The Wonders of the Lodestone, Chapter 5 – Chapter 6
CHAP. V. Of the Load-stones elevating Vertue.
AS all other heavie things, so Iron of its owne Nature goes downe-wards. This, as the eldest Sonne of the Earth, and principall in her Love, tends with a wonderfull and vehement desire, to the Center thereof, as to his Mothers bosome. So that without violence or Miracle, it never ascends to the Aire, nor mounts to places above. Yet not withstanding, such is the marvelous Vertue of this wonder working Stone, that giving to the Iron but a light touch, and having once affected it, with its love, It presently forsake its common Mother, hastens to the Load-stone with a Swift violent course, and with all possible endeavour, being ready to imbrace it, in the most loving manner that may be. But if it be detayn'd by force of hands or held backe by a string that it cannot touch it; then as it were most vehemently longing to come to it it moves over against it, I have seene (neither did I see it without astonishment) a needle raised up by the Loadstone hanging in the ayre; agai…st its owne nature, lifting up the point thereof towards the Load-stone, that was plac't above it. I have seene the same needle being artificially plac't upon a brasen Tablet, in the surface of water, swimming over to the Loadstone without the…elpe of a corke, from one side of a cauldron to another, and flying up to it. As I seriously considered these Magneticke miracles, and wonderfull works of God; that came to my mind, which is recorded in sacred Scripture, about the Axe that through negligence fell downe to the bottome of the River, yet at the Prophets command, came out of the deepe, and swimmed up, Asalso that so Elisha forsaking his Oxen, his Plough, his friends and all that hee had, and following Elias without any delay, as his Guide and companion, in a way to him as yet unknowne, As also that which is writ of Peter travelling on foot to his Lord on the waves of the Sea. He that can hardly beleeve these histories, but leavs themto be beleeved of Jewes and others, let him now take notice of these things, which upon experience, I speake of the Loadstone, let him give credence to me without taking my oath, or at least believe his owne eyes, Magna sui faciunt, per Leviora fidem, Great workes make Affidavit for themselves, by those that are lesse. They are blessed, I doe not deny, who having not seene, doe beleeve; yet notvvithstanding these sensible helpes of Faith, are not altogether to be despised, which after their manner and measure, doe further and strengthen our Faith. Now that some benefit may accrew unto▪ us by these things, we must knovv that our soules ever since Adams fall are troubled vvith a vvonderfull drovvsinesse and lumpishnesse the very Heathen Poet crying out, O curvae in terras animae, & caelestium inanes, O soules of men bent to the earth, and voyd ofheavenly things. Saint Bernard complayning, that our soules are become carnall, and in some sort turned into flesh, S. Anselme, likening them to a bird tyed to a ponderous stone, Saint Austine, to a little Bee, so drowned in abounance of honey, that it can by no meanes, unwind or spread forth her wings: indeed the huge w…ight of the body lies heavily upon them, the cares of the world doe presse them downe, the lusts of the flesh doe ensnare them, the allurements of pleasures entangle them, who shall ease us of this burthen? who shall take away these loades, that we may clime up the ladder of Iacob with more speed and ease? Who shall give to us the wings of a Dove, that we may flye up to heaven with hast, …and have our priviledged habitationthere? Surely, he alone who infus'd into the Loadstone such vertue; Hee alone who drew to him Mathew from the Custome-house, Zacheus from the Tree, Philip from his Chariot, the Eunuch from the Court, that they might follow him by the odour of his Oyntments; Hee who in time to come, shall waken us, though dead in our graves, by the sound of his Trumpet, that as Eagles to a dead body, so we may be gathered to him. To conclude, Hee shall doe it, unto whom no man can ever come, but whom hee shall draw, by his great vertue, exceeding that of the Loadstone …, Whilst that by inspiring, Hee creates, and by creating inspires, or breaths into the will a new power, life, and vertue.
CHAP. VI. Of the Load-stone communicating its Vertue, and Conveying it into the Iron.
AMong the least flowers and precious Stones, there is none almost, which hath not received some excellent endowment from God, the bestower of all good things; which notwithstanding it hath received, with this limitation and condition, to reserve it, and to have it inherent in it selfe alone, but can very hardly communicate it, and transfuse it to other things of the same nature. If you put. Mallowes to Roses, they take none of the Rosie colour, or smell therefrom: If you put aflint or pumice stone to a Saphire or Emerald, they borrow no brightnesse thereby. The Loadstone only inricht by nature, with a special priviledge, triumphs in this, that it can endow the Iron, which is plac't by it, with its vertue and power to turne, and which you may more admire, it so endowes an Iron ring with this vertue, that being next another, it shall impart the same vertue to that, a second shall do it to a third, and so forward in a long rowe, and as yet, which goes almost beyond all belief, it doth not onelyonly these things by apposition or the lightest touch, but also by passing over to it, as it were by a certaine Divine inspiration, onelyonly with this difference, that in a quick passage, the Iron is possest with Vertue, more weakly, and slightly, and is endewed with a lesse power to turne, but if it stay for some longer time, it receives a greater Vertue, even such as it may draw more strongly, abide in it the longer, and be more hardly lost? therefore this one, this onelyonly stone, among all other created things, is found worthy, not onelyonly to shadow out, but also to represent to the life, the efficacy of the grace of Christ, and of his holy Spirit: Though skill in Arts, and Sciences, and Languages, is not attained unto without hard labour, and long expence of time, yet Christ did in abundant manner, give his holy Spirit, and his manifold gifts unto the Apostles, onelyonly by breathing upon them which they also conveighed over to their Brethren, as Philip to Nathanael, Paul to Timothy, in a continued course to the end of the World; and surely with lesse labour, not onelyonly by imposition of hands, but also by the shadow of a Body, passing by, and by the Handkerchiefes of the absent. Saul falling by the way into the company of Prophets, was toucht a little for a while, with a Propheticall Spirit, But Elisha adhering diligently, and inseparably to the side of Elias, untill his ascent, was replenished with a more plentifull abundance of the Spirit, even to a miracle? Those suddaine prayers also, which we call Ejaculations, never returne from heaven unheard, but draw downe from thence some small portion of grace at the least: But if one with Moses, and Elias, should for many daies together watch, and continue, all night in fastings, and prayer, he should be moistned, and refreshed with a more copious measure of grace, as it were with a great shower.