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petuat si res, fio m the Ie isti practice prescribed in the Levitical law, of
Leeping a perpetuat fi re burning on the altar. Whether that was theca se or not, thus much one may venture to say, it seenas probable that Whateucr was the original of this custom among the perstans, the like customs among the Greelis and Romans were derived stom the seme
186. It must M owned there are many passages in holy scripture ', that would malle one thinli, the supreme being was in a peculiar man nerpresent and mani sest in the element of fire. Not is insist that God is more than once Did to be a Consum ing fire, which might be undet stos lin a metaphorical sense, the divine apparitions were by sire, in the busti
at mount Sinai, on the tabernacle, in the clo Ven longues. God is represented in the inspired writ ings, as descending in fire, as attended by fire,or with fire going besore hi m. Celestiat things as angeis, chariois, and such like phenomena a re in vested with fire, light, and splendor. EZehiel in his visions beheld fire and brighiness, lamps, burning Coals of sire, and fames os lighte ning. In a vision os Daniel, the throne of God appeared like a fiery flame, and his wheels like burning firo. Also a fiery flametsi ued and came sortii seo in besore hi m. 187. At the transfiguration, the apost les saw our Saviour's face miningas the sun , and his raiment whi te as light, also a lucid cloud or body oflight, o ut of whicli the voice came; whicli visi ble light and splendor vias,not many centuries ago, maintained by the Greeli church, to have been divine, and uncreated, and the Very glory of God; as may be seen in the history wrote by the em peror Johia Cant curene. And of late years bis hop Patricli gives it as his opinion, that in the beginning of the worid, the Shecinali or divine presence, which was then frequent and ordinary, appeared by light or fire. In commenting on that pallage, Where Cam IS
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Siris. se id to have gone out stom the presence of the Lord, the bim op observes that is Cain aster this turn ed a down right idolater, as many thin k, it is very likely he introduced the wormip of the sun , as the best resemblande he could find of the glory of the Lord, which was Wont to appear in asam ing light. It would be endlest to enumerate ali the passages of holyscripture, whicli confirm and illustrate this notion, or represent the Dei tyas appearing and operat ing by fire. The misconstruction of whicli mittit possibiy have missed the Gnosti cs, Basilidians, and other ancient heretics into an opinion, that Jesus Christ was the visibi e corporeal sun.
188. We have sten, that in the most remote ages and countries, thevulgar a s weli as the learneli, the institutions of lawgivers, as Heli as thereas nings of philosophers, have ever considered the element of fire in apeculiar light, and trea ted it with more than common regard, as is it were sonacthing of a very singular and cxtraordinary nature. Nor are there wanting aut hors of principat account among the modern S, Who enteria in like notions concerning fire, especialty among those Who are most conversant in that element, and should scena besst acqua in ted with it. 189. M r. Homberg the samous modern chymist, who brought that artio se great persection, holds the substance of light or fire to be the trucchymic princi ple sulphur ' and to extend it self througho ut the whole universe. It is his opinion that this is the only active principie. Thatmixed with various things it formeth severat soris of natural productions. illi salis mali ing oti, with earth bitumen, Willi mercury metal. Thatthis principi e of sulphur, fire, or the substance of light, is in iistis impercepti ble, and ora ly becomes sensi ble, as it is joined with so me other principio, whicli serves as a vehicle for it. That, although it be the most actative os ali things, yet it is at the sume time the most firm hond and cement to com hine and hold the principies together, and give sorm to the
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mixed hodies. And, that in the analysiis of dies it is always lost, esca pingahe skill of the artist, and pasting through the clos est vesseis.
Iso. Boerhaave, Nie enty't, and divers other moderns are in the sanae
way of thin hing. They with the ancients distinguish a pure elementary, invisibi e fi re froin the culinary, or that whicli appe ars in igni ted hodies '. This last they will not allois to be pure fire. The pure fi re is to be di C. cerned by iis essedis alone; such as heat, dilatation os ali solid hodies; and
rarefaction os fluids, the segregat ing heterogene OUS bodie S, and congregat ing those that are homogeneous. That there re which smolies and flames is not pure fi re, but that whicli is collec ted in the socias of a con cave mirro uror burning glasse. This sire seems the se urce of ali the ope rations in nature: without it nothing Cither Vegetates, Or putrefies, livesor moves or fermenis, is dissolved or compo unded Or altered, throughout this is hole natural wor id in which we subsist Were it not for this; thewhiae would be one great stupid inanimate mass. B at this active ele metit is supposed to be e very Where, and alWays present, impar ting dis ferent degrees of lis , heat and motion, to the Vari OUS animais, vegetabies, and other natural productions , as weli as to the Clements thenaseives, wherein they ape produced and nouris hed. I9 I. As water a s upon sali, or aqua sortis iapon iron, so fire disibi Vesali other hodies. Fire, air, and water a re ali three menstruum S : but the two la st stem to dorive ait their force and activi ty Dona the sirst '. Audin deed there seems to be, originalty or ultima tely, but One menstruum in nature, to whicli ali other menstruum s may be reduce l. Acid saltsare a monstruum, but their force and distinet po vers a re frona sulphur. Considerod as pure, or in thenaseives, they a re ali of the fame nature.
But as obtu ined by distillation, they a re constant ly joined with semesulphur, Whicli characteri geth and cannot hc separa ted fro in it. This is
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the doctrine os Monsileur Homberg. But what is it that characteri geth ordisserencelli the sulphurs themselvest Is sulphur be the substance of Aglit,as that author will have ii, whence is it that animal, vegetabie, and metallic sulphura impari disserent qualities to the fame acid sali t Can thisbe explained Dpon Homberg's principiest And are we not obliged tostippo se, that light separated by the attracting and repelling powers in the strat ners, ducis, and pores of those bodies, doth sorm severat distincthinds of sulphur, ait whicli, hesore such separation, were tost and blend-ed together, in one common mase of light or sire, seciningly homoge-
3 2. In the analysis os inflammable hodies, the fi re or sulphur is tost, and the diminution of weight sheweth the lose '. Oil is resolved intowater, Carth, and sali, none of whicli is inflammabie. But the fi re orvinculum whicli connected those things, and gave the form of oit, ese capes seo in the artist. It di sappears but is not destroyed. Light or fire imprisoned made part of the compound , gave Union to the Other paris, and form to the whole. But having escaped, it mingles With the generat ocean os aether, tili being again Parted and attracted, it enters and specificates some new subjeci, of the animal, vegetabie, or minerat hing-dom. Fire there re in the sense of philosophers is always sire, thoughnot always flame. 103 Solar fire or light, in calcining certain bodies, is observed to addio their weight. There is theresere no do ubi but light can be fixed, andenter the composition os a body. And though it mouid lie latent sor a long time, yet, being set free sto in iis prison, it mali stili sileis it self to befire. Lead, tin, or regulus os antimony, heing exposed to the fi re of ab urning glast, though they lose much in s molie and fleam, a re ne ver the- lese found to be considerabb in orea sed in weight, whicli proves the intro'
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duction os light or si re in to their porcs. It is also observed, that urine Produceth no phosphorus, uniesis it be long exposed to the solar light. From ali whicli it may be concluded, that bodies attract and fix the light, whence it mould stem, as seme have observed, that fire without burn ing is an ingredient in many things, as Water Without wetting. I96. of this there cannot be a bet ter prooc than the experiment ossMonsieur Homberg, who made gold of mercury by introduc ing light in totus pores, hut at such troubie and expence, that I suppose nobody williry the experiment for profit. By this injunction os light and mercury, both bodies heca me fixed, and produced a third disserent frona ei ther, towit, real gold. For the truth of whicli fact, I reser to the me moirs of the French academ y of sciences . From the Bregoing experiment it apiapears, that gold is only ae mast os mercury penetraled and cemented by the substance of light, the particles of QOse bodies attracting and fixingeach other. This seems to have been not altogether uni nown to sermer philosophers, Marcilius Ficinus the Platonist, in his commentary on theωst book of the second A ne id of Plotinus, and others likewise heso rehim, regarding mercury as the mollier, and sulphur as the fa ther of metals .and Plato himself in his Timaeus describing gold, to be a dense fuistwith a mining yellow lighi, which weli sui is a composition os light and
Iis operations are various according to iis hirad, quantity, and degree os vehemen cc. me degree keeps water fluid, another turris it into elasti ea ir l. And ait it self seems in be nothing et se but vapours and exhalations, rendered elastic by fire. Nothing flames but olland sulphur is illi
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siris. Water, sali, and ear th compose Oil ; whicli sulphur is fire: there re sire enclosed attracts fire, and causeth the bodies Gliose composition it enters
106. Fire collected in the secus os a glasi operates in vacuo, and there- fore is thought not to need air to support it. Calet os lead hath gone offwith an explosion in vacuo, whicli Niewenty't and others talae sor aproof that fi re cara burn without a tr. But Mr. Hales attributes this effect to air enclo sed in the red lead, and perhaps too in the receiver, whicli cannot be perfectly exhausted. When common lead is put into the fi re in order to malle red te ad , a greater weight of this comes out than was put in os common te ad. There fore the red te ad should scem impregnat ed with sire. Mr. Hales thin ks it is with a tr. The vast expansion os compotand aqua fortis, Mr. Nie enty't vult have to proceed Dom sire alone. Mr. Hales contends that air must necessari ly cooperate.
Though by Niewenty'i's experiment it should stem, the phosphorus burn sequat ly, with and thout a tr. 19 7. Perhaps they who hold the opposite sides in this question, mayhe reconciled by observing that air is in reali ty nothing more than particles of wet and dry hodies volatilige d and rendered elastic by sire '. Whate ver, there re, is done by air must be ascribe d to fire, whicli fi reis a subtile invisible thing, whose operation is not to be discerned but hymeans os se me grosser hody, whicli serves not for a pabulum to notaris lithe sire, but sor a vehicle to arrest and bring it into vi e N. Whicli stem sthe sole use of Oil, air, or any ollier thin g, that vulgarly passeth for a pabulum or Mod of that clement I98. To expla in this matter more clearly, it is to be observed, that fi re, in order to bocome sensibie, must have sonae subject to a ct upon.
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Τhis heing penetra ted and agitated by fire assects us With light, heat, orso me other sensibie alteration. And this subject so wrought upon maybe called culinary fire. In the focus os a burning glasse exposed to thelan, there is real actuat fire though not discern cd by the sense, tili it hathsomewhat to work on, and can shew itself in iis essecis, heat in g, flamin g, melling and the like. Every igni ted body is, in the foregoing sense, culi-
nary fire. But it will not there re solio is, that it is converti bie into puro elementary fire. This, sor ought that appears, may be in generable and incorruptibi e by the cour se of nature. It may be fixed and imprison edin a compo und , and yet retain iis nature, though lost to sense, and though it return into the invisibie elementary ma se, Upon the analysis of the compounded body: as is manis est in the solution of stone lime by
100. It mould stem, theresere, that what is se id of air's being the pabulum of fire, or being converted into fire, ought to be understood onlyin this sense ; to wit, that air being less grosse than other bodies, is of amiddie nature, and there re more fit to receive the impressioris of a fine aetheriai sire ', and impari them to other things. According to the ancients, Qui serveth sor a vehicle to intellect l, and light or si re sor a vehicle to the foui ; and , in like manner, air may be suppo sed a vehicle tofi re, fixing it in sonae degree, and communica ting iis essects to other
hodies. etoo. The pure invisibie fire or aether doth permeate ali hodies, eveni he hard est and most sol id as the di amond. Thi S alone, there re, cannot as sonae learn ed men have supposed, be the cause of muscularmotion, by a mere impulse of the nerves Communi Caled nom the bra in to the membranes of the muscies, and thereby to the enclosed aether, whose expansive motion, heing by that means in creased, is thought to
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su eli the mu scies and cause a contraction of the fieshy fibres. Τhis itshould seem, the pure aether cannot do immedia tely, and of itself, be- cause, supposing iis expansive motion to be increased, it must stili passthrough the membranes, and consequently not Meli them, inasmuch asse ther is suppo sed secely to pervade the most solid bodies. It mould se emthere re that this essect must be o ing, not to pure aether, but to aether in se me pari fixed and arrested by the partietes of air.eto I. Although this aether be extrem ely elastic, yet, as it is semetimes found by experience to be attracted, imprisoned and deta ined in gross bo- dies ', Ω we may suppost it to he attracted, and iis expansive force diminis hed, though it mould not be qui te fixed, by the loose particles ofair, whicli combining and cohering there illi may bring it down, and qualist it sor interco urse with grosset things. Pure fi re may be Rid toanimate air, and air other things. Pure fi re is in visibie ; there re flameis not pure fire. Air is necessary both to lise and flame. And it is found by experiment, that air loseth in the lungs the po er of seed ing fame. Hence it is concluded, that the same thing in air contributes both to liseand flame. Vital fame larvives culinary flame in vacuo : there re it requires lese of that thing to sustain it.
et oet. What this may be, Whether seme certain proportion, or so me peculiar paris of aether, is not ea sy to say. But thus much seems plain, that whate ver is ascribed to acid may be also ascribed to si re or aether. The particles of aether sy a funder With the great est force: there re, agreeably to Sir Isaac Newton's doctrine, When uni ted they must attracteach other with the greatest sorce. Theresere they constitute the acid. For what e ver strongly attracts and is attracted, may be called an acid, as Sir Isaac Newton insorins us in his tract de acido. Hence it mould stem
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that the sulphur of Hombergand the acid of Sir Isaac are at bottom oneand the same thing, to wit, pure si re or aether. 2o3. The vital flame or aetheriat spirit, heing attra d and imprison edin grosser bodies, stemeth to be set Deo and carried om by the su perior attraction os a subtile and pure flame. Hence, perhaps it is, that light-ening kilis animais, and turias spirituous liquors vapid in an instant. et o . Hippocrates in his book concerning the heari observeth, that the ut of man is not nourimed by meais and drinlis seo in the lo er belly, hut by a pure and luminous substance dariing iis rays, and distributing aenon natural nourishment, as he terms it, in like manner as that nom thuintestines is distributed to ali paris of the body. This luminous non natural nourishment, though it he secreted froni the blood, is expresty faidnot to come Dom the lower belly. It is plain, there re, he thought it came in to the blood either by respiration, or by attraction through thepores. And it must be achnowledged, that seme hat igneous or aeth real brought by the air in to the blood seems to nourim, though not thelaui it self, yet the interior tunicie of the foui, the aurai singlicis ignem. eos. That there is reatly such a thing as vital flame, actualty kindled: nouri med and extingui med like common flame, and by the fame means, is an Opinion of so me moderns, particularly of Dr. Willis in his tradi d e
sanguinis accensone: that it requires constant evantilation, through thetrachaea and pores of the hody for the discliarge of a fuliginous and excrementitious vapour: and that this vital flame, being extrem ely subtile,
might not be sten any more than mining flies or ignes fatui by day-light. An d yet it hath so me times become visibie on divers persons, of whichthere a re undo ubted instances. This is Dr. Willis's notion: and perhapsthere may be seme truth in this, is it be so understood, as that light or
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sire might indeed constitus e the animal spirit or immediate vehicle of the
et o 6. There have not been wanting those, Who, not content to supposelight the most pure and refined os ali corporeal beings, have gone farther, and beslowcd upon it some attributes of a yet higher nature. Julianus the Platonic philosopher, as cited by Ficinus, salth it was a doctrine in the theology of the Phoenicians, that there is dissu sed throughout the universe, a pellucid and shining nature pure and impassive, the a ct os a pure intelligerice. And Ficinus himself under talies to prove, that lightis incorporeat, by severat arguments: because it enlightens and filis agreat si ace in an instant, and without opposition : because severat light smeet without resisting each other: because light cannot be defited by filthos any kind: because tho solar light is not fixed in any subject: las ly, hecause it contracts and expands itself so easi ly without collision, condensation, rarefaction, or delay throughout the vastest space. These rea sensare gi ven by Ficinus, in his comment on the first book of the secondAEneid os Plotin US.
et o7. But it is now weli linown, that light moves, and that iis motionis not instantaneous: that it is capable os condensation, rarefaction, and collision : that it can be mixed with other bodies, enter their composition, and increa se their weight '. Alt which seems sufficient ly to overthroruttiose arguments of Ficinus, and shew light to be corporeat. There appears in deed so me dissicut ty at first si glit, a boui the non resistance of rays or particles of light occurring one to another, in ali possibie directions or Dom ali potnis. Particularly, is we suppo se the hollo is furfaceos a large sphere, studded with eyes looking in ards one at another, itmay perhaps stem hard to conceive, how distinctirays Dom every cyosmouid arrive at e very other Cye Without just ling, repelling, and con- Dunding each other.