Theater of Machines, Volume 3

...yet [man] can hardly do without [water]; among other things, it is that which sustains this temporal life, namely the beloved grain which we require for daily food and drink, and which must be prepared beforehand in mills, and thus by the power of water. Therefore, there is no doubt that mills are not only very useful and highly necessary in times of good peace and prosperity, but also in occurring wars or famines. For even when the gracious God has richly blessed the beloved crops and filled all the barns, but yet due to our manifold sins, war or famine, or such dry seasons, or conversely great floods, and similar scourges of the land are sent, which are felt by everyone, small and great, poor and rich, pious and wicked, Latin: "juxta illud" according to that [verse].