Lumen de Lumine

Indeed it cannot bee denied but some Authors have nam’d this Substance by the names of all ordinary waters, not to deceive the simple, but to hide it from the Ranting, ill-disposed Crew. On the contrary some have expresly and faithfully Informed us it is no Common water, and especially the reverend Turba. Ignari (saith Agadmon) cum audiunt nomen Aquae, putant Aquam Nubis esse, quod si libros nostros intelligerent, scirent esse Aquam permanentem, quae absque suo Compari cum quo facta est unum, permanens esse non possit. The Ignorant (saith he) when they heare us name water, think it is water of the Clouds, but if they understood our Books, they should know it to be a permanent or fix’d water, which without its Sulphur to which it hath been united, cannot be permanent. The noble and knowing Sendivogius tels us the very same Thing: Aqua nostra est Aqua Coelestis non madefaciens manus, non vulgi, sed fere pluvialis. Our water is a heavenly water, which wets not the hand not that of the common Man, but almost or as it were Pluvial. We must therefore consider the severall Analogies and Similitudes of Things, or we shall never be able to understand the Philosophers.