Section II, Book 1, chapter 5: God, the soul of the world, and the spirits of all things (part 2 of 2)

Being that without the sparks of life, and generation, which swimme in the aire, no creature (amongst the which we esteem Man to be the chiefest) can live scarsly a moment of time, it is most necessary that they should be drawn and sucked in by the creature every minute; for without this necessary act, with the salutary effect thereof, the animal will forthwith be suffocated or strangled: for by the deprivation of the aire, the soul will soon cease his vivifying operation; forasmuch as it is nothing else, but a portion of eternall light in the soul of the world, which is composed (as I proved before) of the divine emanating virtue, and the subtil humid nature of the world, whereof the first affordeth the Calidum innatum or natural heat of life; and the last the humidum radicale, or radical moisture, unto the creatures existence, and therefore by the inspiration of aire, this double virtue is every moment renewed and refreshed in the creature. This Spirit therefore, the Animal (and by consequence man) inspireth or sucketh into the left chamber, ventricle, or region of the heart, by the contraction of the straight fibres of the heart, when the transverse and oblique fibres will be relaxed, whereby the heart will be dilated or opened, and this action is called of the Physitians Diastole. In the time thereof or interval of this motion, the heart doth draw into his left vessell by the Arteria venosa, or veiny artery out of the lungs, whither it first was conveyed by inspiration, through the aspera arteria, or weesell-pipe, a portion of the airy store-house of nature, with his vitall treasury contained in it, being (as is said) ordained by God for vivification and spiritual and seminal generation's cause; that is to say, for the nutrition of the vital and internal generative Spirits; no otherwise then the liver is accustomed to suck and draw the chylous juice of the gross nutriment, for the engendring and fos[…]ering of the naturall spirits, which are ordained for vegetation or encreasing of the bodily parts. Again, after that nature hath received and drawn-in into her well-adorned, and subtilly adapted still-house or laboratory, I mean the heart, this aereal Spirit, with his concealed or occult treasure, she beginneth in it to anatomise, and sift or search the bowels of of this attracted aire; and separating the celestiall nature, or true vitall treasure, of the invisible fire of life, from the grosser and most inutil portion of the aire, it reserveth onely the purest, which is nothing but a subtile volatile salt, adapted to serve as a vehicle for the divine fire of life, or true vivifying Spirit, in the aethereal and quintessentiall nature, and then, as for the selected Spirits of life, she encloseth them in her large arteriall store-house, called Aorta or Arteria magna, the great Artery, sending immediatly the more superfluous fuligions and inutil part of the aire back again the way it came, by exspiration. And this expulsive action is effected by the contraction of the transverse fibres of the heart, and the relaxation of the straight: for by this means, the heart is also contracted or compressed; which action of motion, is called by Physitians Systole. And we must understand, that for the better preservation of this golden treasure of life, within his arterial treasure[…]house God in nature hath so ordered, that there is a triple valve or gate like three half-moons, to close it in, and to keep it securely for the bodies necessity, lest it should fly away by the passage it came in, and therefore this three-leaved gate is fashioned after such a manner, that it doth open within, and is closed without; so that what gets into the great Artery cannot return back again: as in like manner, at the mouth of the venal artery, there is a double gate compacted of two valves, and they do open without, and shut within; so that fresh aire may easily enter, but the treasure included, after the expulsion of the fuliginous vehicle or superfluous aire, may be retained.

Now will I'm few words, expresse unto you the action of this heavenly Spirit. After it is thus included in the arteriall trunk, it is certain, that it doth dilate it self, through the branches or divided channells thereof, over all the body: For by those branches called Charotides, a refined portion of it doth ascend unto the brain, by those smal conduicts; (I say) the super-celestiall part of this Chymicall extraction, (forasmuch as it is in dignity the most super-excellent of all the fountain of life,) doth challenge unto his seat and possession, the noblest and loftiest region of this micro-cosmicall palace, and as it were his Emperiall heaven; for hither soareth the mentall beam in his rationall vehicle, electing this place for its chief tabernacle or coelum coelorum yet so, that the beames of his power, are reflected unto every branch of his divided Arterial cabinet: For this reason therefore, all Physitians as well Ethnick as Christian, have concluded, that the voluntary humane action, hath his seat in the brain, being the region of the animal virtue or faculty; whereas the other two actions of man, namely the vitall in the heart, and naturall in the liver, seem to be subject unto this, being that they are actiones involuntariae, unvoluntary actions, and this is the reason, that the Brain is the seat of reason and understanding. Then, in the second rank, that portion of the introducted Spirit, which in the forge of man's nature, is framed out and found fit for the action of life, is convayed into those branches of the great Artery, which are called Cervicales, Humerariae, and those which assigne life unto the region of the Chest or breast, where it doth indue and take on it that impression of spirituall vivacity, which belongeth unto those parts; as also the Coronariae do assume unto them the internal or ideal shape of spirits belonging unto the heart, and so forward touching the other Arteriall branches, and their contained heavenly treasure: So that this invisible spirit lurking, and (as it were) swimming in the thin substance of the airy spirit, doth not onely expanse and dilate it self, to the vivifying of each member in the body, but also by a contraction of it self into a spermatick cloud, (the which happeneth in the act of copulation, through a certain magnetick virtue, animated by divine love) this spirit is miraculously convayed into two preparing arteriall spermatick vessells, from every member, but especially from the three principalls: and there this celestiall Spirit full of divine fire, after the Image of the radicall Archetype, in whom all things were first spiritually and ideally delineated before they were, in the regard of man (even as the Prophet David did glory in that he had wholly received the image of the Temple, described by the hand of God, which afterward was put in act) containeth the invisible of that humane body, which shortly was to be inacted, and really to be delineated, and brought forth unto man's sight; that is to say, it did ideally possesse the shape of the inward or spiritual man; as also the image of the externall or corporall man, being compacted of the four Elements, proceedeth from the visible sperm, which issued from the two venall spermatick vessells. But that this is so, we have it plainly (as I imagine) confirmed by these words of Holy-Writ: Tu possides renes meos ex quo obtegebar in utero matris meae: non celata est vis mea tibi ex quo factus sum in abdito, artificiosè, confectus velut in imis partibus terrae. Massam meam vident oculi tui, & in libro tuo omnia membra mea sunt scripta ex quibus diebus for mabantur, cum nullum ex iis extaret: Thou dost possesse my reines, from the time that I was covered in my mothers womb. My strength is not hid unto thee, from the time that I was made, and was artificially shaped, as it were, in the lower parts of the earth. Thine eyes do behold the masse whereof I was made, and all my members were described and delineated in the dayes that they were shaped or informed, when none of them did visibly exist. And to this purpose it is said else-where, Spiritus Dei fecit me, & spiraculum omnipotentis vivificavit me: The Spirit of the Lord made me, and the breath of the Omnipotent did vivifie me: That is, First he reduced me into a mass of seed, and afterwards did make it alive by his breathing into it. And the wise-man, Ut ignoras quae sit via spiritus, & quomodo ossa pinganturin ventre praegnantis; sic nescis opera Die quia est fabricator omnium. As thou knowest not which is the way that the spirit moveth, and how the bones are shaped and made in the mothers womb; so art thou ignorant in the works of the Lord, who hath made and framed all things, &c. Whereby it is manifest, that the Spirit of God operateth in the sperm, as wel before the emission of the seed into the womb, as afterwards. This also is plainly expressed by these words of Job, Nonne sicut lac fudisti me, & tanquam caseum coagulasti me: cu[…]e & carne indu[…]sti me, ossibus & nervis compegisti me, cum vita benignitatem exercu[…]stiergame, at visitatio tua praeservavit spiritum meum, at ista recondisti in animo tuo. Novi haec apud te esse. Didst thou not poure me out like milk, and didst thou not curdle me like a cheese? Thou didst indue me with skin and flesh, and compacted or joyned me together with bones and sinews. Thou didst exercise thy benignity towards me, in giving me life, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit. And yet hast thou kept this secret in thy heart. I know well that this is so with thee. In all which, this difficult point appeareth to be fully deciphered and opened, as well touching the act of generation, as in regard of the foresaid mystery, in the preservation and continuation of the life of the Infant, as well in his mothers womb, as after the birth thereof: For in this member, Sicut lac fudisti me, he seemeth to argue, that the spermatick masse was well disposed and composed by the spirit of life, of the which a man was afterward explicitely delineated and framed. Then goeth he forwards to the second degree in generation, Tanquam caseum coagulastime, by which it appeareth, that the divine Spirit did thicken the seed into a more solid substance like cheese, according unto that other saying of Job, Memento quaeso quod sicut argillam fecisti me, &c. Remember that thou maiest me as clay, &c. Then he proceedeth thus, Cute & carne induisti me, ossibusque & nervis compegisti me, &c. And now in this degree he commeth, after the coagulation of the spermatick masse, unto the complement of the particular human parts or members, of the which the externall man is made in the womb, as the spirituall image of the son was in the arteriall seed of the father, before it was cast into the womb. By all which it appeareth, that the divine Spirit did operate all this outward man in his own person, and then to the vivification of that externall man, so shaped out of the elementary seed, he proceedeth, thus, Cum vita benignitatem exercuisti erga me; shewing by this, that the corporall work being effected, and made fit to lodge so noble and emperial a guest, as is the divine mentall beam, namely, of the builder of it, riding in a mundane vehicle, the lordly guest doth immediately possesse it, and make it live, and move, and feel, according unto that of the Apostle, In him we live, move, and have our beeing, To conclude, after that Adam was by God shaped out of a lump of earth, he breathed into it the spiracle of life, and that masse was made a living creature, agreeing with the forementioned place of Job, saying, The Spirit of the Lord made me, and the breath of the Almighty did vivifie me; that is, the Spirit of God made both the externall and internall. Neither was that spiracle of life destitute of understanding, that is to say, without the reall beam of eternity; for it is said else-where, In homine est spiritus, sed in spiratio Omnipotentis facit eum intelligere: In man is a spirit, but it is the inspiration of the Almighty which maketh him to understand. And for this reason also is man-rightly said in Scripture to be framed after the image of God. Was not the excellent artifice of this eternal Spirit wel expressed by Ezekiel, after it came from the four winds, and breathed upon the slain; Ecc[…], (saith the Lord unto the dead bones) ego intromittam in vos spiritum ut vivatis; & dabo super vos nervos & succrescere faciam supra vos carnes, & extendam in vos cutem, & dabo vobis spiritum & vivetis. Et dixit propheta ex man[…]a[…]o Dei, A quatuor ventis veni, spiritus, & insuffla super interfectos istos ut reviviscant, & ingressus est in eos spiritus & revixerunt. Behold, I will put into you a spirit, and you shall live, and I will put on you sinewes, and I will make slesh to grow on you, and I will cover and extend on you a skin, and I will give you a spirit, and you shall live. And the prophet said according as God commanded him, Come, O spirit, from the four winds, and breath upon these slain persons, that they may live again. And the spirit entred into them, and hey lived again, &c. By the which file of speech we may gather, first, That it was the divine vertue which fashioned out the externall man, before it had a living spirit; and then afterward, that the spirit of life was breathed into the externall man, from the catholick spirit of life in the great world; for he said, Come O spirit from the four winds. And again, that the world hath a catholick spirit, by which it liveth; for the four winds had their breath and life from this one spirit, by the which the universall sublunary element seemeth to live, and is changed from one complexion unto another, and doth most lively operate diversity of effects, in the compound creatures of this lower region of the world; for experience doth teach us, that the common aire is of an earthly nature when the North winds bloweth, and of a cholerick, when the East wind hath dominion, &c.

Now touching the manner of the shaping out of the specifick individuall, it may be demanded, why this catholick vivifying spirit of the world, being but one, doth bring forth every fruit or birth according unto his kinde, and not all one. I told you before, that each specifick creature was radically created in his kinde, distinct and different from one another, according to the will of the Creator, and was by the same spirit maintained and multiplyed, evermore reserving the shape of the species or kinds which was allotted him in his creation; and it should seem, that God appointed, as it were, a certain secret mold to fashion out the potentiall creature, before it came to act. And for the better understanding hereof, we must know, that there are four spermatick preparing vessells, namely, two and two on a side, whereof the one is a venall vessell, and it issueth out of the vena cava, and from hence commeth the bodily sperm, made of the refined subject of the four elements of the body, and is therefore the principle or root of the Infants externall or body, and it is visible, and is called Sperma. And the other is an arteriall vessell, and this is the well-spring of the inward man, for it is the invisible fire of life, and it is called Semen, which when the mixtion of both is made, doth dwell no otherwise centrally in the visible sperm, then mans soul doth in the body. We must observe therefore, that as there are two vessells on a side, the one spirituall, the other elementall, so these two in their descent towards the resticles, do make by their subtle implication of the one with the other, that admirable and pleasant web or plex to behold, which the Greeks do call Ana[…]tomosis; the which embracing and secret weaving together of insensible parts, is effected by the artifice of that great builder, not onely (as the Anatomists do think) because that the red and bloody seed may be made white, but first, that it might divide the spermatick substance in the venall vessells, and seminall substance in the arteriall, from the bloody masse as; well naturall, which […]loweth from the liver, as vitall, which springeth from the heart: And then that by this Dedalian labyrinth, the seminall form, being the microcosmicall heaven, may aptly, and according unto the specifick creatures true similitude, be mingled together, no otherwise then we observe the form of a thing to be, by a naturall mixtion perfused, and spread over all his elementary substance. And without all doubt, the fabrick of this Plexus or Anastomosis is such, as is the impression of some notable Seal, the which in a Man is Manlike, in a Lion is like a Lion, in an Eagle is after the shape of an Eagle, and so according unto this impression, which is occult, and scar[…]ely discerned by imagination, the sperm is formed after the manner of clay, and is moistned with this seminary nature as with water; and by the vertue of that divine spirit which dwelleth secretly in it, is made a living creature in the womb. These two natures therefore are so tempe[…]ed together, according un[…]o the law of this vivifying nature, and the semen or invisible spirit of the aire, is so agitated and moved by the divine nature, which moveth in that spirit, no otherwise then the aire is with the spirit of the blower, that the bodily visible sperm is shaped out, after the image of his created species or kind; even as we see a Mole to make and frame out it self a house or dwelling place under the earth. And this is the work of the secret spirit, after that this compounded and well mixed substance is cast into the womb.

To conclude, all that we have spoken touching this animal sub[…]ect, may easily also be averred, and that without any offence of the vegetable kingdom; for the whole plant or tree did yet lie hid complicitely in the seed or kernell, and by the same reason is explicitely brought to lig[…]t, by the operation of the hid and secret spirit of light and life which is in it. But I have ranged too far from my mark, and that in a subject (I fear) which will prove offensive unto such, as will not radically consider these things as they are indeed, but after their sense and the wisdom of the world. I will therefore now approach unto the main point of our Discourse, since that I have thus largely expressed unto you, the two principal and radicall pillars of Sympathy and Antipathy, namely, light and darkness, or form and matter, being that all love, and therefore Sympathy, proceedeth from light; as contrariwise, all hatred, and consequently Antipathy, must needs spring and arise from darkness, whose first-born child was Litigium, or Discord.