Chapter 6
Book IIL
CHAP. I.
The Way to Long
Lifc->+
1 . Ifow to mdkf one live to two hundred years :
2. John Macklains onr Countrey man and
ojhtrs : 3. Tolicy to prevent cccafions :
4. Hf//tf from Egypt ^Arabia : 5. ISft-
thing can beget and mr\v]>in h [fife:
6. Ike heads of doing caufes: j.lhemf-
dome of God : £. A team of Fire : y.Moift-
nejfe : 10. Of wale and female jlvffe '*
it. Mixtures: 12. Of the jiuffe cloaihed
with wind : j 3 , C/f /j^ 0/Ye #?/i ^/zt 0/
The Holy Guide. L1E.3
Heaven : 1 4. The fecret heat 115. The
ftarry fire and fat of Aether :.f6. Earth
and iVater: 17. Aire and Fire: \%.T>if«
ferences of beads -.19. Of Hair e and Hoof :
20. Example : 21. Of tnafyng and peri-
ling : 22. The means to Long Life : 23. The
food of Life: 24. The c aufe of Long JJfe\
25. The truths of Nature'. 26. The Ju-
slice of God and End of Man : 27. Natu-
ral! My sleries ; 28. Of the clear ne fle of
mans body: 29. The Jufiice of Nature:
30. The wayes of Nature: 31. Methu-
falem: 33, A long Race: 34. Helps to
Long Life : 3 <5 . The life of Gyants :
36. King Argathon'.? 6jfc : 37. Plato'*
Common wealth , 38. enafled by the Lsw
of Nature^ what, &c. 39. The food of
Mars : 40. Hungry fpirits : 41. Mixt Bo-
dies, and their four enemies : 42 b Tfo
chwgable world and courfe of Creatures :
43. Natural means to Long Lift : ^,Soul9
Life and Heat of natural things : 45. Of
the Element of Fire : 46. Of the nature of
Aether : 47. Of the food of Aether :
48. Of the unfeen firfl Moifiure and Being
of Life: 49. Of the firfl fluffe of the fine
Oyleof the food of life: 50. Of a plaine
-pattern of adjournment of life : $ i* Na-
tures pattern not counterfeit^ or the blood
and flejb of feed; 53. Caufe of Life:
44-. In*
LiB.3- The Holy Guide.
54. lnftru&ion and noutifhing; ^. An
example of Cardanas: 5 6. Our finale Oyles
57^ Natures Works equal in weight and
truth.
1. T TEre we have met with the com-
JCjL mon argument , wherewith the
unlearned ufe to deface this goodly fe-
quence ; we muft go forward and encoun-
ter with the learned, who becaufe the
great deeds and effe&s that are promifed,
that is,to make all men long liv'd,health-
full, young, wife,blefled and vertuous.are
above their skill, or of their Anceftors^
the Grecians rate both the works impof-
fible, and the workmans way falfe and
guileful ; I muft, I fay, prove,according to
my task appointed, that thofe great acts
and deeds may be done & performed by
other and weaker means then Hermes Me-
dicines : And this I muft do with more
pains and diligence, becaufe this way
an entry once made in their hearts, the
great marvellous truth of thisfecret, may
the more eaiily come in and take pofleili-
on.
3 . But of fuch variety of hard and flip-
pery matter, where were it beft to fet
out > which way firft to take ? were it not
meet the means and helps unto pleafure
fliould be firft cleared and read before we
come
4 7 he Holy Guide. LlE.j
come to pleafurc it felf > and among
them to give long Life the foremoft place,
if not for his worthinefle, yet for his be-
hoof and neceflity, being needful iti all
Common-wealths and private perfons ;
firfttofeek 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 lohn Mackjain.
3. But why do we make fuch great haft>
we had need be flow and advifed in fo
great a matter, and to look before we
venter on folong away, and of fo many
dayes journey, that we be well provided
and furnifhed of all things : wherein I
hope, if I have not of mine own ; or if af-
ter the thrifty manner, when lam well
ftored my felf; yet I borrow to prevent
lending, although I took upon truftfo
much as would ferve this turn, it fhall be
noftainuntomy credit; but be rather
deemed a fafeand wary way,to cut offoc-*
cafion of robbery, both at home and a-
broad, efpecially if I take it up of fuch
men as are rnoft famous and well be*
loved.
4. Thefe (hoAd be my friends of
J&gypt and Arabia (though we have their
fecret help now and then ) the beft able
indeed, and the neareft unto me, if they
were fo well known and beloved in the
world )
LlB. 3. The Holy Guide
world ; but becaufe they be not, I will fly
to that other tide of Greece 9 and to the
moft renowned there , and beft liked :
Hypocrates9 Flato, and Arijlotk , whom I
doubt not to find very free and willing
in this matter : Let us then awake our old
ftudies out of deep, and lye to them, what
need many words.? After greeting, and
the matter broken, they make me this an-
fwer joyntly together : God, becaufe he
was Good , did not grieve to have others
enjoy his Goodnefs, that is, to be, and to
be well,meaning to make a worldf though
Ariffotle withdrew his hand herein) full
of all kind and everlafting changeable
things, firft made all,and blended them in
one whole confufed lump together, born
up by his own weight bending round up-
on it felf.
5. Then feeing it lay ftill , and that
nought could beget and work upon it
felf, he forted out and fundrcd away
roundabout, a fine lively piece (which
they call Heaven) for the Male-Mover
and Workman, leaving ftill the reft fas
grofle and deadly ) fit for the Female, to
contain the working andfafhioning,which
we term the four beginnings for Ele-
ments) Earthy Water r Air, and Fire*, and
thereof fprung the love which we fee yet
between them , andthcgreac defiretobe
joy»ed
The Holy Guide. L1B.3.
joyned againe and coupled together* !
6. Then that there might be no num-
ber and confufion of workmen and do*
ing caufes , but all to flow from one
head, as he is one head, drew all force of
working , and vertue of begetting , into
a narrow round compafs , which we call
the Sun,from thence to be lent outspread
and beftowed all about the world , both
above and below , which again meeting
together , made one general heat, light,
nature , life and foul of the world the
caufeot all things.
7. And becaufe it becomes the might,
wifdome and pleafureof fuch a Builder,
to make and rule the infinite variety of
things here below , and not evermore one
felf-fame thing ■> he commanded that one
light in many to run his eternal and ftint-
lefs race, too and fro, this way and that
way, that by their variable prefence, ab-
fence and meeting , they might fitly work
the continual change of flitting Crea-
tures.
8. This Soul, which Plato calls the ever
moving mover, quite contrary to AriJiotle9
tftytemdh which he himfelf conftrueth , a
movable mover, ( that we may mervail
how TuUy could tranflate it, as to make it
all one with Plato, nnlefs Luciam Gallons
milled him y which is found in fome cop-
pies*
Li B. 3. Tbe Holy Guide. 7
pies that he might be an eternal mover,
is,in Nature)and being a moil fubtile and
fmall beam,lpark of heavenly fire,in pro-
perty and quality, by his cleannefs, light,
and finenefs, hot ■> and for his moiftnefs,
withall temperate, as appearethto him
that bendeth his mind upon it.
9. 1 f you doubt of this moiftnefs, think
nothing is made without mingl ing, which
is by drawing in, and breaking fmali toge-
ther the whole ftuffe, when a dry heat
draweth out and fcattereth the fine from
the great , and thereby wafteth and nar-
roweth all things, making nothing: As
for example, Dung hatchstb an egg 3 and
quichpeth anything apto receive life, when
warm aftes will never do it 5 what need
we more > Imagine an heavenly flameby a
good burning water, which flaming upon
the hand on a dry cloath , heateth them
both gently,without heatorpunifhments
and yet this Sunny beam is not moift of it
felf , before it is tempered with the rnoift-
nefs of his wife, the Moon* to make it apt
for generation. Then Hermes calls the Svn
and the Moon the Father and the Mother
of all things.
10. Now the ftufFeand female, to be fit
to fufitr working, muftbefirft open, that
is,foft an d moift,and then not one,nor yet
many lfcc things , leaft in both t hefe cafes
chey
8 TheHoly Guide. Llfc^.
theyfhould ftand ftillthefame, and not
when they be flirted by the workman,
rife and ft rive , bruife and break one ano-
ther, fitly by continual change, until at
laft they come unto a conftant reft and
ftay; and that upon fmall occalion the
fame confent might jaragain , and come
and change the wifhed end and purpofelof
the work , And therefore God caft in at
firft , the known four fighting enemies ;
yet in the foftand openftufFe, there are
but two of them. Earth and Water in one
mixture, feen and extant at the begin-
ning , before the painful foul draws out
and works the reft, Fire out of Earth, and
out of Water that breath-like and windie
thing called Air.
1 1. Sothar if there be much Earth, lit-
tle Water,and great heat to mingle them,
fire will (hew it felf and bear the fway 5 if
but fmall heat upon the fame meafure of
Earth and Water3Earth will rule the roft ;
if on that other fide , upon fmall ftoreof
Earth, and much Water, but a fmall heat
of working; the thing will fall out to be
raw and waterifh ; if upon the fame quan-
titie, and ftronger heat, there arifeth ari
Airie , which is termed a fat and oy ly bo-
dy.
12. Wherefore when the Soul comes
down by theAfpe&s of Stars ( Read the
Har-
iiB.3. the Holy Guide. ~~9 ^
ffaFmoHy of the World ) upon the ftuffe,
cloathed with a fine windy coat of the
cleaneft Air next unto Heaven, called
JEtker (without the breaking' of which
means3the twoextreams and unacquaint-
ed ftrangers would never bargain and
agree together) by his m oft mild heat it
moves it,and alters it very diverfly , ma-
king many! forts and kinds of things
differing according to the ftrength of
the one, and the obedience of the 6-
thcr.
15. And foby reafon in that fepa ration
of that fine and male part , at firft, the
ftuffe was throughly toft and mingled,
and the heat of Heaven thereby ( like a
hot Summer after a wet Spring ) very
fitly \ all which , man and all were made
alike , without any feed fown , otherwife
then by the great Seeds-man cf Heaven,
upon the common ftufFe h^rchandWa-
ter3and isftill feen in the coiimion tillage,
yet ufed in thofe lame and imtilled
Wights, which fome call Start-ups, and
fprung out from themfelves, As we may
be calily led to thinks if we confider how,
ttot.onlyall kinds of plants, without all
fettingorfowing, grow up by themfelves
in fome places 5 and fome kind of Fifti in
Q^ the
jo The Holy Guide. LlB 3;
the Sea are only Females 5 but alfo what
plenty of fifti there abounds in that fro-
zen Country 5 for the great heat and fat-
nefs of the waters 5 and chiefly that
upon the (limy and hot lands of
JEgyp , there are yet fome bloody
and perfeft Land-wights ( as Hares
and Goats, &c) all made and fafliio-
ned.
14. But becaufe afterward the well
mingled and fat fine fhiffe, and ftrong
working heat failed fas it muft needs in
time) and yet the great Lord would have
the continual flitting,change,and fuccefli-
011 hold the fame, and fit caufes were
daily kept by continual fucceflion within
thebodyof the perfect Wights , theftuffe
in the (he, and the heat in both, yea, and
as far as need required in feeded Plants
alfo.
Now we muft underftand as well ,
that this heavenly Soule, when it is fo
cloathed with that windy body, is cal-
led fpirit fnot only moveth and wor-
keth with his heat) but alfo for food
wafteth the ftuffe -, for nothing that is
made, is able to bear up his ftate and
being without his proper and like food
and fuftenance. See my Harmony of the
mrld.
15; Then
L1B.5. The Holy Guide. tl
15. Then asourgroG fire here l^ow
feedeth on weather and wind, called Air,
as upon his lighted meat ; and as it in his
due place , is too thin and fcattered,
fp reading the figure fo far as it followeth
his food, until atlaftit vanifheth co no-
thing, unlefs it be plentifully heaped and
crowded up together, and fo kept in a
narrow (hell of water, which is called oyle
or fatnefs; evea fo it is between the
fineftarry fire and his like food, the fine
fat of iEther, for that caufe befides the
divine purpofe abovefaid, it cometh
down inpoft intothefe quarters, to find
and dreffe himfelf {tore of meat, as ap-
pears by his tarrying; for asfoon as his
food is fpent he flyeth away as faft , and
leaves his Hoftatiix andfevens uncared
for. I was about to tell you the courfeof
the divers forts and fuits of thefe lower
Creatures, but thllthere was a great puffe
of matter came between and fwept me
away. This now being paflfed over, I will
go forwards.
1 6. Then if the fuffering ftuife be grofs,
foul andtough,and the making heat very
fmall and ealie , as it is within and under
the ground, things are made, which they
call Metals,or rather by the Arabick word,
Minerals, little, broken, altered, or chan-
ged 3 but the grofs beginnings , Earth
Qjs and
1 2 The Holy Guide. Lib. 3
andBfater ( Earth efpecially ) rule ftill *,
anclthe life and foul, as it were, in a dark
dungeon, faft (hut up, and chained, as not
able to ftir and mew it felf at all. When
the ftufle is finer and fofter, with greater
heat upon it, then will arife a rooted and
growing thing, called a Plant, better min-
gied,and fmaller,and further broken from
the low and foul beginnings 5 and the life
of Heaven (hall have morefcope , becaufe
Wind, or Air, or Water (and yet Water
chiefly ) fwayeth the matter.
17. But if the Soul be yet more migh-
ty, and the ftuffe yet finer, he is able (Air
and Fire) but that above this exalted, to
Chew himfelf a quicker workman , and to
make yet a finer piece of work, moving
forward,and by mighty force perceiving 5
but by reafon thefe twocaufes, paffingby
thofe degrees, to mount and rife at laft,
there is an excellent altdfierie kind con*
trived, over our kind, I mean, moft
throughly, and fair, and finely wrought,
even fofat indeed, that he may not eatily
feem made at all of thefe all- making
feeds, the four beginnings : Whence it is,
that when a Corps is confumed with fire,
there are found fcarcefix ounces of clear
earth remaining ; which finenefsof body
gives occafion to the greateft quicknefs
and freedome of the Soul, and ability to
per-
Lib. J. The Holy Guide. 13
perform fas his duties of life ) moving
and perceiving ; yea, and (hall I puc in
underftanding alfo > For albeit God hath
imbreathed us with another more fine
and clean mover,called Mind,for a fpecial
and divine purpofej yet that mind, as
well as the foul above, is all one of it fel f
in all places, and working diverfly, ac-
cording to thofe divers places, as we (hall
lee more at large hereafter.
1 8, Then you fee all the differences of
the four great heads and kinds , which
contain all things; yea and of many
lefler degrees and fteps lying within every
one of thefe , which I named not before -y
as alfo of fundry forts (not worth the
naming ) cf doubtful and needlefs
things, touching and partaking on each
fide of the four great ones ( or between
the firft two , ftones budding like herbs in
the Scottifh Sea ; between Plants and
Beafts,that fprung Ap^ or rather hairy wild
fnen^ between beads and us) to proceed
from the divers mixtures of their bodies
If you cannot quickly perceive the mat-
ter,behold at once the outward fhapesand
fa(hions,as they here go down a (hort pair
of ftairs before you.
19* Do you not fee man alone, through
his exceeding fine and light body, carried
up and mounted with a mighty heat of
Q^3 Heavens
14 The Holy Guide. Lib. 3
Heaven , of an upright ftature and carri-
age of himfelf that his divine wit might
be freed from the clog of the fle(h > when
other Wights , from the contrary caufe,
(which thegrofs or earthly leavings, or
excrements, of hair, horn,hoof, and fuch
like declare ) are quite otherwife difpo-
fed,as we fee, towards the ground, their
like companion; and fo the lefshotand
fine they be, that is, the like the earth, the
nearer they bend unto her ,, being lefle of
fiafureitill 3 and after that n\any-footed
to fupport them; but at length (ootlefs
and groveling , until they come to their
heads downward, and there they ftay
not, but pane quite over , and degene-
rate from Wights to Plants, and from
thence, if I might tarry about them , I
would fend them down ftill through all
the fteps of them and Minerals, until
they come to their main reft and ftay,
from whence they all fprung clean Earth
and Water.
But I think it be now high time to take
my leave of thefe Tbilofophersand Phyfitians,
and to fet forwards as foon as I have
packt up my fhiffe round together, efpeci-
ally the beft and moft pretious things, my
Medicines.
2c. Then we gather by that inlarged
Speech, one chief and notable rule of
learning.
Li B. 3 . ?he Holy Guide. 1 5
learning, that the fhape, nature, being,
perfe&ion , and all the difference in all
things here below , fpringeth from the
mixture and temper of the ftuffe and be-
ginnings y the doing , making and work-
ing caufe, that makes, mingles, broacheth
andfetsall a running, to be apiece of the
finer part of the whole, parted and packt
up together in the Sun : of which finer
part, fome remaineth ftill in the raw and
rude ftufFe fecretly hid and placed : other-
fome more freely,in the half-made ftuffe,
called feed j and in finer feed yet more
lively, and in man moft at liberty^except-
ing where 1 faid it was free indeed from all
Jrind of body ; and yet all thefe but one
and the felf-fame thing , called foul, life,
heavenly and natural heat.
2 1 . Thus means divine Hippocrates when
he faith, nought is made, and nothing
perifheth, but all are altered,and changed
up and down by mingling : And again,
that no Wight can die,unlefs all fall;w here
he is moft agreeable, and jumpeth with
thefe grounds and rules, and with the
whole web of our Rofie Crucian Phyfick.
If any man doubt of the other two, Flats
and Ariftotlejet him read their books with
heed, and he (hall find them, where they
fpeak naturally , and by the light of hu-
mane reafon, to draw dill towards this
Q 4 head
1 6 the Holy Guide. L1B.3
bead and point of truth, though they
come toftay fometime, milled, I think,
by the over weening wifdome of Aftro-
nomy, to the Infinite variety of divers
naturedand conditioned Stars above, and
fiich like Influences caufingthe like end-
lefs odds and differences of all things.
22. Let us now,i fay, tet forward in our
firft dayes journey to long life, unfolding
iirft what it is, and the canfe thereof, and
laftly, the common and high way to
it.
It feems hard foe : man to appoint
jffhat bounds of Hie are large and long
enough for Man,unlefs God ( who know-
eth beft both the meafure of pleafure and"
happinefs fit for him 9 and the race of
time meet for him) firft fet and marked
tlem-, to that the greateft age and far-
theft time that the luftieft men and beft
difpofed bodies , both by kind and diet,
have at any time reached and lived , may
well , by the great and goodwill of our
great Land-lord, be fet the bounds, ftint
and end of life, large enough to hold all
the pleafures meet for mankind , and the
mark which we may all aim and level our
indeavours at , yea and with fure hope to
hit and reach it, and no further, isabout
fn hundred and fifty years, as you (hall hear
aiion.
Now
Lib.?. The Holy Guide. 1 7
Now if there do three caufes meet to
(he making up of things, and thereon
leaneth all their being jthe ftuffe, the mo-
ver, and the meat of the mover, which is
the fatnefs of the fluffe , then fure the
caufe of their long being and continu-
ance in their eftate can be nothing elfe
but the favour and goodnefs of thofe
three caufes.
23. The foul and heat of heaven is
good and favourable to Wights ( to let
the reftgofar more dark and further off
my purpose ) when (he poures her felf
plentifully upon them ; for there can be
no other odds in one and the felf-fame
thing in all place?;, but the fat food of life
which they call the firft moifture, and is
the fineft piece of all that is lying hid
and unfeen iu the found feccnd part of
Wights, and yet by skill to be fetched out
andfet before us„muft not only be plen-
tiful and great in (lore, to match the feed-
ing foul, but alfo faft and fine, that by his
finenefs he may be both friendly and like
to live, and Aiery,or rather ^therial (we
muft leave thefe words without handling)
to keep himfelf both in cold and heat
flowing, and that through his fatnefs
and clofenefs, (which they call in La-
tine , Denfum or Solidum ) that is through
his much ftuffe in a narrow room he may
be
1 8 The Holy Gride. L1B.3
be more lading and fie to continue. Now
the ftuffe and body is beft when it isfaft,
and fine alfo, to hold and hang all to-
gether , and that other to give free fcope
without flopping or let , unto the conti-
nual and wife race of life.
24. Then to make a fum of all, the
caufe of long life is a raft fine body,
fprinkled and feafoned with much like
finemoifture, andftoreof heavenly heat.
If this matter needed any further proof,
1 could eafily by cutting up the nature of
things, fo lay it open before you, as your
own eyes mould witnefs and fee the fame ;
but if it need to fome,they (hall fee fome-
thing , and that fufficient to content
them.
For the firft, Arijlotle faith, and we find
it true by experience, that they livelong-
eft in hot Countries for their dry , found,
foft,and fine bodies ; but chiefly for their
finenefs,yielding free recourfe and paflfage
unto life \ tor age and kindly death come
of rottennefs , which flows from the ftil-
nefs of hear, andflacknefstofalve andre-
freflivhe part?:
Touching the reft, to wit, that much
heat aiivi much good fatnefs are a caufe of
long life: mark the fhort life of all thofe
Wights,that either want them by kind, as
the maimed and imperfect ones, orwafte
them
Lib. 3. The Boly Guide. 19
them by motion, as the male Greyhound
of Lacedenton was , againft the courfe of
kind, (horter-lived then the Bitch, for his
pains in running 5 and the gelt male
Hound , and fpayed female , hunt better,
and live longer then others. And the
Cock-Sparrow lives but half fo long as
the Hen , and yet this but three years for
tlieir xenfty $ the world is full of fuch
examples : ;and behold again , the Ele-
phant on the other tide, for the great help
and favour of all the caufes above the reft,
as may appear by iheir great fruit and
effects in him,that is^ftrength,bignefs, and
ftomack, being able to bear the ground
work of a Cattle of fifteen armed men, to
eat 9. bufhels at a time, and to drink 14.
firkins ("to indure and hold out much
longer then any of the rea , and to live
( Ariftotle is mine Author in the ftoryj
three hundred years in all
Now we know what long life is,and the
caufe thereof, let us fee whether all men
may reach it or uo, and then which way
they may reach it.
2q. At thefirft all mankind by the will
and appointment of kind, was found3and
lufty, and lived long, and all the failing
and corruption now adayes (which falfly
feemethaweak condition of our nature)
crept in through diforder in our felves,
by
20 The Holy Guide. LlB.j
by little and little, 8c fo by (owing ftill the
like children, itfpread it felf atlaft deeply
rooted over all, and made it, as it were, a
certain ftate, nature and kind of men ;
wherefore by good order in our fel ves , it
may be reformed and brought back again
unto the ancient Eftate ; but how may we
prove this? If God and Nature have or-
dained man unco a divine end above the
reft; and yet fome beafts ( as Theophrafius
for a wonder complains ) live longer
then our common rate , yea and longer
then any bounds above fet ; certainly we
ought to do as much and more, by the
rate of nature , and of all right and rea-
fon,and fome did at firft, before we fell by
our default, which may be mended.
26. But leaft I may happen to deal with
fome,who will neither grant the Juftice of
God, nor yet yield to the end of man;
with fomej fay,that have fo far put off all
humanity, I will bring them to natural
caufes ; 1 will open and lay before them,
both the forts and fruits of Wights,! mean,
of men and Beafts; that they being ' a
monftrous doubtful kind between both,
that is, Beafts within,cloathed only with
outward fhape of Men , may the better
Judge of both fas in like cafe they
formed of the like mifhapen Monftersthe
Poet* know my meaning, it is not worth
the
Lib. 3 . The Half Guide. 2 1
the flouri(h of a chad and modeft Pen )
which hath in kind the more caufe to live
long; that feeing at laft the worfer
Wights to overgo us in life, and to run to
the very goaleitfelf, and yet to have re-
ceived leffe caufe from nature, they may
be driven by force of reafon to yield, that
we have a better kind and worfer cuftome,
and that we did and might livelong, but
for our own fault, which maybe reform-
ed.
27. To begin with the foul and natural
heat for his worthinefs,let us fee which of
them is indcwed with more (tore of him,
that is, of the chief caufe of long life $
manwalketh upright, when the reft are
thrown to the ground , becaufe they lack
the force of this light and afcending
heat,to bear up the weight of their bodies,
which we have abundantly h but if we
leave the outward (hape and look into
them , we (hall by the great forefight of
natural Wights, which are hot and full of
blood 3 have againft the root and fpring
thereof, to root and temper the fame, a
contrary in place and property fet, the
brain, I mean fomemore andfomelefs,
ftill according to the behoof and requefl
of the heart j in fomnch that they that
have leffe blood and faiall heat within
them, as not needing any cooler, have no
brain at all, 28.
32 fheHoly Guide. LiB'3»
28. Then by certain race and courfecf
kind, if that be true which all Phyfitians
& Philofophers hold,thata man hath the
greateft brain of all Wights-, it muft needs
follow, that he hath the greateft (tore of
heat alfo : but enter further into them,
and you (hall fee man by how much more
hegoeth beyond a beaft in wit, fomuch
to burn in heat above him: for wit fpring-
eth out of the clearnefs of the bodie. And
this out of heat, as I will prove in his place
hereafter.
29. Now if this firft point be done and
granted, the next is quickly made, even
as one match is made by another. It
ftandeth with the juftice of nature that
makes not in vain, to match this greedy
heat with ftore of good meat, that is, of
faft and fine Etherial firft moifturefuita-
bly, or elfefure, faith Heraclitus, the offi-
cers of Juftice, the Fairies would foon ap-
prehend her. To be ftiort, both this and
that, and the third likewife, a clofefine
bodie and all is cleared, if it be fo that
man in making is moft clear and finely
mixt, and broken of all the lower crea-
ture;?, as we heard even now decreed in
the Councel of the beft Philofophers and
Rofie Crucian Doftors •■> for if nought makes
but heat, then nought maketh well but
much heat 5 if there were no other odds
irt
LiB.g- 7 he Holy Guide 23
in fouls, as was above-faid : and if the
beginnings be well and finely mingled,
andtheconco&ion hold, they mnft needs
gather themfjves in clofe together alfo
to make another cauie, yea, and the laft ;
for what is hue oyle and fitnefs, but wa-
ter wherewith we flovv, as our brain de-
clareth, throughly mingled and raifed in-
to an airy, or rather into an Etherial
clofe fubftance 5 but if you will not ftand
to this degree, then once for all confider
and weigh but this one example, that al-
beit man be more given to luft, then any
other Wight, and thereby drying up the
body, it plainly appearech more then in
any other, and weakeneth all the helps of
long Life together, both the moifture,
that knits and holds the fiame, and chat
which feeds our heat, and this all 5 andfo
the fummeofiife, which is yet due by
nature, he payeth before his day to his
own wantonnefs, yet he livethand hold-
eth out longer then almoft any other;
that we may plainly fee, that if he lived as
chaftly,andin other points as orderly as
the reft, he might far pafs and over-run
themall, in this race of life and continu-
ance.
Butmethinksl hear them whifper, that
I forgot my felf, and the bounds of my
long Life, when I make men able to live
as
24 The Holy Guide. L1B.3
as long, and longer then any beaft ; for
to let pafs that Hart, Badger and Raven,
which overtake the longed: life of
our old men ; fince the Elephant, as we
have heard, goeth far beyond the very
bounds of agej efpecially the Raven,
whom Euripides will have to live nine of
our ages.
30. There may feem fome matters,but
chiefly the laft uncurable, and yet they
'are indeed light and eafie, and the laft
moftofalUl mean the Rawn; for if there
was never yet man of found judgement
and knowledge in the waies of [nature ,
thatalowed the ftory (and Ariftotleby
name condemns it, when he gives the
Elephant the longeft life of all Wights,
and man next to him) what? mould we
fearch after Poets Records? belides,doth
not one among them confefs himfelf,
they are not to be believed, and held as
witneiTes> doth not Flato, once a Poet,
and then a wife Philofopher, chafe them
up and down in all places ? and in one
place fayeth, they are befldes themfelves,
when they fit on their Mufes (tools, and
run Llike a fpring pouring out all that
comes > Are they not all, in wife mens ac*
count, the greateft enemies to God, good
manners, and all right and true know-
ledge, that ever the world or the Devil
bred.? 31*
IS~
L1B.3 . the Holy Guide. 2 5
j I. But I Hide too far unawares; and
if we muftof force receive this aged Ra-
ven, yet perhaps there mall be no great
hurt received : and I cannot fee why we
may not match him with Mtthuja/emy
and fome other aged Fathers in holy IVrit^
reported to have lived as many yeares
as nine of our ages comes to, with ad-
vantages is not enough to fay that which
fome fay, thofe yeares are to be meant
for moneths, and not as we account them;
for albeit I know the Egyptians reckon (fo
wcmay fee in P/i#y, where fome of them
arefaidto live a thoufand years apiece3
that is, fo mahy moneths) yet is agreed
among the Divines, men beft skilled in
thefe matters, that the Jewes account was
otherwife, even as we and all other Na-
tions make it. But if this ancient ftory of
our holy men be a thing in doubt, or cer-
tainly untrue, or to be meant of moneths,
yet your aged Raven may go with it, and
the Father of the tale together 5 and we
may, when we will, pafs to the Elephant.
Arijiotle indeed is the Author of this ixo-
rie , that the Elephant liveth three hun-
dred years ; how then (hall we miilike in
like manner of this man, and refufe his
witncfs> I cannot tell what to fay; it is
a very hard matter that he faith : and a-
gain I know, that when the power and
R, purfe
^6^ l he Holy Guide. Lib. 3
purfc of his King and Scholer, Alexander^
who gave him eight talents of Silver, a
huge f limine, to that rife, he heaped up
a rableofall kinds of reports and heare-
fayes into fome of thofe books (by fome
ca\led wokvicLkclvicl) and fome falfe and
untrue tales might creep in among them-,
yet I owe much to the mans worchinefs;
and again the books have ever held the
place of a true Record \ and befidesthis
matter of the Elephant, both for the fore-
couched caufes, and for his wit and man-
ners, fomewhat near our nature, may rea-
fcnably well agree with the found 01 rea-
fon. How then? I fay again, methinksl
feel my mind to ebb and flew within me :
And yet fuppofe it true, that this Bead
fliouldliveio many yeares; the Iflanders
ofTeil near Colecut, and the inhabitants
of the hill Athoy both of them commonly
and ufually reach our appointed time of
an hundred and fifty yeares,by the favour
of the aire onely and foile where they
dwell, taking fbefides ,for ought 1 can
know) the common rate and courfe of
the world 5 that we may lawfully deem, if
they lived as chaftely as the Elephant , who
comes but once in two yeares to Venery,
and followed his other good orders of life
as well, that they might eafily draw forth
their age longer, and come to the daies I
©f the Elephant. 32,For j
Ll B. 3 . The Holy Guide. 2 7
32.Foras wein our lefs happie foiles,
by our own ill diet and crooked cuftomc*
have cut offand loll the better half of our
time , fo it may feem of them ; for we
muft hot think in this diforder of the
world, that any man fulfilleth the time of
nature, but all are fwept away with the
blaft of untimely death.
33. But it may chance that long race of
life, which the Author makes the beaft to
run, was no common and ordinary courfe
in that kind, but of fome odde and rare
Example y and then, no doubt, as there
be fome amongft us which by their di-
ligence, and I know not by what good
hap, double the common term , fo there
be not wanting in thofe places, which
fometimes prove aged men , and which.
live twice as long as the common fort,thac
is, as long as the Elephant.
34. Wherefore, for all this, or ought
elfe that can be caft againft us , let us
conclude, that man, if he kept the good
and kindlie diet and order of life, which
other wights, void of reafon by the true
and certain guide of Nature keep, having
more helps and means unto it j might
live longer then any of them ; yea, and
with eafe reach the bounds of long life ap-
pointed, and perhaps further alio; but
we have ftayed in the midftand mean, as
R2 it
2 8 The Holy Guide. Ll B. 3
it were, becaufe it feems to obey the fccret
Will of God the better , and yet withall
to fill the whole deiire of Nature.
Then fay you, it were good to learn the
order of life which Beafts doufe to keep
and follow5if it were meet and feemly for
men to lead a beaftlylife; do not fo take
the meaning of a good thing , with the
fuareof afoul and filthy word ; a man is
not one and Tingle as they be, but double
and two things, and partly a Wight, nay
a Beaft ( be it fpoken with reverence )
and partly a more divine thing* and
therefore albeit , according to his divine
part and reafon, he ought to follow the
divine pattern and form of life above fet;
yet as he is a Wight, and an earthly Crea-
ture alfo, it is not uncomely, nay it is we*-
cerTary to do as they do, after a fort ; and
if it were altogether fo,it were better, and
more agreeable with the will of Nature,
who knoweth beft what belongs unto life,
that is, unto her felf '•> for kindleadeth
them ft ill after one due and orderly man-
ner, when great variety of wit and device
guideth usagainft Minervaes will , as they
fay, and quite befides the way of Nature,
unto a thoufand by and forraign Cu-
ftomes, which is the only caufeof our de-
feneration from our ancient and finl
whole and fecond eltate, Wherefore if a
company
I
Lib. 3' The Holy Guide.
company of piety and lufy Men and Women
would agree to live together in fome wild, open,
clear and fweet air , fcatteredly like a Country
village^ and not like a clofe and fathered City
(which one thing prevents a thoufanct
difeafesand deaths alone J and to live to-
gether to thrright end of Nature , that u, for
children , and not for pleafures fakj? ( for this
was made to the right purpofe ) and in as
feldome and due courfe 5 as the better
fort of Beafts, the ready way to preferve
life and foreftall difeafes, but efpecially to get
good Ghildren^ and to bring up their children in.
labour and hardjhip 5 mingled with much mirth
and Jleep together , no frnall helps to long
life and health5asthe dire&ers themfelves
confefs and know.
But for their meat and diet ( wherein
thofe Beafts offend and fail greatly ) if
they would confeut to take no phyfick,
but in great danger caft in by misfortune
(in which cafe the Beafts do not wane
their remedies ) never to drink wine, the
(hortner of life 5 and to be fhort 3 not to
take any meat and drink that the fire hath
touched ( for it funders the fine from the
grofs 3 that is, the beft from the worft,
which we now choofe ) but as Nature
hath left them D and other Wights ufe
them ; if thefe things , I fay , were duly
kept and performed^ ani fully perCwaded
R. 3 that
■■ . I* i : ~ <| 1
go The Holy Guide. LiB,^.
that within three or four generations and
orT-fprings,it would come to pane, that we
{hauld fee this people prove a Nation of
Giants, not only pafTing the age of Beafts,
and the bounds of long life afore fet,
but wholly* recovering and reftorinf; all
the bleflings of the firft eftate of the
body.
35. And this I gather, not by our own
contrary cuftomc-s only , taking effe&s as
crofle and contrary, but chiefly by the life
and ufe of Giants and lufty people in
times paft, and fome other yet at this day,
which was and is the very felf-fame race,
and courfe which I defcribed : And fure
for the Inhabitants of Teill and ^t^,which
I brought in even now, filling the term of
our long life,al though I am not certain of
their ufe and cuftome , and where I find
the ftory5I know the caufe is laid open, the
goodl fuels of the foyi in the firft place (for
it is thought to be the blefled Paradife)
and upon the goodnefs of the Air in the
next, for the height of the hill, without
all wind and rain , two great troubles of
mens bodies ; yet lam led to think that
they do keep the fame orderly and kindly
form and rule of life, or atleaft to draw
near unto it, becaufe albeit clean Air, by
cleaning and quickening the fpirits, and
Searching the body, be not; little helps
and
LiB.g. the Holy Guide. 31
and comforts in this journey ( as we (hall
eaiijy fee,if we mark how among all Crea-
tures, that lead their livesinthe cleaner
Element 3 do live the longer ; Fifh then
Worms,and land Wights then thefe; and
winged ones yec longer, becaufe the high*
er , the better air ftili ; infomuch as Car^
<//*» dare's think,that if any dwell in JEther,
as Tlatfs Heir affirm, they live for ever ) ->
yet if ill diet went withall, it would marr
as much as the other made, and greatly
cloy and hinder, yea and cut fhort the
race of their long life.
36. I am of the fame mind for all other
odd and private perfons of great a^e and
long life recorded, (as for fome Italians
in Plinies time, regiftred of one hundred
twenty four years ) and fuch other aged
men in Authors, a man might let in here
a fea of examples -, but I muft be fliort;
neither would I name King Argantbon,
that lived an hundred and twenty years , and
reigned eighty thereof ; nor yet the old
Knightof our Country, Sir Alington^ and
Tarre, &c. yet twenty years older-, but that
is fo ftrange in Nobility , that they come,
as it were, unto that kindly courfe of
life , as unto the goale and end of long
life.
Then we fee at length that it is not un-
pofilble, as they fay, but an ordinary and
R, 4 eafic;
3 2 the Holy Guide. Lib.?
eafie matter to ftrengthen the weak na«*
ture of mankind) to enlarge the ftreights
of his life , and fo lead him on ttill to
thei ancient age and long life appoint-
ed-
37. Bat I fee them ftart up and fay the
like as Cato in affairs of ftate, ufed to give
counfel ( un wifely, though never fo well )
as if he had been in Plato's Common-
wealth, and not in the dregs of Romulus :
So in matter of dyec and order of body,
fpeakasif we lived in the former golden
Age, which,as Foets fain, was under Saturn,
and not in the corruption of Jupiters
kingdome ; and thac with the world,asit
now goeth, cannot be brought ( without
a kind of divine power,to raze out the old,
and make a new world , and that in long
time ) unto the tuft' and kindly cuftome
of life 5 I muft,if I mean to do wife!y,take
the men as 1 find them, and prove that all
fuch weaknefs as now is among them,may
by mans indeavour and skill of healing
be upholden and led forth unto thofe
bounds, and the end of long life afore-
fet.
Albeit I have done as much as reafona-
bly may be required at my hands in this
place, which was alottedout tofhow the
pofiibility of the matter , yet becaufe I
v*oimt it better byplainnefs of fpeech to
do
LlB.?« The Holj Guide. 35
do good, which is the end of my writing,
fhen by fubtlenefs of Argument to ob-
tain my purpofe, I will come unto you,
and venture upon that point alfo,be it ne-
ver fo hard and defperate , hoping not
that fortune will favour bold men, but
God good men.
Then as there are three caufes of life
and being, the life and foul it felf, and his
food the firft moifture , and the frame
and temper of the body that holds them
both ; fo let us take them all in order,and
fee how they may be preserved , and kept
together, beginning firft with the laft, be-
caufe it is leaft and lighted.
38. It is enatted by the law of Nature,
that no body,mixt orfimple, (hall or may-
live and preferve his eftate , and being
without two helps or ftayes, that is, meac
and exercife,each like his kind, and of his
nature ; as in lone and fimple and fub-
tile bodies ( for it is plain in the firft row,
efpecially if they be living, as they term
them, though all things indeed have life
and fouls, as we heard above ) the hot
ones crave fiery meat and moving exer-
cife •, moift ones, wind and water, flowing
food and exercife ; cold and dry things
like an earthly , fuftenance and reft for
exercife, which is alfolike, and preferves
their ftate and being.
m% But
g 4 *fhe Holy Guide. L I B- 3 .
39. But if all alone and fimpie things
be within the compafs of this Law , then
Heaven may not be free, nor exempted 5
and they (peak* not altogether fondly,
that fay, the Stars feed uponthe Sea $ and
for thatcaufe, by good advice of Nature ,
the Ocean fo rightly placed tinder the
courfe and walk of the Sun ; for although
the water be yet fo far off, and unlike
them, yet their power and ftrength is
fuch,as they are able by their labour eafi-
ly to refine it , and turn it firft into Air,
and then into iEther, a weaker like thing,
and their proper food.
40. That this is fo, the hungry Souls
f which are but taps dipt off the heavenly
body) makes it plain here below unto us,
when we fee them ftill unwilling to tarry,
and unable to live among us without
meat, as they bewray tfoemfelves by the
plain expence and wade of the firft moi-
fture : Nay take this one way , if you
would mark well, and all lyeth on the
ground : then there is old coil and fight-
ing here below for meat and exercife,that
is, for life and being (which makes the
caufe of all aftion and doing, reft and
change, and of all things J and every
one runneth eafily and gladly to his like;
and if hisftrength be never fo lit tie grea*
ter, he fubdues, digefts, and turns him in-
to
Lib.?, The Holy Guide. 35
to his own nature, and is ftrengthened by
him j but if he mifle of his like food at
hand, and be much ftronger, he dares en-
counter, and is able to equal unlike things
alfoj as I find of the Scars, mightieft
things, giving might to all things in the
world : But in cafe the unlikes and con-
traries be of equal power and matches,
then neither devoureth nor confumeth
each other , but both are mazed, dulled,
and weakened , which they call confent,
and temper, and mixture ; for example,
fireextream hotandfomewhafi dry wit h-
all, and water very cold and fomewhat
wet,meeting together in even powers and
proportions of ftrength, are both impair-
ed, but neither loft and deftroyed 5 but if
this nature chance by the heat of Heaven
tsbe taken in hand, and turned into an
airy and fat fubftance , though there be
now two monfters fet againft the drought
of fire, yet becaufe of the heat of weather
and Heaven abounding, it is now become
partly like to fire, his weaker foe and ene-
my yielding himfelf for food unto it,and
encreaflng his ftrength and nature. But
if on the other fide air add unto his ex-
ceeding moifture, matching the drought
of fire, yet fome ftrength and watry cold-
nefs fas appeareth in thick and foggy
weather) it is able eafily to overcome the
firs, and eat him up, 41,
36 The Holy Guide. LlB.$
41. Now for a mixtbody (which is a
confenc and dulling of the fourfirft fa-
mous enemies, made and kept in tune and
awe, by the force and skill of an heavenly
and natural heat upon them ) it hath the
fame reafon ; for when either for lack of
meat, or driven by violence, this heat de-
parteth, the friends begin to ftir and
fight for food and freedome, until fome
oneftandsout above the reft, and reco-
vers fome part of his former power,which
puts thofe that can feel to the worft , and
breeds difeafes, and at laft gets the whole
Lordfhip, and rules 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, untillthey return
to earth, from whence they all came ; for
example,and that near home ; In the fiery
frame of mans body , when the foul for
want of food fails and flits away, they
itreight retire and run back in order:
Firft, fire waxeth moift and lukewarm,
fupt up with air, and thisfoon after thick
and cold, that is,wateri(h, and water mud-
dy,ftill more and more thick and dry, till
at length it be molt dry and heavyaand all
be devoured and brought to earth , from
whence they all fet forth before. And
this is the natural diflblution and
deatk
Lib.?. The Holy Guide. 37
death of our body ; forcible death and
deftruttion is by difeafe ( to bear out
other force, which no man can warrant )
when either breath or meat, diftempered
in fome quality, do feed and nourifhfome
one their like beginnings above the reft,
and make him ftrong and able to vanquifti
them, and bring in the jar of the mufkal
confent aforefaid ; as when by waterifh
meat and air all the beginnings are chan-
ged into water, through hot and dryin-
toa fiery temper, and fo forth; or eife
when the body wants the exercife which
is owing and due unto him, which is quick
motion, to preferve the air and fire in the
fine frame of man, from the floth and
idlenefs of the flow and rufty begin-
nings.
For in a Difeafe called the yellow Jtun-
dice, when all the blood is converted into
choler , if there be not a way to convert
that choler back into bloud,how can the
man live f for if all the blood converted
into choler be let out, he muft needs die 5
fbhe muft alfo if there be not a way left
in nature to tranfmute this choler back
again into blood : I might inftance the
like of the Dropfie 5 but I mould make too
I< ng a marginal note ; ftudy Nature, and
(he will make thee a better Phy fitian then
Galen himfelf was, fo fnall you learn to
fort i fie
38 The Holy Guide. Lib.}
fortifie that quality of the body that is
weak, andalmoft eaten up by its adverfe
quality, as a Mufitian winds up that ftring
that is flacked, till it makes a harmony in
the reft,but he winds it not too high, lead
its found overtop them. By which
grounds laid, we fee the way to uphold
the temper of our body made plain and
eafie ; no more but to feed and cherifli 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 then ano-
ther,to fubdue the reft, and overthrow the
State 5 and therefore poyfon killeth
us , becaufe it is extream cold and dry,
(Tor we niay fhut out all rotten, as alfo
fiery and watery tempers from the name
of poyfon) feeding and ftrengthning the
dregs, but devouring the fine liquor of
the body , as venomous Juices the like
Plants, and thefcnoifomeBeafts, and one
of thefe another j nay which is very
ftrange, I have read of fuch nacured men
of India , that ufed to eat Toads and Vi-
pers : And Albert™ faith , he fawaGirlof
three \ear\ old >t hat fed greedily upon Spiders,
and was never hurt,but liked greatly with
it.
42. Do not think it anydifcord, when
Ifaid above , fatnefs and raw temperate-
nefs
Lib. 3. The Holy Guide. 39
nefs upholds the body • all is ones it can-
not be fac , unlefs the earth and water be
well and evenly mixt ; nor fine, except
fire and air bear as good a ftroke, as rule
among them ', but you will fay, that Na-
ture hath given her creatures a walk of
courfe , not to (land ftill in one ftay and
place for ever 3 but to move and walk up
and down, to and fro, from one fide to
another: that is, as wasfaid before, God
hath made a changeable world,and there-
fore that' frame and building of mans
body, cannot ever hold and hang toge-
ther , but mull needs one day be loofned
and fall afunder. I grant, it mull needs be
fo by the courfe of nature, becaufe to ful-
fil the will of her Lord^ (he hath appointed
ftronger means and caufes to work, either
the want and abfence of the inward
friendftiip and keeping of the foul , in
thofe which the common fore callliving
things,or in the reft, theprefenceof fome
ravenous and fpoiling enemy : but if
cunning Art and Skill ( which by the
help of nature is above thecourfeof na-
ture J by knowing of the due food for
life, and defence againft the enemy, may
be ajole to defend the one, and keep off
the other, then, no doubt, the frame and
temper of both dead and quick may laft
for ever.
43. The
40 The Holy Guide. L1B.3
43. The way is found already , and
known by certain people for the one j I
mean, that Art hath often, by keeping off
the failing enemy with a ftrong contrary,
preferved and upheld a dead thing , of
ilippery date and foon decay for ever >
as a Corps by Balm or water of Salt,Tim-
berby theoyl of Brimftone,and fuch like:
Why then mould the next prove impolfi-
ble > to wit,by giving ftore of fit food frill
to life and natural heat ( for the other
helps of meat and exercife are* eafie ) to
underfhore or keep upright our weak and
falling frame forever.
The Greeks hold, that our natural heat
and life ( becaufe it feeds upon,and waft-
eth the moft fine and unfeen oyl ( called
firft moifture ) daily, which no food of
Air and Meat is fit and fine enough tore-
pair, muft need faint and fail wichall, and
cannot be reftored : Let us fee what may
be faid to this, yea and bend all our force
unto it ; for this is all.
44. The foul, life and natural heat of
things is often and fitly compared and
likened unto the other grofs and fierce,
hot and dry body, called fire 5 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 fcattered,di-
viding the fire to nought in purfuit of his
food
Li B. 2 . 7 he Holy Guide. 4 1
iood and fuiienance , vc muft needs by
heaps be crowded up in a fhell of watery
called oyl 5 if much heat and oyl nieec
together* the work is great and buiie, and
thereout rifeth a fmoak as a leaving of the
meat , and the fire follows as far as the
fmoak hath any fatnefs , which makes a
flame.
45. Albeit the nature of fire continueth as
long as it hath food enough, & cravech no
great exercife, and will laft well in a c!ofe
place as under afhes,yet aflame being more
thenfire,a hot breath orfmoak-befides,de«
fires open and clear air,both to receive the
thick,the refwfe , which elfe would choalc
him, as alfo for his like weaker food, thac
he be not ftarved , which two are enough^
befides a little motion for his exercifejthac
we may not marvailat thofe men, which
be in cooling for another needful thing
in this bufinefs, wherees the kind of fire
and air abhors cooling as his contrary, as
it is engraven in the nature of things, ftill
to fly from that which hurtsit.
Now in like manner to come to the pur-
pofe, if the fire of life and natural heac
be not great,a little fine oyl, and firft moi-
fture, will ferve to feed it, and out of the
flack working fmallftore of refufe breath
and fmoak arifeth to make need of frefh
and open air to clearWe and feed it, as
S appeared*
A*x the Holy Guide, Lib. 3
appeareth by thafe Wights,which are able
to live in their places without help of
wind.> breath, and air: thelittle parted
Vermine ( called in Latine Ifefia ) liveth
any where 3 and Fifh in the water, nay in
the found earth fometimes \ Toads \\t
clofe Rocks,as Agrkola faith ; and Flies in
themoft fecret Miners fire , as Aritfotlere-
ports ; but when the heat , on the other
iide,is great and lively, like a flame, as in
the hotter fifh, and other, no Wight can
want frefhairand fine breath, both by his
clearnefs to purge , and his weaker like-
siefs tonourifh the iEtherial fmoak, and
(pirit that carrieth it.
ftowthis, no more then flame, needeth
cooling to preferve his being *, but to
temperate the kind of his proportion , fit
for wit and weighty perceiving, which, I
fay,before I brought, and not the air per-
formed.
46. That ^Ether is ftronger then air,and
able toconfume it, it is plain in reafon by
his warmth and moiftne?,pafIing air in his
own naturejand yetgrofsand thick air, as
bent towards enmity and contrariety
with it, will ftand in combat againft it,
and overcome it, and thence it is, that in
deep Mine-pits,and Caves underground,
where the air is thick$co'rrupt,and unkind
for want of flowing, no Wight nor light
can
Ll E. 3. ihe Holy Guide, 43
can draw breath and live* unlels by ily
deiire the way be found to move and
nouriih the fame air , and make it kind-
47. Then to draw near the matter, if
the Stars do feed on ./Ether,and this upon
ciean andfpotleG>air , as on their weaker
lights , and our foul and life is of a ftai ry
kind 5 even a (lip and fpark thereof ( as
you may read at large in my Harmony of
the JVerld) as is aforefa'd, then it fo flow-
ech forth to feed our ^ther, the Carrier
of ourfoul, with good a;r, which is round
about us j that will fcrve the turn, but to
nourifh life and heat it felf. Either it lelf
mult be the food, or this body which is Co
high and pail our reach, except this- fpark
of heavenly fire were able, like the whole
body and fpring above, by his power over
our meats , to turn the water firft into
breath , and this into /Ether , which it is
norland can go no further then toair,and
to make a common oyl and fatnefs fit to
nourifh an elemental, as they term it, but
not a heavenly fire.
48. Where then mall our life find food
and fuftenance, fay you , tic to bear it up,
and maintain his being ? In that fine oyl,
and unfeen firft jnoifture and fat, and call
you that iEtherial > How can that which
wxonceftedj and before that bleed, and fin} of
S 2 all
A 4 The Holy Guide. Lib. 3
all a fipnt, become a body fo fine , clear and
JEtbereal ? Efpecially when one weak
^>car, and foft fire of heaven, is not able to
make fo fineawork,fo fair and highly fun*
dered -0 1 fay, this is the fecret and depth
of all 5 which becaufe the Greek} never
founded, I do not marvel if the means to
preferve life did efcape them ; but let us
ihut up every word, and help them in this
helplefs matter , yea although we be dri-
ven to open the things that have long
lain hid and covered over with great
darknefs.
When our life in the lufting parts is by
Che bellows of thought ftirred up, and
moved unto work, itfendeth forth out of
every part , the hot natural fpirits and
breath of begetting cloathed with the
(hell of feed , cut out from the dewy part
of our meat, ready to be turned into our
body ( or at leaft already, and now turn-
ed into earth)and not from the refufe and
leavings of it, asfomefay, when I could!
(hew it,if time would fuffcr,the bed juice
in all our body.
49. This is the furtheft and fineft work
manfhip of our meat and food of body,
the very beginning and firft (ruffe of th
fine oyl,the food of life,after the remain
ing forty dayes in heat , before it come t
perfcftion3 being wrought, as we know,
with
Lib.j. 7 he Holy Guide* 4 5
with the double natural heat of the be-
getting breatb,and the womb, forty dayes
before it be fully framed and faihioned
into the form and (hape of a man , ready
to draw food or nourimment ( be it milk
or menftrue, received by mouth or navel,
I cannot ftand to reafon ) from the mo-
ther , to the increafe of the tough and
founder parts : but the firft moifture is
now at his full growth and perfeftion,and
from thence feedeth life , being unfed it
felf,and wafteth daily againft the grounds
and rules of Phyfick , for the child hath
now received all that the workman can
give, & is put over for the reft5 which is his
nourimment, unto his mothers payment 5
but what hath (he to give for food unto
the food of life > NougBt, as I (hewed be-
fore5 elfe we might live for ever.
Then we fee what the firft moifture is>
and how it excels the food of the body, 8c
why it cannot be maintained by it, be-
caufe it is the moft airy peice f for the reft
go every one his way , and make his owri
part from whence he came)of all the feed
mingled, wrought,purged,raifed,and re-
fined,and then clofely thickened and dri-
ven up clofe together, forty times more 8c
above our meat, which in one day is end-
ed and ready to be turned into earth3and
therefore unfit in any wile to increafe and
S 3 cleave
46 7A« Holy Guide. LiB.2.
cleave co our tirft moifture, the food of
life , even as unmeet for all the worlds as
water is to iEther,oyl cr fitnefs.
50. J\nd by this to come to the point,
we have a plain pattern ( if we be wife
and careful ) and way to work the great
myitery cf Adjourment of life-, for if it be
fo,as I proved above, that all the moifture
of the matter lyeth in the maintenance
of our natural heat, and it, as our men,
and all reafon teacheth , followeth the
iteps of common fire,waxethand waneth,
is quick and faint .> according to the ftore
of his food, andfirft moiftuie; then fure
we can make an oyi as fine and clofe as
this, nay in ail points all one with this ; it
will ealily mingle and joyn with our firft
moifture, and fo fee J, nouriOi, and in-
crcafe, and like withal! ; even in as good
and plain reafon , as the fame oyl dropt
ftill into the fire augments both food and
flame; yea put cafe the fame natural fire
of ours , mould not only impaij? his
ftrength, for lack of meat, and flack his
force, but abate hisbignefsalfo, as feme
Phyiitians hold : yet there were no gTeat
hurt done; for this fecond fpark and Hip
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) and
fellow to his like in us, when it is mack
free
L1B.3. Ifa Holy Guide. 47
free and clofe in thefe fine iEtherial Me-
dicines,would reitore the heap, and mend
the matter.
But how (hall we get the like fine oyl
and fat tiiftmoifture>
51. The matter is drawn fo far, that
there is all the hardnefs *, I mewed the
pattern , even as Nature got the fame be-?
fore you, by the like ftuffe and food, and
by the like heat and moving workman :
this by certain proof of all our men is
eafily to be found, even a gentle, con-
tinual, equal, andmoift, that is, rotting
heat. But the feed feemcth hard and
unable to be matched , becaufe a kind of
ftrange and hid proportion and temper of
our body ( which no man by counfel and
knowledge, much lefle by hand and work-
manfhipjcan reach andcounterfeit,nonoe
if he boyld all the mixtures in all the
heats that all the wits in the world could
devife, made it thus after his own faftu*
on.
52. Then how if we take the fame
frame and temper not by us , but by kind
proportioned > I mean the fame blood, or
nefh,or feed.if we will f which the men of
Germany choofe , and commend it ,
above all , and call it Muwia ) would it
not be very natural ? for if the Doctors
hold it good , if any part about us fail ip,
S 4 hi^
4S The Holy Guide. LiB.^ j
his duty,tocorre& and help him with the
like pare of fome beaft, pairing in the pro-
perty j as to mend fainting I lift with the j
yard of a lufry Beaft; the womb th^t
cannot hold, with the womb of a quick I
Conceiver ; narrow breathing with the I
lungs of a long-winded Wight. See the
Itiarmonyof the [Vorld^ &c.
Then confider with how much more
kindly confent we might with cur own
parts finely drefTed help ourfelvesin our
difeafes.
But for my part I cannot unwind the
bottomeof this great Secret of Germany,
for we mean not to make a Man, which is
to be feared in thecourfe , if his rules be
true, but a faft mcifture only ; and then
fithall things are made of the fame ftuffe,
by the fame workman , and differ but by
mingling only , it boots not where we be-
gin the fame mingling , and form it the
laft, which Art is able in time to do at
once, (he may do often, and fo reach the
end of Nature.
53, Whatneedl fay more? Is notthe
matter clear enough,that another faft fine
oyl and firft moifturemay be made, in all
iike to our own, and able to maintain, or
repair it and the natural together > And
then that by the fame ( though other
cage means would ferve) becaufeit isfo
J ~ tern-
Li B.3. The Holy Guide. '49
temperate , the body may be brought and
held in fquare and temper, and fo by
reafon all the caufes meet and flock to-
gether, the life may bepreferved, I dare
not fay for ever , for fear of the ftroke of
Beftiny which God hath made, and will
have kept, but unto the term , and thofe
bounds above fet, and beyond them
alfo, if ever any men have gone beyond
them. 5 ee the Temple of JVifdome.
^4. But if it fhould chance any of our
chofen children ( toufe thephrafeof our
Family) be unable yet, for all this
teaching , to take and digeft this food of
learning, what is to be done.? Shall we
caft them off for untoward Changelings,
as the foolifh women think > Or elfe for
Beares and Apes, as Galen did the Ger-
mans? No, that were inhumanity; let lis
rather nourifh them ftill eafily and gently,
hoping that they will one day prove men ;
and give it unto them , that all the
moft wife and cunning men in the world,
I mean all the hofts of Hermetifts , have
from age to age ever held ( but under
vails and fhadows ) fomewhat covertly,
and taught for certain, that fucha firft
fine oyl, whereof I fpake, and which they
call a fifth nature , Heaven, or by a more
fit name, JEther^ is able alone to hold to-
gether the brittle ftateof man, very long
above
50 tke Holy Guide. L \ B- 3 .
above the wonted race both in life, health.,
and lufiinefs : nay, for fear there be yet
fo'me fufpiticn left in their Authority , \
will go further; As many in the other
lideof Greece 3 as had travelled in thefe
matters^andfeenfcmeching ( though not
with eyes, but with minds i think ) con-
fefs the fame; as (befides them which
perhaps I know not ) Fernel in part, and
altogether Fecinus and Car damn (who were
as wife and learned men as any time hath
brought forth) do openly declare in their
writings : But if this foft and eafie kind of
delivery will not yet ferve theturn, and
they mufrfeed their eye as well as their
belly, as the proverb goes, then let them
cell me by what diligence did Plato (o or-
der himfelf and fchool his own body (to
life his words )<tf he could be able to caufc Na-
ture to end his dayes at hi* plea fur e .<? and by de»
parting or dying on the fame day eighty one years
after his birth , to fulfil of purpofe ( but I
know not of what purpofe) nine times
nine, the moft perfect number : Might he
not have had fomefuch Medicines > Nay,
is it not like he had them when he wa9 in
/Egypt among the Pxiefts and Wife men,
and brought home great learning from
among them I and when he fpeaks Co
much and often in difgrace of his own
Countries Phyfick, though Hippocrates
him-
LlB.?. The Holy Guide. 5 1
-
himfelf then reigned > But it is for certain
written in divers of our Records, that
many of Egypt , the fp ring of this water of
liie , have before and fince Tlato, by the
feif fam: water, kept themfelves alive
twice as long as Plato 5 if I might bring in
their witnefs , or if this whole kind of
proof ( which I like full ill) were not
counted by the Arc of People unskil-
ful!.
$<;. Then let this one example to'd by
Cardan, a man allowed among them,ferve
for all j That Galenus of late Charles the
fifths Phylitian, by this Heaven of ouns,
b:fet with Starrs (as fome do term it)
encreafed the fpirits of herbs, by an eafie
feat put into them, and fo preferved him-
felf in luftv fort until one hundred and
twelve years.
56. Neither think tht mixture better
then our fingle oyl, ( though Lully, Ra*
perfis, Varacelfus , aud fome others allow
icfo) but rather worfe in reafon fortoo
much heat in a weak and loofe body;
I mean for long life; by his over greedi-
nefs in eating up too faft his own and our
firft moifture 5 it maybe better becaufeit
is ftronger againft difeafes ; even as the
Leaches judge between the durrghil and
a garden hearb for the fame caufe.
51, But
5 1 The Holy Guide. Lib. 5
21. But i think the device not good
in either, nor agreeable to the Juftice
of Nature , which more evenly weigheth.
her works 5 nor yec to the kindly skill
of Hermes 9 who, to the great advantage
of his Medicines, hath a moftfaft, tough,
and lading ftufle, according as we (hall
(how in that which followeth. Now is it
time to reft, we have made the Third a
longdayes journey.
CHAR
L1B.3. The Holy Guide. 53
CHAP. H.
1.2. Of the accurate ftrufiure of mans body:
5. Of joy and grief e^ and difference of
wits,
I Admire the goodnefs of God towards
us in the frame and ftru&ure of our bo-
dies; the admirable Artifice whercofy Ga-
len, though a Naturalift, was fo taken
with, that he could not but adjudge the
honour of a hymn to the wife Creator of
it. The continuance of the whole, and
every particular is fo evident an argu-
ment of exquifite skill in the Maker, that
if I mould purfueall that fuits to roypur-
pofe, it would amount to too large ("yet
an entire^ Volume. I fhall therefore write
all that is needfull to be known by all
men, leaving the reft to be fupplyed by
Anatomifts : And I think there is no man
that hath any skill in that Art, but will
confefs, the more diligently and accu-
rately the frame of our body is exami-
ned, it is found the more exqmfitely con-
formable to our Reafon, Jndgement and
Delire-, fothat fuppofing the fame mat-
ter that our bodies are made of^ if it had
been in our own power to have made our
(elves.,
54 the Holy Guide. L1B.3
felves, we mould have framed our felves
nootherwife then we are : Toinftancein
fame particulars, As in our Eyes, the
Number, the Scituation, the Fabrick of
them is fuch, that we can excogitate no-
thing to be added thereto, ortobe alter-
red, either for their Beauty, Safety, or
lifefulnefs; But as for their Beauty, I
have treated largely of it in my youthful
merry Poems, and now am uot minded to
transcribe my tender nice fubjeft , and
couple it with my feverer ft>le; 1 will
onely note how fafely they are guarded,
and fitly framed out for the ufethey are
intended : the Erow and the Nofe faves
them from harder ftrokess but fuch a cu-
rious part as the Eye, being neceflary lia-
ble to mifchief from Imallcli matters, the
lweat of the Forehead is fenced off by
thofe two wreaths of haire, which we call
the Eyc-browes* and the Eye-lids are
fortified with little ftiff briftles, as with
Palljfadoes, againft the aflault of Fives
and Gnats, and fuch like bold Animalcu-
l&\ beiides, the upper lid prefently claps
down , and is as good a Fence as a Port-
cullis againft the importunity of the Ene-
my ; which is done alfo every night,whe-
ther there be any prefent aflault or no, as
if nature kept Garrifon in this Acropolis
of mans body, the Head, and look 'd that
fuch
LjB. 3. ihz Holy Gtiide. 55*
fuch Lawsfhould be duly obferved,as were
moft for hisfafety.
2* And now for the life of the Eye,
which is fight, it is evident, that this Or-
gan is fo exquifitely framed for thatpur-
pofe , that not the leait curiofity can be
added : For iirfr, the Humour aiidTuniclei
are purely tranfparent to let in light, and
colours unfolded, and unfophifticated by
any. inward tincture. And then again ,
the parts of the Eye are made convex0
that there might be a direction of many
rayes coming from one point of the ob-
ject , unto one point anfwerable in the
boctome of the eye, to which purpofe the
ChryfiaUine humour is of great moment, and
without which, the fight would be very
obfeureand weak. Thirdly, the Tunica
uvea hath a Mufculous Yomr^nd can dilate
and contract that round hole in it, which
is called the Pupil of the Eye, for the bet-
ter moderating the tranfmiition of light.
Fourthly, the infide of the^ietfis black
like the wall of a Tennis-Court, the
raies falling upon the Retina again 5 for
fuch a repercuffion would make the fight
more confufed. Fifthly, the Tunica Aracb-
vcides , which invellops the ChryfiaUine hu-
mour, by vertue of its Procejfus Ciliares^ can
thruft forward , or draw back that preti-
9us ufeful part of the Eye, as the nearnefs
or
• 5 6 The Holy Guide. Ll B. 7,
or diftance of the obje&s (hall require.
Sixthly and laftly, the Tunic* Retina is
white, for the better and more true re-
ception of the fpecies of things ( as they
ordinarily call them ) as white paper is
fitteit to receive thole Images of Ink*
and the eye is already fo perfeft,
that 1 believe it is not needful to fpeak
any more thereof *, we being able to move
our head upwards and downwards , and
on every fide, might have unawares
thought our felvcs fufUciently well pro-
vided for h but Nature hath added Muf-
cles alfo to the Eyes , that no perfection
might be wanting; for we have oftocca-
fion to move our Eyes, our Heads being
unmoved,as in reading,and viewing more
particularly any object fet before us; and
that this may be done with more eafe and
accuracy, (he hath furnifhed that Organ
with no lefie then fix feveral Mufcles ;
and indeed this framing of Mufcles , not
only in the Eye , but in the whole body^
is admirable; for is it not a wonder, that
even all our flefh mould be fo handfomly
formed and contrived into diftinft pieces,
whofe rife and infertionslhouldbe with
fuch advantage, that they do ferve to
move fome part of the body or other i
and that the parts of our body are not
moved only fo conveniently, as will ferye
us
Lib. 3. The Holy Guide. 57 2*
us to walk and fubfift by, but that they are
able to move everyway imaginable that
will advantage us ? for we can fling our
Legs and Arms upwards and downwards,
backwards, forwards, and roiind5 as they
that fpin,or would fpread a Mole hill with
their feet. To fay nothing of Reffiratz-
oh , the conftriftion of the Diaphragm* for
the keeping down the Guts, and fo enlar-
ging the Thorax, that the Lungs may have
pfay, and the afliftance of the inward in -
ter'coftal Mufcles in deep fufpirat ions, wheii
we take more large gulps of Air to cool
our heart, overcharged with love or for-
row; nor of the curious Fabrick of the
Lainix, fo well fitted with Mufcles for the
modulation of the voice, tunable fpeech,
and delicious finging : You may add to
thefe the notable contrivance of the
Heart, its two ventricles, and its many val-
vule ,fo fram'd and fcitiiated, as is mod lit
for the reception and tranfmifflori of the
blood , and its fent thence away warm to
comfort and cherifh the reft of the body ;
for which purpofe alfo the valvule in the
veins are made.
3. But we fee by experience, that joy
ami grief proceed not in all men from the
fame caufes , and that men differ very
much in the conftitution of the body3
whereby that which helpeth arid further-
T ech
5 8 The Holy Guide. Lib. 3
cth vital conftitutiou in one, and is there-
fore delightful , hindereth and croffeth it
in another, and therefore caufeth grief.
The difference therefore of Wits hath its
original from the different paffions , and
from the ends to which the appetite lead-
eth them. As for that difference which
arifeth from ficknefs, and fuch accidental
diftempers, I have appointed them for
thefeco'nd Part of this Book, and there-
fore I omit the fame as impertinent to this
place,and confider it only in fuch as have
their health, perfe&ion of body, and Or-
gans well difpofed.
— -?■
CHAP,
Ll B. 3 . The Holy Guide. 59
CHAP. II.