and Spirits and their Spiritual Qualitys which are all conteined within the same Extension of the whole Body of Matter and the several Figures therof are the Hieroglyphical Images of the Various Spirits and may have some kind of Signature therof and so Condensation is Analogous to Intension and Rarity to Remission of Qualitys and Pondus to Potentia and the rest but especialy Motion is Analogous to the very Activity of Spirits and yet as Matter and Spirit so all Material and Spiritual Accidents are Genericaly Different and particularly Local Motion from the Active and Generative or Corruptive Motion of Elementary Spirits and much more from Vegetation Sensation and Intellection which are Motions of a farr other Nature as I shall shew heerafter Again as Matter and Material Accidents are not nor can not be Formaly the very Spirits and Spiritual Qualitys so neither are they Potentialy as others have supposed and so would Educe them all out of I know not what Potentia Materiae and some Christian Philosophers in compliance therwith have supposed the first Chaos to be only such a Materia Prima though God saith expresly that in the very Begining he Created Heaven and Earth Comprehending Superaether and all the fower Elements as I have said and that the Matter had not only as a Materia Prima the first and common Affections therof that is one Extension one Orbicular Figure Equidensity and Equigravity and the like but particular Diversifications and Variations of Spheres of several Figures Densitys and Gravitys and the like and the Superaether then probably was Created Perfect and adorned with all the Furniture therof whatsoever it is and the Elements were Created in such a maner as did Denominate them Aethereal and Aereal Heavens Earth and Water yea the very Heavens and the very Earth as some have Criticaly observed though Inform and Inane and without Motion which is Secondary and Subordinate to Rest and wherof there was no Need nor Use before Generation and Corruption were Ordeined afterward in the Six Days Of all which I shall now proceed to discours SECTION VI. And the Spirit of God Moved upon the face of the Waters EXPLICATION The Spirit of God Moving in the Chaos by Supernatural Incubation did Prepare and Predispose it for the Producing and Perfecting all things that were before Created in it afterward in the Six Days ILLUSTRATION 1. Of the Incubation of the Divine Spirit 2. Of Actuality and Potentiality 3. Of Generation and Corruption 4. Of the Process therof 5. Of the Scale of Nature 6. Of the Oeconomy therof I. GOd who in the Begining or very first Instant Created Heaven and Earth could also have Perfected them and all Creatures therin in the very same Instant as most probably he did so Perfect the Superaether and Angelical Nature which are the highest Sphere and highest Nature for the manifestation of his Infinite Power yet also to manifest his Infinite Liberty and Absolute Sovereignty over Created Being and the Subordination and Subjection therof to himself and how the Creatures as they could not Caus themselvs to Be from Notbeing so also after they had a Being could not of themselvs Perfect themselvs nor attein any farther Degree of Welbeing without him and his Creating Causality did first let this Elementary World ly in the Chaos therof and afterward in such a Space of Time as seemed fitt to his Divine Wisedom that is in Six several Days proceed Gradualy and Orderly to Perfect them And though the first Creation which was from Absolute Notbeing to Being must therefore have been in an Instant becaus there is only one Affirmative Term therof that is Being which must necessarily be in the same Instant assoon as it was yet all these Works of the Six Days which were Productions from Potentiality to Actuality or Original Generations from not such a Being to such a Being which are several Affirmative Terms of Being and the first only Negative of such a Being which yet implys Being was Gradualy in Time according to Natural Generation and the Process and Cours therof which was then Instituted as I shall shew heerafter And this Original Generation was another Improper Creation and Pâ—rfective of the Primitive and Proper Creation and such as could not be perâ—ormed by Nature until the Natural Cours therof was sett in Order by the Divine Spirit who before it was so Produced and until it was Perfected did from the Begining Effectively Move or Incubate in or upâ—n the Created Chaos as it were hatching the Egâ— or Embryo therof in the midst of all the Elements that is upon or above the Face of the Waters and Earth beneath them and under the Aereal and Aehereal Heavens Preparing and Predisposing them for the Production of all their Apparatus and Inhabitants out of their first Created Potentâ—alitys Latent in the first Chaos into their Actualitys in the Six Days And all those Productions were also the Immediate Works of the same Divine Power as it is said God said Let there be Light and so of the rest which were not tâ—e same Creations with the first for that had been Vain and Superflâ—ous nor in the same maner for that was in the Begining or first Instaâ—t but these in Six several Days Gradualy and Orderly according to the Natural Process of Generation which was then fiâ—st Instituted as I have said and wherin as all their Primitive Enâ—itys were first Created in the Chaos and then Prepared and Predisposed by the Divine Spirit so every Production in every one of the Six Days was Previous and Preparatory in Nature to and for the Succeeding Productions as I aâ—so shall shew heerafter Aâ—d Angels probably being Createâ— Perfect in and with their Superae her in the Begining though they migâ—t be Spectators yet neither did Operate nor Assist in this Improper Creation which though Improper in respect of the former yet is only Proper to God himself who is expressly said so to Create in all the Six Days as well as in the Begining But I presume rather that as God made all things for himself and the manifestation of his own Glory to his Intellective Creatures Angels and Men so Angels were Created in the Begining in and with their Native Region of the Highest Heaven that they who can Intuitively behold all things and needed no Created Light to Inspect the Dark Chaos and so I suppose the whole World and Frame of Nature is Transparent to them might Contemplate all the Works of God in the Improper Creations of the Inferior Elementary World which was to be the Region of Man as he who is the other Intelligence was made last to Review as God himself afterward did all the Works which he had made and to celebrate that Sabbath of Rest which God Instituted and as it is said made for him And as the Divine Spirit was the only Creator and Angelical Spirits no Subcreators so much less was there or is there any such Archaus Faber or
Wherupon he Instituted and made for Man his first Sabbath of Rest And on the Seaventh Day God ended his Work which he had made that is as he began in the very first Instant so he continued to work untill and in the very last Instant of the Six Days and therefore he rested not before but proceeding continualy to work in all the Six Days as it is said at first that the Spirit of God Moved on the face of the Deep he ended or Hebraicaly had ended on the very first Instant of the Seaventh Day or Sabbath of Rest wheras it could not be rightly said that he ended or had ended before for in the very last Instant of the Six Days he still continued to work so exact and proper is Divine Language and though men cannot discern between Instants of Time or Points of Extension which therefore are so Indiscernible that the Fluxes and Augments of Created Nature may appear Intire and Continuous to us yet known unto God are all his Works even Instants and Points as well as Numbers and accordingly he doth declare them in his Word as exactly and properly as Human Understanding can apprehend Again though it be said that He rested on the Seaventh Day from all his Work which he had made yet it is not said that he rested in it but this Work of Creation was Corrupted very soon after it was finished Wherefore as there remaineth a Rest to the People of God by the Redemption of the World through Iesus Christ so that is called also the Rest of God himself and shall be the Everlasting Sabbath and Consummation of all his Works both of Creation and Redemption wherin he will rest for ever Thus I have delineated the true System of the World which God himself who made it hath declared and reveled unto us in this Divine History of the Creation of the Heavens and the Earth that is the Superaether and utmost Circumference therof and within that Concave Sphere the Aether and within that the Air and within them all the Orb of the Terraqueous Globe and inmost Center therof which certeinly is the most Symmetrical and Uniform Chorography of the whole Body of Matter and of these several Members therof most exactly according to the greater or Less Density of their Matter and more or less Activity of their Spirits And therin I have also described the Scale of Nature and all the Classes therof Subordinate and Subservient one unto another that is Matter to Elementary Spirits and Elements to Vegetatives and Vegetatives to Sensitives and Sensitives to Intellective Man and Man to Iesus Christ the Head of all things and other foundation can no man lay then that which is laid by God himself Monendus est misellus Philosophus ut desinat esse Conditor Mundi and I confidently suppose that if Plato and Aristotle had enjoied the benefit of this Divine Light they had farr more improved Philosophy by building upon this Foundation then Christian Philosophers have done by building upon theirs and that we may enjoy the benefit of their great Learning and yet diâ—engage our selves wholy from their Errors we must reduce all their Opinions and Human Inventions to this most Infallible Rule which if we rightly consider it will not only rectifie their Errors but also instead therof present such Divine Truths as they did never conceiv or apprehend as may particularly appear by a short Recapitulation of what we have formerly discoursed Thus first we have proved a Begining and consequently a Creation of the World which no Heathen Philosophy so understood as it is declared by God in his Word but either imagined an Eternal Creation without a Begining in any certein Time removing it perpetualy backward by supposition of many Deluges Conflagrations and general Devastations and Indefinite Revolutions or though they may sometimes seem to acknowledg an Improper Creation from some precedent Principles of Matter Atoms Mens Anima Mundi Ideae and the like yet they do not express any Proper Creation from Absolute Nonentity to which Heathen Philosophy never did subscribe nor do I know any Word in any other Human Language but only Hebraical which doth import such a Proper Creation Though if any conceiv otherwise and can collect any such Acknowledgment from their doubtful and confused and sometimes contrary Sentences I shall not hinder him from subjoining their Human Testimony to Divine Authority But certeinly Moses doth most plainly and clearly affirm a Creation of the World in a certein Begining and so proceeds to declare the first Age of the World as particularly and expresly as if himself had been Contemporary and lived in the same Time and Places and the Affairs therof which all Heathen Historiographers esteemed Fabulous and termed Ogygia more exactly and truly then they do relate the Transactions of later Ages And thus wheras other Nations dated their Writings so many years ab Urbe Condita or in such an Olympiad or the like the Jews both antient and modern date them ab Orbe condito Nor is the whole Age of the World so very large or vast but that every man may according to Divine Chronology easily comprehend it And indeed there are not probably above 150 Generations between us and Adam who was the Common Ancestor of all Mankind for the Scripture doth exactly enumerate them all from the first Adam to the Second that is to Iesus Christ 76 Generations Inclusively as Enoch is so reckoned from Adam and the Brazen Lavacre so to be measured as I have shewed for so Luke declares his Seculum as Matthew doth his proper Linage and if we allow fower Generations to every Century since the Nativity of our Savior yet the Total will not exceed that Number Nor is the whole World and System therof so Indefinite but that the Mind of Man may comprehend it and by the Light of the Divine Word look through it as a transparent Globe for so it is said He hath set the World in their Heart and his Word plainly sheweth us how all Generable and Corruptible things were first educed out of a Chaos of Potentialitys wherin all their Primitive and Simple Essences were then latent and brought forth most orderly and successively in Six Days by God who Created them before by a Proper Creation from Absolute Nothing in a Supernatural maner by Improper Creation which was their Original Generation then Instituted by God himself and by his Divine Benediction so continuing Successively And this is a short plain and evident account therof wheras others instead of such Proper and Improper Creation have imagined a Potentia Materiae or Power in the Matter of producing out of itself other Active Substances farr more excellent then itself which yet were not before Realy in it or that the Matter is transpeciated and converted into them though an Angel who is the chief Being in the Scale of Nature cannot so produce out of himself any other then his own proper Qualitys and
Chaos that it was Inform and and Inane without any of those Actual Mistions Compositions Figures and Virtues which were afterward Produced in the Six Days wherof all the Essence or Entity was Created in the Begining and which to Produce were the several Works therof but there were all the Simple Essences and Entitys therof Potentialy in that Chaos otherwise they had not been Created in the Begining nor had it been such a Chaos therof Inform and Inane in respect of those Essenses which it had in itself Potentialy and ought to have Actualy also Existent but yet had not and which were afterward Produced into their several Actualitys and Existences in the Six Days wherin there was no Proper Creation of any new Essence or Entity but only of the Spirit of Man as I shall shew afterward and the Improper Creations therin were only the Productions of these Potentialitys into their Actualitys by the supernatural Power of the Divine Spirit which was the Original Institution of Natural Generation and Corruption as I have often inculcated and shall now declare by a more particular Enumeration Thus in the first Day Light was Produced out of Aether wherin it was Potentialy before by the Mistion therof into Actuality and there was no new Creation of the Essence or Entity therof and therfore it is said Sit or Existaâ— Lux as it is also said elsewhere God who commanded the Light to shine out of Darknes or to be Produced out of the Dark Aether like Fuâ—us Accensus and so probably Heat and other Aethereal Qualitys were then Produced Also iâ— the Second Day Vapors which were no new Created Substances or Essences but only Water Rarified did Ascend out of the Water into the Air and the Qualitys of the Air or Expansum were Probably then Produced by the Mistion therof And in the Third Day the Waters and Earth were Distributed and Disposed and Drines Moisture and Probably the other Qualitys therof Produced by the Mistions therof And in the Fourth Day the Sun and Moon and Starrs were made of the Aethereal Substance and so probably all the Qualitys therof Produced And in the Fifth Day the Water is said to bring forth or Produce Fishes and so also Fowls were Produced accordingly And in the Sixth Day the Earth is said to Produce Beasts which could not be so Produced in their Composita unles they were there before in all their Simple Essences or Entitys which were all Created in the Begining And in these Six Days there were both Compositions and Mistions or Formae Mistorum and also Simple Substantial Spirits which were before Created in the Begining were then Produced as is expressly Interpreted afterward of them all and their Improper Creation or Making that he Rested from all his Works which God Created and made or Originaly Created to Make that is Created in the Begining to Make or Perfect afterward in the Six Days And the Apostle like a Divine Philosopher doth also so Interpret it Through Faith we understand that the Worlds were framed by the Word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do Appear that is the Secula or Generations were so Framed and Ordered by God in the First Institution therof that in all Successive Generations nothing should be made of any former Phaenomena or things which do Appear by any Transpeciation or Conversion therof into other Essences or Entitys but of their own Essences or Entitys which he Immediately Created in the Begining and in their first Chaos of Potentiality wherin they then were not any such Actual Phaenomena or Appearances but were made to be such afterward and so still continue to be Generated out of their Potentiality into Actuality Which as every Christian understandeth by Faith according to this Divine History of the Creation and first Chaos so also any Heathen who wisely consydereth the same Cours of Successive Generation and Corruption must acknowledg to be according to Natural Reason and Senâ— And as the first Universal Chaos so every Particular Successive Chaos is Hebraicaly called Gods Treasury or Storehous out of which he Produceth or bringeth forth all things Generable or Corruptible Expending and Employing them in their Appearances and Operations which is their Actual Use and Office and so we read of his Treasures of Rain Snow Hail Wind and the like And the Author of Esdras saith particularly of the Light which was first so Produced Then commandedst thou a fair Light to come forth of thy Treasures that thy Work might Appear that is to Exist Actualy which before was Latent in the Chaos of Potentiality And certeinly no Successive Generation in the Present Cours of Nature can be a greater Work then those Primitive Generations which were the Immediate Works of God and Improper Creations Wheras if Natural Generation should be any other then the Production of Created Essences into their Actual Existences or Corruption then such Reduction therof they should be Proper Creation and Annihilation For if any new Essence or Entity whatsoever which was not before should be Caused to Be by Generation then it must be Properly Created and if that which was before be Caused Not to be by Corruption then it must be Properly Annihilated Nor doth it suffice to say that Generation or Corruption are not of any Simple Substances either Matter or Spirits but only of Composita and Accidents or Modes or whatsoever they pleas to call them for whatsoever they are or howsoever Exile or Desultory their Nature may be yet they are Real and Entitative Somthings not only in our Reason but in Nature as I have shewed and indeed otherwise Generation and Corruption should be no Real Alterations but the things Generated or Corrupted should be Realy the same as they were before and so we should deny all Generation and Corruption wheras they Realy are and do Produce Real Alterations or some new thing Actualy which was before only Pontentialy as every Compositum whether Substantial as any Elementary Substance by Mistion of the fower Elements or Accidental as Green by Mistion of Blew and Yellow and the like Also this doth Sensibly appear in and by all Generations and Corruptions whatsoever as of all Substantial Composita wherof there is only such a Composition otherwise they should not be Composita and certeinly the Simple Substances were before Actualy Subsisting in themselvs otherwise they should not be Substances and so likewise were the Simple Essences of Accidental Composita as of Green wherof certeinly the Blew and Yellow were before Actualy Existent and the Green Potentialy in both And so of more Simple Accidents Produced out of their Potentiality into their Actuality Whether of the Matter as this or that Particular Extension Figure Density and the rest which are Produced Actualy yet were before Potentialy in Universal Extension Figure Density and the rest otherwise they could not be so Produced nor can they be Produced into more Actualy then they
Miâ—tion and Temperature of the Elementary Spirits and Qualitys which is so Subordinate and Subâ—ervient to the Sensitive Spirit and that they are all Consubstantiated together in and with the Matter in the Sensitive Compositum And lastly a Proper Sensitive Body thus Prepared is a fourth Matter or Body of the Intellective Spirit of Man and the Body of Adam into which God first Inspired his Human Spirit was such and more then a Statue of Clay as is commonly supposed And this Spirit of Man thus Inspired is of another and farr Different Kind from all the former which were not Inspired into but Educed out of the Inferior Bodys therof nor is it so Consubstantiated with them as Material Spirits becaus it is Immaterial and a Perfect Substance in itself which needeth no such Consubstantiation but like an Angelical Spirit can also live and Operate Separately Nor yet doth it only Possess a Body as an Angel may but hath a Natural Union and Composition with it and doth Naturaly Inspirit or Inform it that is Live and Operate in it as in a fitâ— Domicil and Officine in this Conjunct State and Predominate and Govern it as a Master in a Ship All which I shall more particularly declare heerafter having now generaly treated therof only to discover and describe this Scale of Nature as God did first Erect it aâ—d as it still stanâ—eth whose Basis is the Matter and whose Acme the Intellective Spirit wherin Man also is Coordinate with the Immaterial and Separate Spirits of Angels And so all Created Nature is not only Localy but Politicaly United that is all Coordinate except Angelical and Human Spirits may be properly Mist but Subordinate except Angels only Composited together but not Confounded either by Transpeciation of one Species into another or Production of one out of another as some have supposed nor by Midle Natures or Participles as they call them partaking of the Natures of several Classes which is more Monstrous and Anomalous then the Generation of Mules and the like which are only of one and the same Classis though of two Confused Species therin but every one is in itself either Spirit or not Spirit as all Elementary and other Material Spirits Vegetative or Not Vegetative as Moss and the like Sensitive or not Sensitive as all Plantanimals Intellective or not Intellective as Idiots Lunatiks or other Human Monsters though there be such Compositions and Subordinations Classes and Hosts of them all and of one unto and with another as I have declared and as Moses hath concluded this History of the Creation Thus the Heavens and Earth were Finished and all the Hosts of them VI. And yet some who will not so understand it seem to deny any such Scale and Order of Nature and any such Oeconomy and Polity therof becaus they also deny those very Natural Principles Powers and Virtues which God hath Immediately Created and Imprinted therin since they can Educe no such things from the rude Matter nor indeed doth any such Wisdom or Will appear to be Actively in any Inferior Natures which are neither Sensitive or Intellective nor yet doth it proceed from the Sensitive and Intellective Facultys in the Superior Natures nor is it in the Universal Nature of them all and therefore they laugh at all such Expressions as that Nature intendeth the Best Affecteth Union Abhorreth Vacuity and the like and I suppose no man so void of of Sens and Intellect as to conceiv it capable therof but when we see and must acknowledg such Analogous Effects therin we must ascribe them to some Analogous Causalitys and express them by such Analogous Expressions which is all that is Intended thereby that is that God hath so Ordered Compaginated and as the Apostle saith Catartisâ—d Nature that it doth Naturaly Caus the same Effects and indeed more Powerful and Political then our Intellective and all the Sensitive Spirits therin can Caus and Produce And that God doth not so Caus these wonderful Effects Immediately by himself as he doth Supernaturaly Conserv all things which he hath Created Upholding them by the same Word of his Power but Mediately by Natural Principles Powers and Virtues which he who is Infinitely Powerful and Wise so Immediately first Created and Imprinted in Nature and thus sett it in Order in the Six Days whereby it doth and shall so continue in itself untill the last Dissolution therof to Caus and Produce such Effects which certeinly as none can deny them Realy to be such so unles he ascribe them unto the Immediate Power and Wisdom of God himself and so only to such a Continued Creation without any other Natural Causation wheras he saith he Rested from all these Works which he had thus made and set in Order in the Six Days he must acknowledg them to be also Natural and Created Causalitys then Produced and Actuated which indeed were the very Works of all the Six Days becaus ever since there are manifestly such Effects and therefore there must necessarily be some Causes therof either Supernatural or Natural for such Order Oeconomy and Polity can not be reasonably supposed to be Casual becaus it is not only most Regular but also most Constant which yet Epicurus who was more Rational and true to his own Principles did affirm but must be either as some others affirm by such Immediate Divine Causation which doth render all Philosophy which is the Study of Nature and Natural Causes and Effects Vain and Impertinent Or otherwise it must be by such Natural Principles Powers and Virtues as we have as I have declared and proved to have been so Created and Instituted and this indeed is that which we call Nâ—ture Subsisting in all the Particular Natures which do Particularly so Concurr and Cooperate therin not theâ—â—â—â— any such Active Wisdom or Will in themselvs but by theâ—◠〈◊〉 Natural Principles Powers and Virtues which God who Creaâ—â—d and Imprinted them severaly and Particularly did also so Coordinate and Direct Relatively and Maturely one toward another as that they should so Concurr and Cooperate to the Universal Good Safety and Beauty of one another and of them all and consequently of this Universal Nature As an Artist who makes a Clock or Watch or the like so frames the Wheels and Parts therof and so setts them together and so applys the Weight or Springe therunto that they shall all Cooperate and Complete the Engine for that Use and the Production of that Effect which he had Designed and as Art which is the Nature of Man doth thus work by Artificial and External Application of Natural and Internal Principles Powers and Virtues so doth Nature which is the Art of God Act and Effect the like and more Curious Engines whoâ— by them Naturaly and Internaly whereby not only the Weight or Springe but also the very Plastical Figuration Gravity Motion and mutual Application is so Caused and Produced though without any such Artificial Wisedom or Will in any Automatous Compositum
with this Republike of Entitys which we call Nature and so Nature doth accordingly Effect not only for his own Use and Service but also for his Contemplation whereby he doth neither acknowledg God to be the God of Nature nor indeed Nature to be Nature nor her Mundus any Mundus and so renders his own Philosophy no Philosophy which are such Absurditys that I doubt he who only reads this Discours may esteem it Idle and Superfluous but if he also read their Discourses he will find that they have made it Necessary And I rather fear that all this and much more that may be said will not be sufficient to convince them whose Delicate Witts are grown so Wanton that they can not be pleased with any thing unles it be some Curious Novelty and Ingenious Error and so much delight to wander in the wild Labyrinth therof that they care not to be brought out of it where I shall therefore leav them to themselvs and proceed in the beaten Path of Common and Solid Truth which God hath sett out and Reveâ—led in this History of Creation wherin he hath shewed us how it was his very Counsel and Designe thus to sett the whole Frame of Nature in Order in the Six Days whereby he did Perfect it and distinguish it from the first Chaos and as he did Proclaim the Particular Goodnes of his Particular Works in their several Days wherin they were so Ordered so when the whole System therof was finished God saw every thing which he had Made and behold it was Very Good which Valde and the Emphatical Addition therof plainly shews another Entity and Bonity of Universal Nature Subsisting in all the Particular Natures besides their Particular Entitys and Bonitys which were before declared And this is the Law and Order and Oeconomy of the whole Houshold and Family of Nature which indeed is Nature and was thus Setled and Fixed in the whole Series and Cours therof and so still Continued by virtue of the Divine Benediction in all Successive Generation and Corruption as the Psalmist saith He Commanded and they were Created He hath Stablished them for ever and ever He hath made a Decree which shall not pass whereby all things are thus Constituted and United into one great Compositum of the Univers wherin they are all either Coordinate and Inservient or Subordinate and Subservient one unto another And particularly this whole Visible World unto Man as I shall shew heerafter and Men and Angels Immediately unto God the Author and End of the whole Creation SECTION VII And God said Let there be Light and there was Light And God saw the Light that it was Good And God Divided the Light from the Darknes And God called the Light Day and the Darknes he called Night And the Evening and the Morning were the First Day EXPLICATION God Produced out of the Aether the Proper Qualitys therof and particularly Light whereby it was Perfected and which was the Goodnes therof Conformable to the Divine Wisdom and Will of the Creator and Law of Crâ—â—tion And he made Diurnal Light to be in one Hemisphere of the Aether which was Divided from Nocturnal Darknesin the other And so made Day and Night Artificial And the Evening which Commenced from the Begining and the Morning of Diurnal Light were together the First Day Natural ILLUSTRATION 1. Of Aether 2. Of Heat 3. Of Light 4. Of Color 5. Of Day and Night 6. Of the Goodnes of the Works of the First Day I. HAving before discovered and declared the General System of Nature I shâ—ll now more Particularly discours of the several Kinds of Creatuâ—es as they were in the Six Days wherof Aether is the First being that Firmament of Heaven mentioned in the Fourth Day and so made before which is Supreme of all the Elements and next to Superaether which is Superelementary as I have said and probably was Perfected when it was Created in the Begining and yet Aether hath been esteemed to be the very Highest and Utmost Sphere of the whole World by Heathen who made it to be their Superaether or Caelum Daemoniacâ—m wherin they placed all their chief Idols which were the Planets and Starrs therof being indeed not only the Highest but also the the Greatest and most Glorious of all Spectable Creatures And some of their Philosophers induced therunto or in compliance with the Popular Religion did not only deny the Aether to be Elementary and Igneous but also seemed to doubt whether the very Matter therof were Common and Homogeneous with Elementary Matter as certeinly it must be if it be Mâ—tter which is one most Common and Homogeneous Substance in itself and only Diversified according to the several Accidents and Affections therof that are indeed Common to all Matter and it must be Matter otherwise it could not be a Body And so is also the very Superaether and all Bodys whatsoever But the Matter and Body of Aeâ—her is most Rare of all the Elements becaus the Spirit therof doth so Require it and Caus it to be and therefore as I have said it is Highest of all Elements though not so Rare as the Superaether which is therefore the Highest of all Bodys And so Rarity of Matter becaus it hath less Matter in the same Extension hath therefore some fitnes and Analogy to a more Spiritual Substance and is as it were a more Spiritual Body as more gross Spirits are more Material and this chief Elementary Spirit of Aether requireth a more Rare Matter then the rest and so also doth Culinary Fire Rarefy as I shall shew heerafter but yet as I have said the most Rare Matter is Matter as well as the most Dens and not Spirit but of another Different Classis And as the Body therof is very Rare so also it is very Fluid though Rarity and Fluidity be not one and the same more then Density and Consistence yet as Density is Analogous to Consistence so is Rarity to Inconsistence or Fluidity And therefore an Adamantine Golden Brazen or Specular Aether or Planets therin are rather Poetical then Philosophical And wheras Elihu saith Hast thou with him spread out the Sky which is strong and as a molten Looking Glass or Speculum The word Sky also signifieth Upper Clouds in the Original and if it were to be rendred Sky might be aswell understood of the Air which is an Expansum and spread out as well as Aether and that very Expansion seems to imply no Consistence in either of them and the Comparison is not of a Consistent but a Molten or Fusile Speculum such as Water or the like Now plainly the Text intendeth the Upper Clouds wherof the precedent Discours is in the Context and which being Anhydrous do so Reflect the Light like such a Molten Looking Glass And yet Translators render Expansum as it is Originaly Firmament in favor and compliance with Graecian Philosophy wheras certeinly the Air which is also termed Expansum as well as
of the World declared and described either more truly or in a more short Epitome Now wheras the Antecedent Darknes did continue for some Time on the face of the Deep wherin the Spirit of God Moved upon it it may be Curiously Inquired how long that Space of Time was wherin the Antecedent Darknes was and continued before the first Light was Created but as Divine Wisedom doth not regard Human Curiosity nor attend to satisfy it so I esteem it Impertinent though I may discours it Humanitus However I must conceiv as I have said that the Spirit of God did not only Move or Incubate on the first Chaos to Prepare and Predispose it before and untill the Light was Created but Conformably untill all the other Original Creatures in all the Six Days were Produced and the whole Creation and Cours of Nature finished for they were all Supernatural and the Immediate Works of God And concerning the particular Space of Time between the General and Proper Creation or Begining and the first Improper Creation of Light I conceiv it probably to have been Twelv Hours and somwhat more and that there was neither any Diurnal nor any Nocturnal Light during that Time For so the Computation of all the Six Days is by Evening and Morning aswell as of the First and the Evening and Morning made the First Proper Day Natural which most probably was Equinoctial and was afterward Divided into Day and Night Artificial and the Evening is alway sett before the Morning as it was before it in Time but the Day before the Night as it is before it in Nature becaus the Day Artificial was first so made by Dividing the Light from the Darknes that is into a Diurnal and Nocturnal Light and so God saith I form the Light and Create Darknes as he did in the First Day Originaly wheras Pure Darknes is not Creable but the Night which is called Dark Comparatively Wherefore as this Improper Creation in the Six Days was Original Generation wherunto all Successive is Conformable so I suppose that as the whole Day according to the Diurnal Cours of the Aether then first putt into Motion and so still continuing is fower and twenty Hours and somwhat more so the two Halvs therof or first Evening and Morning must be supposed to have been also of the same Duration and each of them Equal as well as the Second and Third before the Sun and Moon were Created Nor can I conceiv how there could be any such Day and Night Artificial in the First Day as since becaus they were then first so Created after the first Evening was ended but could not Possibly be before they were so Created And when Light was Created it was Morning in all the Aether in respect of the Precedent Evening and so there was never since any such Evening and Morning as made the first Day Natural becaus there is no such Pure Darknes but only Comparative Darknes whereby Night was made after the Evening was ended by the first Creation of Light which was the first Morning and God in that Morning did afterward Divide the Light into a Diurnal and Nocturnal Proportion therof whereby he made Day and Night Artificial And thus though Time was Created in the Begining from whence also the most Proper Natural Day did Commence yet the Artificial was Created in that First Natural Day and the Day Natural according to the Cours of the Sun in the Fourth Day and the two Parts of that Day which we commonly but more Improperly call Day Natural that is Night and Day are not always Equal with the Parts of all other Days wheras the two Parts of the Proper Day Natural that is the Evening and Morning being Computed from the Begining are always Equal and each of them Twelv Hours and somwhat more And becaus the Parts of the Solar or Improper Day Natural except Equinoctial are Unequal therefore the Whole may be sooner as in Summer or later as in Winter but the Proper Natural Day is never sooner or later becaus it is the Succession of Fower and Twenty Hours Daily from the first Fower and Twenty Hours and Begining of the first Day Natural and so all the Six Days both before and after the Sun and Moon were made to Rule the Day and Night and also the Seaventh or Sabbath are Computed accordingly Wherefore becaus this Day is most Even Exact and Invariable according to Time God also appointed it and not the Improper Day Natural to be the Measure of Time in Sacris and so it is said from Even to Even shall ye celeâ—rate your Sabbath and not from Night to Night and though the later Iews did not so observ it yet Ab Initio non fuit sic But both the Day and Time of the Christian Sabbath which is appointed for us Gentiles in all Parts of the Earth is and must be Altered by the Resurrection of Christ which if it should begin as the former at Evening as some would have it then it should begin before the Resurrection for unless that were also some Time after the Begining of the Evening Christ should not have laid in the Grave three Days Synechdochicaly as most certainly he did and though it be expressly declared when the Creation was finished and God first Rested that is at the end of the Sixth Evening and Morning or Proper Day Natural yet it is not so expressed or ascerteined when Christ Rose again but only that he Rose very early in the Morning of the Third Day that is the Solar or Improperly Natural Now as there was not only a Proper Natural Day but also a Division therin of the Light from the Comparative Darknes and so Day and Night Artificial made thereby in the First Day Originaly and Successively in the Second and Third Day before the Sun or Moon were made to Rule them more particularly as I shall shew heerafter so certeinly there must have been some Circumrotation of the Aether and of the Light Inherent therin in the Precedent Days for if the Light were Equaly in all the Aether then there should have been Equaly all Day in all the Aeâ—her and there could not be such Day in one Hemisphere and Night in the other without a Circumrotation of the Aether and of the Light wheras there was such a Division of the Light as made Day and Night Artificial therin and this Day and Night were then Originaly made and were such as they have ever since been Sâ—ccessively by the Diurnal Cours of the Aether except only the more Special Variations therof by the Proper Courses of the Sun and Moon which were maâ—e thereby and are Annual and Menstruous but not Diurnal which must necessarily be by the Circumgyration of the whole Aether and of the Light therof in one Hemisphere as the Sun now is so carried about by the Aether Diurnaly Certeinly the Earth Water or Air or any of them could not so Move in this First Day becaus
and Thistles and the like Thus I have briefly and generaly discoursed of Vegetatives as before of the fower Elements according to this Divine History which is an Universal System of the World both in the Proper and Improper Creation therof nor do I intend any particular Historys of them as Solomon spake of them all from the Ceder of Lebanon to the Hysop that is on the wall But heer before I conclude I shall again desire any who will rightly consyder the Nature of Vegetatives to try whether they also may be made only by Matter and Motion without their own proper Plastical Spirits which the Earth did bring forth and as I have observed the fower Elements were before perfected and prepared in order therunto without which the Matter alone as so consydered in itself though indeed it can never be without the Consubstantiation of Elementary or the Superaethereal Spirit hath no Automatous Motion of itself nor when it is dislocated any other then to Union and Station as I have shewed which is only to recover its due Rest and Position and therefore certeinly it cannot also Move from Rest which is Naturaly contrary therunto as Verticity is to Polar Position and therefore cannot be from it nor hath it any such Plastical Virtue of itself which may guide the Motions therof but would be only Equidens and Orbicular wheras Plastical Formation of all Vegetative Bodys and much more of the Bodys of Sensitives is constantly so Symmetrical Organical and Curious according to every Kind and Species and the successive Propagation therof and they so very various and different that he who will not believ Divine Authority nor Natural Reason heerin may satisfy himself by his own Sensation and making use of his Microscope Inspect the most admirable Structure and Mechanism of the least Vegetative or Sensitive which is composed farr otherwise and beyond the most admired workmanship of any Bezaleel Daedalus Apelles or Arâ—hytas and all the Mechanical Borcherys of Art which yet is all that some will allow to Nature itself and when he shall have consydered the most exact and Mathematical Conformitys of the one and Enormitys of the other which also shews that Mathematical Exactnes is not nor cannot be of Common Use he may easily judg with himself that since the Intellective Spirit of the most Ingenious Man cannot effect the like certeinly it must either still be Immediately Digitus Dei and so deny this whole History of Creation in the Six Days and all the Works of God therin whereby he did sett in order the Cours of Nature and consequently deny all Created Nature or otherwise acknowledg it to be the continual Succession of the same Natural Causalitys which also lead us back again to the Acknowledgment and Adoration of the Supernatural Creator who is the only Author and Institutor therof XI Wherefore let us prais the great Creator of Heaven and Earth as for the Aethereal so also for the Aereal Heaven and for the Water and the Earth And heer we must sing his praises in Consort for them all together as it is once said of them all that they were Good though they be in themselvs several Elements and were perfected in two several Days Nor is the Goodnes of Vegetatives which is another Classis of Creatures though also perfected in the last of these two Days pronounced of them which were before declared Good but becaus these three Inferior Elements Air Water and Earth being separated from the Aether by the rapid Motion and Circumvolution therof about them and more conjunct among themselvs were not perfected one without the other and the Water which is the midle Element and contributed to the Perfection both of the Air and of the Earth by ascending in Vapors into the Air and descending itself into the Canales and Pâ—res of the Earth was noâ— perfected untill this last Day nor in that alone but in both these two Days therefore this Proclamation of their Goodnes and Perfection was reserved for the Consummation of the whole Work of both the Days and then Relatively to be distributed to all the three Elements which were so perfected therin and so they now continue to be Severaly and also Mutualy Good And the Aether which was before made Good in itself yet had not been Good to others without the Goodnes of the Air whose Refrigerating Cold doth Temper the vehement Heat and Refracting Pellucidity the Lucidity of all the Aethereal Luminarys whereby not only as a common Thorough-fare but also as a Cooperator therin it both adapts and conveys the Aethereal Blessings of Rays above and also the Spirituous Vapors of the Waters beneath which as an Alâ—mbic it distills and refunds to the Terraqueous Globe Nor is it only thus Concurrent with Aether and Water and the Influences therof but hath in itself the Ventos of Winds both to Cool and Purify the Atmosphere and all the Organs of those admirable Sounds which it doth propagate continualy and successively and which as so many Cursores or swift Messengers make their Reports through the whole Sphere therof and all the Surface of the Earth and so is made to be the Cymbal of Nature which with its Inchanting Musike ravisheth or affrighteth all Sensitive Spirits and whereby Men Discours and Convers one with another and in Sacred Hymns render their gratefull praises of the whole Creation to the Divine Creator Also the Atmosphere therof is the very Breath and Life of Animals Neither doth the more Dens Water intercept all the Benefits of Aether and Air but partly transmitt them to the Earth which it contempers with its own Moisture and is as the Bloud Circulating through the Veins and Arterys therof by constant Reciprocations conveying Nutriment to all the Cortical Body therof being both the Inexhaustible Fountain of Drink to all Sensitives and also conditing their Meats with most gratefull Sapors and perfuming them with varietys of most delicate Odors And though both these Elements of Air and Water seem very Weak and Infirm in comparison of the Rapid Aether and Robust Earth yet being provoked and armed to execute Divine Revenge they so mutualy assist and fortify one another with unusual and unexpected Rage that Conflagrations and Earthquakes do not much exceed their furious Herricans and violent Inundations The Earth though last and lowest of all the Elements is not only their most Dens and Consistent Fulciment and Center of their Situation but also of all their Offices and Services Circumferentialy tending unto it being the Foundation of the whole Univers and another Orb in itself and Epitome of the great Globe wherof all the rest are only Concave Spheres having only some particular Orbs in themselvs and on which all those Luminous Orbs cast their smiling Aspects and the Sun Illustrateth all the other Luminarys that so they together with himself may give Light unto it which the nimble Air fanneth and refrigerateth with the Wings of Wind and watereth the great Garden therof
with Dâ—ws and Rains and the officious Water runeth up and down to wash the face of the dusty Cortex and to bath and supple all the Limbs therof and also floweth forward and backward to carry and recarry the greatest Burdens from Shore to Shore Thus all the other more Active Elements as so many Circumsistent Servitors in their several Courses and Orders minister unto Earth which sitting still and resting in itself receiveth all their Homages and Tributes not Moving nor being Moved with all their Disorders and Confusions but founded on the Solid Base of its own Density and Gravity and strengthned by its own Consistence and fixed by its own Polarity doth also by its other Qâ—alitys fix all the more subtile and volatile Elementary Spirits Which covereth its own Nakednes with the Daedalous Embroidery of Leavs and Flowers and enricheth itself not only with the Stock of all the hid Treasures of Jewells Metalls and Minerals but also with all the Rents and Revenues of Annual Fruits and Profits both producing and mainteining all Vegetatives and the chief of Sensitive Animals yea Man himself whose Body is also formed of the Congenerous Dust and so the Earth which is given to the children of Men is the Stage of this great Amphitheater of the World wherin all the present Affairs therof are transacted and as all the other Elements are now subservient therunto so heerafter also the Superaether or Heaven of Heavens shall be the everlasting Mansion of Blessed Souls And now again let us tune our praises to an higher Note and bless God for the Creation of Vegetatives Grass Herbs and Trees and let us contemplate their several Kinds and Virtues which yet are Innumerable and Unknown to us their Curious Formations and Oeconomical Administrations the careless Comlines of their Leavs and Beautys of their Flowers the general conformity of their Greennes to our Sight and the delightfull varietys of all their other Colors how wonderfully they Compose Nourish and Augment their own Bodys and Generate others and having neither Sens nor Intellect in themselvs yet by their own Innate Plastical Virtues perform such works as no Sens or Intellect can Imitate or sufficiently Admire The Microscopical perfection wherof doth exactly correspond with the most Critical Sens and Organical usefulnes with the most Political Intellect And as God in the Begining Immediately Created the Heavens and the Eartâ— and the great Building of the whole World so they Mediately build all the Domicils and Officines of their own and all Superior Bodys as the Architects therof and Vulcans of all their Organs and Instruments and are themselvs together with the Subordinate Elements and Matter the Immediate Bodys of all Sensitive Spirits wherin they Reside and Operate and both Dress and Digest for them all their Nutriment wherof a great part is of the same Vegetative Nature which affordeth not only Salads for delight but solid food for strongest Animals Horses Bulls and the great Behemoth furnishing also Mans Table with Wine that maketh glad the Heart of Man and Oil to make his Face to shine and Bread which strengthneth Mans Heart Renewing the Annual Fruits of the Earth as fast as all the Animals can devour them which in Mans better State were his sole Diet and since he tasted of their only forbidden Fruit are his Physick or Natures Tree of Life for healing of the Nations SECTION X. And God said Let there be Lights in the Firmament of Heaven to divide the Day from the Night And let them be for Signes and for Seasons and for Days and for Years And let them be for Lights in the Firmament of Heaven to give Light upon the Earth And it was so And God made two great Lights the greater Light to rule the Day and the lesser Light to rule the Night He made the Starrs also And God sett them in the Firmament of Heaven to give Light upon the Earth and to rule ober the Day and over the Night and to divide the Light from the Darknes And God saw that it was Good And the Evening and the Morning were the Fourth Day EXPLICATION God having in the First Day made the Light and by it one Hemisphere of the Aether more Luminous then the other and thereby Day and Night Artificial in that first Day Natural which did accordingly succeed in the two following Days now in this Fourth Day did more particularly distinguish them by the several Luminarys which he made therin for that purpose and also for Signfications of Times and Seasons Months and Years and all the variations therof And he made two chief Lights the Sun to rule the Day and the Moon to rule the Night Also he severaly made all the Starrs according to their several natures And so sett all these Heavenly Luminarys in their several Positions in the Aether to run their several Courses therin and thereby to Illuminate the Earth and to make all the said Divisions and Distinctions of Time which was their Goodnes and Perfection And these were the Works of the Fourth Day ILLUSTRATION 1. Of the Aethereal Luminaâ—ys 2. Of the Sun 3. Of the Moon 4. Of the Starrs 5. Of Comets 6. Of the Goodnes of the Works of the Fourth Day I. WE now proceed to discours of the Second Part of Creation wherin when God had before perfected and prepared all the â—ower Elements and planted the Earth which was the last with Vegetatives which he produced out of it he began now to Introduce into them all their more Locomotive Inhabitants and to shew the Connexion of both these two Parts of Creation it is again said of the first Created Light Sit or Fiat Luminaria wherunto as I suppose the Singular Number doth referr and that it must be so understood Lux fiat Luminaria for it is afterward Sint or Fiant Pluraly And I also observ that wheras it is said of all the other Days Works when they were finished and perfected generaly God saw that it was Good it is said of that first Created Light more particularly God saw the Light that it was Good though also afterward in the same Day he divided the Light from the Darkness but as I have before observed of the three Inferior Elements Air Water and Earth that it is not said God saw that it was Good untill they were all perfected and the whole Work finished so though Day and Night Artificial were made generaly by the division of the Light from the Darknes in the First Day Natural yet becaus they were also to be more particularly distinguished by the Luminarys and to be so ruled by the two great Lights expressly made for that purpose that is the Sun to rule the Day and the Moon to rule the Night therefore the Goodnes is not pronounced of Day and Night in the First Day but in this Fourth Day wherin the whole perfection therof was consummated so accurately exact is God the Author of Nature and Scripture both in his Operation and
neither do we read nor can we reasonably suppose that any new Matter was Created afterward Nor was it Created in the very Begining only Matter or one Homogeneous Mass therof but one Body expressly distinguished into several Heterogeneous Members Celestial and Terrestrial or Heaven and Earth Nor was the Heaven and Earth thus only Different in Nature in their First Creation but also Distinct and separate in their Situations and not Confounded together but Created such several Members of the great Body of the World And as the Heaven is named before the Earth so were the Celestial Bodys above or without the Terrestrial incompassing them as now they do for neither do we read nor can we reasonably suppose that there was any other Separation or Disposition of the Celestial Bodys afterward as is expresly mentioned of the Terrestrial or Terraqueous Globe wherof and of all their several Situations I shall further discours heerafter II. The word Heaven Hebraâ—caly is Heavens not only Grammaticaly as the word God in this Text but Phisicaly and in the nature of the thing it self And so generaly the Hebrews distribute Heaven into three several Heavens of three several Natures Wherof the highest is also called the Third Heaven becaus it is Utmost and the last above us and encompasseth both the others and this I shall therefore call the Superaether The midst or Second is the Aether or Starry Heaven The lowest or First is the Air which Immediately encompasseth the Terraqueous Globe And these are all the Celestial Spheres wherof we read and therefore I can acknowledg no more however Astronomers have pleased to multiply them These three Heavens are thus built one upon another and all upon the Terraqueous Globe which is the Habitation of all Corporeal Animals as Amos elegantly expresseth it He that builded the Storys of the Heavens and founded his Troop on the Earth Of all the three Heavens the Third which is the Supreme is most Properly Heaven and therefore also is called the Heaven of Heavens by way of Excellency and so is specialy called the Temple of the most high God and is the Native Region and Province of Blessed Angels or Caelum Angelicum and shall be the Everlasting Habitation of the Spirits of Just Men or Sedes Beatorum Wherof we have no farther discoverâ— then only that it was Created together with the other two Heavens and so is Comprehended uâ—der one Common Name with them and probably because it was made Perfect in the Begining or first Instant of the Creation therof and so must continue for ever without any Elementary Mistion Generation or Corruption therefore we have no other account therof among all the Works of the Six Days wherein the Elements and whole Elementtary Nature and the Cours of Generation and Corrupti on therin was Set in order And accordingly I observ that wheras the other two Elementary Heavens Aether and Air are called Expansa and Firmaments this Superaether is never so termed but only Heaven probably becaus it is not capable of Expansion or Compression But as the Divine Wisedom hath conceled any farther notice therof and also given us very little Knowledg of the nature of Angels the proper Inhabitants therof as Impertinent for us to know in this present State so I shall not presume farther to inquire therinto or discours therof and indeed if the Hebraical Word Heavens be dualy rendred it must be intended only of Aether and Air. III. As the Aether and Air are Elementary and both of them Heâ—erogeneous from the Superaether and every of them one from another So are all of them from the Earth and Terraqueous Globe And as Heaven generaly Comprehendeth all the three Heavens so heer also Earth Comprehendeth both Earth and Water which were afterward formed into one Terraqueous Globe and by that general Name in this Text is not only to be Understood Earth particularly which was not so termed untill the Third Day and then also is called Dry Land nor the Terraqueous Globe such as it was made afterward but the Orb of Earth and the Water above it which is also mentioned afterward Thus we have a Discovery of what was Created in the Begining that is Superaether which is also Superelementary and Aether Air Water Earth which are the fower Elements as God the Creator hath declared and Moses reveled them unto us both in this Text and in the Context whom I shall believ before all Athens or any Modern Conceptions whatsoever and shall accordingly prove them heerafter And now upon this Subject Matter proceed to discours and first enter upon such Philosophical Consyderations therof as may concern them all and all Creatures Generaly and so according to the order of this History of the Creation Expatiate into more Particular Contemplations of their several Natures afterward The first and most Universal Consyderation of Heaven and Earth and of all Creatures whatsoever is that they are Entitys for since Creation is of Being from Absolute Nothing whatsoever is Created must necessarily Be otherwise it should not be Created So that an Entity is any Thing that Is which I confess is no more in effect then that an Entity is Entity whose Subject and Praejudicate Genuâ— and Difference is and must necessarily be the same becaus it is the same Genus Generalissimum of all Things without any Specifical Difference And heer I must also premise that in every Perfect and Proper Definition of any Specifical or more Particular Thing the Specifical or particular Differences therof must be Identical becaus the Specifical or particular Essence or Entity is the only true Specifical or Particular Difference of every thing But becaus we cannot know Essences as they are in themselvs therefore we declare things by their Propertys which is rather Description then Definition As in the Common Instance Homo est Animal Rationale Rationality is not the true Specifical Difference of Humanity though it be most Proper to Man becaus it is not his Specifical Essence and therefore doth not Define the Humanity it self Nor doth it indeed Comprehend all the Properties therof as Risibility and the like but only Describe it by one Proper Faculty So that the most Proper Definitions are only Vocabularys and Nomenclatures which yet are of good use to explain one Term by another whereby we may avoid all needless Caption and Contention about Terms and when the Thing intended thereby is clearly understood it shall suffice me And I have now made this Digressive Parenthesis to save my Self the whole labor of Defining and the expectation of any who otherwise perhaps might exact it of me but I shall use as clear and pregnant Declarations or Descriptions as the Thing will afford Thus I affirm Created Entity to be a Creature or whatsoever is Created which is also Convertible with it Again becaus the Created World doth Consist of several Heterogeneous and different Entitys and Natures into which Differences we must also inquire I affirm such a Different
That there was an Earth Comprehending also the Water as I have before shewed And the Water is heer called Deep which generaly in the Hebrew Style signifys Deep Water or Sea and heer the Element of Water like Altum and Profundum in the Latin Also the Waters are expresly mentioned in the following Sentence But Earth and Water were not first Created such a Terraqueons Globe as now they are and were afterward so Divided and Disposed in the Third Day and then first made to be such an Ocean of Waters and Dry Land both appearing together and composing one Surface and Circumference of their common Globe for that was the very Work of the Third Day Wheras the Psalmist saith of this first Creation of the Earth Thou covered'st it with the Deep as with a Garment And the same is implied heer in these words And Darkness was upon the face of the Deep that is of the Waters which first covered the Earth and not Immediately upon the face of the Earth which was then covered with the Waters Also the Darkness which was the Antecedent Privation of Light doth imply the Informity and Inanity both of Aether which is the Elementary Fountain of Light and of Air which is the Vehicle therof to the Terraqueous Globe and that as the Water was Created above the Earth so they above the Waters for it is said the Darkness which was then in them was upon or above the Waters And so God saith to Iob concerning the Sea When I made the Cloud that is the Dark Air the Garment therof and thick Darkness a swadling Band for it And so also was the Aether from which the Light was afterward Emitted through the Air to the Terraqueous Globe above the Air. And this Situation of the Elements may plainly appear by the Order of the Succeeding Creation wherin the Aether which is highest and next to the Superaether which as I have said probably was perfected in the Begining was first furnished with Light and then the Air with Vapors and lastly the Terraqueous Globe with Vegetatives in the Three first Days And so again the Aether with Starrs and then the Air and Water with Fowls and Fishes and lastly the Earth with Beasts in the Three last Days Also I collect from this Original Situation of the Elements that their Several Bodys of Matter were Proportionable and Conformable therunto that is the Matter of Earth was most Dens and consequently most Grave and therefore Lowest the Matter of the Water less Dens and consequently less Grave and therefore above the Earth the Matter of the Air more Rare and consequently more Light and therefore above the Water the Matter of the Aether more Rare and consequently more Light and therefore above all the other Elements and next to the Superaether which is most Rare as a fit Habitation for pure Spirits And that as every Element had its Proper Body of Matter so also its Proper Elementary Substantial Spirit Pure and Unmist in the first Creation therof And it was the Work of the Spirit of God Moving upon the face of the Waters to Prepare and Predispose them by fit Mistion and Temperature of them all and thereby to Produce their Proper Qualitys out of their Potentialitys into Act Gradualy and Successively And that their Potential Qualitys and also all other Simple and Primitive Substantial Spirits not only Elementary but in and with them Vegetative and Sensitive and all their Potential Qualitys were Created in the Begining together with the Matter that is Vegetative Spirits and Sensitive Spirits of Beasts in the Earth and of Fishes in the Water for so it is said Let the Earth bring forth Grass c. and again Let the Earth bring forth the Living Creature after his Kind c. and so also Let the Waters bring forth abundantly the Moving Creature that hath Life c. which plainly implys that these Spirits were in them before otherwise they could not so bring them forth And they were then Latent in those Elements Respectively which are Predominant in their Composita II. Thus was the Inferior Globe of these fower Elements first Created Inform and Inane which is more Emphaticaly exprest in the Original Language then can be rendred in any other The Author of the Wisedom of Solomon calleth it Matter without Form that is without any Corporeal Formosity or any Mistion or Forma Misti as they term it Both Greeks and Latines generaly call it Chaos and have preserved the Historical Tradition therof which they received from Antiquity But they seem also to Comprehend in their Chaos the Superaether as well as all the Elements or otherwise to have had no knowledg therof Also they Confound all together in one Congeries and thence have fansied that the fower Elements had their Actual Qualitys Existing therin in their highest Degrees and that there was Extreme Discord and Enmity among them And so Empedocles and others make Lis and Amor Original Causes of all things which were afterward Comtempered therin and the Poet accordingly Aque Chao densos divum numer abat Amoros But upon the Review of our Divine History as I find no farther mention of the Superaether in any of the Works of the Six Days and therefore conceiv it to have been Perfected in the Begining and first Creation therof for so it is said of it Whose Builder and Maker is God that is more Immediately and only by a Proper Creation therof without any Mediate Preparation Predisposition and Mistion as of the Elements and Elementary Natures and so that it was no part of this Elementary Chaos which was afterward Perfected in the Six Days so also I rather conceiv that there was only Imperfection in the first Chaos and that all the first Elements were first Created in their several Situations in Rest and Peace without any such Discordant Confusion which is reserved for the last Dissolution and Gehenna And the Hebraical words Inform and Inane seem rather to infer such an Emptiness and Privation then any Positive Contrariety of Qualitys then Actualy Existing in it and it is said expresly that there was Darkness or Purae Tenebrae therin without any Light and so probably no Heat which if it had been Actualy Existing in such Extremity therof might have prevailed over the rest as it shall in the last Conflagration or at least would have caused the Vapors to ascend from the Waters before the Second Day if the Air had all been so prepared by Mistion and the Actual Qualitys therof But probably there were no such other Qualitys then Actualy Existing for if not Heat then consequently not Cold which is the Contrary therof And the Earth is not Denominated Dry untill the Third Day and if there were before no Driness then consequently no Moisture and so of the rest And the Author of Esdras saith There was Silence on every side without any Sibilation or Tumult of Heat and Cold or the like And though not only Matter but
so many several Composita made therof whereby they are all thus different and several one from another as they are all from the Planetary Aether as it is said God divided between their Light and the other Aethereal Light and that every one of them is a Specificaly different Compositum in itself and that every Individual Planet is such a Phoenix in its kind that it is also a whole Species in itself wherefore it is said that God particularly made not only the two great Lights but the Starrs also and so it is said There is one Glory of the Sun and another of the Moon and another Glory of the Starrs for one Starr differeth from another Starr in Glory And therefore their Creation is thus specialy mentioned and was the whole Work of this Fourth Day and so I conceiv there are no such Aethereal Compositae as Stones Metalls Minerals are Terrestrial Composita and wherof no such special Creation is mentioned as I have observed but neither that there is a Simple Spirit of every one of them Created in the Begining by a Proper Creation And I conceiv that these vast Individua which are also so many Species in themselvs made Immediately by God as I said can neither be Naturaly diminished nor multiplied as Comets which are Anomalous may be for so the Starrs are said to be for ever and it is said of God their Creator and Preserver He telleth the number of the Starrs he calleth them all by their Names though Supernaturaly and Miraculously he may compose a new Starr as probably that which appeared at our Saviours Birth was such an extraordinary Starr and so is specialy called His Starr which yet did not continue but after it had performed the End for which it was made was again dissolved for otherwise the Ordinances of Heaven which are said to be Unchangeable should be changed and the Constellations therof disordered And though the Starrs be every one such a several Species yet there is also a Combination of them all generaly as they are all one Host and of some more specialy which are called Constellations and are not only such in Name but also described to be such in Nature so wheras it is heer said that God made the greater Light that is the Sun to rule the Day and the less that is the Moon to rule the Night the Psalmist saith To him that made great Lights c. The Sun to rule by Day c. The Moon and Starrs to rule by Night c. where he divideth the Moon and all the Starrs as a Separate Constellation from the Sun alone and attributeth unto them their several Offices to rule by Day and by Night for though all the Starrs do not attend the Moon every Night yet they do by turns and therefore she alone is said to rule the Night becaus she doth so every Night more or less and though as I said the common Aethereal Light divided from the whole Globe of Light which was the Stellant Light and wherof the Planets and Starrs were all made afterward did make the first Night as that Globe of Light did the first Day and that Nocturnal Light is therefore called Darknes Comparatively which had neither Moon nor Starr in it yet in order to Sensitives who need more Nocturnal Light the Moon and Starrs or a great part of them were added in this Fourth Day to rule the Night whereof therefore there is also such an Additional Expression To rule over the Day and over the Night and to divide the Light from the Darknes Thus also more specialy there are said to be Courses of the Starrs and many of their Constellations particularly named and their Cooperations denoted Canst thou bind the sweet Influences of Pleiades or loos the Bonds of Orion Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season or Canst thou guide Arcturus with his Sons Now wheras some have Curiously inquired in what time of the Year the World was Created which the Poets fansy to have been in the Spring becaus that indeed is the time of Renovation and the Rabbins in the Autumn becaus then all Fruits and the like are in their Perfection as they were first Created certeinly neither of their Computations can be true of the very first Creation in the Begining for then there was no Year nor any Commencement therof but only Day and Night generaly in the three first Days and in the Fourth Day the Planets were made for Days and for Years and then they must also calculate their Computation for the Meridian of Paradise otherwise when it was Spring in one part of the Earth it was Autumn in the other as it is now to us and our Antipodes But such is our Human Vanity that we will Curiously pry into those things which God hath thought fitt to Concele and yet not acquiesce in those things which he hath pleased to Revele II. In the History of the Creation of the Planets and Starrs it is farther said of them that God sett them in the Firmament of Heaven to give Light upon the Earth Wherefore certeinly they are all Lucid not only as all Aether is in itself but so as to give Light upon the Earth otherwise they could not so give Light upon it and so certeinly the Earth is not Lucid in itself otherwise it should not need to be Illuminated by these Heavenly Luminarys Thus as the Apostle saith There are Bodys Celestial and Bodys Terrestrial but the Glory of the Celestial is one and the Glory of the Terrestrial is another and so neither are the Planets any Magnets nor the Earth a Planet but as several Elementary Natures they differ Genericaly and have their several Generical Glorys that is their different Goodness described and expressed in the History of their Creation severaly in several Days and which also evidently appeareth in Nature as may satisfy any except such who being confounded in their own Understandings can also confound Heaven and Earth which differ farr more and otherwise then the Aether and Planets differ one from another for they are Bodys Terrestrial and Bodys Celestial wheras these are all Genericaly Bodys Celestial though they also Specificaly differ one from another in Glory And of all these Celestial Bodys the Sun is incomparably most Glorious who as I observed alone is opposed to the Moon and all the Starrs and also preferred before them all for they with his Solar Illustrations and Secundary Light only make Night in the backside of the Earth which is but as the Shadow of his Diurnal Presence and therefore is still called Darknes and so he is said to rule by Day and they to rule by Night Whose darting Rays penetrate through all the Spectable World and are bounded only by the two common Bounds of Nature Superaether and Earth and in all the Elementary World there is Nihil simile aut secundum Wherefore Heathen generaly worshiped him as a God who yet in the Scale of Nature is farr Inferior
but thus also derive into themselvs all their Inferior Excellencies Living upon their Inanimate Natures while themselvs thus Live in their own Animate Natures and are as farr above them as themselvs are Inferior to Man with whom though they are not Coordinate as Sensitives yet they do Convers as Living Creatures and their Sensitive Life though farr Inferior to his Intellective Life yet is not only an Image therof but also in his own Human Compositum the Embryonical Inception and constant Companion therof and his Sensitive Body the Immediate Mansion and Officine of his Intellective Spirit and of all the Operations therof in this Conjunct State and the Imaginative Artifices of Sensitive Animals are not only the Umbrages of his Intellective Act but also in himself Subordinate Operators therunto Also many of them have Language that is either the Expression of their Notions by Signes or of their Passions by Interjections which is not only a Rudiment of his more Articulate Language but also some Rude Discours and Essay of his Ratiocinations And yet all these Vive Images of Man and his next and Immediate Convivae are not only Subjugated to his Tyranny by his Superior Power and Policy but also by God and Nature Subordinated to his rightfull Roialty and Dominion being all born his Slaves and Vassals who while they Live serv him in all Offices either of Labor or Pleasure yea Hawk and Hunt and destroy one another for him or are otherwise subdued and destroied by himself And so he Feedeth and Preserveth his own Individual Life with Innumerable Lives of their successive Individualitys which are in Natures Account the most costly and Princely Diet though two Sparrous be sold for a Farthing in the Market of Man SECTION XII And God said Let the Earth bring forth every Living Creature after his Kind Catell and Creeping things And it was so And God made the Beast of the Earth after his Kind and Catell after their Kind And God saw that it was Good And God said Let us make Man in our own Image and after our own Likenes And let them have Dominion over the Fish of the Sea and over the Fowl of the Air and over the Catell and over all the Earth So God Created Man in his own Image in the Image of God Created he him Male and Female Created he them And God said unto them Be fruitful and Multiply and replenish the Earth and Subdue it and have Dominion over the Fish of the Sea and over the Fowl of the Air and over every Living thing that Moveth upon the Earth And God said Behold I have given you every Herb bearing Seed which is upon the face of all the Earth and every Tree in which is the fruit of the Tree yielding Seed to you it shall be for Meat and to every Beast of the Earth and to every Fowl of the Air and to every thing that Creepeth on the Earth wherin there is Life I have given every green Herb for Meat And it was so And God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very Good And the Evening and the Morning were the Sixth Day EXPLICATION God caused the Earth also to bring forth Beasts after their several Kinds which was their Specifical Goodnes and Perfection And when he had thus prepared and furnished the Elementary World with Vegetatives Luminarys and with all Kinds of Sensitives Fishes Fowls and Beasts he Immediately Created the Intellective Spirit of Man and so made him to have Dominion over them all for whom he had before made and prepared them And he made both Man and Woman who might accordingly Procreate and blessed them with the Blessing of Prolification for the Increas of Mankind And he made them and all their Posterity Lords over all the other Inferior Creatures in the Earth and appointed Herbs and Fruits to be Meat for them and for Beasts and Fowls also the green Herb and Grass whereby they should be Nourished and Augmented and so Preserved in their own Individualitys And then God reviewed all his Works and the whole Frame and Order therof pronouncing and declaring it to be very Good and Conformable to his Divine Wisdom and Will and to the Law of Creation And these were the Works of the Sixth Day and of all the Six days ILLUSTRATION 1. Of Beasts 2. Of Man 3. Of the Human Body 4. Of the Human Spirit 5. Of the Image of God in Man 6. Of the Immortality of the Soul of Man 7. The Conclusion of all the Works of Creation 8. Of the Goodnes therof I. I Hâ—ve already discoursed of Fishes and Fowls and therupon very largely of Sensation and therefore shall now only need to discours of Beasts not as they are also Sensitives but as they differ from the others and are Superior unto them aâ— may appear by their Bodys that were made of the Earth and are more Terrene Firm and Consistent and of a more Quadrate and Cubical Proportion and more like to the Body of Man and though some of them be also termed Reptiles as Fishes geâ—eraly are yet I conceiv that as there are as I said Gradient Fishes which have Feet and so Fowls that Creep going upon all fower are called such from their very flow Motions so also there are some more Tradigradous Beasts which are therefore called Reptant and not that they were Anomalous or less perfect in their Kinds then other for they are also mentioned to have been made among other perfect Animals and they were afterward specialy preserved and so are also mentioned among them that entred into the Ark wherin no Anomala were preserved or such as are by Putrefaction for so they might be restored again and indeed if such other Sensitives could be made only of Matter and Motion it had not been necessary that God should so Extraordinarily have preserved any of them for so also he might have restored them and he doth nothing in vain wherefore since it is mentioned expressly not only that God did preserv them generaly according to their Species but according to their Sexes Male and Female to keep Seed alive upon the face of all the Earth it is very evident that they were neither Originaly made only of Matter and Motion nor could be so Naturaly restored Also wheras it is said that God made the Beast of the Earth which is conceived to be Fera Agrestis or Wild beast I suppose it may be so understood in a moderate Sens that is less Philanthropous and Tame though not Ravenous or Rebellious so as certeinly none were Created before the Fall and Curs And there is still the same difference of more or less Philanthropy remaining in their very Natures so that some though otherwise as Fierce and Couragious as others are easily Tamed as Elephants Bulls Boars Horses Dogs and the like wheras others will very hardly be so Civilised as Lions Tigers Bears Wolvs Foxes and the like and this Natural difference in themselvs is
Conscious Knowledg and Freedom of Will by a Revelation of the Light of the Object and also by an Illumination of the Sight of the Understanding and not only by a Moral Perswasion but also by a Divine Exaltation of the Will And thus Man being made such an Intelligent Creature had a Natural Capacity of being so Exalted toward God and becaus it was most Congruous that this Capacity should be filled and completed in and with the very Creation of his Soul which was made for this very End and which if it had not atteined God had made it in vain and so it had been made though not Sinfull yet Monstrous and not Perfect and Good therefore it is said expresly that he thus Created Man in his own Image that is this Image of Holines as well as in other respects and as I have shewed how every other Nature is Exalted by a Melior Natura which is Superior unto it in the Scale of Nature as Matter by Elementary Spirits and they by Vegetative and they by Sensitive and the Sensitive Spirit of Man by his Intellective so is his Intellective Spirit also Exalted by the Divine Spirit of God his Creator and as the Animal Spirits in his Body are so many times Refined and Sublimated to that hight as to be fitt Instruments of his Intellective Spirit by the Irradiation therof so is the Understanding and Will of Man thus Sublimated by the Irradiation of the Divine Spirit and as the Understanding and Will of Man when he was first Created did Perfectly Command and Rule his Imagination and Appetite and they did also Perfectly Obey with their own Natural Perception and Spontaneity so was the Soul of Man first Created thus Obedient and Conformable to the Divine Spirit most Knowingly and Willingly with its own Natural Intellection and Volition and thus as it is said God made Man Vpright and in his own Image which was that Aliquid Divinum in him whereby he was so made Deiformis or as Scripture more fully expresseth it Partaker of the Divine Nature by resolving himself into his Creator Intellectively Knowing and Willingly Loving God as God or as he is in himself and as he Loveth himself above all But I do not conceiv that this Life of Grace as it is also called the Life of God is so expressed by Spiraculum Vitarum for this History of Creation intendeth not Accidental but rather Substantial Lives as the Poet termeth them Inde Hoâ—inum Pecudumque genus Vitaeque Volantûm Also as Naturaly the Imagination and Appetiâ—e being in themselvs Perceptive and Spontaneous Facultys might Rebell against the Intellective and they did Actualy so Rebell in the Fall of Man so also though this Original Grace was so farr Supernatural there was still a Natural Capacity in his Intellective Understanding and Will which are in themselvs Naturaly Knowing and Willing Facultys to Rebell against the Divine Spirit who also if he pleaseth is Irresistible becaus he is God and they did Actualy so Rebell in his Fall whereby his Soul did sink down into Self and now hath not nor can it Naturaly have any Knowledg or Love of God above itself as I have shewed And this is that which the Scripture commonly calls Flesh as it is opposed to the Divine Spirit and the Supernatural Work therof in the Soul and so those two are said to be contrary one unto another and not only different so as the Corporeal Flesh of a Sensitive Body is distinguished from the Sensitive Spirit and so is termed the Flesh of Beasts Birds or Fishes nor as the whole Sensitive Compositum is sometimes distinguished from Intelligences as it is said that Horses are Flesh and not Spirit but as the whole Human Compositum both in the Sensitive and Intellective part therof is now Naturaly opposed to the Divine Spirit as I have shewed and so the Apostle saith The Natural Man or the Animal Man Naturaly receiveth not the things that are of God for they are Foolishnes unto him neither can he know them or conceiv and receiv them becaus they are Spiritualy discerned And all this may most plainly appear by the Renovation of this Divine Image by the Spirit of God which is called the New Creature and New Man which is renewed in Knowledg after the Image of him that Created him though I do not suppose it to be by any Proper Creation of any new Faculty or Power in the Soul but by Improper Creation that is by Supernatural Irradiation of the Divine Spirit such as the production of any Accidental Qualitys out of the first Chaos in the Six Days was by the Divine Power and wherof though there was an Entitative Potentiality before Created in and with the Substance and Subsisting and Latent therin yet it could not be produced into Actuality without the Immediate Power of the Divine Spirit as I have shewed and that therefore it is termed a Creation and is not as Natural Generation which is only production out of a second Chaos of Potentiality as I so term it by a Natural Power Transmitted and Delegated to the Specifical Creatures afterward by the Divine Benediction whereby they can so Generate others and so the Apostle also saith with an express reference to the very first of those Works of Improper Creation God who commanded the Light to shine out of Darknes hath shined in our Hearts to give the Light of the Knowledg of the Glory of God wherefore as that Light which first shined out of Eternal Darknes was so produced not by a Proper but Improper Creation as I have shewed and by such Improper Creation and not only by a Natural Generation as the Light of Fire or Candle is now Generated so is Regeneration the Immediate Work of the Divine Spirit not by Proper but Improper Creation and by such a Creation and not by Natural Generation as our Savior saith That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit And this work of the Divine Spirit in the Hearts of Men Regenerate is the Divine Life of the Soul thus being indued with this Divine Grace and so exalted far above not only the Sensitive but also the Naturaly Intellective and the whole Animal Life therof and so is termed the Life of God and this Regeneration of the Soul a Translation from Death to Life which is indeed a most Miraculous Work and though not any Proper Creation of any Substance or Faculty from Absolute Nonentity yet is an Improper Creation of the most excellent of all Created Qualitys as I have shewed And in this respect it is somwhat more that it requires a Conjunct Irradiation of the Divine Spirit continualy as the Diaphanous Air doth of the Light and Heat of the Sun which is wholy Supernatural And in a Spiritual Life or the Union and Communion of the Soul with God even the wisest of Philosophers have rightly placed the true Happiness of Man though they were ignorant
will deny the one must first deny the other that is that the Scripture is the Word of God Yet I shall more specialy produce one Text becaus it doth include with the Divine Authorâ—ty also some Natural Reason of the Thing The Wiseman speaking of the Death of men saith Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God that gave it wherin he plainly declareth that the Body and all the Bodily part which he termeth Dâ—st as God so called it at the first becaus he made it of the Dust of the Earth and such generaly as the Body of Man is in the very Instant when his Intellective Soul departeth out of it and that certeinly is a Body of Flesh and not only a Lutea Imago as I said doth assoon as the Instrumental Life of the Sensitive Soul ceaseth fall to the ground and is more and more by degrees Corrupted and Putrefied untill it be resolved again into Dust and the Sensitive Spirit is also Confounded in the Chaos therof and Coagulated with others as it is also said Who knoweth the Spirit of a Man that goeth Upward and the Spirit of the Beast that goeth Downward to the Earth and indeed we cannot know Spirits as they are in themselvs nor Pure Matter as it is in itself otherwise then by their Accidents as I have shewed that is the Intellective Soul returns to God who gave it by Immediate Inspiration and Proper Creation and as he gave it so he receivs it for as it was not produced out of the Earth like the Sensitive and Vegetative Spirits so neither doth it return thither again that is as it was not Generated so neither is it Corrupted and the very same Probation whereby I have proved it Ingenerable doth also prove it Incorruptible as Angels who are Ingenerable are also Incorruptible becaus they have no Substantial Composition and therefore nothing to be Dissolved or Corrupted but every one is a Complete Individuum and Person in himself and so though the Human Compositum which was composited of Body and Soul may be Dissolved as I have said yet the Human Soul which is also an Intelligence and Life in itself was Immediately Created such by God and therefore cannot be Dissolved and was not produced out of the Earth and therefore may not return unto iâ— but to God that gave it Thus as every Compositum is as iâ— were an Aggregate Corporation so made according to Natural Polity as an Hous is by Art and when the Members or Parts of the Corporation or Hous decay or are dissipated the very Corporation or Hous ceaseth to be such and the Members or Parts therof are Confounded or scattered among others and as an Angel is as a Sole Corporation which cannot be so Dissolved so Man is both an Aggregate Corporation like others in a Common Capacity with them in his Conjunct State and also a Sole Corporation like an Angel in his own Private Capacity by himself and in his Separate State and as the others could not be Individuated or made such Natural Corporations or Composita without an Improper Creation which was their Original Generation so neither can these Sole Corporations of Angels or Men which were made such in themselvs Immediately by God be Dissolved without a Divine and Supernatural Power which only can Annihilate them But as I said I shall rather prove the Immortality of our Souls Moraly by that Argument of Plato which is very Rational and Philosophical and may be farther improved by Christianity Certeinly God the Creator and First Caus of all things is also the utmost End therof and he is Immediately served only by Angels and Men becaus they are Immediately Subordinate to him and the only Intelligences in Nature which only have any Conscience or Conusance of him and therefore can only perform that Immediate and Spiritual Service which he requireth and which is fitt and Proper for him who is a Spirit and will be so worshiped and so as I said they were Created and appointed to gather in all the Revenues of his Glory and to render it to himself as well as to Glorify him by their other Personal Services Wherefore if these Intelligences should perish or ceas to be in their Personal Individualitys though their Substantial Principles might not ceas to be but be Confounded or Coagulated as others yet becaus they should not so any longer continue to be the same Persons as no Compositum when it is once Dissolved doth Naturaly return again to be the same but their Personalitys should so be destroied then it should be all one in respect to this great and utmost End of Creation as if they had never been Created for as if God had Rested from all his Works after the Fourth Day and before any Sensitives were produced and neither they nor Angels or Men had been Created all the other Creation had been void and vain in respect to itself as I have shewed becaus there had been no Spectators to Perceiv or Enjoy it so if Sensitives also had been produced they could only Behold and Enjoy the Creation but not render any Glory therof unto God the Creator of whom they are wholy Ignorant and so all of them had been made in vain becaus none of them could attein the very End of Creation which is the Glory of the Creator and though they had so continued to be for ever yet the very End of their Being had been Nullified yea though they were made Perfect and Good in themselvs yet they had not been Sanctified or Sublimated to any Divine Use or Service nor could God have so pronounced of them all that they were Very Good nor would he have so Rested untill he had so reduced them all to himself and his own Glory nor Instituted such a Sabbath of Spiritual Rest wherin he did Review and Rejoice in all the Works which he had wrought and from which he received the Emanant Reflections of his own Inherent Glory according to the utmost Capacity of Finite Nature Thus also if the Intelligent Natures of Angels or Men should be Mortal then all the Manifestations of his Glory to them or by them should with themselvs ceas and Vanish away and wheras they also do Personaly manifest his Divine Honor or otherwise Dishonor him so he who is the Great King according to his Roial Greatnes and Goodnes will recompens them with Reward or Punishment wherunto Piety and Impiety Virtue and Vice do Moraly Relate and in the Distribution of his Mercy and Justice accordingly his Everlasting Kingdom of Glory doth consist and therefore also all his Subjects therof must be Immortal otherwise after they had thus Served or Disserved him they should Escape him and lose their Rewards or Punishments and he the Glory therof for so the same Man or Angel should ceas to be and the Name of his Person as it stands in Gods Book be Oâ—literated and so all those Eternal
Notion therof Imprinted in our very Souls which made the Heathen Philosophers so much complain of the Prison of their Body and Bondage of this Conjunct State as expecting a better afterward And Christian Divines have a Problem Whether if Adam had stood he should not have been at length Translated to a better that is this other State and if we seriously consyder it there must probably have been some such ground of that wonderfull and otherwise inconceivable Tentation of Adam in Paradise which was not to any thing he then had nor to any thing which he was not capable to have especialy if it were Absolutely Impossible as to be a God or so to be like to God for though now the Corrupt Mind of Man may as I have said apprehend or affect Nonentity as Entitative and Impossibility as Possible yet we may not suppose any such thing of him in that State of Perfect Understanding and Will but it was a most obvious and prevalent Tentation that he having this Common Notion which we have now only Implicitely and Confusedly in his Perfect Mind most Explicitely and Distinctly and thereby knowing that he had such Angelical Facultys Potentialy in himself might covet to have them Actuated that so he might be like the Gods knowing Good and Evil. And though this be a farther and higher Perfection of the Human Spirit yet Adam was not therefore made Imperfect but Good and Perfect according to that Conjunct State wherin he was Created which was his Original Perfection and whereby he was so made a most Perfect Microcosm or Epitome of the preseâ—t World as he shall be also in his future State of the other World when not only these Angelical Perfections shall be Actuated in his Soul but his very Body shall be more Spiritualised as the Apostle termeth it or made fiâ—t for that more Spiritual State of an Immortal Life which yet shall still be a Body having all Corporeal Propertys and Affections such as the Body of our Savior was after his Resurrection which though not Sensible as before to present Sens for so he was not Visible or Tangible otherwise then as he so pleased to appear sometimes unto some yet heerafter when our Sensitive Bodys shall be also refined and sublimated and made like unto his Glorious Body every Ey shall see him as Iob saith I shall see for my self and my Eys shall behold him that is Iesus Christ his Redeemer who shall Eternaly be the Visible Deity and Image of the Invisible God Nor could Christs Spiritual Body penetrate any other Body as some have supposed from that Text wherin it is said that he entred when the Doors were shutt or the Doors being shutt which yet it doth neither express nor import but only that he did not enter into the hous so as our gross Bodys now do by Doors open which is their usual Avenue wheras his more Spiritual Body might enter in by a Window or other Aperture of the hous without any Penetration And this Renovation both of Soul and Body shall be generaly Conformable unto his and so made by his Divine Power as it is said The first Man Adam was made a Living Soul the last Adam is made a Quickning Spirit And as we have born the Image of the Earthly we shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly VII Thus the Heavens and Earth were finished and all the Host of them which Consummation plainly refers to the first Inception In the Begining God Created the Heaven and the Earth or as it is Originaly these Heavens and this Earth which were the same that were afterward so finished in the several Works of the Six Days and which as it is also said God Created to make and particularly it is so expressed not only of Elements but also of Vegetatives These are the Generations of the Heavens and the Earth in the day that the Lord made the Earth and the Heavens and every Herb of the Field before it grew as I have formerly observed and now observ again how this Doctrine of Creation of all Generable and Corruptible things first in the Chaos of their Potentialitys and of their several Generations afterward in the Six Days is so plainly and cumulatively expressed and repeated that none may doubt of the Truth therof Again as not only Heavens and Earth heer are mentioned but also an Host therof or orderly Militia and thus God is called the Lord of Hosts or of the Armys of all the Creatures so as I have observed there is both a Scale of Nature and also an Oeconomy of the Composita and Polity of the whole Univers and that therefore it is declared of them all that they were Valde bona or as it is Originaly Valde bonum Singularly as of One and an Epitome heerof is every Man in himself as I have shewed and becaus as I have said he is such a Microcosm now in respect of this World and so shall be of the World future therefore God doth still continue to Create the Souls of men from the end of the first Created World which was thus consummated in Man as the Summ of all the rest untill the begining of the other World And if we rightly estimate the many Millions of men living together on the Earth probably he doth Create Human Souls every Minute and so though he rested from making the great World yet he maketh many such litle Worlds continualy for though it is said He had rested from all his Works which God had Created to make that is to be Generated or to make by Generation first Originaly which was Supernatural and their Improper Creation and since Successively by Natural Generation as I have shewed yet he rested not from Proper Creation of Human Spirits in their several Individualitys according to the same Specifike kind which he had Originaly Instituted and expressed in the Protoplast or first Mâ—n and so to be Composited with Human Bodys according to that very Institution and first Law of Human Generation as I have also shewed Nor doth he so Immediately Generate or Improperly Create the Human Compositum of any other Man as he did the first Adam except only Iesus Christ who was thereby declared to be the Theanthropus as it is said The Lord himself· will give you a Signe Behold a Virgin shall conceivâ— and bear a Son and call his Name Immanuel which being interpreted is God with us And when God had thus Originaly made Man that is both man and woman as it is said Male and Female Created he them and probably woman of whom Christ was to be born and so is called the Seed of the woman being made after man was also the last of all these Works of God then he pronounced of them all Universaly that they were very Good not only in respect of the Univers but also of Man as the Compendium of all and Consummation of his whole Work of Creation in order to his ensuing Work of Redemption
the Motion of the Earth if any should urge against me that Text which shaketh the Earth out of her place and the Pillars therof tremble I should answer him that if I wanted a Text to prove the contrary Truth this alone might suffice for both by it and the Context it plainly appears that it is spoken of a violent Commotion of the Earth by God in his anger and evidently imports that otherwise the Earth Naturaly resteth and hath a Place of Rest. And so their chief Reason to prove the Earth Mobile becaus it is Magnetical which I have grantâ—d doth as plainly prove the Immobility therof as I have shewed And the Sensible Experiment of an Arrow shot upright in a Ship sailing is a meer Fallacy though the Motion of the Ship and of the Archer in it while he dischargeth it may indeed caus some little Impuls that way in the very discharge which so directeth it But certeinly no man can believ that a Fly removing from an Horses head in travelling doth follow him with any less Nisus or labor by reason of any such Conjunct Motion then another Fly which freshly pursues the Hors for let an Hors that hath been washed in a River run swiftly on the Land certeinly the Drops that fall from him will not follow him There are many such fond Opinions and foolish Probations which serv only to render Philosophy ridiculous I am more confident of my Theses and hope I have offered no such Hypotheses but whatsoever they are I submit them to the several Masters in the respective Arts and Sciences and generaly all to learned Divines whose complete Province it is also to inspect this Divine Philosophy which God himself hath laid as the Foundation of Theology and as he doth delight to intitle himself the Maker of Heaven and Earth so Ieremy taught the Captive Jews that Chaldaike Sentence The Gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth even they shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens to discriminate the only true God from all Idols nor do I remember that any Heathenish Religion did ever ascribe the Creation of the World to any of them nor indeed acknowledg any Proper Creation Wherefore since Errors in Philosophy are so dangerous in Divinity Theologists should affect the Genesis of Creation as well as the Exodus of Redemption as all the Sects of Graecian Philosophers did joyn Natural with Moral Philosophy Certeinly Theology only can teach us the right use and improvement of Natural Knowledg that is to Glorifie God and benefit Mankind and doth specialy admonish us that we should not so highly prize Curious and Costly Perierga or any vain Philosophy or Knowledg which only puffeth and edifieth not for indeed whosoever doth terminate in a Speculative Contemplation of the World is as much a Worldling as any Ambitious Covetous or Voluptuous men who seek a satisfaction therin VIII Let all men therefore prais and glorify their Creator who hath made this whole World and all things therin in Order Measure and Weight not only in all their own particular Natures but in the Univers and Polity therof since every man is himself a Created Module and Idea both of the Creation and of God the Creator who as a Melior Natura was made to represent God to all Inferior Creatures in his Dominion over them and them unto God in his Immediate Subordination unto him Wherefore as all the Works of God do prais him with the Echo of his own Goodnes and the whole Globe as a Cymbal doth sound forth his praises so should we sing and chant them out with Oral Voice and Mental Understanding And thus as blessed Angels who in Heaven behold the face of God continualy cry unto him Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts so we beholding the Reflections therof in the Speculum of Created Nature should subjoin in Consort the whole Earth is full of his Glory And more specialy we should prais him for our own Human Nature which is the Summ of all the rest and Completion of both the Sensible and Intelligible Worlds quartering all the Familys of Nature in the â—scutcheon of our Humanity whereby we of all others are most obliged to this Divine Service which is the very End of Creation and Divine Goodnes therof And every particular man should thus Personaly reâ—lect on himself becaus he is also an Abstract of Humanity singing the Doxology of the Divine Psalmist I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made and that my Soul knoweth right well my Substance was not hid from thee when I was made in seâ—ret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the Earth Thine Eys did see my Substance yet being Imperfect and in thy Book were all my Members written which in continuance of time were fashioned when as yet there was none of them Thus I was Created through the most free Grace of my Creator and was not what I now am long since the World was made and which might still have continued without me who am a very Inconsyderable and Insignificant Portion of Mankind among all the Innumerable Millions of men who have been before me are now with me and shall be after me and yet as much concerned in my Creator and he as particularly regarding me as if there were none other man in the World And as I before I was so my Parents or any others could not designe or desire any such being for me nor foretell or imagin what I should be but only my Divine Father who did set down and prescribe in his Book of Eternity the Idea of my Personality and whole Compositum and accordingly formed me in my Mothers Womb molding my Body the Tabernacle of my Soul by a Vegetative Plastical Virtue and producing my Sensitive Spirit out of the common Clay and lowest part of the Earth inspired into it my Intellective Spirit as a Light Incensed that shall never be Extinguished an Intelligence Ingenerable and Incorruptible for ever And now I am my self and not another nor ever shall be any other then my self and so am put into the present possession of my own everlasting Being though my Soul living and dwelling in this Mortal Body for this short space of a Temporary Life hath this small Segment of its Eternity set out and appointed to be the sole opportunity of gaining my everlasting Welbeing and the Intellectual and Spiritual Welbeing of my Soul is only the Union and Communion therof with my Infinite Creator which is the true Apotheosis of Intellective Spirits In which Original State of Divine Perfection Human Nature was first Created but by the Apostacy and Defection of our first Parents did again sink down into the Mortality of the Body and the self-confounded Chaos of the Soul And now O Mankind admire and adore for ever the Infinite and Incomprehensible Glory of God and Mystery of his Spiritual Kingdom of Redemption farr exceeding all the Glory of his Natural Kingdom of Creation which was only the foundation or Scene of the other being so made in order therunto and wisely conâ—â—der how God Infinite in himself look'd through this Finite World as a Bubble of Diaphanous Air computing all Creatures therin only as so many Cyphars which though more or fewer greater or less before or after in or among themselvs yet all signify the same Nothing in Divine Account neither adding to nor diminishing from the Infinity of their Creator And therefore from all Eternity before the Foundations of the World were laid he designed and decreed to Invest his own Son the Uncreated Essential and Intrinsecal Image of himself with the Created Artificial and Extrinsecal Image of our Humanity and therin with the Universal Nature of the Created World By whom Finite is thus united to Infinity and Mutable to Immutability and in whom God Infinitely and Immutably enjoieth himself in the full Embraces both of his Essence and Operations And this is that new and better Creation which shall endure for ever wherof it is also said as of the first Creation In the Begining was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God The same was in the Begining with God All things were made by him and without him nothing was made that was made And now I prais thee I bless thee I adore thee Lord God Creator of Heaven and Earth for thine own Uncreated Glory Eternaly Immanent in thy self and for the Transient manifestations therof in and to thy Creatures And as I admire thine own Infinite Incomprehensibility so also all those Finite Incomprehensibles in Nature and all the Comprehensibles therof which may be known by us for whatsoever we do or can truly know of thee or thy Works is most excellent and so is all that we cannot know And I thank thee for the discovery of the Initial Creation and Original Confabrication of the World by thy Word and the retrospective Revelation therof to thy Servant Moses and for any Revelation of that Primitive Apocalyps to me thy most unworthy and unable Servant by the Illumination of thy Divine Spirit And now I beseech thee to revele it more and more to the whole World that we may all know and acknowledg the only true Genesis of the World and thee the Creator who art both the Author and End therof And wherin I am Ignorant still teach thou me or wherin I have Erred discover it to others that neither thy Divine Truth may be dishonored by my Human Infirmity nor any honor therof ascribed to my Infirm Humanity but that we all may always and in all things Laud and Glorify the most Holy Name of thee the Infinite Iehovah and Creator through Iesus Christ the Messiah our Redeemer whom to Know is Life Eternal Amen FINIS