Section 6

35 Rofie Crucian P HY SIC K.

And thus wc fee thefc ftrange things fall out in proof, but how
I cannot (land to (hew: Firft ,nature f utters them, then ufe and cu-
ftome>another Nature,brings them in, yet we may well beleeve
the like in this matter of meat we have in hand; For as the
Bear ( according to the guife of many Beafts that lurk in Winter)
faitethfourtydaies,fo£«g*«/ztf TheodidattHsfhz reported Rope-
Crucian tells of a Scottish young man,David Zeamons, that waited
on him, that by ufe brought himfelf to faft three daies together*
which by ufe might have been three hundred as well, if he had
ordered himfelf thereafter by flow and creeping cuflome, as
Captain CopeUnd calls it, and by fuch means as/ fet down be-
fore.

Sowefee,.I fay, great wordly wonders prove plain andeafie
truths in the fight of Wifdome ; you have read of the won-
derful works pf God in the Accurate Structure of mans Bod/, of his
Soul, of his Senses , of Plants, of Minerals-, and Rope Crucian
medicine fhall be that which /will infift upon, and that by the
means aforefaid (where are more than one, if this like them
not, they may take another) it is poflfible for -all men by kind and
cuftome to keep their health for ever : Lee us come to the next
poipt, that is, afwell to be recovered if it were loft, and that all
difeafes may be cured. This is a point much harder then the
firft, even fo befet and ftopt with all kind of lets and incumbran-
ces, that a man can fcarce tell which way to fet his loot forwards.
Firft appears zAZfculapius,Hippocrates}and Plato, the chief among
the Grecians, bearing in hand fundry difeafes of both kinds (both
come by defcent,and gotten by purchafej hopelefs and paft reco-
very, and giving over the men that owe them,for troublefome to
themfelves and to the Commonwealth : Then you may fee
Galen, and his foft and fine Company with him , and that follow
thefe are Ge rard and Riveritu ,zr\d Culpepper, and thefe with a
long train of hedge-Dolours-, and among thefe ftands Freeman ,
with Caterers, and Cooks , laden after them with all kind of dain-
ty Druggs flznd forth and Cry, they have thefe many ages de-
vouredheaps of Books, and took endiefs pains in fearching out
the Nature of tingle Medicines,and making mixtures of the fame,
and yet could hardly cure fome Agues, and other lefs difeafes*
But for the four great difeafes, viz, the (?«//, Leprofie, Dropfte]

Falling

Xo/ieCrUcianVHY SICK. 37

Falling Sicknefs, they could never heal them, and have therefore
for Oracles fet them down incurable.

CHAP. XII.
That the knowledge and vertue of Medicines arefecretly hid from
vulgar under ft anding : how they may begotten: and of what lies
couched in the Oil of Bodies: of the ufe} and how to fetch it out by
Skill, the Haven of Medicine,

W Hat is left to be done in this Matter? what mail we
fet againft the weight of fo many great mens Authori-
ties ? Equally put them in the Ballance, as we have done hither-
to, and weigh them with truth and rcafon : Bu t where {hall we
find it? fay they; As it is every where, as Mr. Hobbs faid, drowned
in the deep, fo in this matter it is fcattered all about, and largely
fpread withall ; for there be three things, and everyone full of
wader-Branches y belonging to the Rofie Crptcian Art and way of
Healing ; The fir ft is knowledge of the Difeafes, the fecond the re-
medies againft themy and the third of the Appliance »f the remedies,
all which mould be traverfed in this Methodical myfierious
Treatife : but it (hall not need I hope, nay we muft take heed how
we enter into fo long and large a race, in fo (hort and narrow a r\

compafs of time appointed, efpecially being never run before by ^ ^C^-^
any man but our felf, not one of the wife Egyptians > notour ^y
Anc eft ours, the holy Company of Mofes and Eliot , whofe fteps
we ttrive to follow,and their fucceflburs;for when they have once
hie the mark they have fhot at, and gotten the great and general
Medicine Caput monuum A. P. curing with eafe all difeafes, they
think it ftraight enough,and anempty and needlefs Labour , as
iti< indeed, to trouble themfelves and their Childrenmth large
Rules abort innumerable Signs and Caufes of infinite difeafes,and
-abort other fmall particulars in appliance. Neither would I
"have you fet Sendivwius , Par4celft , and their heirs upon me, ,
andOy th^y have taken great and goodly pains in this field; you

■will then force'me to fpeak my thoughts..

Though

g8 Rofie Crucian V H Y S I C K.

Though thefe men, (to let Philalethes^Vaughan^nd Culpepper ,
far let ,Ereeman, and other Pretenders, with jomc Scholars goe,as
too young and child! fh yet,) by great light of Wit wherewith they
flowed, and by long proling both with eies, ears, and hands, in
the myfteries of Egypt , faw and performed many of the Rofie
Crucian deep fecrets , yea and there got moft of their worldly
praife, although I think a number feigned, yet Paracelfe his new
Art and Rules of Healing are not good in my opinion; For firft,
againft the example of the Rofie crucians, from whom he had recei-
ved all things, and then in defpight and difgrace of Galen, for mif-
calling his Countrymen, as you have heard , but chiefly carryed
away with a mad and raging defire of Fame and Honour, which
C#//>*/yvralwaiesdefpifed,yetthe Starres favoured him, when
I aflifted to fet up that new,famous and ftrange work of Phyfic\,
now well known and practifed, which Paracelfe when he took in
hand,a man unfit to do it, to pull down and raze the old Work,
and to fer up our new experienced fecret, which he could never
do all his life.

Thenwefeehow it is performed, he fets down fome falfe
rules, fome waft,idlc, and fome wanting, and all unconftant, dif-
erdered,and unlea:ned;when he doth well (as he doth fometime)
he doth no more then was done before him , and brings in the
fame thing difguifed with new, odd, crofs,and unheard of names ,
f .ch as may move wonder at the firft, but when they be fcanned,
Laughter, as Mr. Moor faith of Eugenlus Phllalethes his like de-
vifes in his Aula Lucis Adamlca Maglca & Euphrates, and others
of his Welch Vhilofophie. And that I doe not flanderj them
where there is no caufe,I could prove, if this place would admit a
Volume. Wherefore let us follow the true and right Rofie Cru-
cians,zs eafily you may know them by their actions, if ever you
fortune to fee them and be acquainted with them; and leave
Paracelfe, and the reft in this ill matter, and Light and Apifh, as
he makes it; and why (hould we fpend all our care and thought
about a fmall matter ? you have a good Medicine and remedy a-
gainft difeafes , when old wives in the Countrey , and fome
good Women, amongft other Dr . Culpepper; late wife, and Simple
men, on our fide ( I mean Simple in refpeel: of the Grecian fub-
tilties about nothing ) when thefe people have healed moft, nay,

even

Rofie Crucian V H Y S I C K. 39

even all difeafes, and with which womanifh Medicines indeed?
the German Doftour (let us give him his due praife) hath quite
(lain the Grecian Phy(ick_, and here done much for mankind , by
defcribing and dispatching our clofe and fecret enemie , which
under colour of friendfhip and fighting againftour enemies hath
this long time betrayed us and done us much mifchief; which
thing one of their beft Captains of their State, Yeme/lby name ,
after he had been a while in Egypt , began to fmell at laft , and
began to repent himfelf of all his former pains (which we knov?
were great) beftowed in that kind of Healing, faying it to be but
words, and the whole force and weight of this An to lean upon
the knowledge and vertues of Medicines, feeretly hid and, cinch-
ed in the midfi and oyl of bodies, to be fetched out and gotten by
the skilful means of A\chymifts ;even foof that Art , which is
fomuch condemned of his fellows before and fince him,have fled
and do daily flie from the daily toil and trouble of their fruit lefs
tend barren dead Sea : Now let us fhift our Sailes, and flie further
too, I hope of wind and tide and all; which we have, a/- r» *&-
But let usmountuptothe«4/»-»!M/?t0pof our Knowledge ,
and fee if we can defcribe the Haven of Rofie Crucian < Medicines,
and fee what marks it hath, and how it differs from other Creeks
adjoining , left at our journeys end we mifs , with more fhame
and grief, and fuffer Ihipwrack. A medicine is that which kills
the face of that which hurts us; and this it doth many waies,and
yet alfo to one end (which is is the end of all doing and working
as I faid before,) for his food and fuftenance.

CHAP.

4o Rofie Crucian PHV SICK.

CHAP. XIII.

Medicines againfl Witchcraft and to care thofe that are affliSled
thereby yalthough their bodies be pojfejfed with cvill [pirits, that
caufe them to vomit up Needles, Thimbles, Pots, Glajfes, Hair,,
andfhreds of cloth, which by the Divil were conveyed into the bo-
dy. That Winds and Tempefis are raifed by Witches upw meer
ceremonies of Medicines, and of poyfons; with the examples alfo
of other fupernatural effects of unclean f pirits, and of imaginati-
on. How to cure a Witch, and to take away her power.

A Servant ofGodand Secretary of Nature , muft be well advifed
of what he writes, cfpecially in this age, and of this matter
(yiz,.)o£ the Rofie Crucian Phyfick^ left he mould, as I faid before,
fail in this defign, and fo it may be afhame that he mould be
reproved, by the pretenders to thofe wife.truths he alone hath
opened to publkk view; then let us come again and fort our
fpeechss.

A Medicine heais tu, and kills our enemie , either by dulling
or confumingitjfor when it meets with a contrary of even ftrength
(as when oyl and poyfon &c. joyn) then in ftrength they neither
eat up nor deftroy one another, but both are dulled and weakned,
and make one heavy thing which nature cafteth out for an unlike
and unkindly dead things which they call an excrement, or (Lea-
ving;) but in cafe it be of more llrength and power then our ene-
mie, then it quite deftroyes, devours, and turns him into his own
nature. And this confumer is either like the thing that hurts us,
in which fort even as every herb of fundry qualities draws and
feeds upon his own juice in a Garden ; fo one Poyfon doth cure
another, and all purging and drawing things do heal us,andall Rofie
Crucians hid and Divine properties do work by plain reafon; or
elfe it is unlike and contrary to their cuftome; after which manner
us dry (ticks, and Tow \ and vinegar quench wildfire, or other Fat
fires, before nvtf*r,whofe fatnefs feeds it, for the ftrong contrary
quality quelling and eating up the weaker ; fo doth
any cold and dry chine as Bolearminick, Terra Lemnia, &c. cure a
Rotten poyfon : and fo are a great number of cures done; which

onely

Rofie Crucian P H Y S I C K. 4I

onely courfe , in a word, the Rofte Crucians ufe for Phyfick^ and
not indeed wichout good iuccefs ; we heard even now of two
hinderances of healing, which our common Phyficiansdid take
unawares, and /W/r^//^ pretends to have found out before me,
gave any hint to the World of our experienced inventions , of
Golddijfolved and made potable , being incorporated with its proper
Feyle, which we now ufe by the name of Aurum potabile ; but
Parace/fe ftraieth much in the making of it, and knows it not no
more than that tattered Dol~lor Freeman, fo fhamefully called a-
mongft'Phyficians: Whither in their poifons, on the other fide,
when they think all cures thereby performed.

Now when the Confuming Medicines havedone, their duties,
Nature' expells them for poifon and unlike Grange things, accor-
ding to the Rofie Crucian Axiomata} as well as tht Grecian Rules,
becaufe all their Medicines were not approved by the Fraternity,
and were by their confeflion fuch : But if they had either thought
of the dulling nouriGier, which as I told yon,takes the nature of
the leaving or excrement, or had known the Rofie Crucian vvhol-
fome Aledicine , they would have made another reckoning ; But
let them go, and us fee out in time towards the Haven of Health,
If the Art of Healing be nothing but defraying hurtful things ,
And their Wronger enemies (but equality will fomerimes ferve
the turnj or likes together; and the world be full of both thefe
kinds of Creatures , following the nature of their Parents of
four beginnings, whL-hareas we fee,fome like, and fome con-
trary cne to another.

Then fure the Rofie Crucian Art of Healing is not (as fome
may fay)irnpo(iuble, truly it wanteth nothing, but a man well
skilled in the Nature of things, Afiervantof God, and Secreta-
ry of Nature by name ; for (I think) I need not put in a Phyfici-
an, to know what other part the Caufes of the difeafes , which
muft be known and matched, becaufe as Sr. Chriftopher Heydon
the Seraphically Illuminated Rofie Crucian^rsd learned Aftrologer,
well faith, He thatknoweth the changes and chances of things in
\\iz great JVorld3mzy ibon find them in the Little.

But our nought-Healing Bill-men, that daub Medicines upon
every Wall and Poft, and fome Leaches, will itep in , and fay ,
difeafes are in fome fo great, and in all fo many, and mans wit is

G To

42 Roje Crucian P H Y S I C K.

lb- weak and fallow, and the Medicines fo hid and drowned in
the deep of Nature, that it is not potfible to find them all; or if
they were fy.'nJ, to • apply rhem wichfu'.h difcretion as Nature
might abide tho'~e poiioned Fcaies and Battels within her. And
again, admit all this untrue, yet there be fome difeafes fent fiom
Witchcraft, and Sorcery , and other means which have their caufe ,
and fo their Cure. 1 have read of lbm that have vomited uppieces
of Cloth with Pins (tuck in them ,Nalls, Needle s& fuch like ftuft";
and this is lngefted\mo the Stomach Joy thcpreftlgious Sleights of
witches ; Others I.have feen vomit up Hair,Glafs,Iron,and pieces
of Wood with Pins fluck in it; anothers Cot-ps was differed,
and ripping up the Ventricle > there they found the Caufe of the dif-
eafe, which was a round piece of Wood four Knives, fome even and
fiiarp, others were indented like a Save. Others do Miracles by
Catting Flint- (rones behind their Backs towards the W?y?,orftriking
a River with Broom, or flinging of Sand in the Air , xhtfiirrlng of
Urine in a hole in the ground, or boy ling of Hogges Br I files in a pot-y
fome by whlfperlngfome words in the Ear of an horfe or wild Stagg ,
could-direU: him a journey according to their own dejire&nt what are
thefe things available? to gather Chuds^nd to cover the Air
with darknefs, and then to make the ground fmoke with peals of
Hall mi Rain, and make the Air terrible with frequent Light-
ning and ratling Claps of Thunder : B<t this is from the power
of the Divel (as fome fancy) which he hath in his Kingdoms of
the Air. i* £eQbevor»<]

fa the Remedy of thefe mifchiefs^f havefeen7a man was
p'efent, when fome have vomited up Needles 5 Thimbles , Shreds
of Cloth , pieces of Pots, Glafs, Hair; another would fufTer him-
felf for money to be run thirow with a fvvord when I was nor there,
but it appeared to me a Fable. I have feen aRoP.eCrucianPhyf-
ciancure thefe afili&ed People. But if you will fay, There is a
touchftone whereby we may difcerne the truth of Metals , but
that there is nothing whereby we may difcover the truth of Mi-
racles i ecorded every where in Hirtory. But I anfwer there is,and
that is this:

Firf}, If what is recorded was avouched by fuch perfons,who
had no end nor inrerert in avouching fuch things.

Secon ily,if there W2k-e manv eye-wirneffes of the fame matter.

Thirdlv,

Bafie Crucian P H Y S I C K. 43

Thirdly and Wily, If thefe things \yhich are lb ftrange and mi-
raculous leave any fenfible effects behind rhem ; Though I wil'l
not acknowledge that all thofe Stories are falfe that want thefe
Conditions, yet I dare affirme that it is meer Humour and Sul-
lennefs in a man to rejecl the Truth,of thofe that hear them:For
iris to believe nothing but what he feeth himfelf,from whence it
will follow, That he is to read nothing of Hiftory, tor there is
neither Pleafure nor any ulefi inefle , if it deierve no Be-
lief.

Another Remedy for thefe Supernatural difeafss, is, Let one
wat^h the/wrf;- Sufpeued, when they go home to their koufe ,
and prefently after, before .my body goe into the houfe after him
or her, let one pull a handful of the Thatch, or a Tyle that is 0-
ver the Door, and it it be a 7V<?,make a good Fire, and heat it
red hot therein, fetting a Trivet over it; then take the parties
Water ^ it be a Man, Woman, or Child, and poure it rpon the
redhot Tyle, uponone fide firft,and then on the othe-, and a-
gain put the Tyle into the Fire, and make it exn emery hot, turn-
ing it ever and anon, and let no body come injothehoi fe in the
mean time.