respect of Man we may so apprehend them without offence because otherwise Gods Omnipotency cannot clearly be conceived by mans capacity But as to these words made framed and formed as they are notionally dist inct from Created they may be thus considerable viz. made into a Vegetative intimated by the dust of the Earth framed into a Sensitive life intimated by the breath of Lile and formed into a rational life intimated by a Living Soul so that in this notion we may apprehend also our similitude to God by a Trinity in Unity And that these words ought to be distinctly understood appears from the words in the second Chapter verse 2. And God rested from all his works which he had creaded and made and likewise in the fourth verse These are the Generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that God made the earth and the heavens And the words framed and formed are used in other places in different senses but I conceive the word made is most proper to be used here because it is onely applyed to Creatures of the greatest Eminency and that nine times 1. To the firmament 2. To the two great lights 3. To the stars and four times in the second and third verses of this Chapter where the word is exprest by way of Enumeration of what was created and made and then it is twice more named by change of the number as in the 27th verse Let us make and in the 18th verse of the second Chapter I will make Let us make denoting either the Trinity or Angels or the composition of his Qualities assimilating God And I will make denoting his peculiar care But however here 't is said The Lord God made man which are plural appellations though the verb be singular so that Let us make and the Lord God made do answer each other as to the Trinity or what concerns the eminency of mans being made Man If David ask'd the question § 4. Lord what is man so many hundred years after he was made and answered himself that man is altogether vanity or is nothing and his days as a shadow what can we imagine man to be before he was made he was nothing as the word Creation implys and being made he was made of little more then nothing for he was made of the dust of the earth and yet still continuing in this Compact of dust he is still but vanity or nothing And so we may Collect from his four names for he is called Adam Enoch Ishe Chebor the first name Adam signifies earth or red earth that seems to have some colour of a substance and yet when we see how changeable it is into other Elements the earth it self is but a momentary something Secondly Enoch which signifies sickness or calamity we feel something of that and yet that vanisheth for pain or calamity may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning The third is Ishe which signifies crying or laughing both of which are so oft exprest in one wind as the Proverb saith they are scarce distinguishable And for the last Chebor signifying Excellency it is said that man being in honour hath no understanding but is compared to the beasts that perish So that we may well conceive these four words signifie the four Elements of which he is Compacted Adam Earth the grosser part of his body Enoch Water the redundancy of which causeth sickness and deluges of Rhumes Ishe Air from whence allso unds are procreated and Cheber Fire which is the most excellent of all the Elements and so is either common and culinary or supercelestial consisting of Love or au intellect or such properties as belong to an Angelical Nature Of the dust of the ground Man is said to be made of the dust of the ground and in the ninth verse 't is said Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree and verse 19th Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast c. Out here it is meerly out of the dust of the ground to shew that there was a difference between Man and other Creatures in their making so that by the dust of the ground is to be understood the superficial part of the earth of which man onely was made for all Creatures are said to be made out of the ground but not of the dust of the ground but Man of the dust of the ground or earth Now whither this dust was made by a peculiar omnipotent Calcination or other Rarification is not demonstrated but we may conceive it of the most attenuated part of the earth and therein the more Noble part because capable of the most activity for if we consider our commondust it flies like Atoms over the Surface of the earth oft-times being raised into as many dry Clouds as there are moist and by the co-operation of these two dry and wet those varieties of Naturals and Preternaturals which are so oft showred down upon us and seen among us as Moths and other flies Mice and other Vermine are produced And mostly they are Agile creatures whether we respect their volatile or reptile or aquatick natures which I mention to shew that if the ordinary dust produceth such agile Creatures we may collect that our Creator hath adapted to our more agaile body in relation to our Souls far more agile dust the to other Creatures For the Targum of Jerusalem adds to our honor that we are made ex palvere Sanctuarii i. e. of holy dust differing from all other dusts which should raise this Contemplation in us that as we are not like beasts or other Creatures in our Temperaments they made of the ground that is of the faeces or dregs of the Earth we of the Superficies or of some peculiar sanctify'd dust so ought the habits of our bodies to be sublime and alwaies ascending to an higher sphere and not to be alloyed and turned into various Corruptions And breathed the breath of life § 6. God at first breathed upon the face of the waters this was the first universal Vegetative and Sensitive life and motion which he infused into the Mass of Creation of which Man was also partaker But this breath which God breathed into man was of a higher nature not onely giving life and motion for Man had that by universal breath but by this man became a living Soul And as our bloud within us for all things have a bloud or spirit of the nature of bloud is said to be the Vehicle or Conveyor of the Vegetative or Sensitive life so the Air without us in which is the universal breath may be said to be the Vehicle of that life into us and the spirit or life is the vehicle of our rational life or of that divine Soul which flows into us for God works all things by fit Instruments so that our Soul is conveyed to us by this spirit or breath of life the spirit of life passes by
filled it with Flesh and Blood Male and Female created he them in noble form distinct sexes of whose excellency and geometrical proportions I have writ in the preceding Chapters but being created made framed formed whether in that manner which I have mentioned I shall not dispute Cap. 1. Verse 28. And God blessed them and said § 41. Be fruitful and multiply I have observed that the word Created is used onely in the universal Creation in the works of the 5. days and in the 6th day in the Creation of Man so here I observe that this Benediction is onely used in this place in the 5th daies work and in no other parts of the seven daies but only in the seaventh day where 't is said God blessed sanctified it The reason of this is that all the works of the other days either produced no sutable species as the Sun Stars c. or if they did yet it was by a natural production without any Local action or copulation as Trees Herbs c. but Fish Foul and Man have Local and active motions of production one only natural the other natural and voluntary Now to the seventh day or Sabbath there is a benediction or sanctification but not the addition of fructification or multiplication for rest or the Sabbath doth only quiet and preserve the Creation but Action continues it with multitudes of species However this was the first Joynt Commission which was given to man and wife and if we may believe the Jews Adam and Eve had in their chaste Wedlock 30. Sons and 30. Daughters whereas extravagant tempers seldom enjoy such a multiplying Condition and we see that in those countries where Laws of Wedlock are sacredly observed the people are more numerous then in other Countries where there is a greater Liberty for the Wombe is quickly vitiated by Commixtures and either destroyed by heat or over cooled by diversities And replenish the Earth § 42. and subdue it In the Syriack it is Fill the Earth instead of replenish and in the Arabick Possess it instead of Subdue it which are better then the other for replenish signifies a filling of that which was once full and now empty and subduing that which was once conquered and rebeld again which here could not be if we believe that there was no Man till Adam or Cultivations till he practised them or else it must be thus understood that besides the productions of nature I mean as to terrestrial things there are productions of Art the productions of nature are those properly which were at first created the productions of Art are those with which mans Industery under the title of tilling the Earth Adam did and man since doth replenish the Earth as by Sowing Seed and Planting Trees he caused Herbs and Trees to grow which is a replenishment to the first Creation and by plowing digging dressing c. of grounds he may be said to subdue the Earth or conquer those extravangancies of nature which otherwise without mans assistance would destroy those Vegetables which are most profitable for mans use and thus he replenishes and subdues it or thus fills possesseth the earth And this was the second joynt Commission to Adam and Eve wherein both were enjoyned from Idleness the Man was not to work alone nor the Woman alone but he to set on the work and she to help and assist him in prosecution of it The third clause of their Commission was to Have dominion over the Fish of the Sea § 43. and over the Fowls of the Air and over every Living thing that creepeth or moveth upon the face of the Earth The word Dominion signifies the chief authority or power of ruling or taming all which man hath over all other creatures God did not give them a natural power to resist but man either by his superiour reason ingenuity or strength perswades or sorceth them to a subjection When they endeavour to violate this original supremacy given to Man they may for a time fly run swim or creep from his Commands but he hath a Stand for the Eagle a Toyl for the Lyon a Hook for the Fish and a Spade for the Mole or when he desires to make his Soveraignty a pleasure he sends the Hawk to fetch the Hern and the Partridge the Hound to bring the Woolf the Hart and the Hare the Cormorant and the Otter to fetch the Fish and the Ferret the Coney so that they are not only submissive to his will but obey all his subordinate commands I conceive at this time the domination did not extend that they should be food for man This extravagant appetites brought into use and when they begun to make Gods of men they offered these creatures to their bellies God which were designed for sacrifices to the only true God and Creator And it is observable that the Earth and all that moveth in the Sea Air and Earth were given to mans dominion but not the Sea nor the Air nor so much as mention of Fire One Element is sufficient for us the other three have a dominion over us yet subordinate to Gods dispose and therefore why should we too much wade in their Curiosities or be troubled like Aristotle at our ignorance of them seeing they are not within our Commission The fourth Joynt Commiffion was for their sustenance and for that Cap. 1. Ver. 29. God said § 44. Behold I have given you every Herb bearing Seed and every Tree bearing Fruit to you it shall be for meat Herbs and its seed trees and their fruit in which are Comprehended all Roots afford so great varieties to please the Pallat and fill the Appetite that we need not seek for any other natriment especially under those Climats where their vertues are more excellent And when at first that food was assigned to our Forefathers it was sufficient and I conceive there was no edible use made of living Creatures but only for sacrifices till after Noah came out of the Ark and I am apt to think that God was angry with Cain not as Josephus saith for offering things extracted from the ground but for offering the fruit of the ground to God which God himself had clearly disposed off to man having appropriated beasts to be sacrifices to himself as may be collected by Abels offering of the Firstlings which was therefore so acceptable because God reserved them for himself but Cains was not accepted because they were given to man so it was a mere breach of Gods disposure We are not to cross Gods order those things which he seperates to himself ought to be devoted to him those things which he allows us are not so fit for him we are neither to rob Peter that we may be enabled to pay Paul nor to satisfy God with the fruits of our worldly imployments and omit the offering of those oblations which are more peculiar to himself But whether this was Cains offence or not I shall not dispute
and lean to fat either to supply the defect or deduct the superfluity of either beasts to beasts Fowls Fishes Trees Herbs and Stones to their kind or in the dismembring or dividing of most of these how sensibly the parts divided seem to covet and fly to a Rejunction as may be experienced in our dismembred parts but more fully in Snakes Eels Worms whose divided parts will run to each other The Experiment is more eminent in two pieces of raw Beef cut from one Beast put into a pot of water wherein adding a competent proportion of Comfrey let them boyl a while and they will close together but if the flesh be from two beasts the Comfrey will not cement them But the Demonstration is more noble in Metals of which take several pieces of Gold Brass Silver Iron Tin make them into the shape of Pins two of each sort and lay them gently upon water in a Bason and if it be carefully done they will not sink then you shall perceive that as they float they will naturally hunt about to find each its proper kind As Brass to Brass Tin to Tin c. and drawing near to their own will seem to embrace with a certain joyful violence The second observation is of water Take of that which runs through several Minerals and distil it and when the liquid part is evaporated the fixt matter that remains will lie in distinct parts according to the number of Minerals which the water hath passed through Thus our bodies like several Liquors of different weight though jumbled together will of themselves return to their due place and position and though they be promiscuously tossed and used for the present by the several contrary and oblique course of the sphears and other interposures yet the first mover once ceasing and giving stop to the rest all nature will return to a quiet harmony and every Genius to embrace its own individuals Or else I conceive that the Composition of Man in his secundary productions since his Creation being meerly compacted of variated or corrupted Elements which makes some incline to Philosophy others to Rusticity some of the disposition of Birds others of Beasts Having thus past through the whole nature of other Creatures as Trees Flies Worms Birds Beasts Earth Water Air and Fire c. All substances from whence innumerable species are derived shall at the last Conflagration or general Resurrection be dissolved into humanity to make each man more or less intelligible according to the natures of those individuals of which he hath had an ingrossment or participation Epilogue THese several Philosophical Notions support my Faith in the belief of Divine Matters If there be any man of so stedfast a faith who cares not for the use of Reason Sense or Phancy in the conceiving of these and other Mysteries I commend and admire him he may in time remove Mountains for my part God hath made me a Rational Creature and in Divine matters what cannot be comprehended by my Reason I shall implore his grace to give me faith to believe the possibility of them In the mean time I shall be humble in my Enquiry after them and if I may borrow something from Nature and from Phancy from Sence or Reason to instruct me in such Mysteries I shall not neglect them But I shall study by not knowing them to keep my Devotion For the Etymology of Phansee is no mere than I would fain see rather than to lose it by too curious a speculation My Knowledge in Nature my Phansie Sense and Reason shall be all subject to Faith not doubting but Faith will afford them all such a supernatural Light as shall be profitable to their dull constitutions The knowledge of Nature is fallible Sense Phansie and Reason may be deceived but true Faith cannot Therefore they shall always follow my Faith In which pursuit if they meet with any stop I will give them leave to stay awhile but not too long lest they lose her way her guide and her object FINIS The INDEX A. ADam pag. 149. Affections 139. Angels 154 157. Apparel 150. Appetite 138 141. Art 82. B. BAse 15. Beasts 96 130. Birds 96. Breath 13. C. CArnality 35. Cattel see Beasts Circumspection 131. Coition 156. Colours 96. Contentment 27. Creation 1 2 17 28 30. Cupidity 137. Cursing 129 133 142. D. DArkness see Light Day 49 98 see Years Death 51 98 173. Desire 137 138. Disobedience see Obedience Devil 93. Dominion 84. Dust 21 29. E. EArth 144. Eye 33. Education 158. Evil see good F. FAith 171 187. Fear 118. Felicity 153. Food 144 146 148. Fruit see Trees and Plants 102. G. GArden 26. Garments 111 God 28 52 53 112 117. Gold see Minerals 19 20 40. Good 100. H. HErbs 95 96 146. Hermaphrodite 79. Husband 140. I. INdustry 43. 152. Image 77. K. KNowledge 58. L. LAW 45. Life see Soul and Trees 54 158 172 176. Light 49. Love 108. M. MAn 9 10 20 21 29 76 79. Marriage 70 72. Messias 134. Midst 34. Minerals 34 185. Months see Years Multiplying 82. N. NAkedness 75. Names 58. Navigation 41. Necessity 138. Noses and Nostrils 24. Nothing 57. Numbers 8 14 15 16 18 19 20 36 38 52 53. O. OBedience 45 57 97 98 100 102 109 123 136 140. P. PAradise see Garden Passion 114. Patience 168. People 169. Plants see Trees 29 32 34 144. R. REason 151 187. Religion 161. Resurrection 176. Rib see Bones 16 63 65 68. Rivers 36 40. S. SAcrifice 87. Serpent 93 94 124. Sin 124 128 129 see Vertue and Vice Sleep 62. Sorrow 143. Soul 18 25 133 176. Speech 126 127. Spirit 26 31. Stones 38 40. Sweat 147. T. TEars 143. Temptation 95 96. Time see Years Trees 34 35 40 45 48. 52. 116 151. see Plants Tryals 112. V. VErtue and Vice 121. Voice 140 112. Voluptuousness 137. W. Wife 107. See Marriage and Man and Obedience Woman 55 56 57 65 69 70 80 128 135 137. See Man Y. YEars 170. FINIS