ascribe the Creation of them to the Stars Let Lights arise out of or let there be Lights in that thin Essence or in the firmament of the Heaven the most subtil Matter being thickned or thrust close together into a constant place which afterwards may cast forth their beams to a great distance to make distinction or to divide between the day in which shineth one only sort of light and which is proper only to lucid natures and between or from the Night in which the greater Light is absent and the dark Natures are strengthened and let them be for Signs concerning divers natural accidents such as are Droughts Frosts and various seasons and for certain times or seasons of the year of Festival Days and of Months and for Days and Years Vers 15. And let them be for burning Torches or Lights in that same thin Essence or in the firmament of Heaven to give light upon the Earth and it was so Vers 16. And Elohim or the dijudicating divinity or God made two great Lights so called and vulgarly esteemed which viz. to men in this Earth seem greater than the others and have greater operation in their round motions and one of them the greater light with his greater circumvolution to rule the day and the other lesser light with his lesser compass rowling it self about the Earth to rule the night as well in respect of its light it self as of its influence upon moist humours he made the stars also which afterwards partly disappeared were transmuted into Comets Planets or wandring Stars Vers 17. And Elohim or the dijudicating divinity or God set them into that same thin Essence or Firmament of the Heavens to give light upon the Earth Vers 18. And to rule over the day and over the night and to constitute a difference between or to divide the light from the darkness which are found no where more than in the shaddows of the grosser bodies And Elohim or the dijudicating divinity or God saw that for this end and purpose it was good Vers 19 And the evening was that is these were middle natures to which belong both fiery Meteors and Aereal Spheres and the morning was that is these are those middle Natures to which are referred blazing Stars and the lesser Planets this was the fourth days or the fourth Class Order or sort of Creatures Vers 20. And Elohim or the dijudicating-Divinity or God said let the waters bring forth by Troops or abundantly divers Animals moving themselves or the moving Creature as are those of the water-kind those that live both on Land and in the water those that creep and those that have wings in whom there is a Psyche or a living Soul or that hath life together with an intermediate Soul or Spirit and the Fowls that may fly about above the Earth in the midst of that thin Essence or in the open Firmament of Heaven Vers 21. And Elohim or the dijudicating Divinity or God Created that is transplaced Souls into the several Terrestrial Animals following viz. divers of the greater Serpents such as are Dragons great Whales Monsters the larger Snakes Crocodile Sea-Buffalloes and all Psyches or inferiour Souls of living Creatures creeping with feet or every living Creature that moveth which the waters brought forth by Troops or abundantly after their kind and every winged Fowl after his kind and God saw that it was good for divers sorts of food viz. for Man and Beast Vers 22. And Elohim or the dijudicating Divinity or God blessed them and gave unto them an influential capacity that those of them which were created in pairs were able to propagate and enlarge their kind and he said the World or Soul of the Messiah co-operating couple together be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the Seas and let Fowl multiply in the Earth Vers 23. And it was the Evening these were those intermediate Natures which tend unto the nature of Fishes and it was the morning these were the middle Natures which became flying Creatures and this was the fifth day or the fifth Class Order or sort of Creatures Vers 24 And Elohim or the dijudicating divinity or God said let the Earth bring forth various Psyches or the living Creature after his kind viz Cattle and Flocks and Worms or creeping things and wild Beasts or beast of the Eath after his kind and it was so or so done Vers 25 And Elohim or the dijudicating divinity or God made divers wild Beasts or the Beast of the Earth after his kind and divers Herds of Cattel after his kind and divers Worms creâ—ping with feet on the Earth or every thing that creepeth upon the Earth after his kind and Elohim or the dijudicating divinity or God saw that it was good and that every thing had its uses Verse 26. And Elohim or God said to the Soul of the Messiah Let us make Man-kind that is let us transplace the superiour human Soul into a certain Matter destinated for it in our Image after our likeness that as there is a communion betwixt us or our selves so also betwixt them and this same subtil Matter let somewhat arise or spring forth our of which afterwards may follow like effects and let them viz. these Souls which are called Men have dominion over the Fish of the Sea and over the Fowl of the Air or of Heaven and over the Cattel or Flocks and over all the Earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the Earth or over all wild Beasts and over all Worms which creep with feet upon the Earth Vers 27. And so Elohim or the dijudicating divinity or God Created and changed the state of the Soul that from thence might be made man-kind in his own Image in the Image of God or Elohim or the dijudicating divinity created he him or it Male in the forepart and Female in the hinder-part created he them viz. all and every one of the Souls which do at present exist in the whole Universality of Mankind he transplaced into a certain subtil Matter and co-ordained or put them into an order under the person of Adam the Protoplast or the first Parent as a Regiment of Souldiers under their Colonel or General Vers 28 And Elohim or the dijudicating divinity or God blessed them and gave unto them the faculty or capacity of turning their faces to one another and Elohim or God said unto them apply your selves that you may be fruitful and multiply and replenish the Earth or fill the Terrestrial or the material Being in all the parts thereof and subdue it to your selves that your bodys may take thence their nourishment and have Dominion over the Fish of the Sea and over the Fowl of the Heaven or of the Air and over every living thing that moveth or creepeth with feet upon the Earth Vers 29. And Elohim or God said I have given you every Herb in their Superiour and Inferiour qualities bearing seed which is upon the face of all the Earth and 〈◊〉 Trees of every Tree which beareth Fruit or in the which is the Fruit of a Tree yielding seed or his seed all these shall be for food or to you 〈◊〉 shall be for Meat to repair the decaies of you bodies Verse 30. And to every Beast of the Earth or wild Beast and to every Fowl of the Air or of Heaven and to every thing that creepeth or that goeth with feet upon the Earth wherein there is life or a living Psychâ—… or Soul I have given every green Herb or all Plants and Herbs fon Meat and it was so Verse 31. And Elohim or God saw all or every thing that he had made in the matter and behold it was very and supereminently Deut 6.5 good And the Evening was that is the middle Natures descending down to the brute Animals and the morning was that is there were also middle Natures which were exalted above humane condition and this was the sixth day or the sixth Class Order or sort of Creatures Chap. II. Verse 1. THus the Heavens and the Earth were together with the Air brought to perfection and finished and all the Host or Troops of them viz. in the Heavens multitudes of Thrones and of Angels and in the Earth multitudes of well ordered sublunary Creatures Verse 2. And Elohim or the dijudicating Divinity or God on the seventh day ended his Work which he had made and he rested or ceased from further creating on the seventh day from all his Work which he had made Verse 3. And Elohim or God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it even as and for which cause the seventh number is said to be holy and pure because that amongst the first numbers none is formed out of it nor is it formed out of any of them as if it did hint that the happiness of the Creatures did consist only in it not being mixed with any other Creatures they were at quiet in God Because that in it in that day he rested from all his Work which Elohim or God had created therein all kinds of Spirits and Souls so that from thence he had made something in a material representation manifestation or appearance by and thorough which other Spirits were presented it this or the other matter c. FINIS †The Atmosphere is that part of or in the Air which being alwaies opposite to the Sun reacheth up as far as the shadow or darkness of the Earth reacheth
A Cabbalistical DIALOGUE IN ANSWER To the Opinion of a Learned Doctor in Philosophy and Theology THAT THE WORLD WAS MADE OF NOTHING As it is Contained in the Second Part of the Cabbala Denudata Apparatus in Lib. Sohar p. 308. c. Printed in Latin at Sultsbach Anno 1677. To which is subjoyned A Rabbinical and Paraphrastical Exposition of Genesis 1. written in High-Dutch by the Author of the foregoing Dialogue first done into Latin but now made English LONDON Printed for Benjamin Clark in George-Yard in Lombard-street Bookseller MDCLXXXII A Cabbalistical Dialogue in Answer to the Opinion of a Learned Doctor in Philosophy and Theology That the World was made of Nothing To which is Subjoined a Rabbinical and Paraphrastical Exposition of the First Chapter of Genesis Compiler THE Marts and Fairs drawing near I cannot possibly enquire of thee concerning all those things which I once was determined to enquire of Only tell me briefly for the present Are these the Fundamentals of thy Cabbala which are proposed in the Aeto-paedo-melissaean Dream Cabbal No no But what answer shall I give to one that is â—n hast unless thou dost allow me to defer until another time those things which are more amply to be added to those three Treatises called A further Disquisition the Exposition of the Mercava and the Cabbalistical Catechism Compil Be it so This is all I ask in the first place Whether dost thou deny all Creation properly so called Or what is Creation according to thy Hypothesis or doctrinal Supposition Cabb I will answer Paradoxâ—s with Paradoxes and becauâ—e I perceive thou examinest all things so strictly in the Ballance of Reason which for the most part is stark blind in these more sublime matters I shall answer problematically so as ye may be able to judge whether our Cabbalistical terâ—â—s do not also admit of another interpretation according to the dictate of reason than such a one as may be said to labour under an absurdity But as for our Hypothesis it self I shall more freely expatiate on that another time Now therefore to answer thy question I know one who is of our number who defineth Creation properly so call'd to be the effection of an infinite efficient whereby a separable Being is constituted or made This definition of Active Creation may also be easily applied to Passive Creation or to that which is Relative that is to that respect which the Creator hath to the Creature or on the contrary As also to that Creation which is mediate whether it be so in regard of the Efficient or in regard of the Effect And what absurdity is there in all this Compil But why in this definition dost thou omit that which we call the formal reason of Creation viz. that it is done out of Nothing Cabb Because the Particle Ex out of does only denote or properly belong to matter nor can it Properly belong to Spirit which yet is the most proper Subject of Creation properly so called and of this Spirit it can no wise be said that it is or is not Ex out of another but only that it is ab or from another just as we say not that an Idaea or conception is made out of the Soul or out of the Mind but from the Soul or from the Mind or that the beams or rays of a Created Spirit are made out of its Centre unless peradventure with regard to place but from the Centre or that the Hands or other formal Members of an Angel when he appears are made out of the Angel but are made from him Compil But thus thou seemest to shut out matter from Creation Cabb No but only from such a Creation as is immediate For these are our Positions 1. That the Creator first brings into being a spiritual Nature 2. And that either arbitrarily when he pleasâ—d or continually as he continually understands generates c. 3. That some of these Spirits for some certain cause or reason are slipt down from the state of knowing of Penetrating or of moving into a state of impenetration 4. That these Monades or single Beings being now become spiritless or dull did cling or come together after various manners 5. That this coalition or clinging together so long as is remains such is called matter 6. That out of this matterâ— all things material do consist which yet shall in time return again to a more loosned and free state No contradiction is involved in all these Hence the Creator may also be said to be the efficient cause of all things materiated or made material although not immediately Comp. After this rate the Creature would be co-eternal and co-existent with God Cabb No otherwise than as the beam or light is said to be co-existent with the Sun a Conception Idaea or thought with the mind a Mode Manner or Accident of a Being is coexisient with its Being a thing dependent with that on which it dependeth the effect with its positive actual efficient cause and a many such like For thus may Vnity be alwaies better conceived to be in God because thus he will alwaies have Pluralities as his oppoâ—ites In like manner will his Goodness be better thus conceived by reason of his incessant communication to his Creatures Also that he is the supream Act because he will alwaies actuate other Bâ—ings Also that he is the Beginning and the Cause because he will alwaies influence his Creatures as their cause Also that he is the Subject because he will alwaies have Adjuncts Also that he is the Measure because he will alwaies commensurate others Also that he is Priority because he will alwaies have all else to be Posterior to or after him Also that he is the Substance because he will alwaies bear up all things Also that he is the Crown because he will encompass or comprehend all others And so of all the Rest of his Names and Numbers and therefore also belongeth to him the Noâ—ion of a Kingdom because he will alwaies have Subjects Comp. Why thus it will follow that God did Create by intrinsecal necessity Cabb There will be no absurdity in that if Creation be understood to be immediate in regard of its Subject and therefore to be only of a spiritual nature which in a certain respect is immanent or working within its own self just as motion is from Fire Cogitation or thinking from the Soul Volition or Willing proceeding from God whence also Creation is very little different from Conservation according to the Sentiments of our People But in that Creation that is Mediate or Transient or working ad extia without himself he acteth freely so that for Example he one day creates out of the Chaos or confused mass the Heavens another day the Earth another the Stars Compiler But how I pray after this manner will the Effect be posterior to or after its cause Cabbal In the order of Nature though not in the order of Time Compil But at this rate Spiritual
Natures will differ little from the very Creator himself and because it is supposed that matter is from their Stupefaction or Dispiritedness it will follow that the Divine Essence is as it were a kind of bodily Spirit Cabb In the first place indeed some of the Ancients seem to have asserted That the Soul is a Particle of the Divine Air or Breath and that men are called the Off-spring of God Acts 17.28 Yet is this warily and wisely to be understood that the Air or Breath of God doth at least differ from God himself as the thing principiated or principled differs from its principle now for things to agree generically or in kind doth not infer or allow that they are the same in Essence or do agree essentially Whence none do assert the Divine Essence to be Bodily-spiritual but those who deny all nature of Spirits tho' perhaps it may be more truly said that there is that in God if may so say which may be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or an affect or moving as it were sufferingly to Create rather than in Spiits an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or an affect or moving sufferingly to become Matter However from this Hypothesis or doctrinal supposition the Nature of God is established to be much more Spiritual than from the Vulgar Hypothesis because by this Vulgar one Matter as such is not allowed to be so much as a Substance but to be only a certain extrinsecal and accidental Modification of a Spiritual Substance from which God is most vastly distant insomuch as he is the most wise and chief Mover of all things Comp. But however the Material World will be thus after a sort determined to be a Spirit Cabb Matter as such is not a Spirit by only that very Substance it self which appeareth under the form of Matter viz. in its blindness or darkness to wit in that its dull rest and privation of its former happiness that was in sometimes past a Spirit and as yet is fundamentally and radically such and will sometime hereafter be such again formally as it is said Rom. 8.19 20 21 22 23. Eph 1.10.1 Cor. 15 28. Examples hereof may be a Man Living and a Man Dead a thin Vapour and Ice c. Comp. Dost thou therefore conclude positively that out of nothing nothing can be Created Cabb Indeed having positively determined that Matter is made by a Coalition of Clinging together of Spiritual degenerate dull Monades or single Beings and that this Coalition is called Creation I should not speak accurately if I should say that Matter is made out of Nothing But I should assert that a Spirit is produced neither out of nothing nor out of something because the very Particle Ex out of respects a material cause which is by no means admitted to be in Spirits But the Inferences with which the first Axiom is loaded do not touch my Hypothesis But these Absurdities and Incongruities do flow from the vulgar Opinion viz. that Matter is Created by God out of nothing viz. 1. That from a Being supreamly perfect supreamly intelligent supreamly free having motion in and by it self in the highest degree supreamly penetrating supreamly immutable supreamly positive supreamly living c. should be produced a Being most absolutely imperfect in the highest degree void of all Science Understanding and Knowledge under the highest necessity and force imaginable bound in the highest degree to the Laws of Passive Motion and by consequence destitute altogether of all liberty and willing wanting in it self in the utmost degree all motion and subjected only to the motions and impressions of others and therefore of and in it self in the highest degree quiet and immovable wanting in it self all penetration as well active as passive most highly mutable most highly privative and despoiled of all happiness and the possession of all real good and therefore most highly dull sluggish and dead and by consequence enjoying nothing at all of those things which are contained in the cause whence also many have said that nature is plainly contrary unto God whereas an efficient cause as it cannot produce any thing that is altogether like unto it self so neither can it produce any thing altogether unlike unto it self 2. And yet this Subject so vile and void which is by us deservedly said to occupy the least part of the Universe is notwithstanding in this vulgar Hypothesis concluded to be co-extended yea co-existing and co-ordinate with God and therefore is lifted up into so high an estimation that all the doctrine in the whole Pagan Philosophy is exhausted or drawn from this Subject alone which also is established the measure of all Theorems Maxims and Conclusions concerning Spirits or concerning God which they call a Demonstration a posteriori that is from effects or posterior Considerations whence it becomes an accursed Materialism and consequently Atheism 3. As To be and not to be done imply a contradiction soâ—â—t is a consequent of this contradiction out of Not-being to be if we should speak accurately and according to the Laws of the Essential Descriptions of Causes 4. After the same manner God must be said to have Created Death Sin Shadows or Darkness Monsters Evils c. which are privations as Matter is the privation of spiritual nature inasmuch as in whose definition not one only positive term ought truly and rightly to be made an ingredient because neither is discerpibility or divisibleness or separableness to be allowed to it in the abstract and as considered in an Atome or indivisible Being 5. The Creation of matter out of nothing doth directly and perfectly oppose or is repugnant to the Wisdom of God inasmuch as in the case thus stated when he might have done that which was best as for Example he might have made every Creature a Spirit yet some and so many he would make to be no Spirit and not the best 6. It is contrary to His Goodness because he would Create something without any Communication at all of most of His good things 7. It is contrary to His Beauty because Matter is quite opposite directly contrary to and distant from the first Fair One. Yea. 8. Hereby would be a progress or passage from one extream to another immediately Whence 9. it would be absurd for the avoiding of uncertain absurdities which flow not necessarily for an Hypothesis to admit of many more other absurdities which are highly hurtful to the nature of the Soul and Kingdom of the Messiah and are such as plunge the Mind so into material dirty Gulphs that by reason of the utter blotting out of its Spiritual nature in it it at length plainly becomes a material thing as it were which God forbid Compil Dost thou therefore assert that matter cannot be Created Cabb Not immediately But after that a Spirit is immediately Created it doth for certain assignable Causes and which are elsewhere to be remembered descend into that state of Death that it admitteth of the Qualities and name
of matter being now a natural Monade or single Being and a very Atome then out of these a further mediate Creation may be made and done even as out of a Dead Sinner a New Creature is made by and through the Messiah Therefore as to the Third Fourth and Fifth Axiomes I answer that matter as such or as it is considered formally doth not only not exist by and of it self but in truth doth not so much as exist positively but privatively only just as doth a shaddow or rest c. And whatever is is a Spirit whether it be only fundamentally so as a dead man is a man or whether it be also formally and really so as is a Soul an Angel God Comp. What therefore dost thou Reply to the rest Cabb The rest fall of themselves For every Spirit is not the Divine Essence which by the Sixth and Seventh Axiomes seems to be insinuated in a numerical Identity but only in a specifical or a generical Identity Hence is expresly concluded by us that there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Systeme of separate Beings which comprehendeth the Briathick the Jezirathick and Asiathick Isa 43.7 And these in as much as they are products for they exclude not the concurrent Divinity also do not exist of and by themselves but from the Author of Emanations who only existeth of and by himself according to the Eighth Axiome But that the Divine Essence can be divided as the Ninth Axiome would have it that we admit not of but most highly adore the Vnity which is in it Just as for Example when in some most Limpid and clear Fountain there secretly lurk some earthly and stony Particles and these at length do cling and grow together and are separated from the Water no man asserts and saies that the Fountain is divided into small Pebles but that the Pebles are separated from it so in truth the Creator produced first of all infinite Myriads of Spirits united to him and with him in the supream degree of most happy perfection in which the Messiah did still abide so that God might be all in all But then by reason of the various degrees of the exercise of their proper Free-will there comes to be a secretion or separation made amongst these and that of as many degrees as there are degrees of Knowledge even unto the very last extremity which is the privation thereof and therefore this death must again some time hereafter be swallowed up Isa 25.8 Now altho' according to the Tenth Axiome single Particles cannot be infinite yet a Spirit considered in it self is to us indefinite and its amplitude or extension is such and so great as the degree of its Knowledge and Vnion doth admit The Divine Essence it self therefore it not constringed but that which was Analogous to it viz. a Created Spirit and these Particles out of which the material World consisteth cannot be said to be of the Divine Essence but of that Nature which was Effected Constituted Produced Made Created and brought outwards from the Divine Essence And this constriction may be called a Sleep according to the Thirteenth Axiome or a Death c. And the awakening of which mention is made in the Fourteenth Fifteenth and Sixteenth Axiomes which is by us termed a Secretion or Separation of Sparkes hath so many degrees of Ascent as can be assigned of Descent the extremities of which are however no other than the last contraposition or opposition to God in the state of Death and a supream Vnion though not an Vnity with God and that indeed so that not the primary power of Creating which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to produce Spirits but the Secondary which is to form or make not out of a Negative Nothing but out of a pre-existing rude Subject or a privative Nothing concerning which see 2 Macc. 7.28 as for Example by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Vehicles of Angels c. by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it can communicate thereunto the grosser Natures which we deny not concerning the Messiah from Isa 65.17 18. But in the Commentaries upon the Twelfthe Axiome the derivation of the Soul from the material World is unduly imputed unto us because every Spirit is not sunk down to this low degree but many of them did stop at some of the intermediate degrees amongst which also were Souls Nor do we to these Particles ascribe pains as the Comment on the Thirteenth Axiome insinuates because we say that they want even a sensual Knowledge yet some such like thing and what is Analogous thereunto even the Scriptures do ascribe unto them Rom. 8.12 The rest I pass by and do appeal to them of your own number who refute the vulgar Philosophy if they be duly and soundly understood Compil I am afraid that by making too much hast thou hast brought forth Blind Whelps Cabb These Doctrines I propose Accademically and for Experiment sake nor do I require assent to them from any whatever However I shall in due time explain more fully the Cabbalistical Hypothesis in its own proper Terms Comp. At least let the Glory of all our Writings be ascribed unto our God and to His Christ A PARAPHRASTICAL EXPOSITION Of the First Chapter of GENESIS WRITTEN In High-Duth by the Author of the foregoing Dialogue first done into Latin but now made English Verse 1. IN or by the Beginning of the Creatures or Creation of God as in Rev. 3.14 Col. 1.15 16. John 1.3.1 Cor 8.6 Eph. 3 9. Heb. 1.2 viz. by the Soul of the Messiah which was already conjoyned with the Divinity God or Elohim or the dijudicating or judging Divinity with which the Soul of the Messiah had conjoyned it self and remained together therewith in an inseparable conjunction Created or manifested or presented Celestial Beings or the Heaven viz. Spirits who remained in a sta e of motion as Job 38.7 Col. 1.16 to which sort or kind Souls also are referred or do belong Also Terrestrial Beings or the Earth viz. those Spirits who laid down or put off the State of motion and are vulgarly called Matter as Rom. 8.20 now these two sorts or kinds of Spirits even before this formation and preparation did all flow forth from God Vers 2 And this Terrestrial Being or the Earth viz. Matter was a plainly unmoved Mass inasmuch as it was gross thick Matter and partly was capable of motion but altogether without form and void And Darkness that is Spirits who had departed from the Union of the Light Luke 22.53 2 Cor. 6.14 15. Eph. 6.12 Col 1.13.2 Pet 2.4 Jude vers 6. were extended upon and in the parts of the Abyss or upon the face of the Deep Gen. 1.2 that is they were present in and adherent to those places which were most remote from the manifestation of the Original Luke 8.31 Rev. 20.3 But the Spirit of God or Elohim indeed or of the dijudicating or judging Divinity that is the good Spirit moved it self and distributed its motion
or moved upon or in the parts or face of the Waters which encompassed round or all over the Abyss or Deep Vers 3. And Elohim or God or the dijudicating or judging Divinity said that is suffered the Word or Soul of the Messiah to operate or Work John 1.1 2 c Let the Light appear or let there be Light that is let the Spirit of Nature give a most strong motion to the most subtil Matter and the Light did appear or there was Light from this impressed motion viz. that which the Son of God by the Soul of the Messiah brought into the Spirit of Nature and into this most thin fine Matter Vers 4. And Elohim or God or the dijudicating or judging Divinity saw the Idaea or measure or Notion of the Light viz not only beheld the extension it self of the most subtil matter but also that the most Noble of the Spirits and Souls began to cloath themselves with this Light which was good not only because it was fit to make such Vestments but for other holy uses and services also And Elohim or the dijudicating or judging Divinity or God made a separation or divided between the Light together with the Spirits and Souls invested therewith and between or from the Darkness or Spirits of darkness Verse 5. And Elohim or the dijudicating or judging Divinity or God called the Light together with the Spirits and Souls invested therewith the Idaea or measure of the Day as in Rom. 13.12 13. 1 Thes 5.5 8. 2 Pet. 1.19 and the Darkness viz. of such Spirits who dwelt and liv'd in the darkness and in the Abyss he called the Idaea or measure of the Night 1 Thes 5.1 And it was the Evening that is a certain Essence mixed with more gross thick Matter and which was next unto darkness whilst viz. the gloomy dark Spirits do also mix themselves with some sort of such matter and it was Morning that is there were also such Natures which only did incline to the Idaea or measure of the day to which also the Matter of the second Element is to be referred and this was the first Day that is the first Class Order or sort of Creatures Verse 6. And Elohim or the dijudicating Divinity or God said see more about it at v. 3. Let there arise up a thin and extended Essence or let there be a Firmament of the Air and of Heaven in the midst of or between the Waters that the middle Spirits may have wherewith to invest themselves and let it make a separation or divide between the inferiour Waters and between or from the superiour Waters which are sometimes found in Clouds above and other times under the form of Vapours Verse 7. And Elohim or God or the dijudicating divinity made or spread abroad out of the Matter of the third kind or sort for as the word Create or to be Created belongs to Spirits so the term of making or of being made belongs to Matter a thin and extended Essence of Heaven and of the Air or the Firmament viz. not only of the grosser Aerial Atoms which may be compressed and extended like a sheet of Paper or a Bow but also of the Aethereal Globules contained in the Cells or Pores of those Atoms as also the most subtil Matter which is found in their Pores together with Salt-watry Vapours And this he made the dictinction or divided between the waters which were beneath the extension or under the Firmament and which afterwards were distributed into Seas and Rivers which were above or on the surface of the Earth and very much also within the very Bowels thereof and between or from those waters placed above the extension or which were above the Firmament out of which afterwards did arise Clouds and other Aereal Meteors and it remained so or it was so V. 8 And Elohim or the dijudicating divinity or God called the extension or the Firmament or Air Heaven which name is elsewhere commonly used for the Air as Gen 1.20 26 28. Gen. 2.19 20 Gen. 7.11 Gen. 8.2 and by it properly is understood the Atmosphere which encompasseth round the Globe of the Earth and it was the Evening by which is meant a middle Nature betwixt Air and Water coming near to the likeness of Water and it was the Morning that is a middle nature of a most subtil Essence which was the Second Day or the second Class Order or sort of Creatures Verse 9. And Elohim or the dijudicating and combining divinity or God said Let the waters which are under the Heaven or the Air be gathered together for at that time they as yet quite covered over all the whole Earth by the means of certain deeply hollowed Gulphs and of highly exalted Mountains congregate themselves into one place tho' in divers distinct Regions or Countries and let the dry Land appear that from thence a third sort or kind of Spirits may get their vestments dwelling places it was so Ver. 10. And Elohim or the dijudicating divinity or God called the dry-land Earth according to its divers Scituations such also as are Continents Isthme Islands and Peninsules or almost Islands and the gathering together of the waters called be Seas such as also are standing Pools according to all their divers sorts as are Oceans Creeks Arms of the Sea and Lakes or standing Waters and Elohim or the dijucating Divinity or God saw or judged that it was good to transplant into it divers living Souls Vers 11. And Elohim or the dijudicating Divinity or God said Let the Earth bring forth divers Plants or grass which commonly proceed to a further growth and in which even as in all Plants the inferiour Souls or Psyches vulgarly termed vegetable do obtain their springing forth and their encrease to which Class Order or sort also are referred all Mettals in their under-ground places which according to the Chaldeans are nothing else but Portal or Entries of Vegetables and the Herb yielding seed and the Fruit tree yielding Fruit after his kind whose seed is in it self upon the Earth and it was so Vers 12. And the Earth brought forth various Plants or grass and Vegetables both within and without its Bowels or Womb and Herb yielding seed after his kind and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in its self after his kind And Elohim or the dijudicating divinity or God saw that it was good viz. for to be a variety of food for the Creatures which were to come afterwards Vers 13. And the Evening was that is there existed divers sorts or kinds of intermediate inanimate bodys Terrestrial and Metallick And the Morning was that is various intermediate kinds of Beings which declined towards Sense such as are the Zoophytes or half Herbs half Animals viz. the third day or the third Classis Order or sort of Creatures Vers 14. And Elohim or the dijudicating Divinity or God said now at last after the production of Vegetables lest that men prone to Idolatry should