Section 3

fionof the nature of the eternal and invifible God, who like the
foul of man , does not indeed fall under fence y but does every-
where operate fo. that hh perfon is eafily to be gathered from
what is difcovered by our outward fences.

CHAP. V.

Of Plants-, 'h tt the meet motion of the matter m ty do fomething'y
yet it will not anount to ths production of Plants.' Th.it it is no
botch in Nature that fame Ph&nomena be the refu'ts of Atjtiony
others of fub/lantia! forms, 'that beauty is not a meer fancy ,tnd
that the beauj ani venue of Plants is an Argument that they
are made for the ufe of our bodies from an intellectual prinei-
yle.

HOW weak is lMm if you confider his nature, what faculties
he hath, and in what order he is in refpect of the reft of the
creature;} And indeed, though his body be but weak anddif-
armd, yet his inward abilities of Reafon , and artificial contri-
vance^ ad nirable, both for finding out thofe fee ret Medicines
which God prepared fortheufe of Man in the Bowe s of the
Earthy Plants and Minerals.

And nrft of Vegetables , where I (hall touch onely thefe iour
heads, their form and beauty, their eedyth'ir >gnature>% and their
great u[e, as well for medicines a.s fttftensnee • and that we may the
better underftand the advantage we have in this clofer contem-
plation of chew^rks of mcure, we arc in the firft place to take
notice of the condition of ths fubftance, which we call matter,
how fluid and flppery, and und 'terminate it is of itfelf; or if
U be hard, how unfit it is to be changed into any thing elie^ and
therefore all things rot into a moifture before any thing can be
generated of them,as we foften the waxbefore we fee on the feal.
Now therefore, unlefswe will befoolifti, asbecaufethe unU
form motion of the Air, or forae more fubcil corporeal Element -
may fo equally comprefs or bear againftthe parts of a little
vaporous miifture, as to form it into round drops (as we fee in
thede.v, aniotherjexperimencs) and therefore becaufe this

more

, 4 Rcfie Crucian P H Y S I C K.

more rude and generalmotion can do iemething , to conclude
that it does all things ; We mull in all reaic r. confefs that there
is an eternal Mindand Verttte, whereof the matter is thus ufe-
fully formed and changed.

But meer rude and undirected motion, becaufe naturally it will
have fomekind of refults, that therefore it will reach to fuch as
plainly imply a wife contrivance of counlcl, is 10 ridiculous a
Sephifm,as I have already intimartd,that it is more fit to impofe
upon the inconfiderate/w*/.r of fed & children,ihtn upon men of
Mature Reafon, and well exercifed in Philofophy , or the grave
and well praB.ifed,feraphically illuminated Rtfie Crucians Admit
that Rain, and Snow, and Wind, and Hatl ,and he, and Thunder,
and Lightning, and a Star I mention for example , that may be
let in amonglt Meteors, by fome called Bellens-fiar, and is well
known at Sea-, I have feen it welt Copper Vejfels a-board a (hip; it
cometh of an heap of fuch vapors as are carry ed by violent crofs
Winds up from the Earth^and fuch like Meteors may be the pro-
dufrs of heat and cold, or of the motion and reft of certain fmall
particles of the matter; yet that the ufeful and beautiful contri-
vance of the Branches, Flowers, and Fruits of Plants fhould be
fo too/ to fay nothing yet of Minerals, and the bodies of men )
is as ridiculous and fupine a collection, as to infer, That becaufe
meer heat and cold does foften and harden Wax, and puts it in-
to fome (hape or other, that therefore this meer heat and cold,
or Motion and Reft, without any Art and Direction, made the
Silz er Seal too, and graved upon itfo curioufly fomeCoate of
Arms, or the (hape of fome Bird or Beaft, as an Eagle, a Lyon,
&c. nay indeed this inference is more tolerable far then the o-
ther, thefe effects of Art being more eafie, andlefs noble then
thofe other of nature.

Nor is it any deficiency at all in theWorks of Nature, that fome
particular Phenomena be but the eafie refultsof that general
motion communicated unto the matter from God; others the
effects of more curious contrivance, or of the Divine An , or
Reafon, (for fuch are the hir%n <^ M&m»h the Raticnes Semnale/)
incorporated in the Matter, efpecially the Matter it felf being
in fome fort vital, clfe it would not continue the motion that it
isput upon,whcnitisoccafionally this or the other way mo-
ved;

V&tiCmeMi PHYSICK. 15

ved,and befidestheNatufeof (7<?df>eing the mod perfect ful-
nefs of life that is poflibly conceiveable, it is very congruous
that thisoutmoft and rcmoteft fhadow of himfelf, be feme way,
though but obfeurely vital: Wherefore things falling off by
degrees from the higheft perfection, it will hi no uneven or un -
proportionable ftep, if defcending from the top of this utmoft
Creation, Man, in whom there is a more fine conception, or re-
flexive Reafon , which hangs on, as every man hath fo much
experience as to have feen the Sun, and other vifible objects by
reflexion in the Water and GlafTes and this as yet (hall be all
I will fay for this reafon^ I will give you more then I promifed in
the Contents 3 by four pro pofitions concerning the nature of
conceptions, and they fhall be proved- and aifo of the main de-
ception of fence, that Colour and Image may be there where the
thing feen is not : But becaufe it may be faid,That notwithftan-
dmg the Image in the Water be not in the object , but a thing
meerly phantajiical, yet there may be colours really in the thing
itfelf, I will urge further this experience, That divers times
men fee directly the fame object double , as two Candles for
one, which may happen from diftem per, or otherwife without
diftemperif a man will; the Organs being either in their right
temper, or equally diftempered, the colours and images in two
fuch characters of the fame thing, cannot be inherent therein,be-
caufe the thing feen cannot be in two places.

Oneof thete Images therefore is not inherent in the Ofyett
but thefeeing,the Organs of the fight are then in equal temper
ordiftemper1theoneof them is no more inherent then the o-
ther, and confequently, neither of them both are in the <)b]ects%
which is the firft proportion mentioned in the precedent num-
ber.

Secondly, that the Image of any thing by reflexion in a glafs^
or water . or the like, is not any thing in , or behind the glafs*
or in,or under the Water, every man may grant to himfelf'
which is the fecond proportion of Des Cartes. For thirdly, We
are to confider, firft, That every great agitation or concuflion
of the brain ( as it happeneth from aftroke, cfpecially if the
ftroke be upon the eye ) whereby the Optick Nerve fuffereth a-
ny great violence, there appear eth before the Eyes a certain

1 6 Rofe Crucian P H Y S I C K.

tight , which light is nothing without , but an apparition onely^
all that is real being the concuflion or motion of the partsof
the Nerve:, from which experience we may conclude , That ap-
parition of light is really nothing but motion within. If there-
fore from Lucid bodies there can be derived motion , fo as to
affect the Optick Nerve in fuch manner as is proper thereunto,
there will follow an Image of light fome-where in that line by
which the motion was lalt derived to the eye, that is to fay , In
the object, if we look directly on it , and in the Glafsor Wa-
rer,when we look upon it in the line of reflexion, which in effect
is the third propofition, namely, That image and colour is but
an apparition to us of that motion , agt'tation, or alteration,
which the object worketh in the brain or fpirits, or fome inter-
nal t'ubftance in the head.

But that from all lucid, (hining, and illuminate bodies, there
is a motion produced to the eye, and thorow the eye, to the G'p-
tkl^Nerve and fo into the Brain, by which the apparition of
light or colour is effected, is not hard to prove. And firft, it is
evident that the Fire, the onely lucid body here upon Earth,
worketh by motion equally every way, infomuch as the motion
thereof flopped or inclofed, it is prefently extinguifhcd, and
no more fire. And further, That that motion whereby the fire
worketh, is dilation and contraction of it fclf alternately, com-
monly called Scintillation, or glowing, is manifeft alfo by expe-
rience'from fuch motion in the fire muft needs arife a rejection,
or catting from it felf off that part of the medium which is con-
tiguous to it, whereby that part alfo reecteth the next, and fo
fucceffively one part beateth back another to the very eye, and
in the fame manner the exteriour part of the eye preffeth the
interiour, ( the Laws of refraction frill obferved. ) Now the
interior coat of the eye is nothing elfe but a piece of the Optick
Nerve, and therefore the motion is ftill continued thereby into
the Brain, and by refiftanceor re-action of the Brain , is alfo a
rebound into the Optick Nerve again, which we not conceiving
as motion or rebound from within, do think it is without , and
call it Light, as hath been already fhewed by the experience of a
ftroake : Wehave no reafon to doubt that the Fountain of
Light, the Sun,worketh by any other ways then the FirtfX leafc

in

Rofic Crucian PHYSICK. 17

rn this matter- and thus all vifion hath its original from fuch mo-
tion as is here dcferibed; for where there is no light, there is no
fight •, and. therefore colour muft be the fame thing with light,
as being the effect of the lucid bodies,their difference being one-
ly this, That when the light cometh diredly from the Fountain
to the eye, or indiredly by reflexion from clean and polite bo-
dies, and fuch as have not any polite bodies, and fuch as have
not any particular motion internal to alter it, we call it light;
but when it cometh !• the eye by reflexion from uneven, rough,
and courfe bodies, or fuch as are affeded with internal motion
of their own that may alter it,then we call it Colour-, colour and
light differing onely in this, that the one is pure , and the other
perturbed light; by that which hath been faid , not onely the
truth of the third propofition, but alfo the whole manner of
producing light and colour, is apparent.

As colour is not inherent in the object , but an effed thereof
upon us,caufed by fach motion in the objcd as hath been defcri
bed; fo neither is found in the thing we hear , but in our felves;
one raanifcft fign thereof, is, That as man may fee , fe alfo he
may hear double & trebble by multiplication of Ecchoes,which
Ecchoes are founds as well as the Original; and not being in one
and the fame place, cannot be inherent in the body that makctto
them; nothing can make any thing which is not in itfclf; the
Clapper of a Bell hath no found in it, but motion , and maketfe
motion in the internal parttof the Bell; fo the Bell hath motion
and not found, that imparteth motion to the air ; and the aire
hath motion, but not found; the air imparteth motion by the
car and nerve onto the Brainy and the Brain hath motion, bur.
not found} from the Brain it reboundeth back into the Nerves
outward, and thence it becommeth an Apparition without,
which we call found; And to proceed to the reft of the fences,
it is apparent enough, that the fmell and tafte of the fame thing
are not the fame to every man , and therefore are not in the
thing fraelt or tailed, but in the men ; fo likewife the heat we
feel from the fire is manifeftly in us, and is quite different from
the beat which is in the fire-, for our heat is pleafure or pain ,
according as it is great or moderate; but in the cool there is
no fuch tiling: By this the laft is proved, vU. that as in vifion,

D fo

l% RofeCrncUti PHYSICK.

foalfo in Conceptions that arife from other fenfes, the fubjeft
©f their inherence is not in the object , but in the Sentinent •,
And from hence alfo it followeth that whatsoever accidents or
qualities our fences make us think there be in the world , they
be not there, but are feeraing and apparitions only •, the things
that really are in-the world withouc us, are thofe motions by
which thefe feemings are canfed ; and this is the great deception
of fence, which alfo is to be by fence corrected : for as fence
telleth me when I fee directly , that the colour feecneth to be in
the object ^ fo alfo fence telleth me whea I fee by reflection,
that colour is in the object. But now I am out of the way
from rhe outward Creation of Man, in whom there is a princi-
ple of more fine and reflexive reafon, which hang? on, though
not in that manner, in the more perfect kindc of Brutes, as
fence alfo ( loth to be curbed with too narrow compafsj layei
hold upon fomekinde of plants, as in thofe fundry forts of Z«-
j>hjtat but in the relt there arc no further footfteps difcovered
of an animadverfive forme abiding in them-, yet there be the
effects of an inadvertent forme {\oy9-iw\<9-yo( materiatcd
or incorporated Art or feminal Reafon •, I fayici* no uneven
jot to pafs from the more faint and obfeure example of Sperma-
tical life, to the more Considerable effects of general Motion in
Mineralls, Mtt*llst nor yet to fay any thing of the Medicines
extracted, mortified, fixt, diflblv'd and incorporated with their
proper Veagles , becaufe we have intended it our laft bnfinefs
to return to Mineralls, Meccals , and fundry Meteors,
whofe eafie and rude fhapes have no need of any particular
principle of life, or Spcrmatical form diftinct from the reft , of
motion of the particles of the matter.

But there is that curiofity of form and beauty in the more
noble kinde of Plants, bearing fuch a futablenefs and harmony
with the more refined fence and fagacity of the foul c*f Man,
that he cannot choofe (his intellectual touch being fo fweetly
gratified by what it deprchends in fuch like objects,) but ac-
knowledge that fome hidden caufc much a-kin to his own nature
that is intellectual, is the contriver and pcrfecter of thefc fo
plcafant fpectacles in the world.

Nor is ic at all to the purpofe to eV/cct that this i>u Jinefs of

Rojle Crucian P H Y S I C K. I o

Beauty arid comclincfs of proportion is bnt a conceit, becaufe
fome men acknowledge no fuch thing, and ail things are alike
handfome to them, who yet notwithstanding have the ufe of
their eyes as well as other folks; for I fay, this rather makes
for what we aim at, that Pulchritude is conveyed indeed by the
outward fences unto the foul, but a more intellectual faculty is
that which relifhcs it-, as an jiftroicgieall , or better, a
CeometricaU Scheam is let in by the eyes, but the D em n ft ration is
difcern'd by Reafon : And therefore it is more rational to af-
firm, that fome intellectual principle was the Author of this
Pulchritude of things, then that they (hould be thus fafhion'd
without the help of that principle : And to fay there is no
fuch thing as Pulchritude, and fome fay, there is no way to felici-
ty ; The firft, Ianiwer,is becaufe fome mens fouls are fo dall and
fiupid. And the fecond is that they never knew The way te blifs,
The firft cannot relifh all objects alike in that refpect j The fe-
cond knows not Haffinefs , nor the way to long life , nor the
means t$ Health, nor how to rtturn from Age to Youth , &e.
which is as abfurd and groundlefs as to conclude there is no fuch
thing as Reafon and Demonftratien, becaufe a natural fool cannot
reach onto it. But that there is fuch a thing as The way to Blip,
Long ltfe,*nd a certain way to Health, not as yet known in Eng-
land, I will demenftrate in a Treatife by it felf ; The way r*
Health! l\a\\ (hew you anon in this book, the reft in another
Part, as I promifed yon.

Now that there is foch a thing as Beauty, and that it is ac-
knowledged by the whole generations of men, to be in Trees,
flowers and fruits, and the adorning of buildings in a!! Ages, is
an example, and undenyable teftimony • for what is more and
ordinary with then then taking in flowers and fruitage for the
garniihing of their work? Betides I appeal to any man that is
not fank into foforlornc a pitch of Degeneracy • that he is as
ftupid to thefe things as the bafeft of Beafls, whether for exam-
ple, a rightly cut Tetraearumt cube or Icofatdrum, have no more
pulchritude in them, then any rode broken j. me lying in the field
or high-way cs; Or to name other folid Figures, which though
they be not regular properly fo called, yet have a fetled Idea, It
Nature, asa Cw, Sfh*rtt<oiCyli*d*r: whether the fight-of thefc