Book 1. 'The Temple of Wifdome. 2si

Natnrai realon ot ic ; as we have iaid. At Byzantiunr^ which is now ConjianUfjopIe^ there were many of thefe 7elefmatical Figures tohc (een : but the fury of War hadi demolillied them all, to the great Prejudice of the Inhabitants. Sultan Mabuwet alfo caufed one of them to be broken to pcices, which was a Brazen Eorfe^ with a Hojfeman upon him; which is cer- tainly reported to have preferved the City from Pe- ftileiicf, and all Contagion of the Air : but iince that tine, this difeafe hath raced fo fiercefy, as thac in the rpace of four Months, Leunclavhts, who was preCent, afhrmes, that there died a hundred and tifty thoufand pcrfons : and every year, in the Months of J«/y, and /4;/gK/?,theiikeefFe£V, in a man- ner, is to be ken. In a word, all Jfia was full of thefe figures 5 the life whereof was at length, known to the Eurof£a7n alfo for the Vruides^ as the learned Fr^ reports, u(ed thde 7elefmatts with good {uccc{s\ and even our Grandfathers have affured us, that it was an Ancient Tradition ; th. t where the Fairies^ the Dniidei Wives inhabited 5 there neither Hail, nor Stormes ever fpoiled the Fruits. And therea- fon, in my opinion, was, becaufe they uGed to make of thefe "Idefmans, Now of late, many learned men have refcued from Oolivion thefe Figures ; and ?a^ ntcY'fus did take fo much pains herein, as that he made diverfe of them h and thole of fwch Vertue, ns that they preferved thofe that wore them, from the PelHlencc5 as many m Germafiy h^vc had experi- ence of And that I may not wander far abroad, I am informed that for certain, tAr.L^tfteau preferved from this Difeafe, alL thofe to whom he gave any of thefe lelefm^m-^ which he made according to thofe, def which Faracelfus calls ZenexioH^ by a made Name,
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352 Ihe Temple of Wifdome. Book I
(it bein« the cuftome of this Author, to dcvifc new WordsJ are made with exceeding great Art. In one of them there is ajScorpion^anda Serpent figu- red : and he faith it muft be made when the Sun, and the TMoon enter into the (ign of 5c:or- po, 3 fn another you have a great ^InAjlrO' number of little holes, within an QvaL fnancy and You may fee the Figures of them in our in the firfl Chimical Holy Guide. Houfe of The wonderful efffts, which have
Geemaftcy, t)een aUvaies obferved to have been ^ * wrought by 7eUfmatkd Figures^ have (o % perplexed the minds of chofe men, who ^ ^ occount ever/ thing to be MagickjWhich ^ thenifelvesare not able to comprehend; as that, without making any Diftinftion at all, betwixt power which is Natural and lawful 9 and that which o ir Faith permits us not to med- dle with; they have boldly publi(hed, that) what Vertuc foever proceeds from Figures, is utterly Diabolical. But when they perceived, that know- ing /Vlen would hardly ^11 down fo ; and that it con^ cerned them to produce fome Reafons, to prove that thcfe Figures can have no Natural Power at all *, they have at length brought thefc following ones ; though they are built on very weak founda- tions, as we (hall make it appear.
The firft is, thar Reafon it felf tels us, that thefe Operations cannot be Totally natural, but rather fuperftitious and dangerous ; feeing that, to reduce them to a full, and entire effect, thtre are fome cer* tain words to be ufed *, which have no power at all, efpecially over things which have no Senfe , and that therefore, the making of them ought to be for- bidden and rejected, as the Church hath ordai- ned. Tp