of their Deaths 14 Q. To the end therefore that this right of Retalliation might be fulfilled upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians and they drowned likewise was it not necessary that an union of the Spirits of both Nations should precede so as
by the way it will not be unworthy our remark that when Salt-petre men do first begin to boil their Salt-petre and have no mother of Salt-petre which is a ferment wherewith they ripen their Salt-petre they must then spend much time in boyling until the scum ariseth which is that they call the mother of Salt-petre and which afterwards they mix with their earth for to put the same into fermentation But when once they have got this mother then they dispatch their work with more case in like manner as we see that Bakers and Brewers do carry on their work with more ease and speed when they have got yest and leaven than they could do before when they had them not 4 Q. What is the nature and property of the second sort of Stones which of themselves without any addition are melted down into glass R. These shew that they do in part consist of a fixed Salt as in the following description and elucidation of the third sort of stones shall be declared 5 Q. What is it then we are chiefly to observe about the third sort of stones which do of themselves abide the fire but with addition are melted down to glass R. These stones as for example Chrystals of the Mountain Flints and all other fix stones are of this sort of which glass is made in this manner First these stones are made red hot in the fire and and then cast into the water by which means some part of the fire abiding in them makes them soft and friable that they may more easily be reduced to powder afterward this powder commixed with Salt is put into the fire that they may melt together and that it may melt more Salt must be added to it than the glass stands in need off for to render the fixt unfusible stone fusible When now this powder is molten it must be taken hot out of the oven or furnace and cast into cold water that it may be broken again and divided into small particles to the end the superfluous salt which is in it may in the water be separated from it The oftner this operation is repeated with the foresaid powder and the oftner it is put into the fire to evaporate the relicks of the Salt and is melted down again the better and purer will the glass be and become almost like to the unfusible Crystal of the Mountains From what hath been said we may gather these following observables First that Salt hath a very particular affinity and union with stones as proceeding both from one Mother wherefore when of them both an artificial Chrystal is made they become so united to one another that common water can no more separate the salt from the stone 2. We are likewise to consider that the forementioned stones which are as the body of the glass must contain a small part of unfusible Salt to which the common salt may joyn itself when with the stone it is melted down to glass and so in proportion unite itself with the stone in order to the reducing of it into glass as hath been mentioned The same also happens in Metals and Minerals when precious stones are artificially made of them 3. We are to take notice that in the making of glass the salt cannot be perfectly united with the stone because the operation is mechanical and not natural wherefore also by the addition of more salt the salt may be wholly separated from it and the glass be consequently reduced again into its former sand and salt 6 Q. Forasmuch as so great diversities and changes of stones are to be seen every where in the world and that they as well as the Rocks themselves contribute to the fruitfulness of the earth would it not be necessary to Treat more largely concerning them R. Yes and therefore for the Readers further satisfaction and information in this matter here shall begin a Dialogue with stones together with their answers to the questions propounded to them to the end that if any please they may carry on and finish the same for their own satisfaction seeing that it may be Mechannically or Mathematically demonstrated that the stones have an operative life in themselves from whence all sublunary Creatures derive their corporeal and united essence from which they cannot be separated The stones then were questioned in manner as follows 1 Q. Were you stones so created at the begining And have you always been such as you are at present viz. as you are commonly reputed to be dead or lifeless things R. If thou desirest to know us and our essence then thou must be able well to understand our way of Reasoning and Speech for we were created to bring forth all living Sublunary Creatures and to give them a body for we are the Earth which is made of the Heavens and the end of our working is that in a continual Revolution with increase and multiplication we may become Heavenly again as may be seen in the History of our Creation Gen. 1. 10 11 12. that all things stand in a wise order and try whether by thy utmost skill and endeavour thou canst find out one Sublunary Creature be it of what kind it will that either hath been or is now at present which did not receive its Corporeal Essence from us or can be without us or that doth not stand and abide in continual union with us 2 Q. Whence is it then that men say you are dead R. Consider all our operation and working and so thou wilt be taught to understand thine own Axiom the better and find more truth in it viz. Corruptio unius est Generatio alterius the Corruption of one thing is the begetting and bringing forth of another thing For the fields will in part declare thus much to thee that when they have given forth their strength in corn they must then for some time lye fallow until they be mortified again and get new strength 3 Q. Are the Stones and Rocks then the very same as ye were created from the beginning in all your parts without alteration Or are ye continually and without ceasing renewed in all your parts so as that ye stand in need of constant food and nourishment for your maintenance and growth as other Creatures do R. Thou dost answer thy self for we are not God but Creatures as well as all others that have their original from us as our Children How can it be then that we should be immutable and not need as well as they to be renewed by food from the air and water 4 Q. Do ye Stones and Mountains every where continue as ye were from the beginning always in the same form and figure or are not ye also subject to mortification so that in some places ye become leveld to the ground and turned into valleys R. Go and make an observation and inspection into many and divers places of the earth but especially in the midst of Europe where as it were the Navel of it