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A55474 Theologia mystica, or, The mystic divinitie of the aeternal invisibles, viz., the archetypous globe, or the original globe, or world of all globes, worlds, essences, centers, elements, principles and creations whatsoever by a person of qualitie, J.P., M.D. Pordage, John, 1607-1681.; Lead, Jane, 1623-1704.; Hooker, Edward. 1683 (1683) Wing P2968; ESTC R8838 181,392 278

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form but also of the same bigness so that there is no distinction between them but only a numerical distinction whereby one of them is not the other And one of the greatest Wonders of the still Eternity is this to behold this innumerable number of Spirits bearing the exact and perfect resemblance with the Deity both outwardly and inwardly At which sight my Spirit was in a manner all absorbed quite swallowed with wonder and amazement Having thus spoken concerning these qualifications and adjuncts of these pure Spirits I should now draw to a conclusion of this Subject but becaus some it may be will be curious to know what the manner of living and employment of these Spirits in the still Eternity is As to the first We must know that being living Spirits their life requires to be maintained with food fo● no life though the most spiritual can be continued without a supply of meat and drink according to its kind It is not to be thought that we speak here of any gross way of eating and drinking but of that which is purely and highly Spiritual for the food of these Spirits is nothing else but living powers or rather powers of Life proceeding from the Holy Trinity Their Eternal Mother that brought them forth to be living Spirits doth feed nourish and maintain them with her Divine influences and distilling powers which Mother of theirs is the Eternal Heart of Love which is the Center of the blessed Trinity from whence proceed these impregnating penetrating powers which do feed and maintain these Spirits which powers are the very Blood Life and Spirit of Love which is the food of those Inhabitants of the still Eternity And thus much shall suffice concerning the manner and way of Living of these Spirits in the still Eternity I shall now come to speak a word or two concerning their Employment Their employment is to attend in the presence of the Holy and everblessed Trinity being ready to perform the will of the supreme Majesty Their Minds are continually taken up and delighted with the Beatifical Vision of the Deity their Wills fully satisfied in the immediate enjoyment of the chiefest Good their Senses pleased with most suitable and ravishing objects and they continually bathing themselves in those Rivers of unknown delights ● which proceed from the Heart of the Deity without intermission Thus they spend that Eternal day in never ceasing Praises and Hallelujahs to the ever blessed and incomprehensible Trinity Quest. If any one do further enquire concerning these Spirits what Speech or Language they have or how they communicate their thoughts to one another Answ. I answer That their speaking to one another is 〈◊〉 thought what ever they do but think is answered ●●mediately their thoughts are all known to one another 〈◊〉 forthwith answered which awful silence adds ●uch to the Glory of this Presence-chamber of the su●●me Majesty But it is not only their Language which is Won●erful they being full of Wonders for they all see 〈◊〉 through one Eye hear through one ear they all live 〈◊〉 one Heart and from one Center of Life they move ●rom one moving Cause they all breath from one ●reath they all will from one Spirit and they all stand ●n one Body For God the Holy Ghost who is a breath ●ir life and power proceeding from the Father's Eye through the Son's Heart of Love is all in all 〈◊〉 these Spirits so that the will of the Trinity is fully ●erformed in them and by them I have but little more to add and that is concerning the Nature of ●his still Eternity and the ends why 〈◊〉 was brought forth To the first of these I shall speak ●n these following particulars 1. In the first place then I say That the still Eternity is a Principle now what a Principle is I shall afterwards set down to which therefore I refer you 2. Secondly The still Eternity is the first Eternal Principle becaus there is none before above or beyond it But God alone who is the Cause of it 3. In the third place This still Eternity is the Original Principle of all Principles becaus all other Principles proceed from it 4. In the fourth place This still Eternity is the original Principle of Eternal Love and therefore it is called the Kingdom of Love becaus here is the birth of Love and here the blessed Trinity dwell in the Eternal Unity of their Love-essence which is the first and last of all Beings and Essences whatsoever But you will object That Mount Zion the New Ierusalem and the Angelical World are called by the sa●● Names viz. the Kingdom and World of Love To which I answer by granting That it is true Mount Zion c. are called by the same Names as i● the still Eternity but yet with this difference that the still Eternity is the Kingdom and Mansion of the Love as it exists without and before Eternal Nature's Principle but Mount Zion the New Ierusalem and Angelical World are called the Kingdom of Love manifested in and through Eternal Nature so as the 〈◊〉 is the Kingdom of Love out of Eternal Nature and the others are the Kingdom of the said Love brought forth i● Eternal Nature's Principle 5. In the fifth and last place The still Eternity is ● simple undivided Principle without any distinction of parts composition or mixture whatsoever It is all Light and all Love without any thing of Contrariety ●● Disagreement whatsoever I now come to speak briefly concerning the second head I just now propounded viz. the ends why this still Eternity was brought forth 1. In the first place The still Eternity was brought forth that it might be the Palace and Habitation of the ever blessed Trinity in their abstracted and solitary Being 2. Secondly The still Eternity was brought forth t● be the Council-chamber of the Holy Trinit when all their Eternal Decrees Counsels Purposes and Predestinatious are agreed upon and from whence they proceed And because we here have made mention of the Decrees and Counsels of the blessed Trinity it will not be amiss if we speak something concerning the Nature of these Decrees c. We are to know that all the Decrees and Counsels of the Holy Trinity do wholly and solely depend on the Will of their Eternal Love wit●out the least regard to any thing without themselves being nothing else but the pure results of the will and purpose of their Love But if we consider the Holy Trinity as being invested with the Principle of Eternal Nature so their Decrees and Counsels concerning Angels and Men may be said to have a conditional regard to Faith Obedience Perseverance c. which distinction if well understood will put an end to all those disputes which have been concerning the Decrees and purposes of God whither they be absolute and independent or conditional and with regard to things without them for both opinions are true if rightly and distinctly taken In the still Eternity all the
of them equal in Fun●●ion Charge and Dignity all being obedient Chil●●en and Servants of the Deity they are all alike in ●●eir external form and figure appearing all like bright ●●ints Sparks or Eyes In the fifth and last place The Figure shews us that ●●ey all resemble and are like the central Eye of the Dei●● from which they do not differ but as a less from a ●●●ater for as the Spirit of Eternity represents him●●lf by the sight or black of an Eye so these simplified ●●irits the Inhabitants of the still Eternity appear ●●ke so many bright Points Sparks or Eyes all multi●●ied and derived from the Eye of Eternity So that these ●pirits are true resemblances of the Spirit of Eternity ●eing of the same nature only with the abovesaid dif●rence of greater and lesser and of original and copy 〈◊〉 they are Lights from Light and nothing else but the 〈◊〉 of Eternity multiplying it self through the unmeasu●●ble extent of the still Eternity Having thus opened the figure I proceed now to ●ive you a definition of simplified pure Spirits and it 〈◊〉 this Simplified Spirits are Spirits generated ●y God immediately out of himself 〈◊〉 the likeness and similitude of himself ●nd for himself This definition is made up of a genus and diffe●ence the genus or general comprehensive notion is Spirits which is common to these simplified Spirits with all others the difference or that whereby these ●ure Spirits are distinguished from all others is laid ●own in the causes viz. the efficient material formal ●nd final causes of simplified Spirits We shall begin with the first of these viz. the ●●●ficient Cause which is expressed in these words 〈◊〉 the Definition generated by God which intimates t● us that God is the efficient Cause and sole generat●● of those pure Spirits which are the Inhabitants of th● still Eternity I have told you before that these S●●●rits are simple pure Powers and no wonder since her● you see that they are the off-spring of the Deity who 〈◊〉 all pure Power they partake of his Nature and E●●sence as Children partake of the Nature and Essence 〈◊〉 their Parents and therefore it is that God is called the F●●ther of Spirits in reference to these pure simplified Spi●●●● who resemble him in the Vnity Simplicity and Purity 〈◊〉 his Divine Nature But you will say How and af●●● what manner were these pure Spirits generated by God● This I confess is a great Mystery yet for the satisfaction of the inquiring mind we shall speak somethin● of it We are to know that these simplified Spirits● did from all Eternity exist ideally in the Eye of Eternity and the said I●eas were actually and essentiall● manifested by production before all Worlds The m●ner of their generation we may thus conceive of their Id●●● being conceived in t●● Divine mind rais'd a desire fo● their manifestation and this desire awakned the omnipotent will of God to their actual production for in the will of God stands the Omnipotence which effecteth all things This all-effecting power is the power of the Holy Ghost who is the producer and actual manifester of whatsoever lie's hid in the Eye of the Father Ideally Neither could the Spirit of Pow●● ever have brought forth these pure Spirits had not thei● Ideas pre-existed in the Eye of the Father as their first ground and original pattern according to which they were brought forth actually by the Holy Ghost I next proceed to speak of the material Cause of thes● simple Spirits the Inhabitants of the still Eternity● which is expressed in these words of the definition immediately generated out of himself Though these pure Spirits be immaterial that is free from all gross materiality and corporeity yet are they not without a material cause from whence they derive their substance and Essence so that materiality in this s●nce is taken for essentiality Now this material cause is expressed to be God himself for there was nothing in the still Eternity but the blessed Trinity and the seven Spirits immediately proceeding from them therefore they must needs be generated out of God himself for there was no other subject matter no Eternal Nature out of which they might b● taken The Word immediately is added in the Definition to distinguish these pure simplified Spirits from the Angels who were brought forth out of Eternal Nature as their material cause and not immediately out of the Divine Essence as these are Now this Divine Nature out of which these Spirits are generated is no other than the Heart of God which as I told you is the Central Heart of the Deity and this Heart of God is the Eternal flaming Heart of God's Love it is Love it self and the fulness and perfection of Love and accordingly St. Iohn gives us this account of God that He is Love and that he that dwells in Love dwells in God and God in him Though this Scripture has relation to man litterally yet we may here apply it for illustration that God is Love which Love is the Generator of these simplified Spirits And it is out of this Love 's Eternal Substantiality that the numberless number of the Inhabitants of the still Eternity were actually manifested for the Glory of the supreme Majesty Now because I have told you that Love 's Eternal Essentiality is that out of which all pure simplified Spirits were brought forth I think it not amiss to open to you the nature and properties of this Divine Love to the end you may have a clearer understanding concerning the Nature and quali●ic●tions of thos● pure Spirits which did proceed from it for by opening unto you the Nature of this Divine Love which is the Cause I must needs at the same time lead you to the knowledge of these Spirits which are the effect or product of it 1. In the fi●st place then I find the Nature of Divine Love to be a perfect Unity and Simplicity There is nothing more one undivided simple pure unmixed and uncompounded than Love You will say how do I prove this Very well for this Love is God himself now it is well known that there is nothing more essential to God than Unity and Simplicity nothing more contrary to the Divine Nature than duality division or composition Besides it is this Love which gives Unity and Harmony to all things There is no Unity in Heaven nor on Earth but what derive● from Love and must acknowledge him the Author● and do you think Love can want that Unity which it gives to all others No certainly rather conclude that that which makes all things one which harmonizeth and agrees the most different and discordant Natures must needs be Unity it self 2. In the second place I find Love to be a most perfect and absolute Liberty Nothing can move Love but Love nothing touch Love but Love nor nothing constrain Love but Love It is free from all things it self only gives Laws to it self and those Laws are
ordering and governing of it And also the Holy Trinity's introducing of themselves into Eternal Nature The wide space within the Circle type's forth the Chaos or the Abyssal nothing the ground of all Essences and yet no Essence to be seen in it Now because I have in the foregoing discourse oft made mention of the word Principle without having any where declar'd what I meant by it I think it proper in this place to give you the signification of it according to the sense in which I take it And in the first place I shall tell you negatively in what sense it is not in this place taken by me By the word Principle I do not understand the first constitutive beginnings of things whereof they consist and from whence they take their Being in the same sense in which the four Elements by some and Salt Sulphur and Mercury by others are called the Principles of all things But by a Principle I mean an Original Source and Fountain-Essence formed by an Agent into a Sphaerical Circumference by which it is distinguished from all others 1. To explain this definition a little I say in the first place that a Principle is an Original and Fountain-Essence for it is not every Essence doth make a Principle but such an one only as is th● fruitful Mother of all the Essences conteined within its own Circumference and Kingdom and affords them being and sustenance from its own Bowels 2. In the second place it is said to be formed by an Agent becaus a Principle of it self is Passive considered without the Active Spirit in the Center which is the Mover of it 3. In the third place you have the form and figure of a Principle a Sphaerical Circumference which is the common form of all Principles 4. In the last place you have the end why a Principle is formed into a Sphaerical enclosure viz. that thereby it might be distinguished from all other Principles Worlds and Centers for all these are the same with me in this place and therefore many times one of these is put for the other Having thus given you the Definition of a Principle in general I shall now subjoyn the particular definition of Eternal Nature in these words Eternal Nature is a Principle created by God out of the Abyssal Chaos containing the seven operative powers for the production of all things The Genus or general Notion of this definition is the word Principle which but just now we have explained to you The difference of this definition contains the four Causes of Eternal Nature viz. the efficient material formal and final The efficient Cause which is God is expressed in these words of the definition created by God The material which is the Abyssal Chaos is expressed in these words out of the Abyssal Chaos The formal Cause are the seven operative Powers which the definition tells you that Eternal Nature doth contain The final Cause of Eternal Nature is that it might be the fruitful Mother of all things which the definition expresseth in these words for the production of all things What Eternal Nature is The Third Head Which makes the third Part of this Discourse What Eternal Nature is I. THE subject of this Part is concerning Eternal Nature's Essence it is a most noble Subject to look into I acknowledge that none could lay a deeper ground as to this Subject than divine Behme hath done yet I find withal that he hath brought it forth something obscurely so that he is understood by few and misunderstood by most This hath moved me to search into the Nature of this Subject for my own private satisfaction according to the innate light of my own intellect and the inward discoveries of the Triune Deity to the Spirit of my Soul In this Third Part I shall confine my discourse to these two general Heads The First What Eternal Nature is in its first original purity The Second What kind of Essence or Principle pure Eternal Nature is I begin with the first of these II. Quest. What is Eternal Nature's Essence in its first original birth and being as it came out of Wisdom's hand Answ. Eternal Nature was a pure Essence and then called pure Nature being free from sin and evil and all mixture of imperfection she was then all fair clear spotless faultless and sinless Now for the manifestation of this great mystery of Eternal Nature what it is I will open it in the original Causes of it viz. the efficient material formal and final III. Concerning the efficient Cause of Eternal Nature Who can be the Author and Creator of Eternal Nature but the Triune Deity The Father Son and Spirit must be the Creator of Eternal Nature not the Father without the Son and Spirit nor the Son without the Father and Spirit nor the Spirit without the Father and Son but the Triune Deity in joynt Co-operation Therefore the Triune Deity in the Globe of Eternity subsisting in their own pure Deity must be before Eternal Nature by way of efficiency as the Cause is before the Effect and are distinct as the Cause and Effect God therefore is not Eternal Nature nor Eternal Nature God because Eternal Nature is formed by God as the efficient And thus we see that God can subsist without nature but Eternal Nature's Essence cannot subsist without the Triune Deity God comprehends Eternal Nature but Eternal Nature cannot comprehend him who as being the efficient cause of Eternal Nature is higher essenced in his own Eternal Vnity and Simplicity Now that God is the Creator of Eternal Nature Scripture teacheth us when it tells us That by the Word all things were created and that without him nothing was made that was made Now if the Triune Deity was the Creator of Eternal Nature he must needs in order of Nat●re be before it and distinct from it and subsist in a far higher graduated Essence than Eternal Natu●●'s Essence is For if any should ask me what is above before and beyond Eternal Nature's Essence I can only reply the Triune Deity in the Globe of Eternity who is the efficient Cause of Eternal Nature and here we must st●p for we cannot go beyond the first Cause of all things IV. We proceed to sp●●k of the efficient Cause of Eternal Nature which is God and will briefly declare how God doth not only create Eternal Nature by way of efficiency but also that he creates it out of and from himself by way of Essentiality Thus the Divine Philosophy instructs us Rom. 8. 36. Of him and from him and to him are all things That is all things proceed essentially from him and if all then Eternal Nature must proceed materially and essentially out of God's Essence 1 Cor. 8. 6. To us there is but one God by whom are all things efficiently and of whom are all things essentially Neither can it be otherwise for when God was to create Eternal Nature there was nothing besides Himself out of or from