not any thing separate from Adam but belongs to him and makes up one Creature with him § 117. But altho' God according to § 115. Created Man to Replenish the Earth and to subdue it yet withal God so Created man that he could do the same of his Free Will without compulsion as was shewed § 33.34 and sad experience sufficiently convinceth that Adam could transgress this Command of God But of this we shall Treat hereafter when we come to speak of Mans Fall and by what and how it happened A PREFACE OF THE AVTHOR of the APPENDIX To the READER I Heartily Wish that all Persons to whom it shall happen to have and Read the small foregoing Treatise of Dr. Paulus Buchius would please to receive the same with as kind and good Intentions as the Aged Author of this Appendix Presents it to them He having taken the pains to cause it to be Translated out of the Dutch Manuscript into English It was the Request of his Friends after that they had read the said Translation that he would be willing to add thereunto an Appendix which should yet more Illustrate the Doctrine of the Revolution of Humane Souls To which desire of theirs he yielded and as you here see he hath caused it to be done in haste which therefore falls short of that clearness of Stile which his Friend who first wrote in Dutch the foregoing Book could have given it to have made it more intelligible then it is at present Also for that very reason he cannot at present satisfie the Desires of some that he would Write a Commentary on the first four Chapters of Genesis which perhaps he may do hereafter Farewell F. M. Van Helmont AN APPENDIX OF Several Questions with their Answers Concerning the Hypothesis of the Revolution of Humane Souls Quest 1. THe Hypothesis being this viz. That every individual of Mankind must several times die and be Born again in Order to the working out of their Salvation here in this Word It is Queried first Whether any Books of this Author treating of such a Revolution of Humane Souls have been Printed and Published in divers Languages and in different Countries Answer 1. Yes Diverse Books of this Authors Treating of such a Revolution of Humane Souls have been Printed in different Languages and that in several Countries Quest 2. What do some of the Learned judge concerning this Hypothesis Answ 2. They are somewhat reserved and shy openly to declare their Thoughts concerning this Matter because it seems as yet to be very novel and but little known to the most But when reminded they may then remember that both the Books which Treat thereof as also many clear Texts of Holy Scripture evincing the same are not unknown to them and then they must own that it is impossible to understand many places of the Holy Scripture without this Hypothesis Quest 3. What does the unlearned say of it Answ Some of the Unlearned having little or no judgement of their own and being prepossessed with a prejudice from others do suppose it to be a vain Opinion which the Jews received from the Heathen Quest 4. What is the reason that not any of the Learned have indeavoured to confute as yet these Books nor manifestly to prove that there can be no such Revolution of Humane Souls Answ Because when some write great Books it may for the most part be concluded that they endeavour rather to drown a Doctrine then to find out a Truth So that it 's not to be wondred at that the Learned hitherto for any thing I know have not written against it nor demonstrated in short that the return of Souls is impossible in as much as it is impossible for them to perform this as it is for them to demonstrate that the propagation of Mankind depends not on any precedent Generation it having continued immortal from Adam Quest 5. What is the reason why this Doctrine hath for these many Ages been as it were lost amongst men in Europe Answ The Reason why this Doctrine hath been so much hid is because Men are become for the most part Corporeal and Carnal so that they cannot see nor apprehend any thing but what is suitable to and as we may say tastes of this present Body of Flesh and Blood though that also continually is changing and remains not constantly the same Quest 6. Whence did the wise Heathens derive their knowledge in some part of this Doctrine Answ The wise Heathens as Socrates c. have by continual Searching been able to find out this Truth in part forasmuch as the Mysteries of Holy Scripture were not made known to them they could not arrive at the full Discovery thereof but as it is manifest in Nature But the wise Jews have drawn it fully from that Sacred Fountain Quest 7. How comes it to pass that the Jews of old better understood this Doctrine as appears by their Writings concerning the same then modern Jews and the wise Heathens Answ The Jews being at that time Gods peculiar chosen People were consequently to abound more with Love then the Heathens did wherefore also a clearer knowledge of this Doctrine was imparted to them which the Modern Jews have much lost In as much as the knowledge of this Truth and true Love go hand in hand together and are inseparable Quest 8. What then is true Love Answ Love is a perfect Emanation or beaming forth of the Life and is Spiritual without which no perfect work can be wrought or brought forth either in Naturals or Supernaturals Quest 9. What is the chiefest most perfect and wise Efficiency energy or out-working of the true Love and how may we have experience of the same in our selves and in the Creation Answ The true Spiritual loving emanation of the Life every one especially the Married Person may rightly and fully have the experience of in himself if so be he Generates his Child in true Love and this is the beginning of the first Efficiency of love The second is that wherewith the Child when it is Born is continually regarded and beheld and wisely lookt after and Educated the Parent still preserving and continuing the same love for his Child in himself without prodigally lavishing out the same So that they who thus give out prudently their Love they will find by experience that when their Children come to Discretion and understanding that this inward reserved quiet and prudent Working-love will increase in the Parents and descend to the Children and from them reflect back in true Obedience to the Parent Moreover this reflection of the Childrens love to the Parents cannot but produce a fresh increase of love in the Parents which prolongs the Life of Children according to Deut. 5.16 Honour thy Father and thy Mother as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee that thy Life may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee Whence it appears that the true Efficiency of Love must be an
Nerves of Motion and thence through the Nerves are conveighed to the Right hand which may be accounted the Male Hand which hath five Fingers and also the like to the left or Female Hand to Work out all which together make ten and if we add to the former this other further Consideration viz. That the same may be said of the two Feet whose ten Toes added to the Hands ten Fingers make up twenty which hereafter is proved to be the compleat Working out of a Man he then becoming Ripe to bear Fruits or to beget and bring forth Children so as his Feet correspond to the Rootes and his Hands to the Branches And therefore hath no more then ten Fingers wherewith to effect and Work out their ten Properties or Powers as it appears in a Woman big with Child who upon some Fright or put into any other Passion doth there form on that very part of her Childs Body some strange live Impression of some external thing by an effective application of her own hand upon that very part of her own Body And forasmuch as man consisteth of ten Powers or Faculties therefore also ten Commandments have been given to him to observe according to that in Eccles ch 12. v. 13. Let us hear the Conclusion of the Matter Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole Man This very Text of Holy Scripture the Jews do make to be the Summary or chief Head of their whole Talmud Quest 16. How may this be further explained Answ Thus viz. Children must remain in the Womb of their Mothers for to attain or get by the influence or Government of the Moon over the Monthly Courses a perfect Body in the space of ten Lunary Months which consists of 40 Weeks And seeing that Man is made of the ten Lunary Operations That is the reason why when a Man doth Govern himself perversely and to his utmost power doth tye himself too much to his own Will and Fancy he becomes Lunatick or Mad and is then wholly under the Governing Rule of the Moon Quest 17. If the Terme of Mans life was appointed to be a thousand Years how then comes it to pass that Adam lived but 930. Years Answ The reason was because of his Fall or Sin And it became manifested in Cain why Adam finished not his thousand Years Seventy of them being wanting which number Seventy consists of ten times seven which was that vengeance that should be taken on any one that should kill Cain Quest 18. Why had Adam by his wife two Sons at one Birth neither more nor less as Gen. 4.1 2. doth shew Answ The reason seems to be this because Adam had been in two different States Conditions or Beings before that he knew Eve The one was antecedent to his Fall the other was after it For which reason she was to conceive Twins he knowing of her but once as appears by the Text whereof in the order of Nature the eldest must be born last and the first Born last conceived which is confirmed and made plain in that of Gen. 38. v. 27 28 29 30. Both in the Words and Action of Tamars Midwife and the red Threed used by her as it is there mentioned at large Quest 19. Why was Adam 130 Years of Age when he knew his Wife a second time and she brought forth Seth as it is in Gen. 4.25 and Ch. 5. v. 3. Answ May not this be supposed to be the Reason Because this was the full time of Cains being Seven-fold avenged by Lamech who had slain him so that then he was not longer the keeper of his Brother Abel when Lamech with great earnestness declared to his Wives The Revolution of Humane Souls saying Gen. 4. v. 23. Hear my Voice ye Wives of Lamech for I have slain a man to wounding and a Young man by Sodomy if the place in the Original be truly Interpreted Also this Number of 7. may be taken in the manner as were the 20 Years in which the Young men were appointed to serve in the Temple as it is in Chron. 23. v. 24 27. to the end Also in the manner of those who were to go out to War as in Num. Ch. 1. v. 3 18 20 22 24. c. To which if we allow to add about one Year and a half after they were married for the bringing forth of Children we shall find that the Number of 6 times 21 Years and a half will make 129 Years and then if we further allow one year more to Adam who was Created a perfect man and who had therefore no need to stay till he was twenty Years of Age before he begat Children Adams Years will be found to amount to 130. in which Cain was 7 times avenged that is he passed through 7 such Lives each containing 21 ½ Years And as the 130 Years of Adam make up the time of Cains Vengeance So the Number of Lamechs Vengeance viz. 77 times 21 ½ of Years will have for their Product the time from Adam to the Flood viz. 1656. with a small allowance of half a Year only Quest 20. Must not all men as to their peculiar individualities receives and keep their whole and perfect Essence and a continual descending flux of Generation from Adam and Eve as being parts of them Answ Yes for otherwise could those parts be taken away lost and Annihilated there would be remaing not so much as one single Man Quest 21. Whether in the first Man Adam were all men Created and comprehended in an infinite Number Answ No This could not be so for many reasons which might be given but let this one serve viz. Because had it been so then the World could never have come to an end in its out-working and Adam would have been an unchangeable Being which could never have died Quest 22. Whether all those men whom we find are born with one or more defects either in Body Mind or Both were so Created at first in Adam Answ No this cannot be admitted because if it were so Men could not be the cause of their own defects but the Creator should have been the cause of them which to suppose is altogether absurd and impossible Because he is all good Wise and just and could not be the cause of these the Defects of men viz. To make them to be Fools Blind Deaf Sickly Lame Criples Churlish Cruel and ill natured to be Monsters and Abortives c. which have a true and right beginning but are never brought to perfection Quest 23. Whether all men who were Created in Adam had not given them to have knowledge and free-will viz. To do that which is good and to forbear that which is Evil Answ This also cannot be denied by any rational man for many Reason needless to be recounted here Quest 24. Whether Adam and his posterity were not to live and abide so long till they had by Generation propagated and produced all those who were Created in him
dayes then God does not yet daily Create in this World because there would then be a contradiction in the Reason why God blessed the 7th day under which are included the following days to wit because he rested from Creating upon the 7th day but if God should still Create after the 7th day to what purpose then should this Blessing and Sanctification be Or if they say that the 7th day is Holyer than the rest because God did then rest from the Work of Creating I then ask these men whether it be their Opinion that God never Creates in this World upon the 7th day As also whether God does not as well rest upon the other dayes when he has Created a new Being in this World For we find by Experience that all men are not Born upon one and the same day but that upon all the seven days men are Born in this World and consequently according to the Modern common Opinion that God Creates Spirits upon all days without distinction what reason can there then be if God Creates upon the Fourth and Fifth day a Spirit c. and then ceaseth why should he not bless the Fourth or Fifth days as well as the Seventh day seing that he resteth on it as well as on the Seventh day But to pass by all further disputes the sense of these Words cannot without contradiction signify any thing else but that God ceasing upon the seventh day from the work of Creation or resting from it blessed that day to wit appointed the Creatures from that time forward to Multiply and so sanctified it that is set it apart from the time of Creation as not appertaining thereunto and to what purpose I pray did God bless and Sanctify that day As the Dutch Bible has it it was to perfect or throughly to finish all to wit that the Creatures might now begin to Work but that which God had given them in the Creation to work forth viz. That they should be Fruitful and Multiply c. seing then that God hath sanctified or set apart the Seventh day from the days of the Creation for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kadash properly signifys nothing else but to set a thing so apart that it belongs no more to that whereunto it did at first appertain it must needs follow that God Creates no more in this world or else that would be no reason why God should have Sanctified the 7th day more then any other day Furthermore the work Create is not any where in the Holy Scripture that I know of used concerning things that are produced by Generation nor is it the modern way of Speech to say this day a man is Created but born But some will perhaps ask If God Created all things that belong to this World in the beginning of the Creation why were not all things that to this World belong made visible at first in the Creation as for Example wherefore did not God produce so many Men Beasts Trees c. at the beginning of the Creation as were appertaining to this World In answer that true it is that if we do only look at the power of God we might be apt to think that all the Creatures might have been made visible at the beginning of the Creation at once but seing we cannot consider the Almightiness of God without his other Attributes these must be so considered that they do agree in one Now nothing is more certain than that there is in the Almightiness Freewill c. of God a Wisdom according to § 22. and 30. that is to say that God does nothing but in Order and not confusedly and seing we find every day by all Creatures how wisely exactly and Orderly all things do proceed the one out of the other in their Seasons that all things should not be brought forth at once and at the same time but in process of time And consequently the Answer to that Question Why did not God make all things visible in the Creation is this to wit That God according to his own Wisdom and the Order which he keeps in all things has so Created all things in this World that the one Creature being hid in the other each is in its appointed Season to come forth out of the other and not altogether at once But it will perhaps be yet further said in opposition to this Doctrine that all things were indeed Created in the beginning of the Creation and that now there are no more new Beings Created in this World That the Bodies are indeed generated by the Parents but that God Creates the Spirit and consequently that it does not follow that God Created all that which to this World belongs in the beginning of its Creation But because this Objection is of great consequence and properly belongs to the birth of Man therefore we will answer it in that place where we treat of the Soul § 33. For as much then as we have already proved more than sufficiently that all those things which do at any time appear in this World were in the beginning at the Creation It is likewise certain that every Creature has received a particular own or proper working or capacity to Work out those things which the Creator has appointed it to work out For if the Creature had no own working that is if God had not communicated to his Creature a capacity or power to work out something of its self what wisdom would there be in the Creation and what profit would it be to the Creature to be created Verily none at all because then the Creature would be nothing else but a meer Instrument that can Work nothing except the Workman does perpetually move it and then no Creature could be said to do any thing but only God the Creator might be said to work and not the Creature Now if this were so there would be no Wisdom in the Creation because all the Creatures being void of all capacity of acting of themselves and all that they do being nothing else but Gods working the Creatures could be of no use or service at all and as meer nothings and God would only be said to shew unto himself after how many sorts of ways he could work just as one that playing with Puppets shews unto himself how many sorts of motions he can make with them while the Images or Puppets themselves have nothing at all of it but he alone that moves them to and fro which manner of doing is no way consistent with the Wisdom of God being a meer Puppit Play of Children that would be of no use or service but God only playing with himself a conceit most dishonourable to the Wisdom and Goodness of God But besides the Holy Scripture does most evidently shew that God produced the Creature to that very end that it might have an own out-working for Gen. 1.6 it is said that the firmament of Heavens was made to make a division betwixt the Waters which are