have the first Hour of the following Day and so that Day shall take his name of that Planet As for Example suppose this day were their Sunday Sol Venus Mercury Luna Saturn Jupiter Mars S. V. M. L. Sat. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. J. M. S. V. M. L. S. J. M. S. V. M. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. Luna therefore followeth whence they call the second Day of the Week Monday Munday or rather Moon-day as if it were Moons day from this ancient Ethnick Custom of ascribing all the Days of the Week to some Idol God or Planet When the most Ancient Germans were Pagans they appropriated the next Day unto Sunday to the special adoration of the Moon who was the next Idol according to the course of the Days of the Week before mentioned Hence in Teutonick High Dutch or the German Tongue it is called Der Montag from Mon the Moon and Tag a Day and in Belgick or Low Dutch Maendach often Maendagh from Dagh a Day and Maene the Moon In French Lundy Lundi jour Lunaire In Italian Lunedi In Spanish El lunes In Latin Dies lunae and in English Monday The third Day is the Day of Mars as it is named in divers Languages as in Latin in Spanish in Italian in French in British or Welch and in Greek they make this Planet Mars to be the God of battel and of strife contention debate controversie whence the High Dutch and German Tongue now calls it Dinstag and the Belgick or Low Dutch Dijnsdagh Diissen dagh Drings dagh from Dring contention or strife and Dagh a Day because they dedicate this Day of the Week to contention and strife In English it is commonly called Tuesday of Tuisco who as they affirm was chief Leader and Ruler of the German Nation from the Tower of Babel who in honour of him after his death called this Day Tuistag that is Tuisco his Day And likewise after his name they do in their own Tongue call themselves Tuytcsh and their Contry of Germany Tuyteshland as also the Netherlands using herein the D for the T do make it Duytesh and Duytesh-landt Hence in Latin they are called Tuiscones and Teutones and their Tongue Lingua Teutonica and all of Tuisco or Tuisto as Tacitus calleth him In English it is commonly named Tuesday having retained the meaning of the German denomination The Fourth Day they call the Day of Mercury in Latin in British or Welch in Greek and in other Languages in English they name it Wedensday or Wensday in Belgick or Low Dutch Woensdagh or Wodensdagh or Godes-dagh for so they called Mercuries Day as if it were Gods Day Wodans or Godans Day or as Verstegan willeth that Woden was among the Ancient Germans and Saxous a most valiant and victorious Prince and Captain and his Idol or Image was after her death honoured praised and sacrificed unto that by his aid and furtherance they might also obtain Victory over his Enemies which when they had obtained they sacrificed such prisoners as in that battel they had taken and from his Name this word Woden in their Tongue signifieth fierce furious As in English when one is in a rage we sometims say he is Wood or he taketh on as if he were Wood so of this name Woden whom after his death they honoured as a God came this name Wednesday instead of Wodensday The fifth Day they name the Day of Jupiter or of Jove in Latin in British or Welch in Greek and some other Languages which Day they consecrated to their God Jupiter or Jove as that Planet which they supposed had dominion over this day In English it is commonly bur corruptly called Thursday of Thor a name of an Idol which the ancient Germans did worship and Day a Day by them dedicated to this Idol In Belgick or Low Dutch Donder-dagh the Day of the Thunderer from Donder Thunder and Dagh a Day to which agreeth the Teutonick High Dutch or German Tongue doth agree Donners tag that is the Day of the Thunderer for the Latins do call Jove the Thundring one This Idol Thor wore on his head a Crown of Gold and round about were set or fixed twelve bright burnished golden Stars for they were perswaded that being displeased he did cause Lightning and Thunder The sixth Day of the Week they called the Day of Venus in French Italian and Spanish from the Latin In English Friday so in the Saxon Tongue the High and the Low Dutch from Friga an Idol of the Germans This Idol represented both Sexes as well men as woman and as an Hermaphrodite but more of the Female She was reputed the giver of peace and of plenty as also the causer and maker of Love and Amity out of which it appeareth that Friga was the Goddess which the Romans and other called Venus The Seventh day is named by the Ethnicks the Day of Saturn so in Latin because they supposed that the Planet Saturn did chalenge to himself the Dominion of this Day So in English Saterday or Saturday as if Saturns Day in Low Dutch Sater dagh from Seater an Idol of the Germans lean of Visage having long Hair and a long Beard and was bare headed and bare-footed In his left hand he had a Wheel and in his right he carried a Pail of Water wherein were Flowers and Fruits In Low Dutch this Seventh-day is called Rust-dagh from Rust Rest and Dag a Day the Day of Rest In English French Italian Spanish Portuguez Latin Greek and Hebrew it has its right Name Sabbath the Day of holy Rest and it would be one good means of reviving and of restoring the weekly seventh-day-Seventh-day-Sabbath if it had its true name still given it And it is observable that in one place of Scripture where the LORD hath expresly forbidden the mentioning of the names of other Gods there immediately before he doth direct and lead us to the proper name of this Day the Seventh-day and a Day of Rest a Sabbath Day and so should the other foregoing six Days of the Week be called by their own Scripture names When a Reformation is throughed according to the Word amongst other Idolatries and superstitions those of Ethnick Names of Days and of Months amongst others must and shall dawn This Heathenish Anti-christian defilement has also brought in polluted Names amongst the Months The Romans appointed the beginning of the year to be the Calends of January because on the first Day of this Month their Consuls were first created when that Government was set up amongst them and from thence from that time it was a solemn day for the New-years gifts c. then also they did sacrifice for luck or for fortunes sake as they Paganishly do phrase it what they were to do the whole year and they were wont to send some sweets as dry Figs and the like as a good omen to one another This Month is called from
a vain daring boldness for a worm-man to assert that the seventh-Seventh-day is not the Sabbath of Jehovah thy God and thou mayst do work therein when this great Lawgiving King of kings and LORD of Lords doth so expresly affirm and command the Seventh-day is the Sabbath of Jehovah thy God thou shalt not do any work When men will use more faithfulness and diligence to be better skilled in the literal significancy of the Original Language they will see cause to admire the Wisdom of Aelohim who has so self-evidencingly put things into words especially in these two parts of Scripture the History of the Creation and the Law of the ten words The vain affectation of Humane Wisdom which doth thrust upon the credulity of so many a Doctrine of probabilities concerning the works of Creation and Natural Things from Anti-Christian and unscriptural Philosophy but is not according to Christ and to his Word is such a deceitful way of false reasoning as makes a prey of Souls and is carefully to be avoided and is but falsly named Science THose who take the Holy Spirit to be their Leader and Conducter and the Holy Scriptures to be their Rule and their way may upon due search discover this The smooth-tongued Orators the deceitful Sophisters the vain Philosophers of this World they their Sayings and Writings are not a firm ground for a believing Disciple of Christ to bottom his Faith upon for as much as they are but slightly superficial and scarce likely's the ground-work of their Learning being but Humane Fiction and self-conceited imagination such a Doctrine of Probabilities as we are cautioned against That Philosophy and Wisdom which is derived from the Invention and Tradition of fallible men and is according to the Elements of this World and not according to Christ is a spurious wisdom not to be owned by the followers of Christ what a many of the Questions and Disputations in Ethnick Philosophy is there about Elements which the Scripture doth speak expresly at and against That Wisdom which is a worldly humanely-invented wisdom is judged by the Scriptures of Truth to be a terrene wisdom suited to the earthly designs of covetous worldlings to be animal fitted to the voluptuous Arts of sensual Souls and to be devilish framed to the proud Models of ambitious Climbers This corrupt wisdom is mischievous in the bad Fruits and the evil effects thereof how prone to quarrelsome litigiousness how contradictingly opposing of the Truth how impudently immodest how headstrongly inswasible how devoid of good Fruit how full of emulating disputes of fallacious brables of over-reaching controvertings observe in experience and see and say whether it doth not puff men up making them sick about Questions about strifes of words about verbal distinctions when every word almost in a debate is wrested and wryed to a multiplicity of meanings and a variety of senses about which they would endlesly cavil and craftily equivocate from whence have started up so many Sects in Philosophy and thereby in Theology too teaching another Doctrine and they who teach this do not come up to the wholesome words of our LORD Jesus Christ and to the Doctrine which is according to right Worship from such are Christ's Disciples to withdraw their unscripturally-curious concertations and their empty unprofitable disputations do shew a corrupt mind and do bewray a devoidness of Truth Heathenish Philosophy would turn men aside from Christ who is the true full essential Wisdom and from his instituted Worship unto carnal reasonings and a corrupt service Paul's manner of arguing in these Cases was from the true sound knowledge of Created Beings and of Natural Things Thus he convinced the Athenian Philosophers who generally counted Word-learning to be but verbal-babling and a proclaiming of new Demons or Devils and he expresly declareth against Greekish-Ethnick-Philosophers The Epicurean and Stoick Philosophers were some of the most violent opposers of and subtil adversaries against the Christian Doctrine and what shall rising Graduates in Christian Academies as they grow new and further proficients in Learning be still sworn unto the words of these Pagan Magistralists What can we expect from mere Animal or Physical men but a worldly Wisdom and humane Learning that which is foolishness whilst themselves are foolish the foolishness as these men do miscount it of God is wiser it is their animality and want of spirituality that doth put them upon mis-judging of this to be foolishness The Grecanical wise men are much in searching after that wisdom which doth chiefly consist in speculation or contemplation the wisdom of the incredulous Jews is more conversant about visible signs and ocular demonstrations for without such sensible confirmations as these they will not believe though multitudes of them in the days of Christ and of his Apostles did still continue infidels in the very face of miraculous attests Both these Wisdoms are distinguished and divided from that Wisdom which is of God whose Foundations is Jesus Christ and his Word the Disciples of Christ especially those of them who are in the office of the Ministery are to keep the depositum of sound Scripture-doctrine they are actually to be averse from profane clamours about empty vanities which do affix unto words such a sense as is wholly alien from their true proper significancy and which by sophistical School-distinctions do keep wrangling about Phrases to pervert their plain right meaning and do wrest some Scriptures they understand not wrongfully accommodating them to maintain some Error or to defend some Vice There have been such as have boasted much of their profound knowledge this way who have both themselves erred from the scope concerning the Faith and have misled others also It is a false assertion to affirm this or that is true in Philosophy though in Scripture it be found otherwise For if Scripture-truth do contradict it then that which is so contradicted is not a truth but an error however Philosophy miscal it true introduced by the Father of lies Where any Philosopher did assert any thing about the Creation according to the Truth there they had it either from the Word or by their outward Observation and experience from Senses agreable to the Word some of them either had the knowledge of God's Word and did read the first Books of Scripture or at least had some traditionary Records of them and did read them If that be indeed so which some whom I have met with have affirmed that those Books at least some of them which those Believers and Converts did burn in that part of the History of the Arts of the Apostles were the Books of Ethnick Philosophy such as the Heathens Logick Dialectick Grammar Rhetorick c. so that the like execution were to be done still against the same Treatises that to this day do persist in their Treasons against the Crown of Christ and the Dignity of his Word the Libraries and Shops in Philosophick Universities would
Cherubins and of the living Creatures of the Angels in their subserviency The fourth is the later part of Ezekiel's Book from the fortieth Chapter to the end where the New City is described Though these two later places also being Visions may the more evidently as to the external part of them be plainly shewn to growing young ones who might in fewer Months be skilled in Geometry the Doctrine of Measures and some other Arts as the Truth Reality and Usefulness in those Knowledges is than others will attain unto in so many years by Philosophical Studies And what a shame is it to the Learned Artists of the Times that VVomen and Children would quickly be made more profiting Graduates than themselves If any Traders in Humane VVisdom are angry at this discovery for a while yet let them observe the workings of convictions by this Scripture Light upon their minds and they will when more considerate bring in a Testimony for Christ and for his VVord if they will be so ingenuous as freely to communicate their Experiences For my hopes do promise to my self that I shall have most mens Consciences with me in this Cause though my fears do threaten that most mens corruptions will be against me for this Cause Having led the Reader thus far along in his Way I suppose that now his Expectations are raised to meet with somewhat of weighty Inquiry about the Works of Creation on the several Days the clear distinct knowledge whereof may have a direct tendency and an apparent profitableness for the Restauration and Instauration of Arts and the Advancement and Augment of Sciences such of both these as are useful and so far as they are thus useful and all in a clean way of Pure Religion The first Great Inquiry at my Entrance shall be this Q. Whether was the LORD Jesus Christ Jehovah as his Father is Jehovah and as the Spirit of his Holiness is Jehovah they one Jehovah Whether he were appointed by his Father and Anointed by his Spirit to be One Mediator the only LORD and Lawgiver And whether he were the Creator of all things as the Father is Creator and as the Holy Spirit is Creator they the Creators And whether is not this included in the first words of the Holy Scriptures Bereashith baraa Aelohim and in that word Jehovah who presently in the very next Verse after the short History of the Creation is said to be the Creator and Maker THe renewing of the wonderful Works of Creation in the rare secrets thereof will be found in holy experience to be no derogation to the admirable Works of Redemption in the great Mysteries thereof when once it shall be made to appear that he who was the Creator is the Redeemer too and that one great Cause why the Redeemer is no more believed and adored is for that this Creator is no more credited and exalted It is mainly with a design of Honour to that Christ whom my Soul loves that I am ingaged in this Printing-war against such an Host and so many Armies of Philosophick Giants and of Hellish Forces In his Name and Authority with the Sword of his Spirit which is the Word of God shielded by Faith I am called to go forth against them all I therefore begin with this because Jehovah Christ himself is the Captain of created Hosts whose cause is the justest and whose side will be the strongest It is he who doth Banner it above ten thousand To him I resort as to an Almighty Warrier Whoever thou be that wilt give this Treatise the reading and considering do not look upon it as a low mean enterprise â—s if it were a subject-matter too beneath a Minister of Christ in his first printed Essay in such an Age of growing Light of abounding Knowledge of fruitful experience of prophetical discoveries of raised expectâ—tions of 〈◊〉 Christianity of many Scholastick Tractates published by the generous minded and learned Virtuosoâ—s of the Times For this design understood and improved according to its true worth and real usefulness will be found to be a great improvement in the Commonwealth both of Learning and of Religion by reviving the glorious Creation by restoring of Primitive Christianity by directing 〈◊〉 Studies aright into the only way of sound proficiency to Honour of Christ and the Reputation of his Word in the both Temporal and Spiritual the present and eternal good of the Sons and Daughters of Adam Christ hath magnified upon all his Name his Word The Portion of his Friends shall be to observe his Words such will he teach goodness of reason a savoury sense for they have believed in his Commandments O how sweet are his saying to their Palate more than Honey to their Mouth Their steps shall be firmly directed in his saying for his Servants love it and him will they hear Rise up O Aelohim Plead thou thy Plea That the passage here may be the more cleared I shall publish somewhat about the lawfulness of mentioning that great and glorious Name Jehovah and not only so but further also about the profitable use of it and further yet that it is a duty at fit seasons in its place actually to give it a vocal expression especially now in these later days though not only the superstitious Jews but many Philosophick Christians do declaim against the use and naming of this Word There are in the Hebrew Tongue several Names by which the great LORD over all doth call himself Some are Names of Essence Others are Names of Power Some others are Names of Preheminence and LORDship and Superiority Another of his Highness Amongst them all this proper Name Jehovah has its excellingness It doth set him out as that All glorious he who alone ever was now is and ever will be He alone who so is that he cannot Not-be all created Existences have their Being from him and were not only made by him but have also their continued conversation by him so that their subsistency is in him In him they are they live they are moved This is the confession of rational Nature All things are for him for this end has he given them their Being that they might be to his Glory It is he who puts a Being into his Words turning them into Works All the Promises in him are Yea and Amen he himself being the Interpreter It is he the same who gives a Being to the New Creature and doth uphold it in its Existence Of him and by him and unto him are all things To him be Glory for ever The Creator who in the beginning of the History of the Creation is called Aelohim or the Judging-adored-Almighties who spake particular Existences into their Essences he is named Jehovah joyned with Aelohim in the close of that History he that made the Heavens and the Earth was Jehovah Aelohim q Some parts of this Word are often put either
Spirit When a gracious heart is exercised aright about this object of the upper Waters it may be raised to the Heavenliest frame and may mind the best things When the word doth assert the locality of the upper waters to be above the Heavens by those Heavens and Waters are not meant the Air and the Clouds For there is Air above these Clouds Did we more and better consider the place whence the Rain doth come and the efficient cause of it who it is that doth make it and send it we should find the matter profitable for our serious thoughts to be working upon The coming down of Rain from above this visible Expanse to us would be a call an help and means to fetch us up thither whence this did descend hither and fall down towards us So that it is not by the position of Luminaries that this Rain is drawn up They are the LORD 's hidden Treasuries which have this blessing issuing forth from them when they are sent in a gracious Covenant way then are they a blessing Those Treasuries are above this Expanse in some inner place and hidden Repository Such as cannot be come at by Men Neither does their eye here reach and see them there Whereas all is open between us and the Expanse and the eye can reach as far as the extended Firmament It is the Almighty who shakes out a Rain of liberalities He sheds and sprinkles it abroad as with the waving of the hand He divideth the spouts for it He doth appoint it its bounds that it shall not cover the Earth He hath these Waters in his hand they obey him He that is delighted with this kind of study may quickly be directed how to fill up a large Tractat upon this Subject-matter of the upper Waters out of the Scriptures concerning Rain the Rainbow Dew Hail Snow and what else that is watry which cometh down from above and how much is there of hidden secrets in these created beings in their natural essences causalities and productions which are practically useful One distinct work of the third Day with its peculiar blessing was that of Herbs The Inquiry therefore here shall be this Q. Whether the exact est fullest Herbal of Herbs Grass Trees and Plants be not treasured up in the Scriptures of Truth opening this great Secret of Created Nature best setting out the doctrine and use of them both for Feeding and for Healing Answ It is FRom the Herbal fruitfulness of this Earth may be drawn many a sweet Argument of Jehovahs praise Aelohim is the prime efficient Cause producing of Herbs They were not until he spake them into a Being he made them by his Word by his own immediate Power without second and ordinary Causes The Sun Moon and Stars were not created till the next Day after and therefore no influence of the Heavenly Luminaries could be the parent of their first Production To assert created Authors of Herbs is an Heathenish Fable The green Herbs had their Virtues in perfection at their first Creation and were not Astrologically distributed according to that pretended Dominion which some do over credulously fancy that the Heavenly Luminaries do exercise over them whereby much of the Ethnick Idolatry and superstition has slily crept in and is still infinuating of it self into the minds of many After the first Creation-Herbs the LORD did put a Virtue into second and ordinary Causes under him to forward those choice Virtues which he put into Herbs which Herbs do still retain This Earth from the blessing of God is said to bring forth Herb accommodate to them by whom it is dressed The Sun by its light and heat doth communicate some vital warmth in the Virtue whereof the Seed of Herbs is cherished and prepared for Generation till the Herb be thence brought forth The Moon also has its usefulness this way by its cooling moistening to protrude thrust forth or eject them The Waters Rainy and dewy have also some refreshing nourishing efficacy this way These fellow Creatures are pleasant and healthful unto Herbs so that sometimes the Dew is put for the Herb which with the Dew from Heaven is moistened and cherished and made to vegetate and grow The want whereof doth leave the Earth to be barren But the Earth when thus well watered is friendly to the Herb by its native heat cherishing the Seed until the Herb be born and brought forth and when it is brought forth the Earth by its moisture doth nourish and nurse chear and conserve it The labour of man by Culture and and dressing has also a special serviceableness for this end The place in which the Herbs do come forth and grow is the superfice of this Earth and of the Field and hence it is that an Herb is called an Herb of the Earth the Herb of the Field of the Fieids the Herb of the Mountains Were all the Scriptures in the Margin with divers others that might help to bring in an answer to this inquiry well studied in the large significancy of the Original Words and Phrases relating to the knowledge of Herbs O how much light would it bring in for the advance and augment of the Alimental and Medicinal Arts Herbs are the Fruit and the Revenue of the Earth It is called our Revenue or Fruit speaking of those who are in Covenant with Jehovah Aelohim But how little of this is as yet injoyed in a Scripture way because this wonderful secret in created Nature is so little digged after in the Word-Mine which alone doth fully discover it Whilst it makes for the gainful purpose of some to hold vulgar capacities in ignorance that themselves might be admired and resorted to whereas were we well skilled in that Scriptural Herbal which the LORD Christ hath given us the poorest only for a little pains in gathering by a discrete choice and meet application might have that wholesome food and that recovering Medicine which the richer sort with all their large fees and discharged long Bills are never likely to attain unto Those Scriptures would teach us much of the Natural Virtue and efficacy of Herbs some whereof are of a Marshy kind such as do grow in miry wet and softned places The Herbage doth spring up and sprout that is near the Waters a well moystened soyâ— doth make it green and flourishing He that hath made all other things for himself had also glorious ends in his eye in his third Days Work For the LORD did create and bring forth the Herb for his own Honour and for the service use and good of man It is serviceable to man for many purposes for the Oven or Furnace to heat it wherein to make corn ready It is helpful for mens eye-sight by the greenness of it which is refreshing and strengthening to the Eye and cheering to his Spirit by its virid freshness How useful is the green Grass to
the design of this Treatise which in short is to hold forth all Sciences and profitable Arts in one Book of Jehovah Aelohim and to demonstrate the Scripture-way to be the true the right the excelling the only way of perfecting the knowledge of lawful Arts and Sciences and of the Restauration and advancement of real Learning so opposed to vain false and deceitful Philosophy to such affected humane wisdom as would make prey of precious Souls and as being contrary to Scripture-verity to word-Theologie to revealed Christianity and to created Nature and so not after Christ If thou be one of a plain understanding and if thy knowledge be only of the English complexion so that thou canst skill only in thy own Mother-tongue let my beseeching of thee be prevalent with thee not to be offended at it that so many words of other Tongues are used in this Treatise especially in the former part of it I am not my self fond of it as to be so greatly pleased with it but where I am some way even necessitated to it to express my self in some Scholastick Terms Phrases and Language chiefly when I open them according to the Original significancy of Scriptural expressions for the conviction and confutation of Philosophical Errours and for the confirmation and commendation of Scripture-Truths I have put the Scriptures referred unto mostly in the Margin not without some reasons which have been privatly satisfactory to me yet withal I desire the serious considerate lookerover of these lines to examine the Words of Christ as he goes along lest otherwise he rashly censure and over hastily condemn some passages which he will mistake to be only my own when it may be upon a more through examination they will be found to be Scripture-sense and significancy and so I put thee over unto the teachings of the holy Spirit according to the Word The LORD Jesus Christ hath hiddenly laid up all the Treasures of Wisdom and of Knowledge in his Word wherein are many choice Mysteries above the reach and besides the Rules of Philosophy THe LORD Jesus Christ himself is the Wisdom of the only wise God for whereas in one place Christ saith of himself Behold I send among you Prophets another Scripture speaking of the same thing doth thus express it Therefore also the wisdom of God saith I will send among you prophets He is in the bosome of the Father the very wisdom of the Father the Declarer and Interpreter of his Fathers Will all things even those which are most hidden and secret are absolutely and perfectly known to him and whatever is necessary and useful for us to understand observe and do he hath revealed in the Scriptures of Truth which are a perfect Word every way consummate and complete so far as concerns a word absolute and intire so that it cannot in any particular be justly reprehended and blamed as defective and insufficient that the Man of God may be perfect perfectly furnished unto every good Work it is equal even in number to truths and things so that nothing is wanting in it it doth fully consist of all and every of the members and parts which are required to make through work of the work of the Ministry it is well filled up in all numbers and modes all the Treasures of Wisdom and of Knowledge being to be sought for here in Christ and from Christ in his Word and therefore the administrator under Christ about holy Things was to be an Universal Artist by his office well skilled in that great variety of profitable knowledge in the several Arts and Sciences such a man of understanding should he be He was to be an Astronomer how else could he know which was the head of the Moons the number of the Moons the new Moon the Day of the Month upon which divers of the Festivals under the Old Testament-dispensation did depend which he was to proclaim by his function he was to be much in the diligent Contemplation of the Coelestial Luminaries to raise up his Meditations to a spiritual Admiration of their wise Creator he must be a Geometrician that he might know how the portions of the Promised Land were to be distributed amongst the several Tribes what their several borders were of what distance the Suburbs were to be how to take right just due measures of the brazen Sea both for circumference and diameter how to take the height the breadth and the length of the Tabernacle and of many things belonging to it as also of the Temple and how to determine many cases about these and such like matters as they came before him he must be an Anatomist that he might according to Art orderly dissect into their several natural parts the beasts for sacrifice he must have the Art of an Apothecary that he might compound the Spices to make the Holy anointing Oyl and the composition of the perfume he was to be an able Lawyer that he might give sentence according to the Word and might not err in Judgement he must have insight in the Medicinal Art and be a skilful Physician for how else could he judge aright of the disease of Leprosie of the cases symptoms cure and method of healing he must be an Herbalist that he might chuse proper Herbs for wholesome bitterness which were to be eaten with the Paschal Lamb Solomon was a Preacher and a skilful Herbalist too he was to know and to use the Art of Cookery for there were many of the Sacrifices that required much skill in roasting in boiling in frying in baking he must be an Historian about the Genealogies of the several Tribes particularly of the Priests and Levites and the Prophets did write the lives of the several Kings and those remarkable occurrences of their times and day which the LORD would have to be transmitted to Posterity by these Historiographers he must be an Arithmetician because otherwise without exactness herein he could not make a right computation about the sale of Lands till the year of Jubilee and concerning the redemption of Lands before that year came about and by what proportions more or less were a just valuation between the buyer and the seller according as the years were many or few for accordingly he must either add to the price or subtract from it that there might be an equal division and distribution thus also about setting the due value of estimation of persons according to their age sexes and abilities of beasts of houses and of fields whether of his possession or of his buying the Art of Arithmetick is found in the Book of Numbers he was to be as a Clerk of the Market for Weights and Measures and dimensions and this not only as to the Shew-bread the Meat Offerings and the Drink Offerings and such Sacrifices in the matters of Worship but also in their common dealings between man and man in Markets and
himself hath declared this in the second Psalm That he has anointed his King upon Zion the Mountain of his Holiness doth and will tell the Decree Jehovah said to me Thou my Son I this day begat thee Ask of me I will give the heathens thine inheritance and the ends of the earth thy firm hereditary possession Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron as the vessel of a potter thou shalt scatter them in pieces Of this Jesus doth Peter understand this Psalm and from hence doth the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews prove Christ's Call to his Office of Priesthood This Christ was the first anointed with the Spirit and with the Oyl of Gladness above his Fellows in the forty and fifth Psalm This Name Mashiach or Messias as applyed to this Son of God was well known in Israel as appears by Andrews acknowledging him to be so to his Brother Simon and by the Testimony of the Woman of Samaria who confessed this Name And hence it is that those Disciples of his who believe on his Name have this Honour from him to be called Christans both in the Old and New Testament He charged other men not to touch his Christians his Christs his Anointed Ones in the one hundred and fifth Psalm those who were thus consecrated to him and set apart to high and honourable Offices and Imployments under him by the Anointing of his Spirit which they had from him that is holy as writes John in his first Epistle Which Name was revived and received at Antioch where the Name was renewed in the Apostles times and they were again called Christians For there are the Fellows of Christ being taken into Consortship and Partnership with him in the Anointing whereby they are also made Kings and Priests as John speaks in the Revelation There oyly pourings out of the Spirits were in a fulness upon Christ not in lesser measures Jehovah possessed me saith Christ in the Book of Proverbs in the beginning of his way before his Works before them before the World was I Anointed before the beginning before the first things of the Earth when yet there was no deeps was I brought forth when there was non Fountains heavy with Water when yet Mountains were not fastned before the Hills was I brought forth yet he had not made the Earth nor Streets no not the beginning nor dust of the inhabited World When he fitted the Heavens there was I when he appointed the Circuit upon the Faces of the deep when he fortified the Clouds above when he strengthened the Fountains of the deep when he laid his Decree upon the Sea that the Waters should not pass the commandment of his mouth when he appointed the Foundation of the Earth Thus speaks the Father by the Prophet Isaiah concerning his Son Behold my Servant whom I uphold mine Elect my Soul delighteth I have given my Spirit upon him he shall bring forth Judgement upon the Nations The LORD Christ was warrantably lawfully called to this Office God the father sealed him thereunto As Christ speaks of himself in what John doth write of him and elsewhere in his Prophet Isaiah The Spirit of the LORD Jehovah is upon me therefore Jehovah hath Anointed me to preach No man taketh this Honour to himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron So also Christ did not take this Honour to himself to become an high Priest but he that spake unto him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee gave it him As also in another place he saith Thou art a Priest for ever upon my word O Malchi-tzedek Hence it is that Christ is called by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews the Apostle and high Priest of our profession and by Malachi The Angel of the Covenant So that Christ had a Testimony from his Father for his being appointed unto this Office not often after he had taken Flesh of the Virgin Mary when a Voice came from Heaven saying This is my well beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and when the holy Spirit descended as a Dove out of Heaven and abode remaining on him but long before under the Old Testament Dispensation And before that also even before the World was he the anointed This LORD Jesus Christ was Administrator under both Testament Dispensations of Grace He chief in Office and all others that were lawfully called and rightfully sent forth were such as did minister and serve under and for him He was the LORD God of the holy Prophets as John calls him in the Revelation and as the Father sent him so did this Christ send his Apostles It was this Christ who so often appeared to Moses as has been shewn Christ was Faithful to his Father who constituted him in Office and who was Heir of his own House In which House he imployed Moses to be his Servant who was also faithful to and under Christ It was the Spirit of Christ who did witness in the Prophets of Old as Peter mentioned in his first Epistle He was the chief one in Sion as Isaiah calleth him who did declare the things that were to come to pass and this is the same Son of God in whom the Father hath spoken to us in the last days Him hath God made LORD and Christ and to him was given Dominion Glory and a Kingdom that all People Nations and Tongues should serve him The Father hath given unto him dignity to execute Judgement he hath given all Judgement to the Son All must obey and stoop at the command of this ever Blessed LORD of Glory who has proclaimed this of himself that all Authoritative Power is given him in Heaven and upon the Earth God hath committed all into his hands He shall reign till he hath put all Enemies under his feet This is he that is appointed of God the Judge both of the Living and of the Dead In this was the Love of God manifested towards those whom he chose in Christ and gave to Christ that he hath sent his only begotten Son into the World that they should live by him so loved he the World that he thus gave Christ that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life O how much hath he commended his Love to such He was first in the Love him hath God set up for a Prepitiatory-covering an expiatory reconciliation Thou LORD art worthy to receive the Glory and the Honour and the Power for thou hast created all things and through thy will they are and were created This Jehovah Christ was the Creator of all things as the Father is Creator and as the holy Spirit is Creator They the Creators Jehovah was the Creator of all things This Aelohim was he who gave his Creatures their Being as Moses hath delivered to us the History thereof To this do others bear witness in the Scriptures Praised be Johovah Aelohim that made the
the heaven and the earth the sea and all that is in them and rested the seventh day and hallowed it Thus injoyning both by his own Example and Command the perpetual Observation of that particular seventh-Seventh-day in order of Time in its successive course in every weekly revolution as the appointed day for holy Rest That day and that only and no other day of the Week Thou LORD art worthy to receive the Glory and the Honour and the Power For thou hast created all things and through thy Will they are and were created O that those who dwell on the Earth and every Nation and Kindred and Language and People would fear him and give Glory to him for the hour of his Judgement is coming And that they would worship him that made the Heaven and the Earth and the Sea and the Fountains of Waters The Father Son and holy Spirit they are the Creators They the Aelohim who spake Creatures into their Existence and Being of which adored Almighties an account is given in that Historicall Narration which doth contain a Diary or Journal of the first seven days The Father Aelohim It is spoken of him in the forty fifth Psalm Aelohim the Aelohim of Christ anointed his Son by his Spirit which Son also is Aelohim expresly so called in the same Psalm Thy throne O Aelohim ever and perpetual the scepter of thy kingdom is righteonsness The Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews sheweth that this was spoken unto the Son of God by his Father And the holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Aelohim and the Spirit Jehovah by Isaiab In the second Book of Samuel this Spirit of Jehovah or this Spirit of Jehovah as Paul elsewhere is also called The Aelohim of Israel It is Aelohim who dwells in his people as in a Temple So saith Moses which Paul applyeth to the holy Spirit These three are the Creating one Thus Solomon the Preacher chargeth young men to remember their Creators in the days of their youth Where Aeloh my Makers those who making me that giveth the Psalms in the night So would Elibu have had Job to say The same hath Eliphaz in the same Book Should a man be more righteous than Aelohim Should a man be purer than his Makers Hence is Tzijon incouraged in the later days not to fear For saith Jehovah by his Prophet Isaiah to her Thy Makers is thy Husbands Thus doth the Psalmist call for an Hallelu-jab or praise ye Jab Sing ye to Jehovah a new Song his praise in the Church of gracious Saints let Israel rejoyce in his Makers in those who making him Let the Sons of Tzijon be glad in their King the whole Creation should joyn in this song of praise for this Reason which is common to the whole World of them for he commanded and they were Created I now propound it to serious examination according to the Word whether much of this glorious Mystery be not included in the first Words of the holy Scriptures Bereashith baraa Aelohim and in that word Jehovah mentioned a little after the short History of the Creation as the Creator and Maker which is to be left to further disquisition For I am inciting and encouraging of Religious Students and of Christian Disciples to deeper researches into the best Learning This Word has in it the signification of an Head so that this is not barely In the Beginning but it doth set out that first capital Beginning of all things In and By Christ the constituted Head of all Inquire whether it should therefore be rendred in the Head-captain or in the Head-captainship or in-by the Captain or the Chieftain or Head-commander or in him who is the Head-Captain or in the appointed Head or Captain the Preposition is properly In. And when it doth point out the immediate principal cause it is in by Let the diligent Inquirer about this collate some other Scriptures that doth relate unto this matter It was in-by Christ that the Father made these hidden ages For this is spoken of the Son of God whose Godhead is strongly proved by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews in the beginning of it by divers â—itations out of the Old Testament brought into the New It was in by Wisdom that Jehovah did Found the Earth and prepared the Heavens and made All his Great Works All things were created by Jesus Christ which is a great honour put upon our LORD The Father created all things If you ask by whom It was by Jesus Christ All things were made by him Christ was the Head-Captain of all the Host of the Heavens and of the Earth and he is the chief Head of his Body the Church Both these are affirmed of Christ with an eye to this In and By In by him who is the Image of the Invisible God the first-born of every creature were all things created which are in Heaven and which are upon Earth which are Visible and which are Invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions Governments or powers All things were created by him and to him and he is before all things and all things consist together by him and he is the head of the body There is one LORD Jesus Christ by whom are all things He is expresly called Reashith the appointed head of Jehovah's ways before his works from then speaking evidently of the creation As the words themselves in that place of the Proverbs do plainly declare He was anointed to this principate and is again and again called Roash the head Roashith is the name of one of the Types of Christ the First fruits are so called in the Old Testament And so is he in the New the First-fruits of them who sleeping It is not without great reasons and weighty considerations that this first written word should set out Christ as the Head Captain or constituted head or appointed Captain For all skillful Lexicographers agree that the original-propriety and root significancy of this word hath that of an head in it in its true first meaning to which the Scriptures do agree and divers Scriptures do speak of Troops of Bands of Hosts of Companies of Souldiers under an Head-Captain to this Honour and Office was Christ assigned and appointed by his Father which also this word doth remarkably set out If it be a composition of Roash an Head or Captain or Head-Captain and Shith to put or to place in martial order or in Battle-array For thus we may find the word used The LORD Christ doth put his Hosts or Armies into Rank and File in their Order with art and care Proper names are often compounded in the Hebrew wherein that Tongue doth delight though it doth not so easily admit of composition in appellatives The context favoureth the Interpretation with other Scriptures collated For in this History of the Creation we may read of the Hosts of this
Morning of every Day were a distinct Day and were distinct parts of every Day The one Day was before the second and the third Day was after the second the fourth followed the third and the fifth was after the fourth the sixth succeeded the fifth and the seventh which is the last Day of the Week was the Holy Close of that Week There is but one Seventh-day in the Week No other Day in this or in any following Week is properly the Seventh-day of the Week in the weekly revolution These Days have a priority and a posterioty in time in their successive parts and so were the Creatures distinct Works or distinct Days They had a separate Creation on separate Days that we might with the more staidness and distinctness of spirit consider of and meditate upon them in their created Order If all had been in one and the same moment of time then how could it be affirmed of Adam that he was first formed then Eve which yet is expresly affirmed in the Words The created Number and Order and Names of Days must therefore be well observed upon which there are so many weighty Truths and great things that do depend An Evening-Morning a Night-day is a large natural Day according to the Law of the first Creation in which the Evening and the Morning were constituted one Day The Evening being the foregoing part of the Day to which the after-Morning doth belong both together making up a complete Day So is the true account through the whole Scriptures where this is spoken of The Evening of the Day in the three first Days of the created World began at the first coming of the Darkness afterwards when the Sun was created on the fourth Day it was further pointed out by the going in of the Sun The Morning of the Day in the three first Days of the created World began when the Darkness went off and the Light came on which afterwards was fully compleated when the Sun did go forth What has man to do thus daringly to change the LORD's Time and Laws and to pervert his well his wisely-established Decrees and Appointments which are some of his Statutes and Ordinances which he will have to remain unalterable and by the unchangeable constancy whereof he has confirmed the Covenant of Grace There is the time of a Day in a Day There is a word of a Day in his Day The Night-part of a Natural large day so far as concerns the present matter in hand is measured from the coming to the going of Darkness from the going in of the Sun unto the going forth of the Sun There are parts of the Night a third part of it There is a beginning of the Night There is the mid of the Night The LORD forsaw how bold rebellious man would be in prescribing times of his own inventing and distributing unto himself to impose them upon others also and therefore he doth often in the Scriptures set the just Limits and the due bounds to set Times and Seasons that man might receive a determination from the Word There were certain Watches of the Night those Watches did point out a certain space of Night-time into which the Night was distributed There was a Watch of the Night which is called the first Watch of it There is a second Watch of the Night The third Watch of the Night and the fourth Watch of the Night And all and each of these are distinguished by several Names in the Word the Evening the Midnight Cock-crowing and Morning So that three hours were the measure of every one of the Quadrants or fourth parts We sometimes read of all Night and all Nights in other places of the Halfings or Dimidiatings or Half-cuttings off of the Night of the past Night and of that self same Night of a Night of Observations There is a Morning Light before the Sun doth go forth so as visibly to be seen by our eye The Day part of a natural large Day as to the present case is measured from the coming to the going away of the Light or from the going forth of the Sun unto the going in of the Sun This Day is divided into twelve hours so also is the Night into twelve equal parts so that at midnight the sixth hour of the Night is ended and seventh hour of the Night doth immediately after begin And at Noon or at Mid-day the sixth hour of the Day is fully ended and the beginning of the next minute after this is the beginning of the seventh hour of the Day as opposed to the Night and according to this Division were Dials and other Measures of Nights and Days drawn and made that were according to the Word So that all the Winter the hours of the Night were larger than those of the Day and all the Summer the hours of the Day were longer than the hours of the Night and when it was Equinoctial then the hours of the Night and Day were equal but at all other times of the year different There is express mention made in the Scriptures of some of these hours by which we are to judge and measure the rest of the other hours As the third hour the sixth hour the seventh hour the ninth hour the tenth hour and the eleventh hour It is also perticularly there spoken of the third hour of the Night At these Seasons of Evening and of Morning were the appointed Times for daily worship which daily worship was called the Tamid or the continual Whatever other instituted worship was occasionally performed This must never be neglected This daily Worship was to be carried on Every Evening and also every Morning I have been the longer upon this discovery that serious sensible Believers who do admire the holy Scriptures of truth to be the one and the only rule of judging and of determing of cases of Conscience might as they ought bring all times and seasons to Scripture measures to Christ's Institutions which he himself as also his Apostles kept unto under the New Testament dispensation of Grace That this as well as all things else may be brought with more exactness according to this straight Rule under this latter-day-glory when there will be a more thorow reforming and refining to purge out whatsoever is corrupt and of humane invention and imposition and to bring in whatsoever is pure that is as yet defective in the Churches which is of Christ's instituting and ordaining For this daily continual Worship Evening and Morning is prophesyed of to be renewed and restored in the latter age with a renewed promise of acceptance The day is Aelohim's the Night also is his and let the things of God be given unto God Let the Day-natural no longer be mis-reckoned from midnight to midnight or from Sun-rising to Sun-rising nor from mid day or noon tomid-day or noon neither of
solicitude and of deadly slavery To consult the Devils Oracles in doubtful cases is Apostacy from and denying of the true God and to resort for divining unto one that hath a Familiar is a seeking to and a worshipping of the Devil So is Sorcery and Necromancy where the Devil is sought unto in the form of some dead man the Devil appeared in the likeness of Samuel it was not the true Samuel but mere illusion of Satan for God had refused to answer Saul by Prophets such as Samuel was Saul is said to have died for his Transgression principally in that he sought and asked counsel of a familiar spirit Sooth-saying by the flying and noise of Birds is also condemned usually the care of persons in this case is to avoid the seeing or the hearing of such kind of ominous signs which would signifie nothing as to good or evil in themselves in this matter were it not for the consent of the observer they have no force efficacy or operativeness at all this way were it not for the superstitious conceits of the mind when it is diligently bended and intentively turned to them whereby divers things do befal divers men according to the diversity of their thoughts and imaginations Of the like Nature is divination by looking into the entrails of Beasts so did the King of Babel who consulted with Idols and looked into the Liver so is star-gazing charms mumbling of words for such an end casting of Figures for this purpose and the like There should not be any found among us that useth witchcraft or is a regarder of times or a marker of the flying of Fowls or a Sorcerer or a Charmer or that consulteth with Spirits or a Sooth-sayer or that asketh counsel of the dead To a seeking unto these the holy Spirit doth oppose a Prophet as the only lawful Minister of God to know his Will by To ascribe such a special foreknowledge or foretellingness indicated by the positure of Stars which might rule over the consciences and wills of voluntary Agents is contrary to that Soveraign Authority which the LORD doth exercise over the wills of men bowing and bending moving and directing them which way he pleaseth and therefore such a power is not to be arrogated by any mere Creatures Angels themselves whether good or bad have not such an innate Light in them as of themselves to know future particular contingents before hand neither can the intellect of man so foreknow Astrologers therefore not having their pretended prescience and prognosticating skill either by Divine Revelation or by Natural Causalities they have it by diabolical suggestion That knowledge of determinate future things which any really have by Divine Revelation is Prophesie and not Divination Such prying curiosity as has neither Scripture or Nature to bottom upon is experienced and bewrayed to be the common disease of the vain itching mind of fallen unquiet man from hence has sprung this troublesome question about Judiciary Astrologers who would bind men to fatal Stars as if the body of man were composed and fashioned according to the twelve Signs of Heaven as if the Moon had dominion in man's body under the twelve Zodiacal Constellations placing Aries in the Head and Face Taurus in the Neck and Throat Gemini in the Arms and Shoulders and from thence running through the other Signs into the other parts of the body even to the very soles of the Feet which they ascribe to Pisces Did the Authority of Christ and of his Word take more sensible hold of mens hearts they would tremble more and not dare to adventure upon those prohibited evils which the LORD hath so dreadfully threatned with such sore judgements that the soul which turneth it self unto Diviners and Prognosticators shall be cut off from the midst of his people Man or Woman when there is in them a familiar Spirit or that is a Wizard they shall be surely put to death they shall stone them with stones their bloods shall be upon them their death shall be upon their own head their own sin is the just cause of it and the Statute Law of England doth make many of those practices to be Felony which yet are commonly used in this Nation In the day when the LORD will honour himself by reviving of his Judicial Laws and by raising up of such as Josiah was a None-such for reformation in this kind to put those Laws in due execution when these evils are espied out one such Example in such an age of speculative and practical Atheism and Infidelity may be a more forcible argument with some than ten Scriptural reasons now are The certain knowledge of future particular contingents is that by which the true God is differenced distinguished from Idols The LORD doth nippingly touch and sharply check the vanity of this Art and the cheatingness of its Arrists and the ignorance and credulity of those who do yield themselves to be deluded thereby He doth sttaitly charge and sorely threaten such confident boasters of their Astrological skill In the Apostles time when the Doctrine of the Gospel did more obtain and prevail these black Arts were condemned and the Books that treated of them were burnt Those kind of evil practitioners are described by a Syriack word and so is the word in Chaldee and Samaritan too which doth designate and denote not only such Magicians as are plainly and evidently given to diabolical arts but also to such arts of Inchantment of Jugling deceiving by slight conveyance deluding the eye-sight with Legerdemain such curious illusory Arts which though to the ignorant and vulgar may seem to be otherwise yet really are wicked Artifices such are the feigned devices of Planetaries and Casters of Nativities and the Constitutions of some of the Christian Emperours have ordered that such Books of such Astrologers should be burned A large Volume might be quickly written on this subject matter but if the Word of the LORD be not submitted unto Who am I that I should think to silence these Adversaries by the force of my reasoning with them I therefore leave it with the LORD to plead his own cause in his own way in his own time If I have Instanced in some evil Arts which the Reader may apprehend do not so properly belong to Judiciary Astrology let him consider that this black Art doth spread it self wide and far and besides when I was upon this I was willing to bring in my Testimony against all that evil which sought for some protection from Judiciary Astrology and had some ways a Relation to it I now proceed to the Scripture discovery The Darkness Evening and Night were divided more generally before as to Time Place and Nature from the Light Morning and Day in their created Beings and successive courses and now they were further specially distinguished and pointed out by the Heavenly Luminaries Time was not first measured by the Sun for there was
over confident this way as if they could give a particular punctual account of all and of every one of them One of them reckons one thousand two hundred forty and one visible to us Another of late has added one hundred thirty six Stars more which make up one thousand three hundred seventy and seven A third has observed some few more Johovah Aelohim Adonai has the peculiar honour of numbring and of naming the Stars which to Man is impossible Abraham was esteemed no mean Astronomer yet he could not number them There is not one day of the week for the Sun a second for the Moon a third for Mercury a fourth for Mars a fifth for Jupiter a sixth for Venus a seventh for Saturn as the Ethnick Philosophers do un-scripturally anti-scripturally name them and assign them their several days in the week For Sun Moon and Stars were all created on the Fourth day of the one Week of the created World There was not a several distinct Planet made on each several day of the Week Neither is the fourth day of the week unlucky or unfortunate as they call it It is not a curse as if Infants were more taken with the squincy on that day than on any other day of the week whence the superstitious custom of fasting upon that day And now O my Soul what was Adam and what is the Son of Adam that Jehovah Aelohim has created such a spangled Tent for Man to have it so spread over his Head If the out side pavement that leads the way to the new City and to the Holy of Holies be so shining O then how glorious is Christ's Father's House within and the many Mansions there If the purer Churches in the latter-day Glory will be fair as the Moon and clear as the Sun how beauteous then will the Church of the first-born be in Heaven If Pastors shall shine as Stars and the new created people luster forth as the Firmament if what is yet more all and every of the Righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of Christ's Father O what a perfect day will it be when all these Suns shall shine together and what is yet more than all this when the Lamb shall be the Light of the new City and all those other lights almost dis-appear at the presence of the out-shining over-coming brightness of the LORD Jesus Christ himself there O blessed be Jehovah who giveth unto any in this Light to see to walk in and to enjoy any of this Light whilst they are here O for that day when the day-Star may more arise in the hearts of Saints as the Fore-runner of the arising of the Sun of Righteousness with healing in his wings The Fifth Days Work doth afford us this Inquiry Q. Whether that part of Natural History which doth concern Fowls Fishes Beasts and Worms can ever be completed into a Natural Art in the way of Ethnick Philosophy or must we search after it only in the Word of Truth where alone it can be advanced and perfected by a due and diligent comparing of their Created beings in their proper Natures Answ THis Natural History and Natural Art above these living Creatures can never attain to any considerable growing Augment much less to a through full discovery in the way of Ethnick Philosophy The restoring and finishing of this is no where else to be found but only in the Holy Scriptures by a due and diligent comparing of their created beings in their proper Natures An art when it is discovered aright is but Nature opened This art must be natural made up of Existencies and of Realities according to the truth of things in the Being of these Creatures That which is proper Art is not a Supplementary addition of somewhat to Nature which was not Nature before by the Law of the first Creation For that were to make a created man to be a creating Artificer of what was never made before which we all explode But it is a revealing and a drawing forth of that secret which did lye hid in Nature The art of man may call out the wonderful productions of many great effects but still these are wrought in the orderly course by Natural Causalities and by Created Efficiencies The rarest Artist can but co-operate with Natures Powers which doth their own work only man puts them together or severs them asunder according as he would have some products by Motions to be However yet the mysteries and wonders of Art must first be sought where they may be found in the mysteries and wonders of Scripture declaring those mysteries and wonders to be in Nature Practice of Arts is a disclosing of secrets of Nature in creation of Causes Art doth sometimes give a provocation to Nature whereby she doth bewray her self ere she is aware and doth expose her self to view in the light in some of her agenâ—ies which kept close in the dark before and therefore Nature and Art in Scripture Language do set this out That word which doth signifie Art exercising it self industriously about any thing or substance comes from a word which doth import a delegated Officer one imployed in such a Function as is put upon him by creating Aelohim and that Function must always be sought for in the Word as revealed there and another word which doth denote one excelling in Art nourishing of it and being nourished by it doth spring from a word which doth include Faith and Truth And where can those firmly bottom but upon the Word of Truth and the Word of Faith And the same Word which doth signifie Essence Existence created Being by which I understand Nature in this Discourse doth also import Virtue Law Doctrine They are the only true Vertuosi in Learning who receive Doctrine about all Entities from Aelohim's Law in his Word This doth teach substantial knowledge and doth give essential Science and doth skill in the Art of Realities There are several Writers who have undertaken to give us an accouut of these Creatures in their Elaborate Histories of them one of the largest and learnedest upon Animals has this great errour running through much of his Book that though he refers much of this discovery to the Scripture yet he would have Original Hebrew which is the Mother Tongue to go to School and to learn to speak of Daughter-Languages such as the Samaritan the Syriack and the other Oriental Tongues As if the proper significancy of her words could not be rightly understood but by their Sense and Etymologies and Phrasiologies whereby he carries the Reader off from the Word of God which yet he doth undertake to translate interpret and apply unto the Authorities and Histories of Philosophizing men and the Opinions and Customs of Nations that from these and not so much from that we might fetch our knowledge of these Creatures A cognation of other Languages to and a collating of them with the
by any contrary examples to those Laws we must inquire for our pattern and rule not what either this or that Saint hath done but what the LORD hath revealed and enjoyned in this word and hath either commanded or forbidden Christ calls us to the first Institution in Paradise not to what the Patriarchs did who by being conversant with the Pagans were in divers matters corrupted with their errours and vices whereby they also corrupted this holy Ordinance of lawful marriage in particular by their illegal copulations in several instances besides what there might be further in that of extraordinary either Typical or other dispensation under the administration of Grace neither doth Christ refer the determination of this case to the toleration granted in Moses's time because of the hardness of the heart of the Israelites Malachi being one of the last Prophets under the Old Testament administration let it now be considered what Testimony he doth bring in towards the true stating of this case as to the matter of right He doth put together several Arguments all which do witness against Polygamy or Divorce Jehovah Aelohim in the first Institution of holy marriage did make one he brought and joyned together but one Adam and one Eve into and in this honourable state of conjugal conjunction when yet all other spirits were his also when there was an abundance of the spirit in him the Prophet doth refer to the Primitive Creation of man and woman and to the Original Ordaining of lawful Matrimony between two one man and one woman when yet there was no want of Spirit in the Creator which he could have breathed into many but he afformed but one Eve into a Wife for Adam Hence comes the excelling Seed a Seed of Aelohim other Seed is not issue generation or off-spring worthy of so glorious a Maker when it is begotten and brought forth of promiscuous and of wandring lust by nefarious copulation so that by instinct of Nature such so born of Polygamy or of divorce have a mark of contempt put upon them the LORD seeks an holy Seed a Seed of Aelohim a Seed of Acceptation with him a Seed whom he will bless which in those other ways would not neither could be so expected for this cause therefore made he one not ten or twenty or an hundred or a thousand for one man at once no more but one Adam and one Eve were to be Matrimonized into one flesh thus was the primitive Law of lawful coupling had Jehovah's will been such he could have brought more women to one Adam yet one Eve must be the Mother of all living of all mankind descending from her Loyns he could have inspired more women Power was not wanting but his holy righteous Will and Pleasure was not to have many Wives joyned at one and the same time to one and the same man Further Jehovah is a witness of the Matrimonial Promise made in his presence with invocation of his Name Lawful Matrimony rightfully contracted is the Covenant of Aelohim he is Surety on both sides undertaker for both recording the contract and testifying against the violation of it ranking Ploygamists amongst the Adulterers he is ready to bring in evidence against and to execute judgements upon Marriage-breakers Covenant-violaters of the conjugal Promise such are treacherous and unfaithful who do divorce and put away one and take another or who take one to another and do multiply Wives Jehovah's Name was interposed in the first Marriage the very companionship and confederateship of the first Wife doth confirm this Truth The weightiness of the forementioned Reason the Holiness of the intent the greatness of the end why but one woman for one man doth inforce this even that he might seek a Seed of Aelohim such a Seed would he find an holy Posterity born in lawful Wedlock in chaste conjunction according to his Ordination and Institution all other Seed is illegitimate Seed perverting of the Order and Ordinance of holy Marriage and therefore he doth brand such Seed with disgrace Observe further what a solemn strict charge the LORD here doth give unto his people bidding them to take good heed unto their Spirit in this Matter once and a second time to look well to it as they would answer it at that last day of Judgement It is as much as your Souls and your Salvation is worth now that you are brought under the conviction of your guilt though the word be in the Passive Voice be thou kept yet the force and use of it hath somewhat in it reciprocal and reflex It will be a vanity here in any to pretend a law for Divorce for the putting away of a lawful Wife For AElohim doth hate such putting away the very word and phrase of it relating to the present matter is odious to him and the words of that permission by Moses which are a consequent disgrace following upon a foregoing Transgression do imply and intimate it and Christ doth plead against it It is violence and injuriousness done to the Wife and to the Marriage-covenant and unto Jehovah's Law do not think to cloak and to cover it with such palliation by Moses's sufferance of it in your hard hearted Forefathers it is an heinous crime the place doth speak of the matter of Fact what was done not of the matter of Right what ought to be done For Pollution is said to follow upon it Jehovah doth threaten not to accept of the persons or services of such Polygamists and Divorcers The Bond of Mattimony is perpetual and indissolvable till death sancited and established by the infallible authority of the unchangeable Jehovah The Wife is the one half part of the man and he cannot lawfully have any more half parts at one and the same time it is against both Scripture and Nature The Prophet Malachi doth prosecute his argumentation from the nearness of Christ's coming in the flesh in that day though Aelohim have hitherto tolerated your evil manners yet now the nearer you are come to the New Testament glorious ministration of Grace it behoves you to conform the more to the commands of the LORD Jesus Christ and so it doth under the present providence much concern the people of this age to abstain from the like provocations now that Christ is about to appear the second time without sin unto Salvation Otherwise the LORD will avenge himself on those who do abuse his long-suffering God doth not therefore approve though he did a while forbear the execution of vengeance upon every Polygamist and Divorcer their murmuring contradicting words did even tire and weary Jehovah Let the Reader now collate and compare the New Testament and observe the well concordant harmony and agreeing oneness of this with the old Those right words of Christ are very forcible Whosoever putteth away his wife except it be for fornication in which case it was to be death and marrieth
and Entire several Substance and Quality Matter and Form as they call them all and every of them on the several days of their being created at least this is very well worthy of a more through inquiry and deeper disquisition than hitherto hath been made I return now to the particular created Beings on the fifth day Fishes do breath in and out though Ethnick Philosophy do contradict For Fishes are some of the Reptils which have a living Soul a vital Spirit breathing to and fro The swimming of Fishes is one kind of creeping and sliding So an Eel swims in the Water as a Snake doth creep on the Land And though other Fishes in swimming do shoot forth more directly and do not altogether make such crooked in and out lines yet they only slide in a streighter manner having bodies of a direct and oblong Figure fitted for that purpose being born up and partly carried by an Equidans fulciment of transpassable Waters through which they move by a Breathing Vital Potenty The flying Fowl was not made of the pre-existent Matter of Waters as some learned Christians some whom they call the Fathers and others did misapprehend but were a distinct Creature both from Waters and Reptils from Fishes from what else doth live in the Waters This is a new production in a certain and different place The precedent Hebrew Accent did absolve the former Paragraph from which this is distinguished both grammatically in sense and distinction and also physically in being and in place The one word is as proper to Birds as the other is to Reptils They were neither of the same make with Fishes neither were Fishes created of Water nor Fowls of Earth but immediately of the adored Almighties severally put into their proper natural places the Fishes into swimming in the Sea the Fowls into the Air over the Earth flying there Some flying Fowls do more delight in watery places others of them are more for Earth as the place of their choice some others are Terraqueous being well pleased both with Earth and Water as a place either of them proper and fit enough for them So that this doth but set out their places not the first Matter of their being and how it would be in their after production distinguished into Land-fowls Sea-fowls and Sea land-fowls Amphibious Ones such as do live and generate in both The Creator doth assign his Creatures their proper localities and places of abode as before he had put the Luminaries in the Heavens and Expanse so here the Fishes to the Waters the Fowls to the Air and so afterwards other Creatures to the Earth The appointed places of Habitation of Motion and of Working are proper and natural and the Bodies of created Beings have a suitable conformity fitting them for their several abode The Creator first finished the Theatre or Habitacle of the World and then Creates the Inhabitants thereof and puts them into their several dwellings and mansions Time and Place were some of the first things created they are therefore to be accounted great things being the foundation of many after-institutions The Creature had a beginning when it was created Time then began This World was not from all Eternity for it had a beginning in Time One part of the Created World was after another part of it by temporary succession of nights and of days in a most direct line by established Order and immutable Law The first beginning of Time was not the moment or measure of the first Heavenly Motion They are mistakes the supposal of the first moveable Heaven or compassing Sphere that doth wheel about all the other pretended Spheres and that this first Mover was first created which have no foundation in Scripture but are the feigned inventions of men high in their own eyes and fond of their own conceits The first moment of the first created Evening was the beginning of Time as to the created World when the Darkness was first made to begin Time is not the measure of duration according to a pretended Motion of the Heavenly Luminous Bodies for three several days were past before the Creation of these Time Place and Number are of the Nature of indifferent things that may be or may not be but are necessarily things in their several circumstances These were concreated and did actually exist with other created beings in the beginning and without which no created Entity whatsoever can actually exist There was in the one day of the World successive Duration every Creature that was made on that day was durable temporary made and existed in time There was consistent extension one part beyond another there where another part was not All the created Beings of that day exist in some places They were where they were made and no where else at that same time and several Creatures were in several places then and afterwards There was then discrete numbring for every created Being whatsoever it be must always be numerable The several distinct days also in which the Creatures were made are distinct in Numeration Thus for Family or Church-worship once every day is not enough but twice a day is necessary Aelohim having instituted the Evening and Morning Seasons and not lest this to our liberty or appointment There is an aptitude in Nature for these fitting the time to the Work Thus for more publick Church-assemblies once in a Month or Quarter or Year is not enough it must be weekly on the seventh-day-Sabbath for so is the Doctrine of Weeks in the first Creation Those who are ingaged in the Controversie about Non-conformity unto national Plantations or establishments in the matters of publick Worship such as is of Humane Invention Institution and Imposition especially when exclusive of all other Worship that is according to the Word-Warrant and Scripture-Institution have greatly wronged and hurt their own cause by their concessions and assertions that the Civil Magistrate has the Power in the Nation to appoint humanely-invented Modes of Worship what forms to use The number in Worship how often it shall be what holy days as they call them and how many of them in an year the time of worship when his will and pleasure is and the place of worship where he will assign As if these were Adiaphorous matters left wholly to our Governours prudential consideration and determination which all subjects must comply with and conform to that there may be as they say Order Unity and Peace in the Church by a national uniformity in these things For under a colour of this all the Christian Religion almost is degenerated into indifferents and those who are most and best Christians most spiritual and heavenly in worship according to the Laws and Institutions of Christ's house and who have their conversation most adorning and becoming the Gospel are most hated and opposed this being the ground of persecution in all ages but more towards the latter days as the servants of and witnesses
for Christ do bring in and finish their Testimony against all Antichristian and Anti-Scriptural Usurpations not in any tumultuous way of rebellious insurrection but by a patient suffering and quiet bearing All things whatsoever in the matters of Worship are determined by the LORD and mens prudence doth consist in this not in prescribing to their fellow Creatures Time Place and Number but in finding out and in observing what of every one of these the Soveraign only Lawgiver hath decided and stated Those who have a delegated Authority under Christ over others should use and exercise their power to inforce Christ's Laws and Orders and to make constitutions of their own against or beside the Word Every action of rational Creatures especially in the matters of Worship take it in all its circumstances is when done either well or ill done it is either sin or duty these two do decide all O who will give that Superiours would revive the Law of the ten Words as the one and only rule of Faith Worship and Life as to all duties to be performed and as to all sins to be forborn Upon which Law the rest of the Scriptures is the one and the only Lawgivers own Commentary judging of all cases according to this whereby either to approve acquit and justifie what is an holy conformity to it or to reprove and condemn whatsoever is a transgression of it and that the Judicial Laws which are perfectly exact holy just and good might be the Rule of procedure in all Courts of Justice for the distributing of due rewards to the obedient and for the executing of just sentences upon offenders Natural Decency and Scripture Order have determined do and will determine all Cases of Worship for Time Place and Number To open somewhat more yet about the Works of the fifth day contrary to vain deceitful Philosophy The Tunies the Dragons or Whales were not made of fore-being Waters but were created into their own Existences without previous matter out of which to make and form them There was not force nor power in the Waters to bring these Creatures forth which also doth prove that the rest of the like kind had their Existence and being by the immediate creating Word of Aelohim Unto all the creeping living Creatures ought this Word created to be referred which word is absolutely used in this place and is not so restrained to the particular matter of some one of these kinds only The end of applying it here being to set out Aelohim's mighty Power in Creating some of the greatest and wonderfullest living Creatures with his bare Word That fruitfulness which Fishes Fowls Beasts Creeping things which are Heterogeneous in their kinds severally differing one from another in propagating of their kinds in that way in which Aelohim has appointed as also to any other Creatures whose kinds are preserved and multiplyed by Generation and Increase by Propagation and Fâ—tification Fecundity and abundance it is a Blessing his Blessing to his Creatures It should be well and distinctly observed that the Blessing here particularly promised to these Creatures Be ye fruitful c. is a word drawn from the Fruit of Trees mentioned before in the third days Work in this History of the Creation which doth evidence that the fruitfulness of Trees is Aelohim's blessing upon the Trees It is his Benediction that doth give unto his Creatures a Physical or Natural Power of Procreating to it self its like which yet it cannot exert or put forth or cause to attain its end without his Power and Blessing and Faithfulness to whom and to which those especially who are Christians and Believers should ascribe and give all the Honour and Glory not to mere Nature or Natural Causality as some of those have done who would be counted high Rationalists in Ethnick Philosophy It is further observable here that a Prophesie of what shall be hereafter doth sometimes speak in the past time to denote the certainty of fulfilling As these Waters where the crawling tredders with lift-up-creeping feet are placed are said to have movingly brought forth in great abundance to their shaped conditions of distinguished kinds Aelohim's Decree and Purpose in his own Mind and Will and his Promise and Blessing in his Word resolved and covenanted that so it should be Scripture History hath this besides many other Prerogatives over Humane Stories that the Record and Narrative may be before as well as after the matter of Fact From whence I would commend it to the consideration of the learned in the Hebrew and of the skilful in the Scriptures whether that copulative particle which doth signifie and should not every where in the word of Jehovah Aelohim be rendred with its adjoyned future futurely and with its appointed Praeterit preteritly in the Translation leaving the Interpreter Opener and Applyer of the Word to give forth to others what he judgeth to be the true proper genuine meaning of those words in themselves and in construction with other words in the Text and Context and other collated Scriptures There are many exceeding great and precious Promises quite lost to our vulgar Readers and Hearers who as yet do not understand the force and significancy of the Hebrew Language Look we a little into this History of the Creation when the adored Almighties did create the Light it runs thus He will actually say by declared foretelling and express appointing it shall be truly subsisting the Light Aelohim's saying is doing his word is a work his speaking is his acting It doth denote his efficacious Decree concerning his Creatures and the execution of that Decree expressed by speaking of suitable words Thus the appellation of the Names put upon the Creatures by their Creator do note this Decree and Constitution that so they should be called by men Thus also his Benediction of his Creatures is a real Procreation Multiplication of them in their proper kinds It makes it also further conspicuous that his Word of Power and of Promise is that which doth still conserve his Creatures as it did create them This is one great Reason why the Word is one of Christ's Names because the manifestation of his Fathers decreeing and speaking about Creation and Redemption is made out significantly and held forth expresly by Christ When David saith in one place For thy words sake another recordeth his speech For thy servants sake which doth evidently prove that David's meaning was for thy Christ's sake for Christ is both the Word and the servant of Aelohim Now this Scripture doth as many others run in a way of Prophesying foretelling that there should be light in its after-seasons The whole Scripture is therefore called the whole Prophesie of Scripture Jehovah sets himself out as he who forming the Lights It denotes a continuedness of the Act in the successive courses of the Light and this is a way of his fulfilling of that