THE FORBIDDEN FRVIT OR A TREATISE Of the Tree of Knovvledge of Good Evill of which Adam at the first as yet all Mankind doe eate death Moreover How at this day it is forbidden to every one as well as to Adam And how this Tree that is the wisedome of the Serpent planted in Ada is that great Image and that many headed Beast mentioned in Daniel and the Apocalyps whom the whole world doth worship LASTLY Here is shewed what is the Tree of Life contrary to the wisdome righteousnesse and knowledge of all mankind With a description of the Majestie and nature of Gods Word By AUGUST ELUTHENIUS Translated out of Latine into English Printed in the yeare 1640. CHAPTER I. What is the Tree of Knovvledge of Good and Evill I Will not much contend with them that would have the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evill accoâ—ding as it is in the Scriptures to be a Naturall Tree which being planted in Paradise had that nature devinely given unto it that who should eate thereof their eyes should be opened to view themselves and they be made Gods and so know both Good and Evill perhaps God would teach Adam both inwardly and outwardly and what hee forbad or taught him inwardly in his heart that he would propose outwardly to his eyes for greater testimony but yet I desiâ—e of them that they would grant this unto me that as the thing was done outwardly so the same to have happened inwardly in the heart of Adam that there hee was tempted by the seed of the Serpent to have the guiding of his owne will and nature not to be so void of knowledge and action as to be subordinate unto God That I should so thinke two reasons or causes doe especially move mee The 1. is that the Seed of the Woman was to breake the head of the seed of the Serpent but as a naturall and living Serpent whose head was broken of that Seed we doe not reade of any but as even then the Seed of the woman was spiritually in the heart of Adam so in the same manner was the seed of the Serpent for man at the first was created good not of God but of nothing and for that cause doth he turne himselfe alwayes from God and bend downewards to his owne nothing and vanity againe which nothing I with the auncient Fathers but especially Taulerus doe judge to be sinne Satan death hell and this perhaps was that devill inhabiting in Adam as also in Lucifer The other reason is this which the scripture doth testifie of the Citie of God and the Heavenly Ierusalem that Paradise to be in us but God alone and his omnipotent Word is our Paradise the Tree of Life and the Temple wherein we inhabit walk serve pray c. as wee are on the other part the Temple of God and his Paradise In like manÌ„er the Beast which even now the whole world both great and small doe worshipp in their hearts of which the scriptures make mention in the Apocalips as also the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil is in us for the exterior world whatsoever outwardly is to be seene or is done is onely an accident and a certaine signifying figure of the true and interior nature and there is nothing true in all those things which are seen with the eye that is substantiall for it behoveth that the forme of this World perish because it is nothing else but an imaginary world and a figure of the right true eternal and by it selfe the constant world therfore it is expedient that all these things in their course be done over againe which throughout all the Bible are related outwardly and significantly to have beene done and yet to this day after their manner the Historie of the Bible Moyses and the Prophets are spiritually and truely of force but all things are brought into the truth by Christ and it it is expedient that all the prophecies which have been from the beginning of the world which God hath spoken by the mouth of his Saints be againe reiterated Therefore that Tree was nothing else then the nature will knowledge and life of Adam whereof he ought not to eat That is not to attribute any part of it to himselfe But freely and willingly submitt himselfe to God and know nothing but what God would know in him doe nothing but what God would doe in him speake nothing but what God would speake in him c. Whereby without any impediment God might exercise his Kingdome will nature and power in him that being void of will wisdome and knowledge he might have nothing of his owne or arrogate any thing to himself this God would this was pleasing to him and thus he commaunded To this opinion the German Divinity ascents Theologia Germanica 3470. cap. Which saith that this tree is nothing else but our owne will knowledge of which alone in the Earthly Paradise of the world of our hearts we are not to eate but acount it is forbidden unlesse we desire to dye or eate death from it And now when Adam was fallen and had eaten of this tree then was it planted in his heart the same was derived into all his boughts and fruit so that the same case word precept and interdict is common to all his posterity we all have eaten death vvhosoever are in Adam and this uncorrected poyson have vve received from the Serpent being evill Egges of an evill Bird Hence may every man easily perceive hovv each man is the greatest enemy to himselfe and vvhat hee ought to esteeme of himselfe his vvill and understanding vvisdome and knowledge since it is the Counsell seede wisdome knowledge and head of the Serpent which by Christ is to bee broken in our hearts it behoveth that all things which Circumcision in the old and Baptisme in the new Covenant doth signify which are hereditary and naturall from Adam should dye in us that we should labour to unlearne and put of all things as if they were death and the devill that is our will wisdome and righteousnesse c. with which as with figleaves Adam strove to cover himselfe for this is sinne and the stinge of sinne and death that is to eate of this forbidden Tree and to arrogate any thing to a mans selfe as his will nature and understanding or himselfe But alas alas who knowes this or beleeves this who abandons or is weary of his owne will understanding or knowledge when will men give a farewell to them Give a Farewll say J why every one delights himselfe in his own imaginations sweetly slumbring recreats his soule in his own wisdom knowledge workes c. the Tree is fayre to the eye and pleasant to the tast Here all mankinde as Adam himselfe doe taste death But yet no man knowes no man thinkes of this but every man judgeth it to be right and the flesh esteemeth it to be the Tree of Life That is to follow
subiect unto him Have know doe love bee nothing but what God hath knowes doth loveth is in us For by this privation and denyall will God draw us unto himselfe make us like God and teach all men wisdome in him and not out of themselves Therefore the knowledge of Christ in Men is quite contrary unto this For hee hath knowne nothing doth or wills to know nothing but onely God this is his rejoycing for this only cause doth hee learne sciences or rather doth God in him And to this with all his endeavoure and strength doth hee apply himselfe that as in Adam hee was made something even so in Christ and with Christ he may be brought to nothing againe and all his knowledge and sciences even as it were foolishnes deadly poyson he may vomit up againe esteem as nothing that he may wipe out of the tables of his heart all human arrogancie having action knowledge and science to the end that nothing may remaine there but only that which God teacheth and by his owne finger writeth Breefly a true Christian is a certaine bare naked thing who with Socrates knowes nothing but this that he knowes nothing In these blessed and unknowing fooles God will know all things if so it be man know how to empty himselfe and to cast away the basenes of his old ragges But the flâ—sâ— for this onely cause doth learne that it may be something or rather be all things know have and doe all things wheras the spiritual man learnes only for this cause that befor God he maj be made nothing to himself all other creatures whatsoever that thereby God may be all things in him know have doe love and live in him this is behoovefull to bee knowne this is the true use of all things and for this only end ought we to labour to know any thing But every fleshly minded man who belongs to the Kingdome of Satan and lyes captrivated under his power thinkes farre otherwise and defendeth quite contrary and therefore is in the sight of God foolishnes wickednes sinne and Satan From whence it is that he esteemeth their wisdome to be foolishnes their life to be death and righteousnesse sinne accounting their love no better then hatred Fourthly the naturall man hath many goods wife Children life riches knowledge wisdom will glory honour name and all things as his owne proper these he arrogates to himselfe to these he applies his minde these are pleasant profitable and deare unto him But if they be taken from him and God exact his owne then the theefe appeares neither will hee willingly send them againe he turnes himselfe and seeketh for all safegards and wayes of escape and means whereby he may retaine them still and award God the proper owner of them who now exacts them of him the whole World lyes sick in this misery and those things that are Gods are abused by men And what is common to all or rather accommodated from God he labours as much as in him lyes to make it his owne and whensoever hee is to restore it againe he doth it very unwillingly But if it be so that that which he hath stolen from God is now no longer profitable or delitefull unto him he then surrenders it of his owne accord And if it so bee God giveth it againe into his own bosome and if it be Gods will hee shall retaine it longer yet will he not retaine it if he be able to resist it by compulsion if hee have it it is with great resistance so that before God he rather wilfull casts them away then retaines them So is it that the flesh which hath all things out of God offends in all and because it apprehends al things out of God it necessarily followes that although it have all things yet hath it nothing For what can it have who wanteth God the essence of all things and in whom all things subsist Surely they can be no other then like Tantilus Sicicus Medeas Again what can he want who hath God and in him all things since that God is all in all Hence it is that often times those that seeme to have all things have truely nothing and those that have nothing may truely be said to have all things On the contrary the new Man hath nothing but only God wherein he can glory neither doth he any way claime any thing to himselfe but God As for that which God gives him he useth it for Gods sake as his guift and reward ready to render it every moment as it shall please God to exact it For he can willingly restore that which he did never claime as his own but as God did give or rather lend it unto him so that he willingly permits God at his pleasure to assume it from him Breefly he useth all things as the traveller doth his Inne or a freind money committed to his custody ready every houre to restore it back This Paul tearmes so to have any thing as not to have it or as though thou hadst it not which in the eyes of the World is accounted meere folly that is that thou arrogate nothing unto thy selfe offend in nothing willingly forsake all things and with God as a true wife with her husband have all things common Wife Children Money life and all things else he loveth in God and for God and therfore keeps them loves them hath them and takes them as lent from God ready to yeeld them to God againe whensoever he requires them all the guifts of God as Wife Children and all other things he loveth only for the givers sake the giver above all his guifts and although some things are contrary to his nature as the Crosse death exyle c. yet hee loveth all things alike and this it is to have know love and marie in the Lord But the world and worldly minded men are carried headlong unto the guifts of God as the Sow unto the Dunghill Never doe they any whitt respect the giver but the guift with the which they committ adultery challenging by right unto themselves and so long as it is either pleasant or profitable unto them so long they dearely esteeme it and willingly will not permit God to have it againe whatsoever is contrary unto them therin that they unwillingly suffer though it come by divine providence unto them for incontinently they looke about them which way they may pull their neckes out of the yoake and therfore whatsoever they undertake doe speake c. that they altogether abuse and in the abuse it is altogether unfitt for any good untill they cease to be that which they are and being translated into Christ become in him new creatures Here it will availe nothing to patch up with God for if thou stopp one hole or fill up one crevist an other will presently be made therefore it is necessary that men be borne againe and altogether forgett this Tree of Knowledge of Good Evill And breefly
in by the windowes that is by the sight of the eyes And this moved the Schoolemen to define sinne to be nothing that is no Creature of God Neither that death which it produced both which came into the world by the malice of Satan for the same cause sinne brought man back againe into his first nothing wherefore the Devill and Adam are run out of the sight of God He not acknowledging them for his owne neither having any commerce or societie with them So long as they doe not acknowledge their vanity therfore since man by sin is made nothing before God and yet will not acknowledge himselfe to be nothing but even then esteeme himselfe to be something it is necessary that so long he be expelled out of the presence of God till he be made nothing in his owne heart then doth God love his hand and creates him againe of nothing For God knows not how to create any thing of somthing but of nothing for that is his nature He that yet is not nothing hee cannot hope that he shall be something wherfore behave thy selfe to Godward quietly like a livelesse trunke as thou didst in thy creation Suffer God to doe Fast Feast and Rest and doe thou nothing at all least it happen that thou be taken with a desire of the forbidden tree or any other thing or esteeme thy selfe to be something according as the Law commands yet doth it not cease to curse and condemne us untill it hath brought us unto that spirituall Sabbath that so forsaken in our selves we doe no more worke to our new birth then wee did to our firsâ— creation but only suffer So that our actions are only to doe nothing and bee like a stone or trunke For this desire to be somthing is alwayes that which brings to nothing CHAPTER V. Wherfore the Tree of the Knovvledge of good evill was created then forbidden to Adam and now to us since God knew that both he we should eat death from the same and what is that tree Wherefore was Adam and Eve forbidden this Tree seeing to know Evilâ— is not Evill but to doe Evill If Adam had not knowne good in himselfe God had beene alone good in him and he had not arrogated any thing to himselfe but had beene as free from pride therein as a bird is in her song a horse in his strength a Cow in her milke and a Tree in its fruit but assoone as he knew good and considered it what it was as a bewtifull woman doth her bewtie he arrogated it to himselfe and therein became a theefe unto God This God foreknew and therefore was unwilling that Adam should know good that so he might walke in his innocencie and be ignorant both of Good and Evill For this cause God said unto him thou shalt not eate of it as if he had said beware least thou thy selfe desire to know what is Good or Evill but suffer me to be all things and be thou quiet in all things that that good which I am and desire to worke alone I may worke it in thee to my owne praise in thee according as I doe it in the rest of the Creatures And thus hee was forbidden to know Evill for God knew that assoone as Adam had smelt what Evill was it being of its owne nature like to him nothing would be pleasing to him and so it would come to passe that he would desire and affect the same Besides this another evill hath rises from hence that that evill which man according to his nature delighted to doe he denyeth that he hath done it Thus pulling his owne necke out of the yoake he accuseth the Serpent that it was done by it Againe the good which God doth in him and which is not his owne he falsly contendeth that he hath done it himselfe being deceived with a presumptious opinion of his owne power and strength this being the perverse estate and condition into which Adam did fall willingly therfore after that Adam was fallen into this perverse wisdome by eating of the forbidden Fruit and his own arrogancie he was so depraved that whatsoever hee thinkes speakes or doth is displeasing unto God and we all in him have eaten death and fallen into the same estate and condition but after we are raised from death and redeemed from it againe by means of Christ there is the same reason that the Tree of knowledge of Good Evill should be also forbidden us least afterward wee fall into the same estate againe wherefore the next way of comming unto God is this that now Adam with all his Children abstaine from this tree that is deny it vomitt up the Forbidden Fruit and repent himselfe of his wit as if it were foolishnes But when we eate of the Forbidden Fruit or Tree God forgives us but upon this condition that for ever afterward we fast and alwayes repent our selves of our first eating This tree is planted in every one of our hearts is nothing else but our own witt reason flesh knowledge and will to which as long as we adhere and are not made foolish in our selves and as little Children we can have no pardon from God wherefore we must either abstaine from this wisdome and become little Children againe or else want God and that prohibition of God eate not of the tree if thou doe thou shalt dye is the same with that saying of Christ except ye renounce your selves and hate your owne life ye cannot enter into the Kingdome of God For what was spoken unto Adam the same also was said unto us neither is our estate to be amended any other wayes then that of Adams the hearts of all are like to a vessel which smels of that matter and meate which Adam did first power into it Therefore as Adam declined from God and inclined towards himselfe and made himselfe as it were a wise deaster and admired himselfe like a little God the same is also fresh in every carnall heart Now therfor we must labour as it were to goe backward and that inbred witt of Adams is to be rejected esteemed of us no otherwise then foolishnes Here many things are to be unlearned and this we are to learne know that all our conceit opinion of wit is foolishnes and that which seperates us from God and hinders us so that we cannot attaine the true wisdome indeed and we must labour to be freed from the bondage of our selves And to this worke we should all apply our selves to wit quietly to rest our selves not in knowledge but in God known and so affect knowledge only as an Index which only shews and paints out God unto us and is of God That is the Fruit of the Tree of Life and not of the Tree of Knowledge of Good Evil to wit that we permit God to be know love have all things in us so that he speake worke know and love in us nothing but himselfe when
where and wherefore he will Julian th' Apostate ignorant of this secret against whom Civill writes was greatly offended at this that God would have man to know neither good nor evil or rather that he would have Man to have teach be and will nothing at al c. He I say was offended at this But if the matter be brought unto the light of truth we shall finde that all this happened because of us even as a Father forbids and detaines a Sword from his Son knowing that if he had it he would hurt himselfe upon it or otherwise abuse it In the same manner God denyed unto Adam and also unto us that Tree of Knowledge for our profit and good Neither did hee envy us therein but only did it to prevent the future evill into which he foresaw we should fall For he knew that assoone as Adam like God should know Good and Evill hee would challenge the same to himselfe desire to be his owne God otherwise God had not cared though Adam had eaten of that tree for satiety For assoone as Adam had eaten of it there followed thereupon selfelove and arrogating all things to himselfe praise and all other vices So God in all his commandements hath respect not so much to himselfe as to us and our salvation which not he but we enjoy as Iob himselfe doth manifestly confesse that God is neither hurt by our sinns nor profited by our righteousnesse but still remaineth an eternall perfect and impassible God to whom nothing can be added or any thing detracted though we try yet can we not make a Heaven neither put the Sunne out of them nor dry up a Fountaine but all these things remaine in the same estate and condition wherein God hath placed them He that assumes to throw a stone against Heaven it will fall upon his owne head Therefore we can make God neither richer nor poorer greater nor lesser no he is no way advantaged by us though we all adhere unto him only he hath a care on us to helpe us we never deserve to be what we are therefore we ought to attribute the cause of all our good to him only and give him the glory he hath an open hand more ready to give then we are to receive rich to all those that call upon him Neither doth he desire any thing at our hands but only this that we quietly receive of him that which he is willingly pleased to give for he that with quietnes doth not receive can have no hâ—pe that he shall receive all our witt we ought only to imploy to this end to the denying of our selves This should make us nothing children Fooles and prostrate low at the feete of God And to the effecting of this denying of our selves all our knowledge ought to be directed but that knowledge only which proceeds from God can effect it it can make a man nothing a Child a Foole and casts him downe at the feete of God But that knowledge that puffs up a Man making him great and wise in his owne conceit such being the wisdom of the World comes not from God but is rather the Serpents Seed forbidden fruit Now every one that eateth of the forbidden Tree for no other cause eateth hee thereof but only that he may obtaine a great name honour titles and glory that he may have preheminence to bee counted the light of the World And by this meanes he eateth death in stead of life This the holy Scriptures testify unto us for whereas we ought to know and learne nothing every man learnes to know and be wise in all things Now here some man might enquire why therefore did God create the Tree if he foreknew that both Adam and wee would eate death thereof and not rather hinder our sinne I answer that God at the first made us of earth and assuredly did know that we would not constantly abide in the estate of our creation and yet he suffred Adam to take his course make tryall of misery that forced through sorrow death he might hast to God again for so it was to be that God would create him againe out of sorrow and make him againe a new not as before of nothing but with grace of himselfe this God foresaw from all eternity and therefore suffred his fal and gave way that man should first tast of the bitternes of death before that he would give him the sweetenesse of eternall life by which he might know the better what he hath in God and what that life is compared with death which before he tasted Besides it was meete that God suffered the freedome of sinne rather then restrained it as well for many other causes as more speciall for this that otherwise it had beene coaction and force and not libertie and also the goodnesse of God his mercie having no other obiect could never have been manifested in his Creature Therfore it behoved that things should come thus to passe by the providence of God and yeeld without necessity or any fault in God Read Brentius lib. 4. Ambros. in Rom. 9. CHAP. VI Of the 2 kinds of knovvledge and Will and how the one allwayes resists the other THere is nothing under the Sunne but it may be said to be twofould that is Just and wicked Good and Evill Now just and also that which is evill and wicked may in like manner be said to the twofould the one according to the judgment of God and the other according to the estimation and opinion of men And now seeing God is a spirit and Men flesh contrary to the spirit it followes that all their judgements wills knowledges and actions be contrary and repugnant one to the other Whence it is what man calleth good right sweete light life knowledge wisdome justice c. God esteemes that to be evill wicked bitter darknes death foolishnes and sinne according as the Scriptures testify of God and of the World Therefore there is nothing in the world but it may be called good or evil according as the judgement of men are disposed to whom it is proposed What God is unto the world the same is the Devill unto God and so on the contrary So that nothing can be called Evill but all things are in their order right and good and evill and wicked according as the Touchstone is by which they are examined If I say that the Word of God is false foolishnes and Heresie the same is true in the judgement and opinion of the world and thus all things are twofould either good or evill good is twofould as also evill the one truely good or evill in the sight of God the other apparantly good or evill in the sight of Men or their opinion so that there is a two-fould fasting praying willing c. to witt one that is really good in the sight of God so as is God himselfe the author and teacher of all goodnesse the other in the sight
God and these two Trees are as God and Satan so contrary one to another that the one brings Life unto us and the other death Therefore he that eates of the one its impossible he should eate of the other because they are divided by a flying Cherub and a flaming sword which I interpret sinne and disobedience which sometimes in the Scriptures is called a partition wall For hee that eates of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evill that is hee that is possessed with a Diabolicall wisdome of the Flesh he cannot eate the Tree of Life that is he is departed from divine knowledge and wisdome that proceeds from God For these two wisdomes are incompitable they cannot bee in one and the selfe-same heart being as contrary one to the other as heaven to hell He that eateth of the Tree of Life and is pertaker of divine knowledge hee cannot dye neither sinne For this Fruit eates the eater of it and changeth him into its owne nature into Life as the Scriptures doe testify of those that doe eate the flesh of Christ For it is one and the same thing to eate Christ to live in his word to eate of the Tree of Life to beleeve in God c. as it is also the same thing to be in Adam to live in Adam to eate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good Evill to obey the word of Satan and be God Therfore those that eate of this deadly Tree and adhere to the word and wisdome of the Serpent and are borne of Satan these cannot doe any thing that is pleasing unto God As on the contrary the other doth not any thing that is displeasing unto him Therefore he that would be the one must bidd adew to the other He must putt off the wisdome of the Serpent and vomitt up the Fruit of the Forbidden Tree who would eate of the Tree of Life Adam must dye in us and the witt of the Flesh must be unlearned of us if we would have Iesus Christ to live in us and obtaine the direction of the holy spirit For the death of the one is the life of the other the infirmity of the one is the strength of the other No man can serve two Masters neither is it possible to unite Adam God the Devill together CHAP. XII The praise of the Word of God on which alone man ought to build rest reside and it onely know if he will remain unshaken in adversity have his Faith manifest and approved and finde quietnesse to his Soule INdeed there be many arts profitable to the body which God the belly hath created and yet doth dayly finde out which truely bring much profit to the kitchin and onely serve worship obey their God the belly most zealously as it is expedient they should But as the cōmon proverbe is that which is profitable to the body doth often hurt the soule and that which is the bellies and flesh as life foode and plentie is often times the death of the soule and a meere poyson unto it because the spirit is contrary to the flesh Hence it comes to passe that table or belly arts because they be the Fruit off-spring and witt of the flesh are altogether vaine famine and death unto the soule And on the contrary that onely art the end whereof was not for God bellies advantage which the whole world doth so much sleight and litle regard that onely true wisdome and Theologie to witt God and the knowledge of his Word in him together with the knowledge of him divinely infused into our soules is the sole art onely necessary to mans salvation Therfore the true heavenly divine art the true tree of Life of which whosoever eateth hath everlasting life Furthermore I say this art is the Foode Wine Milke excellencie defence and all whether the profitt pleasure or advancement of Soules All other arts being vaine doubtfull and the poyson of the Soule hurtfull and deadly to the Spirit of Man if hee leane upon them rest in them glory in them or build his happinesse upon their sandy foundation In a word they are the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good evill of which whosoever eates as J have amply proved hee shall dye the death Therefore I desire that wee would not be to righteous nor wise in our owne eyes As Solomon Eccles. 8. as also Proverbs 3. doth faithfully instruct us that we should esteeme nothing to be our wisdome righteousnesse or any other vertue in us but onely to know God in and with himselfe and love praise worshipp feare honour and understand him as wee ought Which thing must necessarily proceede from God himselfe beeing the worke of his eternall and in it selfe everlasting and immutable word which without spokesman from him proceeds out of his mouth that hee speakes in our hearts teacheth himselfe in our soules imprinting and engraving his Image in us thereby enlightning so our understanding that to speake in a word he so teach love know understand pray unto heare guide governe and worshipp himselfe in us All other things whatsoever are to dull and all the vertue of things are to base that they should be able to teach us God and give us everlasting felicity or that God by them should give it unto us God will be himselfe teach himselfe give and convay himselfe into our hearts Neither will hee suffer his honour to bee given to any Creature that by it wee should be saved or sanctified but hee that heareth and learneth it of the Father commeth unto him He will himselfe be the Master of spirits and so a spirit shall be taught of a spirit And all those that are divinely instructed of the all-knowing and understanding God shall be said truely to be learned and wise The flesh hath teachers who belonging to the ould covenant have commerce with the flesh The new covenant because it is spirit and Life and in like manner hath a spirituall and new birth of God to be instructed hath also a spiritual word and Master to instruct it which is the word and spirit of Life Therefore if any man would know himselfe submitt himselfe quietly to the direction and permitt himselfe to bee spoken too sought and found in him He surely should be elevated to a wonderfull Light if any man I say doth follow the instruction and Doctrine of the Father in himselfe he verily should finde God in God and with God But the world busied and accupied in the Creatures passeth away in a confusion and not considering the hidden and secret treasure that is closed in his heart Neither seekes for this precious Pearle but covered all over with the earth of the Creatures remaineth in darknesse with the multitude of his arts and sciences weary ignorant and void of all true arts and sciences yet doth he in the meane space learne art after art further and further searcheth into the my fierie of knowledge And to use the words of Saint Paul is
Tree of Life is planted by the Tree of death in the heart of Adam From these two Seeds trees so different doe spring different Fruits so as one is poyson and death the other is Medicine Life and if any man would know that plant which is called Man he may easily know what he ought to think of his owne art knowledge wisdome and righteousnesse how that this pleaseth all men and is of great respect with them For what is current with the world but its owne coyne What but the wisdome art and righteousnesse of the Flesh seemeth holie in the sight of men onely the Holy Ghost can reprehend the world of sinne righteousnesse and judgement It is wonderfull to behould how the world doth dayly yet eate death of the forbidden Tree which tree you may call as the Germaine Theologie doth our own will and although God doe dayly cry aloud in them and moreover provideth by the witnesses whom he sendeth to teach them externally that they abstain therefrom or otherwise they shall reape death therefrom yet none beleeveth but all follow that Serpent which secretly in our heart doth speake thus Not death shal you reape by any meanes but if you know many arts you shall bee like unto God and live for ever this the whole historie of the Bible remaines in force at this day from hence ariseth a certaine art and curiositie enquiring searching out Neither will any submitt himselfe docibly and simplie unto God and obey his word But every man will be his owne yea Gods Master too and teach both himselfe and God bring him into the Schoole and there prescribe unto him with whom where what wherefore he shall doe speake permitt or omitt Hence it commeth to passe that wisdome is justified alwayes of her Children and those men skilled in a thousand arts and above measure craftie God cannot satisfie neither can he obtaine his Kingdome or gett any love or right at their hands Since they will be altogether Gods and kisse their owne hands will wisdome prudence and reason The art of the Devill which is sucked out of the Duggs of the Serpent hereupon we compose many bookes desiring to teach the whole world not knowing how to teach our selves From hence it comes that the proud Devill alas is buried deepe in Learned men whom their deadly knowledge doth so dangerously puffe up that they thinke themselves worthie all honour both from God and men and oftentimes if not in word yet indeed they make their estate as Lucifer and Adam did No man understandeth how we dayly become Lucifers and Adams but thinke that to bee the relation of a thing long since done in Adam and condemne his wicked pride and fal when neverthelesse we all sticke fast over head and eares in the same and yet deride others who in this kinde are foolish Divines preach much the word and his precepts but when they are to be kept indeed they are wanting in this yea what themselves doe sometimes teach they will not suffer others to practise but contented meerly in the bare words so making the word of God nothing but a meere Art a matter of talke and disputation had rather be called knowers and fearers of God then lovers of him that not in vaine is the proverbe which is verified by experience teaching and confirming the same The greater Scoller the worser Christian The Gramarian is carefull that he erre not in his speaking but little regardeth the errour of his life In like manner the Poets had rather bee lame in their lives then halting in their Verses Philosophers would know all things but not themselves The Historian describeth all peoples but neglecteth himselfe The Orator is more sollicitous that he speake not rudely then that he beleeve not or live wickedly The Logitian will sooner forsake the truth then leave his opinion and conclusion They that have any thing to doe with Geometrie doe sooner measure the Earth then their wayes The Musician taketh more care that his Song bee not dissonant then that his cariage bee consonant Astrologers travell over the whole Heavens and foretell things to come but see not the ditch under their feete The Cosmographer relates of all Mountaines Valleyes Woods and Rivers but that makes him not one haire better in the sight of God The Phisician healeth sick mens bodies but neglecteth the healing of his owne soule Lawers are alone expert in the precepts of men but negligently violate the Lawes of God so as the proverb from hence hath risen Neither doth the Phisician live nor the Civillian dye well because Phisitians of all men are most intemperate and Civillians the worst Christians and for that cause as Baldus being an expounder of the Law himselfe doth say the most part of them are taken away by sudden death Other Arts-men J will not here mention but referre you to Cornelius Agrippa chap. 100. So the Devill doth compasse us about with the rope of folly insomuch that sometime with one question sometime with another art we be so amazed in the meane time wee neglect the onely science of God in which all things consist even as the Adulteresse Medea when her husband Jason pursued her cutt her Children in peeces dispersed their members in the way that Iason might bee busied in the gathering of them up while shee escaped out of the Countrie Alas shall death sinne and the Devill thus please us shall wee alwayes thus seeke God in hell with the Devill Light with darkenesse The living among the dead One thing is necessary and this no man will desire many things are unprofitable and unhealthfull yea deadly yet these are greedily desired off and devoured by all men In the word of God alone and no other thing are all things placed neither therefore will it profitt thee to have all things to know will speake surpasse in measure dispute off number paint adorn judge teach al things c. To know all things is nothing else then to know the arts of the Devill eaten by his counsell of the forbidden tree Onely to know the word and will of God and to live according unto it to be fruitfull in good workes is the true art and eternall Life eaten of the tree of Life in vaine it is to know all things yea rather it is bitter death as hath beene sufficiently spoken off before Since therefore all the arts witt and righteousnesse of men springeth from the tree of knowledge of good evill or rather from the Devill and therefore is the fall and death of Adam it necessarily followeth that the more any man is learned therein and experienced the higher he hath ascended the worse and more perverse he is as hee who hath made the greatest proficiencie in the wisdome and knowledge of the Devill And againe the more foolish a man is in this art and in the wisdome of the flesh and the Serpent and the more bee hath unlearned forgotten and emptied himselfe
be quit contrary to what he is or hath beene He is flesh born of flesh unto death and therefore it is behovefull that he be made spirit borne of spirit unto life Which before he bee all things are uncleane unto him as he is himselfe although all things in themselves are very good yet are they perverse evill unto him as all things seem blew to him that lookes upon them through a blew perspective all things degenerats into the nature of the possessor and therefore all things by Adam are made vanity although by themselves as ever they have beene they are good For all foode is savory according to the pallet temperature that receivs it even so is every thing according as he that possesseth and hath it is cleane to the cleane uncleane to the uncleane it cannot be otherwise but that all things be unjustly done loved prayed for knowne and retained which an unjust man doth love pray for know and retaine as the very words themselvs declare For how can it be that a wicked man can doe any thing justly a foolish man speak any thing wisely an unclean man doe any thing purely a lying man speak any thing truely Fiftly the naturall man as before hath been said is Flesh borne of the flesh altogether of an uncleane nature perverse adulterous the servant of Satan sprong of the Seede of the Serpent seduced and turned away by his word and the tree of knowledge so infected with poyson that betwixt Lucifer and Adam there is no difference for as al true Christians are of Christ the sonnes of God gods God himselfe so are all the Sonnes of the Devill the Devill being of the same kinred ofspring appertaining to the same Kingdome and covenant as Princes and Subiects to the same being al in the same estate of condemnation neither is there any remedy to preveÌ„t this jayle but that a man put of the old man so as he be no longer man but a new offspring creature born of God Hence we may easily gather what is the naturall prudence justice knowledge of man to witt foolishnes sin and enmity unto God because that all flesh is an enimy unto God freinds unto Satan and altogether of the same witt nature wil birth as it were his flesh blood In so much as he is nothing but an enimy unto God can perceive nothing that is divine would be nothing but with out God or rather his own God Attributing all that is good to himselfe as Adam and Lucifer did the Father of the flesh these are the Fruits of the forbidden Tree But the Christian is borne of God is a spirit and life altogether of divine nature and nothing else but the Jmage of God or if you wil a visible and corporal God who being made one with God is of the same nature rich in love desirous of the common profitt attributing nothing to himselfe like to God free strong void of proprietie ambition and anger Breefly or in a word whatsoever can be said or may be said of God may in its kinde be said of the true Christian since now it is not he that lives but Christ lives in him Not now he is any thing but God is all things in him that is whatsoever he speakes teacheth hath wills c. and although they unwillingly carry the old man about them yet never doe they live unto him but alwayes contrary earnestly endevouring themselves against him untill they have quit put him out Therefore to conclude this chapter the true use of all things is knowne only to the sincere Christians and the abuse to the naturall man Not yet justified living in himselfe who can neither use speake teach doe love know have or not have any thing truely But with all hath a defiled both conscience minde Hence it is that he is altogether unfitt for any good work like a black Collier and in all his actions like a stage player foolish blinde dumb deafe abscene and wicked In a word whatsoever evill man hath or title can be invented it 's proper unto him untill he returne from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evill unto the Tree of Life and eating thereof and he be delivered from the Kingdome of Darknesse into the Kingdome of Light Otherwise the flesh doth alwayes retaine its proper nature and hath in all things a false and ungodly cause and end for which it doth every thing that it doth In a word he altogether aimes at himselfe yea under a pretence of God although he thinke himselfe to know love and desire God only for God without any respect had to himselfe No man hath yet truely learned to know himselfe the flesh being so cunning and craftie to excuse it selfe no man knowes whether or no hee sinnes in all his workes so unsearchable is the craftines of the heart yea no man truely understands that in all his works as in his loving doing speaking knowing praying giving willing having possessing c. he mortally sinnes untill he be redeemed and pulled out of the dregs of Adam translated into Christ he become a new Creature Of which things reade Paul Bochâ—us de consolalatione Philosophiae the third Booke and the tenth Proofe How we must live unto God and so be made blessed in him CHAP. IV. Hovv Man being of God could sinne and what it was that moved him to sinne ADAM was not taken out of God or made of a Spirit but of nothing of the Earth if he had been taken out of God he could never have fallen by sinne as those that are borne of God cannot sinne Jo. 3. but God created him of nothing and then left him to himselfe and his owne arbitrament whether he could returne to his owne nothing againe or according to the order of his kinde be drawen unto God Sinne in Man and in the Devill is nothing else but that they doe avert themselves from the condition of their creation and that which they are unto their vanity and nothing againe the essence of Man and Satan is very good put this is their nature acquired in their fall that they strive to be not that which they are to wit nothing but that which â—hey are not so doe turn themselv froÌ„ As if it so were that that nothing of theirs were something in it selfe This is sinne this is that devill in all our hearts which stirreth up all sinne in us For as soone as Adam by the instinct of the Serpent fell away from God and returned unto his nothing again he was indeed made nothing which thing SataÌ„ who before had fallen into his nothing did spinne and weave into the heart of Adam by the externall obiect of the tree and he made the Fruit of the Tree so pleasant to behould that no sooner they beheld it but they were inflamed with a desire to eate of that Fruit For which cause it is written Ier. 9. that death enters