in the Unity and the still Eternity no such thing as Father and Son and Holy Ghost known all Three being as part of the Generation of God Included within the Bounds of this Denomination to wit of the Nasciture or Generation of God the Father being not known more than the Son or Spirit without Nature or before the Generation of God or his Manifestation tho' at him this Nasciture or Generation Beings Natura quasi dicas Nascitura La naissance the Nativity of God Respectu Creaturae or God bringing forth himself to a Generation or a Manifestation to Communicate himself or his good without himself to some things besides himself So that Nature is only God himself Manifested and his Motion to Nature is his Generation And as he moved himself as by three Steps or Degrees in this his Generation he Manifesteth himself under three Appearances Forms Natures or Essences of Fire Light and Spirit or Father Son and Spirit which tho' the Trinity be from Eternity in God or Coeternal to God that is to the Unity the Generation of God being from Eternity are not known as I said before God moved himself to Nature without himself but were hid in God himself and brought to pass in himself before his outward Nature or his manifestation the Godhead in Unity as it is without Nature being but a dark Abyss And these three appearances or distinct forms and degrees of Gods manifestation are called Father and Son and Spirit Father because the Godhead or Unity is the ground the stock the Womb that brings forth out of its deep the Light its first Born or Son and only begotten Son called Son by the Hebrews on the very same account as their Language calls a Spark the Son of the burning Coal Son because he doth come forth like a Spark out of the Coal by breaking and shining forth out of the dark lump or deep 2 Cor. 4. 6. And thirdly they are called by the name of the Spirit because the same Unity doth not only shew it self or make it self manifest in the Light or by the Son but makes it self to be felt and communicates its good in the form of a Spirit or Beams flowing from the Light nothing in Nature being so fit to diffuse convey and communicate the good as the Light and its efflux the Influences whereof are the Holy Ghost in God and in the World the Spirit which makes what we call the Air by vapourising Water or turning it to vapour 17. Quaere What is a Spirit Answer It is a Substance as imperceptible as God himself to natural Men whose knowledge goeth no higher than sense and intelligece 1 Cor. 2. 14. The thing that is and exists Exod. 3. 14. for it is the same as God who is but a pure Spirit Joh. 4. 24. the substance of substances that actuates all substance and gives it form and Essence In God alone and the Soul to wit regenerated it is simple immaterial but in this World where it was at first mixt with the Water its concrete and material and hath the three dimensions that all other concretes have and is that which raiseth up the Water into vapours Out of it and of Water comes all material Substance or Matter for out of both this material World was made Gen. 1. 2. 2 Pet. 3. 5. All things saith Lucretius are come from their spiritual and their invisible State to a visibility and a palpability By its joyning to Water which it inspissates to Oyl then concocts into a Salt Earth and Body comes to be Corporification and Terrification being one and the same thing And by its separation and freedom from its vehicle whilst it is clearing it self of the Vapour that holds it for it leaves it not wholly not a spark of pure Spirit being suffered in the World for then it would inflame it fire and the destruction of things compacted by it for ejus ope totum cum toto compactum est are still made and come to pass From the Spirit all encrease and decrease or corruption of material things proceed From the Spirit as Spirit their Multiplication Multiplication being but a flux or extension of the first central Spirit infused into the deep and a propagation made a traduce of the same and from it as a fire Quateuus become fire their decrease and corruption that is the separation of that which was compacted In fine the stock of all things of God and of the Creature being Spirit and all things coming from a spiritual invisible and unknown state into materiality Ken perceptibility all things agree in substance and as God is a Spirit and Spirit is the substance and stock of the Deity the three in the Deity which we call the Trinity agree into this one thing and are but one in substance not so in Form or Essence 18. And the Truth is the Scripture speaking of Persons no where there is no reason wherefore we should set up this Notion and make of Hypostasis which is the stock and substance the things dependent of it viz. the form or the Persons tho' I am not ignorant that the Schools make of the form what I make of substance to wit The most Essential and Principal part of things But Christians who learn of Christ being anointed by him with that which teacheth all things Joh. 14. 26. 1 Joh. 2. 27. or else they were not Christians for a Christian signifyeth one that is anointed ought not to take upon tick from the Schools and the Heathen their Theosophick Notions nor such as is or may be the occasion of Errours but from Nature and Scripture and the Etymology of words if they have any as here of Hypostasis ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is by no Greek Author made use of to signify an individual Person And the Scriptures speak only of Three or a Trinity which bear Record in the World or make known the Deity which three things agree in one and are One and the same Thing 1 Joh. 5. 7. in the stock or the substance but divers in the Essence The Nature or the Essence of the Light being divers from that of the dark fire which is the Father of it and from that of the Spirit or beams that flow out of both as is that of the Spirit different from that of both the Light and Fire likewise 19. And that it is so to wit that these three appearances being divers in Essence are the same in the substance or one and the same Spirit and so that the Holy Ghost and Christ as the Light of God and the second Appearance of the Three in the Godhead are but One and the same Thing St. John saith there be three things in Earth bear Record of it the Spirit Water and Blood which last is but a concrete of Water and of Spirit digested and concocted in the Animal Bodies and I say that all things in the whole World witness it the World it self Man and Beast
stings and shutes like the Worm that never dies and a sore Boil not yet ripe and makes one die Raving mad The Fire of Hell is cold and burning without shining as appears from that Christ saith it causeth gnashing of Teeth and is in outer Darkness Matth. 8. 12. 21. Next in the little World Man Respice saith Trismegiste when thou wilt conceive something of God as Father of all Quid tibi accidat generare volenti First when a Man is in Love he becomes pensive and dark from his Lust that obscures him for Lust being attractive and binding the astringent or attractive quality coming only from the Lust or the longing in nature as may be seen in Acids which coagulate because they are of an esurine or desirous quality whence Corporification or Terrification comes and whence the Earth as having most of this bodyfying or astringent quality draws the needle in the Compass and by attracting of it causeth its variation Eastward in the Northern Seas as being there on that side larger than towards the West and Westward beyond the Line upon the Coast of Brazil the Earth being larger there on that side than in Africk I say that Lust being astringent or attractive draws or attracts together and condenseth in the Mind the Spiritual Idea of the Thing lusted after and fills up the Mind with it which becomes adumbrated or darkned as the Sun-shine by the interposition of that which casts a shadow at the same time the Spirits moving in the darkned deep towards the Parts and Organs proper to Generation kindle and make in that party the Dark state of the Father of the Light and gathering in sufficient quantity break out by concentration when the Parts can hold no more and can hold out no longer into a Light Flash or Flame fit Lux The Son or the Seed comes forth with Delight and Joy a sign that the Son is Born The Pulchrum and the Bonum to be good and delightful being the Nature Essence and Property of the Light The Pleasure in begetting is a relick of the Light and the Good of Paradise Col. 1. 12. Then this same Son Flash or Seed turning to Spirit again becomes a thin Breath or Steam that steams from that place or part which the Flash did break out in into that Cell of the Womb where the Conception is made leaving behind it the Sperm or the gross part of the Seed for it comes out afterwards which is a demonstration it went not in with the steam for that Cell shuts close upon 't and doth not open again till the time of bringing forth In the Womb that same steam is by the binding quality of the Spirit of the Male coagulated like Cheese Job 10. 20. and becomes the Fruit or Son tho' it was the Son before as soon as the Flesh appear'd For it is the Son as soon as it becomes Prolifick not because 't is in the Womb the Womb receiving it not and yielding no Fruit or Son except it be such before it steams or comes into it And it becomes Prolifick in the Falsh when both the Male and Female Flash together and when the Spirits of both Joyn and Vnite in the Flash So that it becomes the Son from that very place in Man where the Flash or Light is made whilst it is yet in the Man Note that the Male and Female in that act make but one Man before it gets in the Womb. All the while this last Spirit which gives life unto the Son and is become his Spirit being the same as moved in the Deep of the Parents and brake out into a Flash and in the form of a steam got in the Cell of the Womb. The same whilst in the Father moving to Generation as whilst flashing steaming out and getting into the Womb and at whilst animating and vivifying the Son Thus remaining Father Son and Spirit at the same time and always the same Spirit in substance and the same thing tho' passing through three divers Steps Degrees and Forms or States Man being not wholly made and formed out of this World but partly from above it hath an Image of God more than all other worldly things to wit the Vnderstanding and the Will and the Courage or Power to act and do which three are actuated rectifyed and reformed by one and the same Spirit to wit by the Comforter or the Power from on High that giveth Vnderstanding and Strength to know and act by enlightning and directing those three Faculties in Man The Vnderstanding to Know the Will to Chuse or refuse and the Power to perform and reduce into Practice that thing the Vnderstanding knows and discerns to be good and the Will chuseth for such As the Faculties in Man so in God the Attributes not only the Trinity but his Omnipotency and All-sufficiency Eternity c. come from one Central Spirit and the same Might and Power exerting it self like Beams reflected several ways And lastly in Plants and Stones Minerals and Vegetables we may observe the same thing First a Potential Fire and Might mixed with Water whence their Body comes to be for both Stones and Minerals yield this fire by striking and Plants by fermentation which Might Fire or Spirit produceth in that Body a Sap a Marrow or Oyl which is their Light and vertue the Chymists call it Essence and those Oyls Essential Oyls And thirdly they yield a Smell and Taste which is the Spirit resulting from the two first and by which they Spring and grow and yield their Fruit or Vertue which last is not different from the first that gives them life and forms their Sap and Body It appears from rotten Apples which smell strongest when they are a rotting or corrupting and from Sweet smelling Flowers that yield no Essential Oyl when they have lost their Odour that this smell is their Virtue and the same as gave them life and made them to grow and Spring since they decay and perish as soon as they have lost it When you hold your hand over the Flame of a Stick or Candle you feel the Beams or Spirit coming from the Flame or Light which came first into the Flame from the dark lump of the stick or of the Fat or Tallow and gave the Stick or Tallow both its body and its life and so is the very same in the Stick and in the Flame as you feel warming your hand going from the light or flame into the Air whence it came into the Sap of the Tree and into the stick and Flame making a Flux and Reflux of one and the same Spirit from all things into the Air and the Sun and other Flames and from the Sun back again into the Air and all things upon Earth to give them life and so an Eternal Chain a perpetual Motion and Circulation of life for the Learned sort of People and go on with the main Point in Hand concluding from thence that as we see in the World and
in all other Beings the fire light and spirit to be the same in substance and one and the same spirit so it is in God likewise but eminently that is in a more sublime manner as for Illustration sake is felt in the Peace and Joy and burning of the Conscience when after a long conflict of grief horror and despair called the fiery Tryal 1 Pet. 4. 12. Light breaks out in the dark Soul and it hath Light and gladness Esth 8. 16. God being a pure Spirit free from Passion and all that the Spirit is subject to both in Man and in the World where being mixt with Water for there is not an Atome of it unmixt in the World or it would soon enflame it and reduce it to Ashes it becomes Corporeal and hath the three Dimensions except in the Soul of Man which is not all of this World and not only a spirit but the spirit of Spirits that actuates all Spirits and is their Form and their Soul doth act most transcendently and is not confined to the same Laws Order and Rules as created Spirits are in propagating themselves Neither do I suppose that the heat of the fire was manifested in God as it is now in the Sun for God as God is the Good meer Love Light Joy and Delight inwhom there is no darkness fierceness or austerity 1 Joh. 1. 5. 4. 16. and in him therefore is no fire and heat perceptible anger and austerity but in the Creature only when it departs from the Light and the Love of Paradise But the Scripture teaching us that God is an angry God and a consuming fire we may believe that in God is the root of the fire serving as the Gall in Man and Acids in sweet Liquors to exacuate the Light and Love of his blessed State Love and Light being the State in which God aquiesceth Matth. 13. 17. Being not properly God in the Father and Spirit but in the Light of the Son in whom he is well pleased And St. John saith that the World being the Image of God as well as Man and his Soul represents the Trinity or bears witness by three things which all Men may see therein in one and the same subject to wit in the first Spirit infused into the Deep of the Trinity in God for he saith they bear witness to the Father to the Word and to the Holy Spirit which is the whole Trinity and Paul saith that by the World and the Things which are therein we may not only find out but clearly see the God-head Rom. 1. 20. that is God in Unity in the still Eternity and all the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2. 10. such as is the Trinity And I believe we may for I see it my self 21. And I see through the World not only the Trinity but the Coeternity of the three Appearances that as no Light can exist and subsist without Fire and neither without the Air So in God there is no Son nor Father without Spirit nor no Spirit without Light but all three appear at once from the very beginning of God's Manifestation Joh. 1. 2. And I see there likewise the Generation of God God generating himself and being generated and introducing himself by his Beams and his Efflux at first into the Great World next into the little World and thirdly when both were fall'n deprav'd and corrupted into the Seed of a Maid there to supply the Office of the Spirit in Mans Seed and to beget the Man God Jesus Christ the Redeemer of all things from Corruption Rom. 8. 21 23. And fourthly and lastly by the Mediation or the Mean of that Man God into the Soul of all those that look for him in Spirit Hebr. 9. 28. and know him spiritually 1 Cor. 2. 24. 11. 29. Secundum modum tamen recipientis in each that is as every one doth evacuate himself or set himself in order or prepare himself for it Act. 13. 48. But most superlatively in his third introduction his Efflux the Holy Ghost which Christ was Conceived by bringing with him at that time all the might of the Father and the virtue of the Light the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in Christ bodily Col. 2. 9. he having not received the Holy Ghost by Measure Joh. 3. 34. And if thou hadst my Spectacles which I cannot lend thee Science is the Gift of God not of Man nor of the Schools thou wouldst see and believe it also as well as I without the help of Scripture for thou wouldst understand it and to understand is to believe Intelligere ipsum credere est 22. And thou wouldst see and believe therefore that the Son of Man as the Son and Light of God is the same as Gods Spirit and comes with the Holy Ghost bringing with him in his Wings or the Efflux of his Light Health and Life or Salvation Mal. 4. 2. being the same in substance and being not a Person or subject distinct from them But that as the Son of Man or Emmanuel God in Man or as the Human Nature anointed with the Divine he is as much a Person subsisting a part from God tho' in an undivided manner as the Church from him and as the Beams from the Sun as Man and the World it self And thou wouldst see how he is the First Born of the Creature or of the whole Creation Col. 1. 15. not of every Creature for that Translation is false the only begotten Son of God and dwelling in God the Father and God in him Joh. 1. 1. 14. 11. and how he is one with God Ch. 10. 30. and not only one with him but the most Bright Glorious and Excellent of the three Essences of the Godhead the Light or Oyl of gladness which he is anointed with Ch. 1. 9 14. Hebr. 1. 9. And yet less than the Father who Quatenus the Godhead is greater than the Person of Christ or of God and Man Joh. 14. 28. In fine how as God and Man he becomes the Son of Man not only of one Virgin but of all the Virgin Souls that will make themselves Virgins or dis-impregnate themselves of the Lusts and Affections they are fill'd with from their Youth Matth. 24. 19. till Christ is form'd in them Gal. 4. 19. that is before their new Birth of Water and of Spirit And the Head and the Spring Head and the Fountain of Mankind Eph. 1. 22. Col. 1. 18. instead of the first Adam where all the Sons of Adam must re-enter and die in become as dead as Water Rom. 6. 4. and as one Water with him that they may be born again of him and of his Spirit and as the Brooks of the Spring become partakers of his Nature and his Righteousness And as such that is as Head over all things to the Church Eph. 1. 22. he deserves tho' but a Man or however God and Man that every Knee of Things both in Heaven and in Earth should bow and fall at his Name Phil.