Created Spirits or Lights which do consist not only of a Fiery but also of a Spiritual-watry Substance as shall be shewed in the Chapter of the Life or of the Soul And Deut. 4.24 Hebrews 12.29 The Lord your God is a consuming Fire and many times when God appeared to his People it was in a Fire or Light § 48. We shall as we go along discover our Thoughts why God is said sometimes to be a Light and sometimes to be a Fire and leave them to the further consideration of the Reader We shall every where find that where God is said to be a Fire he is represented as a Judge executing Punishment and on the contrary that he is called a Light where he displays his Grace Favour and Mercy by which Grace man is saved And thus God can be both a Light and a Fire a Light to them which purify their Hearts and that have put on the new Man and so are capable of enjoying of Gods presence by vertue of the Spiritual Fellowship which they have with their God Whereas on the Contrary he is a Fire to those which have not mortifyed the old Man or their flesh so that their impurity to wit their Carnal corruption cannot stand before the pure and clean Divine Fire But that we may shew this yet more plainly even in Nature it self we must consider that one and the same Fire is to some Subjects and in some respects a consuming Fire and to others not so nor able to do the least dammage to them as is most manifest in the imperfect Metals which are consumed in the Fire whereas on the contrary the perfect Metals as Gold and Silver are not in the least to be consumed by fire so that the fire with respect to Gold and Silver is properly no fire to wit no fire that consumes them or burns them as it does burn the imperfect and impure Metals § 49. Therefore from the Description which the Holy Scriptures give us of the Being of God it is evident that it is a Light and a Fire § 50 Seing then the Being of God is a Light and that man is Created after the Image of God it must needs follow that this Image in man is also a Light for as is said § 45. because the Divine being is a Spirit which has no outward shape or form the Image must needs also be a Spirit and such a Spirit as bears resemblance to that which it represents to wit it must be a Light as God is a Light § 51. Now that the Image of God or Spirit of the mind as it s called Eph. 4. consists in an inward Light the Holy Scripture teaches us for he that putteth on the new Man which is Created after God and who is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that Created him Col. 2.10 is said Eph. 5.8 To be Light in the Lord ye were sometimes Darkness but now are ye Light Col. 1.12 which has made us meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light And that inheritance saith the Apostle is the Light this Light saith the Psalmist Ps 97.11 is sown for the Righteous and Ps 112.4 unto the upright there ariseth Light in the Darkness And thus are the Faithful said to be Children of the Light 1 Thes 1.5 § 52. But that it may yet further appear that the Image of God is Light which Image or Light they receive who do mortify their flesh with the Lusts thereof it will be needful to enquire into the properties or Nature of the Image of God and of that Light which is given to the Faithful that so it may farther appear from the consonant properties thereof that the Image of God is a Light and even that very same Light which the Faithful do receive § 53. When God had Created man after his Image it is written Gen. 1.26 And let them have Dominion over the Fish of the Sea and over the Fowls of the Aire and over the Cattle and over all the Earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the Earth From whence it is evident that the Image of God makes men meet to Rule over the whole Earth And thus also it is said of the Faithful Ps 25.13 That his seed shall inherit the Earth and Psal 37.11 The meek shall inherit the Earth which is again repeated Mat. 5.5 Now what is it to possess the Earth but to be Lord and Master of it as it is the Right of an Heir to be And Mark 9.23 Our Saviour says If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth and what he meant by all things our Saviour shews at large Mark 16.17 18. And these Signs shall follow them that believe in my name shall they cast out Devils they shall speak with new Tongues they shall take up Serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover And Luke 10.20 The Spirit are subject to you and such other places which do evidently shew us that the faithful that have received the Light have the same Power as Man had before he lost the Image of God § 54. And as Man that was Created after the Image of God had Power to fill the earth and to subdue it Gen. 1.28 So those that have received the Spirit or Light are said to mortify and subdue their Flesh that is the Earthly part and to make it Spiritual Rom. 6.6 Knowing this that our old man is Crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed But it is more properly rendered weakned or impeded in its working And Rom. 8.11 12 13. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you Therefore Brethren we are Debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh for if ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the Body ye shall live And Gal. 5.24 And they that are Christs have Crucified the flâ—sh with the Lusts And this is treated of at Large Eph. 4. Col. 3. c. § 55. Now before man had sinned while the Image of God yet shined in his inward parts how great Wisdom and Knowledge in all things did attend him continually It must needs have at least been such that he did not only see through the external Objects the frame of things but also must have had knowledge of their most inward state to wit of the Spirit or Life of every thing because he understood how to give Names to all things according to their Natures Gen. 2.19 And when the Lord God had formed out of the Ground every Beast of the field and every Fowle of the Aire he brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them and whatsoever Adam called every living Creature that was the name thereof Now he
essentially exist before they be corporeally wrought out will be forced to assent to the opinion of the former as not having any thing to oppose against it because setting this Truth aside that all things have always been essentially in God there is not the least proof to be given of the truth of Prophesies and Apparitions § 15. And because all things are continually present to God this most perfect Being must also needs be Omniscient that is God knows when and at what time all things that are hid shall be revealed because being the Original of all things as shall be proved § 17. and having all things present with him according to § 14. he knows when this or that thing shall in the order that he has establisht in all things be bodily wrought forth that is when it shall bodily appear or be acted in the Body for of such things as are to be done in the body it is that we now speak Yea it is altogether impossible that any man can have any the least Notion or Idea of the signification of Omniscience if he does not presuppose that all things are always present to God and to speak yet plainer it is impossible that God can be Ominiscient if all things be not present to him For I pray what is it to know a thing but to comprehend it And we must needs have the Idea or being of what we do comprehend and hence it is that he that has no Idea or Image of a thing does not truly apprehend it For as much then as the knowledge of a thing consists in the having and Idea thereof and that the Ideas are Spiritual Beings as is proved in the Considerations of B. Van Helmont upon Man c. § 44.45 it follows because God has in him the Ideas or that which is essential of all things which are always present to him that he must needs be also Omniscient But it will be said that knowledge in God is not so as it is in man because God has all knowledge from himself and comprehends all things so as they shall be when they shall begin to appear in the Creation whereas on the contrary Men must receive their Ideas from without from the things themselves which do give forth their Ideas or Images In us and therefore the Omniscience of God cannot be likened to the knowledge of Man But this Objection says nothing against what we have advanced For we say not that the knowledge of God is to be likened to the knowledge of Man but that Gods knowledge is knowledge and that all knowledge infers an Idea of the thing known or which we comprehend As for Example no man can know what a Tree or Beast or such like is unless he has the Idea or Image of that thing in him The difference then betwixt Gods knowledge and our knowledge consists herein that we cannot frame any Idea of any thing but what the things themselves gives forth so that the knowledge of the Creatures is stirred up in us and hence it is that no man can form in himself and Idea or Image of anything that he has never seen But it is not thus with the knowledge of God but the quite contrary to wit That God stands in need of nothing to acquire the knowledge thereof because he being the Original of all things as shall be proved in the next § and wanting nothing but on the contrary enjoying all Perfections according to § 11. produceth all things and is the Author of them So that the difference betwixt Gods and Mans knowledge is this that men are passive that is they cannot know nor work any Idea of any thing unto themselves but must receive it from without whereas on the contrary the most perfect Being is active that is it wants no knowledge from without but knows all things from or of himself So that hence it may be easily enough understood that we do not liken the knowledge of God unto Mans knowledge but do assert an infinite distance betwixt the one and the other But this is not the main Business that we properly aim at here to wit what Gods knowledge is and how men come by the knowledge they have But the question here is what is knowledge And we have shewed that all knowledge or comprehension if it be true knowledge includes in it an Idea or figure of the thing which we comprehend or else it is no knowledge of the thing as it is but only that such a thing is as by Example we know indeed that God is but we know not what manner of being he is that is we have no Idea in us of his Being as is proved § 2.3 But here we speak not properly of such a thing as of which we can have no Idea but of things which fall under perception and Comprehension For we treat here of the Being of God which is greater than all Created things and therefore his Omniscience must needs comprehend the knowledge or comprehension of all things so as things shall be created And therefore we are only to consider here that knowledge which contains only the Idea or being of the thing known which knowledge must needs be in the most perfect being viz. that it has in it self the Ideas of all things so as they shall be created or else God could not be Omniscient that is he could not comprehend all things are not a meer nothing as has been shewed already nor cannot be nothing Because in God there cannot be nothing but must all be actually and essentially according to his perfection whence then follows beyond all contradictions that God had all things essentially in him before the Creation and that he can in no wise be Omniscient but by having the Ideas or that which is essential of all things in him and consequently that all things did not then first obtain their Beings in their Creation but were all before the Creation essentially in God § 16. This most perfect Being then being thus Omniscient that all things are present to him it must needs be the Original of all Created things because he that has all things present that is he that comprehends all things is greater than the things that are present to him that is that are comprehended in or by him Now these things that are always present to God do shew their deficiency and want of power to keep themselves always in the same condition because they continually change Now for as much as they do not uphold themselves they cannot possibly be the cause of their own Being because he that is the cause of his own Being must needs have the Power of having been always the cause of his own being and consequently he must be able to preserve himself in the same state Now for as much as no Creature has the power of Conserving it self in the same frame it follows that some other must be the cause of its being and he that is the cause
Nerves of Motion and thence through the Nerves are conveighed to the Right hand which may be accounted the Male Hand which hath five Fingers and also the like to the left or Female Hand to Work out all which together make ten and if we add to the former this other further Consideration viz. That the same may be said of the two Feet whose ten Toes added to the Hands ten Fingers make up twenty which hereafter is proved to be the compleat Working out of a Man he then becoming Ripe to bear Fruits or to beget and bring forth Children so as his Feet correspond to the Rootes and his Hands to the Branches And therefore hath no more then ten Fingers wherewith to effect and Work out their ten Properties or Powers as it appears in a Woman big with Child who upon some Fright or put into any other Passion doth there form on that very part of her Childs Body some strange live Impression of some external thing by an effective application of her own hand upon that very part of her own Body And forasmuch as man consisteth of ten Powers or Faculties therefore also ten Commandments have been given to him to observe according to that in Eccles ch 12. v. 13. Let us hear the Conclusion of the Matter Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole Man This very Text of Holy Scripture the Jews do make to be the Summary or chief Head of their whole Talmud Quest 16. How may this be further explained Answ Thus viz. Children must remain in the Womb of their Mothers for to attain or get by the influence or Government of the Moon over the Monthly Courses a perfect Body in the space of ten Lunary Months which consists of 40 Weeks And seeing that Man is made of the ten Lunary Operations That is the reason why when a Man doth Govern himself perversely and to his utmost power doth tye himself too much to his own Will and Fancy he becomes Lunatick or Mad and is then wholly under the Governing Rule of the Moon Quest 17. If the Terme of Mans life was appointed to be a thousand Years how then comes it to pass that Adam lived but 930. Years Answ The reason was because of his Fall or Sin And it became manifested in Cain why Adam finished not his thousand Years Seventy of them being wanting which number Seventy consists of ten times seven which was that vengeance that should be taken on any one that should kill Cain Quest 18. Why had Adam by his wife two Sons at one Birth neither more nor less as Gen. 4.1 2. doth shew Answ The reason seems to be this because Adam had been in two different States Conditions or Beings before that he knew Eve The one was antecedent to his Fall the other was after it For which reason she was to conceive Twins he knowing of her but once as appears by the Text whereof in the order of Nature the eldest must be born last and the first Born last conceived which is confirmed and made plain in that of Gen. 38. v. 27 28 29 30. Both in the Words and Action of Tamars Midwife and the red Threed used by her as it is there mentioned at large Quest 19. Why was Adam 130 Years of Age when he knew his Wife a second time and she brought forth Seth as it is in Gen. 4.25 and Ch. 5. v. 3. Answ May not this be supposed to be the Reason Because this was the full time of Cains being Seven-fold avenged by Lamech who had slain him so that then he was not longer the keeper of his Brother Abel when Lamech with great earnestness declared to his Wives The Revolution of Humane Souls saying Gen. 4. v. 23. Hear my Voice ye Wives of Lamech for I have slain a man to wounding and a Young man by Sodomy if the place in the Original be truly Interpreted Also this Number of 7. may be taken in the manner as were the 20 Years in which the Young men were appointed to serve in the Temple as it is in Chron. 23. v. 24 27. to the end Also in the manner of those who were to go out to War as in Num. Ch. 1. v. 3 18 20 22 24. c. To which if we allow to add about one Year and a half after they were married for the bringing forth of Children we shall find that the Number of 6 times 21 Years and a half will make 129 Years and then if we further allow one year more to Adam who was Created a perfect man and who had therefore no need to stay till he was twenty Years of Age before he begat Children Adams Years will be found to amount to 130. in which Cain was 7 times avenged that is he passed through 7 such Lives each containing 21 ½ Years And as the 130 Years of Adam make up the time of Cains Vengeance So the Number of Lamechs Vengeance viz. 77 times 21 ½ of Years will have for their Product the time from Adam to the Flood viz. 1656. with a small allowance of half a Year only Quest 20. Must not all men as to their peculiar individualities receives and keep their whole and perfect Essence and a continual descending flux of Generation from Adam and Eve as being parts of them Answ Yes for otherwise could those parts be taken away lost and Annihilated there would be remaing not so much as one single Man Quest 21. Whether in the first Man Adam were all men Created and comprehended in an infinite Number Answ No This could not be so for many reasons which might be given but let this one serve viz. Because had it been so then the World could never have come to an end in its out-working and Adam would have been an unchangeable Being which could never have died Quest 22. Whether all those men whom we find are born with one or more defects either in Body Mind or Both were so Created at first in Adam Answ No this cannot be admitted because if it were so Men could not be the cause of their own defects but the Creator should have been the cause of them which to suppose is altogether absurd and impossible Because he is all good Wise and just and could not be the cause of these the Defects of men viz. To make them to be Fools Blind Deaf Sickly Lame Criples Churlish Cruel and ill natured to be Monsters and Abortives c. which have a true and right beginning but are never brought to perfection Quest 23. Whether all men who were Created in Adam had not given them to have knowledge and free-will viz. To do that which is good and to forbear that which is Evil Answ This also cannot be denied by any rational man for many Reason needless to be recounted here Quest 24. Whether Adam and his posterity were not to live and abide so long till they had by Generation propagated and produced all those who were Created in him