118 NATURAL HISTORY. 



would; for in a living creature, though never so 

 great, (as for example, in a great whale,) the sense 

 and the affects of any one part of the body instantly 

 make a transcursion throughout the whole body : so 

 that by this they did insinuate, that no distance of 

 place, nor want or indisposition of matter, could 

 hinder magical operations ; but that (for example) 

 we might here in Europe have sense and feeling of 

 that which was done in China; and likewise we 

 might work any effect without and against matter ; 

 and this not holpen by the co-operation of angels or 

 spirits, but only by the unity and harmony of nat 

 ure. There were some also that stayed not here ; 

 but went further, and held that if the spirit of man 

 (whom they call the microcosm) do give a fit touch 

 to the spirit of the world by strong imaginations 

 and beliefs, it might command nature; for Para 

 celsus, and some darksome authors of magic, do 

 ascribe to imagination exalted, the power of miracle- 

 working faith. With these vast and bottomless 

 follies men have been (in part) entertained. 



But we, that hold firm to the works of God, and 

 to the sense, which is God s lamp, (lucerna Dei 

 spiraculum hominis,) will inquire with all sobriety 

 and severity, whether there be to be found in the 

 footsteps of nature any such transmission and influx 

 of immateriate virtues ; and what the force of im 

 agination is, either upon the body imaginant or upon 

 another body ; wherein it will be like that labour of 



