it self after his kinde so that the several sorts of plants might by this means be conserv'd upon the earth And God saw that it was good 13 And the evening and the morning made up the third natural day 14 There have three days past without a Sun as well as three nights without either Moon or Stars as you your selves may happily have observ'd some number of Moonless and Starlesse nights as well as of Sunlesse days to have succeeded one another and so it might have been always had not God said Let there be Lights within the Firmament of heaven to make a difference betwixt day and night and to be peculiar garnishings of either Let them be also for signes of weather for seasons of the year and also for periods of days months and years 15 Moreover let them be as lights hung up within the hollow roof or Firmament of heaven to give light to men walking upon the pavement of the earth and it was so 16 And God made two great lights the greater one the most glorious Princely object we can see by day to be as it were the Governor and Monarch of the day the lesser the most resplendent and illustrious sight we can cast our eyes on by night to be Governesse and Queen of the night And he made though for their smalnesse they be not so considerable the Stars also 17 And he placed them all in the Firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth 18 And to shew their preheminence for external lustre above what ever else appears by either day or night and to be peculiar garnishings or ornaments to make a notable difference betwixt the light and the darknesse the superaddition of the Sun to adorn the day and to invigorate the light thereof the Moon and the Stars to garnish the night and to mitigate the dulnesse and darknesse thereof And God saw that it was good 19 And the evening and the morning was the fourth natural day 20 After this God commanded the waters to bring forth fish and fowl which they did in abundance and the fowl flew above the earth in the open Firmament of heaven 21 And God created great whales also as well as other fishes that move in the waters and God saw that it was good 22 And God blessed them saying Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas and let the fowl multiply on the earth 23 And the evening and the morning made up the fifth natural day 24 Then God commanded the earth to bring forth all creeping things and four footed beasts as before he commanded the waters to send forth fish and fowl and it was so 25 And when God had made the beast of the earth after his kinde and cattel and every creeping thing after his kinde he saw that it was good 26 And coming at last to his highest Master-piece Man he encouraged himself saying Go to let us now make man and I will make him after the same image and shape that I bear my self and he shall have dominion over the fish of the Sea and over the fowls of the Air and over the cattel and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth 27 So God created man in his own shape and figure with an upright stature with legs hands arms with a face and mouth to speak and command as God himself hath I say in the image of God did he thus create him But mistake me not whereas you conceive of God as masculine and more perfect yet you must not understand me as if God made mankinde so exactly after his own image that he made none but males for I tell you he made females as well as males as you shall hear more particularly hereafter 28 And having made them thus male and female he bad them make use of the distinction of sexes that he had given them and blessing them God said unto them Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with your off-spring and be lords thereof and have dominion also over the fish of the sea and over the fowls of the air as well as over beasts and cattel and every creeping thing that moves upon the earth 29 And God said Behold I give you every frugiferous herb which is upon the face of the earth such as the Straw-berry the several sorts of Corn as Rye Wheat and Rice as also the delicious fruits of Trees to you they shall be for meat 30 But for the beasts of the earth and the fowls of the air and for every living thing that creepeth upon the earth the worser kind of herbs and ordinary grasse I have assign'd for them and so it came to passe that mankinde are made lords and possessors of the choicest fruits of the earth and the beasts of the field are to be contented with baser herbage and the common grasse 31 And God viewed all the works that he had made and behold they were exceeding good and the evening and the morning was the sixt natural day CHAP. II. 3 The Original of the Jewish Sabbaths from Gods resting himself from his six days labours 5 Herbs and Plants before either Rain Gardning or Husbandry and the reason why it was so 7 Adam made of the dust of the ground and his soul breathed in at his nostrils 8 The Planting of Paradise 9 A wonderful Tree there that would continue youth and make a man immortal upon earth Another strange Tree viz. the Tree of knowledge of good and evil 11 The Rivers of Paradise Phasis Gihon Tigris Euphrates 18 The high commendation of Matrimony 19 Adam gives names to all kinde of creatures except fishes 21 Woman is made of a rib of Adam a deep sleep falling upon him his minde then also being in a trance 24 The first Institution of Marriage 1 THus the Heavens and the Earth were finisht and all the creatures wherewith they were garnisht and replenisht 2 And God having within six days perfected all his work on the seventh day he rested himself 3 And so made the seventh day an holy day a festival of rest because himself then first rested from his works Whence you plainly see the reason and original of your Sabbaths 4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth which I have so compendiously recounted to you as they were created in the days that the Lord made heaven and earth and the several garnishings of them 5 But there are some things that I would a little more fully touch upon and give you notice of to the praise of God and the manifesting of his power unto you As that the herbs and plants of the field did not come up of their own accords out of the earth before God made them but that God created them before there were any seeds of any such thing in the earth and before there was any rain or men to use gardning or husbandry for the procuring their growth So that hereafter
Aegyptum in manum dominorum duri And Exod. 22. 10. Et accipiet domini ejus for dominus The Text therefore necessarily requiring no such sense and the mysterie being so abstruse it is rightly left out in this Literal Cabbala Vers 2. In the first verse there was a summary Proposal of the whole Creation in those two main parts of it Heaven and Earth Now he begins the particular prosecution of each days work But it is not needful for him here again to inculcate the making of the Earth For it is the last word he spake in his general Proposal and therefore it had been harsh or needless to have repeated it presently again And that 's the reason why before the making of the Earth there is not prefixed And the Lord said Let there be an Earth Which I conceive has imposed upon the ignorance and inconsiderateness of some so as to make them believe that this confused muddy heap which is called the Earth was an Eternal First Matter independent of God and never created by him Which if a man appeal to his own Faculties is impossible as I shall again intimate when I come to the Philosophick Cabbala The sense therefore is That the Earth was made first which was covered with water and on the water was the wind and in all this a thick darkness And God was in this dark windy and wet Night So that this Globe of Earth and Water and Wind was but one dark Tempest and Sea-storm a Night of confusion and tumultuous Agitation For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not in the Letter any thing more then Ventus ingens A great and mighty wind As the Cedars of God and Mountains of God are tall Cedars great Mountains and so in Analogy the Wind of God a great Wind. Vers 3. But in the midst of this tempestuous darkness God intending to fall to his work doth as it were light his Lamp or set up himself a Candle in this dark Shop And what ever hitherto hath been mentioned are words that strike the Fancy and Sense strongly and are of easie perception to the rude people whom every dark and stormy Night may well reminde of the sad face of things till God commanded the comfortable Day to spring forth the sole Author of Light that so pleases the eyes and chears the spirits of Man And that Day-light is a thing independent of the Sun as well as the Night of the Stars is a conceit wondrous sutable to the imaginations of the Vulgar as I have my self found out by conversing with them They are also prone to think unlesse there be a sensible wind stirring that there is nothing betwixt the Earth and the Clouds but that it is a meer vacuity Wherefore I have not translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Air as Maimonides somewhere does but a mighty wind For that the rude people are sensible of and making the first deformed face of things so dismal and tempestuous it will cause them to remember the first morning light with more thankfulness and devotion Vers 4. For it is a thing very visible See what is said upon the eighth verse Vers 5. By Evening and Morning is meant the Artificial Day and the Artificial Night by a Synecdoche as Castellio in his Notes tells us Therefore this Artificial Day and Night put together make one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Natural Day And the Evening is put before the Morning Night before Day because Darkness is before Light But that Primitive darkness was not properly Night For Night is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle describes it one great Shaddow cast from the Earth which implies Light of one side thereof And therefore Night properly so called could not be before Light But the illiterate people trouble themselves with no such curiosities nor easily conceive any such difference betwixt that determinate Conical shaddow of the Earth which is Night and that infinite primitive Darkness that had no bounds before there was any Light And therefore that same Darkness prefixed to an Artificial Day makes up one Natural Day to them Which Hesiod also swallows down without chewing whether following his own fancy or this Text of Moses I know not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is But of the Night both Day and Skie were born Vers 6. This Basis or Floor That the Earth seems like a round Floor plain and running out so every way as to join with the bottome of the Heavens I have in my Introduction hinted to you already and that it is look'd upon as such in the phrase of Scripture accommodating it self to our outward senses and vulgar conceit Upon this Floor stands the hollow Firmament as a Tent pitched upon the ground which is the very expression of the Prophet Esay describing the Power of God That stretcheth out the Heavens like a Curtain and spreadeth them out as a Tent to dwell in And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is usually rendred Firmament signifies diduction expansion or spreading out But how the Seventy come to interpret it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Firmamentum Fuller in his Miscellanies gives a very ingenious reason and such as makes very much to our purpose Nam coelum seu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he quandoquidem Tentoxio saepissimè in sacris literis assimilatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicitur quatenus expanditur Sic enim expandi solent Tentâ—ria quum alligatis ad paxillos in terram depactos funibus distenduntur atque hoc etiam pacto firmantur Itaque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 immensum quoddam ut ita dicam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ideóque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non ineptè appelletur The sense of which in brief is nothing but this That the Seventy translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Firmamentum because the Heavens are spread out like a well-fastned and firmly pitched Ten. And I add also that they are so stiffely stretched that they will strongly bear against the weight of the upper waters so that they are not able to break them down and therewith to drown the world Which conceit as it is easie and agreeable with the fancy of the people so it is so far from doing them any hurt that it will make them more sensible of the divine Power and Providence who thus by main force keeps off a Sea of water that hangs over their heads which they discern through the transparent Firmament for it looks blew as other Seas do and would rush at once upon them and drown them did not the Power of God and the strength of the Firmament hold it off Vers 7. See what hath been already said upon the sixt verse I will only here add That the nearness of these upper waters makes them still the more formidable and so are greater spurs to devotion For as they are brought so near as to touch the Earth at the bottome so outward sense still being Judge they are to be within a small distance
own eyes nor misbelieve their dictates no more nor so much as we may those of our outward senses Wherefore to men recovered into a due command of their reason and well-skill'd in the contemplation and experience of the nature of things to propound to them such kinde of Mosaical Philosophy as the boldnesse and superstition of some has adventured to do for want of a right Literal Cabbala to guide them is as much as in them lies to hazard the making not only of Moses but of Religion it self contemptible and ridiculous Whence it is apparent enough I think to what good purpose it is thus carefully to distinguish betwixt the Literal and Philosophick Cabbala and so plainly and fully to set out the sense of either apart by themselves that there may hereafter be no confusion or mistake For beside that the discovering of these weighty Truths and high but irrefutable Paradoxes in Moses his Text does assert Religion and vindicate her from that vile imputation of ignorance in Philosophy and the knowledge of things so does it also justifie those more noble results of free Reason and Philosophy from that vulgar suspicion of Impiety and Irreligion THE LITERAL CABBALA CHAP. I. 2 The Earth at first a deep miry abysse covered over with waters over which was a fierce wind and through all darknesse 3 Day made at first without a Sun 6 The Earth a floor the Heavens a transparent Canopy or strong Tent over it to keep off the upper waters or blew conspicuous Sea from drowning the world 8 Why this Tent or Canopy was not said to be good 9 The lower waters commanded into one place 11 Herbs flowers and fruits of Trees before either Sun or seasons of the year to ripen them 14 The Sun created and added to the day as a peculiar ornament thereof as the Moon and Stars to the night 20 The Creation of fish and fowl 24 The Creation of beasts creeping things 27 Man created in the very shape and figure of God but yet so that there were made females as well as males 28 How man came to be Lord over the rest of living creatures 30 How it came to passe that man feeds on the better sort of the fruits of the Earth and the beasts on the worse 1 WEE are to recount to you in this Book the Generations and Genealogies of the Patriarchs from Adam to Noah from Noah to Abraham from Abraham to Joseph and to continue the History to our own times But it will not be amisse first to inform you concerning the Creation of the world and the original and beginning of things How God made Heaven and Earth and all the garnishings of them before he made Man 2 But the Earth at first was but a rude and desolate heap devoid of herbs flowers and trees and all living creatures being nothing but a deep miry abysse covered all over with waters and there was a very fierce and strong wind that blew upon the waters and what made it still more horrid and comfortless there was as yet no light but all was inveloped with thick darknesse and bore the face of a pitchy black and wet tempestuous night 3 But God let not his work lie long in this sad condition but commanded Light to appear and the morning brake out upon the face of the abyss and wheel'd about from East to West being clearest in the middle of its course about noon and then abating of its brightnesse towards the West at last quite dis-appear'd after such sort as you may often observe the day-light to break forth in the East and ripen to greater clearnesse but at last to leave the skie in the West no Sun appearing all the while 4. And God saw the Light for it is a thing very visible that it was good and so separated the darknesse from the light that they could not both of them be upon the face of the earth together but had their vicissitudes and took their turns one after another 5 And he called the return of the light Day and the return of darkness he called Night and the evening and the morning made up the first natural day 6. Now after God had made this Basis or floor of this greater edifice of the world the Earth he sets upon the higher parts of the fabrick He commands therefore that there should be a hollow expansion firm and transparent which by its strength should bear up against the waters which are above and keep them from falling upon the earth in excess 7. And so it became a partition betwixt the upper the lower waters so that by virtue of this hollow Firmament man might live safe from the violence of such destructive inundations as one sheltred in a well-pitch'd tent from storm of rain For the danger of these waters is apparent to the eye this ceruleous or blew-coloured Sea that over-spreads the diaphanous Firmament being easily discern'd through the body thereof and there are very frequent and copious showers of rain descend from above when as there is no water espyed ascending up thither wherefore it must all come from that upper Sea if we do but appeal to our outward sense 8 Now therefore this diaphanous Canopy or firmly stretched Tent over the whole pavement of the earth though I cannot say properly that God saw it was good it being indeed of a nature invisible yet the use of it shows it to be exceeding good and necessary And God called the whole capacity of this hollow Firmament Heaven And the evening and the morning made up the second natural day 9 And now so sure a Defence being made against the inundation of the upper waters that they might not fall upon the earth God betook himself the next day to order the lower waters that as yet were spread over the whole face thereof at his command therefore the waters fled into one place and the dry land did appear 10 And God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters he called Sea and I may now properly say that God saw that it was good for the Sea and the Land are things visible enough and fit objects of our sight 11 And forthwith before he made either Sun Moon or Stars did God command the earth to bring forth grasse herbs and flowers in their full beauty and fruit-trees yeilding delicious fruit though there had as yet been no vicissitude of Spring Summer or Autumn nor any approach of the Sun to ripen and concoct the fruit of those trees Whence you may easily discern the foolishnesse of the idolatrous Nations that dote so much on second causes as that they forget the first ascribing that to the Sun and Moon that was caus'd at first by the immediate command of God 12 For at his command it was before there was either Sun or Moon in the Firmament that the earth brought forth grasse and herb yeilding seed after his kind and the tree yeilding fruit whose seed was in
he was taken 24 So he drove out Adam and his wife was forced to follow him For there was no longer staying in Paradise because the place was terribly haunted with spirits and fearful apparitions appeared at the entrance thereof winged men with fiery flaming swords in their hands brandished every way so that Adam durst never adventure to go back to taste of the fruit of the Tree of Life whence it is that mankinde hath continued mortal to this very day THE PHILOSOPHICK CABBALA CHAP. I. 1 The world of Life or Forms and the Potentiality of the visible Vniverse created by the Tri-une God and referr'd to a Monad or Unite 6 The Vniversal immense matter of the visible world created out of nothing and referr'd to the number Two 7 Why it was not said of this matter that it was good 9 The ordering of an Earth or Planet for making it conveniently habitable referr'd to the number Three 14 The immense Aethereal matter or Heaven contriv'd into Suns or Planets as well Primary as Secondary viz. as well Earths as Moons and referr'd to the number Four 20 The replenishing of an Earth with Fish and Fowl referr'd to the number Five 24 The Creation of Beasts and Cattel but more chiefly of Man himself referr'd to the number Six 1 OUR designe being to set out the more conspicuous parts of the external Creation before we descend to the Genealogies and Successions of mankinde there are two notable objects present themselves to our understanding which we must first take notice of as having an universal influence upon all that follows and these I do Symbolically decypher the one by the name of Heaven and Light for I mean the same thing by both these tearms the other by the name of Earth By Heaven or Light you are to understand The whole comprehension of intellectual Spirits souls of men and beasts and the seminal forms of all things which you may call if you please The world of Life By Earth you are to understand the Potentiality or Capability of the Existence of the outward Creation This Possibility being exhibited to our mindes as the result of the Omnipotence of God without whom nothing would be and is indeed the utmost shadow and darkest projection thereof The Tri-une God therefore by his eternall Wisdome first created this Symbolical Heaven and Earth 2 And this Earth was nothing but Solitude and Emptinesse and it was a deep bottomless capacity of being what ever God thought good to make out of it that implyed no contradiction to be made And there being a possibility of creating things after sundry and manifold manners nothing was yet determined but this vast Capability of things was unsettled fluid and of it self undeterminable as water But the Spirit of God who was the Vehicle of the Eternal Wisdome and of the Super-essential Goodnesse by a swift forecast of Counsel and Discourse of Reason truly divine such as at once strikes through all things and discerns what is best to be done having hover'd a while over all the capacities of this fluid Possibilitie forthwith settled upon what was the most perfect and exact 3 Wherefore the intire Deity by an inward Word which is nothing but Wisdome and Power edg'd with actual Will with more ease then we can present any Notion or Idea to our own mindes exhibited really to their own view the whole Creation of spiritual Substances such as Angels are in their inward natures the Souls of men and other Animals and the Seminal Forms of all things so that all those as many as ever were to be of them did really and actually exist without any dependency on corporeall matter 4 And God approved of and pleased himself in all this as good but yet though in designe there was a settlement of the fluid darknesse or obscure Possibility of the outward Creation yet it remained as yet but a dark Possibility And a notorious distinction indeed there was betwixt this Actual spiritual Creation and the dimme possibility of the material or outward world 5. Insomuch that the one might very well be called Day and the other Night because the night does deface and obliterate all the distinct figures and colours of things but the day exhibits them all orderly and clearly to our sight Thus therefore was the immateriall Creature perfectly finisht being an inexhaustible Treasury of Light and Form for the garnishing and consummating the material world to afford a Morning or Active principle to every Passive one in the future parts of the corporeal Creation But in this first days work as we will call it the Morning and Evening are purely Metaphysical for the active and passive principles here are not two distinct substances the one material the other spiritual But the passive principle is matter meerly Metaphysical and indeed no real or actual entity and as hath been already said is quite divided from the light or spiritual substance not belonging to it but to the outward world whose shadowy possibility it is But be they how they will this passive and active principle are the First days work A Monad or Unite being so fit a Symbole of the immaterial nature 6 And God thought again and invigorating his thought with his Will and Power created an immense deal of reall and corporeall matter a substance which you must conceive to lie betwixt the foresaid fluid Possibility of Natural things and the Region of Seminall Forms not that these things are distinguisht Locally but according to a more intellectual Order 7 And the thought of God arm'd with his Omnipotent will took effect and this immensely diffused matter was made But he was not very forward to say it was good or to please himself much in it because he foresaw what mischief straying souls if they were not very cautious might bring to themselves by sinking themselves too deep therein Besides it was little worth till greater polishings were bestowed upon it and his Wisdome had contrived it to fitting uses being nothing as yet but a boundlesse Ocean of rude invisible Matter 8 Wherefore this Matter was actuated and agitated forthwith by some Universal Spirit yet part of the World of Life whence it became very subtile and Ethereal so that this Matter was rightly called Heaven and the Union of the Passive and Active Principle in the Creation of this Material Heaven is the second days work and the Binarie denotes the nature thereof 9 I shall also declare unto you how God orders a reall materiall Earth when once it is made to make it pleasant and delightful for both man and beast But for the very making of the Earth it is to be referred to the following day For the Stars and Planets belong to that number and as a primary Planet in respect of its reflexion of light is rightly called a Planet so in respect of its habitablenesse it is as rightly tearmed an Earth These Earths therefore God orders in such sort that they neither want water to
lie upon them nor be covered over with water though they be invironed round with the fluid air 10 But he makes it partly dry Land and partly Sea Rivers and Springs whose convenience is obvious for every one to conceive 11 He adorns the ground also with grasse herbs and flowers and hath made a wise provision of seed that they bring forth for the perpetuation of such useful commodities upon the face of the earth 12 For indeed these things are very good and necessary both for man and beast 13 Therefore God prepared the matter of the Earth so as that there was a vital congruity of the parts thereof with sundry sorts of seminall forms of trees herbs and choicest kinds of flowers and so the Body of the Earth drew in sundry principles of Plantall Life from the World of Life that is at hand every where and the Passive and Active Principle thus put together made up the Third Days work and the Ternary denotes the nature thereof 14 The Ternary had allotted to it the garnishing of an Earth with trees flowers and herbs after the distinction of Land and Sea as the Quinary hath allotted to it the replenishing of an Earth with fish and fowl the Senary with man and beast But this Fourth Day comprehends the garnishing of the body of the whole world viz. That vast and immense Ethereal matter which is called the fluid Heaven with infinite numbers of sundry sorts of lights which Gods Wisdome and Power by union of fit and active principles drawn from the world of life made of this Ethereal matter whose usefulnesse is plain in nature that they are for Prognostick signes and seasons and days and years 15 As also for administring of light to all the inhabitants of the world That the Planets may receive light from their fountains of light and reflect light one to another 16 And there are two sorts of these Lights that all the inhabitants of the world must acknowledge great every where consulting with the outward sight from their proper stations And the dominion of the greater of these kinde of lights is conspicuous by day the dominion of the lesser by night the former we ordinarily call a Sun the other a Moon which Moon is truly a Planet and opake but reflecting light very plentifully to the beholders sight and yet is but a secondary or lesser kind of Planet but he made the Primary and more eminent Planets also and such an one is this Earth we live upon 17 And God placed all these sorts of lights in the thin and liquid Heaven that they might reflect their rayes one upon another and shine upon the inhabitants of the world 18 And that their beauty and resplendency might be conspicuous to the beholders of them whether by day or by night which is mainly to be understood of the Suns that supply also the place of Stars at a far distance but whose chiefe office it is to make vicissitudes of day and night And the Universal dark Aether being thus adorn'd with the goodly and glorious furniture of those several kindes of lights God approved of it as good 19 And the union of the Passive and Active principle was the Fourth days work and the number denotes the nature thereof 20 And now you have heard of a verdant Earth and a bounded Sea and Lights to shine through the air and water and to gratifie the eyes of all living creatures whereby they may see one another and be able to seek their food you may seasonably expect the mention of sundry animals proper to their elements Wherefore God by his inward Word and Power prepared the matter in the waters and near the waters with several vital congruities so that it drew in sundry souls from the world of Life which actuating the parts of the matter caus'd great plenty of fish to swim in the waters and fowls to flye above the earth in the open air 21 And after this manner he created great Whales also as well as the lesser kindes of fishes and he approved of them all as good 22 And the blessing of his inward Word or Wisdome was upon them for their multiplication for according to the preparation of the matter the Plastical Power of the souls that descend from the world of Life did faithfully and effectually work those wise contrivances of male and female they being once rightly united with the matter so that by this means the fish filled the waters in the seas and the fowls multiplyed upon the earth 23 And the union of the Passive and Active principle was the Fift days work and the Quinary denotes the nature thereof 24 And God persisted farther in the Creation of living creatures and by espousing new souls from the world of Life to the more Mediterraneous parts of the matter created land-serpents cattel and the beasts of the field 25 And when he had thus made them he approved of them for good 26 Then God reflecting upon his own Nature and viewing himself consulting with the Super-essential Goodnesse the Eternal Intellect and unextinguishable Love-flame of his Omnipotent Spirit concluded to make a far higher kinde of living creature then was as yet brought into the world He made therefore Man in his own Image after his own Likenesse For after he had prepared the matter fit for so noble a guest as an humane Soul the world of Life was forced to let go what the rightly prepared matter so justly called for And Man appeared upon the stage of the earth Lord of all living creatures For it was just that he that bears the Image of the invisible God should be Supreme Monarch of this visible world And what can be more like God then the soul of man that is so free so rational and so intellectual as it is And he is not the lesse like him now he is united to the terrestrial body his soul or spirit possessing and striking through a compendious collection of all kinde of corporeal matter and managing it with his understanding free to think of other things even as God vivificates and actuates the whole world being yet wholly free to contemplate himself Wherefore God gave Man dominion over the fowls of the air the fish of the sea and the beasts of the earth for it is reasonable the worser should be in subserviency to the better 27 Thus God created Man in his own Image he consisting of an intellectual Soul a terrestrial Body actuated thereby Wherefore mankinde became male and female as other terrestrial animals are 28 And the benediction of the Divine Wisdome for the propagation of their kinde was manifest in the contrivance of the parts that were framed for that purpose And as they grew in multitudes they lorded it over the earth and over-mastered by their power and policy the beasts of the field and fed themselves with fish and fowl and what else pleased them and made for their content for all was given to them by right of their
fift days progresse 24 Nor does God only cause the Waters to bring forth but the dry Land also several living creatures after their kinde and makes the Irascible fruitful as well as the Concupiscible 25 For God saw that they were both good and that they were a fit subject for the heavenly Man to exercise his Rule and Dominion over 26 For God multiplies strength as well as occasions to employ it upon And the divine Life that hath been under the several degrees of the advancement thereof so variously represented in the five fore-going progresses God at last works up to the height and being compleat in all things styles it by the name of his own Image the divine Life arrived to this pitch being the right Image of him indeed Thus it is therefore that at last God in our nature fully manifests the true and perfect Man whereby we our selves become good and perfect who does not only see and affect what is good but has full power to effect it in all things For he has full dominion over the fish of the sea can rule and guide the fowls of the air and with ease command the beasts of the field and what ever moveth upon the earth 27 Thus God creates Man in his own Image making him as powerful a Commander in his little World over all the thoughts and motions of the Concupiscible and Irascible as himself is over the Natural frame of the Universe or greater World And this Image is Male and Female consisting of a clear and free Understanding and divine Affection which are now arrived to that height that no lower Life is able to rebel against them and to bring them under 28 For God blesses them and makes them fruitful and multiplies their noble off-spring in so great and wonderful a measure that they replenish the cultivated nature of man with such an abundance of real Truth and Equity that there is no living Figure Imagination or Motion of the Irascible or Concupiscible no extravagant or ignorant irregularity in religious meditations and devotions but they are presently moderated and rectified For the whole Territories of the Humane Nature is every where so well peopled with the several beautiful shapes or Idea's of Truth and Goodnesse the glorious off-spring of the heavenly Adam Christ that no Animal figure can offer to move or wagge amisse but it meets with a proper Corrector and Re-composer of its motions 29 And the divine Life in man being thus perfected he is therewith instructed by God what is his food as divine and what is the food of the Animal Life in him viz. the most virtuous most truly pious and divine Actions he has given to the heavenly Adam to feed upon fulfilling the Will of God in all things which is more pleasant then the choicest sallads or most delicate fruit the taste can relish 30 Nor is the Animal Life quite to be starved and pin'd but regulated and kept in subjection and therefore they are to have their worser sort of herbs to feed on that is Natural Actions consentaneous to the Principle from whence they flow that that Principle may also enjoy it self in the liberty of prosecuting what its nature prompts it unto And thus the sundry Modifications of the Irascible and Concupiscible as also the various Figurations of Religious Melancholy and Natural Devotions which are the Fishes Beasts and Fowls in the Animal Nature of Man are permitted to feed and refresh themselves in those lower kindes of Operations they incline us to provided all be approved and rightly regulated by the heavenly Adam 31 For the Divine Wisdome in Man sees and approves all things which God hath created in us to be very good in their kinde And thus Ignorance and Inquiry was the Sixt days progresse CHAP. II. 3 The true Sabbatisme of the Sons of God 5 A Description of men taught by God 7 The mysterie of that Adam that comes by Water and the Spirit 9 Obedience the Tree of Life Disobedience the Tree of the Knowledg of good evil 10 The Rivers of Paradise the four Cardinal Virtues in the Soul of man 17 The Life of Righteousnesse lost by Disobedience 19 The meer Contemplative and Spiritual Man sees the motions of the Animal Life and rigidly enough censures them 21 That it is incompetible to Man perpetually to dwell in Spiritual Contemplations 22 That upon the slaking of those the kindly Joy of the Life of the Body springs out which is our Eve 23 That this kindly Joy of the body is more grateful to Man in Innocency then any thing else whatsoever 25 Nor is man mistaken in his judgement thereof 1 THUS the Heavenly and Earthly Nature in Man were finisht and fully replenisht with all the garnishings belonging to them 2 So the Divine Wisdome in the Humane Nature celebrated her Sabbath having now wrought through the toil of all the six days travel 3 And the Divine Wisdome looked upon this Seventh day as blessed and sacred a day of Righteousnesse Rest and Joy in the holy Ghost 4 These were the Generations or Pullulations of the Heavenly and Earthly Nature of the Divine and Animal Life in Man when God created them 5 I mean those fruitful Plants and pleasant and useful Herbs which he himself planted For I have describ'd unto you the condition of a Man taught of God and instructed and cherisht up by his inward Light where there is no external Doctrine to distil as the rain nor outward Gardener to intermeddle in Gods Husbandry 6 Only there is a Fountain of Water which is Repentance from dead works and bubbles up in the earthly Adam so as universally to wash all the ground 7 And thus the nature of Man being prepar'd for further Accomplishments God shapes him into his own Image which is Righteousnesse and true Holinesse and breathes into him the Spirit of Life And this is that Adam which is born of Water and the Spirit 8 Hitherto I have shewed unto you how mankinde is raised up from one degree of Spiritual Light and Righteousnesse unto another till we come at last to that full Command and Perfection in the divine Life that a man may be said in some sort thus to have attain'd to the Kingdome of Heaven or found a Paradise upon Earth The Narration that follows shall instruct you and forewarn you of those evil courses whereby man loses that measure of Paradisiacal happinesse God estates him in even while he is in this world I say therefore that the Lord God planted a Garden Eastward in Eden and there he put the Man whom he had made that is Man living under the Intellectual rayes of the Spirit and being guided by the morning Light of the Sun of Righteousnesse is led into a very pleasant and sweet Contentment of minde and the testimony of a good Conscience is his great delight 9 And that the sundry Germinations and Springings up of the works of Righteousnesse in him is a delectable Paradise
rigid and severe thing is this businesse of Religion and the Law of God as they call it that deprives a man of all manner of Pleasure and cuts him short of all the contentments of Life 2 But the Womanish part in Adam to wit The natural and kindly Joy of the body could witnesse against this and answered We may delight our selves with the operations of all the Faculties both of soul and body which God and Nature hath bestow'd upon us 3. Only we are to take heed of Disobedience and of promiscuously following our own will but we are ever to consult with the Will of God and the divine Light manifested in our Understandings and so doe all things orderly and measurably For if we transgresse against this we shall die the death and lose the Life of Virtue and Righteousness which now is awake in us 4 But the Serpent which is the inordinate desire of Pleasure befooled Adam through the frailty of his Womanish Faculties and made him believe he should not die but with safety might serve the free dictates of Pleasure or his own Will and the Will of God that Flesh and Spirit might both rule in him and be no such prejudice the one to the other 5 But that his skill and experience in things will be more enlarg'd and so come nearer to divine Perfection indeed and imitate that fulnesse of Wisdome which is in God who knows all things whatsoever whether good or evil 6 This crafty suggestion so insinuated it self into Adams Feminine Faculties that his fleshly Concupiscence began to be so strong that it carried the assent of his Will away with it and the whole Man became a lawlesse and unruly Creature For it seem'd a very pleasant thing at first sight to put in execution what ever our own Lusts suggest unto us without controll and very desirable to try all Conclusions to gain experience and knowledge of things But this brought in nothing but the wisdome of the flesh and made Adam earthly minded 7 But he had not rambled very far in these dissolute courses but his eyes were opened and he saw the difference how naked now he was and bare of all strength and power to divine and holy things and began to meditate with himself some slight pretences for his notorious folly and disobedience 8 For the Voice of the divine Light had come unto him in the cool of the day when the fury and heat of his inordinate passions was something slaked But Adam could not endure the presence of it but hid himself from it meditating what he should answer by way of Apology or Excuse 9 But the divine Light persisted and came up closer to him and upbraided unto him that he was grown so wilde and estranged from her self demanding of him in what condition he was and wherefore he fled 10 Then Adam ingenuously confessed that he found himself in such a pitiful poor naked condition that he was ashamed to appear in the Presence of the divine Light and that was the reason he hid himself from it because it would so manifestly upbraid to him his Nakednesse and Deformity 11 And the divine Light farther examined him how he fell into this sensible beggerly nakednesse he was in charging the sad event upon his Disobedience that he had fed upon and taken a surfeit of the fruit of his own Will 12 But Adam excused his rational faculties and said They did but follow the natural Dictate of the Joy of the Body the Woman that God himself bestowed upon him for an help and delight 13 But the divine Light again blamed Adam that he kept his Feminine faculties in no better order nor subjection that they should so boldly and overcomingly dictate to him such things as are not fit To which he had nothing to say but that the subtile Serpent the inordinate Desire of Pleasure had beguiled both his faculties as well Masculine as Feminine his Will and Affection was quite carried away therewith 14 Then the divine Light began to chastise the Serpent in the hearing of Adam pronouncing of it that it was more accursed then all the Animal Figurations beside and that it crept basely upon the belly tempting to Riot and Venery and relishing nothing but earth and dirt This will always be the guise of it so long as it lives in a man 15 But might I once descend so far into the Man as to take possession of his Feminine faculties I would set the Natural Joy of the Body at defiance with the Serpent and though the subtilty of the Serpent may a little wound and disorder the Woman for a while yet her warrantable and free operations she being actuated by divine vigour should afterward quite destroy and extinguish the Seed of the Serpent to wit the Operations of the inordinate desire of Pleasure 16 And she added farther in the hearing of Adam concerning the Woman as she thus stood dis-joyn'd from the heavenly Life and was not obedient to right Reason that by a divine Nemesis she should conceive with sorrow and bring forth Vanity And that her husband the Earthly minded Adam should tyrannize over her and weary her out and foil her So that the kindly Joy of the Health and Life of the Body should be much depraved or made faint and languid by the unbridled humours and impetuous Luxury and Intemperance of the Earthly minded Adam 17 And to Adam he said who had become so Earthly minded by listening to the Voice of his deceived Woman and so acting disobediently to the Will of God That his Flesh or Earth was accursed for his sake with labour and toil should he reap the fruits thereof all the while he continued in this Earthly mindednesse 18 Cares also and Anxieties shall it bring forth unto him and his thoughts shall be as base as those of the beasts in the field he shall ruminate of nothing but what is Earthly and Sensual 19 With sweat and anguish should he labour to satisfie his hunger and insatiablenesse till he returned to the Principle out of which he was taken for the Earthly mindednesse came from this animated Earth the Body and is to shrinke up againe into its owne Principle and to perish 20 After all these Castigations and Premonitions of the divine Light Adam was not sufficiently awakened to the sense of what was good but his minde was straightway taken up againe with the delights of the flesh and dearly embracing the Joy of his body for all she was grown so inordinate called her My Life professing she was the noursing Mother and chiefe comfort of all men living and none could subsist without her 21 Then the divine Wisdome put hairy coates made of the skins of wilde beasts upon Adam and his Wife and deservedly reproached them saying Now get you gone for a couple of brutes And Adam would have very gladly escaped so if he might and set up his rest for ever in the beastiall Nature 22 But the Eternall God
the same thing by both For besides that those actuall conspicuous Lights are in Heaven viz. the Sun and Stars Heaven or the Aetherial Matter has in it all over the Principles of Light which are the round Particles and that very fine and subtile Matter that lies in the intervals of the round Particles He that is but a little acquainted with the French Philosophy understands the business plainly And in the expounding of Moses I think I may lay down this for a safe Principle that there is no considerable truth in Nature or Divinity that Moses was ignorant of and so if it be found agreeable to his Text I may very well attribute it to him At least the Divine Wisdom wherewith Moses was inspired prevents all the inventions of Men. But now that I understand this Heaven and Earth in the first verse as things distinct from Heaven and Earth afterwards mentioned the very Text of Moses favours it emphatically calling this Heaven and Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when as the Heaven and Earth in the second and third days Creation he calls but plain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I may adde also the authority of Philo who expounds not this Heaven and Earth of the visible and tangible Heaven and Earth which are mentioned in the second and third day but of an Heaven and Earth quite different from them As also the suffrage of S. Augustine who understands likewise by Heaven and Light one and the same thing to wit the Angels and by Earth the first Matter which is something like the sense of this present Cabbala only for his Physical Matter we set down a Metaphysical one that other belonging most properly to the second day and for Angels we have the World of Life which comprehends not Angels only but all substantial Forms and Spirits whatever And that Heaven or Light should be Symboles of the World of Life or Form it is no wonder For you may finde a sufficient reason in the Cabbala it self at the fift verse of this present Chapter and Plotinus assimilates Form to Light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Form is Light And lastly in the second verse of this same Chapter there be plain reasons also laid down why the meer Possibility of the outward Creation is called the Earth according to the description of the Earth in the second verse of the first Chapter of Moses his Text unto which you may further adde that as the Earth is looked upon as the Basis of the world so the Possibility of the outward Creation is in some sense the Basis thereof The Tri-une Godhead The Hebrew words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do handsomely intimate a plurality and singularity the Noun being in the Plural the Verb in the Singular Number Whence I conceive there may be very well here included the Mysterie of the Trinity and Vnity of the Godhead or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Vatablus himself though he shuffles with his Grammatical Notions here yet he does apertly acknowledge three Persons in one God at the twenty sixt verse of this Chapter And that this was the Philosophick Cabbala of Moses and the Learned and Pious of the Jews it is no small argument because the Notion of the Trinity is so much insisted upon by the Platonists and Pythagoreans whom all acknowledge and I think I shall make it more plain then ever to have got their Philosophy from Moses By his Eternal Wisdome Ambrose Basil and Origen interpret In Principio to be as much as In Filio and Colossians the first there the Apostle speaking of the Son of God he saith that he is the First-born of every creature and that by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth And that he is before all things and by him all things consist This is the Wisdome of God or the Idea according to which he framed all things And therefore must be before all things the Beginning of the creatures of God And very answerable to this of the Apostle are those two attributes Philo gives to the same subject calling him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The First-born Word of God or the First-born Form of God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Beginning He calls him also simply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the Word Form Reason or Wisdome And one of the Chaldee Paraphrasts also interprets In Principio In Sapientia And this agrees exceedingly well with that of Solomon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord possessed me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Principium viae suae that is operum suorum as Vatablus expounds it and the Text makes it good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oriens operum suorum ab antiquo The Sun-rise of his works of old For there is no necessity of making of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adverbs they are Substantives And here Wisdome is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Principle and Morning of the Works of God not by way of diminution but as supposing the East and the Morning to be the womb of light from whence springs all Light and Form and Form is Light as I told you before out of Plotinus And this Notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sutes well with that passage in Trismegist where Hermes speaks thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must signifie the divine Intellect the bright Morning Star the Wisdome of God To which Wisdome called in the eight of the Proverbs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Beginning and Morning of his Works is ascribed the Creation of the world by Solomon as you may there see at large I will only adde that what the Hebrew Text here in Genesis calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Chaldee calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is all one with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Essential Wisdome of God not an habit or property but a substance that is Wisdome For true wisdome is substance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is the same that Plotinus speaks Whence he is called in the Apocalyps 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is but a Periphrasis of Jehovah Essence or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contains the future present and time past in it in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Zanchius observes This is the second Hypostasis in the holy Trinity the Logos which was in the beginning of the world with God All things were made by him and without him was nothing made that was made John 1. First created this I cannot impute it to any reason at all but to the slownesse of Fancie and heavy unweildinesse of Melancholy or the load of Bloud and Flesh that makes men imagine that Creation is incompetible
this third Element necessary to make an Earth habitable the dry Land the Sea whence are Springs and Rivers and the Air and lastly there are in Vegetables which is the main work of this day three eminent properties according to Aristotle viz. Nutrition Accretion Generation and also if you consider their duration there be these three Cardinal points of it Ortus Acme Interitus You may cast in also that Minerals which belong to this day as well as Plants that both Plants and they and in general all Terrestrial Bodies have the three Chymical Principles in them Sal Sulphur and Mercury Ver. 16. Such as is the Earth we live upon As the Matter of the Universe came out in the second day so the contriving of this Matter into Sunnes and Planets is contained in this fourth day the Earth her self not excepted though according to the Letter she is made in the first day and as she is the Nurse of Plants said to be uncovered in the third yet as she is a receptacle of Light and shines with borrowed raies like the Moon and other Plants she may well be referred to this fourth days Creation Nor will this at all seem bold or harsh if we consider that the most learned have already agreed that all the whole Creation was made at once As for example The most rational of all the Jewish Doctors R. Moses Aegyptius Philo Judeus Procopius Gazeus Cardinal Cajetan◠S. Augustine and the Schools of Hillel and Samai as Manasseh Ben Israel writes So that that leisurely order of days is thus quite taken away and all the scruples that may rise from that Hypothesis Wherefore I say the Earth as one of the primary Planets was created this fourth day And I translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Primary Planets Primary because of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emphatical and Planets because the very notation of their name implies their nature for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is plainly from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vstio or burning and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extinction Nouns made from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to unexceptionable Analogy And the Earth as also the rest of the Planets their nature is such as if they had once been burning and shining Suns but their light and heat being extinguished they afterwards became opake Planets This conclusion seems here plainly to be contained in Moses but is at large demonstrated in Des Cartes his Philosophy Nor is this Notation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enervated by alledging that the word is ordinarily used to signifie the fixed Stars as well as the Planets For I do not deny but that in a vulgar Notion it may be competible to them also For the fixed Stars according to the imagination of the rude people may be said to be lighted up and extinguished so often as they appear and disappear for they measure all by obvious sense and fancie and may well look upon them as so many Candles set up by divine Providence in the Night but by Day frugally put out for wasting And I remember Theodoret in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 has so glibly swallowed down the Notion that he uses it as a special argument of Providence that they can burn thus with their heads downwards and not presently sweal out and be extinguished as our ordinary Candles are Wherefore the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may very well be attributed to all the Stars as well Fixed as Planets but to the Fixed only upon vulgar seeming grounds to the Planets upon true and natural And we may be sure that that is that which Moses would aim at and lay stresse upon in his Philosophick Cabbala Wherefore in brief 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emphatical in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contains a double Emphasis intimating those true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Planets and then the most eminent amongst those truly so tearmed Nor is it at all strange that so abstruse conclusion of Philosophy should be lodged in this Mosaical Text. For as I have elsewhere intimated Moses has been aforehand with Cartesius The ancient Patriarchs having had wit and by reason of their long lives leisure enough to invent as curious and subtile Theorems in Philosophy as ever any of their posterity could hit upon besides what they might have had by tradition from Adam And if we finde the Earth a Planet it must be acknowledged forthwith that it runs about the Sun which is pure Pythagorisme again and a shrewd presumption that he was taught that mysterie by this Mosaical Cabbala But that the Earth is a Planet besides the Notation we have already insisted upon the necessity of being created in this fourth day amongst the other Planets is a further Argument For there is no mention of its Creation in any day else according to this Philosophick Cabbala Ver. 17. Inhabitants of the world The Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And I have made bold to interpret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not of this one Individual Earth but of the whole Species and therefore I render it the World at large As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the twenty seventh of this Chapter is not an Individual Man but Mankinde in general And so ver 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are interpreted after the same manner rendring them the greater sort of Lights and the lesser sort of Lights So that no Grammatical violence is done to the Text of Moses all this time Ver. 19. And the number denotes This fourth days Creation is the contrivance of Matter into Suns and Planets or into Suns Moons and Earths For the Aethereal Vortices were then set a going and the Corporeal world had got into an useful order and shape And the ordering and framing of the Corporeal world may very well be said to be transacted in the number Four Four being the first body in numbers an Aequilateral Pyramid which Figure also is a right Symbole of Light the raies entring the eye in a Pyramidal form And Lights now are set up in all the vast Region of the Aethereal Matter which is Heaven The Pythagoreans also call this number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Body and the World intimating the Creation of the Corporeal world therein And further signifying in what excellent proportion and harmony the world was made they call this number Four 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Harmony Vrania and the Stirrer up of divine Fury and Extasie Insinuating that all things are so sweetly and fittingly ordered in the world that the several motions thereof are as a comely Dance or ravishing Musick and are able to carry away a contemplative Soul into Rapture and Extasie upon a clear view and attentive
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