had joyes multiplyed upon the whole man beyond all expression and imagination for ever he now sunk more and more towards a mortal and terrestrial estate himself not being unsensible thereof as you shall hear when I have told you the doom of the Eternal God concerning the Serpent and him 14 Things therefore having been carried on in this wise the Eternal Lord God decreed thus with himself concerning the Serpent and Adam That this old Serpent the Prince of the rebellious Angels should be more accursed then all the rest and whereas he lorded it aloft in the higher parts of the Air and could glide in the very Ethereal Region amongst the innocent and unflan souls of men and the good Angels before that he should now sweep the dust with his belly being cast lower towards the surface of the Earth 15 And that there should be a general enmity and abhorrency betwixt this old Serpent as also all of his fellow-rebels and betwixt Mankinde And that in processe of time the ever faithful and obedient Soul of the Messias should take a Body and should trample over the power of the Devil very notoriously here upon Earth and after his death should be constituted Prince of all the Angelical Orders whatever in Heaven 16 And concerning Adam the Eternal Lord God decreed that he should descend down to be an Inhabitant of the Earth and that he should not there indulge to himself the pleasures of the body without the concomitants of pain and sorrow and that his Feminine part his Affections should be under the chastisement and correction of his Reason 17 That he should have a wearisome and toilsome travail in this world 18 The Earth bringing forth thorns and thistles though he must subsist by the Corn of the field 19 Wherefore in the sweat of his browes he should eat his bread till he returned unto the ground of which his terrestrial body is made This was the Counsel of God concerning Adam and the Serpent 20 Now as I was a telling you Adam though he was sinking apace into those lower functions of life yet his minde was not as yet grown so fully stupid but he had the knowledge of his own condition and added to all his former Apologies that the Feminine part in him though it had seduced him yet there was some use of this mis-carriage for the Earth would hence be inhabited by Intellectual Animals wherefore he call'd the Life of his Vehicle EVE because she is indeed the Mother of all the generations of men that live upon the Earth 21 At last the Plastick Power being fully awakened Adams Soul descended into the prepared matter of the Earth and in due processe of time Adam appear'd cloth'd in the skin of beasts that is he became a down-right terrestrial Animal and a mortal creature upon earth 22 For the Eternal God had so decreed and his Wisdome Mercy and Justice did but if I may so speak play and sport together in the businesse And the rather because Adam had but precipitated himself into that condition which in due time might have faln to his share by course for it is fitting there should be some such head among the living creatures of the earth as a terrestrial Adam but to live always here were his disadvantage 23 Wherefore when God remov'd him from that higher condition 24 He made sure he should not be Immortal nor is he in any capacity of reaching unto the Tree of Life without passing through his fiery Vehicle and becoming a pure and defecate Ethereal Spirit Then he may be admitted to taste the fruit of the Tree of Life and Immortality and so live for ever THE MORAL CABBALA CHAP. I. 1 Man a Microcosme or Little World in whom there are two Principles Spirit and Flesh 2 The Earthly or Fleshly Nature appears first 4 The Light of Conscience unlistned to 6 The Spirit of Savory and Affectionate discernment betwixt good and evil 10 The inordinate desires of the flesh driven aside and limited 11 Hereupon the plants of Righteousnesse bear fruit and flourish 16 The hearty and sincere Love of God and a mans neighbour is as the Sun in the Soul of man Notionality and Opinions the weak and faint Light of the dispersed Stars 18 Those that walk in sincere Love walk in the Day They that are guided by Notionality travel in the Night 22 The Natural Concupiscible brings forth by the command of God and is corrected by devotion 24 The Irascible also brings forth 26 Christ the Image of God is created being a perfect Ruler over all the motions of the Irascible and Concupiscible 29 The food of the divine Life 30 The food of the Animal Life 31 The divine Wisdome approves of whatsoever is simply natural as good 1 WEE shall set before you in this History of Genesis several eminent examples of good and perfect men such as Abel Seth Enoch Abraham and the like Wherefore we thought fit though Aenigmatically and in a dark Parable to shadow out in general the manner of progresse to this divine Perfection Looking upon Man as a Microcosm or a Little World who if he hold out the whole progresse of the Spiritual Creation the processe thereof will be figuratively understood as follows Wherefore first of all I say that by the will of God every man living on the face of the Earth hath these two Principles in him Heaven and Earth Divinity and Animality Spirit and Flesh 2 But that which is Animal or Natural operates first the Spiritual or heavenly Life lying for a while closed up at rest in its own Principle During which time and indeed some while afterwards too the Animal or Fleshly Life domineers in darknesse and deformity the mighty tempestuous Passions of the flesh contending and strugling over that Abysse of unsatiable Desire which has no bottome and which in this case carries the minde to nothing but emptinesse and unprofitablenesse 3 But by the will of God it is that afterwards the Day-light appears though not in so vigorous measure out of the Heavenly or Spiritual Principle 4 And Conscience being thus enlightned offers her self a guide to a better condition and God has fram'd the nature of man so that he cannot but say that this Light is good and distinguish betwixt the dark tumultuous motions of the Flesh and it 5 And say that there is as true a difference as betwixt the natural Day and Night And thus Ignorance and Enquiry was the first days progresse 6 But though there be this principle of Light set up in the Conscience of Man and he cannot say any thing against it but that it is good and true yet has he not presently so lively and savoury a relish in his distinction betwixt the evil and the good For the evil as yet wholly holds his Affections though his Fancy and Reason be toucht a little with the Theoretical apprehensions of what is good wherefore by the will of God the heavenly Principle in due
no contemptible arguments for it For first Jerem. 2. 18. Sihor is a River of Aegypt which is not questioned to be any other then Nilus and its Etymon seems to bewray the truth of it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denigrari from the muddy blacknesse of the River And Nilus is notorious for this quality and therefore has its denomination thence in the Greek quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acording to which is that of Dionysius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is For there 's no River can compare with Nile For casting mud and fattening the soile But now to recite the very words of the Prophet What hast thou to do with the way of Egypt to drink the waters of Sihor the Latine has it ut bibas aquam turbidam This is Nilu◠But the Seventy translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To drink the water of Gihon which is the name of this very River of Paradise And the Abyssines also even to this day call Nilus by the name of Guion Adde unto this that Gihon runs in Aethiopia so does Nilus and is Siris as it runs through Aethiopia which is from Sihor it is likely and then the Greek termination makes it Sioris after by contraction Siris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is The Aethiopian him Siris calls Syene Nilus when by her he crawls As the same Author writes in his Geographical Poems And that Pison is Ganges has also its probabilities Ganges being in India a Countrey famous for Gold and precious Stones Besides the notation of the name agrees with the nature of the River Pison being from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multiplicare And there is no lesse a number then Ten and those great Rivers that exonerate themselves into Ganges as there must be a conflux of multifarious experience to fill up and compleat that virtue of Wisdome or Prudence So that we shall see that the four Rivers of Paradise have got such names as are most advantageous and favourable to the mysterious sense of the story Wherefore regardlesse here of all Geographical scrupulosities we will say that Gihon is Nilus or Siris the River of the Aethiopians that is of the Just and the virtue is here determinately set off from the subject wherein it doth reside For by the fame of the Justice and Innocency of the Aethiopians we are assured which of the Cardinal Virtues is meant by Gihon And the ancient fame of their honesty and uprightnesse was such that Homer has made it their Epithet calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The blamelesse Aethiopians adding further that Jupiter used to banquet with them he being so much taken with the integrity of their conversation And Dionysius calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The divine or Deiforme Aethiopians and they were so styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by reason of their Justice as Eustathius comments upon the place Herodotus also speaking of them says they are very goodly men and much civilized and of a very long life which is the reward of Righteousnesse So that by the place where Gihon runs it is plainly signified to us what Cardinal Virtue is to be understood thereby Notation of the name thereof The name Gihon as you have seen fairly incites us to acknowledge it a River of Aethiopia The notation thereof does very sutably agree with the nature of Justice for it is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 erumpere And Justice is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bonum alienum as the Philosopher notes not confined within a mans self but breaks out rather upon others bestowing upon every one what is their due Ver. 14. Is Hiddekell The word is compounded says Vatablus from two words that signifie velox rapidum and this virtue like a swift and rapid stream bears down all before it as you have it in the Cabbala And stoutly resists Philo uses here the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to resist which he takes occasion from the Seventies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he interprets against the Assyrians The Hebrew has it Eastward of Assyria and therefore Assyria is situated Westward of it Now the West is that quarter of the world where the Sun bidding us adieu leaves us to darkness whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the West wind in Eustathius has its name from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wind that blows from the dark Quarter Assyria therefore is that false state of seeming happiness and power of wickednesse which is called the kingdome of darknesse And this is the most noble object of Fortitude to destroy the power of this kingdome within our selves Perath From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fructificavit Ver. 17. In processe of time c. This is according to the minde of the Pythagoreans and Origen And that Pythagoras had the favour of having the Mosaical Cabbala communicated to him by some knowing Priest of the Jewes or some holy man or other I think I have continuedly in the former Chapter made it exceeding probable The Region of mortality and death Nothing is more frequent with the Platonists then the calling of the body a Sepulchre and this life we live here upon Earth either sleep or death Which expressions are so sutable with this Cabbala and the Cabbala with the Text of Moses that mentions the death and sleep of Adam that it is a shrewd presumption that these Phrases and Notions came first from thence And Philo acknowledges that Heraclitus that mysterious and abstruse Philosopher whom Porphyrius also has cited to the same purpose in his De antro Nympharum has even hit upon the very meaning that Moses intends in this death of Adam in that famous saying of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We live their death to wit of the souls out of the body but we are dead to their life And Euripides that friend of Socrates and fellow-traveller of Plato's in his Tragedies speaks much to the same purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who knows whether to live be not to die and to die to live So that the Philosophick sense concerning Adams death must be this that he shall be dead to the Aethereal life he lived before while he is restrained to the Terrestrial and that when as he might have lived for ever in the Aethereal Life he shall in a shorter time assuredly die to the Terrestrial That the sons of men cannot escape either the certainty or speed of death Ver. 18. Both good for himself c. For the words of the Text doe not confine it to Adams conveniency alone but speaks at large without any restraint in this present verse Wherefore there being a double convenience it was more explicite to mention both in the Cabbala Ver. 19. Fallen and unfallen Angels The fallen Angels are here assimilated to the Beasts of the Field the unfallen to the Fowls of the Air. How fitly the fallen Spirits are reckoned amongst the Beasts
of Euphrates Pison Phasis or Phasi-tigris That the Madianites are called Aethiopians That Paradise was seated about Mesopotamia argued by six Reasons That it was more particularly seated where now Apamia stands in Ptolemee's Maps 18 The Prudence of Moses in the commendation of Matrimony 19 Why Adam is not recorded to have given names to the Fishes 24 Abraham Ben Ezra's conceit of the names of Adam and Eve as they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 25 Moses his wise Anthypophora concerning the natural shame of nakednesse 124 CHAP. III. 1 How much it saves the credit of our first Parents that the Serpent was found the prime Author of the Transgression That according to S. Basil all the living creatures of Paradise could speak undeniable reasons that the Serpent could according to the Literal Cabbala 9 The opinion of the Anthropomorphites true according to the Literal Cabbala 14 That the Serpent went upright before the fall was the opinion of S. Basil 16 A story of the easie delivery of a certain poor woman of Liguria 19 That the general calamities that lie upon mankinde came by the transgression of a positive Law how well accommodate it is to the scope of Moses 23 That Paradise was not the whole Earth 24 The Apparitions in Paradise called by Theodoret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 130 THE DEFENCE OF THE PHILOSOPHICK CABBALA CHAP. I. 1 Why Heaven and Light are both made Symbols of the same thing viz. The World of Life That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intimate a Trinity That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a title of the Eternal Wisdome the Son of God who is called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well in Philo as the New Testament That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the holy Ghost 2 The fit agreement of Plato's Triad with the Trinity of the present Cabbala 5 The Pythagorick names or nature of a Monad or Unite applyed to the first days work 6 What are the upper waters and that Souls that descend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the Naides or water Nymphes in Porphyrius 8 That Matter of it self is unmoveable R. Bechai his notation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very happily explained out of Des Cartes his Philosophy That Vniversal Matter is the second days Creation fully made good by the names and property of the number Two 13 The nature of the third days work set off by the number Three 16 That the most learned do agree that the Creation was perfected at once The notation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strangely agreeing with the most notorious conclusions of the Cartesian Philosophy 19 That the Corporeal world was universally erected into Form and Motion on the fourth day is most notably confirmed by the titles and propertie of the number Four The true meanning of the Pythagorick oath wherein they swore by him that taught them the mysterie of the Tetractys That the Tetractys was a Symbole of the whole Philosophick Cabbala that lay couched under the Text of Moses 20 Why Fish and Fowl created in the same day 23 Why living creatures were said to be made in the Fift and Sixt days 31 And why the whole Creation was comprehended within the number Six 135 136 CHAP. II. 3 The number Seven a fit Symbole of the Sabbath or Rest of God 7 Of Adams rising out of the ground as other creatures did 11 That Pison is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and denotes Prudence The mystical meaning of Havilah 13 That Gihon is the same that Nilus Sihor or Siris and that Pison is Ganges The Justice of the Aethiopians That Gihon is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and denotes that virtue 14 As Hiddekel Fortitude 17 That those expressions of the Souls sleep and death in the Body so frequent amongst the Platonists were borrowed from the Mosaical Cabbala 19 Fallen Angels assimilated to the beasts of the field The meaning of those Platonical phrases 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the like That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Platonisme is the same that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Moses that signifies Angels as well as God 22 That there are three principles in Man according to Plato's School 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that this last is Eve CHAP. III. 1 The Serpent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Pherecydes Syrus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 names of Spirits haunting Fields and and desolate places The right Notation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 13 That Satan upon his tempting Adam was cast down lower towards the Earth with all his Accomplices 15 Plato's Prophecie of Christ The reasonablenesse of divine Providence in exalting Christ above the highest Angels 20 That Adams descension into his Terrestrial Body was a kind of death 22 How incongruous it is to the divine Goodnesse Sarcastically to insult over frail Man fallen into Tragical misery 24 That it is a great mercy of God that we are not immortal upon Earth That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are all one A Summary representation of the strength of the whole Philosophick Cabbala Pythagoras deemed the son of Apollo That he was acquainted with the Cabbala of Moses That he did miracles As also Abaris Empedocles and Epimenides being instructed by him Plato also deemed the son of Apollo Socrates his dream concerning him That he was learned in the Mosaical Cabbala The miraculous power of Plotinus his Soul Cartesius compared with Bezaliel and Aholiab and whether he was inspired or no. The Cabbalists Apology 172 THE DEFENCE OF THE MORAL CABBALA CHAP. I. What is meant by Moral explained out of Philo. 3 That the Light in the first day improv'd to the height is Adam in the sixt Christ according to the Spirit 4 In what sense we our selves may be said to do what God does in us 5 Why 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are rendred Ignorance and Inquiry 18 Plato's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Pythagoreans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 applyed to the Fourth days progresse 22 That Virtue is not an extirpation but regulation of the Passions according to the minde of the Pythagoreans 24 Plotinus his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 applyed to the Sixt days progresse 26 What the Image of God is plainly set down out of S. Paul and Plato The divine Principle in us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of Plotinus 28 The distinction of the Heavenly and Earthly Man out of Philo. 31 The Imposture of still and fixed Melancholy and that it is not the true divine Rest and precious Sabbath of the Soul A compendious rehearsal of the whole Allegory of the Six days Creation p. 194 CHAP. II. The full sense of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that keeps men from entring into the true Sabbath 4 The great necessity of distinguishing the innocent motions of Nature from the suggestions of Sin 5 That the growth of a true Christian indeed doth not adaequately depend upon the lips of the Priest 7 The meaning of This is he that comes by Water and Blood 8 The meaning of Repent for the Kingdome of Heaven is at hand The seventh thousand years the great Sabbatism of the Church of God That there will be then frequent converse betwixt Men and Angels 9 The Tree of Life how fitly in the Mystical sense said to be in the midst of the Garden 17 A twofold death contracted by Adams disobedience The Masculine and Feminine Faculties in Man what they are Actuating a Body an Essential operation of the Soul and the reason of that so joyful appearance of Eve to the Humane Nature 209 210 CHAP. III. A story of a dispute betwixt a Prelate and a Black-Smith concerning Adams eating of the Apple 1 What is meant by the subtilty or deceit of the Serpent That Religion wrought to its due height is a very chearful state And it is only the halting and hypocrisie of men that generally have put so soure and sad a vizard upon it 5 6 That worldly Wisdome not Philosophy is perstringed in the Mysterie of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil 10 The meaning of Adams flying after he had found himself naked 20 Adam the Earthly-minded Man according to Philo. 21 What is meant by Gods clothing Adam and Eve with hairy Coats in the Mystical sense 23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Paradise of Luxury That History in Scripture is wrote very concisely and therefore admits of modest and judicious Supplements for clearing the sense 24 What is meant by the Cherubim and flaming Sword Plato's definition of Philosophy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A more large description of dying to Sinne and of the life of righteousness That Christian Religion even as it referres to the external Person of Christ is upon no pretence to be annull'd till the Conflagration of the world 224 ERRATA PAg. 39. lin 24. read sacred p. 79 l. 19. r. Sensus p. 87. l. 14. r. wilde p. 126. l. 26. r. goodly p. 204. l. 35. r. run p. 230. l. 34. r. generous FINIS
of the Field you shall understand more fully in the following Chapter In the mean time you may take notice that the Platonists indeed Plato himself in his Phaedrus makes the Soul of Man before it falls into this Terrestrial Region a winged Creature And that such phrases as these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the like are proper expressions of that School And Plato does very plainly define what he means by these wings of the soul and there is the same reason of all other spirits whatsoever after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the nature of the wing of the soul is such as to be able to carry upward that which otherwise would slugge downwards and to bear it aloft and place it there where we may have more sensible communion with God and his holy Angels For so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the plural number is most sutably translated in such passages as these and most congruously to the thing it self and the truth of Christianity And it may well seem the lesse strange that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should signifie Angels in the Greek Philosophers especially such as have been acquainted with Moses when as with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies so too viz. Angels as well as God Wherefore to conclude the losse of that Principle that keeps us in this divine condition is the losing of our wings which fallen Angels have done and therefore they may be very well assimilated to Terrestrial Beasts Ver. 20. A faculty of being united c. This vital aptitude in the soul of being united with corporeal Matter being so essential to her and proper the invigorating the exercise of that faculty cannot but be very grateful and acceptable to her and a very considerable share of her happinesse Else what means the Resurrection of the dead or Bodies in the other world which yet is an Article of the Christian Faith Ver. 22. This new sense of his Vehicle There be three Principles in Man according to the Platonists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first is Intellect Spirit or divine Light the second the Soul her self which is Adam the Man Animus cujusque is est quisque the Soul of every man that is the Man the third is the image of the Soul which is her vital Energie upon the Body wherewith she does enliven it and if that life be in good tune and due vigour it is a very grateful sense to the soul whether in this Body or in a more thin Vehicle This Ficinus makes our Eve This is the Feminine Faculty in the Soul of Man which awakes then easiliest into act when the Soul to Intellectuals falls asleep Ver. 24. Over-tedious aspires 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a solemn monition of Aristotle somewhere in his Ethicks And it is a great point of wisdome indeed and mainly necessary to know the true laws and bounds of humane happinesse that the heat of melancholy drive not men up beyond what is competible to humane nature and the reach of all the faculties thereof Nor the too savoury relish of the pleasures of the flesh or Animal Life keep them down many thousand degrees below what they are capable of But the man that truly fears God will be delivered from them both What I have spoken is directed more properly to the soul in the flesh but may Analogically be understood of a soul in any Vehicle for they are peccable in them all Ver. 25. Stood naked before God Adam was as truly clothed in Corporeity now as ever after for the Aether is as true a body as the Earth But the meaning is Adam had a sense of the divine Presence very feelingly assured in his own minde that his whole Beeing lay naked and bare before God and that nothing could be hid from his sight which pierced also to the very thoughts and inward frame of his spirit But yet though Adam stood thus naked before him notwithstanding he found no want of any covering to hide himself from that presentifick sense of him nor indeed felt himself as naked in that notion of nakednesse For that sense of nakednesse and want of further covering and sheltring from the divine Presence arose from his disobedience and rebellion against the commands of God which as yet he had not faln into Not at all ashamed Shame is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fear of just reprehension as Gellius out of the Philosophers defines it But Adam having not acted any thing yet at randome after the swing of his own will he had done nothing that the divine Light would reprehend him for He had not yet become obnoxious to any sentence from his own condemning Conscience for he kept himself hitherto within the bounds of that divine Law written in his soul and had attempted nothing against the Will of God So that there being no sin there could not as yet be any shame in Adam CHAP. III. 1 The Serpent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Pherecydes Syrus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 names of Spirits haunting Fields and desolate places The right Notation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 13 That Satan upon his tempting Adam was cast down lower towards the Earth with all his Accomplices 15 Plato's Prophecie of Christ The reasonablenesse of divine Providence in exalting Christ above the highest Angels 20 That Adams descension into his Terrestrial Body was a kind of death 22 How incongruous it is to the divine Goodnesse Sarcastically to insult over frait Man fallen into Tragical misery 24 That it is a great mercy of God that we are not immortal upon Earth That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are all one A Summary representation of the strength of the whole Philosophick Cabbala Pythagoras deemed the son of Apollo That he was acquainted with the Cabbala of Moses That he did miracles as also Abaris Empedocles and Epimenides being instructed by him Plato also deemed the son of Apollo Socrates his dream concerning him That he was learned in the Mosaical Cabbala The miraculous power of Plotinus his Soul Cartesius compared with Bezaliel and Aholiab and whether he was inspired or no. The Cabbalists Apology THE first verse This old Serpent therefore In Pherecydes Syrus Pythagoras his Master there is mention of one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Princeps mali as Grotius cites him on this place which is a further argument of Pythagoras his being acquainted with this Mosaical Philosophy And that according to the Philosophick Cabbala it was an evil spirit not a natural Serpent that supplanted Adam and brought such mischief upon mankind The Beasts of the Field But now that these evil spirits should be reckoned as beasts of the field besides what reason is given in the Cabbala it self we may adde further that the haunt of these unclean spirits is in solitudes and waste fields and desolate places as is evident in the Prophet Esay his description of the
and sincerity and if the divine Light had wrought it self into a more full and universal possession of all his faculties the regulated joyes of the body which had been the off-spring of the woman had so far exceeded the tumultuous pleasures of inordinate desires that they would like the Sun-beams playing upon a fire extinguish the heat thereof as is already said in this fifteenth verse Ver. 16. So that the kindly Joy of the health of the body shall be much depraved The divine Light in the Conscience of Adam might very well say all this he having had already a good taste of it in all likelihood having found himself after inordinate satiating his furious desires of pleasure in a dull languid nauseating condition though new recruits spurred him up to new follies For the Moral Cabbala does not suppose it was one single mistaken act that brought Adam to this confusion of minde but disobedience at large and leading a life unguided by the Light and Law of God Earthly minded Adam Philo calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the earthly minde pag. 332. Ver. 17 18 19. Adams Conscience was so awakened by the divine Light and Reason and Experience so instructed him for the present that he could easily read his own doom if he persisted in these courses of disobedience that he should be prick'd and vex'd in his wilde rangings after inordinate pleasure all the while the Earthly mind was his light guide But after all this conviction what way Adam would settle in did not God visit him with an higher pitch of superadvenient grace that would conveigh Faith Power and Affection unto him you see in the verse immediately following Ver. 20. Adam was not sufficiently For meer conviction of Light disjoin'd from Faith Power and Affection may indeed disturb the minde and confound it but is not able of it self to compose it and settle it to good in men that have contracted a custome of evil Called her My life So soon as this reproof and castigation of the divine Light manifested in Adams Conscience was over he forthwith falls into the same sense of things and pursues the same resolutions that he had in designe before and very feelingly concludes with himself that be that as true as it will that his Conscience dictated unto him yet nothing can be more true then this That the Joy of his body was a necessary solace of life and therefore he would set up his happiness in the improvement thereof And so adhering in his affection to it counted it his very life and that there was no living at all without it They are almost the words of Philo speaking of the sense of the body in which was this corporeal Joy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. which corporeal sense the earthly minde in man properly therefore called Adam when he saw efformed though it was really the death of the man yet he called it his life This is Philo's Exposition of this present verse Ver. 21. Put hairy Coats The Philosophick Cabbala and the Text have a marvellous fit and easie congruency in this place And this Moral sense will not seem hard if you consider such phrases as these in Scripture But as for his enemies let them be clothed with shame and elsewhere Let them be clothed with rebuke and dishonour besides other places to that purpose And to clothe men according to their conditions and quality what is more ordinary or more fit and natural As those that are fools they ordinarily clothe them in a fools coat And so Adams will and affection being carried so resolvedly to the brutish life it is not incongruous to conceive that the divine Light judging them very Brutes the reproach she gives them is set out in this passage of clothing them with the skins of beasts The meaning therefore of this verse is that the divine Light in the Conscience of Adam had another bout with him and that Adam was convinced that he should grow a kinde of a Brute by the courses he meant to follow And indeed he was content so to be as a man may well conceive the pleasure of sin having so weakned all the powers of that higher life in him that there was little or nothing especially for the present able to carry him at all upwards towards Heaven and holiness And of a truth vile Epicurisme and Sensuality will make the soul of man so degenerate and blinde that he will not only be content to slide into brutish immorality but please himself in this very opinion that he is a real Brute already an Ape Satyre or Baboon and that the best of men are no better saving that civilizing of them and industrious education has made them appear in a more refined shape and long inculcate Precepts have been mistaken for connate Principles of Honesty and Natural Knowledge otherwise there be no indispensable grounds of Religion and Virtue but what has hapned to be taken up by over-ruling Custome Which things I dare say are as easily confutable as any conclusion in Mathematicks is demonstrable But as many as are thus sottish let them enjoy their own wildeness and ignorance it is sufficient for a good man that he is conscious unto himself that he is more nobly descended better bred and born and more skilfully taught by the purged faculties of his own minde Ver. 22. Design'd the contrary The mercy of the Almighty is such to poor man that his weak and dark spirit cannot be always so resolvedly wicked as he is contented to be wherefore it is a fond surmise of desperate men that do all the violence they can to the remainders of that Light and Principle of Religion and honesty left in them hoping thereby to come to rest and tranquillity of minde by laying dead or quite obliterating all the rules of godliness morality out of their souls For it is not in their power so to do nor have they any reason to promise themselves they are hereby secure from the pangs of Conscience For some passages of Providence or other may so awaken them that they shall be forced to acknowledg their errour and rebellion with unexpressible bitterness and confusion of spirit And the longer they have run wrong the more tedious journey they have to return back Wherefore it is more safe to close with that life betime that when it is attained to neither deserves nor is obnoxious to any change or death I mean when we have arrived to the due measure of it For this is the natural accomplishment of the soul all else but rust and dirt that lies upon it Ver. 23. Out of this Paradise of Luxury The English Translation takes no notice of any more Paradises then one calling it always the Garden of Eden But the Seventy more favourable to our Moral Cabbala that which they call a Garden in Eden at first they after name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may signifie the Garden of Luxury But whether there be any
nakedness came into the world but the toil and drudgery of Tillage and Husbandry the grievous pangs of Childe-bearing and lastly what is most terrible of all Death it self Of all which as of some other things also I shall give you such plain and intelligible reasons that your own hearts could not wish more plain and more intelligible To what an happy condition Adam was created you have already heard How he was placed by God in a Garden of delight where all his senses were gratified with the most pleasing objects imaginable his eyes with the beautie of trees and flowers and various delightsome forms of living creatures his ears with the sweet musical accents of the canorous birds his smell with the fragrant odours of Aromatick herbs his taste with variety of delicious fruit and his touch with the soft breathings of the air in the flowry alleys of this ever-springing Paradise Adde unto all this that pleasure of pleasures the delectable conversation of his beautiful Bride the enjoyments of whose love neither created care to himself nor pangs of childe-bearing to her for all the functions of life were performed with ease and delight and there had been no need for man to sweat for the provision of his family for in this Garden of Eden there was a perpetual Spring and the vigour of the soil prevented mans industry and youth and jollity had never left the bodies of Adam and his posterity because old age and death were perpetually to be kept off by that soveraign virtue of the Tree of Life And I know as you heartily could wish this state might have ever continued to Adam and his seed so you eagerly expect to hear the reason why he was depriv'd of it and in short it is this His disobedience to a commandement which God had given him the circumstances whereof I shall declare unto you as followeth Amongst those several living creatures which were in Paradise there was the Serpent also whom you know to this very day to be full of subtilty therefore you will lesse wonder if when he was in his perfection he had not onely the use of Reason but the power of Speech It was therefore this Serpent that was the first occasion of all this mischief to Adam and his posterity for he cunningly came unto the woman and said unto her Is it so indeed that God has commanded you that you shall not eat of any of the trees of the Garden 2 And the woman answered unto the Serpent You are mistaken God hath not forbid us to eat of all the fruit of the trees of the Garden 3 But indeed of the fruit of the Tree in the midst of the Garden God hath strictly charged us Ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it lest ye die 4 But the Serpent said unto the woman Tush I warrant you this is only but to terrifie you and abridge you of that liberty and happinesse you are capable of you shall not so certainly die 5 But God knows the virtue of that tree full well that so soon as you eat thereof your eyes shall be opened and you shall become as Gods knowing good and evil 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eye and a tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit and did eat and gave also to her husband with her and he did eat 7 And the eyes of them both were opened and they knew they were naked and were ashamed and therefore they sewed fig-leaves together and made themselves aprons to cover their parts of shame 8 And the Lord God came into the Garden toward the cool of the evening and walking in the Garden call'd for Adam But Adam had no sooner heard his voice but he and his wife ran away into the thickest of the trees of the Garden to hide themselves from his presence 9 But the Lord God called unto Adam the second time and said unto him Adam where art thou 10 Then Adam was forc't to make answer and said I heard thy voice in the Garden and I was afraid because I was naked and so I hid my self 11 Then God said unto him Who hath made thee so wise that thou shouldst know that thou art naked or wantest any covering Hast thou eaten of the forbidden fruit 12 And Adam excus'd himself saying The woman whom thou recommendedst to me for a meet help she gave me of the fruit and I did eat 13 And the Lord God said unto the woman What is this that thou hast done And the woman excus'd her self saying The Serpent beguiled me and I did eat 14 Then the Lord God gave sentence upon all three and to the Serpent he said Because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattel and above every beast of the field and whereas hitherto thou hast been able to bear thy body aloft and go upright thou shalt henceforth creep upon thy belly like a worm and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life 15 And there shall be a perpetual antipathy betwixt not only the woman and thee but betwixt her seed and thy seed For universal mankind shall abhorre thee and hate all the cursed generations that come of thee They indeed shall busily lie in wait to sting mens feet which their skill in herbs however shall be able to cure but they shall knock all Serpents on the head and kill them without pity or remorse deservedly using thy seed as their deadly enemy 16 And the doom of the woman was Her sorrow and pangs in childe-bearing and her subjection to her husband Which law of subjection is generally observed in the Nations of the world unto this very day 17 And the doom of Adam was The toil of Husbandry upon barren ground 18 For the earth was cursed for his sake which is the reason that it brings forth thorns and thistles and other weeds that Husbandmen could wish would not cumber the ground upon which they bestow their toilsome labor 19 Thus in the sweat of his face was Adam to eat his bread till he return to the dust out of which he was taken 20 And Adam called his wife Eve because she was the mother of all men that ever were born into the world and lived upon the face of the earth 21 And the generations of men were clothed at first with the skins of wilde beasts the use of which God taught Adam and Eve in Paradise 22 And when they were thus accoutred for their journey and armed for greater hardship God turns them both out and the Lord God said concerning Adam deriding him for his disobedience Behold Adam is become as one of us to know good and evil Let us look to him now lest he put his hand to the Tree of Life and so make himself immortal 23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence
Matter Castellio translates it Liquidum and this universal Matter is most what fluid still all over the world but at first it was fluid universally Betwixt the aforesaid fluid Possibility c. But here it may be you 'll enquire how this Corporeal Matter shall be conceived to be betwixt the waters above and these underneath For what can be the waters above Maimonides requires no such continued Analogy in the hidden sense of Scripture as you may see in his Preface to his Moreh Nevochim But I need not fly to that general refuge For me thinks that the Seminal Forms that descend through the Matter and so reach the Possibility of the parts of the outward Creation and make them spring up into act are not unlike the drops of rain that descend through the Heaven or Air and make the Earth fruitful Besides the Seminal Forms of things lie round as I may so speak and contracted at first but spread when they bring any part of the Possibility of the outward Creation into act as drops of rain spread when they are fallen to the ground So that the Analogy is palpable enough though it may seem too elaborate and curious We may adde to all this concerning the Naides or Water Nymphs that the Ancients understood by them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All manner of Souls that descend into the Matter and Generation Wherefore the watry Powers as Porphyrius also calls these Nymphs it is not at all harsh to conceive that they may be here indigitated by the name of the Vpper waters See Porphyrius in his De Antro Nympharum Ver. 7. What mischief straying Souls The frequent complaints that that noble Spirit in Pythagoreans and Platonists makes against the incumbrances and disadvantages of the Body makes this Cabbala very probable And it is something like our Divines fancying Hell to be created this day Ver. 8. Actuated and agitated This is consonant to Plato's School who makes the Matter unmovable of it self which is most reasonable For if it were of its own nature movable nothing for a moment would hold together but dissolve it self into infinitely little Particles whence it is manifest that there must be something besides the Matter either to binde it or to move it So that the Creation of Immaterial Beeings is in that respect also necessary Rightly called Heaven I mean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For this agitation of the Matter brought it to Des Cartes his second Principle which is the true Aether or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For it is liquid as water and yet has in it the fierce Principle of Fire which is the first Element and most subtile of all The thing is at first sight understood by Cartesians who will easily admit of that Notation of the Rabbines in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as being from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fire and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Water For so R. Bechai The Heavens sayes he were created from the beginning and are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fire and Water which no Philosophy makes good so well as the Cartesian For the round particles like water though they be not of the same Figure flake the fierceness of the first Principle which is the purest Fire And yet this Fire in some measure alway lies within the Triangular Intervals of the round Particles as that Philosophy declares at large And the Binary How fitly again doth the number agree with the nature of the work of this day which is the Creation of Corporeal Matter And the Pythagoreans call the number Two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matter Simplicius upon Aristotles Physicks speaking of the Pythagoreans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They might well sayes he call One Form as defining and terminating to certain shape and property whatever it takes holds of And Two they might well call Matter it being undeterminate and the cause of Bigness and Divisibility And they have very copiously heaped upon the number Two such appellations as are most proper to Corporeal Matter As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnfigured Vndeterminated Vnlimited For such is Matter of it self till Form take hold of it It is called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the fluidity of the Matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it affords substance to the Heavens and Starres 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Contention Fate and Death for these are the consequencies of the Souls being joined with corporeal Matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Motion Generation and Division which are Properties plainly appertaining to Bodies They call this number also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Subject that endures and undergoes all the changes and alterations the active Forms put upon it Wherefore it is plain that the Pythagoreans understood Corporeal Matter by the number Two which no man can deny but that it is a very fit Symbole of Division that eminent Property of Matter But we might cast in a further reason of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being created the second day for the Celestial Matter does consist of two plainly distinguishable parts to wit the first Element and the second or the Materia subtilissima and the round Particles as I have already intimated out of Des Cartes his Philosophy Ver. 9. It is referred to the following day You are to understand that these Six numbers or days do not signifié any order of time but the nature of the things that were said to be made in them But for any thing in Moses his Philosophick Cabbala all might be made at once or in such periods of time as is most sutable to the nature of the things themselves What is said upon this ninth verse will be better understood and with more full satisfaction when we come to the fourth days work Ver. 13. And the Ternary denotes In this third day was the waters commanded into one place the Earth adorned with all manner of Plants Paradise and all the pleasure and plenty of it created wherein the Serpent beguiled Eve and so forth What can therefore be more likely then that the Pythagoreans use their numbers as certain remembrancers of the particular passages of this History of the Creation when as they call the number Three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Triton and Lord of the Sea which is in reference to Gods commanding the water into one place and making thereof a Sea They call also the Ternary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The former intimates the plenty of Paradise the latter relates to the Serpent there But now besides this we shall find the Ternary very significant of the nature of this days work For first the Earth consists of the third Element in the Cartesian Philosophy for the truth of that Philosophy will force it self in whether I will or no and then again there are three grand parts of
that it is nothing but the stilnesse and fixednesse of Melancholy that thus abuses him and in stead of the true divine Principle would take the Government to it self and in this usurped tyranny cruelly destroy all the rest of the Animal Figurations But the true divine Life would destroy nothing that is in Nature but only regulate things and order them for the more full and sincere enjoyments of man reproaching nothing but sinfulnesse and enormity entituling Sanguine and Choler to as much Virtue and Religion as either Phlegme or Melancholy For the divine Life as it is to take into it self the humane nature in general so it is not abhorrent from any of the complexions thereof But the squabbles in the world are ordinarily not about true Piety and Virtue but which of the Complexions or what Humour shall ascend the Throne and fit there in stead of Christ himself But I will not expatiate too much upon one Theme I shall rather take a short view of the whole Allegory of the Chapter In the first Day there is Earth Water and Wind over whâ—ch and through which there is nothing but disconsolate darknesse and tumultuous agitation The Winds ruffling up the Waters into mighty waves the waves washing up the mire and dirt into the water all becoming but a rude heap of confusion and desolation This is the state of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Earthly Adam as Philo calls him till God command the Light to shine out of Darknesse offering him a guide to a better condition In the second day is the Firmament created dividing the upper and the lower Waters that it may feel the strong impulses or taste the different relishes of either Thus is the will of man touch'd from above and beneath and this is the day wherein is set before him Life and Death Good and Evil and he may put out his hand and take his choice In the third day is the Earth uncovered of the Waters for the planting of fruit-bearing trees By their fruits you shall know them saith our Saviour that is by their works In the fourth day there appears a more full accession of divine Light and the Sun of Righteousnesse warms the soul with a sincere love both of God and man In the fift day that this Light of Righteousnesse and bright Eye of divine Reason may not brandish its rayes in the empty field where there is nothing either to subdue or guide and order God sends out whole sholes of Fishes in the Waters and numerous flights of Fowls in the Air besides part of the sixt days work wherein all kinde of Beasts are created In these are decyphered the sundry suggestions and cogitations of the minde sprung from these lower Elements of the humane nature viz. Earth and Water Flesh and Blood all these man beholds in the Light of the Sun of Righteousnesse discovers what they are knows what to call them can rule over them and is not wrought to be over-ruled by them This is Adam the Master-piece of Gods Creation and Lord of all the creatures framed after the Image of God Christ according to the Spirit under whose feet is subdued the whole Animal Life with its sundry Motions Forms and Shapes He will call every thing by its proper name and set every creature in its proper place The vile person shall be no longer called liberal nor the churl bountiful Wo be unto them that call evil good and good evil that call the light darknesse and the darknesse light He will not call bitter Passion holy Zeal nor plausible meretricious Courtesie Friendship nor a false soft abhorrency from punishing the ill-deserving Pity nor Cruelty Justice nor Revenge Magnanimity nor Unfaithfulnesse Policy nor Verbosity either Wisdome or Piety But I have run my self into the second Chapter before I am aware In this first Adam is said only to have dominion over all the living creatures and to feed upon the fruit of the Plants And what is Pride but a mighty Mountainous Whale Lust a Goat the Lion and Bear wilful dominion Craft a Fox and worldly toil an Oxe Over these and a thousand more is the rule of Man I mean of Adam the Image of God But his meat and drink is to do the will of his Maker this is the fruit he feeds upon Behold therefore O Man what thou art and whereunto thou art called even to bee a mighty Prince amongst the creatures of God and to bear rule in that Province he has assigned thee to discern the Motions of thine own heart and to be Lord over the suggestions of thine own natural spirit not to listen to the counsel of the flesh nor conspire with the Serpent against thy Creator But to keep thy heart free and faithful to thy God so maist thou with innocency and unblameablenesse see all the Motions of Life and bear rule with God over the whole Creation committed to thee This shall be thy Paradise and harmlesse sport on Earth till God shall transplant thee to an higher condition of happinesse in Heaven CHAP. II. The full sense of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that keeps men from entring into the true Sabbath 4 The great necessity of distinguishing the innocent motions of Nature from the suggestions of Sin 5 That the growth of a true Christian indeed doth not adaequately depend upon the lips of the Priest 7 The meaning of This is he that comes by Water and Blood 8 The meaning of Repent for the Kingdome of Heaven is at hand The seventh thousand years the great Sabbatism of the Church of God That there will be then frequent converse betwixt Men and Angels 9 The Tree of Life how fitly in the Mystical sense said to be in the midst of the Garden 17 A twofold death contracted by Adams disobedience The Masculine and Feminine Faculties in Man what they are Actuating a Body an Essential operation of the Soul and the reason of that so joyful appearance of Eve to the Humane Nature TO the fift verse there is nothing but a recapitulation of what went before in the first Chapter and therefore wants no further proof then what has already been alledged out of S Paul and Origen and other Writers Only there is mention of a Sabbath in the second verse of this Chapter of which there was no words before And this is that Sabbatisme or Rest that the Author to the Hebrews exhorts them to strive to enter into through faith and obedience For those that were faint-hearted and unbelieving and pretended that the children of Anak the off-spring of the Giants would be too hard for them they could not enter into the promised Land wherein they were to set up their rest under the conduct of Jâ—shua a Type of Jesus And the same Author in the same place makes mention of this very Sabbath that ensued the accomplishment of the Creation concluding thus There remaineth therefore a Sabbatisme or Rest to the people of God For he that has entred
and height of the Wisdom and goodness of God as somewhere the Apostle himself phrasâ—th it But then again in the second place this three and four comprehend also the conjunction of the Corporeal and Incorporeal nature Three being the first Superficies and Four the first Body and in the Seventh thousand years I do verily conceive that there will be so great union betwixt God and Man that they shall not only partake of his Spirit but that the Inhabitants of the Aethereal Region will openly converse with these of the Terrestrial and such frequent conversation and ordinary visits of our cordial friends of that other world will take away all the toil of life and the fear of death amongst men they being very chearful and pleasant here in the body and being well assured they shall be better when they are out of it For Heaven and Earth shall then shake hands together or become as one house and to die shall be accounted but to ascend into an higher room And though this dispensation for the present be but very sparingly set a foot yet I suppose there may some few have a glimpse of it concerning whom accomplish'd Posterity may happily utter something answerable to that of our Saviours concerning Abraham who tasted of Christianity before Christ himself was come in the Flesh Abraham saw my day and rejoyced at it And without all question that plenitude of happiness that has been reserved for future times the presage and presensation of it has in all ages been a very great Joy and Triumph to all holy men and Prophets The Morning Light of the Sun of Righteousnesse This is very sutable to the Text Paradise being said to be placed Eastward in Eden and our Saviour Christ to be the bright Morning Starre and the Light that lightens every one that comes into the world though too many are disobedient to the dictates of this Light that so early visits them in their mindes and consciences but they that follow it it is their peace and happiness in the conclusion Ver. 9. Which is a sincere obedience to the Will of God The Tree of Life is very rightly said to be in the midst of the Garden that is in the midst of the soul of man and this is the will or desire of man which is the most inward of all the faculties of his soul and is as it were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or vital Center of the rest from whence they stream or grow That therefore is the Tree of Life if it be touch'd truly with the divine Life and a man be heartily obedient to the will of God For the whole Image of divine Perfection will grow from hence and receives nourishment strength and continuance from it But if this will and desire be broke off from God and become actuated by the creature or be a self-will and a spirit of disobedience it breeds most deadly fruit which kills the divine Life in us and puts man into a necessity of dying to that disorder and corruption he has thus contracted What ever others would insinuate to the contrary For there is nothing so safe if a man be heartily sincere as not to be led by the nose by others For we see the sad event of it in Eves listening to the outward suggestions of the Serpent Ver. 10. The four Cardinal Virtues It is the Exposition of Philo. Till verse 17. there is no need of adding any thing more then what has already been said in the Defence of the Philsophick Cabbala Ver. 17. Dead to all Righteousnesse and Truth The mortality that Adam contracted by his disobedience in the Mortal or Mystical sense is twofold The one a death to righteousness and it is the sense of Philo upon the place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The death of the soul is the extinction of Virtue in her and the resuscitation of Vice and he adds that this must be the death here meant it being a real punishment indeed to forfeit the life of Virtue The other mortality is a necessity of dying to unrighteousness if he ever would be happy Both those notions of Death are more frequent in S. Pauls Epistles then that I need to give any instance His more noble and Masculine Faculties What the Masculine part in man is Philo plainly declares in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In us saith he the Man is the Intellect the Woman the Sense of the Body Whence you will easily understand that the Masculine Faculties are those that are more Spiritual and Intellectual Ver. 18. That the whole Humane Nature may be accomplished with the Divine Which is agreeable to that pious ejaculation of the Apostle 1 Thess 5. And the God of Peace sanctifie you wholly or throughly and I pray God your whole Spirit Soul and Body may be kept blamelesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the presence or abode of Jesus Christ the divine Life or heavenly Adam in you This is the most easie and natural sense of that place of Scripture as it will appear to any man whose minde is as much set on holiness as hard Theories And it is very agreeable to the Mystical sense of the second Psalm where the Kingdome of Christ reaches to the utmost ends of the Earth that is as far as Soul and Life can animate so that our very flesh and body is brought under the Scepter of Christs Kingdome Ver. 19. The Figurations of the Animal Life That the motions of the Minde as they are suggested from the Animal Life of the Body are set forth by Fishes Beasts and Birds I have already made good from the authority of Origen Ver. 20. In a capacity of taking delight in them For melancholy had so depraved the complexion of his body that there was no grateful sense of any thing that belong'd to nature and the life of the Vehicle Ver. 22. The greatest part of that Paradise a man is capable of upon Earth This is a Truth of Sense and Experience and is no more to be proved by Reason then that White is White or Black is Black Ver. 23. Essential operation of the Soul The very nature of the Soul as it is a Soul is an aptitude of informing or actuating a Body but that it should be always an organized Body it is but Aristotles saying of it he does not prove it But for mine own part I am very prone to think that the Soul is never destitute of some Vehicle or other though Plotinus be of another minde and conceives that the Soul at the height is joined with God and nothing else nakedly lodged in his arms And I am the more bold to dissent from him in this exaltation of the Soul I being so secure in my own conceit of that other suspected extravagancy of his in the debasement of them that at last they become so drowsie and sensless that they grow up out of the ground in that dull function of life the efformation of Trees and Plants And
force at all in this or no that Supplement I have made in the foregoing verse will make good the sense of our Cabbala And in the very Letter and History of the Scripture if a man take notice he must of necessity make a supply of something or another to pass to what follows with due cohaesion and clearness of sense So in the very next Chapter where God dooms Cain to be a Vagabond and he cryes out that every man that meets him will kill him according to the concise story of the Text there was none but Adam and Eve in the world to meet him and yet there is a mark set upon him by God as if there had been then several people in the world into whose hands he might fall and lose his life by them And then again at ver 17. Cain had no sooner got into the Land of Nod but he has a wife and a childe by her and he is forthwith said to build a City when as there is no mention of any but himself his wife and his childe to be the Artificers but any ingenious Reader will easily make to himself fitting supplements ever supposing due distances of time and right preparations to all that is said to be acted And so in the story of Samson where he is said to take three hundred Foxes it may be rationally supposed that Countrey was full of such creatures that he had a competency of time a sufficient number to help him and the like That the History of Scripture is very concise no body can deny and therefore where easie natural and agreeable supplements will clear the sense I conceive it is very warrantable to suppose some such supplies and for a Paraphrast judiciously to interweave them But now that Paradise at first should signifie a state of divine pleasure and afterward of sensual voluptuousness it is no more harsh then that Adam one while is the Spiritual or Intellectual Man another while the Earthly and Carnal For one and the same natural thing may be a Symbole of contrary Spiritual Mysteries So a Lion and a Serpent are figures of Christ as well as of the Devil and therefore it is not so hard to admit that this Garden of Eden may emblematize while Adam is discours'd of as innocent and obedient to God the delights of the Spirit but after his forsaking God the pleasures of the Flesh and consequently that the fruit of the Tree of Life in the one may be perseverance and establishment in the divine Life in the other a settlement and fixedness in the brutish and sensual Ver. 24. The manly faculties of Reason and Conscience These I conceive may be understood by the Cherubim and flaming Sword For the Cherubim bear the Image of a man and Reason is a cutting dividing thing like a Sword the Stoicks call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dividing and distinguishing Reason For Reason is nothing but a distinct discernment of the Idea's of things whereby the minde is able to sever what will not sute and lay together what will But if any body will like better of Philo's interpretation here of the Cherubim and flaming Sword who makes the Cherubim to signifie the goodness and power of God the flaming Sword 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the effectual and operative Wisdome or Word of God it does not at all clash with what we have already set down For my self also suppose that God by his Son the Eternal Word works upon the Reason and Conscience of man For that Word is living and powerful sharper then any two-edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do Heb. 4. That he could not set up his rest for ever Assuredly a mans heart is not so in his own hand that he can do himself all the mischief he is contented to do For we are more Gods then our own and his Goodness and Power has dominion over us And therefore let not a man vainly fancy that by violently running into all enormity of life and extinguishing all the Principles of Piety and Virtue in him that he shall be able thus to hide himself from God and never be re-minded of him again for ever For though a man may happen thus to forget God for a time yet he can never forget us sith all things lie open to his sight And the power of his ever-living Word will easily cut through all that thickness and darkness which we shrowd our selves in and wound us so as to make us look back with shame and sorrow at a time that we least thought of But that our pain may be the lesse and our happiness commence the sooner it will be our wisdome to comply with the divine Light betimes for the sooner we begin the work is the easier and will be the more timely dispatch'd through the power of God working in us But this I must confess and I think my self bound to bear witness to so true and useful a mysterie wrapt up in this Mosaical covering that there is no other passage nor return into happiness then by death Whence Plato also that had been acquainted with these holy writings has defined Philosophy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The meditation of death viz. the dying to the lust of the flesh and inordinate desires of the body which Purgatory if we had once passed through there would soon spring up that Morning Joy the resurrection from the dead and our arrival to everlasting life and glory And there is no other way then this that is manifestable either by Scripture Reason or Experience But those that through the grace of God and a vehement thirst after the divine Righteousness have born the Crosse till the perfect death of the body of sin and make it their business to have no more sense nor relish of themselves or their own particular persons then if they were not at all they being thus demolished as to themselves and turned into a Chaos or dark Nothingness as I may so speak they become thereby fitted for the new Creation And this personal life being thus destroyed God calls unto them in the dead of the Night when all things are silent about them awakes them and raises them up and breathes into them the breath of everlasting life and ever after actuates them by his own Spirit and takes all the humane faculties unto himself guiding or allowing all their operations always holding up the spirit of man so that he will never sink into sin and from henceforth death and sorrow is swallowed up for ever for the sting of Death is Sin But whatever liberty and joy men take to themselves that is not founded in this new life is false and frivolous and will end but in
sadness bitterness and intolerable thraldome For the Corporeal life and sense will so deeply have sunk into the soul that it will be beyond all measure hard and painfull to dis-intangle her But as many as have passed the Death have arrived to that Life that abides for ever and ever And this Life is pure and immaculate Love and this Love is God as he is communicable unto man and is the sole Life and Essence of Virtue truly so called or rather as all colours are but the reflexion of the Rayes of the Sun so all Virtue is but this One variously coloured and figured from the diversity of Objects and Circumstances But when she playes with ease within her own pure and undisturbed Light she is most lovely and amiable and if she step out into zeal Satyrical rebuke and contestation it is a condescent and debasement for the present but the design is a more enlarged exaltation of her own nature and the getting more universal foot-hold in other persons by dislodging her deformed enemy For the divine Love is the love of the divine Beauty and that Beauty is the divine Life which would gladly insinuate it self and become one with that particular Principle of Natural life the Soul of man And whatever man she has taken hold upon and won him to her self she does so actuate and guide as that whatever he has she gets the use of and improves it to her own interest that is the advancement of her self But she observing that her progress and speed is not so fast as she could wish that is that mankind is not made so fully and so generally happy by her as she could desire and as they are capable of she raises in a man his Anger Indignation against those things that are obstacles and impediments in her way beating down by solid Reason such things as pretend to Reason and such things as are neither the genuine off-spring of the humane faculties nor the effects of her own union with them discountenancing them and deriding them as Monsters and Mongrel things they being no accomplishment of the humane nature nor any gift of the divine She observing also that mankind is very giddily busie to improve their natural faculties without her and promise themselves very rare effects of their art and industry which if they could bring to passe would be in the end but a scourge and plague to them and make them more desperately bold sensual Atheistical and wicked for no fire but that of Gods Spirit in a man can clear up the true knowledge of himself unto us she therefore taketh courage though she see her self slighted or unknown and deservedly magnifies her self above all the effects of Art and humane industry and boldly tells the world what petty and poor things they are if compared unto her Nor doth she at all stick to pour out her scorn and derision unto the full upon those garish effects of fanatical Fancy where Melancholy dictates strange and uncouth dreams out of a dark hole like the whispers of the Heathen Oracles For it is not only an injury to her self that such Antick Phantasmes are preferred before the pure simplicity of her own beauty but a great mischief to her darling the Soul of man that he should forsake those faculties she has a minde to sanctifie and take into her self and should give himself up to meer inconsiderate imaginations and casual impresses chusing them for his guide because they are strongest not truest and he will not so much as examine them Such like as these and several other occasions there are that oftentimes figure the divine Life in good men and sharpen it into an high degree of zeal and anger But whom in wrath she then wounds she pities as being an affectionate Lover of universal mankind though an unreconcileable disliker of their vices I HAVE now gone through my Threefold Cabbala which I hope all sincere and judicious Christians will entertain with unprejudic'd candour and kinde acceptance For as I have lively set out the mysteries of the holy and precious life of a Christian even in the Mosaical Letter so I have carefully and on purpose cleared and asserted the grand essential Principles of Christianity it self as it is a particular Religion avoiding that rock of scandal that some who are taken for no small Lights in the Christian world have cast before men who attenuate all so into Allegories that they leave the very Fundamentals of Religion suspected especially themselves not vouchsafing to take notice that there is any such thing as the Person of Christ now existent much lesse that he is a Mediatour with God for us or that he was a sacrifice for sin when he hung at Jerusalem upon the Crosse or that there shall be again any appearance of him in the Heavens as it was promised by the two Angels to his Apostles that saw him ascend or that there is any life to come after the dissolution of the natural body though our Saviour Christ says expresly that after the Resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the Angels of God But to be so spiritual as to interpret this of a mysterious resurrection of a man in this life is in effect to be so truly carnal as to insinuate there is no such thing at all as the Life to come and to adde to Sadducisme Epicurisme also or worse that is a religious liberty of silling one anothers houses with brats of the adulterous bed under pretence that they are now risen to that state that they may without blame commit that which in other mortals is down-right adultery Such unlawful sporting with the Letter as this is to me no sign of a spiritual man but of one at least indiscreet and light minded more grosse in my conceit then Hymeneus and Philetas who yet affirmed that the resurrection was past and so allegorized away the faith of the people For mine own part I cannot admire any mans fancies but only his Reason Modesty Discretion and Miracles the main thing being presupposed which yet is the birth-right of the meanest Christian to be truly and sincerely Pious But if his imagination grow rampant and he aspire to appear some strange thing in the world such as was never yet heard of that man seems to me thereby plainly to bewray his own Carnality and Ignorance For there is no better Truths then what are plainly set down in the Scripture already and the best the plainest of all So that if any one will step out to be so venerable an Instructer of the world that no man may appear to have said any thing like unto him either in his own age or foregoing generations verily I am so blunt a Fool as to make bold to pronounce that I suspect the party not a little season'd with spiritual Pride and Melancholy For God be thanked the Gospel is so plain a Rule of Life and Belief to the sincere and obedient soul