THis Opinion of Trans­migration of Souls, which is father'd upon Pythagoras, is mistaken every where; but very grosly be­lieved in Pegu, Magor, and other parts of Asia: For be­lieving that the Soul doth pass into some other Creature, af­ter its departure from the Hu­mane Body, they abstain from no sort of respect to the most contemptible Creatures, [Page 2] and superstitiously avoid do­ing any hurt to that Animal whose Body, they think, con­tains the Soul of their deceas­ed Father. Now, how they could tell, or why they should think, that this, or that Beast is thus animated, rather than another, I confess is strange: and what is more so, it seems from the Belief of those in Bengall, and other Parts of the East-Indies, (who ima­gine that the Souls of Good Men pass into Cows, and such useful Creatures; and the Souls of Bad Men into Crows and such hurtful Birds or Beasts,) that these People think it of the Immortal Ra­tional Soul, rather than the Sensitive. For the Faculties [Page 3] of the Rational Soul are ex­erted naturally in the kind Offices of Beneficence and Humanity; but those of the Sensitive, only in Growth and Sense. It looks as if Folly begot, and Superstitious Fan­cy propagated this Opinion: Though to do Right to Py­thagoras, who was doubtless a great Man, the absurdity of this Opinion is as far remote from his Sentiments, as the Manichaean Heresie is different from the Christian Religion.

But Philosophy and Reli­gion have both suffered alike by Ignorant Expositors: For what will not a wild Fancy and little Judgment, center'd in a Man fond of his own Thoughts, produce? What [Page 4] strange Opinions in Religi­on? What barbarous Cruel­ties by Humane Sacrifices to the Heathen Gods, hath the World been filled with? Nor is Philosophy it self exempt from very odd Conceits. Thus are the best Things corrupt­ed.

But to return to our Au­thor, whose Opinion asserted is, That the Soul, after its depar­ture from the Body, passes into some other Animal. This is as strongly put as any thing said of him (for we have all by Tradition,) will bear. [...] Opinion I propose to defend and free it from the Absurdi­ties Men have put upon it, and restore it to its native Sence. But let me [...] [Page 5] here, That I do not intend this Migration of the Ratio­nal Soul; but of the Sensi­tive and Vegetative Spirit; which Terms of Soul and Spirit, being often used as Sy­nonyma's, have given occasion, especially to the Ignorant, to mistake the meaning of Py­thagoras.

He that considers the Frame of this World, the Contex­ture of Man, and the perpe­tual Vicissitude and Change of Things, will easily believe, that either God makes new Matter and Form daily, to supply the perishing old; or that Things pass, and are changed into one another, by a continual Circulation. But we all know that the Eternal [Page 6] having made the World by his Wisdom and Power, does preserve it now by his Provi­dence and Goodness; so that we must be forc'd to acknow­ledge, not a new Creation, but a Mutation of Things, that begets this Variety.

Man indeed is endowed with something more than the rest of the Creatures; he hath a Rational Soul, that should sit President in his Body, go­vern his Passions, and direct his Affections. How little it does so, proceeds from the Vileness of our Wills, rather than the Degeneracy of our Nature: but we would excuse our selves. Besides this, he hath a Vegetative or Sensitive Spirit, which is perfectly di­stinct [Page 7] from the Rational Soul, as well as Body: It seems to be a Medium to unite two Extreams, of a Divine Im­mortal Ray, and Gross Mat­ter.

I am not discoursing now of the Government of the Mind over the Sensitive Part, and what Obedience the one ought to pay the other; nor how they contend for Domi­nion, like Prerogative and Liberty in a disturb'd State: But I am laying the Founda­tion of the Reasonableness of Pythagoras his Opinion, which is the Transmigration of Souls, or Spirits; for these Terms are used equivocally.

To go to the bottom of this Question, 'tis fit to consi­der [Page 8] Nature in her several Pro­vinces, Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal; for all created Beings on this side Heaven, may be placed under one of these Heads; nor are the meanest of them without a Spirit, or Vital Principle, which is all one; and these, like the Sen­sitive Souls of Animals, eva­porate on the Dissolution or Destruction of their Bodies.

To say how these Spirits leave their Habitations, be­fore I offer how they enter, may be improper; I shall speak therefore of this first, and then of the other. Nor will it be impertinent, to the Defence of Pythagoras his O­pinion, since Transanimation of Spirits may refer as well to Mi­nerals [Page 9] and Vegetables as Animals; in regard they are all anima­ted alike, as to Vegetation. I shall begin with Metals. Of the Ge­neration of Metals.

The Globe of Earth being How [...] Spirit [...] placed in the Air, and the Heavenly Bodies [...] which [...] the [...] [...] you [...] the [...], [...], or [...], this Position answers them all. moving round her, does receive into her Lap the Celestial Influ­ences; they give Heat or Life, she, Passive Matter. [...] may be understood the [...] of Orpheus, the Fa­ther of the Gods, with Vesta, his Wife; and what he and the rest of the Philosophers meant by a Ge­neration of Deities proceeding from such Parents.

The Air (the winged Mes­senger of the Gods) big with the Heavenly Fire, penetrates the porous Earth, and there abides. Being there detained, [Page 10] it is congealed into a moist Vapour, or subtil Water; and by the internal Vulcan of Na­ture sublim'd in the Vessel of Earth, through the Pores and Chinks thereof, till meeting with compact Matter, that denies it entrance, or through defect of the moving Instru­ment, it falls back into the Nest from whence it came By which means it become less subtil, carrying with [...] somewhat of the gross Mat­ter, through which it passed both in its Ascension and De­scension; it having not [...] obtain'd the Gravity of a [...] Body, but enjoying still the Priviledge of a pure and sub­til, Of the Im­perfect Me­tals. quick and volatil Nature it again takes another [...] [Page 11] through the dark Chambers of the Earth; passing and re­passing thus frequently thro these places, it becomes the true Laver of Nature, wash­ing away the Defilements thereof; which falling down with it, detains it, as in a Prison; and not being able to free it self from its Bondage, suffers the impure parts to be congealed together, with the pure Salt of Nature, its proper Habitation. And thus an im­perfect Metal is made, diver­sified only by the difference of the heterogeneous Impuri­ties, and the Remission or In­tension of the Heat of the Place.

But Nature, that tends al­ways Of Perfect Metals. to Perfection, makes an [Page 12] improvement from the [...] carriage of this Foetus; for new Vapour passing Chan­nels through these purified Chan­nels, obtains what its [...] could not, that is, pure and refin'd Salt, void [...] heterogeneous Faeces. [...] uniting with the warm Va­pour, and being dissolv'd [...] it, causes it to lose its Air vaporous Nature, and be­come a clammy Substance from which State (being dige­sted by its own internal Fire and that of its Matrix, conti­nually replenish'd by a [...] Influx) it advances into a [...] but clayie Body, till through length of Time, it become decocted into a more or [...] ripe Metal, according to [...] [Page 13] more or less Purity and Heat of the Womb.

Thus in the same Vein of How vari­ous Metals are in the same place. Earth, Metals of divers sorts may be found; as Albertus Magnus testifies in these words; ‘In Naturae operibus didici proprio visu, quod ab unâ Origine fluit Vena, & in quadam parte fuit Aurum, & in alia Argentum, & sic de caeteris; quae tamen Mate­ria prima fuit una, sed diversus fuit locus in calore; ideo diversi­tas loci, depurationis, Metalli di­versitatem, secundum speciem fuit operata.’ In English thus: ‘I have seen in the Works of Nature, from the same O­riginal, a Vein of Metal, one part whereof was Gold, another Silver, and so of the other Metals: The first [Page 14] Matter of which never [...], was one and the same but the degree of Heat in [...] parts of it, was [...]; therefore the [...] of that, caused the [...] of the Metallick [...], according to [...] several sorts.’ But he [...] doubts this, let him read [...] Three Tracts of Eirenaeus [...] Great, who deserves a [...] of Gold to be erected to him in all the Colledges of Learn­ing throughout the World.

Stones fall under the [...] Denomination with Metals Of Stones: The preci­ous. the best of which, through their great plenty of Heat and Light, give a Refulgency to the Matter, which is a Con­crete [Page 15] of that Vapour, joyn'd to a pure Salt Water, and shines even to the Superficies; their form being so intense, that they seem even to swallow up their Matter: Whilst the The Com­mon. Common, through their gros­ness of Matter, partly occasi­oned by the defect of Inter­nal Heat, become dark and opake; their Generation be­ing rather a Mixture of Earth and Water, bak'd in the Fur­nace of Nature, than the Im­pregnation of Passive Matter, digested by a lively Form.

As for Vegetables, I divide Vegetables of Two Sorts; what grow of themselves, and what are sown. them into Two Sorts; the one, those that grow of them­selves, without any sowing; as Weeds and wild Plants: [Page 16] the other, those that are rais­ed by Art, by sowing the Spe­cifick Seed.

As for the First, The Pro­duction That grow of them­selves. of them seems to be thus. The warm Vapour that penetrates the Earth, is sublim'd by the Internal Heat and passing through large Pores, arrives near the [...]; and carrying with [...] or rather meeting there some what of the pure Salt, dis­solves it into a liquid Sub­stance, which pure Salt give a Specification to the [...] Vapour, and is a sort of a specifick Matrix to that Form which was before General and Universal; for Salts of [...] sorts do abound in all parts of the Earth.

[Page 17] Thus variety of Plants may The Cause of Variety of Plants. arise (as we see they do) ve­ry near one another, diffe­renc'd by the several Salts, through which the Vapour pass'd, and joyn'd it self to them. For if the Air im­pregnated with Vital Heat, congeal'd into Water, is one and the same in all Places, free and undetermin'd, how is it possible it should have any Specification, but by somewhat it meets with in the Earth, that joyning with it, becomes a Seed, and shoots up into a Plant This is e­vident from Tunbridge, and other waters, which pas­sing thro' Iron Mines, are impreg­nated with the virtue of the Mines through which they pass: Nay, put but a few Iron Nails into a little common water, for half an hour, and it shall have the same taste, not to say virtue; for the Iron-stone is too hard to have much of its Particles washed off by the soft gliding of Water; and common Water is too weak a Men­struum to dissolve a Martial Body. ?

[Page 18] This, I conceive, is the meaning of Democritus, and Galen, That the first Element of Things is void of Quality, that is, undertermin'd. But why the Salts of the Earth give to some Plants a bitter, to others a sharp Taste; that is, why are the Salts thus diffe­renc'd? I had rather profess my Ignorance, than with Democritus and Galen, say, They are all one, but only in Opi­nion.

This Question, how vari­ous Plants come to grow of themselves, appear'd to the Great Du Hamel so difficult, that, though he starts the Question, he slips from it with­out a full Answer. His Que­tion is in these Words: Unde [Page 19] prodeant quae à terra nascuntur in­jussa gramina? Nunquid forte à coelo formantur? Sed Coelum cum sit omni vitâ privatum, quî poterit vitam & sensum largiri? At last, after giving many Answers, and then confuting them, he comes to this doubtful resolu­tion; Influxus Coelestes his infe­rioribus fortasse se applicant. But this comes not up to the Point. Who doubts that the Heaven­ly Influences occasion the Growth of Plants, and give the formal Essence to those that grow of themselves? But why the same Universal In­fluence produceth different Plants, which is the great Question, in that he is silent. This Matter having not yet been spoke to, at least as I [Page 20] have met with, and in regard the searching Nature to her Original and first Cause, is more excellent, than to solve Phaenomena's by their Effects, I shall say something to it in its Place.

But to return from whence Of their Fi­gure I have digress'd; taking things now as we find them, can it be a wonder that all Plants of the same sort, have much the same Figure and Colour? 'Tis not certainly from their man­ner of pressing through the Earth, that they obtain the same likeness; for how should it happen, that the Species of every Herb should have such a particular manner of pres­sing through the Earth, as to make it always retain the same shape?

[Page 21] But I rather conceive that the saline Particles that joyn with the Vapour, being so and so modified, (for they must have some Figure,) do determine the genéral Moi­sture, as well to a constant uniform Figure and Colour, as to a particular internal Na­ture and Quality. Not un­like This diffe­rence of Qualities Epicurus imputes to the various transpositi­on of A­toms. the very minute Seeds that we see, whose Taste does more truly demonstrate the Nature of its Plant it pro­duces, than the Microscope can find out its Figure, and yet its Figure is owing to the Modification of the Seed.

Thus Minerals and Vege­tables seem to be made, not by Creation, as at first, out of nothing, but by the Uni­on [Page 22] of Matter and Form, bles­sed from the beginning by the Word of God, Crescite & multiplicamini. This for the first sort of Natural Producti­ons.

As for the latter (i. e.) the Of the sow­ing of Seeds sowing of Seeds, and plant­ing of Trees, (which came in with the Curse,) their Pro­duction may justly be called Artificial; but neither are they produced without the assist­ance of the Universal Spirit; for being sown in the Earth, the moist Vapour (wherein the Universal Spirit rests,) dis­solves the Body of the Seed, whose vital Principle being let loose, becomes active and vigorous, and meeting with [Page 23] the Vapour of the Earth, (like dear Friends) embrace and unite; and being of an homo­geneous Nature, grow up to­gether, the General Moisture being first determin'd by the Particular.

The Growth of Plants is Of Plants. the same, the porous Roots sucking in the moist Vapour, which is assimilated into the Nature of the Tree, by its specificated Virtue.

As for the Generation of Of the Ge­neration of Animals. Animals, they are not unlike the Production of Vegetables, rais'd by particular Seed. The describing of which, may offend a chaste Ear, or excite a lascivious Mind; therefore I omit it.

[Page 24] But this Opinion, it's plain, the Learned Ancients were of, when they declar'd, That Man was not propagated by Coition only; but that the Universal Spirit, which flows principally from the Sun, has a hand in it. And therefore they affirmed, That Sol & Homo generant Hominem; which I shall explain more particu­larly hereafter.

For as Man is not support­ed by Bread and Meat only in his sensitive Capacity; but by a secret Food of Life, that is in the Air: so neither is he generated by the Union of Two Sperms only, without the assistance of that secret Spirit, that enters the closest Caverns; whence 'tis said, Non datur Vacuum.

[Page 25] It being now said how the Spirit enters, and vivifies Matter, it remains, that we give an account how it leaves it again, and what then be­comes of it.

There are various ways of How the Form leaves Matter in Animals. dissolving Nature in all the Parts of her Dominion. A­nimals are destroy'd either by the Consumption (through the length of Time) of their Radical Moisture, (the Oil that maintains the Flame,) or by accident, or violence; when the Sensitive Spirit (for we speak not of the Rational) leaves its Habitation, and re­turns into the common Re­ceptacle of Sensitive and Ve­getative Spirits, the Air, from whence it came.

[Page 26] Minerals and Vegetables How in Mi­nerals and Vegetables. are destroyed by Fire, and evaporate likewise into the Air, (I mean the volatil.) Here it was we found them at first and here, in a little circulati­on of Time, we may per­ceive them again. Now What then becomes of the Form, that it pas­ses into the Air, where it receives new virtue. being let loose from that Pri­son, where the Spirits [...] Forms were detained and spe­cificated, a little Time re­stores them to their native Simplicity and Universality and flowing in an Ocean where the Celestial Influence are continually descending and Vapours ascending (like the Angels on Jacob's Ladder, they receive new impresses [...] Virtue, to fit them for farther Service.

[Page 27] Thus Nature is never idle, and thus with Plato, all things are in a continual Alteration and Fluctuation: Nothing, ac­cording Mundus nunquam est, moritur semper & nascitur; id tantum ha­bet constan­tiae, quod di­vina Provi­dentia ab eo nunquam re­cedit. to Pythagoras, is sim­ply new; nor any thing, ac­cording to Trismegistus, dies; but all things pass, and are changed into something else. ‘For all mix'd Bodies are made of the Elements, into which, after a little time, they are resolved again.’ Thus Porphyry tells us, that every Irrational Power is resolved into the Life of the Whole.

And thus these Spirits be­ing That thence it flows down again, and animates a new Body, which is the true Notion of Transmigration. ready and fit to impreg­nate [Page 28] new Matter, and She [...] to desire it, according to the Axiom of Materia appe­tit Formam, ut Foemina Virum the same Spirit which anima­ted one Body, may, on its Dissolution, animate another, which I take to be the mean­ing of Pythagoras his Trans­migration of Souls, or Spi­rits. Hence Lucretius,

[Page 29] If this be not so, I would If Bodies are not an­nihilated, much less are Forms fain know, what becomes of the Form that animates Mine­rals, Vegetables, and Ani­mals, not to speak of their Bodies, which are only chan­ged, not annihilated. Can that Spirit that gives Life and Motion, that partakes of the Nature of Light, be reduced to nothing? Can that Sensi­tive Spirit in Brutes, that ex­ercises Memory, one of the Rational Faculties, die, and become nothing?

If you say, they breath their Spirits into the Air, and there vanish, that is all I con­tend for. The Air indeed is the proper place to receive them, being according to La­ertius, full of Souls; and ac­cording [Page 30] to Epicurus, full of A­toms, or intelligible Bodies unapparent, the Principle [...] all Things. For even this Place wherein we walk, and Birds flie, though it is proper­ly rather Water rarefied, that Air, (as I have proved by a Magnet attracting it,) yet it is thus much of a spiritual Nature, that it is invisible therefore well may be the Re­ceiver of Forms, since the Forms of all Bodies are [...] we can only hear and see its Effects; the Air it self is too fine, and above the Capacity of the Eye. What then is the AEther, that is in the Region above? And what are the Influences or Forms that de­scend from thence?

[Page 31] The Pythagoreans held, that the Souls of Creatures are a portion of AEther; and all Philosophers agree, that AE­ther is incorruptible; and what is so, is so far from being an­nihilated, when it gets rid of the Body, that it lays a good claim to Immortality.

Treasures fallen into the Sea, are lost only to them that cannot find them, wit­ness our late Expedition. The Spirit is not lost, but moving in the Air, in its natural Sphere, where it obtains new Strength and Vigor. It passes into the Air, as the Rivers flow into the Sea.

But do not Animals con­vey Objection. That Ani­mals con­vey a Sensi­tive Spirit in Genera­tion. a Sensitive Spirit as [...] as Body, in Generation? How then descends a Form?

I agree, they give a Porti­on on of Specifick Spirit; yet this Answered. Though they do convey a portion of Specifick Spirit, yet the Univer­sal [...] hinders not, but that as the Body is supported by Food in which there is a portion of Spirit, and as the Animal Spi­rits, that are continually flow­ing [Page 33] forth, are supplied by the Influx of new, and assi­sted by the Universal: so in the Business of Generation, as well as afterwards, the Speci­fick Spirit is enlarged and multiplied by the Influx of the General, or Universal. Now this is more or less ac­cording The man­ner how the Universal Spirit joyns with the Specifick, in the Genera­tion of Ani­mals. to the activity of the Specifick Spirit; which be­ing of the nature of Light, doth attract its like with more or less vigor; not much un­like an enkindled, though not flaming Lamp, whose Smoak or Effluviums, reach­ing a neighbouring Light, at­tracts it, and becomes enlight­ned by it at a distance; and by how much the Effluviums are more powerful, they at­tract [Page 34] a greater Proportion of Light: For Light naturally joyns and unites with Light, as Fire with Fire; and the Souls of Animals (the Ratio­nal excepted,) are a Ray of Heavenly Light.

Hence it comes to pass, that, in Men, Horses, and other Animals, you shall have a vast difference; the Race of some, appearing always full of Life, and, as it were, all Spirit, whilst that of o­thers, are always heavy and dull, and as it were, half ani­mated. And thus it is in se­veral Plants, which every Gardener knows by experi­ence; for you shall have, in the same kind, some produce great increase, and others ve­ry [Page 35] little, in the same Soil. Now I see no Reason, why the Universal Spirit may not joyn with the Specifick in Generation, as well as after­wards. And why not in that of Animals, as well as in the Production of Vegetables? For though it is in the moist That the Universal Spirit is more plen­tifully in the Air, than else­where. Vapour latent in the Earth, as I hinted before, and imbi­bed more or less plentifully, according to the activity of the Form; so is it more in­tensely in the Air, in its pro­per Sphere; for the Univer­sal Spirit lodging principally there, permeates through all the Parts of the Universe, and is that Nature that is always ready, and at hand, to vivifie disposed Matter.

[Page 36] That the Universal Spirit That the Animal Spi­rit increases in Animals. does multiply the animal one, after the Birth, is obvious to the Understanding of all Men; for that portion of animal Spi­rit that animates an Infant, would scarce give motion to a Manly Bulk. But I think we may with as much reason deny the Growth and Increase of the Body, as that of the Spirit. All Men that know the Benefit of good air, and the Mischief of bad, must acknowledge it. How do the weak and languishing in a good air recover Strength, and obtain new Spirit and Vigour? And how languid and sickly do Men become in a bad?

[Page 37] And this may well be; for the Animal Spirits are of an Aereal Principle; which ap­pears from hence; whilst they inhabit the Body, thro' the intimate Union with the Air, the Body is preserved sweet; the Air continually flowing in, adding new stores of Life, and giving Motion, as it were, to the whole Ma­chine: But when the animal Spirit is departed, then for want of that Communion, the Body putrefies and stinks. Hence Anaximenes makes Spi­rit and Air Synonyma's.

The Reason of bad Air is The Mis­chief of Sulphurous Vapors flu­ctuating in the Air; that they cause the Plague. occasioned by the grossness of the Watery Humors, or Sul­phurous Vapors that annoy the Celestial Influences, by [Page 38] adhesion to them. When the Arsenical Vapors are multi­plied, it begets a Plague; and it's more or less mortal, as they increase or decrease. Dismal was the Place that Virgil speaks of;

These Sulphurous Exhala­tions destroy Plants and Fruit, as well as Animals; Plants being blighted, and Apples being spotted, even with blue spots to the Core, in the late Sickness-Year, where the Plague raged. The know­ledge A Means to foresee a Plague. of which, by the in­spection of the Entrails of A­nimals, may be had and fore­seen, and by removal pre­vented. For when the im­purity of the air cannot be dis­cerned by the Sense of Smel­ling, and when the Maligni­ty makes no impression on [Page 40] the outward Skin, at least in its first approaches; yet the vital parts of Animals, which hold the closest and most inti­mate Communion with the Air, will presently discover, if there be an Infection in it, by the discolouring and putre­fying the Parts; for they are first tainted, then the Blood, thence the Sore.

Hence, I conceive it was, The Fore­sight of a Dearth that Democritus, when he was reproached for his Poverty, told his Despisers, That he could be rich when he pleas­ed: For by this Observation, being a great Dissector of Bo­dies, he foresaw a Dearth, and therefore bought up all the Olives. The Dearth hap­pening, [Page 41] the Price of Olives rose; whereby he might have sold them to great advantage; but the Seller repining at his Misfortune, Democritus, like himself, return'd the Olives at the Price he bought them.

Democritus therefore com­mended Of Augury. the Wisdom of the Ancients, for instituting an inspection into the Entrails of Sacrificed Beasts; from the general Constitution and Co­lour whereof, may be per­ceived Signs of Health, or Pestilence, and sometimes what Dearth or Plenty will follow. Augury thus stinted by wise Observation, and ha­ving regard to due Circum­stances, may be useful; but [Page 42] the Practice of it amongst the Romans, as in foretelling par­ticular Events to Men, and the like, was justly enough derided by Cicero.

But all Arts have suffered The Loss of Arts. by the additions of foolish Impostors; whence the un­wary reject the Truth, for the sake of Error intermixt Hence Arts and Sciences have their Death, as well as Birth Hence the Tinging of Glass is lost; Yet I conceive, that they who have Leisure, and Knowledge in the Mineral Province, may extract a Sul­phur from Metals, that will tinge and penetrate harder Bodies, than that of Glass. But to return to the Subject [Page 43] of Air, whence I digres­sed.

The good Air, and the The Benefit of good Air. Life and Spirit it brings, pro­ceeds from the sublimation of a light Water, acuated with a volatil Nitre, which being rarefi'd and impregnated with the Heavenly Influences, con­veys down Life, new Re­cruits to the Spirits of Animals, as well as to Plants and Mine­rals.

This, if you can receive Homer ex­plained. it, is Homer's Juno, whom Jupiter let down into the Air, with a weight at her Feet, her Hands being tied with a Gold Chain to Jupi­ter's Chair.

The Meaning whereof, is this, That the Spiritual Influ­ences [Page 44] flowing from the Hea­venly Bodies, are too subtil for a Descent, without a Bo­dy; that the Air is the Body or Medium, that conveys them down to the Earth. And though these Forms flow thus continually from the AE­ther, yet the Eternal God has the ordering and disposing thereof, and that it is not done without his Providence and Direction.

Thus, according to Socra­tes and Plato, there are Three Principles of Things; God, Idaea, and Matter: God, the Efficient Cause; Idaea and Matter, the Formal and Ma­terial.

[Page 45] I have now described Na­ture Superior, govern in­ferior Na­tures. in General, the Com­merce between Heaven and Earth, and the mutual assi­stance they give each other. The Waters giving forth a subtil Vapour, to dilute the scorching Influences, and the Heavens endowing it with a Vital Principle, sending it back into its Native Coun­try, enrich'd with the Privi­ledge of Life. The incom­parable Encheiridion Physicae re­stitutae, speaking of these Things, has thus ingeniously express'd them. Haec est Na­turae Universae Scala, Jacobo Patriarchae in Visione revelata; illae sunt Mercurii Pennae, qua­rum ope, Ipse (Deorum Nuncius, antiquis mysticè dictus) Superûm, [Page 46] Inferorumque Limina [...] adire credebatur: i. e. ‘This is the Scale of Nature in ge­neral, presented to the Pa­triarch Jacob in a Vision These are the Wings of Mercury, (mystically [...] by the Ancients, the Mes­senger of the Gods,) by whose help, he was believ­ed frequently to visit the Courts of Heaven and Earth.’

Thus do Superior govern The Seven Planets cal­led Gods; and why, in a large, not a strict sence. and influence Inferior Na­tures; the former of which, that is, the seven Planets, for their Excellency and Benefi­cence to this lower World, the ancient Philosophers cal­led [...], which we render Gods; from [...], their per­pectual [Page 47] Motion. So the Eter­nal, by his Providence vouch­sa fing to be always at work, they thought [...] a fitting Name for the Almighty. Not that God has properly any Name; (though Kircherus gives us Seventy two, all in different Languages,) yet we may invoke the Divine Majesty, by any of his At­tributes.

So that the Philosophers The ancient Philoso­phers did not adore all they cal­led Gods. themselves, (I mean those who were worthy of that Title,) neither believed nor adored a Multitude of Gods, nor intended them for Wor­ship; but propter excellentiam, called both Things and Per­sons so. Thus Homer calls Sleep a God, when it hinders [Page 48] Jupiter from assisting the Tro­jans; and Hesiod, in his Theo­gonia, has infinite Deities Whatever is productive of something else with him, is a God; thus Contention is [...] fruitful Deity, because it pro­duces Trouble, Grief, Quar­rels, Fightings, &c. So the Name [...], might be given by the Greeks to some of their Hero's and great Persons, [...] to Antiochus, who was called [...], without adoring them as the Title Majesty is now given to Kings; which being great in the abstract, is not an Attribute too low, even for the Almighty; and yet we do not adore them, when we call them so.

[Page 49] Thus God himself is pleas­ed in Holy Writ to call Great Men Gods; and thus the Ap­pellative, Good, (whence the Name God is derived,) is ap­plied by us to all excellent Things, as well as Persons. For Aristotle could prove, by Aristotle proves from Moti­on, that there can be but one God. an Argument from Motion, the Being of one Infinite God, by shewing that there must be a first Mover, who is the Cause and Origin of all Mo­tion, who is Immoveable, One, Eternal, and Indivisi­ble: Which several Attri­butes he has proved by irre­fragable Arguments. But this Subject merits a particu­lar Discourse.

[Page 50] I shall only therefore add How the Philoso­phers came to call ma­ny Things Gods. here, That Philosophy com­ing originally from the Poets, they treated of Things in a sublime and lofty Stile; With whom every Hill was Olym­pus, and this Olympus, Heaven every Valley, Erebus; and every Prince, a God. And when they treated of Nature, they re­presented her as the most Beautiful Diana, no less than a Goddess, whom to behold with unclean eyes, was Death and to unveil whom inde­cently, to suffer the Punish­ment of Tantalus. The ad­mirable Things spoke of her, (which the People always mistake,) made Asia fond to adore her.

[Page 51] The Philosophers there­fore, when they spoke of the First Principles of Nature, or of her excellent Operations, could call them no less than Gods, after the Laws of Poe­sie. And this, I observe, was an universal Custom in all Countries, the Names on­ly differing, according to the Language of the Country; but the Thing was still the same. Hence are the Deities of Homer's Oceanus and Tethys, Orpheus his Ouranos and Vesta, the Romans Coelus and Terra, the Father and Mother of the Gods, (i. e.) the Formal and Material Principle of all Things. And for the Opera­tions of Nature, they tell us [Page 52] of Rhea, whence Neptume, Pluto, and even Jove himself was descended. For the univer­sal Spirit falling on the Water, they cal'd Neptune, (à nando, says Cicero,) penetrating the Earth where Treasures are found, Pluto, from [...], Riches and whilst floating in the [...] Air, Juno, à Juvando; for all things live by Air; and be­cause it included a Fiery Spe­rit, which digesting apt Mat­ter, became Metal, the Me­tallick Nature: and by [...] (if you take it not as an [...], which here is not Ju­piter ter Opt. Max. not a Person but Place,) is meant the Em­pyraeum; for that being [...] to the Throne of the [...] Majesty, was by a Metonymy [Page 53] not unfitly called by his name, who sits there. To imagine these, Persons, according to the Letter of the Poets, is be­neath the Thought of a Man of Sence; to confute it, were to write to the Crowd: 'tis not worth lifting up ones Pen against it.

These are all said to flow from Rhea, meaning the Chaos of Hesiod, and that dark A­byss, the holy Genesis calls void and without form; because of this Matter all things were made, which were afterwards divided and distinguished by an informing, I say Created, be­cause this Spirit of Light was on the 4^th Day con­tracted in­to the Body of the Sun. created Spi­rit of Light, raising the most subtil part into the highest Region, whither corruptible Matter cannot ascend.

[Page 54] This Region the Philoso­phers call'd Empyraeum, Jove, or the Super-celestial Heaven. And as a further Description of Nature's operations, they tell us the Story of Thet ys [...] The De­scription of Nature in her Ascent and De­scent. going to Vulcan's House of shining Brass, his falling in­to her Lap, when he was thrown down from Heaven, her mounting the Sky in a [...] Dress, to visit Jupiter, who receiv'd her kindly, and pla­ced her near himself. Hence is the Adad and Atargates of the Assyrians; the first repre­senting the Sun, with his Beams bending downwards, the latter the Earth, ready to receive them.

[Page 55] Then again for their Prin­ciples, this is the Mind and Water of Anaxagoras and Tha­les; the Soul of the World, that animated all the Parts there­of mentioned by Zoroaster, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Plato, and Zeno. The Vesta and Jove (related by Herodotus,) of the Scythians; the Ur, i. e. Light or Fire of the Chaldeans, and Water of the Persians, (which the common People, through Mistake, worshipp'd) the Fire and Water of Hippo­crates, which could do all things, the Aetes of Hesiod, that married the Daughter of Oceanus; that Fire, which some made synonymous with Sol; the Air, which they cal­led Venus, the Virgin, (be­cause [Page 56] not specificated;) and in a word, that Mystery, which the Ancients, with great Industry and Art endeavour'd to conceal from the Vulgar, calling it by divers Names shadowing it in Hteroglyphicks, AEnigma's, and dark Fables, to the end it might not become common; but yet so, that the Industrious might by la­bour and search attain the knowledge of it.

For as Esdras had his Books of Wisdom, which the Wise only were to look into; so had the Magi their Occult Phi­losophy, which they delivered down to their Sons of Learn­ing, either Cabalistically, or in a Stile the Common People [Page 57] did not understand. Thus Pythagoras and Aristotle had their secret Philosophy, which they taught only to some par­ticular Persons, whose Wit and Morals they were well assur'd of. And though A­ristotle published his Acroaticks, yet it was in such a stile, that he tells Alexander, that none but those who heard them discourse thereof, could un­derstand them; that is, they were express'd in a manner difficult to be understood, to keep off the Multitude; yet they getting sight of the Fa­bles of the Ancients, by the unlawful Publishing of them, by such as Hippasus, Hippar­chus, and Empedocles, they be­came an Offence to them, [Page 58] (Scandalum acceptum, non [...],) and thereby fell into Idolatry.

The Original [of one I say of one Species, for various were the parts of I­dolatry; and there were seve­ral Origins from whence they sprang the Wor­ship of the Stars not being the Original of all Idolatry; for most Nations adored several De­ities. The Scythians ado red the Wind, as God being (as they say) the Cause of Life. The Chalde­ans adored Fire; the Persians, Water; the Ro­mans, Earth, under the Name of Vesta; the Egyptians, divers Animals and Insects; and all Nation had their Deisied Heroes. Species,] whereof, might be as R. Maimonides saith, from the Worship of the Stars; [...] surely not for the Reason he gives, (i. e.) from looking [...] to Heaven, and behold [...] their Splendor, adore them as the Ministers of God. [...] Stars, he could not mean [...] Fixt; (they might as [...] [Page 59] have worshipped a Flock of Sheep;) nor is their Splendor considerable: If Planets; how comes Saturn, that is a dark & obscure Planet, scarce visible, that moves slowly, to have such glorious Things said of him (above the rest of the Planets, even of Sol himself,) whose Life was the Golden Age? This could not be from the outward Appearance, which takes with the People. This therefore could be no Argument with them for A­doration; but this was spoke of somewhat else, under the Homonymium of Saturn, which is highly valuable, understood by the Magi, (and therefore not adored,) though not by the People, for whom these [Page 60] things were never intended, nor yet for the Stoicks, who trifled in this Matter.

The Truth is, the Meta­phors Of the My­steries of the Anci­ents. and Allegories, and the exceeding abstruse way the Ancients took of veiling their Knowledge in Natural Philo­sophy, shews, they were calcu­lated only for the most ele­vated Minds, whose happy Condition gave them leisure and opportunity to advance their Contemplation into the satisfaction of experimental Certainty. Whence these Men knew what the meaning was of Jupiter's expelling Saturn, the Union of Mars and Venus, Saturn's devouring his Chil­dren, or [...] his Son Sadidus, [Page 61] Atalanta fugiens, &c. That these were not spoke of Per­sons, but Things, and are in no sort immoral; though some Pedants have given a barbarous Account of them; who, having daub'd their Writings with Greek and He­brew, would make one nau­seate the Tongues, for the Stuff they deliver.

Jamblichus tells us of the Symbols of Pythagoras, that without a right Interpretati­on, they appear like foolish, trivial Fables; but rightly explained, discover an admi­rable Sence, no less than the Divine Oracle of Pythian Apol­lo. But these were the Arca­na Sapientum. Nam quae Sa­cerdotes [Page 62] condita in Arcanis ha­bent, nolunt, ut Verit as ignota sit, ad multos manare; Poenâ iis ad­jectâ, qui ea in Vulgus proderent, saith Diodorus. That is, The Priests were unwilling, that those Things which they had concealed should come abroad; some Truths were to be kept secret, and Pe­nalties inflicted on those, who would prostitute them to the Vulgar.

Now that the Philosophers That all the ancient Philoso­phers that treated my­steriously of Nature, meant the same Thing under di­vers AEnig­ma's. of all Nations, that were ac­quainted with the Mysteries of Nature, meant the same Thing under different Masks, will appear more evident, by explaining an Egyptian Sym­bol, according to the Chaldean [Page 63] Astrology, and Grecian My­thology. Though it must not be expected from me, whilst I am building up the Honour of Pythagoras, that I should violate his great Law of Secresie; that I should ma­nifest in publick, what is fit only for the communication of an intimate Friend. But I shall offer enough to main­tain my Assertion.

The Egyptians, in their Sym­bols, Au Egyptian Symbol ex­plained. According to the were wont to paint Mer­cury youthful, with Wings on his Feet, and at his Head, a Caduceus in his Hand, twisted about with two Serpents, the Magical Number of Se­ven, &c.

[Page 64] The Chaldeans, in their A­strology, Chaldean Astrology. acquaint us, That Mercury is of the Nature of that Planet with which it is in conjunction; that with the Malevolent, he is Maleve­lent; with the Benevolent he is Benevolent; and [...] he always follows the Sun.

The Grecians, in their My­thology, Grecian Mythology tell us, Mercury was the Messenger of the Gods was wont to pass from one to another, and that he was a Thief, &c. Now all these Three are but several Modes of expressing the same Thing; and that according to the Genius and Disposition of each Nation.

[Page 65] The Egyptians affecting Pain­ting, Egyptian. were for communicating their knowledge of Nature, by that of Paint and Figure; as a wise and discreet way of concealing from the Vulgar, what was not fit, or necessa­ry for them to know; but what the Wise and Learned by labour and industry might attain, without which, they were unworthy of it. Which Practice some continue to this day, as I have lately seen in Libro muto Philosophiae, Printed in France; and as may be seen in the Emblems of Maierus.

The Chaldeans, that were Chaldean. great Observers of the moti­on of the Stars, their Diurnal and Annual, their Retrogra­dation, [Page 66] and Progression, and in short, of the whole Oeco­nomy of the Heavenly Bo­dies, had herein sufficient Matter to allegorize all their Knowledge of Natural Philo­sophy, in the mysterious way of the Motion, Conjunction Opposition, &c. of the Pla­nets; as some Men now use to do their secret Designs, under the Cant of Trade.

The Grecians, when [...] Grecian. Learning was brought them by Pythagoras, and some few others that travelled into Egypt amongst the Priests; be­ing a witty People, abound­ing with a Luxuriant Fancy, did not like the dull and si­lent way of Symbols, which [Page 67] they called Hieroglyphicks; wherefore they were for communicating their Know­ledge of these things in a Po­etick, Romantick manner, disguising the same with strange Stories, and fabulous Relations of Gods and God­desses, Men and Women, Heaven and Hell; wherein they scarce gave any restraint to their Wit, or confinement to the Rules, even of Vertue or Decency; such is the En­thusiasm of Poetick Rage. Sometimes they mixed Mo­rals with their Mythology; at others, neither sparing Hea­ven or Hell, Vertue or Vice, to represent their Knowledge and Experiments in Natural Philosophy.

[Page 68] Thus when they would express the intimate Union of two Natural Bodies, because the enjoyment of Marriage confin'd the Fancy, and, as they thought, lessen'd the de­sire, nothing would serve their turn, but to heighten the Union, to bring in the A­dultery of Mars and Venus: but yet their being caught by the power of Vulcan, and co­ver'd in an Iron Net, was suf­ficient to inform the Philoso­pher, that there was no more intended by this, than to shew how close a Union these two Bodies would make by the power of Fire. 'The [...] whereof was not casually mentioned, since there are some living, who have seen [Page 69] the Operation reticulatìm. Tho' after all, to do right to the Ancients; Ovid, and other Poets, that have collected the Grecian Mythology, out of their Philosophers and Poets, have (Poeticâ Licentiâ) added In­ventions of their own, which are as apparently to be distin­guished, as the bold strokes of an Apelles, from the sha­king ones of a Tyro.

Having said this, I shall first shew what this Mercury is: Secondly, His Qualitiess Thirdly, How these Three Nations agree in their Descri­ptions of him, all of them meaning the same Thing un­der different Veils.

[Page 70] But before I describe him, it is fit to premise this; That the Ancients, who studied Natural Philosophy, found a greater Excellency in the Mi­neral Province, than in all the Parts of Nature besides, and therefore applied them­selves thereto, and in their Mythology, have discovered their Experiments therein.

Mercury then is, what the Mercury described. Chymists call Argent vive, and the People, Quick-silver; the Wonder of the World, dry, and yet current; fluid, and yet not wetting the hand, an imperfect crude Metal. For his Qualities, he is the most volatil of the Seven, (and may well therefore be called [Page 71] the Messenger of the rest, who are all Gods,) susceptible of any Form, yet will mix with nothing, but what is of his own Nature.

With the Egyptians, he was the second Dynasta, accord­ing to Kircher, Aureum (que) De­um vocabant, (ex eo enim Sol ori­tur:) and as a Planet he was so too, according to Vossius upon R. Maimonides, in AEgyptio­rum Hieroglyphicis, Stellâ Deus exprimebatur. A Messenger of the Gods, with the Greeks; a Planet, with the Chaldeans; both which call the Planets Gods; and with the Magi, who understood him, one of the Seven Metals.

[Page 72] The Egyptians, to denote his Egyptian Explanati­on. crude Nature, paint him young; his volatil, with wings on his Feet and Head; his Caduceus that works wonders, with two Serpents seven times twisted about; the mighty Power he obtains, when acu­ated seven times; that as the Egyptian Serpents were wont to destroy, so he then becomes powerful in the Dissolution and natural Destruction of Metals. This is that Serpent that devoured the Compani­ons of Cadmus; and who they are, he that now knows not, let him be ignorant still.

The Chaldeans, to shew his volatil Nature, make him Chaldean Explanati­on. a constant Attendant on the [Page 73] Sun; and to shew his Muta­bility, and susception of di­verse Qualities, that he is of the Nature of that Planet, with which he is in Conjun­ction; Benevolent, with the Benevolent; Malevolent, with the Malevolent: (i. e.) joyn'd with a Metal abounding with an Arsenical Sulphur, he as­sumes the Nature of that Me­tal, with which he is in Con­junction, and so becomes Ar­senical; which being a poi­sonous Substance, may well enough be called Malevolent; but joyned with a Metal a­bounding with a pure Metal­line Sulphur, he changes and puts off his Arsenical Quali­ties before assumed, and then becomes impregnated with a [Page 74] true Metalline Sulphur, which for its excellency, may well be called Benevolent.

The carrying this to its Height, would give a great­er Blow to that vain Art of Judicial Astrology, than either Cornelius Agrippa, or any Au­thor I have yet met with, hath given; and give a ratio­nal account, why some Pla­nets are called Masculine some Feminine; some Cho­lerick, some Phlegmatick Saturn cold, Mars hot, &c.

The Grecians, to express The Greci­an Expla­nation. his young and volatil Nature, make him a swift Messenger of the Gods; call him Thief, for stealing the Arrows of Apollo; whereby they shew [Page 75] his susceptibility of Qualities; that joyned with Sol, acuated with the other Metals, he as­sumes his & their Virtues and Qualities, & steals from them their Nature and Essence. For Mercury is the same to Metals, as common Water is to Ani­mals and Plants; and as this imbibes the Nature of the A­nimal or Plant decocted in it, so does that, the Nature of the Metal digested with it.

Hence may be easily un­derstood what Pythagoras meant, when he says, he re­ceived the Gift from Mercury, to know the Migration of the Soul, as it past from one Bo­dy to another. This is that Proteus that assumes all Forms; but enough of this.

[Page 76] I am not insensible, that I have gone against the Cur­rent of the Learned Kircherus the profound Vossius, and the industrious Galtrucius, Bochar­tus, Natalis Comes, and the rest of the College of Learning whose Memories I reverence whose Works I honour, whose Library-Keeper, I confess my­self unworthy; yet no humane Authority ought to weight more, than the Reasons they give will naturally allow. So that I conceive all these Learned Men have followed one another, in the same Learned Tract of ancient Error, a sufficient [...] for those who are fond of that old Notion, Quò antiquiùs, [...] veriùs; which Hypothesis will [Page 77] not always hold good; for who knows not, that there was Darkness in this World before Light? That the An­gels fell before Adam was crea­ted? That Adam was de­ceived even in Paradise, by the Great Impostor; and since that, the next Man, Cain, was both a Murtherer and a Liar? He that considers how soon Sin entred into the World, and that ever since Mankind hath been beset with Sin, Error and Folly, (of which he has been very fruitful even from the beginning;) that the De­vil hath advanced his King­dom to a great height; that Error is more ancient than Adam, will not be easily per­suaded to believe, that what [Page 78] is most ancient, is therefore most true, though gilded with a shew of Learning. Were there not erroneous Tenets in Christianity coaevous with the Apostles? Who then can say that the bare antiquity of an Opinion is a good Argument for it's Truth? For my part I think it not fit to be the sole Criterion of Matters of Fact for we are to judge, not only how ancient the Historian is; but how agreeable the Thing delivered, is to true Rea­son.

Now the Great Men The Fables of the An­cients re­fer to Things, not Persons. was speaking of, have been exceeding industrious to find out to what Persons the Fa­bles of the Poets do relate; [Page 79] when in Truth, they are not Historical Relations of Per­sons, but real and true Expe­riments in Natural Philoso­phy, though veil'd in Fabu­lous Relations, to conceal them from the Vulgar: One Experiment whereof, will give more Light, than the Talk of all Mankind with­out it. The Explanation of which, may do great Right, I conceive, to the Ancients, deliver them from Calumny, and give some greater Light to the Learned World, than hitherto has been done, and yet so, as not to transgress the great Law of Pythagoras, or incur the Punishment of Theopompus or Theodestes.

[Page 80] The Famous Lord Verulam has made this one of the great Pillars in the building up his Instauratio magna, wherein that Great Man saw, that the Wisdom of the Ancients [...] couched in these Mysteries Of which Opinion I find like wise Sir Kenelm Digby. But [...] was fit for the Learned [...] of the Honourable Mr. [...] the Ornament of our Na­tion.

But to return to Pythagoras Can the Belief of this Do­ctrine, Objection. that teaches, that Spirit set at Liberty, by [...] Dissolution of its Body, may afterwards animate another Body, be an Argument for any man's paying a Defe­rence [Page 81] to that Creature, whom, he fansies, the Spirit of his Father animates?

He may with as much Respons. Reason honour that Field, that produced his Father's Food, (being assimilated in­to his Nature,) or adore the Wind, (that continued Life to him,) as this Animal. For the Sensitive Spirit, after its dissolution from the Body, is no more his Father's, than the Air he expired, was a part of himself; it was nothing at first, but the Ligature of the Rational Soul and Body, which, when they are dissolv­ed, as to them, there is an end of the Tie.

[Page 82] No one sure will think this Objection. Opinion does invade the Do­ctrine of the Resurrection since there can be no need of Respons. a Medium, where there are no Extreams. The cloathing of the Blessed Spirits after this Life, will doubtless be with a Robe of Light, because they are always to appear before the Father of Lights. Our Saviour's Transfiguration may give us a glimpse of this; but where Flesh and Blood can­not enter, what need can there be of a Sensitive Spirit?

But I think this Matter Of the I­dentity of Form in all Bodies. may be carried higher than the Opinion laid down of Py­thagoras; for this very Parti­cle of Light and Heat, when it is free from its Body of [Page 83] whatever sort, may penetrate Matter that may concrete into Stone or Metal, produce a Vegetable, or insinuate into an Animal-Matrix, and co­operate in the Generation of the Foetus; for it is homoge­neous with the Vital Heat in all but their Specification. 'Tis true, Eirenaeus the Great, has said, There is nothing that has a Seminal Virtue applica­ble to two things. But this is spoken of a Seminal Virtue la­tent in some Body, not at Li­berty and free, but specifica­ted and determin'd.

That this Spirit is univer­sal, I need not go back to the first Abyss and Form, to shew the Identity of Matter and Form in General, (which was [Page 84] afterwards divided and di­stinguish'd according to the Proportion of Matter and Form,) to prove the Identi­ty of Spirit in all these Three. 'Tis enough here to shew, that Minerals and Plants, (not to mention Animals,) being Physick and Food for Man, are, by application to him, assimilated into his Nature, and that only by the Power of his own Specifick Spirit; which shews them to be of his own Matter and Form, or it could not attract and con­vert into its own Nature what is repugnant to it (Aliment (says Ari­stotle) must be the same potentially, which the Thing aug­mented, or nourished, is in Act.). But that there is an Homogeneity of Spirit in all the Three Pro­vinces of Nature, will appear from hence (if it be true) [Page 85] that from the Dross of Metals reduc d to Ashes, are genera­ted Beetles; from Plants, Ca­terpillers; from Fruit, Maggots; and from putrefied Animals, Bees and Flies; so that an A­nimal Life flows from them all. And out of any Species of every one of the Three Kinds, may be drawn a Light burning, and fiery Spirit; which could not be, were they not homogeneous.

The great difference which there seems to be between the several parts of the Creation, makes the People indeed be­lieve them of contrary Na­tures. Thus the Vulgar can hardly think that Foun­tain. Water will ever become [Page 86] Wood, Leaves, Fruit, Bones, Sinews, Blood, and all the Parts of an Animal Body; But a Naturalist can easily discern, that the Water or moist Vapour, that dissolves the Seed, is by the Specifick Spirit of the Seed converted into its own Nature, and shoots up into Branches, bear­ing Leaves and Fruit, whose grosser part encreaseth the Bo­dy of the Tree. And so the Water drank by Animals, becomes converted into Nou­rishment, and is communica­ted into all the Parts of the Body, by which they all grow and are encreased to a deter­minate Time. Thus are all the Parts of the Universe re­lated to each other by the [Page 87] common Bond of the same Universal Spirit, which Par­menides in his famous Idea's calls That one Idea, which is the Foundation of all Singu­lars; out of which, as from a Thread, the whole Web, as it were, of Individuals, is woven.

Now this Universal Spirit residing in many Particulars, is the Support and Foundati­on of them all; and is, ac­cording to Zenophanes, wholly together one; though for di­stinction sake, and that we may better understand one another in Discourse, we di­vide it into Three Heads, which are called Kinds, and into almost infinite Species, [Page 88] which are the Particulars.

Thus we see Nature, tho' She is One, Pure and Sim­ple, is yet beneficial to the whole Creation, and conti­nually supplies the perishing Old, by the Gift, as it were, of New. And thus we may see, that without God, who is Nature's Governor, we can do nothing even in this world.

O Eternal Wisdom! How excellent are the Divine O­perations! How manifold the divine Goodness! whose Wisdom, Power and Love are no less evident in the Conservation, than the Cre­ation of the World! If the Divine Mind should check [Page 89] Nature a few moments, this delicate Machine would be without Spirit, the world would be benumb'd with an eternal Cold and Dark­ness, and an everlasting Death; all things would run back into their first Mass, Chaos, and dark Abyss, never to be renewed, with­out that Spirit that first ba­nished Darkness, by sepa­rating the Waters, and en­kindling in their most refi­ned Parts (advanced to the Region Above) a Spirit of Light.

To the Eternal therefore be infinite Praises by the pure Spirits of Men and An­gels.

[Page 90] He that thinks I do a disho­nour A compari­son of the Form in A­nimals, Plants and Minerals. to Animals, in suppo­sing, that that Spirit that ani­mated a mean Vegetable, [...] a sluggish Metal, on its leav­ing these Bodies, should give Life and Motion to an Animal Being, will easily see his Mi­stake, when he considers [...] those Things are always e­steemed most Excellent [...] Noble that are of longest du­ration. Now we see, [...] many Vegetables, and all Things of a Metallick Com­position, do exceed Animals [...] duration of Time. Besides all Things receive a value from their Usefulness; now though divers Beasts and Birds are very useful both for Food and Pleasure, yet [...] [Page 91] of them are supported with­out Vegetables; nor can any Man plow, or go to Sea, with­out Metals. But this is speaking rather like a Mer­chant than Naturalist; there­fore I shall wave it.

That Spirit seems to me to Of the Ex­cellency of the Form in Metals. be most Noble, that has so digested the Passive Matter, which contains it, as to be able to defend it against all the as­saults of the Elements; and on the other side, that Spirit seems to be most weak and unactive, that suffers its Body to be soonest dissolved on their Intention. Now Ve­getables and Animals do both perish in the Flames; but Me­tals do not: So that the [Page 92] Strength and Virtue they en­joy visible to every Eye, gives them justly the Precedence But could their Bodies be dis­solved, and their Spirits [...] loose, as we see in Vegetable Seeds, then their Excellency would be very manifest. [...] that has seen the perpetual Of the per­petual light made out of them, and of its great diffi­culty. Light to which they have been advanced by Dissolution does know what place [...] merit in this Life; [...] were the operation as easie, [...] the Reason is evident, no inge­nious Man would be without it. For my part I own my­self herein, only Un [...] yet he that is not able to [...] a Bow, may yet give [...] Wherefore, to this, I conceive there is need of an homoge­neous [Page 93] Agent, defecated from all Impurity, and impreg­nated with a Metalline Sul­phur, the former found in the House of Gemini, This is Jargon to those only, who do not understand it. the latter in that of Aries, by the benign Influences of Libra and Aquarius.

But let none but the Happy pretend to this. He that can retire, and enjoy the Freedom of Horace his Countryman;

To this Freedom of Thought, there is necessary a Knowledge of all Nature, a plentiful Fortune, and above all, a wise and a Learned Friend. ‘Qui publicis [...] bus & Muneribus funguntur, [...] privatis & necessariis [...] cupationibus jugiter incumbunt, [...] summum hujus Philosophiae [...] contendant: Totum enim [...] illa desiderat, [...] possedet, Possessum ab omni [...] & longo negotio vendicat, [...] omnia aliena reputans & flocci [...]. They who are [...] tigued with Publick Ho­nours [Page 95] and Employments, or have continual Avocati­ons of private & domestick Affairs, let them not pre­tend to the Heights of this Philosophy; for she re­quires the whole Mind; which obtain'd, she keeps, and retains him from all te­dious Business; teaching him to slight all Things else as Trifles.’

This is an Eternal Bar to such as my self, who am bow'd down to an Employ­ment of daily Attendance, Me Miserum! —

Well may the Qualificati­ons above be thought neces­sary, since besides the Fine­ness [Page 96] and Acuteness of Mind, there is required Herculean La­bour.

For 'tis so difficult, that [...] tells us, Mars being im­prisoned by Neptune's Son Thirteen Months in a Dun­geon, could scarce be set [...] by Juno's help, though assist­ed by Hermes himself. [...] meaning whereof, when have told you, that Mars [Page 97] the Son of Juno, and she the Metallick Nature, is too ob­vious to need an Explanation; for a Surcharge is nauseous to the Mind of an Ingenious Man.

Now to remove all Obje­ctions to the Foundation of this Opinion of Pythagoras, and what is superadded: It Object. 1. may be asked, How doth it appear that the Heavenly Bo­dies bestow an Influence, or Universal Spirit on the Earth? Why may not the Earth it Object. 2. self be impregnated ab initio with Seed enough, to hold out for all Species to the end of the World?

[Page 98] That the Heavenly Bodies Respons. move and transmit Heat, we Both see and feel: Nay, this Heat beyond the Tropicks, is so intense and powerful, that with us collected by a con­cave Glass, it will melt Sil­ver, and that in a more extra­ordinary manner than a Cu­linary Fire is able to perform. Whence Mechungus affirms, that there is no artificial Fire able to give such a heat, [...] that which comes down from Heaven. We see Infects, sort of Animals, in a feu days are generated by it is waterish places. Those [...] pass for Animals, as Frogs Toads, and even Mice, whose Generation is aequivocal, [...] so produced; by means where­of, [Page 99] we perceive that Vegeta­bles grow and increase.

Timaeus the Locrian, saith, That God scatters Souls, (i. e.) Forms, some in the Moon, others in other Planets and Stars, whence they are instil­led into Creatures. To which Aristotle agrees, when he saith, That the Universal Efficient Cause of all things, is the Sun and the other Stars, and that their Access and Re­cess, are the Causes of Gene­ration and Corruption. If so, Aristotle held, that there was an Element of Fire, a­bove the Region of the Air. what need is there of an Ele­ment of Fire, above the Re­gion of the Air? But, I conceive, 'twas placed there for Order's sake only.

[Page 100] Now this Virtue that is Of the Uni­versal Spi­rit. Ministerial to such Variety of things, must be in its own Nature General and Catho­lick, or it could not be sub­servient to so many several different Individuals. The Specification of it, naturally proceeds from the Parti­culars. We see a little Salt seasons a great Lump, and a Scion transmutes the whole Juice of the Tree into its own Nature. Wherein we may observe a twofold Change: First, Of the general Moisture into an Identity of that of the Tree: Secondly, A new Specification of it, by its pas­sing into the Scion. Nay, such is the virtue of Fermen­tation, that you may inocu­late [Page 101] Scion upon Scion, after a little Growth; and whatever becomes of Transmutation in the Mineral, we daily see it various ways in the Vegeta­ble Province, to that degree, that in many Trees you may ingraft and inoculate out of species, as Cherries on a Laurel, Pears on a Hawthorn-Tree; nor is it otherwise in the Ani­mal, of which no man's Ex­perience is without some In­stances.

Fermentation, saith the in­comparable Eirenaeus the Great, is the Wonder of the World; by it Water becomes Herbs, Trees, Plants, Fruit, Flesh, Blood, Stones, Minerals, and every Thing. This Epicurus calls [Page 102] the attracting and intangling adaptable Atoms, by their Fellow-Atoms; by which they grow up into the same Nature; of which hereaf­ter.

As for the latter part of Respons. 2. the Objection, touching the Earth's having Seed enough in it self, and therefore needs not borrow of the Heavens: What I said already to the first part of the Question, may be a sufficient Answer. But to proceed.

That the Earth is barren & sluggish, dead and passive, we may easily see, by considering how unfruitful all places are that are surrounded with [Page 103] Buildings. For if the Earth had Seed enough in it self, she might be as fertil in a City-Garden, as in a Country. But it is plain, that the want of a free access of the Air, where­by an Universal Spirit, or ani­mating Heat is conveyed, is the only Cause of Sterility.

Why do your Country­men, after some years plow­ing, leave the Ground fal­low? Is there not Seed or Virtue enough in the Earth to hold out? If there is not, whence does she receive it? It must proceed either inter­nally from the Centre, or ex­ternally from the Heavens: if from her own Centre, why does she wait the accession of [Page 104] the Sun, to call forth her Ve­getables? And why, where his Influences are interrupted, is she barren?

But may not the Earth Object. have a Feminine Sperm in it, and may not this vital Heat, be as a Masculine Principle, that may only excite, and bring this dormant Seed from Potency into Act, to which Opinion Xenocrates seems to be inclined? If the Earth Resp. were filled with such an ima­ginary Seed, whenever the Sun approaches with his en­livening Beams, surely all these Seeds would quickly appear to sight; what then should the Earth do for the next year's Vegetables? The [Page 105] Propagation of them only by their letting fall a Seed, and by that means another coming in its place, is weak and frivo­lous; for though this in ma­ny places often happens, yet Experience shews us, that tho' Weeds are grubb'd up before they run to seed, yet the same, or others, soon grow up in their stead; And whence should this happen? Who are the Conservators of the seeds of Weeds, and noxi­ous Plants? Noxious, only be­cause their use is not known. What Enemy comes in the night and sows them? And where are their Store-houses?

But may not the Birds in Object. the Air let fall seed, and so it may grow? This Objection [Page 106] can admit no Resolution but this: Take Earth, defend it Resp. as you please, so it has some access of Air, and you will find an Herb of some sort or other arise. It is therefore most evident, that by the Heavenly Bodies, or from them, a germinating Virtue is emitted; that this Virtue is universal, convey­ed by the Medium of Air, filling all Places, and pro­ducing divers Effects, ac­cording to the plenty of Spirit, and difference of Place: That this Spirit, on the dissolution of its Body, is not annihilated, but gets loose, becomes active and vigorous, and impregnates new Matter, whose Nature [Page 107] is varied, according to the diversity of Place; as Wa­ter mixing with salt things, becomes saline; and with Acids, sharp.

Now, this to me, is so far That Bo­dies are on­ly changed, not annihi­lated. from being a wonder, that I should admire if it were o­therwise; since Bodies, that are but the Case of Spirits, are not annihilated, when their Spirits leave them, but lose only their external Fi­gure and Shape; for if Bo­dies on their resolution, were annihilated, the World in time would be reduc'd to no­thing.

For the World consisting of Parts, and those Parts of [Page 108] Bodies, as Bodies are annihi­lated, so are the Parts; and the Parts being daily substra­cted, this Machine would fall to pieces, or rather to nothing. ‘But as in Generation, saith Epicurus, there is no new substance made, but pre-ex­istent substances are made up into one, which acquire new Qualities; so in Corruption, no substance absolutely ceas­eth to be, but is dissipated into more substances, which remain after the destruction of the former.’

So that though Bodies re­solve into Dust, yet this Dust remains still, and being quick­ned by a Solar Heat, shoots forth into some Plant; and [Page 109] this Plant becoming Food to Man or Beast, and Beast to Man, is assimilated into the Nature of the Eater, and be­comes part of himself. Hence Hermes, and the rest of the Philosophers affirm, that no­thing properly dies; but all things pass, and are changed into something else In nihi­lum nil posse reverti. So that if one would urge it, he might prove this way a Trans­migration of Bodies, as well as Spirits; since the Bodies of the Dead become Food to the Living after a little Circula­tion of Time, passing through a few Mediums, and that Food becomes part of him that eats it.

[Page 110] This the Egyptians hinted by the Hieroglyphick of a Snake painted in a circular form, the Head swallowing up the Tail: Of which, Claudian.

Thus Pythagoras might say he was Euphorbus, who lived many years before him, be­cause of the Possibility both in respect to the Identity in [Page 111] some sort of his Body (for we were once upon our Plates,) and his animation by the same sensitive Spirit, being of a Temper and Disposition very like him. Thus for simili­tude of Spirit, John the Baptist is called Elias.

But now for Plato's Opini­on, The Moral of Trans­migration. and the rest of the Pytha­goreans, who held, or rather seemed to hold, That by in­dulging to Sense, the Souls of Men pass'd first into Women; then, if they continued vici­ous, into Brutes, &c. This Degeneracy, if he had con­fin'd to the same Body, would have had as much Reason and Truth of its side, as the other hath of Prettiness and Fancy: [Page 112] For Experience shews us, that many Men, by soft and ten­der Habits, grow weak and effeminate; and by degrees slide into an Indulgence of all Brutal Passions. Now it is more than probable, that there was no more intended by this sort of Expression, than to shew Mankind to what a low Ebb Humane Nature might descend, to what a Bru­tal Sordidness Man might sink that wallow'd in sensual Plea­sures.

And what is the natural Consequence of this? That Men therefore to avoid this Evil, should adorn and culti­vate their Minds with useful Knowledge, and exert Life [Page 113] in Practical Vertues. This was the Design both of Mo­ral and Natural Philosophy; and this AEsop, who flourish­ed about an hundred years before Plato, inculcated by his ingenious Fables; amongst which, had this of Plato's been inserted, the Moral had been obvious to every Understand­ing.

This is no new Interpreta­tion; for Timaeus long ago commended the Ionick Poet, for making Men religious by ancient Fabulous Stories. ‘For, said he, as we cure Bodies with things unwholsome, when the wholesome agree not with them; so we re­strain Souls with Fabulous [Page 114] Relations, when they will not be led by the True. Let them then (continues he) since there is a necessity for it, talk of these strange Pu­nishments, as if Souls did transmigrate; the Effemi­nate into the Bodies of Wo­men, given up to Ignominy; of Murtherers, into those of Beasts, for Punishment; of the Lascivious, into the forms of Swine; of the Light and Temerarious, into Birds; of the Slothful and Idle, Un­learned and Ignorant, into several kinds of Fishes.’

Thus we see how Pythago­ras has been miss-represented and what was made use of only as the last Remedy to re­strain [Page 115] Men from Vice; and was, what we call Argumen­tum ad Hominem, is now, for want of Understanding in his Censurers, return'd upon him with great Reproach.

But did not Pythagoras ab­stain from Flesh-Meat, for fear of eating his Parents, ac­cording to the gross Notion of Transmigration? Most certainly not; for Jamblicus in the Life of Pythagoras, tells us, That he being the Disci­ple of Thales, one of the chief Things Thales advised him, was, to husband his Time well; upon which account, he abstained from Wine and Flesh; only eating such things as were light of Digestion; [Page 116] by which means, he procu­red shortness of Sleep, Wake­fulness, Purity of Mind, and constant Health of Body.

But what if Transmigra­tion Transmi­gration in Plants and Minerals demonstra­ble to sense. may be made evident to Sense in Plants and Minerals? That it may be in Plants, eve­ry ordinary Chymist knows: For by the extracting the Spi­rit or Soul of a Vegetable in the form of Oil, and by the cohobation of it on the calci­ned Salt of a different Plant, they will impregnate that Salt with a new Life and Spirit, and give it new Virtue, Smell and Taste. Thus they draw forth a Spirit from one Plant and infuse it into the Body of another. And thus Van Suchten, [Page 117] and the acuter sort of Chy­mists, tell us may be done with Metals.

But what need we fly to Laborious Art for the proof of this? Does not sagaci­ous Nature afford Instances enough of this sort in divers Places, witness the petrefying Baths at Buda, Glashitten and Eisenbach in Hungary, that turn Wood and Iron into Stone; and the Venereal Mine at Hern-grunat near Neusol, where, by leaving Iron in the Vitrio­late Water for Fourteen Days, it is transmuted into excellent Copper, better, and more ductil than the Natural. But enough of this.

[Page 118] I have done with Pythago­ras, and shall touch now on Four Things.

1. I shall speak somewhat to the duration of Bodies.

2. Examine some Princi­ples and Elements generally received.

3. Compare some Aristote­lian Hypotheses with those of Democritus.

4. Having already shewn, how variety of Plants and Metals are now generated in the Earth, from the Diversity of Salts, &c. I will endeavour to shew how the Earth comes [Page 119] to be filled with such variety of Bodies, abounding with different Qualities.

First, As to the Duration Of the du­ration of Bodies. of Bodies. Bodies, after the sensitive Spirit has left them, and before their resolution in­to Dust, have a sort of Ve­getable Life remaining in them; as appears by the growth of Hair and Nails, that may be perceived in dead Bodies; and a weak Animal one that lurks in the Moi­sture; whence in Putrefacti­on, Worms and divers sorts of Insects may be generated, who dying, others of ano­ther sort arise.

[Page 120] If therefore Bodies obtain this sort of Immortality (not to speak of the Resurrction of the Body in a Philosophi­cal Discourse,) why should it be denied to the Spirit, which hath a much greater Right to it, by the pure and incorrupt lasting Nature of its Essence?

But I shall advance the Na­ture of Bodies to a much more unmixt and pure Immortali­ty: For the Radical Moisture of Bodies, that lies in the Bones, may justly challenge a Right (as things now are) to an eternal duration. For not to mention Bones that are found entire after a Thousand Years Burial, nor the Bodies [Page 121] of Egyptian Mummies, preserv­ed whole for several Thou­sand Years; there is in the Bones a Radical Moisture, that is fix'd and permanent, and is so far from giving way, or suffering loss by that Ele­ment that is the Destroyer of mix'd Bodies, that it is the Vessel made use of to purge the fix'd Metals in the Fire, and remains unhurt when the volatil Metals fly away; so that none of the Elements can destroy it, no not the most torrid Vulcan.

Now for mix'd Bodies; Fire indeed may separate the Parts of a mix'd Body, change the Figure, and so alter its Appearance, as to puzzle [Page 122] the best Mechanick to reduce it to its primitive state; yet this is no Annihilation, but Division. The burning of Wood or any Fuel, is a De­struction of it, I confess, as to the Proprietor; but not with respect to the Universe, no more than there is less Money in the World by the Profuse­ness of a Prodigal; as the one doth but change Hands, so the other alters only the situa­tion of its Parts.

The Watery or Mercurial Part of the Wood passeth a­way in Smoak, the Oily or Sulphurous in Flame, and the Body of Salt rests in the Ashes. The Air preserves the two former, and the Earth retains [Page 123] the latter; each part returns to its native Country. What then can destroy this Body, except the First Cause, I am yet to learn: For though Bone-Ashes, by reason of Moisture, may flow and be­come Glass, the ultimate end and use of them; yet so glo­rious a lightsome body as that of Glass, is rather an ex­altation of its Essence, than diminution of its Excellency; nor does it give any termina­tion to its Being, but only a change to its Figure. If Cu­linary Fire destroys the Parts of the Universe, in time it may the whole. But this is inconsistent with the Wisdom of its Maker, to create Prin­ciples destructive of one ano­ther.

[Page 124] The Light of Nature, as Of the ge­neral Con­flagration. well as Experience taught Plato, that the World was not destroyable by any other Cause, but by the same God, who composed it; which the Eternal can easily do by Fire, according as Things now ap­pear, without the Light of Holy Writ: Which makes me wonder, that Aristotle, Ze­nophanes, and other Great Men did not see this; but thought the World of necessity as E­ternal as God; for though the Heat of the Sun is now tolerable between the Tro­picks, yet he that considers its being a little multiplied by a concave Glass, even in our Meridian, (though its Rays pass through a vast Region of [Page 125] Water rarefied,) if reflected on a Man for some time, it will scorch and destroy him, when the volatil Waters that allay his Heat, become fixed, (which the People think now are, and a Philosopher knows may easily be,) then the Sun having no Cloud to obstruct his Light, nor any Water to cool the scorching Heat of his Rays, will necessarily burn up and calcine the Earth.

Thus the very Elements would destroy us, did not the Eternal, by his Providence, defend us from the Heat, by the interposition of the Wa­ters, and from the Chilness of the Waters, by impregna­ting them with a Solar Heat, [Page 126] whose invisible congealed Spirit, (saith one of the Learned Magi) is more valuable than the whole Earth. Clementis­simo ita (que) infinitae sint Laudes.

Secondly, As to Principles 2. Of Prin­ciples and Elements. and Elements: being to speak of these, it will not be amiss to enquire, how and when these came into the World. The Study of Natural Philoso­phy was as early in the world, as Men came to call upon God: For whatever Appear­ances God made to the Ante­diluvian Patriarchs, and by that means communicated his Di­vine Will and Nature to them, yet we cannot suppose that the World in general had any other Light of the Divine [Page 127] Glory and Majesty, than what came to them by Tradition, and the Contemplation of the several Parts of the Universe; for God is known by his Works; they are the Wit­nesses of his Wisdom, Power, and Goodness. The Know­ledge of these Works, comes not to Mankind (at least ge­nerally) by Inspiration, but by exerting our Faculties.

And as for Tradition, that is apt to make but a weak im­pression on thinking Men, un­less it is back'd with Reason.

But besides, though the Creation of the World was a Tradition, and the manner out of Chaos; yet to give an [Page 128] account of the Phaenomena of Things, and the manner now of Nature's Productions, could not be a Tradition. This was left to Man, as the pro­per exercise of his Rational Powers, that by improving, and advancing his Thoughts, he might come to have a clearer Light and Knowledge of God, and consequently, love him the more intensely; for it is almost impossible to have a true knowledge of God, and not to be inflamed with Love of him, such is the Purity and Perfection of the Divine Nature.

When Men therefore be­gan to contemplate the works of God, they found all the [Page 129] Parts of Nature reduceable to two Heads or Principles; an Active, Vital or Formal one, and a Passive or Mate­rial.

This I conceive Moses in­tended, when he tells us that in the Beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth: which things are expressed in the very same words by the Chaldeans, Assyrians, and Greeks, as I have hinted before.

Thales, who was one of the first amongst the Grecians, as, Laertius, Strabo, Cicero, and Plutarch affirm, that made en­quiry into Natural Causes, conceived Water to be the Material Principle of all liv­ing [Page 130] Creatures; because all Seed is humid, and Plants and Animals are nourish'd by it. This he had from a more an­cient Nation, the Phoenicians, by whom Orpheus was likewise instructed.

To this Material Principle, Anaxagoras is said to be the first that added ( [...]) the Mind, by which, I conceive, he meant the Formal. Hence Virgil calls the Universal Form the Mind.

But Homer and Hesiod both gave an account of these two Principles long before.

Various afterwards were the Opinions of the Philoso­phers about Principles. Phe­recydes the Assyrian, asserted Earth to be the Principle of all things; Anaximenes, Air; Hip­pasus, Fire; Xenophanes, Earth and Water; Parmenides, Fire and Earth; Enopides, Fire and Air; Democritus and Epicurus, Atoms; Empedocles, Plato and Aristotle, &c. to these Princi­ples added four Elements, be­ing the visible Matter, as they conceived, of which all Bo­dies [Page 132] did subsist: And this the School-men, following them, have hitherto maintained, and it is now the Doctrine of the World.

The Chymists hold Three Of the 3 Principles of the Chy­mists. Principles at this day; these Principles and Elements I now intend to examine: And first, for the Three Principles.

I know it is no less a crime Principles. than Heresie, in the Commu­nion of Chymists, to deny any of their three beloved Principles, their Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury; but being not of their Church, I need not fear their Censure. I do ad­mit Salt in some sence, to be one of their Principles; but [Page 133] I do deny Sulphur and Mercu­ry to be several; for their best Authors affirm Mercury to be only crude Sulphur, and Sul­phur ripe Mercury; they dif­fer therefore not in specie, but in degree of Digestion.

‘The Ancients (saith Eirenae­us the Great) thought them all one; and though Para­celsus has invented a Liquor, by means whereof, he taught the way of separating the Sulphur in the form of a tincted Metallick Oil; yet I conceive this is nothing but an extraction of the riper, and more digested part of the Mercury.’

This will appear more evi­dent, by considering the Mat­ter [Page 134] of Metals; which I will deliver in the sence of Eirenae­us the Great, having translated him, but not having the Ori­ginal in Latin by me.

Hence I conceive, 'tis evi­dent, that current Mercury is the nighest (though not the first) Matter of Metals; which Mercury hath a Salt included in it, and becomes a more or less ripe Metal, according to the purity or impurity of its Matrix. What need then can there be of Sulphur as a di­stinct Principle? But they that contend that these three, Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury, are the constituent Principles of a Metallick Body, ought to shew that Nature produces these three simple Substances, and then unites them in the [Page 137] composition of a Metal. But who ever yet saw a Specifick Metalline Salt void of Mercu­ry and Sulphur? Or simple Mercury without Salt, or a Metalline Sulphur by it self?

The Truth is, in a strict sence there are no other Prin­ciples, but the moist vapor im­pregnated with vital heat; for these two alone constitute all Bodies. As for the Salts I men­tioned in the generation of Plants and Metals, I conceive them to be only a congelation of a former Vapor, differenced in Metals by a long circulati­on in the Alembick, of the Earth; and in Plants, by a speedy resolution near the Su­perficies. Now this Homoge­neity [Page 138] of Salts in two such dif­ferent Bodies, will not ap­pear strange to them who consider the vast Alteration Heat makes on Bodies by time, in different Vessels: thus common gross Water, in an open Vessel, by a gentle heat is soon evaporated and rarefied into Air; whilst Dew, a much purer Substance, by the same heat, circulated in a close Vessel by length of time, is condensed into Earth.

But are not the Principles of Bodies known by their Re­solution, Objection. and may not Metals be reduced into three distinct Principles?

[Page 139] If the various Figures into Respons. which the Fire is able to di­vide Bodies, must be called Principles, Monsieur L'Emery assigns no less than five; but he honestly confesseth, that this is effected by the alterati­on the Fire makes on Bodies; not by a natural Analysis in­to their first Principles.

But does not the Great Sta­gyrite Objection. hold three Principles, Matter, Form and Privation?

By Privation, he doth not Respons. mean a Principle, in a strict sence, i. e. an Essence consti­tuting a Body, or part of such; but with respect to the previous Matter of each Bo­dy, before it is specificated, [Page 140] which he calls the Terminus à quo; as when determined, the Terminus ad quem. But if it must be a Principle, let it be of Death, not of Life: For how can that be a Principle of Life, that is a separation of Soul and Body? If in­stead of Privation, he had cal­led it Putrefaction, that might well enough have passed for a Principle, or something like it; since Putrefaction is the Gate to Life.

I think therefore the Two Principles of the Ancients, Matter and Form, stand firm, notwithstanding Aristotle or the Chymists.

[Page 141] But if there are four Ele­ments Of the Ele­ments. that constitute Bodies, according to the general Do­ctrine, they, I must confess, will overthrow the Two Principles of Matter & Form, unless these Principles being first, the Elements afterwards are made out of them, as Plu­tarch will have it; and then 'twill be disputing only about Words. But we'll consider this.

Elements seem to be but modern in respect of the An­cients: Moses speaks only of the Spirit and the Abyss; and so, for what I perceive, it continued even to the Time of Thales, who flourished in the 35th Olympiad; Principles [Page 142] and Elements, being not then distinguished by him; for which Plutarch finds fault with him. The same Author makes Empedocles to hold Four Ele­ments, who, 'tis said, was a Disciple of Pythagoras, who was contemporary with Tha­les. Here I will suppose E­lements to begin; the Rea­son this; They that held four Elements, perceiving that be­sides the moist Vapour, and heavenly Influence, or Fire and Water in the modern Language, there were Earth and Air; that Air is the Food, and as it were, the Compani­on of Fire, and Water of Earth, and that things generated in the Earth, could not but par­take of its Nature, as the Foe­tus [Page 143] in the Womb. That two of these were active, and two passive; two heavy, and two light; must of necessity be those Parts of Matter, that constitute the Harmony of each Being.

To speak clearly to this Matter, I shall take each Ele­ment apart, and by that you will see, whether these four, or two only, are self-subsist­ing Beings; Pure, Simple, Primitive, and Unmixt, which is the Notion of an Element. I will begin with the Air.

That the Air we walk in, Of the Air. is pure and unmixt, no one will pretend; for the Sulphu­rous Steams, that are sublimed [Page 144] into the Air, and the abun­dant Moisture fluctuating in this Region, shew the con­trary.

The Truth is, what we call Air, is nothing but Wa­ter rarefied, attracted by the Heat of the Sun, or sublim'd by the Archeus of the Earth; and this may be made mani­fest by many several Experi­ments, as the evaporating of Water into Smoak (which is a gross Air,) or calcin'd Tar­tar that will attract it, and dis­solve it into Water.

The Earth can never be Of the Earth. said to be pure, simple, or unmix'd; for it is the com­mon Shop of Nature, where­in [Page 145] bodies of all sorts and qua­lities do reside. It is in truth, nothing more than the grosser parts of the Waters, which condensing into a body, be­came the Settlement of the Waters, which God after­wards caused to become dry, by the removal of the Wa­ters from it, and the Spirit of Light shining on it.

Though it is said, In the be­ginning God created the Heaven and the Earth; yet this is by a Figure [...] usual, as the Learned say, amongst the Hebrews; for the Darkness was upon the Face of the Deep; and the Spirit moved upon the Face of the Waters. The Chaos there­fore, or first Matter, was [Page 146] plainly an Abyss of Waters; and so our Latin Translators and Commentators render it, A­quarum Terrae supernatantium, say Junius and Tremellius.

Water, I conceive, is in Of Water. its own Nature, pure, simple, and unmix'd, without any quality, though susceptible of all. A Primitive in Nature, a middle Substance, whose one Extream constituted Earth, and its other Air or Heaven. This may well be called a Principle; for she is the first Matter of all things, into which all things may be reduced.

Fire, in its Original, is an Of Fire. emanation of a Solar Spirit, [Page 147] its Rays darting downwards, impregnate and enkindle Passive Matter, into Motion and Vegetation. It is the Life or Spirit of the World, as Water is the Matter. To doubt this a Principle or Ele­ment (for I think it no Blun­der, under Plutarch's Favour, to make them Synonyma's,) were a mortal Sin in Philoso­phy.

Having said this, 'tis easie to infer, That Water is the passive Principle, and the So­lar Influence, the Formal of all created Beings; and that, properly speaking, these two are the only Principles, ac­cording to the Ancients, and the other two only Deriva­tives.

[Page 148] But does not the excellent —, a Learned Magus, tell us, That the Four Elements by their never ceasing Motion, cast forth a Sperm, or subtil Portion of Matter, into the Earth, where meeting, and uniting, it is digest­ed, and brought to perfection, ac­cording to the purity or impurity of the place? The Authority of this Person, and the Reve­rence and Admiration I have for him, as it makes me con­ceal his Name, so it does al­most make me blush to lift up my Pen against him. — Sed magis Amica Veritas.

If Four Elements go to the Constitution of each Being, these Elements must be inti­mately united: Now that [Page 149] cannot be, unless the purest part of one Element enter per minima, the purest part of the other. But Earth cannot en­ter Water per minima, unless it be reduced to the Form and Tenuity of Water, and then what need is there of Earth, if Earth must be first resolved into Water, ere it can unite with it? Again, Water must be rarefied to the dignity of Air, or else it cannot unite intimately with Air; if so, what need is there of Water, since Water must become Air before it can assist in the Con­stitution of a Body?

It to me therefore seems most plain, that all created Beings here below, are a Con­crete [Page 150] of Water, the purest part whereof being rarefied, and impregnated with a ce­lestial Heat, (which is all the Element of Fire I know of,) is digested into the vari­ous works of Nature, diver­sified now, according to what Nature has wrought in the Matrix, before the Form en­ters; for the Form is as capa­ble of divers effects, as the Water is susceptible of quali­ties. Thus much for the Second, Viz. Principles and E­lements.

Thirdly, I shall compare some Aristotelian Hypotheses with those of Democritus.

[Page 151] Aristotle and Heraclitus too, held the Elements to be contra­ry to each other; as, Fire to Wa­ter, Earth to Air, two active and two passive Principles; but Democritus denies it; al­ledging, that the Agent and Patient must be in some mea­sure alike, otherwise they cannot act upon one another. Wherein Democritus is certain­ly in the right; for Fire and Water differ not in a remiss, but intense degree: witness the quiet resting of Iron (in which the Fire of Nature dwells plentifully) in Water; and witness the Generation of Animals in water, which cannot be done without heat, and witness the Seeds of all Beings (whose germinating [Page 152] Virtue, is the Fire of Nature) involved in Moisture.

There is, in truth, no more difference between these two, than between Water and Plants; of which, the one is so far from being repugnant to the other, that the Plant is nourished by the water; yet when the water is raised to an Acid, and the Plant redu­ced to an Alkali, by the union of these two, a violent ebul­lition is caused, a controversie even unto Death.

As for the Cause of the variety of Bodies, the diffe­rence between Aristotle and his Followers, and Leucippus, Democritus and Epicurus, and [Page 153] their Followers, is no less; and 'tis no wonder that they who differ in the Nature of their Principles, should fall out in the effects they pro­duce.

The Aristotelians impute the effects of Bodies to secret primary Qualities, residing in them, by the conjunction of the Elements; and so under the Mask of Qualities, which they could not tell what to make of, couch all ignorance of Bodies, their Causes, if not Effects.

Democritus, and his Peo­ple, impute nothing to Qua­lities, but all to Figure and Motion, called the Atomical Physiology.

[Page 154] For my part, I think nei­ther Opinion right; yet a middle between both may be true. I shall consider both Opinions, and then give my Reasons against both, and for the middle one. As for the Pyrrhonian Doctrine of Quali­ties, 'tis too trifling to merit an Answer.

I might introduce this Que­stion with a great deal of pomp, and shew that it hath been a Controversie in the world for above Two Thou­sand Years; that it hath ex­ercised the greatest Men, and that it is not yet determined. But I shall think my self hap­py enough, if I can put an end to this Debate, without [Page 155] any other consideration. The Method I propose to take, I think, differs from those that have gone before me; for I intend to speak of the Crea­tion of the First Matter, and Universal Form, and shew how from the various Union of these Two, various Qua­lities arise. But it would be too Magisterial to reject Opi­nions, without shewing their Mistakes: I shall therefore endeavour to shew the Error of these two Parties, and then substitute what I conceive more true.

As to the Aristotelian; that of Occult Qualities, 'tis Igno­tum per Ignotius; a thing is hot or cold, bitter or sweet, [Page 156] because of some Quality in it; and what is that Quality? 'Tis Occult, that is in plain English, 'tis so, because it is so.

But the most that can be made of this Notion of Quali­ties, may amount to this, That there is a Form, or Vi­tal Principle latent, or occult in all Bodies, that not only retains and keeps the Parts together (be the Genus or Species what it will) and so distributes it self to all the Members, performing the Office of Life, but is the Spe­cifick Formal Cause of all those Qualities, with which Bodies abound; be they those of Sweet, Bitter, Sharp, &c. [Page 157] or Hot and Cold in their se­veral degrees. Which Form being a Vital Principle, is in­visible, (and therefore oc­cult,) as Lucretius holds.

But this, I conceive, can­not be; for though Galtruchius tells us in justification of this Doctrine, That there is an actual Modification, and De­termination of the Form to the Matter; I would fain [Page 158] know what particular Quali­ty can a Form have, that enters passive Matter? Where can it receive, before it enters Matter, such a Specification? For notwithstanding what Pliny saith of the Planet Ve­nus, that she scatters a Proli­fick Dew, which is but gene­ral, and what the Astrolo­gers say of the particular In­fluences of each Planet; I de­sire to know, who can distin­guish the Influences of Saturn from Jupiter; Mars from Ve­nus, and so of the rest, except that of Sol? The Sun indeed melts Wax, but hardens Clay; but this diversity of effect proceeds from the difference of the Object, not of the Agent; for the Agent is al­ways [Page 159] one and the same, tho' varied according to the pas­sive Matter that receives it.

'Tis not therefore the Form alone that gives, or is the Quality in the Body; for as the Body was scatter'd Atoms loose and insipid, till its parts being collected, constituted, by virtue of the Form, a mixt Body; so was its Form sim­ple and undetermin'd, till bound down, and tied to the Body.

Now for the Atomical Phy­siology of Leucippus, Democri­tus and Epicurus, which is now called the New, by what Fi­gure I know not. How can meer Matter, which in it self, [Page 160] loose and scattered, is insipid, i. e. in its parts hath no Taste, (for what Taste have the uncom­pounded Bodies of Atoms, void of Qualities?) when put together by the clinging of its Atoms, the emanation of its Particles, (or imagine what other way you please) acquire a particu­lar Taste, or give a particu­lar Odor? Nil dat quod non habet, may hold well enough here. That which it had not in its Parts, it can never have in the whole; (I speak of the same undetermin'd Matter; for I know that Bo­dies of different Natures, when conjoyn'd, obtain Qualities by Fermentation, which nei­ther had a part;) besides if Atoms by their Position and [Page 161] Figure, or by the manner of the flowing forth of their Particles, do give a Taste and Smell, &c. these Atoms are so very small, that the Body, though separated into many Parts, yet must retain not­withstanding the Figure of the Atoms, the Atoms being too minute to have their Angles and Points cut off by a small division of the Body; and consequently the Parts of the Body, must have the same Taste and Odor, when divi­ded, as before, if the Quali­ties that are perceived by the Organs of Taste and Smel­ling, be wholly owing to Matter, i. e. to the figuration of the Atoms.

[Page 162] But this daily Experience evinces the contrary; for Bo­dies divided, or but a little opened, as Plants and Fruit, &c. lose in a little time both their Taste and Smell, and yet no one can say, that the points or angles of the A­toms were disfigured, or the Emanation of their Particles obstructed, since great Pro­portions were left untouched.

But Galtruchius affirms, ‘Matter to be previously di­sposed to such a Form, by a Temperament of Qualities.’ But how can this be? Are not Qualities the Effect of Life in every Body, what needs there then a Form where there is Life before? The [Page 163] Qualities therefore of Odor and Taste cannot proceed from the configuration of the Atoms.

Now if neither the Form gives the Quality of it self; for the Form, as I have shewn before, is simple, a vital Air undetermin'd; nor the pas­sive Matter, though Atomi­cal, as I have shewn here; and yet all Bodies have Qua­lities, they must proceed from the Union of both, and not from any distinct Cause in either. So the Spirit of Ni­tre and Salt Armoniack apart, have no Qualities or Power to dissolve, or rather corrode Gold, but united, do it effe­ctually.

[Page 164] 4. This brings me to the Fourth and last Thing I in­tend to speak to; and that is, How the Earth comes to be filled with variety of Bodies, abounding with different qua­lities.

Since I propose here to treat of the Original of Qua­lities, I must, of necessity speak of the First Matter, and its Formation; and that leads me naturally to consider the first Creation; which I shall do as briefly as possibly I can.

I shall not cite the various Opinions of the several Sects of Philosophers that treat of the World's beginning, (tho' [Page 165] some thought it had none,) this would look more like Shew, than Use, which I have no Temptation to do, since I write for Pleasure, not for Bread. Besides, for Philoso­phy's sake, I shall omit it; for there is nothing so foolish, which some of them have not said. Nor shall I borrow Parts of the Many, as the Greeks did, to patch up a New one of my own. Nor shall I speak of the Creation any farther than as it relates to my present purpose. But herein I will take the Philosopher Moses for my Guide, who, exclusive of his Divine Au­thority, has given a wiser Account of the World's Cre­ation, than the whole Body [Page 166] of Philosophers put together; whose Writings the most Learned Bishop Stilling fleet has defended in his Origines Sacrae, against all the World.

God having created the Of the Cre­ation. First Matter, which seems to be a thin, fluid Substance, an Abyss of Fume or Vapour, rather than Water, which was therefore the more pas­sive and tenuous, fit to be stretched out for the compo­sition of Heaven, and capa­ble of any Form; he gave a Form fit to actuate and im­pregnate this Matter, which was to be the vital Principle of this Body. This general Form was a Spirit of Light and Heat, and so are all par­ticular [Page 167] Forms now, and there­fore capable of being the In­strument of God, (not the Third 'Tis an usual He­braism to impute se­cond Causes to the first. This distin­ction of First and Second Causes, was found out first by the Greeks, who taught the World to speak Scholastically; but the Jews made them all one; which indeed, in a large sence they are; for the world is the Lord's, and all things therein. And therefore I saiah, c. 40. v. 8. saith, The Grass withereth, the Flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. As the World is God's, and all the Spirits in it, and Parts of it, so indeed this may be said to be the Spirit of the Lord, in point of Property, but not of Identity. Can any one think that this Spirit that blows on the Grass, (or take it Metaphorically, for Man,) is the Holy Ghost? Junius and Tremellius translate the Words Spiritus Jehovae, the appropriate Name of the Eternal; yet in their Commentary say, 'tis not Regenitus Spiritus Sanctificationis in Christo; which, if they had remembred, they would not have ren­dred the Spiritus Dei, Gen. 1. Spiritus Sanctus, Ter­tia illa Persona Deitatis, à Deo Patre & Filio procedens. But they have, I must acknowledge, not a few Com­mentators on their side; though I conceive, the Jews never dreamed of such an Interpretation: they might believe it some Vis, Potentia, or Emanatio Dei, but not the Divine Nature himself, which it is disho­nourable to imagine was incubans superficiei Aqua­rum, brooding over the Waters, as a Hen does o­ver her Eggs. This piece of Mechanism may be suitable to Man, or some created Power; but the Almighty Fiat is worthy only of God. But be­sides this Conjecture, the Original will bear it; for the Learned say that Ruach signisies not only Spiri­tus, but Ventus, Voluntas, Angulus, Pars, & Plaga. And therefore R. Abraham on this Place, renders it, Spiritus (aut Ventus) Dei sufflabat (aut cubabat) super faciem Aquarum; (i. e.) saith he, Ventus missus à Deo, ad desiccandum Aquas. Person in the Tri­nity) to rarefie and subtilize the Superficies of this Abyss, and to exalt it to the Dignity of constituting Celestial Bo­dies and AEther.

[Page 168] This Spirit of Light and The First Day. Heat, whose Property is Mo­tion, acting upon this Super­ficies, rais'd it up on all sides, and mixing and abiding with it, in a plentiful degree, ad­vanced it up to the supreme Heaven, and enlightned all [Page 169] that Part, by its diffusion, which we call AEther; though the lower part of that migh­ty Space, the Atmosphere, was but glimmering, in respect of the AEther; and the Terra­queous Globe, by reason of its distance, and gloomy Sub­stance, was dark. This Di­vision of the Light from the Darkness, Holy Writ calls the First Day's Work.

This will appear more evi­dent The Second Day. by considering the Se­cond Day's Work, and that was the making of a Firma­ment, or Expansion, which was to divide the Waters from the Waters, (i. e.) the Waters that resided with the Globe be­low, not only from the Ce­lestial [Page 170] Bodies, which were advanc'd above, whose ma­terial Principle was Water; but even from the lower part of this Aery Region, the Re­sidence of Watery Clouds. The manner of which, I con­ceive was thus by the Will of the most High.

This Active Spirit of Light surrounding the moist Va­pour on all sides, drove it down lower throughout the Aery Region, and thereby compress'd this tenuous Mat­ter, into a more close and narrow compass, whence it became condensed into a wa­tery Substance. The Vapour thus condensed into Water, and thus compress'd on all sides, flying from the Fiery [Page 171] Spirit, as from an Enemy, became still more congeal'd, whose Centre being the Sedi­ment of the Waters, became Mud or Earth. And this was the Second Day's Work.

This Fiery Spirit, by the The Third Day. Will of God, acting upon the Waters, divided the same, so that the Waters being rol­led off on each side, the Mud or Earthy Substance appear­ed, which by the Medium of the Form was made dry, and impregnated with virtue suffi­cient for the Production of Plants. And this was the Third Day's Operation.

But on the Fourth Day, The Fourth Day. the Almighty collected and [Page 172] pent in this seatter'd Universal Form into the Body of the Sun, whose Virtue being shut up, & comprized in a narrow Compass, was capable of a more intense Emanation, whence followed a more no­ble Production.

So that on the Fifth Day The Fifth Day. God created Fish and Fowl, by the Union of the Passive Matter, Water, and that of the Form.

And afterwards, on the The Sixth Day. Sixth Day, of the Earth God made Beasts and Reptils (the Matter being grosser, the Ge­neration was more sluggish,) and then, as the Colophon of all, God created that mighty [Page 173] Creature Man, endowed with a Mind full of Vertue and Holiness, in resemblance to the Divine Nature, (not to speak of his Knowledge and Wisdom,) and made him Lord of all. Were I not here in Publick, I could not forbear a Rapture of Praise to the Almighty Build­er of the World, for his Boun­ty and Munificence to Man, in the mighty Priviledges and Endowments of his Nature. Sed quod palàm non decet, clàm fiat.

Having here given a short Abridgment of the Creation, I shall proceed to shew how the Earth comes to be filled with variety of Bodies a­bounding [Page 174] with different Qua­lities. The Consideration of this, will take in Plants, Mi­nerals, and all Fossils.

As for Plants, we find them mention'd in the 3d Day's ope­ration, and that they included their own Seeds, according to their several Species: So that from hence it seems that all Plants, being created from the beginning, had for their continuance a Seed infused, that might be the Future Prin­ciple of raising the like; I say, might be; for that I con­ceive, I have already shewed, that Plants may be generated of all sorts, without the sow­ing of the Specifick seed, by the Power of the Form, and [Page 175] the predisposition which the Solar Influx has previously wrought on Passive Mat­ter.

But now it remains we give an account how the Earth comes to be altered by the So­lar Influx; or in the Words above, how the Earth comes to be filled with variety of Bodies, abounding with dif­ferent Qualities.

I suppose the Earth and Waters, in the first Creation, had no Qualities but the pri­mary of Cold and Moist, and after the Waters were rolled off, and the dry Land appear­ed, those that then were, were latent in the Plants which [Page 176] God created, which were on­ly in the Superficies. A weak Light, and a faint Form being sufficient for the Production of these, so that the inner parts of the Earth were still simple and undetermin'd.

But God having shut up this scatter'd and wandring Light, on the Fourth Day, into the Body of the Sun, it became thence a powerful and universal Form or Spirit to this simple or general Mat­ter, which wheeling about this Globe of Earth and Wa­ters continually, and darting into it on all sides Rays of Light and Heat, must of ne­cessity fill the Earth with Heat and Spirit.

[Page 177] This vital Heat still being multiplied and increased by the Influx of more, and this Form moving in its Sphere, by mixing with the Waters, and arising by Sublimation with them, what with the Rays flowing in, and the Va­pours by subliming to the Su­perficies of the Earth, expiring; must of necessity work on the Passive Matter, the Earth, through which they pass, and according to the Plenty or Scarcity of the Form, cause diversity of Qualities in it; for the warm Vapour still pu­rifies the place where it passes; but where it is stopp'd, before purification of the Place, an abortive or imperfect Thing is made.

[Page 178] Thus Mercury determined to a Metallick Species, for want of sufficient Heat in the Matrix, becomes an Abor­tive. And thus the Earth, wrought upon variously to­wards the Superficies, by the Intension or Remission of the warm Vapour, though in a most minute degree, must produce a different Salt, and thence a different Plant, as the least Stroak of a Pencil makes a different Face.

This will appear more evi­dent, when we consider that the various parts of the world are productive of different and appropriated Plants and Metals, which can be owing to nothing, but the various [Page 179] information of the Matter, which proceeds from the near­er or remoter access of the Parent of all Forms, the Sun, differenced under the same Meridian; as I shall shew hereafter.

'Tis easie to observe how Fire alters Matter, though determined, both in Figure and Quality: Thus a Culi­nary Fire, moderately appli­ed to Fruit, Flesh, or Plants, by boiling, baking, or roast­ing, causes a Taste quite dif­ferent from what an intense Heat, or over-boiling, ba­king, or roasting occasions

Thus the most Learned Metallinists affirm of the Ge­neration [Page 180] of Metals, that Sa­turn is produc'd of the moist Vapour adhering to Places impure and cold; Venus, of that Vapour in a Matrix im­pure and hot; Sol, in a Place pure and hot, &c. Of these Matters, I conceive, Des Car­tes has spoke but meanly; for he makes the diversity of Me­tals to arise from the different Magnitude and Figure of their three Principles, which is a Notion borrowed of Epicurus. But he acknowledges in this Matter his want of Experi­ence; for he tells us, ‘Quae fortasse singula descripsissem hoc in loco, si varia Experimenta, quae ad certam eorum cognitionem re­quiruntur, facere hactenus licuis­set. These Matters (saith he,) [Page 181] I would have described par­ticularly in this place, if I had had an opportunity of making some Experiments, which are necessary to the exact knowledge of them.’ But I believe he had the Philosopher's Fortune, as well as Wit; so that

'Tis not from the Configu­ration of the Metalline Prin­ciples, that Metals vary, but [Page 182] by how much the Place is de­purated, the Metal becomes more excellent, as I have shewed before. Besides the three imaginary Principles of Metals, were never yet seen distinctly produced by Na­ture, and therefore no such various Configuration is pro­ductive of various Metals.

The same Reason holds for all sorts of Fossils; so that the Terrestrial Heat, flowing from the Central Parts of the Earth, (which some Philoso­phers call the Terrestrial Sun, others the Archeus of Nature) and the Celestial flowing from the Sun (being both alike,) continually into the Earth, do there meet and u­nite, [Page 183] and what from the in­terposition of moist Vapours, arising from some Marish Places, that hinders the Solar Influx, from the Inundation of Waters into the Bowels of the Earth, in other places; the compactness of the Earth, that represses the ascending Vapours I am confirmed the more in this Opini­on, by an Iron Mine which I saw at Tun­bridge, whose Vein running a­bout three Miles, was stopt at a hard Rock; for this Rocky Sub­stance hin­dred the as­cending Va­pour., in others; the loosness in others, that gives way to it, arises all that vast variety of Bodies abounding with different Qualities, which we behold by digging in the Earth, and see in Plants in the Superficies. And this Alteration, that is, Remission or Intension of Heat in the Vapour, gives that variety of Form to the Leaves of Plants, scarce one Leaf in the same [Page 184] Plant, being in all parts like another.

This will appear more e­vident, by considering, that the permanent Matter of all Bodies is Salt, and the Form, a Portion of Light. And for the Salt, it is much the same in all Bodies, when stript of its specificated Quali­ties; and the Form differs ra­ther in degree than kind in all Bodies, as is apparent to them, who are acquainted with the Analysis of Bodies.

But after all, I have not Conclusion. the vanity to think, that all that I have said, will obtain with the Reader: The Minds of most Men stand bent, and [Page 185] inclin'd to the Pedantry of their Profession and Educati­on; not one Man in ten thou­sand is other than what he learn'd from his Tutor or Ma­ster; for though God has giv­en us large and free Faculties, yet we suffer our selves to be bow'd down to Principles and Notions, without examining them with Freedom and Judgment. This is evident from the Societies of Men, who always follow their Founder through blind and ignorant Zeal.

Against this, I cannot but commend Aristotle, who op­posed Plato, even whilst he taught him: By which, I on­ly mean, he examined the [Page 186] Food before it went down. But our Palates are so vitia­ted, that we can taste nothing but what we are used to.

Therefore I do not expect that they who have never looked into Natural Philosophy, or have but just made an en­trance, should imbibe what I have offered; I have not writ to such, having only given Hints, not a System of Philosophy.

There are Principles and Elements in all Sciences, that are first to be learned; there are such Difficulties in Learn­ing, as well as Knowledge, that what afterwards will ap­pear plain and evident, at first [Page 187] sight, seems to raw and crude Understandings, repugnant and contrary to Truth. 'Tis no wonder therefore that Py­thagoras taught, That the first Business of Man, was to free the Mind from Pollution and Prejudice, without which Freedom, none can perceive aright. Then the Seeds of Knowledge and Truth are to be inserted, then the Mind becomes new, has new Ap­petite, new Passions, is dead (almost without a Metaphor) to the former Life, and alive to Vertue and Philosophy. In this Soil the Tares and the Wheat will not grow toge­ther: ‘For Philosophy (saith Hierocles) is the Perfection of Humane Life, restoring [Page 188] it to the Divine Resem­blance. Vertue and Truth, effect this; the former sub­duing Excess of Passions, the latter inducing the Di­vine Form.’

The Mind of Man must be always filled with some­what; here Nature abhors a Vacuum; and the warmer e­very Man's Constitution, the more active his Spirit. So that he who takes no care to fill his Mind with moderate Knowledge of God and his Works, to be able from thence to entertain himself with pleasing Thoughts, will give our great Enemy an opportu­nity to attack him when idle; with whom to parly, is to be undone.

[Page 189] How have I known Men lost, in seeking for Game with­out, meerly for want of a good Stock within! Where­fore there is no Treasure like that of the Mind.

But you will say, May not a Man's Business, and the Af­fairs of the World entertain him? Nature requires a Re­lax of Drudgery; The Va­cation-Moments undo Man­kind; not knowing how, wisely to fill up those Spaces, runs us into Miseries, hardly to be retrieved. But a Mind filled with Knowledge and Vertue, is a Fountain of E­ternal Light, has Commu­nication night and day with Heaven, and has Raptures of [Page 190] Pleasure, which this lower World knows nothing of.

Here the crafty Politician is at a loss; here the greedy Merchant hath no Com­merce; here the subtil Casu­ist is puzled; the Voluptu­ous, the Ambitious, the Co­vetous, the Lascivious, the Dull, the Sowre, and the Base, of these things have no Gust or Relish: To these I may say, as the Herald us'd to do at the Pagan Sacrifices; Procul este Profani. For the Wise and the Humble, the Modest and the Vertuous move only in this elevated Sphere. But Morals are need­less after what the Excellent Dr. Lucas has said, in his ad­mirable [Page 191] Works, who has obli­ged an ungrateful Age.

If what I have said, take with the few Wise and Vertu­ous, I have my End; as for the Dissolute, may he reform; but as Vicious, I neither court his Suffrage, nor value his Judgment. —Quid mali feci? &c.

Sempiterna Lux! Nec Hono­res nec Divitias peto, me modò Divinae Lucis Radio illumines, & Sapientiâ, Rerum (que) Naturalium Cognitione instruas, ut hisce à me probè perspectis, Majestatem tu­am, earum mei (que) Creatricem inten­siore Amore & Ardore Animi pro­sequar & adorem, ut cum mei transierint Dies, (Coelesti Regno [Page 192] tuo illatus,) comparatior sim, ad Divina contemplanda, Sapienti­am (que) tuam Amore Seraphico am­plexandam.