the divine LAW but of the divine OATH Such therefore is this OATH which is interwoven with the natures of Intelligent beings that they constantly adhere to their Parent and Maker and never transgress in the least the laws which he has prescribed As for that OATH which is used in the occurrences of common life it is but the transcript of this and serves to direct all those to truth who use it as they shou'd doe For it reduces the uncertainty of humane counsels to a fixt standard and determinate measure whether in words or actions Partly by clearing matters of fact and partly by securing us in things future For which cause that OATH which is first in nature is chiefly to be honour'd as the firmest guard of perpetuity and that which is of use in the affairs of life as the image of the other and that which next to the former secures constancy and truth and which imbues them with the best manners who have learnt to HONOUR it Now the honour of an OATH consists only in a free observation what in us lies of the things sworn whereby those which honour an OATH by a voluntary necessity are made conformable to the fixt and unalterable standard of the divine habit And this first and mystical Sanctity of an OATH is to be repair'd by returning to God and the breach of it is to be heal'd by purifying vertues But the sanctity of an humane OATH is upheld by civil vertues For none but those who are endow'd with them can swear as they ought in matters of common life since Wickedness the mother of Perjury affords no foundation for an OATH through the levity and instability of its manners For how can the Covetous man either in giving or receiving preserve the sanctity of an OATH How can an incontinent or timerous man persevere in his resolutions Will not each of these rather to advantage themselves throw off the reverence of an OATH and exchange divine goods for mortal and frail But those who are throughly confirm'd in the habit of vertue can easily preserve the honour of an OATH Now the best way to doe this is not to use OATHS frequently nor inconsiderately nor upon any ordinary accident nor as an accomplishment of speech nor to confirm the truth of a story but only in things necessary and of good credit and at such a time too when there appears no other remedy We shall find credit with those that hear us if we use an OATH in such a decent manner as to put it out of question that nothing is of greater value to us than truth whether we swear or not Neither does this precept of honouring an OATH forbid us Perjury only but also frequency of Swearing for if we would be free from Perjury we must be ware how we abuse OATHS Since 't is an easie matter from a common to become a false swearer On the contrary the less we use swearing the more punctual shall we be in the observation of an OATH For either we shall not swear at all or when we do we shall swear well So that neither our tongue will run before our wit through custom nor our mind be trepan'd through intemperance of passion The latter will be govern'd by vertue and the former by an habitual abstinence from swearing Moreover this reverence of an OATH is highly sutable to the honour of the Gods before treated of being the constant attendant and concomitant of Piety For the OATH was the preserver of the divine Law in the composure of the Universe Honour therefore the Law by obeying its commands and honour an OATH by declining the frequent use of it The way to learn to swear with due reverence is to bring your self to a habit of not swearing Which is of the greater importance because to swear as we ought is no small part of Piety And so much of the first kind of Excellencies and the divine Law which is the Author of Order together with the OATH consequent to this Law The next Nature which claims our honour is the Angelical of which he says THEN THE ILLUSTRIOUS HEROES Then honour Heroes which Mankind excel These are the middle sort of Intelligent beings which are seated next to the Immortal Gods and above the humane nature and so as a common term couple the first and last together These as they are next in station so ought they to be honour'd in the second place And of these also is the precept of honouring as rank'd by Law to be understood For the whole nature of honour consists in a right conception of the person honour'd whereby we may find out what is most sutable to be said or done For how can a man rightly address himself to a person whom he knows not And how can he offer them a sutable present of whose worth he is ignorant The first therefore and true honour of the ILLUSTRIOUS HEROES consists in the knowledge of their essence order action and perfection We are to honour no nature which is inferiour to our own but only those beings which have a natural preheminence and are adorn'd with a constant sublimity of vertue Now the first and best of all those which naturally excell is God the great Creator who is to be honour'd incomparably beyond all Those of the first rank in the world are they which have a steady and invariable knowledge of him and represent the divine goodness without the least soil or blemish of passion These in the Verse are call'd Immortal Gods because they never dye and never put off the divine likeness Those are of the middle degree both in nature and honour which are call'd here ILLUSTRIOUS HEROES having a constant knowledge of their Maker and shining with him in a happy life but not uniformly and unchangeably Whence they are deservedly call'd ILLUSTRIOUS HEROES ILLUSTRIOUS because they are always good and full of light and never obnoxious to evil or oblivion And HEROES from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Loves or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 listing up because they are Seraphic lovers of God and because they sublimate and raise up our minds from the animal to the divine life Sometimes they are call'd good Demons because of their great knowledge and expertness in the laws of God Sometimes Angels because they declare and make known to us the rules of a good and happy life Sometimes we make a threefold division of this middle kind calling those which constantly inhabit the heavens Angels those of the earth Heroes and those which are at equal distance from both Demons a division frequently used by Plato And some again distinguish this whole middle sort by one of these three names Angels Demons or Heroes for the reasons above mention'd Here this middle sort is distinguish'd by the Name ILLUSTRIOUS HEROES having the same respect to the first as the light has to the fire and as the child has to the parent Hence HEROES are stiled the Sons of the Gods not of
at first kindled with passion with a showr of tears Such is the whole life of an INCONSIDERATE man who by reason of contrary passions is liable to various changes He is odious in prosperity pitifull in adversity headlong in hope and dejected in fear In a word he that is void of good Counsel changes his mind with every blast of fortune Lest therefore our life should prove such a sad Tragedy by acting and speaking inconsiderately let us use right reason as our guide in all things imitating that of Socrates I can hearken to none of mine but my reason Now all that may come under the notion of ours though not of our selves which serves to the use of reason viz. Anger Desire Sense and the Body it self which is given as an instrument to these faculties none of which as he says should be follow'd but right reason that is the rational part of us when disposed according to nature For this is able to discern what is to be SAID and DONE Now to act according to the dictates of right reason is the same as to obey God For the rational nature being once rais'd to the possession of its native brightness wills and acts according to the determinations of the divine law and pleasure and the holy Soul that thus participates of the Deity becomes in every thing conformable to the mind of God and frames the whole system and comprehension of its actions by the conduct and guidance of that eternal Splendor But 't is not so with the Soul contrariwise disposed which knows not God walks in the dark and as it were at a venture being destitute of the only rule of good God and Reason So many and so great are the advantages of good Counsel Add to the other advantages of Preconsultation that it cuts off the causes of uncertain opinions recovers us to knowledge and procures us the most pleasant and best life as appears from what ensues DOE NOTHING WHICH YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND BUT LEARN WHAT IS DECENT AND SO YOU WILL LIVE THE MOST PLEASANT LIFE That which you know not do not undertake But learn what 's fit if Life you 'll pleasant make Not to attempt any thing which we are ignorant of is the only way to keep us from sinning But to learn the things which conduce to the best life does not only secure us from sin but serves to rectifie our actions For Intelligence removes all precipitancy of opinion and the possession of Science gives expediteness of action Now both these are excellent things not to be ignorant that we are ignorant and to know what we do not which is attended with the BEST and MOST PLEASANT LIFE Such is that which is freed from Opinion and replenish'd with Science when we are not puff'd up with a conceit of what we do not know but are willing to learn what is worth learning And those things alone are so which lead us to the likeness of God which make us deliberate before action that folly be not committed which will not suffer us to be seduced by any either by word or deed which qualifie us to distinguish occasional discourses which perswade us to bear mildly and to heal the divine fortune which instruct us how to undergo Death and Poverty to exercise Justice Temperance and Continence which declare to us the laws of Friendship and the honour due to Parents lastly which inform us in the true way of honouring the Superior beings These and such like are the things which the present discourse recommends to us as FIT to be learnt which are attended with the MOST PLEASANT LIFE For the vertuous man has also his pleasures but they are such as are not to be repented of and which imitate the solidity and permanency of Vertue For all pleasure is the Companion of action For it has to subsistence of its self but accompanies us in our doing such and such things Hence 't is that the worser actions are accompany'd with the worser pleasures and vertuous actions with good pleasures So that the good man does not only excel the wicked man in what is good but has also the advantage of him even in pleasure for whose sake alone he is wicked For as much as one disposition is more excellent than another so much is one pleasure more eligible than another Since then a life order'd according to the rules of Vertue and adhering to the divine likeness is truly divine but that which is spent in wickedness is brutish and without God it is plain that the pleasure of a good man imitates that divine Complacency which waits on God and heavenly minds but the pleasure of a wicked man to give them a common name for once amounts to no more than the gratification of a Sottish Appetite the entertainment of a Beast Pleasures and Sorrows are put in our reach from whose fountains whosoever draws both whence when and as much as he ought is an happy man but he that knows not the measures of these is emphatically miserable Thus therefore the life which is freed from Opinion is only void of sin but that which is well fraught with Science is happy and perfect the MOST PLEASANT AND BEST LIFE Let us never therefore doe what we KNOW NOT nor what we know when we ought not For Ignorance leads into wickedness but Knowledge seeks out a convenient season For there are many good things which by change of time become evil Let us therefore mind the order of the Precept which by restraining us from action keeps us sinless and by exhorting us to learn not all things promiscuously but only what 's FIT leads us to the most excellent actions For goodness of action does not consist barely in not sinning but in KNOWING WHAT' 's FIT the former is effected by the purgation of Opinion the latter by the presence of Knowledge But if not sinning be accounted well doing see what will accrue to you SO SHALL YOU LIVE THE MOST PLEASANT LIFE But what 's that which derives its pleasure from Vertue In which both honesty and pleasure concur If therefore what 's good and what 's pleasant be singly desirable what will they be when united He tells you THE MOST PLEASANT LIFE For he that chuses pleasure with filthiness although for a while he be sweetly entertain'd yet at last through the filthiness annex'd to his enjoyment he is brought to a painfull repentance But he that prefers Vertue with all her labours and difficulties though at first for want of use it sits heavy upon him yet by the conjunction of good he alleviates the labour and at last enjoys pure and unallai'd pleasure with his vertue For if any filthy thing be done with pleasure the pleasure is gone but the stain remains So that of necessity that life is most unhappy which is most wicked and that most pleasant which is most vertuous And so much may suffice for this But since the discipline and good usage of the Body
Vertue but the speculative makes him like God by the illumination of the mind through truth and that in reference to us lesser things should always go before greater For 't is easier to use humane life with moderation than to put it quite off which may be done by wholly converting ones self to Contemplation And besides 't is impossible to have a secure and undisturb'd possession of truth if the brutish faculties be not subjected to us by moral Vertue For since the rational Soul is of a middle nature between the pure mind and a privation of reason then only can it inseparably adhere to the mind above it when being freed from the contagion of the inferiour passions it touches them purely And that it does when it does not comply with the brutish part or mortal body but as another cares for things of another nature bestowing as much care on the body as the divine Law requires which does not permit us to throw it off but commands us to stay till God shall set us at liberty Such a Soul therefore will stand in need of a twofold Vertue Civil which subdues the brutish Appetite to inferiour things and Contemplative which unites us to the divine excellency Now of these two Vertues these Verses are the middle term This doe this think to this your heart incline is the conclusion of civil Vertue and this other This way will lead you to the life divine is the beginning of Speculative knowledge For it is declared by what follows that he who has put off the brutish life and as far as 't is possible has purifi'd himself from inordinate affections and so from a Brute is become a Man will from a Man commence a God as far as humane Nature is capable And that this is the end of Contemplative Truth appears from the high and noble conclusion of all in these Verses So when unbody'd you shall freely rove In the unbounded regions above You an Immortal God shall then commence Advanc'd beyond Mortality and Sense The holy Book shews us as we shall see anon that we shall obtain a restitution to our former state that is be Canoniz'd by the practice of the Civil Vertues and the knowledge of Truth ensuing upon it But now to return to the Verses before us we will consider whether by LABOUR MEDITATION and LOVE any other thing be meant than that we apply our selves to the exercise of Vertue with the whole Soul The Soul as rational has a threefold faculty One whereby we learn which he commands here to MEDITATE on these things Another whereby we retain what we learn which he exhorts to LABOUR in these things And lastly another whereby we embrace what we know and retain which he commands to LOVE these things That therefore we might have all the faculties of the rational nature intent upon the precepts of Vertue from that which is apt to MEDITATE he requires MEDITATION from that which is apt to retain LABOUR and from that which is apt to embrace what is excellent LOVE that by the right application of all these we may arrive to a possession and firm retention of Vertue together with an adhering love towards it which is attended with a divine hope that introduces the splendor of Truth as he promises when he says THESE WILL LEAD YOU INTO THE WAY OF THE DIVINE VERTUE That is these things will make you like God by the certain knowledge of things For by rightly considering the causes of things which are originally in God we ascend to the top of divine knowledge which is the very thing wherein our likeness to God does consist And this similitude he calls the DIVINE VERTUE as justly excelling the humane premised Let the end of the first Verses be the love of Wisedom and Honesty and upon that foundation let the knowledge of Truth be superstructed which leads us to likeness of the divine Vertue as is shewn in the ensuing discourse Furthermore he confirms the necessity of their connexion by an Oath For he swears very appositely that the thorough possession of humane vertue makes way for the divine likeness And whereas in the beginning he commanded us to dread an oath his meaning was that we should forbear it in things contingent and of uncertain issue For those things are of small moment and casual So that 't is neither just nor safe to swear in them because 't is not in our power to bring them to pass But in those things that are present of necessary connexion and of great moment 't is both safe and decent to swear For neither will the issue of the matter deceive us the things whereof we now swear being connected by the laws of Necessity neither will the low groveling nature of the matter refuse the divine Testimony For Truth and Vertue are not in men only but principally in the Gods Moreover an Oath is used in the Precept because so much honour is due to the Master of Truth as to swear by him if confirmation of Doctrine require it He thought it therefore not enough to use that solemn form He has said it unless he also swore by him that 't is so Now by swearing he at once speaks divinely of the connexion of the best habits and shews that the QUATERNARY is all one with God the Fountain of the Eternal order of things But in what manner this QUATERNARY is God you may easily find in the holy Book of Pythagoras in which God is celebrated with this title The Number of Numbers For if all things that are subsist by his eternal Counsel it is plain that Number in each species of Beings depends on the cause of them and that the first Number is with him and thence derives to us Now the finite interval of Number is 10. For he that will number farther must go back again to 1 2 and 3 till by adding the second Decad he makes 20 by adding the third 30 and so on till the tenth Decad being up he comes to an 100. In the same manner he numbers an 100 and so by repeating the interval of 10 he may proceed to infinity Now all the virtue of 10 lies in 4 for before you come to the perfection of 10 there is the same united perfection in 4. For in the composition of 1 to 4 the whole collection will amount to 10. For 1 2 3 4 make up 10. Besides 4 is the Arithmetick middle between 1 and 7. For it exceeds and is exceeded equally falling short of 7 by 3 and by 3 exceeding 1. For the properties of an Vnite and a Septenary are the most excellent of all An Vnite as the beginning of all number has the force of all virtually in it self and a Septenary being Motherless and a Virgin has secondarily the dignity of an Vnite For it is neither begotten of any number within 10 as 4 is from twice 2 6 from twice 3 8 from twice 4 9 from thrice 3 and 10 from twice 5. Neither
does it beget any within 10 as 2 does 4 as 3 does 9 and as 5 does 10. The QUATERNARY therefore being seated in the middle between unbegotten 1 and motherless 7 it partakes of the virtue of the begotten and the begetting being the only number within 10 which is begotten of and begets some number For 2 if doubled begets 4 and 4 doubled begets 8. Add to this that the first solid figure is in a QUATERNARY For a Point answers to an Vnite a Line to a Binary in that it proceeds from something to something and a Superficies to a Ternary For the most simple of all figures that consist of right lines is a Triangle But solidity is proper to the QUATERNARY For in that is the first Cone whose trianangular Basis is made by a Ternary but the top by an Vnite Besides the faculties of judging are 4 Mind Science Opinion and Sense All things that are judg'd fall under one of these in a word all things are comprised in the QUATERNARY Elements Numbers seasons of the Year and ages of Life Neither can you name any thing which does not depend upon the QUATERNARY as its root and foundation For as we said before the QUATERNARY is the Producer and Cause of the Universe the intelligible God the Author of the heavenly and sensible Gods Now the knowledge of these things was handed down to the Pythagoreans from Pythagoras himself whom the Author of these Verses closely following gives us to know that the perfection of Vertue will bring us to the splendor of Truth So that for this reason it may be said that as the Precept of honouring the Oath is peculiarly observ'd among the gods who always exist after the same manner so does he peculiarly swear in this place by the Master that deliver'd to us the QUATERNARY Who 't is confess'd was not of the number of the Immortal Gods nor of the Heroes by nature but a man adorn'd with the likeness of God and one that preserv'd the divine Image intire in his followers So that he swears by him in such great matters as these tacitly insinuating in what reverence Pythagoras was with his followers and what dignity he procured himself by the Precepts which he deliver'd The greatest of which was the knowledge of the All-productive QUATERNARY But since the first part is briefly explain'd and the second relies on a firm promise since the sacred Interpreter of the QUATERNARY is made known and also what this QUATERNARY is as far as is conducing to the present purpose come on let us proceed to what the Verse leads us shewing in the first place with what endeavour and preparation and with what assistance of the more excellent beings we may aspire to them THEN PROCEED TO YOUR WORK HAVING PRAY'D TO THE GODS THAT YOU MAY FINISH IT Then to your work having pray'd Heaven to send On what you undertake an happy end These Verses briefly comprize all that conduces to the attainment of good viz. the voluntary motion of the Soul and the assistance of God For although the election of good be in our own power yet since we have even this our power from God we stand in need of his cooperation and perfective influence For our own endeavour is like a hand held forth to receive good but the perfective influence which comes from God is the fountain which supplies us with it Our part is to seek out after that which is good and God's part to shew it to him that seeks aright Now PRAYER is the middle term between our seeking and God's giving whereby we adhere to our Maker who as he first gave us our being so can alone perfect our being Besides how can any one receive good unless God bestow it Again how can God though of his own nature never so liberally disposed give to him who has liberty of asking and yet does not That we might not therefore pray only in words but confirm our Prayers by action nor confide in our own single strength but implore the assistance of God joyning Prayer to action as Form to matter and all this that we should pray for what we endeavour and endeavour for what we pray he joyns these together SET TO YOUR WORK HAVING PRAY'D TO THE GODS THAT YOU MAY FINISH IT For we must not so undertake what is excellent as if we could go through with it on our own single strength without the assistance of God nor on the other side so satisfie our selves with bare praying as not to joyn any endeavour of our own toward the attainment of what we pray for For so either our vertue will be without God if it be possible to suppose such a thing or our Prayers will be without action The first of which takes away the nature of Vertue the latter the efficacy of Prayer For how can that be good which is not done according to the divine Law And how can that which is so done not stand in need of the assistance of God whereby it may subsist For Vertue is nothing else but the image of God upon the rational Soul Now every image wants the Prototype to support its subsistence and in vain do you endeavour to possess your self of Vertue if you refer it not to him for the sake of whose likeness you endeavour to acquire it They therefore that aspire to active vertue should use Prayer and they that pray for its attainment should also doe their endeavour This is that which makes men look up to what is divine and excellent to apply themselves to the study of Wisedom and the first cause of all good For that Quaternary the fountain of eternal Nature is the constant cause not of the being only but of the well-being of all things diffusing its innate good throughout the Universe as a pure and intelligible light which when the Soul adheres to and wipes her eyes as it were to clear her sight by the ardent desire of good she is stir'd up to Prayer and then again by the grant of her Prayer she heightens her desire joyning actions to words and confirming her good actions by divine intercourses And when she has found out the one and is illuminated by the other she does what she prays for and prays for what she does And this is the union of diligent ENDEAVOUR and PRAYER What are the effects of both we come now to consider THIS IF YOU OBSERVE YOU SHALL KNOW THE CONSTITUTION OF THE IMMORTAL GODS AND OF MORTAL MEN HOW FAR EVERY THING PROCEEDS AND WHERE IT CONSISTS This Course if you observe you shall know then The Constitution both of Gods and Men The due extent of all things you shall see In the first place he promises that those who so demean themselves shall obtain the knowledge of God and of all things which subsist by the sacred Quaternary together with the distinction of them according to their kinds and their union in making up one World For the word CONSTITUTION here
under the Name of IVPITER For 't is a just thing that he shou'd be named from his power from whom all things receive both being and life For the truly proper name of God is that which is sutable to his power and works But as for those names which seem to us proper they are rather casual and arbitrary than accommodated to the propriety of essences as is to be seen in many names which are quite remote from the nature of the things as when a man of an ill life is call'd good or one of Atheistical principles Pious Such as these have not the true nature of Names because they do not at all carry in them the Essence or Operation of those things which they are intended to signifie We should therefore seek the true reason of Names in things Eternal and of these in things Divine and of things divine in the best of them Whence it comes to pass that the Name IVPITER carries in the very word a Symbol and Image of the All-producing nature since the first Imposers of Names by their exceeding great wisedom as so many expert Statuaries express'd the virtues of things by their names as by Images For they made Names the symbols of their conceptions and their conceptions declarative of what they conceiv'd For when dwelling upon intelligible Objects they abounded with Contemplation and growing pregnant were deliver'd of their thoughts by the Midwifery of words they gave such names to things which by the very sound and the letters used in the pronunciation should express the forms of the things named and convert the attentive Hearers to their essences So that what was the end of their contemplation is to us the beginning of obtaining the knowledge of things Thus before the Maker of the Universe was call'd the Quaternary and now FATHER IVPITER for the reasons already mention'd But that which this present Prayer desires of him he is ready to bestow on all by his goodness but 't is our part to receive what he is always ready to give For 't was said before Then to your Work having pray'd to heaven to send On what you undertake an happy end Implying that God is always disposed to give what is good but that we then only receive it when we attend upon the divine Bounty For 't is inconsistent with the liberty of our wills that good should be obtruded upon us whether we will or no. Now all good is either Truth or Vertue both which constantly and uniformly shine forth upon all from the All-producing nature The Prayer also desires in order to the necessary freedom from evil that we may see the dignity of our own essence for this he means by the Phrase WHAT DEMON THEY USE which is the Soul By this conversion to our selves we are assured of these two necessary consequences a freedom from evil and a discovery of those things which God holds forth to us as means whereby we may obtain happiness The Prayer therefore proceeds on a supposition That if all did but know who they are and WHAT DEMON THEY USE they would all be freed from evil But this will never be For 't is impossible that all should at once embrace the study of wisedom and lay hold on those good things which God always offers towards the perfection of an happy life What therefore remains but that they only be of GOOD CHEAR who advance to that knowledge which shews our own proper good For it is certain that they only shall be freed from the evils which are rivetted into the mortal nature since they only apply'd themselves to the contemplation of things truly good And these are worthy to be inserted among the DIVINE KINDRED as persons taught by SACRED NATURE that is Philosophy and well exercised in their duty Now if we are at all interested in the society of divine men we shall shew it by applying our selves to honest actions and intellectual disciplines by which alone the Soul of Man is heal'd freed from terrestrial labours and translated into the divine order In short therefore this is the sense of the Verses in hand They that know themselves are freed from mortal passions Why then are not all freed since all are sufficiently assisted with the opportunities of knowing themselves from their inbred Notices Because the greatest part of men as he says embrace evils of their own accord since they neither see nor hear neighbouring good But there are some few who for this reason know how to free themselves from evil because they know what DEMON THEY USE And they are such as have purged themselves from brutish passions by the help of Philosophy and deliver'd themselves from the bodily Mansion as from a Prison How therefore does he say to IVPITER either FREE US ALL FROM SO GREAT EVILS OR DISCOVER TO ALL WHAT DEMON THEY USE Does he thereby imply that though 't is in his power to turn all men to the truth even against their wills yet he does it not either through neglect or out of design that they may still be held fast by their chains No 't is Impious to think so This is rather the import of the Prayer That we ought to turn our selves to God as to our Father who furthers us in the way to happiness For God indeed is the Creator of all men but of good men he is also a Father He therefore that knows how to free himself from evil and not only so but has actually done it and by a voluntary flight has avoided the pernicious Contention he it is that imploring a competent measure of the divine assistance cries out O FATHER IVPITER For he calls God Father on this only ground because he has already perform'd the part of a Son Then he concludes from his own case that if all did the same all would be likewise freed from evil as well as himself Afterwards observing that the contrary happen'd not through any fault of God but through the perverseness of the most who embrace evils of their own accord he says to himself BUT BE THOU OF GOOD CHEAR who hast found out the way to free thy self from evil And that was by applying himself to those things which God had shewn to him by the help of sacred Philosophy Which things pass unobserv'd by many because they do not rightly improve those common notions which our Maker has imprinted upon rational beings as a mark to lead us to the knowledge of himself Since therefore that any thing be SHEWN to any one 't is necessary that the actions of two persons concur for how can you shew what you have a mind to to a blind man although you offer it to him a thousand times or how can you shew to one that sees if you offer nothing to his sight both these must be present some good proposed by him that shews and an eye capable of seeing in him to whom it is to be shewn so that from a visible object and a faculty
Lucid body should be refined and spiritualized that it may endure the society of the Aethereal ones For likeness reconciles all things whereas by unlikeness things that are never so near in respect of place are yet separate from one another This is the measure of the most perfect Philosophy deliver'd by the Pythagoreans which is peculiarly adapted to the perfection of the whole man For he that takes care only for his Soul and neglects his body does not purge the whole Man Again he that thinks it his duty to care for the body without the Soul and that the care of the body will any thing advantage the Soul though it be not purged in particular does ill in that But he that follows both these courses does excellently well and so joyns Philosophy with the Sacred art whose business is to purge the Lucid body which if you separate from the Philosophical mind you will find it has no longer the same vertue For of those things which consummate our perfection some are first invented by the Philosophical mind some are added by the mystical operation which follows the Philosophical mind Now by the Mystical Operation I understand the faculty of purging the Lucid body So that the Contemplative part presides over all Philosophy as a mind and the Practick follows as a faculty Now of the Practick we lay down two kinds Civil and Mystical The former purges us from the brute Nature by the help of Vertue the latter by holy Methods cuts off material Imaginations Moreover the publick Laws are a sufficient manifestation of Civil Philosophy but of the Mystical the sacred Rites of Cities Besides the top of all Philosophy is the Contemplative mind in the middle place is the Civil in the last is the Mystical The first if compared with the other two holds the proportion of an Eye the other two compared with the first of an Hand and a Foot All which have such connexion with and dependence on one another that any one of them would be defective yea almost useless if destitute of the others concurrence Wherefore these must unite together in one constellation that knowledge which finds out Truth that faculty which brings forth Vertue and that which works Purity that civil action may be made perfectly conformable to the presiding mind and that good may shine forth answerable to both And this is the end of the Pythagorick discipline that we may be all over Wing for the perception of divine good that so when the time of death is at hand leaving our mortal body behind us on the earth and putting off its very Nature we who were stout Champions in the warfare of Philosophy may be ready and expedite for our flight towards heaven For then we shall be restored to our primitive station and become Gods as far as humane nature is capable as 't is assured us in the next Verses BUT IF HAVING LEFT YOUR BODY YOU COME INTO THE FREE AETHER YOU SHALL BE AN IMMORTAL GOD INCORRUPTIBLE NEVER MORE LYABLE TO DEATH So when unbody'd you shall freely rove In the unbounded Regions above You an Immortal God shall then commence Advanc'd beyond Mortality and Sense This is the most excellent end of all our labours This says Plato is the great Prize the great Hope This is the most perfect fruit and reward of Philosophy This is the greatest work of the Amorous and Mystical art viz. to familiarize us and lead us up to the things that are truly excellent to rescue us from the labours we drudge under here below as from the deep dungeon of this gross material life to mount us up to the AETHEREAL Splendors and to place us in the Mansions of the blessed if we have walk'd according to the foregoing rules For such only have a title to the Crown of divine Immortality Since no man is capable of being adopted into the number of the Gods but he that has possess'd his Soul of Truth and Vertue and its spiritual Vehicle of Purity For so being sound and intire he is restored to the form of the primitive habit having return'd home to himself by the collection of right reasonings having consider'd the frame of the divine Ornament and so found out the Maker of the Universe And when he is become that as far as 't is possible after Purgation which those beings are always who are not in a capacity to be born he is carry'd up to a God by his knowledge but withall having a body Congenial to him he wants place wherein he may seat himself as a Star Now for such a body that place is most proper which is immediately under the Moon as being above the Corruptible and yet inferior to the Celestial bodies which the Pythagoreans call the FREE AETHER Aether because immaterial and Eternal Free because void of all material passions and terrestrial hurries What therefore shall he be when he arrives thither but that which he says YOU SHALL BE AN IMMORTAL GOD that is like the Immortal Gods spoken of in the beginning of the Verses not really so For how is it possible that he who is Deifi'd for a gradual proficiency in Vertue begun at some certain time should ever be really the same with them who were so from Eternity And this appears from the sequel For to these words YOU SHALL BE AN IMMORTAL GOD he adds INCORRUPTIBLE AND NEVER MORE LIABLE TO DEATH Intimating that our Deifying consists in the removal of what is Mortal and that we are not Gods by nature or essence but by proficiency and improvement So that this makes another sort of Gods Immortal by ascent but by descent Mortal and such as are necessarily subordinate to the Illustrious Heroes since these always behold the face of God whereas the other sometimes do not attend to his perfections For it will not be properly a third kind when perfected nor will it be third in respect of the middle but it will be made like to the first kind yet subordinate to the middle For that habitual resemblance of the Celestial which is seen in men does preexist in the Heroical kind after a more perfect and native manner And thus the common and only perfection of all rational beings consists in their resemblance of God that made them Now this resemblance is constant and uniform in the Celestial beings constant only and not uniform in those Aethereal ones which persevere but neither constant nor uniform in those Aethereal beings which fall down and are apt to converse here upon earth This first and best resemblance of God may be well enough call'd the Pattern of the second and third or else the second of the third For 't is not intended only that we should propose God immediately to our imitation but resemble him also by the best rule or middle likeness But if we cannot attain so far yet at least we reap this most excellent fruit of Vertue that we know the measure of our own nature and that we are not dissatisfi'd at it And this is the highest Vertue to contain ones self within the limits of the Creation whereby all things are specifically distinguish'd and to comply with the laws of Providence whereby all things according to their several capacities are directed to that good which is agreeable and convenient for them And thus have we finish'd our Exposition of the GOLDEN Verses wherein we have given you an indifferent Summary of the Pythagorick Institutions For 't was fit that we should neither confine our Paraphrase to the shortness of the Verses For so the reason of many excellent Precepts would have lain hid nor yet launch out into the Ocean of his whole Philosophy for that were to exceed the limits of our present undertaking but proportion our Comment to the sense of the Text and deliver only those things which serve to a general Explication of the doctrines contain'd in the Verses Which are nothing else but the most perfect transcript of Philosophy a Compendium of its most principal doctrines and an Elementary Institution left to Posterity by those who following the law of God were receiv'd up into Heaven You may truly call these Verses the best discovery of humane generosity and with reason suppose that they were not the memorable Sayings of any one Pythagorean but the common Resolve of the whole Sacred Assembly Whence 't was a law among them that these Verses like so many Pythagorick Oracles should be repeated in the hearing of all every Morning and also at Evening just before Bed-time that so by a continual Meditation of these sentences their Doctrines might shine forth in their lives Which 't were well if we did doe too that we might see what profit we might at length reap from them FINIS