Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2010 witii funding from Researcii Library, Tine Getty Researcii Institute http://www.archive.org/details/waytoblissinthreOOashm 0. ^ ^.o/^ .3 ELIAS A5HMOLE ' ^) I ) I II I *>^' O *y 3 THE Way toBlifs. a_^ IN THREE B O Wl K S. ^ ^-^ Made Publick, J^J By ELUS ASH MOLE Efq. Qui ejl Mercuriophilus Anglicuu >T>eus nobis h^cOtia feck. •Xy^J {^e^. ^^^^S ^tcd by John Grifmond for Nath. Bmk^ at the * jlfigel in Corn-hill, 1658. .V^IJ-?!]. ff'c'drWA TO THE READER. T is now fomew hat above five years, fince P pu— 1 blil'hed the firfi Part of my THEATRUM CHEMICUM BRITANNICUM ; immedi- ately after which, my Studies of that Natnr^ received m.oft unfortunate Imermpto'/is , from the Commencement of feveral veScatious Smts a- gainft me ; But GOD, not onely enabled m.e to endure thofe impetuous multiplied Stormes^^xxt fome few Moneths (-inct , was pleafed to fweeten m.y XoTos^-SHJferlngs with a fair and peaceful /j(/«f. ' < And becaufe my Studies in HERMETICK PHILOSO- PHY, would not bear with the aforefaid troubleiome Rttbs . (iS/^tf requiring a ferene cJW/Wr, quiet Thoughts, unwearied f^^f^i/d^^r/^ indeed the whole ^/^;«,) I was with great unwil- Ii;ignefs forced to lay them afide: Yet, (that I rr.iiht not totally quit Minerva's {6c\ci^^ whohad'nurit mt up fo indulgently:.) I.betookmyfelf tofuch other '5/»^;Vf, v\lio/e NiHtuYe would better deal with Difiurhance's, andfuffer them.felves (when un- happily broken off) to be reaffumed with lefs difficulty ; and W'hzTZ Taris^y alfo might begCt romei;hing of u4ffftite aiid ■Delight, MX- To the Header, AH this; while I well hoped to meec with Om or Other ;^\\(^ ^ (inclined ro idvaace the honour of HHRMES his Family) would have dktw the pains of adding a Second VoiHrne to my laid THE AT Rum, in regard thofe luccelTivc Tronhhs (hang- ing To long and heavily upon me) h.id denied me the Leifun : Nor wereeirher myy;zi//V/?r/Wtoit warning;, or the free r<7«- irlbMtr/t of whatever Ihadfo painfully C^^^i?^^*/, unofFeced: to the end my Tiefign (of lecting the WwU fee, what excellent J<^i?» we had once of our own iV4//o», famous as well for that kind of PhUofophjy as any other Learnings and Mafiers of fo tranfccndent a Secret ; ) might have been furthered : Norwith- Itanding this, I hear of nothing.(hicherto) done , nothing en- ceivoured. ■ Bucinrtead thereof, I lately met with a pretended Co^) of the following DlfcoHrfey r^idy htted for the Prefsy which ( up- on periifal) I found m.ucilated wich many Imperfeciiow, mifcfa injured by feveral incongruous Additions , and they confeft to be onely m.ade up of fome fcartered Shreds and Fragments , cGlledted from the whole w^'orit; And befides intended, thac the World tnould take it for the Child of one Eugemus Theo- dida^Mt, bein^ ( by Re-baftliuatlm) called the fvifeMa»s CrovoK, or Rofie^C'ru'clan Phyftcl^ ; under which Titles notice hath been given of it^ coming abroad , by other Books fincc PubliO-ied. All which confidered, together with die Z^^/ I have for this noble Science^ and Regret to fee fo able a p7ampl~ OH thereof thus boldly, thus nefarioufly robb'd and difpoiled of bis Honour ; loth I was any longer to keep my Perfeti Cop by me ; and thereupon refolved , rather to venture it abroad , (though unaccompanied,) to 'prevent- the /»/«r)' would other- wife be done our dead Amhm-, and the JVorld. (I fay unaccom- panied, for m.y paft and prefent Engagements^ in finifhing the ProdHcilo9is of fome of thofe Honres, I fnatcb'd from the in- tervals of my late Dipp^trbames , will not afford me ti'P.e to fit it with fuch Ajfoclate,', as formerly I intended^ fhould com- plete one of the later Pans y of m.y above mentioned THEA- TRUM.) However, (confidering the TV^wrff of this Piece,) it will properly enough appear by it felf, and very well feive as a large Prsfaec, to ulher forth the remaining Folumes, ( or any thing ^* f,*t$ the Reaekr, thing elfe,) that fnalLbe publii"hed of this ShB eU» As for our Amho-r^ he'Was without doubt an ENGLISH- \iAN, but hath hitherto palTed with us among the Anonymly and the Book^ (his O^-f^rlng) {hews it felf fuHicicntly Legiti- mate^ chough th^ true Father th-rcoF be as yet unknown. I have heard foxe notable Stories^ and thofe backt with peifwa- live Cli'cumflancesy to make on ealie Faith think the Providence very obiervable^ thit not onely furnillied a laborious fearcher into this mytkrious Learmnr^ with ths Original ic felf, but mo t fortunately directed hiii to three Grains of the Povpder^ clofed up between two Leaves thereof, with which he made PfojeUion; But I affed not to Fly-blow the Ears of my R^^- dtrs ; Onely this, I can modeflly averr, that my Copj vvas a Tranfcript of that Or;^;W/. TheWorkfeemstobewiitten about the beginning- of the lart (or end of the former) Century ; The main drift of the An- ?W being frotii weighty and feriouS' iArg<4inents and Exam- p/t'/j CO prove the Pofslbllity of fuch a thing as the PHILOSO- PHER'S STONE : whereby is largely m.anifelkd, that Nature lias exhiiylred greater Wonders to the view of the World, and as great things have been (andconfequently may be) performed by other weaker Sc lefl'er Means^ where a dne jfrlendly ,V!\di Phl- lofofhical cofi-um}lon of Art and Nature is fully underwood. . And yet howbeit (becaufe fuch zit familiar unro, and ordinary am.ong us) we confider them not. Tis a Dlfcoarfe fraught with variety of excellent rational Matter, and fitted to the Learned as well as meaner (7rf;>^oV;>/ ; Nay, fuch, as I boldly penwade my felf, will fully fatisfic^(?^/>, beyond anythmgyet extant of this Natttre : and I bslievc m.any captious Argnments, hereto- fore iifcd and urged,, againft the truth of this fo Infallible a Scl- e/Ke, will here meet with fatisfailory Solutlo-ns, and henceforth find no further place in any T)lfcoHr[e favouring but of Sobriety, I muft alfo acquaint my "^^^^^/^r, that this piece was of fo high a vahie with the induftrious DoUor Sverard, as it invited him tobeftow his pains in the ^Marginal Notes ; wherein (like a skilful Phllofopher, whofe firft operation is to make Hidden things Manlfeit) he drew forth and difcovered, that which our tAmhors Magiftcrial Pen thought fit to conceal ', and having obtained , obtained thofe }^otfs (cfey being added to a Tra^fcrtpt of thii •Work^ and both fairlywrkten with the *DoBors hand) from a ve- ry intimate Friend (one extraordinary Learned, and a great Or- nament of our Nation) I was. willing to make them fnlfUcI^ /alfo. And now ( I confcfs) notwichftanding all this, I do not ex-. pe(St, what I here fnblijhy (liould pleafe every Palate ; in re- gard the F^f^ of i^(?;7j«^m/V7^; is very much fuitable to that of Ul'toney, which fometimes palTeth currant, and at other times is cryed down, or called in : To this I conlider, how we are not tborn with Fancies and ayiffetites, that telifli every thing alike ; .and that 'tis as poflible to iliape a Coat for the Moon, as to Print a Book that can pleafe every (jenim : fuch and fo various arc the generality of our /«£-//«^fzWl Befides, I have often obfer- ved,that Men, both ^//>and Learned^^^^z^z or affect notfome ^^iKSiOi Learnings and yet by z fecret willingnefs, or natural force, are carried on in Admiration and Love of other Branches th-reof ; And this I fuppofe partly growes from the negle6l of aHriviland unbyaiTed Examination of their choyce, which (if inade)would appear to proceed more from Affection than Judg- ment. But if any whofe Ignorance in, or Difajfc^ion to this Divine and laudMe Science, lliall think no better of the Work^ then of z Spiders /^F^^, [^ lit ondy to be fwept away: ] I fhall never- thelefs confidently hope it will fall into fome other hands^ that may consider the curiohcy of the H^oofe, and efteem it worthy their Contemplation, to obferve how our Author (like that in- genious Cr^^f//^^ travel Img with* her /;?^«iTr;') hath compofed a Difcoarfe, whofe Sxcellencies will not difcover themfelves to xhzfatisfaUionoiz fuperficial Sye, but onely the intent and fe- rious IncjyAfitor ; And that fuch may reap all poflible ^Advan- utge by their Labour, is the hearty aefire of E. A S H M O L E. THE The WAY to BLISSE. THE FIRST BOOK. Ch A p. I. What Blisse and Happinesse Us V in all orderly Speeches and matters of Learning, {a) it firft of allbehovethto (a) oV. o^c^. agree upon the Thing in hand, what it ^'^•^* is, and what is the Reafonand Bounds [^or definmorr] of the fame : It feem- eth very needfull in this Difcourfe of The Way To Blisse , to fhew firft what is Blisse, becaufeit is a thing much in doubt, and in queftion among the Learned. He that ufeth to behold and view the Reafon and Nature of things^ may eafily perceive by the outward ihape, and inward gifts of Mm^ unlike and paffing all B other TheJVayto'Biifs. Lib. I. Other Wights (or living Creatures) that he was made tor fome notable end and purpofe above the reft •, and fo not for Pleafure, Honour^ Healthy or enough ot need- full outward things, which they call Riches, nor yet for any other matters^which other Wights void of Wit and ReafoD, feek and iollow. Therefore a Man ought not to make any fuch thing his End and Happinefs, unlefs he think it realon for the Mafter and better Workman, to learn of the Servant and worfer : For what other pattern and end have we in the world to follow 1 None at all -, becaufe we are the beft Creatures in the World. Then it is without the World, f^y you, and among the bleifed Mindes [ or Spirits ] above and without all : Neither yet have we found it •, for they be our Fellow- fsrvants and SubjcBs under one Almighty King* Wherefore there remains nothing but G OD and his Happinefs to be fought and fet before us, not with hope to overtake and reach it, (that were madnefs) but with defire to attain fo much thereof, as the proportion be- tween Hitn and us will fuffer. Or if the unmeafureable and boundlefs [^onnfnite'] Bleffedncfs of G OD admit no comparifon ^ It were beft (yea, and by the example of the beft Men) to make the bounds of our Blisse fo much of the Blifs of Go d> as our whole Power and Nature will hold and carry. Now then , if we knew that Divine Pattern and Blifs of God, all were well : And this, as almoft all other truth (efpecially in cafe of Life and Manners, for the which it was chiefly written) by the witnefs and record of Holy Writ^ were each to be known and pro- ved, if that were not coo ftrange, and far orf from this purpofe. Cap.I. ThelVaytoMfs. 5 purpofe, whicli is appointed (as you fee) to run througli the midft of Nature^ Rcafon^ and Philofofhy, Wherefore, fithence both in this and all other Mat- ters, I mean not to lean over-much upon my own de- vice, becaufe a Man (efpecially a ^omg man) is apt to fwerve, but to call other to counfel with me 5 and they can be no more but Men, at moft endowed with ripe and found Reafon and Judgement , in the courfe af Kinde [_or Nature^ ^nd Philofophy : yet we will look, as near as we can, that they be ftill fquared by the Rule of Truth znd Reafon* Then , to finde this Happinefs of Heaven among Men, to whom were it beft to travels Unto Poets^ think you ^ No ^ becaufe they take their aim flillat a vain Mark {b)^ the Peoples liking, as we may fee by Cb) TeYcnt. Pindar^ one of the beft among them, (for I will not ^^"^"^■^'^^'i'^r, draw of the dregs) when he faith, {c) if a man be ^^^''^- ^*'^' jR/VA, and have his Health with a contended Minde^ And fcjpind oiym. Honour^ let him not care to be a God. — A vain and od.-i.&ifthm, worldly Blisse, God wot, far from a Divine Na- ^^''** ture. Nor yet need we go to the lower and lefTer houfes of Philofophy 5 where, as they be tainted and unfound in other pieces of Learning, fo in matter of Manners, they do not well to place our Bl i s s e in Hononr^ Plea- fure^ Healthy or in fuch like outward things •, no, nor to fet it in good Life alone, and Firtue, Plato and Ariftotle, for their matchlefs underftanding in Natural things, and Divine Lights in the good or- der of Life and Manners, have been thefe many Ages beft accepted with the beft, and followed in all things; Therefore, in this high point of Manners which, we B 2 have 4, ThWaytoMfs. Lib.F. have in hand, let us fee what tbefe Men hold, and how near i\\ty come to the right line of Truth^ whereof we fpake before. To begin with PUto^ the Spring of this Philofofhy^ his Bltfs^ as he difputes in PhiUbm^ as near as I could gather, out of fo large and fcattered a fpeech, is no- thing but Pleafure. And yet this divine Man meaneth not, (left' you fliould marvel ) with that Herd of Swine , (though they were not the broachers of that foul Opinion, but (d) cicer. tie watered their Gardens, as (d) Tuliy faith, with other Nat.DeorM -i- jj^gj^j Springs) to fet open all the gates of theSenfes, and to let in all that comes 5 but onely at a few narrow loops, to receive clean Delight, without all grief en- (e; Flat, in terlaced 5 and by name (e) delight in Colours, Concent^ ^^^^^^' and fome Smells^ in Health, Wifdome^ and Virtue, And " (f) Flat, in again he faith in Theatetm^ (f) that ^ufiice and Holt- ftefsy together with Wifdome^ makes m like unto God. To let thefe two places ferve for him, and to come to Arijtotle : As there are two forts of Men, one dif- pofed to deal with others, which are called rvorldly-rmn^ and another quite contrarily, bent to live alone, and to feck Knowledge, which are czWed Phi lof op hers : So he (?) ArifloT. in his Book of Manners^ C^) appoints two like feveral flM'&^^' ^^"^^ and5/#j-, for the firft, rirtue, (I mean a do- ing, and no idle Virtue) garnifhed and fenced witli out- ward helps and gif'ts of Body and Fortune •, for the next, Knowledge of the befi things : and this he fetteth before that other,for many reafons vouched toward the end of that Book, but efpecially becaufe God, whom we ought to follow^ leadeth the fame Life, Thefe be the beft grounds of Blisse, that ever any Cap.I. TheWaytomfs. 5 any Philofofher hath laid at any time, (for never a one hath quite built it up 5 ) let us fee how they be fquared. If the ftall-fed Eficure may again be juftly reproved, and reckoned as an impious perfon, whom never any heavenly Thoughts touched, for bringing {h) in an idle fh) c'uer. de God^ neither ruling the World, nor regarding it ♦, How ^^t-^mMb.-ii. can Ariflotle feem wrongfully accufed of Impiety, and for the fame banifhed out of the Academj^ if there were no other proof againft him, than that he faith in that place, that God Icadeth no other ^ than this beholding and gazing Life of his ? Is it not an idle, and, as it were, a covetous and envious Life, turned back upon it felf, and e fir anged from all outward Adion applied to other < yea, (and that) in his own and all other mens Underftanding < Then to encounter him with his wor- thy Mafter, Plato •, If that were the beft Life, or the Life of God, why did Go d make the World < He lived fo before, if that had been the beft Life 5 {i) But (\) piato h becaufe He was Good, He would have other enjoy his ^'^*''' Coodnefs •. and therefore he was bufie in Making, and is yet in Ruling the World : And yet indeed, it is no Bufinefs, as we reckon it, that is, no Care and Trou- ble *, but an outward Deed and Adion, clean contrary to the inward Deed of a mnfing Mmde^ onely fliooting, at his own good Eftate, which is Wtfdome and Knorv- kdge. But if he deny all this, as it is like he will, becaufe, to encreafe the heap of fin, he grants no Beginning ♦, then, what can be greater evidence than his own Wri- tings, one quite thwarting another, as crofs as may be ^ for in his {k) feventh Book of State^ he comes again fV ^''^*^^*''^'* 6 ThelVayto'Blifs. Lib.L and faith, that £ver'] man hath fo much Bj.iss-e^ a4 h€ hath ififdome and Virtue^ even bj the witnefs of God himfclf^ rvho is therefore happy ^ and not for outward Goods, What can be more divinely fpoken, and more crofs to that former foul and godlefs Opinion f Nay, fee the force of Truth 5 he yields again, according to his hea- (1) piatoN. 1. venly (/) Mafier, That, {m) to fore flail the place from lib^ ^c'^' ^"^' ^^^ vQorfer fort^ good Men ought to take Office upon them, (n)AAl'^?oilt. and to manage J fairs of State : Yea and further, (») If U.z. cap.j. they refufe, (which if they be Wife they will, quoth JZeno) that they way be rightly compelled. Then, if his Wifeman hath Virtue in pofTeirion, as no doubt he hath, he muft fas we fee by his own confefTion j ufe it : And the fame reafon is of God Himfelf in this great City (o; viato in of the World. But {0) Plato by name, thinks thefe A'cibiad.primj ^y^Q [q nearly tied, and of kin together, as he dare finm. openly deny his Happinefs to that Common-Tvealth, where they be dif-linked, and (land afunder. Then we fee, that in the judgement of thefe two great Philofophers^ where they be beft advifed , and in deed and truth, the Divine Pattern of Blisse, which we ought to ftrive unto, is no more, nor no lefs, than that worthy couple of Wifdome and Virtue^ knit toge- ther in that band of Tellowlhip, which may never be parted and fct afunder. But you may fay. We have reared our Blisse aloft, and made it a fair and goodly Work, but more . fit for the dwelling of thofe (ingle and clean Mindes [_or Spirits'] above , which they call MelTengers, {^or Angels] than for us Men, fo buried here below in thefe earthly Bodies, as we be fcarce able to look up un- to it : And therefore Artflotle both in his Book of {p) Manners Cap. I. ThefTay tom/s. 7 (/>) Manners and of {q) State^ with good advice often iy) ^'^'^ft- ^^'^• receiveth in enough of bodily and outward Goods, tof^^pJil'm,^ help this matter, (though not as any other caule ofy.op.i. Blisse, than the Inflrumem is of Mufick : ) and fo Tlato we fee nameth his Servants and Helpers. Indeed, I grant that this full and high pitch of Ha^- pinefs^ (I mean that meafure above fet) is free and eafie, to free and lively Spirits ♦, but to usimpoiTible without other outward means and helps, which, never- thelefs, (liall not be counted as any part of the frame of Blisse, needful to make up the whole •, but, as it were, loofe and hang- by fteps and flairs leading up unto it. Then if thefe be fo needful as they be, it were as much need to lay them down, and in juft account, which i\io(g Pbilo fop hers do not-, left if there be too few, our Happmefs (hould halt •, if again too many, the idle parts might in time infed and marre the reft : As we may fear of Plato his firft three Delights, although they be not hurtful of themfelves. Without more words, the juft fum is this. To obtain fo much Happinefs, as our Nature is able to take and hold, the Body had need be firft willing and obedient, and then ftore of outward needful things to be ac hand and ready : Thefe every Man knoweth. But for the Body, that is obedient when it is long-ltvdy healthful , joung , clear and temperate : when all thefe helps flock together, we may be happy if we will *, if any want, we ftiall never, do what we can, as we (hall hear hereafter. Then let us mar(hal, at laft, thefe things in Order, and comparing B l i s s e to a Family ^ make that loving Couple, 8 I'helVayto'Bhfs. Lib.L Couple, Wifdome and Virtue^ as Man and Wife^ and Heads of the Houjhold 5 the five Properties of the Bod'j^ like children 5 and Riches ^ as Servants, Thefe again, if the chief of the Houlhold will fuffer them to Marry, will beget other two Bond-children, to beau- tifie the fame houfe, Honour and Pleafure : But the wife and good Boujholder will in no wife fuffer it, left his Houlhold be troubled with more than may be ruled. And although true and right Honour and Pleafare will perforce follow, yet he (hall not regard them,, but be (r) Hmdli.y* i^inded towards them, as thofe grave Men were !o- -u.i^t. \wzvds Heilen^ and often ufe their (diym^yir) Although ^riji.E-bicMb. f^^y y^ j-f^^ij kindeonesy yet let them go. Chap. II. Reproof of the common a?id lighter fort of Arguments cajl againjl the Way to Bliji. N' 'Ow that we know what is Blisse and Hap fi- nesse, we may, uhen we will , go into the Way, and Oiew how all Men may be BlelTed : wherein I am quite bereaved of all helps from the Grecians^ as men ever apter to fpeak and think well, than to do and perform any thing •, (though conftancy and agreement in their Sayings, would have left Blisse, as well as other good things, in the power and reach of all Men:) And 1 muft fly for aid into ^gypt, a People fo far paiTing Cap.II. rheffaytomfu paiTing all other Nations, as it is better and nearer to God, to work and do great wondrous things, than to behold and look upon them. For it is delivered to ancient and true Record, that one He RM E s, a Kwg and Law- giver of that Country, a Man of rare and divine gifts in Knowledge, above all that ever were, found out a Medicine able to bring all men to that Bliss e aforefaid, and left it behinde him in writing to his People ^ and that it was after him a long time by the wi[er fort clofely wrought and ufed, until at laft it crept abroad, and ftole into Arabia, when {he flouriOied in Arms and Learning, and there got the Name which it now commonly keepeth of the Phi- losophers Stone*, And that from thence, in the fame fecret and difguifed manner (for it is the wont thereof, as becomes fo deep a Secret) it hath travelled and fpred it felf over all Nations, now and then open- ing and difcovering it felf to a few of the better and wifer Company. Then this is The Way To Blisse, which I mean to take : And withall to prove it no pleafant Dream, and happy Tale, if it were true, as the com- mon Proverb goedi of it^ but, as it is in Nature^ an heroical and almoft divine deed, fcarce to be reached or matched with any words, fo I vow it a true and cer- tain Story, a thing often done, and again to be done as often. I am unfit, I grant, and unable to bear fo great a Burthen, but that the great defire I have both to de- fend the Truth from ilander, and to do good to them that love it, makes it light and eafie : And again, this hope upholds me, That if I chance to ftumble or faint C at 10 TheWay toWifs. Lib.I. at any time, they will as gently and willingly lend their hand to flay me, or at the leaft, bear with the fall and misfortune. Then for the common and viler Sort, which either for lack of good Nature, or want of good Manners, ufe to wrangle about Words, or twitch at Things, I care not ♦, And becaufe I know them not, I will pafs by them, as unknown men •, for neither was (s; vhto in Herctiles able , {s) as they fay , to match with many- Euthyicm. headed Hydra J nor jet rvith the awk and crooked Crab. Then, to turn my Speech, which way were it bed to fet forward < Not right and ftreight to the matter 1 No 5 Becaufe there is fuch crying out againft the Pof- fibility of the good Works which our Medicine pro- mifeth •, And that awk fore-judgement of the Matter hath been the chief caufe which hath hitherto buried this Divine Art from the fight of good and learned Men : i take it the befl way of delivery, before I come to the point it felf, to fetch about a little, and fhew the poflibility of thefe effeBs^ and the waj to tvork them, by other and weaker meansyis well as by Hermes his Medicine, (t) Jali.iib. For although it be (t) not fo Natural in marching Dejncept am- fQ^y^^^rd, to move the left and weak part, yet I ween it " ' & right Artificial ^ and then it (hall agree with that good Hifior. anmx!. ^^^^^ ^f ^^t, firft of all to put by a few of the light iib.i.c.i'}. jj^ingslaid againft this hleffed Science : Becaufe, albeit they be gathered but by guefs, befides all grounds and rules of certainty, yet they have fo wholly pofTefTed the common people, yea and fome of the better and wifer fort Hkewife, that, without any further fearch or hearing of the Matter, they have ftreightway caft it off for falfe,and condemned it : for as when deep hath once taken Cap.II. The fFay to m/s. n taken the Fort of the Body, the Senfes yield and can do nothing •, fo if wrong belief once get polTeflion of the Soul, Reafon is laid to reft, and cannot move again, before that muft be loofened, and put to ^ight and fcattered. Firft, fay they, fith there be feen in all places and times, fo many hundreds, with great Pains, Heed and Cunning, to ftudy this Art^ and to put the Receipts in pra^ife ^ fure, if they were true and faultlefs as others are, fome fhould appear to hit the Mark, and to gather the fruit of their Tf ravel, and not to live as they all do, of allmenmoft miferable: Or^tleaft, becaufe it is fo ancient an Arf^ , it would have been recorded in fome publick or private Writing, befides their own, which, be it bound with never fo deep Oaths, (as it is J yet is it unfufficient proof and witnefs in their own cafe. Thefe be the moft faleablc Reafons, and bcft ap- proved among the People, wherewith they ufe to bat- ter this exchanging Saence 5 But mark how light and weak they be, and eafie to be wiped away : tor how could the Ads and Deeds of thefe Philofophers come into the Writings and Records of Men, (to begin there with them) whofe Fame, nay whofe Company they have ever (hunned ^ And when their own Records, if they chanced to like of leaving any, were not fown abroad, and publiihed to the World, as is the ufe of Worldlings 5 but left like precious Heirtoems unto fome Friend of fecret truft, which was counted as a Son adopted, upon Condition to keep it ftill within the Houfe and Stock of Hermes, from the Eyes and Hands of the World and Strangers, running evermore, C 2 like u IheJVayto'Bltfs. Lib. I. like the wife Stars, a contrary race unto the World, that no marvel though they be both, in like fort, crofTed {M)cicc'/.de by the World, and mif- called (k) Wanderers {^ot PU- ^mt!i\i. ^^^O when in deed and truth they go better. lib. 7. prope fi- Now vvhen they deem credit to be denied to the wm. Mens own Report and Witnefs, it is a fign that either their own Report and Witnefs is of light and little weight, whereby they judge of others •, or elfe that their Thoughts are vain and phantaftical, puft up, I mean, with that new kinde of Self-love, and over* weening Wifdom, to fet up themfelves, and pull do\^'n Authorities •, of which fort it falls out moft com- monly in proof, that while they drive to avoid the Lake of Suferftition^ they run headlong unawares down the Rock of Imfiety : for if fuch a wilde breach and entry may be fuffcred to be made into the Credit and Au- thority of Writers, which are the life of Antiquitjy and light of Memory^ great darknefs and confufion will foon come in, and overcaft the World 5 yea, and fo far forth at length , as nought (hall be believed and (vi) cic.deN.it. judged true that is not feen ^ {w) that even they which ^■'^' ' ''^' dwell in the main Land, (hall not grant a Sea: A thing not onely fond and childiih among all Men, but alfo (ill be to me,if I fpcak not asl thinkj wicked and god- lefs amongft us ChrifiUm^ whofe whole Religion^ as S. Auguftine faith, ilands upon that ground. v^afit Wherefore, if we mufl needs believe Recorders of A^szvidi StQrksj yea though they be fometimes lewd men, fooliih and unlearned, as if they were as whole {%)Vioi,ueY. andharmlefs as {x) Xenocrates.^ but efpecially although they had great caufe to lie, and to fpeak more or lefs than the truth 3 who can, in any common Reafon,. re- fufe Cap.ll. ThefFaytomfs. 15 fufe the folemnOathes of fo many good, wife and learned Men ^ (y) for he that is Good, tor the love of 6'i p^'^- '^^ Ftrtue it felf, he that is Wife, to avoid the Aiame of ^'P'^''-^'^-^- Lying, will (peak the Truth. What fliould I fay of the learned Men, vvhofe whole care and pradife, drift and fludy, is nothing eJfe but to finde and fet down the Truth < But all is well and clear of all fufpicionj if it may be thought thcfe Oathes and Proteftations to have fprung horn themfelves, of meer good will and defire to perfwade the lovers of Wi[dome and Ftrtue^ and not wrung out by fear or flattery. Which may be eafily judged in fuch Men, as were all either Kings that needed not, or Dtogeni[ls that cared not, as it is clear in all their Eyes that are converfant in thefe kinde of Studies, ,i.. ;;; ■ vi "Wherefore, fuch men as are fo bold without fure ground of Reafon to deny, and deny ftill all that comes, are, in my Opinion, greatly to be looked into ^ for although they, like {z,) Xerxes^ pull not down Religion Qi^yicde nm. with hands openly, yet they are of another fort as dan- ^^°'^- ''''■> - gerous,that undermine it dofely with wrong Opinions* If our Men avowed fuch plain untruths as might be re- proved by common fenfe and daily experience, as when (a) Anaxdgoras faid Snorv was black •, and Xenofhanes^ (a) c'lc. Acad.. i\\tMoon inhabited, and full of Hills and Cities 5 and q-'i^ft-^'t'-'i- JNicstes of old, with fome ib) of late, that the Earth, (^) copemicusr the onely unmoveable thing in the world,onely moved^ f^ST gX- and fuch like ugly and mif-fhapen Lies , wherewith laui^ mightus,. Greece over-fwarmed •, then you had reafon to ufe them with ill words and thoughts as you do : But when they maintain, that by a Heavenly Medicine they have made many great and wonderful Changes, turn d all Mettals into lij. ThefFayto'B/i/s. Lib. I. Into Gold , Folly into Wifdome, Vice into Virtue, Weaknefs into long Life, and all Difeafes into found Health, and Age into Luftinefs and Youth again, how canyon difprovethem c* v\hen did you fee the contra- ry ^ You fcarcely know the Nature of the Deeds and EfFefts, for they require great Knowledge ; bat the Doings Caufe^ and Workman^ that is, this MedicinCy you never faw, nor can imagine what it is, much lefs con- ceive the Reafon, Strength and Nature of it :— Nay you fee nothing, but grope and blunder in the dark, like blindfold men at all things : Elfe, how could thefe ex- changes have efcaped , and been hid from you, in a World fo full of all kinde of changes < I mean, you fee great and admirable things, (albeit you do not fo take (c) ckfr: de them, {c) becaufe you fee them often) but you do not Div;,i.iib.i. throughly fee them, that is, you perceive not theiV^- ture^ Cdufe and Reafon of them, and that makes you fo childilli, to believe nought unfeen, and count all things Wonders which are not Common amongft you •, Much like that harmlefs and filly kinde of People, of late dif- covered, which made Miracles and Wonders of many matters, that in other Countries are common and ordi- (i)p.'t.Mntyr nary 5 infomuchas (to take one for all) (^) they could hTn^' ^'^^" "^0^ conceive how two Men afunder, could by Letter EtTho-Xiimpan. certifie one another, unlefs a Spirit was wrapt up in the de fvnjurcrtm, paper, to make report and tell the News. But if you ' ^/ 4^ c;r/7.3.<.; and they could once by ttie ed^e of Wit, cut into the Depth and Nature of the great and marvellous Works of Ktnde and Skill j which are common and daily among yoUj then and not before, you would be ready and eafie by comparifon, to receive almoft any thing unfeen, and brought by Report unto you. Let Cap.II. ThefTayto'Blifs. 15 Let me awake your Wits a little : You fee daily,but not throughly, how the Moo^^ by drawing the Ocean after her, makes the Ebbe and Flow thereof. It is likewife commonly, I know not how truly, reported, {e) that the LoadJlon£ roof of Mahomet his Church, (^) G./tzmoi. draws up his Iron-Tomb from the ground, and holds it iib,f!['/pf!' hanging in the middle way : like as the Miners in Ger- many^ by chance found their Tools, which they had left mfuch a Vault, hanging in the Morning-, which was accounted for a Miracle, before fuch time as the Caufe , by the skill ul , was feen and declared unto them. What (liould I fay more of this Stone ? It is not un- known that there are {f) whole Rocks thereof in India^ . ^ drawing Ships that pafs by loaden with Iron unto them : ibi (4rf.'^''Et and yet we fee that this mighty Stone^ inptefenceo^ srrapio, Wo- the Diamond^ the King of Stones, is put (g) out of G^Jifedbende office, and can do nothing. Magnet, nl. i. cap.i. (•?) Au^. de Civil. D »> Ub.iu cap. 4. P/i?j. yxf. H'rfl. Z/^. 57. crp 4. Jul. Solin. Polyb. cnp. 6^. Uar.V.iling. in Scorp, Aurel. Aug. Chryf./ib.i. Albsrt. AUg. dcnb. Met, lib.i.c.i. O. Ague, dc Nnt. fujji!. lib. cap.cf. card. Cufan. Epci. lib. 7. To come abroad, it hath been often feen, at Sea, that the {h) little Stay-fjh cleaving to the fore-fliip, (^)Pih.nb. hath ffopt his full Courfe. ^'iff^H^hor I (liould now pafs over to that other fide of Skif/znd aJm. il-c\^. Craft , and call to minde many great and wondrous J"^"'- ^y^^-ofi-h Works there done and performed: The curious work ' '^' ^^" of that(/j Italian Rmg^ which held a Clock, befides (VNich.cauf- a Dial within it. Thofe three common Feats found J/JJ/72 & out of late, pafling all the Inventions of Antiquity, the PaMHijtor. Gun^ Cdrd^ and Printing., and many other dainty De- P^J- vices of Mans Wit and Cunning : if this fhort and narrow i6 TheJfayio'Blifi. Lib.L narrow Speech appointed, would fulFer any fuch out- ridings. Let thefe few ferve to awake you, and call your Wits together : you fee thefe things, I fay, and are never moved, but if you had never feen them, but heard the (lories onely reported, what would you have thought and faid ^ And becaufe no man fo well judgcth of himfelf, as (^) ^'^^ ^^^!- of another : {k) Suppofe a plain and harmlefs People, ^rilclp^.^ &'^^ fuch as thofe Indians were, had from the beginning ciceu de K.it. dwelt in a dark Cave under ground, (let it be the Centre^ Deor.iib.i. jf you will) and at the laft one odde man more hardy and wife than the reft, had, byftealth, crept out into the light, and here by long travel and traffick with our People, had feen and learned the Courfe and Nature of things, which I have rehearfed unto you, and then returning home, had fuddenly ftart up, and begun to recount the Wonders which he had feen and learned 5 firft, that he found the Earth hanging round in the mid- dle of the Jir^ and in like fort a bright and goodly Cover, compaiTing afar off the fame ♦, This Cover be- fet and fprinkled with infinite moving Lights and Can- dles •, and among the reft, One (to be fhort j of a foot CO scn.de inbignefs, to his fight, (l) without all Touching, or ^'Vrnihf^^r!'\\. othcr vntaTiS and instruments to be perceived, to hale and pull huge heaps of Water after her, as ihe pafled up and down continually •, would they not ftiout, and lift up their hands, and begin to fufpe(5t the Man of mfe(5lion with ftrange and travelling Manners 1 But, admit, when the noife were done, and all huflit, he went forward, and told them of fuch a Churchy and Faulty where other things as well and more ftrangely than the Earth.^ (for that cannot be otherwife, unlefs heavy Scalii.Extt.^^t Cap.] I. rheWaytoMfs. 17 heavy things flew up againft Nature) hanged in the Air alone •, And ot fuch Hills ^ that, as the Moon Wa- ters, fo drew Ships out of their full courfes, without any ftrength, or means viiible. Furthermore, if he laid abroad the wonderful might of a little Fijhy im) like (m)Gmyifa. half a Foot long, able to (lay the main courfe of a Ship ^^^^^^^«^ "^'f- under fail •, do you not think with what fowre Counte- ^t phUe. deA- nances,and reviling Words and Reproches they would »^w^/.j^op««- bait him, and drive him out of their Company < But J^^"^^| if the good and painful Man, burning with defire to re- form the eftate of his rude and deformed Country, would not be ftayed fo, but efpying a calmer time, durft come in prefcnce, and ftep forth before them a- gain, and fay, that by his Travel he had learned to make fuch a Ring as I fpake of-, fuch warlike Engines as (hould fall as fearful as Thunder, and as hurtful as any Ramme upon the Wall, a mile off planted •, fuch a kinde ot Writings whereby four Men might Record as much in the fame time, as four thoufand of the Com- mon Clerks •, fuch a Card^ wherewith a Countryman, that never faw the Sea, fliall fit in the bottome of a Ship, and dired the Courfe thereof throughout the World, without milTing •, Is it not like they would ap- prehend him for a Cozener, and adjudge him to Pu- nilhment < Then put the cafe you flood by, and faw the Matter, I appeal to your own Confciencc, would you not think the Traveller worthy of Pity and Praife, and the People of Reformation < Well then, let us return to our purpofe •, There is a Nation of Wife- men ^dwtWm^ in a Soil as much more bleffed [than yours] as yours is than theirs : That is, As they bide under ground, and you upon the tace •if D thereof. iS TheW^aytoS/i/s. Lib. I. thereof, fo thefc Men inhabit the edge & skirt o^Heavcft', they daily See and Work many wondrous things,which you never faw nor made,becaure you never mounted fo- high to come among them : If any one chance to fly away from you to thpfe heavenly Places, and after like experience to return, and make the like Reports, you ' give him like Rewards ^ Compare the reft, I fay no more-, But if God would give you leave and power = to afcend unto thofe high places, I mean, to thofe hea- venly T^^/z^^// and Studies, you might quickly, by view of deep Caufes, and Divine Secrets, and comparifon of -^ one to another, not onely believe the h(ej}ed-Jrt, but alfo learn and perform the fame, . But they will not be rid fo> and follow as fad again another way; That whereas fo many have been, and are daily feen to wear their lives in Alchimy, and to finde nothing that good is, but contrary for the moft part, to wit, untimely and uaordinary Ceath, Sicknefs, and Age, for Long-life , Health , and Youth -^ and alwayes Smoke ioiGold^ and Folly for Wtfdome •, and very near as often, bad and lewd Conditions, for good and honefl: Natures •, (for, by boiling themfelves long in fuch de- ceitful ftuif, as though they were burnt in the Pots bot- tome, they carry moft commonly for ever after, an un- fayoiury fmack thereof 5) It is a plain fign the Trade, is vairiy falfe, and deceitful. This is the third Charge they give unto us, let us fee how to bear and with- ftandit! The moft wife and great Philofophers , albeit they knew God had made all Mankinde for that happy Ltfe abovefaid, and fhat it was at firft^ enjLoyed, or elfe it had been madejn vain 5 and that by corruption of ill Cuftom> Cap.II. The Way to 'Bltfs. 19 Cuftom, (by his fecret appointment) our kinde is grown out of kinde, and therefore may be reftortd, becaufe it is a mif- leading, and no intent of Nature : (which fore-caftings gave them occafion to fcek the remedy ^ ) Yet they thought it unlawful, and fet ftraight againft the Will of God, that allihould be reftored 5 for that he feemed of purpofe to have fown Good and Bad,and great ftore of both together,in iuch fort as we fee them; left if all were alike, and in one ftate of Happinefs, the great variety of bufinefs and ftirring, and fo the fociety and Common- wealth among Men, fhould be clean ta- ken away: Like as if the four firft ftriving Seeds (where- of all things are made and fpringj were all alike, and one friend to another, all ihould be ftill and quiet, without SucceflTion, Change and Variety in the World, and fo there fliould be no World. For God, when he caft his Mwde upon the building of the World, he meant to make a goodly and beautiful Work, meet for the Power, Wifdome and Pleafure of fuch a Builder^ and therefore a ftirring and changeable Workjbecaufe there is no might nor cunning (hewn, no delight taken in one ever-like or ftill thing. But light footing, for fpeed, is ever beft in fuch a ground 5 Let us away. Wherefore, by the example, and, as it were, by the fecret blaft and motion of God, after our Men had found this Refiorattve^ and ufed it for the time, and meant to leave it, as become th good Men, to Pofteri- ty, they took this way of Counfel, to lay it up fafe in a ftrong Caftle as it were, in the which all the broad Gates, and common eafie Entries, fliould be faft ftiut up and barred, leaving onely one little and fecret back- door open, fore- fenced with a winding Maze, that the x D 2 beft zo 7belVayto'Blifs. Lib. I. beft fort, by Wity Pains and Providence^ might come in- to the appointed Busse, the reft ftand back for- {n)Scv(yU. faken : (») Their Maze 2nd Plot is this •, firft they bide udMc^.\ thern^^^^ves in low and untroddtn Places, to the end they might be free from the power of Princes^ and the Eyes of the wicked World: And then they wrote their "Booh with fuch a wary and well-fenced Style, (I mean, fo over-Caft with dark and fuUen fliadows, and fly pre- tence of /./^Yj and Riddles^ drawn out of themidftot " deep Knowledge and fecret Learning^ that it is impof- fiblefor any but the wife, and well-given, to approch or come near the Matter. And therefore it is , when godlefs and unlearned Men, hovering over Gain and Honour, prefume againft MtnervAS will, to handle their Words,when the Things (liould rather be handled, they wreft and wring them a (o)«y5rM?o- hundred way es, (for, (0^ nothing is \o ^oft And gentle as li^ov xjtfS ^ Speech, ejpecially fo throughly temper d) and yet all be- ^S7oti7»f • fides the fecret meaning thruft up in deep Know- Then, if thefe Wayes and Fantafies they pradtice, and fet on work as faft (as their Fingers itch; and mifs as faft (as they muft needs do-, J fhall they fay ihey followed our Rules and Precepts, and put our Work in pradiife, and found them falfe < That were like as if a cunning Archer and Huntfman^ had delivered dark Rules of shooting znd Hunting unto his Countrymen, and thefe by chance had fallen into the hands of ano- ther wilde and untaught Nation, which fimply mif-led by mif-taking his Drift and Meaning, had made them Ploughs to fhoot in, and goared their Oxen to the game, and then roiflfmg of their purpofe, cried out and blamed the plat. Polit,9. Cap.ll. ThefTaytom/s. 21 the Arts of Shooting and Himting^ and fought to blow Envy upon the Man that taught them ^ would not a Wife man judge, hold and deem, both thefe and them, and all other bufie-bodies, that fo ufe to myne & dig in other Mens dealings, to be fent unto t,heir own Trade and Bulinefs, where fore they were made and failiioned, and to let the reft alone for the right owners:' And for thefe of Hermes houfe, do not think they make claim, fue and recover their own in open Court, as others ufe, (chat were a way in fuch a wicked World, tolofe Land,Life, and all together quickly) but in that fecret fort, v^'hich falleth not within the compafs of your Reproof. Neither would I have you follow fo hard, and be fo earneft upon the next Reafon, That albeit our Men had caufe to hide their Works and Pra<5life, yet they would have (hewed the fruit and effed thereof, advancing themfelves, as others do, to Honour and Pleafure, and not have lived like the refufe of the World, in fuch mean plight and wretchednels •, for that is the lighteft of all other, though it feem the greateft : If I lift to rifte in the Rolls of ancient Records,! could eafily finde arid (hew you, that although the moft part, of pur- pofe, lived in this harmlefs and fafe Eftate, which I told you •, yet fome again were t^^ngs^ and Men of great Place and Dignity, (and yet I thmk by Remainder, and not by Purchafe fo) but I love not this kinde of rea- foning •, Let them that thirft go to the Fountain, and us remember, that in the Houlhold of Bl i s s e. Riches are made but Servants, and not Maftcrs, and Rulers 5 becaufe they be for the moft part unruly and ambitious, and for* that caufe they have no liberty granted them, buc zz (p) comm&Ht. in Hermcr, Ub, delap. Phyf. fecret.cap 1. Theat. Chym. vol. 4, ( 1) Plin. K.ir. Hlji.l.^.C.')!. (r) Pbu \n Vh:gdro. (s) Plato hi Alcibiad. i. & Mens ca';uf(]; is eft quifi^. cic. in Som. Sclp. (t) Cic. Para- dox. I . The jray to %'iff. LjB.Ii butareinjoynedto ferve lowly their Betters, and to look no further •, {p) So that, if our Men were Happy, or at leaft lovers of the fame, their Riches ought to be imployed in their own fervice, that is, to purchafe and win Wifdome and Vertue, and not fent out to wait upon, I know not what ftrangers , Honour and Pleafure 5 which as they be ftrangers, yea and dangerous ftrangers, lying open (as all high things) to the blaft of Envy 5 fo, moft commonly, they will not be ruled, no more than they which get them 5 and then rebelling againft them, which are their Lords and Rulers, do overthrow an happy Eftate. Wherefore, what marvel is it though our Men did thus, when they did no more than Wifdeme requires, nor any more than all wife Men have ever taught and followed ^ thinking , and calling it an heavenly Life, becaufe it funders the heavenly Minde from the earthly Body, not (as (q) Plinj writes oi Hermolirtm) by fending the fame out of the Body, to gather and bring home News •, but by an high contempt of earthly Macters,and flying up to divine Thoughts, not with the gojden leathers of EunpUes, but with the heavenly wings of (0 ^lato. And therefore {s) this fame divine Man, makes the Mi/ide aJone the whole M.m ^ the Body as a thing that is . bis, and belonging unto him •, but Riches, Honour, and fuch like outward Goods, none of his own Matters, nor belonging unto him-, but unto his, that is, the Body , and as I may term them, his Maris-men* And this thing alfo Btoi^ (t) before him, did as well perform,; when at the fpoilof the City, having ieuve, he took' not his Carriage with him, and anfwered to. the check of Cap. 1 1. fihe Way to 'Blifs. 25 of his Frienc]s/that k^ carmd aH juis own things with him, which was nothing but a naked Body. Ariflotle is ol: the fame minde juft with Plato, as ap- pears notably inhis(«) Lift, Book of Manners, where he (ii)^n/?.Effc;r. hath laid down many found Renlons, why this Life [%'^iib.\o.c.ip.7. beft, ai:id (o^hy wife men is^ and ought to be taken : Becaufe it is, faith he, the mod quiet Life, and fuUeft ot true Delight, and with all things needful beft ftored, for indeed it wanteth nothing ; tor that as a Minde is div,'.r\e in refped;of , a Body^ (o is th€Xife:of it,-which is that vve fpeak of) in regara of a; civil ^nd; worldly Life.-' And again, if 'omMindesavebur fehes^ iz were meet to lead our own Life, before a ftrangers •, But laft of all J which is worth all, becaufe G o DOur onely Pattern, leadeth none other Life but thisui^il-j<-j I might be very large, i£ L lift, t6 feefc about and tra* • vcrfe this Matter : but here is enough to fliew the Pur- pofe and Reafon our Men of ^^gypt had, if it was- in their choice, to chufe this kinde of X//f, which the World fo defpifeth •, But how if I could bring them in b^re^yed of all; choice and free-will, and driven by force of Neceffity to do the fame 1 would not that flop the wideft Mouthes, trow you, in all this lavifli Company ^ Let us know iirft that the Minde of Man, being come from that high City of Heaveny defireth of her felf to live ftdll that /^^4^'^;?/)i !,//(?, that is, the hie f- fed Life above- defcribed 5 And if there be any lett, as there is lightly, it is in the weight and grofsnefs of our Bodies, over- weighing our Minde down to the Ground, and toall our own^ muddy Matters;— Then that our Men, after they have.gotten this Golden S tone ^{ohmous ia^ the iWq^W, do notj as they think and would do, L ftraight- 24- The Way to 'Blifs. Lib .f . ftraightvvayes run to tbeir Coffers, but firft and chiefly Gild their Begins with it •, wherefore after that by thac mighty, fine, and temperate Medicine^ they have fcour- ed out all Groflnefs and Diftemperature of the Body> the onely lets to Underftanding, and good Manners, as wefliallhear hereafter, and thereby left the Minde^x large, and almoft at her flift freedom •, (he, and fo they together, laying afide, and, as it were, cafting down all earthly Matters, muft needs return to their own former Life again, fo far I mean, as the Condition and State of Man will fuffer. And fo, put cafe you finde your own dark and dusky Eye-light fo foon taken with eve- ry foul and vain worldly Beauty, yet you muft not judge thefe ^^41/^/2/)' Af^» thereby, but think the moft fliarp and clear eye- fight of their Underftanding, eafily able to fee the blemiJh, and to avoid the bait of com- mon love. Wherefore, to clofe up this point at laft ^ fith this haffy Craft and Way To Blisse of Hermes, for ought that they know, may be true and honoura- ble, let the Common and Unlearned fort ftay their Judgement, and leave the trial and fifting of any fur- ther Matter unto the Wiieand Learned. (w) suidas in And therein all (iv) Diode ftans^ if they have none X)i//^*. of themfeives, might learn better Advice, before (for c> cceu Rbod. ^^^ ji^^-.j. q£ fome) they run to any raging Counfel, and & vanctnk bend the edge ot Authority againft all. Tit.de Alcb m. & M.M'iycrj Symb. aw. mens, lib.i. & P.Di-icon. vit. D'lOcUf. C^ef. & Orof. Ib.xj. I grant that, as in all good Arts, fo in this, becaufe it is fweeteft, there be fomc Drones, crept in among the Svv'arm 5 what then ^ As they are of another kinde, and cap. 16. Cap.II. The Way to "Blifu Z5 and never begotten by Hermes, or any of his^^;?;.- So no reafon they fliould flander the Name and Houfe of Herm E s, but bear the burthen of their own fault* They may be forced out and known from the holy, ftinged, and profitable Bee^ fiift by their bignefs in Words and Brags, and then (as followeth lightly by the Courfe of kinde j by their ftinglefs, and unarmed weak- ' nefs, in all defence of Learning •, And thirdly by their {loth andidlenefs. For although they never lyn ftir- ring, yet (x) as Seneca, faith, oprosl nthil agunt^ they (x; sen. lib. Je painfully do Nothing, becaufe all they do is to no pur- Brevit.vit.c.ii pofe, all is fruitlefs and unprofitable. But Dioclefian lacked this difceining Wifdcme^ and radily ran upon all, and burnt the Books^ much like that part of Ljcurgm^ who for the Drunkennefs of the Peo- ple, cut down the Vines, Had it not been better to have brought the Springs of Water nearer, and to have bridled, as Tlnto faith , that ?nad God mth the fder ? Even fo the Emperour might with better advice, have tempered the heat of Jlchimj^ with the cooling Card of Dtfcretion^ and made it an Jrt lawful for a fmall Number onely> and with the like charge to be Pradi- * led 5 which had been a Counfel worthy a wife Prince, neither to let the hope of fo great a Treafure go for a fmall lofs •, nor yet upon uncertain Hope, be it never fo great, to lofe a certain great thing, to wit, the Life and Goods of his Suhje^s^ well and orderly beftow^d. THE u Lta'm cU^^^^^ ^^^"^dViwi cm: nrf' ^^ THE SECOND BOOK. Ch A p. I. Of Long Life. n Peer W€ hav€ met with the common Ar- guments, wherewith the Unlearned ufc to deface this goodly Scunce 5 we mud go forward , and encounter with the Learned % who, becaufe the great Deeds and Eife<5ts which are promifed, (that is^ to make all men Long-Uvd^ Healthful, T&mgy Kich^ Wife and VmuHn) are above any Skill of theirs,^ or of their Anceftors the Grddans^ rate both the Work impoflible, and the Workman vain^ falfe, and guileful ; I muft, Ifay, prove, according to n:iy Task appointed. That thefe great A^ and Deeds^may be done and pcr- £ 2 formed zS ' 'IheWayto'EliJs. Lib.IU formed by other weaker Means than Hermes Me- dicine- And this I muft do with more pains and diligence, becaufe this Way and Entry once made in their Hearts, the great and marvellous Truth of this famous Stone, may the more eafily come in and take poffeffion. But in fuch variety of hard and flippery Matter, whence were it bed to fet out "t which Way firft to take^ Were it not meet the means and helps unto Bl I s SE fliould be firft rid and cleared, before we come to Bl I s s E it felf ^ and among them to give Long Life the foremofl place, if not for his worthinefs, yet for his behoof and necefTity 1 being needful in all Com- mon-wealths and private perfons, firft to feek to live, before to live well, though that, unto this end : Then let us fee what is Long Life^ and how all Men may reach unto it. But why do we make fuch great hafte f we had need be How and advifed in fo great a Matter, and to look, before we venture upon fo long a Way, and of fo many dayes Journey, that we be well provided and furnifhed of all things •, wherein I hope, if I have not of my own, or if after the thrifty manner, when I am well ftored my felf, yet I borrow to prevent lending, al- though I take upon truft fo much as fliall ferve this turn, it fliall be no ftain to my Credit •, but rather deem- ed a fafe and wary way, to cut off occafibn of Robbe- ry both at home and abroad : efpecially if I take it up of fuch Men, as a^e -moft famous and beft beloved* Thefe fliould bpmy Friends of ty£gypt and Arahia^ (chough we have theu: fecret help now and then) the heft able indeed, and the nearcft unto me, if they were ^ ' , -. fo Cap.I. The my to Mfsi a? fo well known and beloved in the World : But becaufe they be not, I will fly to the other fide of Greece, and to the mod renowned there, and beft liked, Hiff cerates, FUto and Arifiotle^ whom I doubt not to finde very free and willing in this Matter. Let us then awake our old Studies out of fleep, and hye us to them : what need many words < after Greeting, and the Matter broken, they make me this Anfwer joyntly together. God, becaufe he was good, (dj did not grieve to (a) p/^,^ ,-^ have others enjoy his Goodnefs, (that is, to be, and to ^'w. be well) meaning to make a World (though Arifiotle ^..-n ^^^ ,^ (t) withdraw his hand herein) full of all kinde of ever- Ub.i'.c.i. lafting and changeable things,firft made alljand blended 0>J LiUecwh them in one whole confufed Mafs and Lump together, e!l!''ExcHfati{r born up by his own weight, bending round upon it ^^B.Keci^er.syit. Tgir Phyf.l.j.p^erufn Then feeing it lay ftill, and that nought could beget Pbu. ub. de and work upon it felf, he forted out, and fundred away ^"^^* ^«'^<»'- round about, a fine and lively piece (which they call }"c)'oceii.Luci, Heaven) for the {c) Male, Mover and Workman 5 leaving ^^/'•i. ftill the reft (as grofs and deadly j fit for the Female, to receive the Working and Fafhioning, which we term the four Beginnings t Qor Elements'] Earth, Water, Air (^) c"^- "^i^h- . andP/rf ., and thereof fpringsthe (d) Love which we t°38^^''*^'*' fee get between them, and the great defire to be joyned ^ c> again, and coupled together. H£r«7 rfr- Then, that there might be no number and confufion fenf. 'i.t.t'raa. of Workmen, and doing Caufes, but all to flow from ''^ ?'«»'C one Head, as he is One, he drew all force of Work- G:m-d%rn. ing, and virtue of Begetting into one narrow xowxidp^^- adAnif, .-. Compafs, which we call the {e) Sun, from thence he ^^/ j'"'"'- ^•^' (e) Oc(U. Luc. c.z. & Plat. PoU, & j.jl^it.ab initit. & Fernet, de abdit.rerum caiif.l.i. c.8. fcnt ^e, The Way to Mfs. Lib.II. fent out, fpred and beftowed all about the World, both above and below, which again meeting together, made one general Light^ Htat^ Nature, Life and Soul of the World, Caufe of all things. And becaufe it becomed the Mtght^ Wi^dome and i'leafure of fuch a Builder, to make and rule the infinite Variety of Changes here be- (i)iK^(Tvx}- lovVj (f) 2nd not evermore one felf- fame thing 5 he Of Ayov,a.\hai Commanded that {g) One Light in manj, to run his eter- ntv'^/^ov nal and ftintlefs Race to and fro, this way and that way, •TAM/x/^eA&f j^ that by their variable prefence, abfcnce and meeting, «T*x7»<. they might fitly work the continual change of flitting Vlat. tn Tim. .^-^ ° ^ (?; Termi. uhi Creatures. fupra (e) This Soul which {h) Plato calls the Mver-woving Mo^ nJ!''^" "^ '^^'■^ ^^^^^ contrary to (/) Ariflotles li^iKix^A, which he fio.in. Ennead, himfclf conftrucs an Immoveable Mover, (that we may n' An'a'de "^^^^^^ C^) ^^^^ '^"^h ^ould tranflate it fo, as to make it Jnimli.c.i. all one with fLuo^ unlefs (/) i^«^/rf«5 gallows raif-led & "Shyf. c. ^ him, which is found in fome Copies) that he might be ti ^f oTwf w- an Eternal Mover ^ is, in Nature and Being, a moft fub- r^rr/r.u' ^^« ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^"^' o^ ^P^^^ ^^ heavenly Fire-, in K/rf. smii\c\ property and quality, for his CleanQe{s,Ligh£ and Fine- (fkfr'^r^''''^"^ nefs, ///?/-, and for his Moiftnefs withall T^»5?^^r4/f, as lb A ^^ appears to him that bendeth his Minde upon \i* (I) 7 *>7i If you doubt of his Moiftnefs , (tw) think nothing 7?^. Luc . made without Mingling, which is,by drawing in,(») and «r/xj> <^»7. ^ breaking fmall together the whole fluff, when a dry . \1zL^Khod]\.l. ^^^^ draws out, and fcattereth the fine from the great, c.xx.quitamm and thereby wafteth and narrowcth all things, making Z^uifs'JI'^' ^c>thii\g : As for Example -, (/>) Dung hatcheth za^gge^ K'ck.syji.phyf. and quickneth aoy thJBg apt to receive Life, whca C.9. (m) Sever. Dan. Id. mcd. c.9. {n) IJuifmenl tra£l. dit fal&de VEfpritdit Mond, /.i.c.y. (o) yiriji.Hi^. An, i.H, t.». warm Cap.I. The Way to Mfs. 51 warm (/>) Afhes will never do it. What need we more *r (p) cirei. suk. Imagine an heavenly Flame by a good (q) burning Wa- f'J'c^!!/\lJj ter^ which flaming upon your Hand, or a dry Qoth, ^ S- heateth them both gently, without hurt or pcriftiment. ^;. ^"f /• ^^^• And yet this Sunny Beam is not moift of it felf, and be- ^lo &'ap^un' fore it is tempered with the moifture of the (/) Moon dm. his Wife, to make it ape for Generation-, Thence ll''*' l'^."^;, 0)He rm e s calls the Sm and Mocn^thQ Father and Mo- ditat.'c.i 5. ' f^^ of all things. (0 ^y''-. „ & fenjib.lib. t,<;/ip.i2» & Gtr. Dom.VhU. dym. T. C. Vol.i. ($; Tab. Smxragd, Now the fluff and Female^ to be fit to fuffer Work- up, muft be firft open, that is, Soft and Moift : and then not one, nor yet many like things, left in both thefc cafes they ihould ftand ftill the fame, and not when they be ftirred by the Workman, rife, and ftrive, and bruife and break one another fitly by contimaal change, until they come at laft unto a confent, reft, and ftay 5 And that upon fmall occafion the fame con- fent might Jarre again, and come to change, thc^vifhcd cmI and purpofe of the work. And therefore God caft in at firft, the known (t) four fighting enemies ^ (0 octi. ut. yet in the foft and open Stuff, there are but two of ^; \, . . ^ them, (») Marth and Wattr in one mixture, fecn and l.l^'^}^' /©xtant at the beginning, (w) before the painful Sod ^^^^ ^ y^u draws and works out the reft, Fire out of Earth, and yivoi^t, out of Water that breath-lili and windy thing called »om.ii.^. j^ ' ° (w) Ger.norn. ^ t_ -r t . Inlhyf. Trifin. 5otnat, (x) It there were much Farth^ little fTater^ r.c. rd.i. and great .^^4f to mingle them, Jw will (hew it i^M i*) ^^-^^' ^'*^> and bear the fway : It but fmall Heat upon the fame meafure of Farth and fVatery Earth will rule the reft: If 51 Thelf^aytoMfi. Lib.IL If on that Other fide, upon fmall ftore or Earth, and much Water ^ but a fmall Heat of working, the thing will fall out to be raw and waterifli : If upon the fame quaa- tity a ftronger Ueat^ it arifeth an Jyery^ wiiich is term- ed a fat and oily Body, Wherefore, when the Soul comes down upon the Stuff, clothed with a fine windy coat of the cleaneft Air^ next unto Heaven, called cy£ther^ Cwithout the (\)coy.Agnpp. brokage of which (y) Mean, the two Extremes and un- f.M- '<^^' acquainted Strangers would never bargain and agree to- Mnrf. Fhin.de gether) by his moift milde heat it moves it, and alters ^^''•^^*^^''^'""^' it very diverfly , making many fuits and kindes of ' '& things, differing according to the Strength of the one^ Ferti. deabiit. ^^^ ^^g Obedience of the other. urimcauj. .i. ^^^ ^^ ^^ reafon in that feparation of the fine and (z) Ovid. Met. Male part at firft, (z) the ftuff was throughly toft and mrf. vkAri ^'^^^r^^^i ^^^ ^^e Heat of Heaven thereby (like a hot in pit. c'ritia'. Summer after a wet Spring) very fierce and eager, the &arg.inMefi. two caufcs ferviug vcry fitly, all Wights^ (a) Man and Franc. s.Aibane ^^^> vvere made alike, without any feed fown, otherwife Nut. Hip. cent, than by the great Seedfman of Heaven^ upon the com- %yTh7:umpa. ^^^ ^^^^ ^"^'^^ ^"^ ^^^^''' As is ftill feen in the de fcnf.mum,' common Tillage yet ufedinthofe lame andunperfc^ /.4. C.19. & v^^ights, which fome call Start-ups^ and fprung out from ionduf.famd. thcmfelvcs. As we may be eafily led to think, if we Aviccn.f. confider how, not onely all kinde of Plants^ without all fetting or fowing, grow up by themfelves in fome pla- ^b) Arift.de ces, {h) and fome kinde of Fijh in the Sea are onely gen. anjm. .i.e. p^jj^^j^ . ^^^ alfo what plenty oiFifh there {c) abounds card.iv. vmet. in the fiozen Countries, for the great heat and fatnefs Lib.j.c.n. . , ,. Cc) Gonial. Tcrdn.Ovied.de Region. Septentrlofjal. & Cdrdnn'.devarieTat.' l.'f.c'.jT.' ^ Di!hm.ir. hkflftn. defcnpt. Iflaitd. of Cap.I. The fFaj toMfj, ^ of the Waters •, and chiefly that upon the (limy and hot Land of <^gypf) there are yet fome bloody and perfed Land-mghts (SiS Hares {d) ^ndCoates^dcc.) fo Ci)card.s„ltf. made and fafliioned. ' '*" But becaufe afterward the well- mingled and fat fine Stuff, and the ftrong working Heat failed, (as it muft needs in time) and yet the great £) Beajls and Usi, ) to proceed from the divers ^r. st. Aibans mixtures of the Bodies, If you cannot quickly perceive ^^^* '^'/^.cm. the Matter, behold at once the outward Shapes and (o; Ari'ft. mft, Fafhions, as they here go down a fhort pair of Stairs ^nmd.u.c.i, before you. , ^ , ,. ,. card.L.i.ro, Do you notittMan alone, through his exceedmg {?) Arifi.wft, fine and light Bodj {q) carried up and mounted with a /'')'"j;-o " J; mighty heat of Heaven^ of an upright flature, znd pm.AnlLl 1!%, carriage of himfelf, that this Divine Wit might be free '^7- & from the clog of Fltjh ? when other Wights, from the l^^X 7'' contrary Caufe (which the gwCsznd earthly Leavings P^t.- M^ftadi Cor Excrements ] of Hatr, Horn, Hoof^ and fuch like, de- -^^^''"^/'/f ^' clarej are quite otherwife difpofed, as we fee, towards ' ^'*'^'''^'^' the Ground, their like Companion : and fo the lefs hoc F 2 and l6 thelVayto'Bhfs. Lib.IL and fine they be, that is, the liker the Earthy the nearer they bend unto her, being lefs of flature ftill, and after that many-footed , to fupport them , but at length Footlefs and groveling, until it come to their Heads *' downward ^ and there it ftayeth not, but palTeth quite over 5 and degenerates from Wtghts to Plants ^ And from thence, if I might tarry about ir, I would fend them down ftill, through all the fteps of them and Mi- nerals j until they came to the main Reft and Stay, from whence they all fprang , clean Earth and Wa- ter, But I think it be now high time to take my leave of thefe Philofofhersy and to fet forward as foon as I have packt up my Stuff round together, cfpecially the heft and moft precious Things. Then, we gathe^by that enlarged Speech, one chief (r) Cor. Agfh. and notable Rule in Learning 5 that the (r) Shafe^ Na- i!oo ^^'^'^' ^^^^^3 -^^'^^5 Perfeiiien^ and all the difference in all things ($; Fm. Licet, here below, fpringeth from the Mixture and (j) Tem- rfcwr./.i.c.r. per of the stuff and Beginningf : The Doings Making, uo: ncb.Diai. ^"^ Working-Caufe that Makes, Mingles, Brocheth and ». dtAmore. fets all a running, to be a piece of the finer part of the whole, parted, and packt up together in the Sun? (0 ,«W- '*^- (0 Of which finer part, fome remaining ftill in the crsft. i^x»v* Raw and rude Stuff, fecretly hid and placed, other- Sfndivog. de fomc morc freely, in the half- made Stuff, called Seed^ suip.in f.ii. and in finer Seed yet more lively •, and in Man moft ac liberty, excepting where I faid it was free indeed from all kinde of Bodj : And yet all thefe but one and the felf-fame thing called Seul^ Life, Heavenly and Natural Jieat, &c. This meant Divine Hippocrates^ when he faith, {u) Nought Cap.I. TbeWaytom/s. 37 («) Nought is made^ and nothing perifbeth^ hut all are al- (u) ub. i. de tered and changed up and down hy Mingling : And again, ^•*^- (w) That no Wight can die y unlef all fall -^ wherein he is Siv^rin. oaniu moft agreeable, and jumpeth even with thefe Grounds I'atmd.phn. and Rules, and with the whole Web of our Philofcphy. S ^^ ^^.^ ^, It any man doubt of the other two, Plato and Ariflotle^ mm. Nawide let him reade their Books with heed, and he fhall finde '^'^["^^^ them where they fpeak naturally, and by the light of '^ " ^■^''* humane Reafon, to drawftill towards this one head and p^-^- J'^d. lib, point of Truth : tliough they feem to ft ray fome times, '^'J.j"""^^' to the infinite Variety of divers-natured and condi- c^ tioned 5/4^5 above, caufing the like endlefs odds and ^-''•■^;^/"^/is. difference of all things. Let us now, I fay, fet forward °/J ''^V , '^ in our firft dayes Journey to Long Life^ unfolding firft ^,jj^^ *^''^' What it is, and the Caufe thereof, and laftly the Com- * ^^ mon and hi^h way to it. Murob.insom. Scip./.z.c-ii.^ Truest, Albans Nrt.^H'ili. Cent. j.Exp. n't. & Sen, de bemfic. I. y. c. 8. £w/?. 5^. c^ Nuijlme)tt diife/y &c. /.i.e. 1. Dr. Hacl^n>eU if the Vower and providence of GjdJib.J,. c,^.fi£li. & M. Aiiie!. mcd'n. 1. 10 fi£l.7i &c. & ?lo:in.En..iead./^.l.7.c.i^. It fcems hard for a Man to appoint what bounds of Life are large and long enough for Blisse, unlefs God (who knovveth beft, both the meafureof Hap- pinefs fit for us, and the race of Time meet for it) had firft fet and marked them. So that the greateft Age and furtheft Time that the luftieft Men^ and beft difpo- fed Bfdtes, both by kinde and diet, have at any time reached and lived, may well, by the grant and good will of our great Landlord.^ be fet the Bounds, Stint and End of i//(f, large enough to hold all the Biffs meet for Man kinde, and the Mark which we may all aim and level our cndevours at , yea and with furc hope to hie and reach it , and no further , is about an hun- dred ^S rheWajto'Blifs. Lib.IL dred and fifty years , as you fliall hear anon. Now, if there do three Caufes meet to the making up of Things, and thereon leaneth all their Being, the Stuffs the Mover^ and the Meat of the Mover ^ which is the Fatnefsoi tht Stuff ', then, lure, thecaufeof their long Being and Continuance in their Eftate can be no- thing elfe, but the favour and goodnefs ot thofe three Caufes. The Soul and Heat of Heaven is good and favoura- ble to Wights, fto let the reft go, far more dark, and further off my Purpofe) when (lie pours her felf plen- tifully upon them •, for there can be no other odds in one and the felf-fame thing in all places. But the Fat Food of Life^ (which they call the firft Moifture^ and the fineft piece of all the Seed lying hid and unfeen' in the found parts of Wights , and yet by skill to be fetched out, and fet before us) muft not onely be plen- tiful and great in ftore, to match the feeding Soul^ but alfo Faft and Fine, that by his Finenefs he may be both friendly and like to Life^ and Aierj^ or rather t/£therial (x) utmn^, (we muft (a:) wear thefe Words with handling) to keep }Z}umoZ- himfelf, both fn Cold and Heat flowing: and that Hj nobis vaba through his FaBnefs or Clofemfs^ (which they call in funt. ciccr. de Latiue denfum or folidum) that is, through his much Stujf m a narrow room, he may be more lalting, and fit to continue. Now the Stuf and Body is beft, when it is Faft and Fine alfo •, one to hold and hang long to- gether 5 and that other to give free fcope without flopping or lett, unto the continual and fwift race of Life, (y) P. P:,imar. Then, to make a fum of all, (j) The Caufe of long domat ^r'l'^' ^{/^J ^ ^t4 P^ Body.pinkled andfeafoned rvith much- ^ '" '^' < lih Cap.I. ThelVaytoMfs. 39 like fir ft MdiHure, and fiore of heavenly Heat: If this Matter needed any further proof, I could eafily,by cut- ting up the Nature of Things, fo lay it open before, you, as your own Eyes (hould witnefs and fee the lame^ But if it needtofome, they iliall fee fomething, and that fuflicienr to content them. For the fir ft, (z) Aripotle fairh, and we finde it true (7) ne ionz\t. by Experience, that they live longeft in hot Countries f^^^^'l'^' ^** for the Dry, Sound, Fafl and Fine Bodies •, but chiefly for their Finenefs, yielding free recourfe and paffage unto Ljjt : for Age and kindly Death come of Rot- tennefs, which flows from the ftillnefs of Heat^ and flacknels to fait and refrefli the parts. Touching the reft, to wit, that much Heat and much g^ood Fatftefs are a caufe of Lo;2g Life^ mark the ftiort life of thof^ flights J that either wsnt them by kinde, as the maimed and imperfc(S ones 5 or wafte them by motion^ as {he (4) Male Greyhound of Lacedamon was, C^) AA^. de againft the courfe of Kmde, ftiorter lived than the Bitchy Hifl.A».i.6x.z for his pains in Hunting •, and C^) the Cock S farrow lives T/ia. mt. hiji. but half fo long as the Z/^;;, (and yet this but three /'^lo. f.65/ years; for their Venery : The World is full of fuch ti^^i'.ev. fexamples. And behold, again, the Elephant^ on that vitx,c.z. other fide, for the great help and favour of all the ^^^. , ^ Caufes, above thereft, (as may appear by their great "'-^°-'-^^'- fruits and effeds in him, that is, Strength, Bignefs, and Stomach, being able to {c) be the ground-work of (cj Ari(i. de a Cafile of fifteen armed men, to eat nine Bulhels at a ^'4- ^imd.^. time, and to drink fourteen TunJ to endure and hold '^Jb.T.c^e. out liiuch longer than the reft, and to live {Arijlotle is mine Author in the ftory ) three hundred years in all. Now 40 TheJVayto'Blijs. Lib.1L Now we know what Lofjg Life is, and the Caufe thereof, let us fee whether all Men reach it or no ; and then which way they may reach it. Ac the firft all Mankindt\ by the will 'and appoint- ment of Kinde, was Sound and Lufly, and lived long 5 and all the fail and corruption now adayes (which falfly feemeth a weak Condition of our Nature) crept in through Diforder in our felves by little and little, and fo by fowing ftill the like Children, it fpred it felf at laft, deeply rooted over all, and made it, as it were, a certain State, Nature and Kinde of Man-, wherefore by good ord^r in our Selves, it may be reformed and brought back again unto the ancient State. But how may we prove this^ If God and Nature have or- dained Man unto a Divine End and sli/ above the reft, {i)cicir.ruff. and yet (ome Beafts (as id) Theofhr/iflus for a wonder '"'^' ■ J.' complains j live longer than our common rate, yea and Cardan, de x/jy. longer than any Bounds above- fet 5 certainly we ought /•7.f'34. £Q (JQ 25 much and more, by the rule of Nature^ and of all Right and Reafon : and fo we did at firft, be- fore we fell by our default, which may be amended. But left I may happen to deal with fome, who will neither grant the Juftice of God, nor yet yield to the End of Man ^ with fome, I fay, that have fo far put off all Humanity : I will bring them to Natural Cau- fes-, I will open and lay before them, both the forts, and fuits of Wights^ I mean, of Men and Beajis 5 that they being a monftrous and doubtful Kinde between both,thatis5Sf4y?jwithin,cloth'd only with the outward fliape of Men^ may the better judge of both (as in like cafe they feign of the like mif-fliapen Monfters — The Poets know my meaning, it is not worth the flourifli of Cap.I. The Way to Mfs. 41 of a chafte and modeft Pen) which had in kinde the more caufe to live long: That feeing at lad the worfer iVfghu to overgo us in Life, and to run to the v$ry goal it felf, and yet to have received lefs caufe from Nature , they may be driven by force of Reafon to yield, {e) that we have a better Ktnde and worfer Cuflom^ ^''^ M.urob. and that we <^i<^ and might live long, but for our own ^ ' '^'^'^^ fault, which may be reformed. To begin with the Soul and Natural Heat^ for his woithinefs ; let us tee which ot them is endowed with more ftore of him, that is, of the chief caufe of Long Life, If we call to minde a little, we (hall remember. That Man walketh upright, when the reft are thrown to the Ground , becaufe they lack the force of this afcending Heat, to bear up the weight of their Bodies, which we have abundantly. But, if we leave the out- ward (hape, and look into them, we (hall finde that by the great forefight of Nature^ all Wights which are (/) Hot and full of Blood, have againft the Root and (0 Arift. «//?. Spring thereof, to cool and temper the fame, a Con- ^'»^«-^-»-c-i6- trary in place and property, fet: the Brain^ I mean, fome more and fome lefs, ftill according to the behoof and ig) requeft of the Heart •, Infomuch as they that (d conftdat have no Bloody and fmall Heat within them, as not need- ^" ^^'P^°-> ^^^^ ing any Cooler, have no /?r4/;. at all. Then, by z^-f^J:$r. tain race and courfe of Kinde^ if that be true which all tm cahmfup- Htlofophers and Lsaches hold, that a Man (h) hath the i"'"'^ ^""; greateft 5r4/;/ ot znwtghts, it muft needs follow that rff««oWf>r. he hath the greateft (lore of Heat alfo. But enter fur- ^- "^ ^'^'"^ ]ther into them, and you (hall fee Man, by how much Itcm.Tmf.' .i.. , rt' ^ . (i\)Ari(l.hih hnmd. lib, i . cap. i6. & De pan. ammil. & tarum canfis, lib. z. cap. 7. ■ c ^ ' ' --- , G mor ^z TheJVayto^lifs. Lib.IL (\) ATI ft. de more he goech beyond a Beaft in Wit^ (i) fo much to TmLkemde ^^^'^ ^" ^^^^ abovc him : for Wit fpringeth out of the rccoad. am Ln- cleamcfs of the Body, and this out of Hear^ as I will fcr./.4.c.9. prove in his place hereafter. Arifi dfgenef. Now, if this firft point be done and granted, the .Auz^. dt is agreed among the {s) Divines ^Mtn beft skill'd in thefe ^ii'iz^&c!°' Matters, that thefews account was otherwife, even as ' &' we, and almoft all other Nations make it. But if this Vr. Hac\-a>eU^ ancient Story of our old holy Man be a thing in doubt, ^po..|.f.i.c^ or certainly untrue, and to be meant of Moneths, yet Vet. Mexia de our Aged Raven may go with it, and the Father of that l7hfdi -ume ^^^^ together : And we mayjwhen we will, pafs to the li^.Li.c.i. Elephant. Artjiotle indeed is the Author of this Story, that the Elephant liveth three hundred years •, How then c* Ihall me miflike in like manner of this Man, and refufe his Witnefs < I cannot tell what to fay : It is a very hard matter that he faith. And again, I know that when by the power and purfe of his Ktng and Scholar Alexander^ (i) lud. rives who (/) gave him eight hundred Talents of Stiver ^ a "pmbt\1lfx. ^^uge ^uin.to that ufe,he heaped up a rabble of all kinde i^H^dm eper._ oi Reports and Hear-fayesj into thofe Books^ (thereof by Tom I. & Thil. MelanRh. in vit. Arifi. qu m pramifit Tom.i, opcrum A^'ifi- <^ C. Agricol. efift. nun- cupat. ad lib, de nat. emtm qute eff, e terra. fame Cap.L The Way to "Blifs. 4? fome called VoAuT«t\tft'7tf) fome falfe and untrue Tales might creep in among them •, yet I owe much to that Mans vvorthinefs ♦, and again, the Books have ever held the place of a true Record: And befides, this matter of the Elephant y («) both for the fore- vouched Caufes, ("U^P^"«'f and for his Wit and Manners, lomewhat near ouriVrf- pnidemio . ture, may reafonablv well a'^ree with the found of Rea- <^'^<'>- ^e^'-^^- ion. How then ^ I fay again, Methinks I feel {w) my(w/£^ffl^«e? Minde ebbe and flow within me : and yet fuppofe it T«ur* Ava )^ true that the Beafl liveth fo many years. The Jjlanders x-<^'ra TAciya- ix) of Zeil near Calecut ^ and the Inhabitants of the ^'"' soc.ap. Hill {y) Atho,hoi\\ of them commonly and ufually reach Hf^!^^-"^'"' our appointed time of one hundred and fifty Years, by Cx) c.ird. subt. the-favour of thcy^/r onely, and ^t/Y where they dwelJ, ^'dl'-^H' l^^f^. taking befides, for ought I can know, the common race /.i. d. and courfe ot the World: That we may lawfully - , ^. deem, if they lived as chaftly as the Elephant , who po/^'Jc'Ti! comes but once in two {z) years to Venery, and fol- <^ lowed his other ^od Orders of Life as well, that they fj!J"'7«''* ^j' might cafily draw forth their age longer, and come to (zj 'cmltri- the dayes of the Elephant , For as we in our lefs happy ^^^nioraterpoftto Soils, by our own ill Diet and crooked Cuftom, have Zf.l^m^ll'. cut off and loft the better half of our Time •, fo it may ^m- feemof them: forwemuft not think, in this diforder of the W^orld, that any Man fulfilleth the time ot Nd- ture^ but all are fwept away with the blaft of untimely Death, But it may chance that long race oi Life^ which the Author makes the Beaft to run, was no common and ordinary courfe in that Ktnde^ but fome odde and rare Example •, And then no doubt, as there be fome amongft ^6 TheWayto'Blifs. Lib.IT. amongft us, which by their diligence, and } know not by Ya) mhmmu what good hap, (^a) double the common Term-, fo they Bkjk- defcript ^^ ^^^ wanting; in thofe places, which fometime prove & aged Mert^ and which hve twice as long as the common joh. deTempo- fort, that is, as long as the Elephant, Wherefore, for 'r,o!\T\^mm-' ^^ this, or ought elfc that can be caft againft us, let us tH-Hsin GMx conclude,That {b) Mmj if he kept the good and kindly 1?-"Jf' , Diet and Order of Life, which other Wights void of Jean Neiicleras _^,, ,' . •ir'^ i, chronograph. Reafou, by the true and certain guide or Nature^ keep, -voLx. Gener. having morc helps and means unto it, might live longer (b; Luaalrn ^^^^ ^^V ^f them, yea, and with eafe reach the bounds Mmob. of Long Life appointed, and perhaps further alfo : but we have ftaid in the midft, and mean, as it were, becaufe itfeemsto obey the fecret Will of God the better, and yet withall to fulfill the whole defirc of Na* ture* Then fay you, it were good to learn the Ord€r of Xz/f, which Beafts do ufe to keep and follow, if it were meet and feemly for Mef} to lead a Bcaftly Life : Do not {o take the meaning of a good thiag, with the fnare ot a foul and filthy word : A Man is not one and fingle, as they be, but double, and two things •, and partly a Wight ^ nay a Beafi (be it fpoken with reverence) and partly a more divine thing : and theretore, albeit ac- cording to his Divme Part and Reafon, he ought to fol- low the Divine Pattern, and Form of Life above-fet 5 yet as he is a w/gk, and an eaithly Creature aJfo, it is ^f^ J^^^J not uncomely, (<^) nay it is necefTary to do as they do puds &u t4^, after a fort : And if it were altogether 10, it were bet- au dm.iirant ter, and iTiore agreeable with the Will of Nature^ who 'Mii'demiir. knowethbeft what belongs to X;/ ir,p./^66. derly Cap.I. The Way to 'Bltfs. 4.7 d€rly inann^r 5 whea great variety of Wit and De- vice guideth us againft Minerva % will, as they fty, and quite befides the way of Nature^ unto a Thoufand by and forraign Cufloms, which is the onely Caufe of our degeneration from our ancient and firft whole and found Eftate. Wherefore, if a company of pickt and lufty Men and Women would agree to live together in fome wilde, open, clear and fweet Air^ fcatteredly like a Country Village5and not like a clofe and fmothered City,(which one thing prevents a thoufand Difeafes and Deaths alone) and to lie together to the right end of Nature, that is, for Children , {d) and not for Pleafures fake, (^) occu. i.ur, (for this was made a Spur to the right purpofe) and in ^^^ '«f .47. as feldome and due a courfe,as the better fort of Beafis^ Cthe ready way to prcferve Life and fore-ff all Difeafes^ but fpecially to get good children •, ) and to brmg up their children in Labour and Hardfbip, {e) mingled with (ej cird. Suk. much Mirth and Sleep together (no fmall helps to Long '•'^" '"^- '^^'^* Life and Uealth^ as t£e Dieters ihemfelves confefs and knowO But fol" this Meat and Diet (wherein thofe Leaches offend and fail greatly) if they would confent to take no Phjfick^ but in great danger caft in by mif- fortune, (in which cafe the Beafis do not want their Re- medies) never to drink Wine, the (hortner of Life 5 and to be ihort, not take any Meat and Drink that the fire hath touched, (for it (f) funders the Fine from the (0 cird. subt. Grofs, that is, the bcfl from the worfl, which we now ^*'" ''^^77. choofe) but as Nature hath left them, and other Wights life them. If thefe things, I fay, were duly kept and performed, I am fully perfwaded within three or four Generations and Off-fprings,it would come to pafs^that we 4-8 IheJfayto'Blifs. Lib.II, we ftiould fee this Peofle prove a Nation of Giants^ not onely pafling the age of Beajis, and the bounds of Long X//'- ^^ ^^' power and ftrength is fuch, as they are able by their la- ^^'"'* ^'^ bour, eafily to refine it, and turn it firft into Air^ and Dr. mci(wsii ' then into «x£/^^r, a weaker like thing, and their proper ^f]'^{^^^^' food. fc^'.i'. & ManU.Afi.l.t. & Ptol. in lib. eiroliMff. five qaadripart. ap. Cxi. Rbod. I. r. i j. & Sen. Nat. qiixji.L^, C.16. & tlin. Nat. hiji,l.i.c.9. & Macroh. inSom. Scip»l.i,c,io. & S;it,l,l,C,il* ^ Qui. Mennes mr. vfUer. Li.cii. T,c. Vol.$. In p.j j8. That this is fo, the hungry Souls (which are but Imps flipt off the Heavenly Body) make it plain here below unto us, when we fee them ftill unwilling to tarry, and unable to live amongft us without Meat 5 as they be- wray themfelves by the plain expencc and wafte of the firft moiflure : Nay, take this one away , if you will mark well, and all lieth on the Ground ^ Then there is an old coyl and fighting here below, for Meat and Ex- ercffe^ that is, for life and beings (which makes the caufe of all aBion and doing .^red and change,and of all things:) and every one runneth eafily and gladly to his like, and if his ftrength be never fo little greater, he fubdues, di- gefts , and turns him into his own Nature , and is lirengthned by him : But if he mifs of his like food at hand, and be much ftronger, he dares encounter, and is able to quell unlike things alfo •, as I faid of the Stars, the mightieft things (giving Might to all things) in the World, But in cafe the unlikes and contraries be of equal power, and raatcheSj then neither devoureth and H 2 con- 5Z 7hejraytomfs. Lib. II. confumeth other,but both are marred5duUed and weak- ned, which they call Confent^ and Temper and Mixture. For Example , F^re extreme hot and fomewhat dry withall, and Water very cold and'fomevvhat wet, meet- ing together in even powers and proportions of ftrength are both impaired, but neither loft and deftroyed : But if this Water chance by the heat of Heaven to be taken inhandjand turned into Aiery and fat fubftance •, though there be now two Moiftures fet againft the drought of Fire^ yet becaufe of the heat of Weather and Heaven • abounding, it is now become partly like to Fire^ and friendly, or at leaft his weaker Foe and Enemy, yield- ing himlelf for Food unto it, and increafing his ftrength and Nature : But if, on the other fide, Air^ unto his ex- ceeding Moifture, matching the drought of /"/r^, get fome ftrength and watery coldnefs (as appeareth m a thick and foggy weather j it is able eafily to overcome V the Fire^ and eat him up. (f)Aver.apud Now for a mixt Body (which is a(/>) confentand Irde ^fcnf'& ^"^^i^D ^^^ ^^^"^ fi""^ famous Enemies^ made and kept in fenfib. c. J 9. in tune and awe, by the force and skill of an heavenly and p. 1^8. natural Heat upon themj it hath the fame realon •, for v;hen, either for lack of Meat, or driven by Violence, this Heat departeth, the friends begin to ftir and fight for Food and Freedom, until fome one ftands out above the reft, and recovers fome part of his former Power, (which puts thofe that can feel to pain, and breeds Dif- eafes) and at laft gets the whole Lordfiiip and rule over all, and turns them all into his own Nature .^ Then the old confent, knot and body, is broken, loft and fpoiled^ and a new made and gotten, ftill going downward, un- til! they return to Earjh^ from whence they all came 5 for Cap.!. TheJVayto'Blifs. ^ for Example^ and that near home ^ for the fiery frame of Mans Body, {q) wlien the Satl^or: want of food fails ((\) Jouh.cuY. and flits away, they ftrai^ht retire, and run back ia or- '^rJ?^' ^ ^'''^' der-, nrft /"/r^fwaxcth moift and lukewrrm, lupt up j^.jyy. with Air •, and this, foon after, thick and cold, that is, x WateriQi ■, and Water muddy, (till more and more thick and dry, till at laft it be moift, dry and heavy, and all be devoured and brought to {r} Earthy from whence (i-; ocdi. utc. they all fet forth before. ^•^' '''^'9. And this is natural DifToIution, and Death of our Bodies J forcible Death and Defhudion is by Difeafes, (to bar out other force, which no man can warrant) when eitheri?r^4/^ or 3if4/,diftemper'd in fome quality, do feed and nourifli fome one their like beginning above the reft, and make him ftrong and able to vanquish them, and bring in the Jarre of that Mufical Confenc sforefaid : As when by waterifli Meat and Air^ all the beginnings are changed into VVatcr^ the Hot and Dry, into a fiery temper,and fo forth •, or elfe when the Body wants the Exercife^ which is owmg and due unto him 5 which is quick Motion^ to preferve the Air and Fire in the fine frame and temper of Man, from the floih and idlenels of the flow and rufty Beginnings, By which grounds laid, we fee the way to uphold the ; temper of our Bod'^^ made plain and eafie ♦, No more but to feed and cherifh it with clean and temperate Air and Meat continually : that all the Beginnings ferved and fed alike, one may not be more proud, ftrong and able than another, tofubdue the reft, and overthrow the ftate. And thereof it is that To^j^on killeth, is, becaufe it is extreme Cold and Dry, (for we may ftiut out all Rotten, as-alfoFiery and Watery Tempers, from the name 54- The Way to Mfs. Lib II- name of Poyfen) feeding and ftrengthning the Dregs, but devouring the fine Liquor of the Body, wherein the Life ftandeth, when as the fame Ffijfort nourifheth and maintaineth the like framed and fo tempered Body^ as venomous fuyces the Hke Plants^ and thcfe noifome Beafls^ as one of thefe another. Nay, which is very (0 did. var. ftrange, I have read of fuch natured {,s) Men of Indiay U9. r.40. i\^^i ufe(j to eat Toads and Vipers : And Albertus faith CK/.Sot/.u. hefawaC7?>/of threeyearsold, that fed greedily up- f.i?. on Sfiders ^ and was never hurt, but liked greatly l?UYch. Pilgrim. ^^^" ^^' /.f . f. J. in /).537. & cor. A^rip. deOcc. Phil. l.i. c.\9. in f.39. & Parch. Pdgrm.vol.i. f-MPf- ^f the Sultan of ombaya. Do not think it any Difcord, when I faid above Fafi-- fineftef, and now Temperatenef upholds the Body -, all is one. It cannot be Fajl, unlets the Earth and Water be well and evenly mixt •, nor Fine., except Fire mdAir bear as good a ftroke of rule among them. But you willfay,that Nature hath given her Creatures a walk of courfe, not to (land ftill in one (lay and place for ever, but to move and walk up and down,to and fro, from one fide to another 5 that is, as it was faid before, God hath made a changeable World ^ and therefore this frame and building of Mans Body^ cannot ever hold and hang together,but mufl needs one day be loofened, and fall afunder.— I grant it mufl be fo,by the courfe of iV4^«rf, becaufe to fulfil the ^/// of herX^r^, (lie hath appointed a flronger means and caufe to work it •, either the want and abfence of the inward Friendjhip , and keeping of the Soul in thofe which the common fort call Living things ^ or , in the reft , the prefence of fome ravenous and fpoiling Enemy : But if cunning Art and Cap.I. The JVay to Slifs. 55 and Skill (which by the help of Nature, is above the courfe of Nature) by knowledge of the due Food for Xz/e, and defence againft the Enemy i may be able to de- fend the one, and keep off the other ^ then, no doubt, the frame and temper of both Dead and Quick may laft for ever. The way is found already, and known by certain and often proof for the one ^ I mean, that Art hath often, by keeping off the fpoiling Enemy with a ftrong Coa- trary, preferved and upheld a dead thing of flippery flate, and foon decay, for ever : as a {t) Corps by Balm, (t) vmceif. de or Water of Salt, Timber by the Oyl of {u) Brimflene, r27.'i« / sV. and fuch like : why then fliould the next prove impof- rid^ fible < to wit, by giving (lore of fit Food ftill to Life f^^'^^"- ^y.^'- and natural Heat, (for the other two helps of Meat and I'^s. ' '^^* Exerdfe are eafie j to under-ihore, and keen upright our <^ weak and falling frame for ever C The Greeks hold, that S/g-/^^/! our natural Heat and Life, becaufe it feeds upon zndg^teirard.inp. waiheth the moft fine and unfeen Oyl (called firft Moi- ^*J^^^^^ ^ flure) daily, which no Food of Atr or Meat is fit and fine /.??.?. d"cx\ enough to repair, muff needs faint and fail withall, and ^ ^'''■.^ro^w. cannot be reflored : Let us fee what may be faid to ''^jnun. Vcet this, yea and bend all our force unto it *, for this is all. de ncond. aut l.iiC. /.I. f.i r. & 'Saucier. Chronog.vo!.'! . gener,i6. & Bernardin. Corium vit.de git Imper.vii.di Henr. i.inp.^^^. {u) Farac.Ub.de confer. rer.n.it.Tom.6. in p.m. The S&ul and Life, and Natural Heat of things, is often and fitly compared and likened unto the other grofs and fierce, hot and dry Body, called Eire ♦, to feed and maintain this, his weak Like, that is. Air, cannot be wanting : and becaufe it, in his due place, is too thin and feat tered, dividing the f/>^ to nought in purfuit of his j(f neJVajto'Blifs. Lib H. his Food & Suftenancejit mud needs by heaps be crow- ded up in ia (hell of Water^ called Ojl or FatyZs we heard before. In that Fight & Batteljif muchH^4/ and (9;/ meet together5the work is great and bufie3& thereout arifeth a fmokejas a leaving of the Meat^i^^ the Fire follows as far as the Smoke hath 2nyFatnejs^yN\\\(:\i makes a flame„ Albeit the Nature of Fire be, as long as he hath Food enough to crave no great Exercife, and will laft (y^) urdsuht. yiQW in a clofc place, irv) asunder J^hesy &c. yet a .i^mp. 4. Flamehtin^ more than /"/W, (a hot Smoke or Breath befides) delires open and clean Air^ both to receive the thick refufe, which elfe would choke him •, as alfo for his like weaker Food, that he be not ftarved : which two are enough, befides a little Motion forhisExer- (k) Arid. lib. cife. That we may marvel as thofe Men (x) which dcRfna'.c.^. |^j.|j^g|„ Cooling for another needful thing in this bufi- nefs, whereas the kinde of Fire and Jir abhor Cooling as his contrary •, as it is engraven in the Nature of all things, ftill to fly from that which hurts it. Now in like manner to come to the purpofe, if the Fire of Life and Natural Beat be not great, a little fine 07/ and firft Moifture will ferve to ktd ir, and out of that flack working fmall flore of refufe Breath and Smoke arifeth, to make any need of frefh and open Air to clenfe and feed it, as appears by thofe Wights^ which are able to live in their places without help of Windy Bfeath and , , ^ Air : The little parted Vermin (called in Latine Infe0d) \\)^mcr. fiat. , o ^. n ■ \ / x x r i^ r q,i4J.s.c.\9. anywhere-, ocFiJh in the Water^{y)n2iy m the ioundEarth <^ fometimes •, and Toads in clofe Recks^ as {z) AgricoU 5 ^ A^^n. Dcpnof. ^^^ ^^^^^ -^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^-^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ AriftotU {z)Lib.d'-Anim.fukerran.propcfifi:ni. (^) Hift, Aaim. l.^.c.i^, Vid. Card. Snbt.l.9.in p.'^f'T. & Ph I. judJib. dc C pnt. & Sen >i:ii. qxxjl. L as bent toward enmity and contrariety with it, will ftand in combate againft it, and overcome it : And thence it is, that in deep Mine- pits and Caves un- der ground, where the Air is thick, corrupt and un- kinde, for want of flowing, no Wight nor Light can draw Breath and live, unlets by fly device the way be found to move and nourifli the fame Atr and make it kindly. Then to draw near the Matter •, If the Stars do feed on v/£therj and this upon clean and fpotlefs Air^ as on the weaker Likes 5 and our Soul and Life is of a ftarry kind-, even a Hip and fpark thereof,as is aforefaid,then it followeth,That to feed our iy£ther{c)^iht carrier of our (c) ^nony^n. Soulj good Atr which is round about us, will ferve the ^-ncht. vhyf.rr- turn s but to nourifh Life and Heat it felf, ^^ther it felf ^^"^-^ ^^'^■^'^h muft be the Food, even this So^y which is fo high, and * ^' fo far part our reach, except this Spark of heavenly Ftre^ were able like the whole B^dy^ and Spring above, by his power over our Meats,io turn the Water^ tirft into Breathy and this into iy£ther ; which it is not, and can 1 go 58 TheWaytoMfs. LibIL go no further than to Ak^ and to make a common Ojl and Fatmf^ fit to nourifkan Element aly as they term it, but not an Heavenly Fire, Where then ihall our Life finde Food and Sufte- nance, fay you, fit to bear it upjand maintain his Being r In that fine Oy/, and unfeen firft Fat and Moifiure ? And call you that ey£thereal ? how can that which was once Seed^ and before that BlooJ^ and firft of all a Plant ^ be- come a £o^y fo fine, clean and t/f^thereal ^ efpccially when one weak Star^ a foft Fire of Heaven^ is not able to make fo fine a Work, fo far and highly fundred < — I marry, this is the Secret and Depth of all, which be- Ciufe the Greeks never founded, I do not marvel if the means to preferve Life did efcape them. But let us fliat out Envy, and help them in this helplefs Matter 5 yea, although we be driven to open the things that have lain long hid, and covered long with great Dark- nefs. When our Life in the lufting parts is by the Bellows of Thought ftirred up and moved unto Work, it fend- cth forth out of every part, the hot natural Sfirits and I'd) fit. scv, ^ Breath of Begetting^ {d) clothed with the (hell of Seed^ VanideaMed. cut out from the dewy part of our Meat, ready to be 104, 103,104. turned mto our Boay^ (or at lealt, already and now newly turned) and not from the Refiife and Leaving of Ye) Arifi. de jj^ (f^ 35 fome fav, when I could ftiew it, if time would .m-an^m,Li.c. ^^^^^^ ^^^ the bcft Juyce inall the Body. varaceif.iib.de This is the furtheft and fineft Workmanfhip of our ^^AnpIT '^''* ^^^^ ^"^^ ^ood of Body., the very beginning and firft (hmppo'c. lib. Stuff of that fine Oyl the Food of Life, after that re- ^eei >om. raaining forty dayes in heat, before it come toperfe- fpnap. <^ion, being wrought^ as we know, with the double na- tural Cap.I. The Way to M/s. 5p tural heat of the begetting Breath and Wonab, forty dayes before it be fully framed and faftiioned into the Form and Shape of a Mart^ ready to draw Food and Nourifliment (be it Milk or Menftrue, received by Mouth or Navel, I cannot ftand to Reafon) from the Mother, to the increafe of the tough or founder parts ; But the firft Moifture is now at his full growih and per- fedion, and from thence feedeth Life^ being unfed it feif, and wafteth daily, againft the grounds and rules of Fhyftck : for the childe hath now received all that the Workman can, and is put over for the reft, which is his Nourifhment, unto his Mothers payment-, but what hath ftie to give unto the food oiLife ? nought, as 1 (liewed, €lfe we might live for ever. Then we fee what the fir ft Mot (lure is, and how it f excels the Food of ih^Body^ and why it cannot be ) maintained by it, becaufe it is the moft line and aiery piece (for the reft go every one his own way, to make his own part from whence he came) of all the Seed min- gled, wrought, purged, raifed and refined, and then clofely thickned, and driven up clofe together, forty times more and above our Meat^ which in one day is ended, and ready to be turned, and therefore unfit in any wife to increafe and cleave to our firft MoiHure^ih^ Food of Ltfcy even as unmeet for all the world, as Wa- ter is to other Oyl and Fatne/, And by this, to come to the point, we have a plain Pattern (if we be Wife and Careful) and way to work the great Myftery of Adjournment of Life ^ for if it be fo as I proved above, that all the Moifture of the Mat- ter lieth in the maintenance of our Natural Heat •, and it, as our Men^^ all Keafon teachethjfollovveth the fteps of I "2 common 6q TheU^ayto'Blifs. LibH, common Fire^ vvaxethand waneth, is quick and faint, according to the (lore of his J'^^^^and did Moifiure ^ then Cure if we can n:iake an Oyhs fine and clofe as this, nay in all points all one with this, it willeafiiy mingle and joyn with our firft Moifture, and To feed, nourilh and encreafe it, and Life withall •, even in as good and plain Reafon, as the fame Ojl dropt in ftill into the Fire, aug- ments both Food and Flame together : yea, put cafe the fame natural Fire of ours, (hould not onely pair his ftrength, for lack of Meat^ and flack his force, but abate of bignefsalfo> as fome Phyficians hold, yet there were no great hurt done ^ for this fecond fpark and flip of the great and common Fire of Nature^ being a piece of the finer part of the whole, (which is all one in all things j and fellow to his Like in us, when it is made free and loofe in this fine and t/£thereal Medicine y would reftore the Heap and mend the Matter. But how (hall we get the like fine Oyl and firfl: Mot- jhre ? the Matter is driven fofar, that there is all the hardnefs. I (hewed you the Pattern -, even 2s Nature got the fame before you, by the like Stujf and Seed^ and by the like Heat and moving Workman : This by cer- tain proof of all our Men is eafie to be found, even any gentle, continual, equal, and moid, that is, any rotting Hear. But the Seed feemcth hard and unable to be matched, becaufe a kinde of ftrange and hid proportion and temper of our Bodj^ (which no Man by conceit and knowledge, much lefs by hand and workmanrtiip, can reach and counterfeit, no not i^ he boiled all the Mix- tures in all the Heats^ that all the Wits in the World could devife) made it thus after his own fafhion. Then, how if we take the fame frame and temper^ BOt Cap.I. The IV ay to "Blifs. 6i not by us, but by Kinde proportioned, I mean, the fame :Bloody Fleff) and Seedr if we will, (which the Man of Germany choofethjand commendeth above all, and calls it Mummia) would it not be very natural ^ for if the (g) Leaches hold it good, if any part about us fail in (a) f«w. de his duty, to corred and help him with the like part of a'^d.nmmcauf. fome Beafly palfing in that property •, as to mend faint- ',\'^''^' '"^* ing {h) Lufi^ with the rardoi a Luf^y Bea(l v the Womb (h; CroiL d: that cannot hold, with the Womb oi ^a quick Conceive -^ ^ifpef'''^'^ Narrow breathr/7g^mth the Lungs of a lon^-wiridcd Wight ^ c^ and fo forth: then confider with how much more kindly P"'^f'-^J '^^^' confent, we might with our own parts finely drelTed ;^^j'" '^' help our felves in our Difeafes. But for my part, I cannot unwindethe bottom of this great Secret of Germanj •, for we mean not to make a Man, which is to be feared in that courfe, if his Rule be true, but a firft Moifture onely : and then, fith all things are made of the fame Stttff^ by the fame Work- W4»,and dilfer but by Mingling onelyjit boots not where we begin, and upon what Stuff, in f^ead ot that Secd^ if we give him the fame Mingling and form at the laft, which Art is able in time todo5becaufe that which Kind is forced to do at once, (lie may do often^ and fo reach the end of Nature. What need I fay more < Is not the Matter clear enough < that another faft fine Ojl and firft Moifiure may be made in all points like to our own, and able to maintain or repair it, and the natural Heat together 1 and then that by the fame (though other eafie means would ferve) becaufe it is fo temperate, the Bodj may be brought and held in fquare and temiper ^ And fo, by reafon all the Caufes meet and flock together, that Life 6z Thelfayto'Blifs. LiB.nj Life may be prefer ved, I dare not fay for Ever, for fear ot the ftroke of Deflmy, which God hath made, and will have kept, but unto that Term, and thofe Bounds above- fet, and beyond them alfo, if any Maft have ever gone beyond them. But if It fliould chance any of our chofen Children^ (to ufe the phraf^ of om Family) to be unable yet far all this teaching, to take and digeft this Food of Learn- ing, what is to be done < fhall we caft them off for un- toward Chan^dtngs ^zs the fooliQi Women think < or elfc ^nlS'tu ^d f'l ^^^ ^^'^^^ ^"^ Aps^ as (i) Gden did the Germms ? No^ that were Inhumanity ♦, Let us rather nouriOi them ftill eafily and gently, hoping that they will one day prove Men ♦, and give it out unto them, That all the moft Wife and Cunning Men in the World, I mean, all the Hofts of Hermetifls^ have from Age to Age ever held (but under Vails and Shadows fomewhat covertly) and taught for certain, that fuch a firft fine 0)1^ whereof I fpake, and which they call a Fifth Naturty Heaven^ or, by a more fit name father ^ is able alone to hold toge- ther the brittle flatc of Man very long above the wont- ed race, both in Life^ Health and Luftinefs. Nay, for fear there be yet fome fufpicion left in their Authorities, I will go further. As many of the other fide of Greece ^ as had travel- led in thefe Matters , and feen fomething, (though not with Byes^ but in Minde^ I think) confefs the fame ; as (befides them which perhaps I know not) Fernelitss in part, and altogether Ficinm and Cardan^ (two as ■ wily and learned Men as any time hath of late brought forth) do openly declare in their Writings. But if this foft and eafie kinde of delivery will not yet fervc the turn, Cap.I. The Way to "Blifs. 6^ turn, and they muft feed their Eje as well as their Bellj, as \,\{Q Pro'verb goes-, then let them tell me, by what diligence did (k) P/^?^ fo order Himfelf andfchoolhis rkjs.^.E^ig. Body (to ufehis ownwordsj as he could be able to L-pf.ur.miot. caufe Nature to end his dayes at his pleafure < And by i $,16,17. Departing upon the fame day Eighty one years after ^^^ ^5^.^^ .^ his Birth, to fulfill of purpofe Nine times Nine^ the vh.'pbt'/quam mbft perfe(a Number ? Might he not have had fome /'•'^ ^e//. p;«- fuch Medicine ? Nay, is it not like he had, when he '"^■"^; was in (/) )?!ot.Ema. methinks, it is a grief to hear the harmlefs (/>) and glo- * '^''^'^' rious Divine things above, fo defaced with Slander, and no J^afi make anfwer for them •, Then by your leave a little. IF the Stars have no Light,and fo no Power but from. the Sufjf that moft wholfome and profperous Creature^ then they hurt him moft wrongfully ,and reprove them- felves very rightly. And again, if they be but a piece of the finer part, and firft Nature, as it were, of the IVorld^ (as it was declared above) then they be the u^vun Gcor '^^^^^^^^^^ things in the World, fo far be they from yL/.dcmm. poifoned llander : (q) And [o, let their Lights be never Mnndi totius fo crofly mingled in their Meetings, {r) and thereby J'fg^'^^^'^'^' the ftate of the Weather fuddenly changed, and from & thence our Bodies troubled, and tumbled into Difeafes^ stY«Yf C'^0- be^aufe ^^gy ^^^q ^ot prepared and made ready for it* de gii incauti, (s) yet the things arc good and profperous, and by ProJ^er.i.'.z.f. knowledge of the Stars, and thdv Race, we may pre- 4^?«p.i73, p^^.^ ^^^ felves and prevent all : Now for the lower In- & fe<^ion,it is not worth anfweringjwhen there is fo much Ibid Miu ^,^^g ground in the Work. irtfm. o (0 Joan. P'lcta M rand, in Afirol. l.^. c.ii.inp.^^x. (i) MKxob.in Som. Sc'ip.l.i. c.\^. & Rob.dcFln5ttbM Mucrocofm. l.i.traCt,\.c.().inp.y.o'),\o6. Then let us pafs over to that other Branch -, May we not ihun the luring Baits of our Diet, and take fuch Meat as is moft temperate and near our Nature ? and then drefs the fame, after the moft kindly and whol- fome Cap.II. Ihe Way to Wtfu 67 Tome manner, feafoning it well with Labour^ Mirth and Steef .<* And to be plain, ^\d I not ftiew befoi'e, what a Jewel of Health it were, to ufe all raw and temperate Meats ? Or, becaufe we be Wife and Virtuous, and this Diet perhaps would change our Nature^ and bring it down towards the ground, and a Beaftly kinde ^ we may by skill drefs our Meat^ if we will, and ufe the Fire^ but not as Cooks do, (for I told you the nature of Fire) but like Philofofhers a quite contrary way, taking the beft, which is now laft, and leaving that which we now take, which is the worft : A way^ I fay, to ftrip off all grolTnefs and foulnefs of Bodies, the onely hurt of themfelves and us, and the Seeds of all Difeafes, Twill tell you another way, which you will think ftrange, and yet you (hall finde it true •, If the Meat be temperate, as I bid you choofe it, there is no hurt can come thereby, (if you keep meafure in your felves) fave from the Leavings 5 Thefe, in fo clear a Diet, firft will be very few •, But if you would be ruled by my Counfel which Nature taught me, thofe few ihould ne- ver hurt you. Of all the Leavings in the Body, there are three which the Liver maketh moft troublefome unto us, for the reft are eafily difpatched : A light and eafie, or rather a fiery Scum called Choler : A cold and heavy Mud called Melancholy^ and a third is Urine •, but thofe two the worfer. And this fault is notinthem- ^ felves, but all by reafon of the needlefs and hurtful Bowels in our Bodies, (as the Seedfman ufeth to fow good and bad together j which being of the fame kinde and quality with thofe Humours^ do hale and pull them Hill unto them, (as all other parts and things do) for their food and nourifhment : and fo by the narrow paf- K 2 fages ' 6Z rhelVaytomtfs. LibIL fages to and fro, their greedinefs in pulling and holding^ and a hundred fuch like means, fubjed to great mif- chanceSj have brought in as many mifchiefs •, Whereas Nature^ the great expelier of her Unhkes and Bnemus^ if file had her free choice and liberty, would otherwife with eafe, and without hurt, expel thofe Leavings tt^^Q- cially fo fmall a number of the better fort, in fo clean a X)/W. Nay, fee the malice of thofe Parts (thofe Parts are A//7/, G4// and i?^w) if there be not fufficient flore of other foul Meat at hand,like a poifoned and purging Medicine J they ufe to draw good Juyces, and to make food of them. Wherefore Ariflotle^ the wily Spy of Nature, as if he bad been made in. this matter, (hewing the need arid ufe of the greater Entrails and Bowels of Wights^ faith very (x) 7)e part, truly and wifely, (?) The Heart and Liver as the Spying of amm. .3.C. . j^^^^ ^^^ -p^^j ^^ y^ needful for all Wights ^ adding to the hotter ones the Brain to cool, and the Lights to cleanfe the heat 5 ftaying there, as if he thought the o- (uj D! prn. ther three unprofitable : Nay, for one of them, {u) m anm.i.^.c.z. ^^e fame Book, I ween, telling the ftories of the Hart and Camely and giving reafon why they be both fo Swift, Healthful, Long-lived, and of fuch other good properties above the reft, enfeoffed, voucheth in plain Terms, the want of the fiery and fcummy Ga/l^ as a great Enemy unto them. For the Miit^ that muddy Bowel, that it may be left (w)D:fcersd(t out as neediefs , in the Bodies of the better Wights^ f/'^^l^L"^r ^' (j^) the Medows of Candy , near to Cartina, declare 5 f' 145! *&' When by a flrange and hidden Virtue, they bereave the Ahx.abAUxat. jBeafls thereof that graze upon them : Nay, that the dter-gen.^.c. j^^i^ ^5 HQt oHcly idle^ but hurtful withall^ Experience even. Cap.l I. Thi Way to %lifu 69 even in our felves hath caught ic,in the Tr^rks light Foet- 7nen^ I fay, (I know not by what Example, except it were the want ot the fame in the Camel^ making that Bcafl able to travel an hundred miles a day, and fo with- out drink fitteen dayes together) being in their Child- hood gelt of their Milty prove thereby the mofl Light, Swift, Sound and Faffing Footmen in the World. As for the Reins ^ the Urine drawers , as drinklefs Wights have none at all •, To fome Men have but one of them J as if Nature pafTed not to make any : and if we could forbear our Drink, (as thofe Beafts do bykinde, and fome Ivlen bycuftomej we might the better fpare them, and avoid many Mifchiefs in our Bodies. There- fore that odde man {x) Paracelfm^ I know not by what (x) ib.i. de v.r, mrmbfnr Light^ (caft in, I think, from abovej not onely feeth^ ^ ihefe faults, but alfofindeswayes to amend them, and /J^'3^ ' "^^^ to cut off the mifchief of all thefe three noifom Parts^ not with any gelding Craft, but with his Divine kinde oi Healing, So that to avoid all i)/p^/f/ that (pring of the Leaojings^ my Counfel is, either with Knife in Childhood, or rather with this Mans gelding Medtcmes^ (you know where to finde them, I need not fhew you) to put out the fway and power of thofe idle Bowels; Or perhaps it (hould not need, and in a ffock that ufeth our clean Diet^ Nature her felf, as fhe doth in thofe Me- dows, would quite raze, and difpatch them within a few Generations. But 1 will go further 5 Hear a new and unheard-of Opinion, and yet let not your Judgement run, before you fee good ground of Reason. What if we could faft for ever, and live without all Food < Might not all hurt and danger of Meat be then fore- ff all edc' If other Wights,. 70 TheWayto'Blifs. • Lib.IT. wights^ whofe Life hangeth upon the fame hold, by the fufterance, nay by the command ot Nature, do Fail for ever •, there is no Reafon but the fame common Nature, will at leaft, fuffer it in us. Let us fee— And to ftep over the chan^elem, becaufe it is a cold and bloodlels Wight ^ what may we fay to a ^/W which is a hot and Pl'^if f ^30' perfed one < a Btrd in the Moluccas, (y) Manucodtaca, ' ' & ' by name, which by reafon ilie hath fo large Wings up- A hovand.ch on fo fmall a Body, (her Wings are as large, almoft, as ji as, .12. ^^^ Wings of an Eagle^ when her Body is no bigger than a Swallow) is born up by force of Wind, with more (-LYA.Gci.noa. e^fe ^han {z,) Archjtas Dove, and hoverethand hangeth in the ^/> continually, taking no other Food (as, alas, how can (he <) than there is found < Nay, have you not {''\T/'^"i' ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^'^^ ^^^ ^" ^^^ Weft-India^ which . 10. w p. 415. {^ngeth fo fweetly all the Night long,neither Night nor Gon'Kjcy.ov}. Day eating any thing ^ But if there be Examples in Ofdl'^'d^"^"^ our kinde as well, then it is certain, and above contiol- Furch. Pilgrim, menu Voir, J. 'i.e. a. in (jj>^ p^j^y (^[^\^^ ^j^gj-g [^ ^ Mouthlefs, and fo a Meat- (hj Nat. hi (I.!, lefs kinde of Men about the head of Ganges^ which li- 7.C.Z. veth by the hreath of their Nojlrils, except when they take a far Journey they mend their Diet with the fmell of Flowers : And left you might think I lean upon bare Authorities without the flay of Reafon, all the matter refts upon this Reafon •, I told you before,that our Life l«y in the bands (befides a little Exercife) of two like Meats 'j One for the Soul and Natural Heat^ which is within us, cuid the fineft and firft Moiflure in the Body 5 The other is without, even any Meat of the fame tem- per with our Bodies, as near as may be, to uphold the Frame and Building of the fame , which I faid to be Cap.II. TheTVayto'Blifs. yi be a fine aiery and fiery Frame. Then the Air it felf, efpecially when it is evermore (as the wet Sun- beams declare) fo fprinkled with fome fine forreign Fatnefs 5 (Omayfeem fufficient food to (^^l^i^-f^'^-'r. nourilli the fine part of our Frame, whereon the tern- 4o!''D^Dml- per of Mankinde and his Life touching that point ftand- ^ '"-^o «"''■ --o- eth 5 which is as much as any Meat can do to Lifcj (for '■^'^^^'^'^' it is not fed by common Food, as I faid above j though not enough for ftrength, becaufe the groffer, founder and tougher parts whereon the ftrength liethjlhall wane food in this Diet^ and fail, no doubt, greatly ^ yet Life (hall hang ftill, as long as Air and firfl Moifture hold, in my Opinion. Or, if we think that too fpare a Biety we may mend it,as the Mouthlefs People do^{d}\\'\i\\ fmell of Flowers: (i)ruieMxrf. Or rather, as we know Nature is able to draw Air^ and /^' pJVpS' other Food which (he defireth, through the Skin in all Up.^^q'/ places of the Body -,- fo if ilie had Meat applied to the Stomach, (he would, no doubt, fatisfie her felf that way mod finely , without the heap of hurts let in at the broad and common Gates. As we fee, by Example, for Drink ^ that all the while we fit in Water , we Ihall TitvtxThirfl : and for iVc4/, (f) Paracelfm reporteth a {^)T?-n,icri.A - Mdnoi his knowledge, that by applying of frefh Sods '^'''^^l'^'^^'\f (a bare Food, God wot) in this fort faded, without all c'oc^m.ronKi, hunger, for half a year together. »^ P- f • But if all that would not ferve the turn, and we mufl needs receive in Meat at the common Gate, yet we may let it pafs no further than the Gate, and make the Sto- ^^^ p . ,. . mach in the Mouth (which was the ufe oF fome holy moio'^^piwlnlL men^ if) as he doth witnefs) and fo provide enough, '/'•''^•i- ^'"« ?• both for i://^ and ^m';^^/^, and a great deal better for '^^^'(^^'5^, our j% IheWdyto'BUfs. Lib.U. our Health than we do, becaufe the cleaner part alone fhall be received \ and moreover, as he faith, for the clean difpatch of that our ordinary trouble and annoy- ance, which your reverence will not fuffer me to name (although I might, among Phjftcians) but they know my meaning. But it lliall not need to feek (hifts and holes, if we will believe the German^ that we may eafily Faft all our Life (though it be many Years together^ without all kinde of Meat^ and fo cut off all doubts and dangers of Difcafes thereof fpringing, for he faith in the firft Book ^I!mx"^^', ^^ ^^^ ^'^^ te) opinions y that. He knetv feme holy Men, rorn.6. tn p. y. that hddfafied and lived witheut all Food^ for twenty years ^ ^ . (pace together. For tun. Licet. ■'■' *^ dc hu qui dlii Jtnc al. vixcrunty l.i. & Th? admirable a.-rd nfmorable H'iff. of our Time by J: Goiilrt-t, Eig^apj d by Ed: Grimjio?:, in p. 3 J i, 353- & p. '^'^9. & deinccps. & Car. BoviU.Eptjl. adNu. GiUnbiifia. What need I fay more < If you be both fo hard of belief, and dull of fight, as neither Reports of good Authors will (ink into you , nor yet you can fee the Light of Reafon ihining before you -, take here a few of ordinary matters, in the life and ufe of Men^ and weigh one with another. Is it not as common in ufe^ and indeed as needful to Sptj and to avoid another namelefs Leavings and to Brink^ but to Sleep efpecially :" IF fome of thefe, nay all maybe fpaied, why not our iif f^^ as well:' Let us fee a little, and by Example, becaufe Reafon is both too long, and too open to cavil. Ch)p//;7.'7.f. To leave Drink ^ {h) which many have all their *2- J^ lives left 5 Antonia (?) the Wife of Drufm the Ro- (i)ri;./.7.c'.i^ ^^^ never fpntj No nor the whole Indian Nation: FerncL Cap.U. The fFay tomfs. 7^ FermL {k) faith, he knew one that kept that namelefs 0<) dc pxn. Mdtter forty days together : and although this anfwer- f ^'^^ ^fy^'P^' eth not the Queftion, yet it (lieweth the truth of the (h'\kYsen. de former holy Story ♦, for if he, in fo foul and grofs a Diet ^''^- '- *• ^- '*• as the common Diet is,could fo long want it •, why not thofe Mcf} far ever, in fo clean and fine a Diet , almoft empty and void of all Leavings ? for the grofTer fcf r, which make up this foul and ihamelefs one, were left before as you heard, and the finer in that pafTage from the Stomachy through the former Guts were drawn all away, to the Liver ^ as the like is ever in us, and voided other wayes. Todofe up all 5 Mecdnm^ {I) ^ugufl us his Mitiion, (V'Bitn.i.r.c, flcpc, not one wink for his three laft years fpace toee- J^-'*""}'*'^'^ ther, as Pltny reportetn. And thus we fee thefe ftrange domn(feMw- things fall out in proof: But how, I cannot (land to ^'^f!"'- fhew 5 firft Nature fulFers them •, then Ufe and Cufiom, in.ul'lt another Nature^ brings them in, that we may well be- ^ra.c.ii. lieve the like in this matter of Meat we have in hand : for as the {m) Bear, according to the guifeof many ^J^J.^Pl'Y: Beafts that lurk in Winter, fafteth forty dayes •, fo inM.i6t"," ' in) Cardart tells of a Scotti^ young Man in the PoVes ^ Coumt Rome, that by ufe brought himfelf to Fafi ^.f^Zm, thirty dayes together, which by ufe might have been ^. ^x.99. three Hundred, three Thoufand as well, if he had or- ^"^r^l^r* dered himfelf thereafter, by flow and creeping Cu- L'mJ?.'"' flom, and by fuch Means as I fet down before. ^^^^ corn. Agrip.de Occ.Phil.Uuc.$S.inp. ii8. & Kcckerm. Syfi.Pbyf. /.j. c.\i. in p.^oi. & Stro'^\. Cicogna.Fdog.dcgh meant, proj.u [.^, c.6.fub fincrn. & Her. Mercurial, Av.ix. ad Hipp. 'PTiti ei^X' '^ Bcrnardin.CariodelHip. MiUan. part.i.infol.iis. So we fee, I fay, great worldly Wonders prove plain and eafie Truths in the fight of Wifdome ; and that by L the 7f 7he^aytomfs. Lib.II. the means aforefaid (where are moe than one, if this like them not, they may take another) it is poflible for all Men by Kinde and Cuftom, to keep their Health for ever: Let us come to the next point, that it is as well to be recovered, if it were loft •, and that all Dtfeafes may be cured : This is a point much harder than the lirft, even fo befet and ftopt with all kindes of Letts and Incumbrances, that a Man can fcarce tell which way to fet a Foot forwards. Firfl appears ty£fcHlafit^s^ Biffocrates and Plate^ the chiet among the Grecians^ bearing in hand fundry Dif- eafes of both kindes (both came by defcent, and gotten by purchafej hopelefs and paft recovery, and giving over the Men that owe them for troublefome to them- felves, and to the Common- wealth •, Then you may fee Galen^ and his loft and fine Company with him, and ihofe with a long train of Caters and Cooks after them, loaden with all kinde of dainty Brngs^ ftand forth and (k}) Fr\ s Aih. cry, {.o) They have thefe many A^es^ devoured heap of de ninm nt. Jiooks, and took cndie/s pains in f arching out the Natures- Science. I. in of fwgle Medicines^ and making Mixtures of the fame, and yet could hardly cure fome Agues ^ and other lefi Dif' safes : But for the four Stagers^ to mt^ the Gouty Leprofie^ D) opfie, and F ailing- ftcknef^j the) could never heal them^ and have for Oracles fet them down incurable. What were beft to be done in this matter <. What ihall we fet againft the weight of fo many great Mens Authorities ? Marry, put them in Ballance, as we have ^wi/f'?' \!fub ^^"^ hitherto, and weigh them with Truth and Reafon. fine. ' '&' But where fhall we finde it, fay they < As it is every Fernei. de abd,, ^^ere (as (/>) Democritfis faid j drowned in the Deep, fo 2j^ .1. jjj jj^^j Mutter it is fcattered all about, and largely (pred withall 'j Cap.ll. ThelV'ayto'Bllfs. 75 withall ^ for there be three things, and every one full oi under- branches belonging to this ^^/and way of Htaling: The fir ft is knowledge of the Difea^es : ihe Tecond is the Remedies againft them : and the third of the appliar?ce of Remedies •, All which (liould be tra- verfed in this Difcourfe. But it fliall not need, I hope, nay we muft take heed how we tnter into fo large and long a Race, in fo lliort and narrow a compafs of time appointed : Efpecially being never run before by any ot our worthy Anceftors^ the wife zA--gjpians^ whofe fleps we drive to tollow •, for when they have once hit the Mark they (hoot at, and gotten t\\Q great ^.n^gemrai M E D I c I N E J curing with eafe all Difeafes •, they think it ftraight enough, and an empty and needlefs labour (as . it is indeed) to trouble themfelves and their Children with large Rules about innumerable (igns and caufes of Infinite Difeafes^ and about fuch other fmall particu- lars in appliance. Neither would I have you let Paracelfm and his heirs upon me, and fay they have taken great and goodly pains in this field ^ you will then force me to fpeak my Fantafie. Though this 3/4w, (to let his Scholars go, as too young yet) by great Light of Wit^ wherewith he flowed, and by long proling about both with Eyes,Ears and Hands in the MjBertes of ty£gypt^ faw and per- formed many of their Deep Secrets^ yea and found out fome of his own worthy praife, (albeit I think a num- ber feigned -J yet his nerv Art and Rules of Healing are not good in mine Opinion •, for Firft, ag.iinft the Exam- ple of bis Aficeflors^ from whom he had received all. things •, aad then in fpight and difgrace of GAlerii for mif-calling his Countrymen^ as you have heard ^ but L 2 chiefly y6 ThelfaytoMfs. Lib.1I. chiefly carried away with a mad and raging defire of Fame and Honour 5 he took in hand, (a Mm unfit to do it j to pull down and rafe the old Work of Phyfick^ and to fet up that ftrange and famous Nem one : Then fee how it is performed : He fets down fome falfe Rules, fome wafte and idle, and fome wanting 5 and all uncon- ftant, difordered and unlearned 1 Where he doth well (as he doth fometimes) he doth no more than was done before him5and brings in the fame things difguifed with new, odde, crofs, and unheard-of Names, fuch as may move Wonder at the firft, but when they be fcanned, iq) De fin.bon. laughter, iq) as Tftfly faith of the Stoicks like device in propefincr». ^^^ ^^^^ j ^^ ^^^ flander them, for this is no Caufe, I could eafily prove, if this place would admit fuch a Volume. Wherefore, let us follow the true and right t/£gyptians^ and leave Paracelfe in this ill Matter, or light one, if it were good •, and fpend all our care and thought about that which is all, good Medicines and Remedies againft Difeafes : with which old Wives in the Country, and (imple Men on our fide, (I mean, fimple in refpec^ of the Gracian Subtilties about Nothing^ have healed mofl,nay even all Difeafes : and with which indeed the German (let us give him his due praife) hath utterly flain the Grecian Phyfick, and herein done much for Mankinde, by defcrying and difpatching our clofe and fecret Enemy ^ which under colour of friendfhip, and fighting againfl our Enemies, hath this long time be- traid us, and done us much mifchief : which thing one of their befl Captains and Pillars of their State, Fernet (r; ve ahdit. ^ ^^^ j^y name, after he had been a while in ^gypty began 7!iTinpA7l', tofmell at laft, and to repent him of all his former pains^ Cap.II. • The Way to Mfs. 77 pains, (which we know were greacj beftowed in that kinde of fJealwg^^ayin^ it to be but Words^andthe nvhele fgrce and weight of this Art^ to lean upon the Knowledge of the virtues of Medicines fecretly hid and couched in the midfl and Oyl of Bodies ^ to he fttcht out and gotten bj skil- full means of Alchimy^ even of that y^r^, I fay, which is fomuch condemned of his Fellows and Companions. To this Harbour alfo the beft of his i^^/Z^B^^jbefore and fince him have fled, and do daily fly apace, from the toil and trouble of their fruitlefs and barren dead Sea 5 Then let us fliift our Sails^and fly as far and further too, I hope, if Tide and Wind and all, which we have at will, fail not. But firft let us defcribe that Haven of Medicine^ and fee what Marks it hath, and how it differs from other Creeks adjoyning, left at our Journeys end we mifs with more fliame and grief, and fulfer fhipwreck. A Medicine is that which kills the force of that which hurts us : and this it doth many wayes, and yet all to one end (which is the End of all doing and workingj as I faid before) for his Food and Suftenance •, then let us come again and fort our Speeches. A Medicine heals us,and kills our Enemy, either by dulling or confuming it : for when it meets with the contrary of even ftrength (as when (/ j Oyl and Foifon^ Sec, joyn) then in Fight (0 F««f^ ^« they neither eat up nor deftroy each other, but both f/*^,'^''///^* are dulled and weal^ned, and make one blockifli thing, 1 80. * which Nature cafteth out for an unlike and unkindly r . r dead thing, which they call a Leaving (or Excrement.) hUqui Tu'ji,^ But in cafe it be of more ftrength and power than our aliment, vixc- Enemy, then it quite deft roys, devours and turns him ""'^''■^■'^*'^^* into his own Nature 5-— And this Confumer is either like the ^8 TheJfayto'Biifs. Lib.II. the thing that hurts US *, In which fore, even as every Herb oi iundry qualities draws and feeds upon his own (i) piin. 1. 27. Juyce in a Garden, lb one (r) ^otfon doth cure another, '^''' and all purging and drawing things do heal us, and all (u) i'^.ded\Ycr. Planner, As dry Sticks and 7owe^ and Vinegar quench hi'i.u' '^ * wilde Ftres^ or other fat Fircs^ before Water whofe fat- nefs teeds it, for the ftronger contrary quality quelling and eating up the weaker •, fo doth any cold and dry (sv) Tern, de thing, 35 (rv) Bolc Armw^ Terra. Lemnia^ &c. cure a ab.nr.cauf.i.i. rotten Pcifon^ and foare a great number of Cures done*, c.\9.fnpA o. ^yj^jj-j^ ()Qgiy ^'Quife in word the Grxciaff Fhjfick taketh, - though not in deed 5 for we heard even now of two o- other.wayes 0^ Healings which they themfelves and other Folk did take unawares •, though Paracelfe found out the name, belike, of late, but he ftrayeth as much as they on that other fide, when he thinks all Cures thereby performed. Now when the confuming Medicines have done their ^ duties, Nature expels them tor Potfon and unlike ftrange things, according to the Grecian Rules, becaufe all their Medicines were, by their own confellionSj (uch. But if they had either Thought of the dulling Nourtjhr^which^ as I told you, takes the nature of Leaving *, or had known our Mens wholfome Medicines, they would have made another reckoning. But let them go,and let us fee cut in time towards the Haven of Health. ' If the Art of Healing be nothing elfe but the match- ing of hurtful things and their ftronger Enemies, (but equality will fometimes ferve the turn) or Likes toge- ther, and the world be full of both thefe kindes oi Crea- tures^ Cap.I I. The If ay to Mfs. 79 tures^ following the nature of their Parents, the four Beginnings^ which are, as we fee. Tome like, and fome contrary, one to another •, Then fure our All-healing Art is not impoffible, and wanteth nought but a Mm well skilled in the Nature of things, a fhilofofhcy by name ^ for 1 need not put in a Phjfician alfo, to know that other part, the cauCtsoi Difenfes which muft be matched, becaufe, as Par/icelfe\\Q\\ fiiith in that, he that knoweth the caufes of Changes and Chances in the great World^m:xy foon efpy them in the little. But our nought-healing Leaches will ftepin and fay, Difeafes are fome fo great, and in all fo many, ALws wit fo weak and /]iallow,and the Medicine fo hid and drown'd in the deep of Nature, that it is not poflible to finde them all •, or if they were found, to apply them with fuch difcretion, as Nature might abide thofe poifoned frayes and battels within her : And again, that admit all this untrue, yet there be fome Difeafes fent from Witch-craft and Sorcery^ and other means, which have their Caufe, and fo their Cure, without the compafs of Nature-, to let pafs our tickle ftanding daily and hourly fobefet with Defimics^ that a man can warrant no- thing. I marry, Deflinies :[yq too deep and bottomlefs, (to return ftratght (x) Homer-like upon them) and therefore (x) ,[u^i -j it were heft indeed to let them go, and the api-lying of 'oiM^la^t the Medicines with them ♦, the ruther,becaufe the o&tXyhf^^ 1o,%(,^ (the former, I mean) is fo flight a matter to a difcieet [i'^' 3' ^'^•*'^' and well-ordered Leach, fuch a one as is pointed out by their old and famous Leader Hippocrates, who, both in this, and all other duties of his Art ^ hath made fuch, fpeed, and fo far pafTed all his Fellows^ as none fmce (which. 8o rheJVaytom/s. Lib.IL (which is a good time) could ever overtake him, no nor yet come fo near,as to keep the fight of him whom they had in chafe, and followed. Then,f-or thofe unfearchable and iupernatural Caufes,(as they call them) if they flow from unclean and wicked 5/?/>//j, (as fome think) they are not the Stuf of the thing that hurts us, (though they fometimes dwell in and poflfefs the Body) but windy movers, workers and difturbcrsof the peace and good order of our Bodies^ much like unto thofe fierce and fudden changes of Weather, proceeding from the Stars y and working the like effed in Mens Bodies 5 fo that fitb the neareft Caufe is Naturdly let the reft be what it will, and the Cure be done by Natural Means ^ as we fee it (y)Va.Y. iib.de fometimcs araongft us. And therefore (j) Paracelfe, TUiof accuu. yj^Q pm-g j.)^g f^yij. [j^ ^YiQ p^itfj Qf fhe wicked Witch^ (a M'gicxlbu^!& thing as far above Nature) yet holds it curable with a quomodo in in- natural Mcdicme^ which they call a ^uintejjence •, Al- TomAofnT.' though I am not unwitting that fometimes (his Sicknefs 27. is fuch) he bids us withftand it with another as ftrong a Belief let againft it. But for my part, I cannot reach it with my Conceit, (let deeper Heads think upon it) How thofe Beliefs and Imaginations ^2.x\di other parts and powers of the Soul or Minde of Man^ can fo fly out of their own Kingdom, and reign over a forreign Bodj •, when we know the whole Soul and Minde fo faft bound in durance, and fo like to be, until it be the pleafure of the great Magiftrate, who hath committed them, to let them loofe at once, and fet them out at full liberty, let (a; ?iln. !.7.c. qI^j j^/-i;^j buz of {a) HermottmuSy and fuch like Tales, TJ;f«ff.t/;.^e what they will. . rr • An. cap. ^^. But if thofe Difeafes fpring (as fome or Learning hold, and with Reafon) from neither of both thofe two Roots Cap.II. The fp'ay toMfs. 81 Rootsnamed, but from a foul and venomous Breathy fent forth from a Poifoned temper of the Witches Bo- dy, through the Windows of hateful Ejes, for Thought {b) ta(hioneth the Blood SLud Spirits almoft at his plea- C'') cor.A^rh: fure ^ then all the Caufes being ordinary, and agreeing ^\ J^^/^ *^''' to the courfe of /v'/Wf, they may be cured and put to c^ flight by the fame courfe and means ; which Opinion, ^/- ^J-.^'^f* (bear witn the tarrymg,it is worth the handhng) taketh c.i. tnp.is^. hold upon this Reafon, becaufe (as good Authors do witnefs j fome Bcafts of ranker Venom do bewitch and hurt after the fame manner : As an old Toad, (c) by Cc; c^r/j v^r. ftedfaft view, not onely amazeth and benums a Weafel, '•'^' '''^^' but alfo kills a young ChtUe : And by the fame means the {d) Bcnummcr hurts the little Ftjh and takes his (d) rorpedo. prey 5 but moft fiercely and mifchievoufly of all Crea- ^'^'/^•'^'i^'*""*' tures in the World, the ivvo" Monpers in kinde, the "^"^'^d^ ie) Cockatrice and (/) Catoblcpas : Again, for that the p^'»-'-9- <^-4-. Eye of a Menflruous Woman (as they (^) ail report) doth p;,//. ^!^„^^. fpot the (7/4/ which it beholdeth: And moreover be- propricT.c.^9. caufe(^j Pliny om of Tu/ly, forth of his Books which ^ .^^^^ ^ are loft belike, and many good ^«f^/?rj (/), telleth ofz/!'iX^^ ^ many Folk, that through a Poifoned Prerogative, which ^ a monftrous mark of a double-fighted Eye gave unto ^cmf'ti^c'i'l'. them, were able to bewitch to death all thofe upon (0(0 Piinj'. whom that Eye was angerly and furely fet and hftned : ^'^•^" ^^^' But chiefly becaufe we fee them that ufe this wicked Ficin.dcvit, Trade, to be by kinde ot a muddy and earth- like Tern- ' ^^- ^<""/'- '•^ perature and Complexion, brought by Age, (as they ^**^* c^ G. ViftdM. dt Mund.op.v.9S$. & Bodm.dcsS order, l.i. c.6.inp.n6. (g) plln.lj. c.t^. (h) Plin, t.-j. c.i. (\) Au. Gell. noB. an. 1.9. c.4. & Rog. Bac. lib. demirtib. pot. an. & not. cap. ^.T.C.yo/.<;. in p. ^97. & Gaud. Merula.m(t». l.i. c.z. & cor. Agrip. deOccPhiL I. I.e. 19' p.40. & H. Salmuth, com. in Pancirol. novarep.Tir.i^ . inp.6^<;, M be 8i TheWaytomifs. Lib.II. be moft commonly) lone-life, and foul Diet, unto the pitch of Melancholy^ that is, unto a cold and moift, dry Temperature,which is the moft poifoned and venomous Temperature in the world: for certain proof whereof, bring one of them out of that beaftly Life, unto merry company ,and full & dainty Diet,and within twenty days (k; card. va\ (^^ hath been found true by Report {k) of a good Au- ^•15. c.8o. thor) the whole ftate and order of her 5^4' ^^i^^ ^^ ^^ changed, as it (liall not fuffer her to bewitch and huit again. To come to the next and chiefeft point : Let us not fay for fiiame, thofe Helps and Remedies lie hid in NA" ture^ too far for the Wit of Man to finde, unlefs we will accufe our own floth and dulnefs : for Nature hath brought them forth, and laid them open as well as the Fdifons and hurtful things, or elfe (be were very crofs, tind ill- willing towards himj for whofe fake, it feems, (he doth all things : Nay furtherjher good will is fuch,as fhe hath not onely laid them open^ but given us wayes to come by them, and means of Speech. Hands and Wit alfo, far above all c ther Wights and Creatures. And yet (he hath not left us fo, but left by chance we might {\)piid'ndim4j go wide and mifs them, to (hew her Motherly Love and Tiirfucmnht Affe(5^ion towards us , (be hath guided many witlefs Jl^uLma Bea/lsj even by common fenfe, unto their fpeedy help ipfif'nfe pr£' and remedy in their Difeafes (/), that we by the plain- ^hifijTs, ^^^ ^"^ (hame of that Example, might be taught and im) rJcMd- moved to feek & find us help in the likQ Difeafes{m), As thioLEo.dii. to name a few not unworthy naming •, (he makeththe Ub dv^i)fofcl- Beaft Hifpfotamm {n) in time of his fuluefs and fat- ride. nefs to go to a Reed^ and by rubbing a Vein againft a (nyviin.u.c, ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ himfelf Blood, and to ftop it again by laying Cap.ll. IhelVaytdMfs. t^ hying >W Upon it. AfickDr?^, to feek iA{6) Hcyh {o)Cnnnra^n. Und purge himfeifv and the Bear to do tbe ram6,(/')ah£i- '^'"''^^ '•^' his long raft in Winter : She leads the Pamkr {q) wheA Anft.hifl.anim. he is poifoned, to our foul and namelefs LU'vi^g •, dnd i^p.r-c^. \\\e70rtoife{r)y after he bath eat a Ft per ^ to Sumficr- j^lfj^^'^^^"' Savorfrvy and many luch hkg Examples huh Nature laid rq) ac.dcnat. before^us, for our Inftruaion. ^;^;-';*- ,^. ^ All {tot. ubtfu- pra(o)&dem>r^b. aufciilt. & IHi^.lr-T.c.ii. ts'lib.^.c.tj. (r) A.'iff-hift. anint.1.9. C.6. &lib. de mirab. nufiidt. & B. Porta. Mag. naf.Li. c.\o. De hu omnibiii & mii'tb pin- iibm vide Gcorg. Pijid. lib. dc Mand. Arnficio i^.9 \ j. By the which, at laft, wife and painful men of Greece (^s themfehres report, be they Jpollo^ or his Son^ or whofoever) and by laying Reafon and further Proof to- gether, firft made the Art and Rules of Healing., to know whcp^i^e Difeajes come5and how to Remove them : And then- fteking all about for Remedies to ferve each tUrnj by little and little they matched the moft part of the leiler rank, with (ingle J/f^Vc/^^j- • and for the grea- ter ones, they doubled and coupled a-many of them together, Infomuch that at bft (which was in H/ppo- Crates his timej they were able to heal all, faving four of the greateft and deepeft Difeafes, the (jj Gont^ the (s) f. sevewu I>ropfiej the Leprofie^ and FalUng-ftckncj^, This race ^^f^Mf;? they have held on ever fince, both isi Greece and all the ^np\\%\ ^ ^ ^' world: Thus much, with much ado, they could, and no more, leavin'g the reft, with one confent, uncu- rabW.- But to cocif^e to the point •, What wrong this Was both to 5M and Nature^ they doeafily fee and laugh atj which know that in this hbour, they did notonefy ' overfee and skip the Minerals^ the ftouteft helps in the whole ftore-houfe of Kwde, (although they could dig M 2 them 84. TheWayto'Blifs. Lib.II. them out well enough to other and vvoifer ufes •, ) but alfo, which is all in all, did let Hermes skill of dref- fing Medtcines (whereby weak things are made almigh- ty) quite efcape them. Wherefore, to make up the Art of Healings and to make it able to help and cure all Difeafesy came in (or (t) Hom.odyff. rather went before themj the zy£gyptia»s Q), Men in 4. v.\\9, 6-c. gYem favour with Nature, both for their foil and bring- ing up, fo notably commended above all Natiom^ (ha- ving for example to move and teach them, even the great Wight of the VTorlti, as He rm e s faith) for Wits to dev/fe^ and Bodies to put in pra(5tife : Whereby ia (hort fpace, they unfolded the Knot, why the Minerals were of greateft force and power againft Difeafes : And fo on after (which, was a^/i//>^ X/^^^and in fight) they perceived the huge labour in feeking fuch an infinite fort of Singles and Mixtures to be vain and empty, and (x.0 See vurc\ pitiful among Wife Men» Becaufe, firft, (/^) there is no- :B.iirim TortJ.x. j^^ing huitful and a breeder of Difeafe, but it hath the u^'/.'lfik!fe help and remedy for the fame about him 5 for as the Trees wh: chare Wings {ip) and Feet of Cantharidcsy the Fruit (xj of I'Tcideltlr ^^^ ^°^^ Bezar, the Afhes of Scorfions, Toads and Fi- m/) Ind'm prs^ and divers other ftronger Potfonsy both by Nature .*Muhteon the and ^"Mdreft and prepared, do cure and heal their own fZ'hL,u!h.tnt ^nd all other Foifons 5 Nay,as all ftronger Likes do cure COM. fur leTrc- tUclr Likes^ throughout the whole World of Difeafes 5 ^chrit ^Gumon (^) ^^^^ ^^' ^^^" ^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^"^^ found out the thing \Tp.9o, "^^'^' that hurts him, he may, by eafie skill, mingle and break (w) Giierws J |.j^e temper of the fame further,that is,make it ftronger, t^X'.tu- and able to eat up and confume it felf as eafily, without thiol. Difcon. fop.lib.6. deDiofc. c i. & l.i. c.U- Cx) Cardan, Sftbt. I.7. inp. :^5. (y) Jo. Jfaae, HolLvid0ptr.m'inir.l.i'C^,Tx.l^ifl>$.inp,^vi» any Cap.II. The Way to M/s. 8 j any further doubtjtoil or labour. But efpecially, (,z) be- ('■■) .^^>"^- •^«&^ caufe there is no one thing in the VVorU^ take what you '■^" *'' ^^^^' will, that hath not all the Virtues ot Heaven^ and oi sm.mt.qtufi. the qualities thereof, within it felf ^ that is not as good ^•^- ^-'f • as all, and may not ferve in ftead of all ^ and that is not ^,i,?. '^letaoh. able to cure all Dtfeafes-- which thing weighed, and ^-4 ^^-s- with difcourfe of Wit and Reafon fully reached, they went topradife, and by the like (harpnefs of ^/>, they found out as foon the kindly and ready way to drefs anid make fit thofe three kindes of Medicines aforefaid, which contain all the Art of Healing : All the reft are but wafte Words, and grievous Toil, to tire a world of Wits about a bootlefs Matter. But efpecially they refted in that one the laft, whicb is enough alone ^ and yec not without great fore-oift to choofe one of the beft, or rather the very beftof all, for their eafe in dreiTmg 5 though Paracelfe^ of late, was- not content with this, but ran through the reft as well to fpight his Enemy, as I faid, and to make him felf known and famous, againft the Rule of iVifdome and' Virtue^ and the example of all his Anceflors. But how hath every thing all the Virtues of Heaven- and Earth , that is, all the Curing and Healing power of all things in the World ^ very well •, you muft re-^ member that I proved above, all the Virtue and Power of Heaveny^o\y[td down upon thefe lower Cr^Murcf^ tc be nothing elfe, but On& felf fame Life and SohI^ and\ heavenly Heat in all things : And again, that Jll Difeafes flow from Dijlemfer^ and as it mre from difcord of the kindly confent of the Body : Then, that that thing which' i$ endued with flore of Life^ and with exaci and perf^- ttm^eratenef^ featedupn both a fidtile and (Ircng Bodj^- {which ■ 86 Theff^aytomfs. Lib.IU {which all things are in thehttom) is Able alone ^ hy fnh- dmng his weaker EnemicSj the di^emfered Difeafes^ by jircngthritng his fclUw Ltfe in our Bodj^ andUjllj bj bind- ing togtther again theFrame that rv.i^ fltpt out of Order ^to do Ai much 06 all the powers and forces of all the Plant s^lVights and Minerals tn the World -, that is^ to put to flight all trou- ble of DifeafeSj andrefhre the Bodj to fcrfe^ health and quietnefs, i» But how IS all this done 1 we huddle up too many great matters together •, It were good to mark them out more diikmCtiy, When this hot (by the Heat we fpake oU andilrong tempered Medicine flips into the Stomachy it ftayes no long digeftion, being already throughly digefted, nor looketh for any ordinary para- ges to be opened unto it, bur as loon as it is ratfedout of lleep by his Fellow the Natural Heatj by and by he (a) Arift. hi(i. flics out and fcowres about, even as faft as the {a) Dal-. "''""■ 'c^*^"* ^' /^^^^fter her prey, or as A'4rffr^ her felf, whom Hippo- piin. 1.9. c 8. crates faith to pierce bounds and all to that purpole 5 ^ that is, to feck his like food and fuftenance, whereby to D^cll'.i.i ''^' preferv e his State and Being, which is the parpofe of all c^- things in the Wcrld, as it was faid above. ' !^J'j, j'"'^'"' ' '• Now, there is nothing fo like and near a perfed tem- perature in the World, as the z^therad firfi Moifturc ot Man, This is befi and maft in the Hcaft., the Root of pfi' then thither it hieth, and preyechupon tliat part tirft, and that is the Caufe why it preientiy refto- reth a Man half.dead, and as it were pulls him out ot the Throat of Death ^ then it runs to thereHallaboac, ift- creafmg by that means the natural Heat and RifkMoifture of every part of the Body : When this is dofle,he turns- back upon the parts themfelves, and by encountering with Cap.ll. The JVay toMfs. 87 with them in the f^me fortjaccording to his might feeds upon them, and brings them a certain way towards his own Nature^ even as far as we will by our ufage fut- fer i, for if we take it with meafure and difcretion, it will bring our Bedy to a middle and Mtmftate, between hisownexadt temperature, and thediftemper of Dif- eajes, even a better Jlate than ever it had before. It we ufe it out of meafure {i>), it takes us up too high, and (h) s-'ndivn^, too near his own Temperature, and makes us unmeet f^^*^^- '^^•^'^^f/'- for the Deeds and Duties ot an Eaithly Z?/H , *';^ • . But in the meiui while, and in the midft Oi this work, we muft know, that by his exceeding BedS and iiuhtile- nef^ which is gotten by his lofty 'workmanlliip, and which makes up his Stnngtb above all things, it divides and fcatters, like Smoke before tlie Wind, all diftem- pered and hurtful things, and if they cann6t lie itcon- ciled and turned to goodnefs, Nature throws them out as dead and unfruittul Leavings, But how do we talk fo much of exad. and perfed Temper, when by the verdict of all the Q^{i in thefe Cafes, there is no fiich thing found in N^iure^ five in Hcaveptj extant^ Neither heard you me fay that it floated aloft, but was funk to the bottom of all Na- ture^ notwithftanding by skill to be founded and weigh- ed up : for as Heaven was once a grofs and diikmpered Lumff^ by the Divine An of God refined and fundred sway round to that place and nature where it ftandeth-j. Even fo, one of our grofs Eedtes here below, being a piece of the fame L^cmp alfo, and all one with that which Heaven once was, may by the like Att and Can- ning be refined, and parted from ail bis djftempeiiied grofs and foul drolTmefs, and brought unto an he^venlf Nature^ 88 ThelVayto'Bltfs. Lib.IF. Ndturc, and unto the Nature of the beft and goodlieii thing in Heaven, And yet you muft not take me fo, as though I would have the Minde and Wit of Mayi^ which is but a Spark of the Divine and great Minde^ to be able to reach the excellency of his Work^ and to match fo great perfe- (5lion •, If he do but ihadow it, and make a Counterfeit, that is, it he reach not fo far as to make all things, but to mend a few by this his Heaven^ all is well ; it is as much as can be looked for at the hands of weak Morta- lity. (c) Vldi J of: Then this Heaven (c), nay this Sun of ours, is nought ^erc.Hcrmer. ^\^^ butanOv/full of heavenly spirits^ andyetinQua- traamio de Hty ot his Body, ;«//, even and temperate, fine and pier- quinue^catAn chg^ dofe and lafiwg^ able as well to rule this little P-*^+- World^ as the great Sun is able to govern the great World. But what is he, fay they, that can fee the Di- vine Art and Way whereby God made his great and mighty Work ? Or if he faw it, learn and match it by Imitation < None but he whom God hath enlightned, and unfealed his Eyes •, then (hall he eafily fpy the Waj lying open in all places, and in all kindly changes ^ he fhall fee them pafs and travel, I fay, ftill by that courfe which Hermes calls loft and witty, that is, kindly fe- paration : And if he be not fwift and rafli, but will have fober Patience, his own skill and labour fliall be but little, and Nature her felf very kindly will in her due time perform all, even all that heavenly Workmanfhip 5 And yet I mean not fo, but that Art muft accompany and attend upon Nature j though with no great pains and skill, both forward and backward in this Journey, (fomc know my meaning ) untill Ihe come to her wilhed Cap.ll. The Way torn fs. 8p wirtied reft , and to the top of all perfedlion.' If you perceive not, call to minde and confider the \vay whereby we made our