Part 5

And in the third of Saint _James_, _Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth_; yea one onely small sparkle of fire, would press in the twinckling of an eye, all the immense hollow of the Universe, if it were filled with Gun-powder or Napthe and presently after will vanish away. So that of all bodies, there is nothing that doth approach nearer to the soule then fire, said _Plotin_. And _Aristotle_ in his fourth booke of _Metaphysickes_, sets downe, that even to his time the most part of Philosophers had not well knowne fire, nor yet Aire to bee perceivable to our sight and feeling. But men may say the same, that neither _Aristotle_, nor other Grecians of his time knew so well the fire and its effects, at least wise not so exactly as did (so long while after) the _Arabians_, by _Alchymie_, on which all the knowledge of fire dependeth. The _Ægyptians_ said, that it was a ravishing and insatiable Animal, that devoures that which taketh birth and increase, and at last it selfe; after it is therewith well fedde and gorged: when there is no more to feed or nourish it; for that having heat and motion, he cannot passe from food and aire to breath therein; if for want hereof, it remaines at last extinct, with that wherewith it was fed: All things proper to animate substances, and which have life, for life is ever accompanied with heat and motion, which proceeds from heate, rather then heate from motion; although they be reciprocalls, for one cannot be without the other. But _Suidas_ thereupon formed such a contradiction, that not onely animals, but all that which take nourishment and encrease, tend to a certaine butt, whither being come, it stayes without passing any further, where neither nourishment nor increase of fire are limited nor determined; for the more is administred, so much the more it would have, and grow every day greater: for neither the one nor the other can be limited, as do these animals. Then by consequent it must not be put in their ranke; So that the motion of fire should rather be called generation, then nourishment or growth; for there is but that one element, that nourisheth and increaseth it. In the others, that which superabounds therein is by apposition, as if you would joine water to water, or earth to earth; you shall never do the same to fire, to thinke to make it greater by joining thereunto other fire, but by the apposition of matter, upon which it may bite and exercise its action, as wood and other like things, which perforce must turne into its nature, and so it augments it selfe. The Poeticall fictions relate that _Prometheus_ went into Heaven to steale it to accommodate mortals; for which he was so grievously punished by the Gods, as to remaine 30. yeares bound to a Rocke in Mount _Caucasus_, where a Vulter dayly eate up his entrails which did grow againe in course. But it is to bee beleeved that the Gods that are so watchfull, and so affectionate towards mankinde, would not deny this so necessary a portion of Nature, without which the condition of their life were worse then that of beasts, as well for the boyling of their meats, as to warme them, and dry them, and infinite other necessary commodities. Besides of that which soares alwayes upwards, being of one celestial original, whither he aspires to returne, it seemes that this belongs properly to man.

_Sith other things lookes downe unto the earth It gave man a face, to looke up, and see the heavens, To erect his countenance unto the Stars._

[Sidenote: διάλυσις]

Almost all other animals do shun the fire, whence _Lactantius_ to shew that man was a divine Animal, alledgeth for one of his most pregnant reasons, that hee onely amongst others used fire. And _Vitruvius_ in his second booke, sets downe that the first acquaintances of men, were contracted by comming to meete, to warme themselves at common fires: So that the cause why God sent fire downe to men must bee, that by the meanes thereof, they are come to penetrate into the profound and hidden secrets of Nature: whereof they could not well discover, & know the manner of proceeding, for that shee workes so rarely: but by his counterfoote, which the Greeks call διάλυσις the resolution and separation of the Elementary parts, which are made by fire; whereof proceeds the execution almost of all Artifices, that the spirit of man hath invented; So that if the first had no other instrument, and toole, then the fire, as we may lately see by the discoveries of the _West Indies_; _Homer_ in the Song of _Vulcan_ sets downe that hee assisted with _Minerva_, taught men their Arts and brave Workmanship; having formerly beene accustomed to dwel in Caves and hollow Rockes, after the fashion of wilde beasts; willing to inferre by _Minerva_ the Goddesse of Arts, and Sciences, _the understanding and industry, and by the fire, Vulcan, that puts them in execution; wherefore the Ægyptians were accustomed to marry these two Deities together, willing thereby to declare nothing else but that from the understanding proceeds the invention of all Arts and Sciences, which fire afterwards effected, and brought from power to action_; for the Agent in all this world is nothing else but fire and heat, saith _Johannicius_, and _Homer_,

_Whom Vulcan and Minerva knew_.

Which was the cause (as may bee seen in _Philostratus_ by the birth of _Minerva_) that shee forsooke the _Rhodians_, for that they sacrificed unto her without fire, to goe to the _Athenians_. Moreover _Vulcan_, according to _Diadorus_, was a man, _who from an accident by a clap of Lightning, whereby a Tree was set on fire, first revealed to the Ægyptians the commodity and use of Fire: for being therewithall overcome, all joyfull of his light and heate; he thereunto added other matter to keepe it, whilest hee went to seeke the people, who afterward for this, deified him_. Whereto _Lucretius_ agrees,

_Do not in these things tacitely and by chance require, Lightning brought fire on earth to mortalls First: thence all heate of flame was given_.

[Sidenote: 1500 years.]

[Sidenote: 500]

The Greekes attribute it to _Phoroneus_, and put it, that it was neare to _Argos_. That fire being fallen from heaven there-about, it was afterward there kept within the Temple of _Apollo_; which if by chance it came to extinguish, they lighted it againe anew by the Sunnebeames; as also they did at _Rome_ that of the Vestals. And in _Persia_ their sacred fire which they carried ordinarily where the King marcht in person singularly reverencing it, for their respect to the Sunne, which they adored above all other Deities; for they esteemed it here below, their Image. They caryed it (I say) in great pompe and solemnity on a magnificent Chariot drawne by four great Couriers, and followed by 365 young Ministers, for as much as there are so many dayes in the yeare, which describe the Sunne by its course, clad with yellow guilded, the colour conformable to the Sunne, and fire, singing hymnes to their praise. And there was amongst them, no crime more capitall and irremissible, then to cast any dead carkasse or other uncleannesse therein, or to blow it with your breath, for feare to infect it, but they did it to give it aire, for in all this they hazzarded no lesse then life; as to quench it otherwise in water: So that if any one had perpetrated any grievous forfeit, to obtaine grace and pardon therein; the best expedient then was, as _Plutarch_ puts in his first Treatise of the first cold, to put himselfe in running water with fire in the hand, threatning to quench it in the water if they did not grant his request; but after hee had obtained it hee was not left unpunished for his offence, but for the impiety that hee had forethought to commit. And from thence it became a common proverbe mentioned in _Suidas_: I am a _Persian_, borne of _Persian_ parents; what a strange _Persian_? yea Sir, for us to pollute fire, it is sharper then cruel death. But all this which may bee said of fire, and by the meanes thereof, hath not yet been revealed, nor knowne by men: Is there any thing more admirable then Gunpowder, so easy to make, and consisting of so few ingredients; and so common Sulphur, Saltpeter and coale? which seeme to have been mystically designed by the Ægyptians, by the three Celestial powers, whence they alledge Thunder, Lightning, Tempests, to be conducted and governed, _Jupiter_, _Vesta_, and _Vulcan_. By _Vulcan_, Sulphur; by _Jupiter_, Saltpeter, full of aire and winde, as _Raymund Lullius_ puts it, who well knew it, and its nature, and its effects if he would have discovered them; and by _Vesta_ Coale; as well for the Terrestreity that is in it, as for that it is incorruptible, being able to keepe it many thousands of yeares within the ground, without alteration or spoiling, which was the cause that they made a place and stage for it, in the foundation of the Temple of _Diana_ at _Ephesus_: Saltpeter is appropriated to the Aire; because it is as of a meane disposition of nature, betwixt Sea water, and the Fire, or Sulphur, whereof it participates, for that it is so inflamable, and saltish, on the other side, resolving it selfe into moisture, and water, as the Salts do; from whence it hath bitternesse and acuity; and as the inclosed and retained aire, within the clouds, doth breake and lighten by the impetuosity of Thunder, the same doth Saltpeter: But this will come to better purpose hereafter in Salts. Moreover hee that can make powder composed of certaine proportions of Sulphur and Saltpeter, and in stead of Coale, with the Terrestrial scurf of Antimony, which must be separated by frequent and reiterated ablutions of lukewarme water; may come to an artificiall fire, not to bee disdained; of a powder, that will give a small report; ’tis true that it is not so impetuous and full of force, as the common. In regard of the invention of Gunpowder, the relations of _China_ do cary, that by their ancient Chronicles it is found out, that they have had the use of it more then 1500 yeares; as also of printing. _Roger Bacon_, the famous English Philosopher, who writ above 300 yeares agoe, in his booke of the admirable power of Nature and Art, sets downe, that with a certaine composition imitating lightning and thunder, _Gideon_ was wont to feare his Enemies with. And yet that it is not formally as it is written in the 7 of _Judges_, yet it is said neverthelesse more then sixscore yeares before the divulgation of Gun-powder; see his word: furthermore there may bee made perpetuall lights and bathes, burning without end, for we have knowne many things that are not burned, but purified; but besides these, there are other stupendious things of Nature and Art; for sounds may be made in the aire, like thunders, and of greater horror then such as are made by nature. And a little matter adapted to the quantity of a thumb, makes a horrible sound, and shewes a vehement coruscation; and this may bee done many wayes, by which every City and Army may bee destroyed; after the manner of _Gideons_ Artifice, who with broken pitchers and lamps, fire breaking out with ineffable fragor, destroyed the _Midianitish_ Army, with only 300 men. These may be Granadoes and fire pots. And to be short, nothing could better agree on all points to Gun-powder; but these good men foreseeing the ruine that such things might bring, made too great conscience to reveale it. To the purpose of perpetuall fires, by meanes of most long durance; _Hermolaus Barbarus_ in his notes upon _Pliny_, relates that in his time there was an old Sepulchre opened in the Territory of _Padoua_, and therein found a little Coffer, where there was a Lampe yet burning, although that according to the inscription it must have beene more then 500 yeares since it was lighted. So that by this reckoning, it should not bee altogether impossible to make fires, that will not be put out; for wee see the same in many sorts of that which men call Grec; whereof _Aristotle_ as it is reported heretofore composed a Treatise, which could not bee quenched with water, chiefly Sea water, by reason of the fatty and unctuous Salt mingled therewith, but they grow worser, and waxe more fiery. But what hurt were there to stay thereon a little, since likewise it is a question of Fire: Of Acornes steeped in wine, afterward dryed and put in a mill so long till the liquor come forth, which afterwards accompanied with other oyles besmeared upon quicke chalc, Pumice stone, spectacle glasse, and Alum calcined together with Soap, and other the like things, that hold their adustible impurities in the bottome of a vessel, whilest that the oile by distillation mounts cleare, neat, and purified, and lesse inflamable; but this requireth a sufficient good fire; for the matches corresponding thereto, make them of cotten yearne besmeared within the Lee: then bath them in the oile, or liquor of Tartar, Saltpetring them over _Alum plumed_, intermingled with _pitch_, _rozin finely bruised and beaten_, or of _Colophon_. These fires of so long duration would seeme to us a thing fabulous, if wee were not ascertained by authentique Authors of that so famous a Lampe hung in a certaine Temple of _Venus_, where there burned without ceasing the Stone called _Asbestus_, which being once set on fire, never goes out. But some will say that that is also a fable; I will leave others to decide it, and I will tell you what befell mee, seeking nothing lesse then that, to meet with a substance, conducted thereunto, by graduall artifices of fire: which being bound fast within a Viall of glasse and sealed with _Hermes_ his Seale, that no aire could any way enter in, might be kept 1000 yeares (after the manner of speech) in the bottome of the Sea: and opening it at the termination of so long a season, or when you shall please, you shall therein finde a suddaine fire, (which when it sents the aire) will light matches. We reade in the second booke of the _Maccabees_, chap. 1. vers. 20. that at the transmigration of _Babylon_, the _Levites_ having hid their sacred fire in the bottome of a well or pit, 70 yeares, after they found there a thicke water and whitish, who assoone as ever the Sunbeames gave thereon, tooke fire.

These two Deities aforesaid, _Pallas_ and _Vesta_, one and the other, chaste Virgins, as is also Fire; represent unto us the two fires of the Sensible world; that is to say, _Pallas_, the Celestiall; and _Vesta_, the Elementary here below, the which notwithstanding it bee more grosse and materiall, then that above, tends neverthelesse alwayes upward, as if it endeavoured to unmingle it selfe from a corruptible substance, where it remaineth fixed; to returne free and exempt from all these hinderances to its first Original from whence it came, as an imprisoned soule,

_There is in them fiery vigor and celestiall Origin, In seeds as much as our harmelesse bodies stay them, And our terrene joints dull them, and our dying members_.

The other on the contrary, though more subtill and essential rusheth out here below toward the earth, as if these two aspired incessantly to encounter each other, and to face each other, in the fashion of two Pyramides; whereof that above should have its basis planted in the _Zodiack_, where the Sunne perfects his annuall course through the 12 Signs: from the point of which _Pyramis_, comes to cast here below all that which is here procreated, and hath being, according to the Astrologers of Ægypt; that there is nothing produced in the earth, and in the water, which was not first sowed in heaven, which is there, as a labourer to cultivate it, and by his heate, impregned here below, with the efficacy of his influences, conducts the whole to its compleat perfection and maturity, which _Aristotle_ also confirmes in his bookes of Beginning and Ending. But the fire here below on the contrary at the basis of his _Pyramis_, fastned to the earth, making one of six faces of the Cube, whereof the _Pythagoreans_ give him the forme and figure, because of its forme, and invariable stability; and from the point of this _Pyramis_ the subtill vapours mount upwards, which serve as nourishment to the Sun, and to all the rest of the Celestiall bodies, according as _Phurnutus_ writeth after others. Men attribute (saith hee) inextinguished fire unto _Vesta_, peradventure for that the power of fire that is in the world, takes it nourishment from thence, and that from thence the Sunne is maintained and consisteth. This is that also, that _Hermes_ would inferre in his Table of _Emeraudes_: That which is below, is as that which is above, and contrarywise, to perpetrate miracles of one thing. And _Rabbi Joseph_ the sonne of _Carnitol_ in his ports of Justice, the foundation of all the inferior ædifices is placed above, and their heap or top here below as a Tree inverted. So that a man is but as a spirituall tree planted in the Paradise of delights, which is the earth of the living, by the roots of his haires; following that which is written in the _Canticles 7. The haire of thy head like purple, the King is bound in the Galleries._

These two fires then, the high and the low, who do know themselves, and so one another, have beene no lesse unknowne to the Poets, for _Homer_ in the 18 of his Iliads, having placed _Vulcans_ forge in the eighth starry heaven, where he is accompanied with his Artisans endowed with singular prudence, and who know two sorts of workes, which were taught them by the immortall Gods, wherein they labour in his presence; _Virgill_ in his 8 of the Æneads hath suffered him to set his shop here below in the earth, in an Island called _Vulcanian_.

_Vulcans house, and by name, Vulcans earth._

To shew that there is fire in the one, and the other Region, the Celestial, and Elementary; but diversly: Men make moreover four sorts of fire; that of the intelligible world, which is all light; the Celestiall participates of heate and light; the Elementary of light, heate, and ardour; And the infernall opposite to the intelligible, with ardor and burning without light; we see Lanthornes upon Mountaines that burne on the inside, and other like called _Vulcans_. And it is a thing very admirable, as one of the _Rabbins_ quoteth, that Sulphur & Pitch that are so ready and easy to take fire, and continue so little in their combustion being exposed to the aire, restrained neverthelesse within the Earths intrails, it seemes they there renew themselves, and multiply by their owne consumption, although their heat and burning bee there much more violent without comparison, then here above. According as wee may see in Mountaines that burn for so many continued ages, and hot Bathes. This seemes to emancipate from the common order of Nature by a secret disposition of Divine providence, who will have them continue so; till the scurf and impurity of this inferiour world be exterminate, with this infected stinking and corruptible odor; and to banish it from hence and send it backe to hell for the punishment and torment of the damned; whereof it is written in _Psal. 11. 6. Upon the wicked hee shall raine snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest, this shall bee the portion of their Cup._ This fire there, which is blacke, obscure, thicke, and dark, the more devouring and burning it is, resembles that of some great coales of stone, which conceive a most strong ignition, whereof it is spoken in the 20 of _Job_ 26. _A fire shall devour them which is not kindled._ And more particularly in the 4 of _Baruch_ 26. _Fire shall come upon them from the everlasting to continue many dayes, and Devils shall a long time dwell there._

[Sidenote: P. 72. Lamp.]

There where the Celestial fire is all clear and shining as a lamp, whose flame should bee nourished with water of Life, mingled with a certaine composition of _Camphire_, _Salnitre_, and other inflamative matters. So that these combustible substances, whereof there are infinite varieties, may endure very long, but it is true that it will bee but a gentle and weak flame. And of the like, but more subtill without comparison, the Celestiall bodies are nourished and fed, that need but little nourishment, as approaching from spirituality. I can tell you, being at any other time brought, to make the fashion of a shining Sunne, in the darke, (it was a fire of a Lampe) so glittering, that a whole great Hall might bee therewith rather dazled, then lightened; _for this did more effect then two or three dozen of great Torches, and yet in 24 houres used no more oile then I gave it, with matches corresponding thereunto, which held no more then a nut shell, for this was a Lampe of Glasse, plunged or dipped within a Globe of Crystall as great as a head filled with vinegar, distilled three or foure times; for there is nothing more transparent, nor more splendent. Sea water is also good thereto, and much better then fresh water, how pure soever it may bee; It it the Salt mingled among that gives it this luminous brightnesse._

[Sidenote: ἰχὼρ]

[Sidenote: P. 75.]

[Sidenote: Tuffe p. 76. a kind of white Sand, or soft and brittle Stone.]