Drink ought to be drank sparingly by such as regard their Health It is also to be noted that not only strong Drinks but all other things have an Operation on the Spirits and Bodies of Men whether Meats Drinks Air Exercise or Communication were it not so Man could not be altered within for better or worse But what a sensible change do we find in our selves many times between a dull heavy Day and a brisk clear Sun-shiny Morning Every thing be it what it will has a power of influencing and varying us which the Apostle seems to take notice of when he saith Evil Communication corrupts good manners and the Psalmist where he affirms With the Froward thou shalt learn Frowardness The Original of all good or evil Tempers and natural Inclinations are according to the Nature of that form and property that did predominate at the Conception and Birth and are made either better or worse according to the good or ill Custom of the Place and People they communicate with or the Imployments they are put to and the Meats Drinks Exercises and Air they are used to Take two Youths one of the Sanguine Complexion the other of the Cholerick put the first to a Butcher Car-man Waterman or any such robustick Trade the second to a Shop-keeper Merchant or some such neat Profession and in a little time the Sanguine Lad will become more Cholorick and the Cholerick more Sanguine But note there is a two-fold possibility of altering and changing either for the better or the worse First Natural as the free Will shall consent to either Evil or Good one being as near to man as the other who being a compleat Image or Epitome of all things their true Natures being contained in him therefore he is both capable and liable to be influenced and wrought upon by every thing it meddles or communicates with as is seen in Soldiers most of them when raw and at tâ— first Fight are timerous and very apprehensive o 〈…〉 ger but after they are once flesht in Blood and Slaughter they become unconcerned and remorsless and can kill men with as little trouble or regret of Mind as a Butcher does Sheep and Oxen without having any particular Quarrel or Enmity but even in cold Blood so great is the Power of Imployment For as Fighting and Killing of men is the work of the fierce Wrath of God in men and so soon as you consent with your Will to enter upon this wrathful Imployment the center of the dark strong Wrath is awakened and by a little custom and use it becomes ten-fold stronger than at first then all doing as one would be done unto and Tenderness and Compassion are laid aside as if never any such Notion or Principle had been planted in Man The very same happens in other Imployments that Quality which therein predominates awakens and strengthens its Simile for which reason in former Ages some that have written Romances and Love-stories in a passionate and pleasing Style and lively Representation have been banisht for their labour their Works proving of very evil and fatal Consequence to Young and Amorous Minds for all Books be they what they will do bear the Image and Figure of the Spirit of him that wrote them and so much the more as the Imagination of the Author is more strong which in this sort of Writers and Poets c. use to exceed and if such Books be read with attention and inclination then they awaken and strengthen such a like Propensity in the Reader as was in the Writer be it either good or evil Therefore the perusal of all Play-Books Romances and Love-stories have and do prove very injurious to such as mis-spend their time therein it is like playing with Edge-Tools at first they are innocent and think no harm that look into them but after a while if it take with their Affections the case is altered they make a real change in the whole Bodâ—â— â—nd Mind the Thoughts are all taken up with tho◠〈…〉 itching Idea's and thay prove leading Cards to many real Evils and Temptations The Son must needs fall in Love with and Marry the Chamber-maid and the young Lady run away with the Coach-man or the more impertinent Chaplain only to act over some of those fine Intrigues which they admired with such delight in Sidney's Arcadia or the grand Cyrus 'T is sottish Ignorance that makes some say What hurt can these external things or Food Communication c. do unto us For they never consider that every thing has power to open its own Principle the understanding of which ground was the Original cause of Moses's Law of Cleanness and Separation and the occasion of the Abstinence of all the wise Men in former Ages from this or the other sort of Food Drinks Habits and Communications for they saw the inward Power and Sympathetick Drawings of every thing and therefore wise Pythagoras the better to draw the wild barbarous Nations to the practice of this profound Philosophy insinuated into them the belief of a Transmigration or shifting of the Souls of Men when they dyed into other Creatures as Cows Horses or the like with which Opinion being once possest they would neither oppress nor kill any sort of Beasts or living Creatures for then they believed they should do Violence to their departed Friends viz. Fathers Mothers Children c. Through which Conceit and Custom they were not only much brought off from their former Cruelty and Barbarity but betook themselves to the more wholsom eating of Fruits Herbs and Grains so that this wild savage People became Merciful and full of Humanity And some of this sort of People do continue this Custom and Law unviolated to this day in some parts of the East-Indies 2dly The Grace holy Light and Love of God of which the Lord hath given a measure or portion to every individual Person as St. John saith The Word of God which made all things and without it nothing was made this same Word is the LIGHT OF MEN and doth enlighten every man that cometh into the World This pure Spirit of Life hath power to tincture and change all evil Inclinations and harsh Tempers which do arise from the malignant Configurations of the predominant Constellations and Complexions if man gives up his Will and is guided by its Counsel This holy Light and Word is the Essential Life and Living Power of all things the Eye of the Mind by which man is able to distinguish the Good from the Evil in himself and also in all other things according to the measure he hath thereof and the knowledg he hath of himself It is also the true Balsamick Virtue from whence all Friendlyness doth proceed not only in Man but in all other things according to their respective Degrees and Natures is likewise the Moderator and Qualifier of the fierce fiery harsh Brimstone Spirit and in what Complexion soever this pure Life and Power does predominate that Person by
Fruits Grains or Seeds would answer the ravenous Appetite thereof and therefore it required Blood which is the highest Life in the humane Nature and cannot be procured but by Violence and has the nearest Affinity to the Wrath of any thing in the whole Creation whence it is said Blood requires Blood And this may be illustrated in every particular Man when he does suffer the fierce Wrath and Fire to burn in him he becomes like a raging Bedlam nothing can calm or satisfie him except he doth some Mischief kill and oppress for in such a Fit Blood and Revenge is sweet unto him and assoon as he has glutted himself with Blood that wrathful Property is satisfied And as it is thus in the little World the same is to be understood by way of Analogy in the great For this cause the Lord declared That whoever did kill a Man his Blood he would require at his Hands The Reason and Equity of which Law comprehends all Creatures and therefore it is said That Beast that shall shed Blood or kill any other Beast should be slain So that 't is without doubt the original cause of killing of Beasts and offering them in Sacrifice was to see whether it would have satisfied that fierce poysonous Wrath which Man had so terribly awakened by his Violence and corrupting the whole whence the Deluge proceeded But after the Flood which had so swept away all Mankind except eight Persons to prevent the like dreadful Judgment for the future Sacrifices and the Blood of Beasts was used to assuage the Wrath and to make atonement for the Sins of Men because the Blood of Beasts has both the nearest affinity to the original Properties of Man's Life and also to the awakened Wrath as well within as without him for Men cannot kindle the Wrath within themselves but they must do it without them also But â—â—ill the Scripture saith That the Blood of Bulls and the like would not satisfie the Justice and awakened Wrath of God nor make a perfect Atonement for the Sins of Mankind and therefore besides their daily Sacrifices the High Priest was once every Year to go into the second Tabernacle but not without Blood which he offered for himself and for the People Also it is said that the way into the Holiest Tabernacle of all was not made manifest whilst the first Tabernacle was yet standing whence it appears that all the Sacrifices and other Circumstances of Worship in the time of the Law did proceed from the Wrath especially Sacrifices and Killing which cannot flow from the divine Principle for that holy Principle of Love and Light was not manifest whilst the first Tabernacle did stand that is so long as the first Principle of God's fierce Wrath did predominate But all Sacrifices Violences and Killing do cease in all those whom the Lord doth appear to in the power of his Son Jesus Christ but so long as Men are captivated in the first Tabernacle of Wrath the Holiest of all is not manifest that is the holy and good Love of God in his Son is not known or manifested in them and therefore it is said Sacrifices and Offerings for sin thou didst refuse that is the divine Principle had no pleasure in Violence in the Blood of Beasts and Groanings of the Creation but then steps in the Holy Principle of Love and saith Lo I come to do thy Will O God! That is to destroy the Works of the Devil and establish everlasting Righteousness and he taketh away the first that is the kindled Wrath Violence and Oppression and establisheth the second that is his eternal Light and Love in Jesus Christ in whom alone he is well pleased which brings glad Tidings unto all Mankind and to the whole Creation especially if Men become the Sâ—â—s of God for then all the inferiour Creatures would be delivered into glorious Liberty It does appear by what the Apostle saith That all Sacrifices Killing and Blood of Beasts could not sufficiently appease God's Wrath nor reconcile Man unto God otherwise than as if one Man kill another the Blood of him that is slain doth call for Vengeance on the Slayer but all this while the Principle of God's fierce Wrath is by their violence and oppression increased and strengthened even so it was in all Sacrifices Men by their Violences had corrupted the Earth and awakened God's Wrath which called for Vengeance even as the Blood of a particular Man doth on a Beast for all kind of Violence be it either little or much doth call for vengeance and retaliation if not confessed repented of and by the power of the divine Love of God forsaken which holy Principle of God's eternal Love and Light in his Son was not manifest unto them as the Apostle saith because the first Tabernacle or Principle of God's Wrath had through their Cruelties and Evils gotten the Ascendent over them so that the divine Principle could not have its operation in them so long as they continued in their sins committing those Violences and Oppressions for the first Tabernacle or Wrath in Man must be done away before the second can take place that is before the holy Light of the Son of God can reign and rule in our hearts for nothing can allay overcome or make the stern fierce Wrath of the Father to bow or satiate its fiery hunger in Mankind but only the eternal Fountain of his meek Love in Christ from whom as the Scripture saith there does flow Rivers of living Waters which alone can allay the fiery Wrath and reconcile Men to the God of Peace and bring to nought the lofty proud violent Desires and vain Thoughts and Inclinations in Man and by its operation gives them an Eye of discerning to distinguish of God's Love and Anger in himself and makes the fierce harsh Fire of Wrath to burn more gentle so that instead of its raging Fierceness it becomes a meek and cherishing Fire which is the pleasant motion in every Life that tunes a Man up to an intellectual Harmony causing all the Properties and Qualities to kiss and incorporate with each other whence arises a most pleasant Crasis or Euphony of Temper Thoughts and Operations A Similitude whereof we have in a Musical Instrument that is skilfully tuned and plaid upon where there are various Strings and Notes whence proceed different Sounds but all conspiring to make up most ravishing and delightful Harmony the dull melancholy harsh jarring Notes of Saturn and Mars being made pleasant by the incorporating of the melodious Sounds of Venus Iupiter the Sun and Mercury Do not the Foundations of all Harmony both in Men and all other things arise from the Basis viz. from the first Principle or Tabernacle for if there were no Fire there would be no Light so if there were no Basis there could be no Trebbles or if there were yet there could be no Harmony if one were without the other What Harmony do Men make to themselves or others when
comes to know somewhat of the operation of the Divine Principle he cannot be happy in this World nor in that which is to come This some of the Indian and Ethnick Philosophers seem to have been sensible of when they used all pains and diligence to bring those Savages from Cruelties and Inhumanities viz. from all Violence and killing the inferior Beasts of the Field and prohibiting them from eating their Flesh and Blood for Man being more highly graduated than any of the Beasts as being indued with divine and humane Wisdom and the Nature of all things viz. with the Treasures both of Time and Eternity ought not by any means enter with his Desires and Will into the savage Nature of wild Beasts neither should the depraved Property of Beasts be awakened in Man for whatsoever he joyns himself unto or communicates with whether it be Meats Drinks Employments or Communications that very thing be it what it will shall powerfully impose the true property of its Spirit on the Man by way of Simile Were not this so the wise Ancients would not have made such distinctions between clean and unclean Creatures neither would they so strictly have commanded that the Blood should be destroyed by Fire or buried in the Earth neither would the Apostle Paul have said That evil Communication corrupts good Manners that is evil Company or the evil Spirit in ill Men does awaken and strengthen its Likeness in the good Man and causes the divine Principle and Voice of Wisdom to withdraw or become captivated And it seems our Fore-Fathers even in this Nation have in some degree considered the great force and power of the wrathful savage Nature of the Beasts and that Men by accustomed violence towards them and their communication amongst slaughter'd Animals were rendered rash precipitate fierce and cruel and as it were destitute of Humanity and therefore by our ancient Laws and the immemorial Customs of this Realm Butchers and such People as are of Killing-Employments are not to be Iury men as being esteemed neither fit nor capable Judges of Life and Death And in the common Proverb if a man be fierce cruel and subjected to the Spirit of Violence we say Such a one is like a Butcher Nor can we but observe from daily experience that all sorts of People that are of rude robustick Employments and communicate much with fierce and strong Beasts as Bear-wards Hostlers Drovers and the like are generally headstrong rash fierce surly People and appear evidently to participate of the brutish Nature of those Animals with whom they converse And as the Sheep is one of the most innocent of Beasts so Shepherds have in all Ages been celebrated for the most harmless and best-humour'd of Men and therefore Governors both Temporal and Spiritual are recommended unto us under the Name of Pastors or Shepherds of the People 4. That killing and eating the Flesh and Blood of both clean and unclean Beasts was not in use from the beginning is clear from the Second Chapter of Genesis therefore we should consider when and by whom the same was introduced And first we must note That the first Beasts that were killed were not Cows and Sheep and the like useful Creatures whose Lives are far more profitable than their Deaths but wild savage Beasts and Birds of Prey the countenance of whose Lives was prejudicial unto Mankind and the rest of the Creatures nor were they hunted and slain to be eaten but to free Men and other Creatures from danger But after a little use and custom of Kiillng the Spirit of Wrath and Fierceness by the fierce Action in the Killer and the revengeful Spirits proceeding from the Creature killed both concurring was so powerfully stirred awakened and strengthened that Killing became as familiar as gathering of Fruit and the unclean brutish Nature encreasing they could not only kill without remorse but began to count it a delight and pleasure and then they could eat the Flesh and lap up the Blood of their Fellow-Creatures which they had slaughtered as freely and as greedily as Dogs and Lions or any other wild Beasts could do it for by continual use of Killing and Violence the very same savage wild Nature of those cruel Beasts of Prey were become predominant in Men so that now they could not only butcher and eat the Flesh of Beasts with pleasure and delight but they could also without remorse torture and slay those of their own kind and in some parts proceeded to eat them too as the Canibals who feed on Humane Flesh and will most savourly gnaw a Shoulder of a Man a Breast of a Woman or the Haunches of a Child and think it altogether as sweet and wholsome as my Lord does his Venison or my Lady her Partridge 5. It is to be noted That if Mankind had continued in its primitive State of Innocency and Unity there would have been no Hatred Strife Oppression Fighting or Killing one another no Slaughtering of Beasts Fish or Birds nor Eating their Flesh and Blood for that was not permitted until Man had immersed his Will into the warful savage unclean Nature of the worst of Beasts For there is no Creature in the World that has any desire to eat Flesh and Blood and tear the Creatures to pieces with violence except those in whom the fierce wrathful savage Nature does predominate And therefore after Man had awakened the Wrath and entred into the cruel Spirit of Killing the wise Prophets imposed special Commands not to eat the Flesh and Blood of such Creatures as Swine Dogs Bears Wolves c. But can we believe that Man was at first made like those savage unclean Beasts of Prey or indeed worse For so now he is and does exceed in Uncleanness and Cruelty the worst of Beasts as much as a Spar-Hawk exceeds a Titmouse for indeed Man is indued with all Properties and Qualities but the Wrath and evil unclean Nature ought not to have been manifested but the divine and humane Nature should have governed his Life but instead thereof the same are now as it were hid in Man and the cruel fierce Spirit does predominate which makes him so near affinity with all wild Beasts and Birds of Prey and to desire such Food as they do for that Nature that is chief in the government of any Creature 's Life be it either good or evil clean or unclean will stir up desires of Food suitable and correspondent therewith This is plain in several sorts of Beasts as those in whom the simple harmless clean Nature claims Dominion delight in a like clean and harmless Food and their Natures are satisfied therewith not but that there is an unclean Nature and fierce Quality in the cleanest and best of Beasts capable in some degree of being awakened for 't is not impossible by degrees and use to teach and bring Sheep Cows Horses and many other Creatures to eat Flesh and drink Wine and strong Drinks and after a little custom those
to fear to oppress or do unto any Creature that which he would not have done unto himself for Oppression Killing wrathful Words and Works do belong to the Egyptians and not to those that travel towards the Land of Canaan An Instance of which we have in St. Iude who said That when Michael the Arch-Angel disputed about the Body of Moses with the Devil he did not dare to bring any railing Accusation not but that the good Angel might as to Justice have done it but he did not dare do it because he must first have entred with his Will into the wrathful fierce Principle or hellish nature and awakened it in himself therefore he only said The Lord rebuke thee And for the same Reason our Saviour Christ commands Men not to be angry nor call their Brethren Racha or Fools that is any Name of Wrath Malice or Contempt If this were rightly understood and regarded Men would not dare to abandon themselves to such Heats Passions and Furies as every day we behold they would not make it a Trade a Sport a Pastime to kill murther and use all kind of Violence We read in Genesis of Lot's Wife that she looked back towards Sodom for which she was turned into a Pillar of Salt she entred into the fierce Anger and Wrath of God and Nature which she was forewarned of so that she was precipitated into and comprehended in the grand Fountain of Wrath that is the original Forms of Nature of which Salt is one and therefore the Prophets and all those whom the Lord enlightned with divine and humane Understanding and whose chief business was to reclaim men from the Snares and Evils of Oppression and Violence and teach them the Ways of Mercy Clemency and Love often threatned them with the same Judgment which befel Lot's Wife it being the portion of all that live and die in the Spirit of Oppression Nay was not that great Man Moses prevented from entring into the Holy Land because he was wrath with the Children of Israel when they murmured and complained for want of Water saying Ye Rebels must we fetch Water out of this Rock for you Whereupon saith the Lord to him and his Brother Aaron Because ye believed me not to sanctifie me in the Eyes of the Children of Israel therefore shall you not bring this Congregation into the Land which I have given them Here Moses and Aaron had suffered their Desires and Wills to enter into the Wrathful Centre and Self-hood whence the Word Rebel was formed for the very Sound thereof demonstrates from what Principle it does proceed And hence probably it may be that the evil Angel did so dispute about or claim a property to the Body of Moses This therefore is a principal Point in Religion for every one to understand and distinguish in himself from what Principle every Thought and Word does proceed for otherwise Men may and do precipitate themselves into the wrath and fierce original of the hellish Nature which if once it get to reign in the Heart it quickly blisters out its Venom at the Tongue in such leud Words as Rebels Rogue Dog Devil and horrid Oaths Curses and Execrations the very sound of which is enough to declare whence they proceed whereas from the divine and truly humane Nature do arise and slow Words of Comfort and Consolation those soft Answers that turn away Wrath and all those delightful sociable obliging Charms of friendly Conversation wherein consists one of the greatest Felicities of this mortal Life and which for ought I know will be one main occasion to our Happiness in Heaven And wheresoever such Words are entertained they strengthen and increase their own Principle both in those that speak them and in those that hear them Of that great Man King David who is sometimes stiled A Man after God's own Heart the Scripture saith That the Lord did not admit him to build the outward Temple which was a true Figure of the internal and spiritual Temple And what was the Reason Because he had been a Man of Violence and Blood which had so awakened the Principle of Wrath and Fierceness as did very much impede the divine work And this it will do not only in David but all others in whom it is kindled No Man can do the Work of Wrath and not awaken and strengthen the Principle which leads to such Acts as is farther manifested by all those that are of violent Trades and killing Employments although such People do not kill the Beasts in Anger or in a way of Revenge for any Injuries pretended formerly to be done but do it meerly as it is their Occupation whereby to get a Livelihood yet nevertheless insensibly and unknown to their Reason and Intention they do by degrees irritate and corroborate the fierce Properties of Nature and become rash fierce hot and cruel No wonder then if most of the holy Men and Prophets who by a divine Eye and Understanding did pry into the hidden Mysteries of God and Nature were strict Abstainers and separated themselves from the Uncleannesses Oppressions and Violences that the superfluous worldly Belly gods do subject themselves unto whose chief care is to procure such Meats and Drinks as will gratifie their Palates and Appetites for pleasing of which they regard not whom they oppress be they Men or Beasts some of them spending as much in one day as an hundred Men can get by their hard Labour and all to please the wanton Lust and momentary Pleasure of the Throat they having but only the meer Forms and Shapes of Men and being really void both of Humanity and Christianity From this ground doth proceed all violent Courses and Contentions both publick and private which Evils will never be remedied except Men take up the Cross and deny themselves and follow the Counsel of the divine Principle and hearken unto the Voice of Wisdom which continually cries in the Gate of every Man's City and happy is he that hearkens unto her for she is a sufficient Guide to lead every one into the pure simple Way of Truth and teach us from what we ought to separate our selves whereby we may acquire Health to the Soul and Body and the Treasures both of Time and Eternity But none are or can be sensible of those Advantages but such alone as are got through thé Red Sea and the Howling Wilderness and have entred into the Land of Canaan for it seems too mean a thing and the Ways that lead to those holy Virtues are too plain for the great People of this World But our Lord and Saviour Christ saith My Kingdom is not of this World and therefore when Peter in the most just and pious Cause that can be imagined viz. to preserve his innocent Master from unjust violence drew his Sword our Lord calmly bid him put it up for the Sword cannot be drawn but by and through the Power of God's Wrath which does predominate in most Men's Hearts and this Christ
in Men to awaken and attract their good or evil Nature as well as there is in the Coelestials to alter or change Mens Bodies and Minds This many of the Philosophical Ancients have consented to and most Astrologers are of the same Opinion The Calculators of Nativities find by their daily Experience that Vitiousness and Intemperance in the Natives Life not only cause a very malignant Configuration of the Coelestial Bodies to take place and have its Effects but also he that lives Intemperately is always in danger and subject to the male Aspects of the Superiors Whereas on the contrary it is most true that a Wise Man that is temperate just and circumspect may rule his own Stars But when Persons give themselves to Inordinate Living near or about such times as the Heavens threaten them with evil Aspects Transits or Directions then such disastrous Influences powerfully take place For this very reason Men are often insnared and drawn away to many Inconveniences before they are sensible of it for the wrathful unclean Nature having been by degrees awakened and strengthened by its simile either in Meats Drinks Imployments or Communications for every Property must have such Food as hath affinity therewith or else it cannot increase nor be brought into Manifestation but without it it languishes and becomes impotent in its Operation the Person so offending is thereby subjected to all the malignant Configurations of the Coelestial and Terrestrial Bodies Yet if such an one shall turn to the Lord by Prayer and abstain from the Evil Courses of this Life he presently destroys and weakens that threatning Malignity and this sober and temperate Life will by simpathy strengthen the Spirit of Wisdom and Undestanding If this were well understood there would be more Care and Diligence used both in particular and general as to outward and inward Cleanness than there is For in great Cities and Towns especially there are many Superfluities and Uncleannesses committed against God and Nature and therefore such places above others do suffer many Inconveniences The unclean Vapours and evil Spirits that do arise from Blood and other Excrements do not only awaken the Wrath in the Elements and Stars and draw down their evil Influences but incorporate with the common Air and defile it which being so corrupted nothing is more Injurious and Pernicious to the health of the Body and also to the Mind for outward Uncleannesses do naturally and powerfully attract the evil Power both Externally and Internally because all such pernicious Scents and Smells do arise and proceed from the poysonous Root and so bear a near affinity to the evil Angels and Spirits and do naturally attract them So when the Elements are disturbed by malignant Configurations and Aspects as in great Tempests of Thunder and Lightning and the like the evil Spirits and Angels are very busie and appear almost externally for by those malignant Configurations the Wrath in the outward Nature is violently excited and the same being predominant in the evil Angels they at such times become more apt and powerful to do mischief External Uncleanness does not only pollute the Body and Senses but also the Soul and Spirits for which cause some of the wise Ancients would not wear any Woolen Garments because they are made of the Excrements of Beasts And indeed all Hair and Wool does contain a gross fulsom impure Nature but it lies so hidden that it cannot be perceived unless it be set on Fire and then it manifests it self by its filthy offensive scent For the same Reason some of the Philosophers lived retired nay many of the Holy Men and Prophets of Old as the Scriptures testifie when the Spirit of the Lord was in a more than ordinary degree upon them and pleased to give them Visions and make known his Will unto them did with-draw themselves from Towns and Cities and from the Multitudes of People into the open clear Air in Fields Woods Mountains or by the most pleasant Rivers and Fountain of Water And our blessed Saviour Christ himself did often practise such Retreats when he made his earnest Supplication and Prayers to the Father Few do understand or imagin the manifold Benefits unfrequented places and clean pure Airs afford both to Body and Mind the Senses and Intellectuals of well disposed Men being free from those Uncleannesses Cities and Towns are subject to both External and Internal for in those loansom places the common Air is pure thin and clear free from those fulsom Vapours Scents and gross Smells which Cities are subject to and free from those varieties of Cursing Swearing and Multitudes of vain and impious Discourses which all places are liable unto where Rabbles reside and which wonderfully awakens the Internal Wrath and gives many Advantages to the evil Angels and Spirits to work their vile Purposes But on the contrary in open serene Airs as in Fields Mountains and by River-sides and Woods there is no such Tumults no stabbing of Heaven with dreadful Oathes horrid Curses and frightful Execrations no banishing of Temperance with drunken Healths and roaring Huzza's no fulsom fumes of Tobacco nor viler Steams of detestable Brothel-houses to infect the chaste Air no Plays or vain Games no Mistressing nor Revelling to spend precious time no clattering of Coaches Drums Fools Fidlers c. that make such a continual Din that a Man can hardly call his Ears his own But on the contrary all is sedate and serene still as the voice of good Spirits and quiet as the Birth of Flowers no noise to be heard but the ravishing Harmony of the Wood-Musitians and the innocent Lowings of Cows and Neighings of Horses and Bleating of the pretty Lambs or the like natural Tones wherein there is nothing of disturbance or danger because nothing of Evil but every thing praising the Creator according to the Capacity and Nature of each Here it was in these and the like places that the good Angels of the Lord appeared unto the Sons of Wisdom and taught them the true Knowledge of God and the Nature of things and shewed them what should come to pass in future times And whoever will obtain the true apprehension of God of Nature and of himself must be separated and chuse sometimes to sequester himself from the Tumults Confusions and Distractions of the publick World and Crowds of the chaffering and busling Rabble Besides all this Cities for the Reasons aforesaid are more liable to contagious Diseases And because the Nature of Infection and how it is spread and how to be avoided is very little or scarce at all understood we shall in the next place address our selves to discourse thereof CHAP. X. Of Infection or catching Diseases and how they are transferred from one to another and that all Diseases are Catching THE learned Moses whom the Lord inspired with divine and humane Wisdom commanded that none should sit on the Saddles lie on the Bed nor wear the Cloathes of the distempered which if any did they should
with the Ferocity of their Nature which prompts them to tear and hurry their Fellow-Creatures and eat their Flesh and Blood as Dogs Cats Swine Bears Lions Tigers Foxes and many others divers of which our Saviour likened Men unto because he saw that the same fierce unclean savage Nature of such Beasts did rule in them and thence the said Men were more fierce ravenous and hungry after Blood and all other Uncleanness than the very Beasts of Prey themselves so greatly mischievous is the depraved Nature of Mankind when he suffers his Will and Desires to enter into and live in the power of the Wrath of God in Nature But to eat Bread or any other Food with unwashen hands provided the Food be clean and not too much in Quantity nor of a contrary Quality is no manner of Uncleanness but a vain Superstition in the Pharisees who did love to make clean the Outside of the Cup but did not matter the Inside whereas the Work of Christ was to clean the Inward Man from every unclean Thought Desire and Inclination And when this cleansing state can be witnessed by any Man then no Meats Drinks nor other unclean thing can enter into him so as to defile him because his Desires thereunto are cut off in the Bud and utterly mortified for no Man ever did commit any Uncleanness or Intemperance but first the contrivance thereof was in the Heart nay when Men first think to commit an Uncleanness or Violence there does oft-times happen in the Heart great controversie or strugling between the divine Principle and the Wrath and which of these two does prevail and get the dominion accordingly the Man acts or forbears and sometimes it comes to pass that in this inward contest the evil Imaginations are cut off in the Bud that is when the divine Principle prevails and will not susser them to proceed into Act and attain unto a Substance but when the wrathful Nature gets the Day then every unclean Thought and Desire is accomplish'd and becomes a substantial Evil. Thus you see the grand Root and Cause of all kinds of Vertue and Vice is inward not outward each Man's Fruits manifest from what Principle they derive their Birth The external Cleanness and Vertue is only a manifestation of what Property does reign in the Soul Therefore the first step to Vertue Cleanness Sobriety and Temperance is to turn the eye of the understanding inward and there examine try what kind of Spirit rules in the Heart This Knowledge of a Man's self and to distinguish between the good and evil Principle of Nature in himself is of absolute necessity to every person for he that cannot distinguish the two Seeds viz. that of the Woman and that of the Serpent within can never be able to judge of Good or Evil Clean and the contrary without A true inward Knowledge goes before Self denial he that cannot distinguish the Properties of his own Nature cannot know what to deny himself of or what to embrace But happy is the Man that getteth Wisdom and findeth Understanding 12. We read in the Acts of the Apostles chap. 10. That the Apostle Peter had a Vision in which appeared before him all manner of Beasts Fowls and Creeping Things both clean and unclean and the Lord said unto him Arise Peter kill and eat Who answered Lord I have not at any time eaten any thing that is common and unclean And the Lord said What I have cleansed call thou not unclean Then Peter arose and said Of a Truth the Lord is no respecter of Persons neither to Jew nor Gentiles Bond nor Free but every one that feareth God and worketh Righteousness is respected and accepted of him This Vision was intended not so much to shew the lawfulness of eating clean Flesh or the contrary but to convince Peter and to take off the Scruple he had touching preaching the Gospel to the Uncireumcised or Gentiles for in the Vision was rep resented to him all kinds of Creatures as well poysonous creeping Vermin as clean and unclean Beasts which was a true Figure of the unregenerate state of Mankind and how the bestial fierce Wrath of the clean and unclean Beasts does reign in him and also that the poysonous Qualities of all sorts of creeping Creatures and Vermin have a being and rule in Men. This is a great Figure which did shew our depraved state and that the Creator did not respect one more than another but every one that would receive the Counsel of the Divine Light and through the good power and vertue thereof purge and cleanse themselves from the unclean bestial and poysonous Nature should be accepted of him and that Peter should preach the Gospel freely both to Iew and Gentile Therefore whosoever shall interpret this Text otherwise are mistaken as is apparent because as I said but now there were represented in the Sheet poysonous creeping things and Vermin never known to be eaten by any Nation or Sect but which did aptly denote the unclean state of Man and that poysonous unclean Property of all sorts of unclean Beasts and Vermin that does rule in and defile his Heart and Soul whence proceed those brutish Inclinations and Dispositions to Oppression and all kind of Evil as also Intemperances Superfluities Gluttony and the desire after unclean Food which evil Nature and venomous Contagion Iesus Christ the Cleanser and Purger of Souls came to destroy which Peter's Vision did manifest in that he was commanded to preach unto all Men the glad Tidings viz. That Christ the Redeemer was come to seek and to save that which was lost viz. the Soul of Man captivated under every inferiour bestial and unclean Power which Christ by his holy Grace and divine Power does destroy if its Counsel be obeyed for no sooner does it come to have dominion in the Heart but all those Beasts of Prey viz. Pride Revenge Ambition and Cruelty and those creeping venomous Vermin Lust Treachery c. are overcome and their Principle so weakned that in a little time they will find no place in the Soul for there is the same possibility and energy in the divine Principle in Man as there is the wrathful cruel Principle if the Will and Desires adhere unto and follow the first then that grows strong and gets the dominion and purgeth out of the Heart Violence and Oppession and destroys all Sensuality But if the Counsel of the fierce wrathful bitter Root prevail then the Man's Mind becomes a Cage of unclean Birds and is filled with Bestiality and poysonous Inclinations whereby Men come to exceed all the Savages of the Desart in Cruelty and Uncleanness and most of them that have Power live upon the spoil of others Labours and by killing and oppressing as well those of their own Kind as all other Creatures Hence because Man that was originally formed the Image of God and the Rival of Angels had now so far degenerated and depraved himself as to engross all the worst
And if we may descend to grosser Pleasures have not the meanest of Men as great content and satisfaction with his poor Russet-Coated Wife as the greatest Prince with his Gayest Bride Whence the Poets always feign LOVE the noblest of the Passions to be bred amongst the Villagers and a Companion of Rusticks and Shepherdesses Nay to go higher has not the great All Wise Creator given the most friendly Element the Air in Gavil-kind to all the Sons of Men every one enjoying an equal Portion And are not the greatest of Men subject to all the Injuries of the Elements and Necessities and Accidents of Natural Life viz. Heat Cold Hunger Thirst Diseases and even Death it self as much and as frequently and as certainly as the Poor And yet still men are so foolish and so vain as to vaunt of their Great Birth and their Noble Blood Can any thing be mote extravagantly ridiculous True it is all that are Governors Magistrates and Officers of the People ought to be honoured and respected in their Places according to their respective Dignities and so much the more if they govern according to the Law of God and Nature doing every man Justice and Right and being a Terror unto evil doers and a Praise unto them that do well But this real Honour contracted on Political Considerations of Office and Vertue is nothing to that Fantastick Glory derived meerly from Ancestors and the brave Feats done by our Great-Grandsires Grand-Fathers so much boasted of by those who please themselves in being Great rather by their Mother's Labours than their own 14. It is to be noted that most sorts of Flesh and Fish as to their operations on the Body and Senses are not so innocent brisk aery and lively as Herbs Seeds Grains Fruits and various sorts of excellent Food made of them though many of our English Belly-Gods suppose Flesh to be most mighty in its operation but they are grosly mistaken and no wonder since their Brains Wits and Understandings are through Intemperance Superfluity and Gluttony sunk into their Bellies for Flesh is of a gross substance dull and heavy in its operation fills the Body with abundance of slimy corrupt Juices bad Blood and in many Constitutions too great a quantity and causeth the Animal Spirits to be very impure whence arise Boils Scabs King's-Evils Leprosies and sometimes clotted Blood like pieces of Flesh which lie in some of the Vessels of the Stomach till being gathered into hard Lumps they sorely oppress Nature and cause Distempers which are the Death of Multitudes Flesh and Blood is too near of kin to the Animal Life in Man to be a proper Food for him 't is like the Marrying of Brothers and Sisters Therefore the Ancients were curious in forbidding especially the eating of the Flesh of any of those Beasts that would naturally eat the Flesh of their Fellow-Creatures and we need go no farther than every Man's experience to know that all such Flesh and also Fish have a rank strong fulsome Taste and affords a like Nourishment Nor has Flesh and Blood grown into great reputation from the excellency of its Taste or Nourishment but chiefly as we have elsewhere observed from the near affinity it has with the awaken'd Wrath and bestial Nature which in most men predominates Hence when once Men have tasted Flesh with the Blood the Bestial Qualities are presently irritated and so pleased that nothing else will afford them such satisfaction because of its great affinity with the Bestial and Animal Life the hunger grows so strong in many that they will eat Flesh or Fish that stinks and is half putrified if they cannot have other rather than feed upon Bread Butter Cheese or the like which is an bundred-fold beyond it both as to Taste Nourishment and Vertue The same is to be understood of all sorts of unclean Birds and Beastss of Prey As for example If a Dog chance to suck the Blood and eat the raw Flesh of any Creature it does so violently open the gate of the fierce Quality that the Hunger grows so great that he becomes ten-fold more eager revenous and fierce than before This every one almost doth know and if they consider it well shall find the very same Effects in Bodies humane as each man may feel in himself if he be a diligent observer of his own Nature If this had not been so Moses and many wise men in most Ages had never made such strict Laws against eating of Flesh without distinction and that such Flesh as was allowed to be eaten should be throughly cleansed from the Blood c. Which rendered such Flesh far wholsomer and to afford a better nourishment but not so much as our way of Killing and Dressing which in truth in most Creatures as Cows Oxen c. is next door to strangling whereby the natural Spirits are suffocated and causes the Blood and fierce wrathful Spirits to centre and lodge themselves in all parts of the Body and hinders them that they pass not so freely away where the wound is made This the Apostles understood very well We have no other Commandment to lay on you but that you abstain from Blood Fornications things offered to Idols and things strangled there being more Evil in all sorts of Flesh and Fish that is so killed than most do imagine for when there is no Wound made the animal bestial wrathful fierce original poysonous Spirits become suffocated and Death's stroke brings the whole Nature into such amazing frightful Agonies as few Men or Killers of Beasts are sensible of or endued with so much humanity to consider for if they did suffer Compassion to arise in them their leud Trade of killing would not be so easie to them I say the central Poysons being awakened by the stroke of Death and finding no Passage they seize the pure Spirits whose Habitation is the Blood and then presently the sweet Oyl or Balsamick Property turns sower strong and fulsome as is manifest every where both in Animals and Vegetables whensoever the pure spirituous parts are by any improper preparation or other Accidents wounded suffocated or evaporated then in a moment's time the sweet balsamick Property is depraved and turns eager and unwholesome Hence it is that the Flesh of those Creatures that are strangled does neither look so well nor eat so sweet nor is so healthy as other Flesh for when any Creature perceives its Life in danger there is such a strugling and horror within as none can imagine but such only as have been near dead by the like means it being the very same in a Beast as in Men. This being better understood by the Ancients than now-a-days it was therefore amongst them not lawful to kill any Creature that was to be eaten without making a Wound by which means the Blood did pass freely away and with it the fierce and wrathful Spirits and Poysons and so the Flesh was purged and freed from many sorts of Uncleanness and even this
in them and without them the fierce Wrath of God and Nature as the Blood of innocent Abel did cry awaken the Lord whence Cain's Judgment proceeded And withal we are to remember that the Offerings of such as live the in power and operation of the Spirit of Cain are not accepted of the Lord because they are tainted with the Spirit of Violence and Oppression for every Principle is moved by a sympathetical operation and therefore when Men live and act in the power of God's Love and Light in Jesus Christ the Offerings of such are most grateful and powerfully attract the sweet Influences of God and Nature but where the wrathful Principle reigns without the Love and Light of God it is a meer Devil and does attract Venom and Poyson out of every thing to the encreasing and strengthening of it self The holy Ancients have in many other places of the Scriptures deciphered and endeavoured to describe these two grand Fountains or Principles under the Allegory or Figure of two Brothers But it is to be noted that the younger always obtained the Blessing as the case of Iacob Esau and Isaac and Ishmael which doth contain many great Mysteries for Ishmael is the Son of the Bond-woman where the Forms and Properties of Nature are at strife and contention the same is said of Esau that he was a rough man and a Hunter which Names in the Radix do signifie strong men in the Wrath and Principle of the wild Nature into which most men are fallen nor doth any Religion or Form of Godliness bring profit to the Soul but that only that is void of violence and therefore the Offerings of Cain Ishmael and Esau and many others were not accepted of by the Lord for the fierce Wrath and violent Spirit did reign in them and thence their Offerings proceeded and so could not awaken or open any other Principle but only what was like and from the same Root and Centre If this were well considered so many persons would not content themselves in Religious Forms and giving God long Prayers whilst all this while their hearts are full of Envy Back-biting Contention Oppression Hurrying and Killing Men and Beasts most of them counting it their Right to domineer over the meek humble Spirit of Abel but the Blood of Abel doth cry unto the Lord for Vengeance for this is the great Law of God in Nature that there can be no Evil Violence or unjust Action done be it either to the superiour or inferiour Creatures but there must be retaliation made for the Groans of the oppressed have a natural Force and powerful Inclination to open the Gate of God's Wrath and draw down the Judgments of the Lord because all things were made by one therefore they have but one only Root and Foundation proceeding from that one Lord and Creator they all live and move in him and by his Power and Spirit and are all sustained by his divine hand of Providence which does not respect one and neglect another there being in him no variation or shadow of Change or Passion but equally distributes his Blessings to all his according to the Nature of each one having given every thing it s well being in its self and allotted thereto a certain number of days and ordained proper Food for every Creature therefore whensoever Men shall violate these Laws of God in Nature and work contrary unto them by oppressing the Creatures then the Wrath of the Creator is kindled for every Creature when it is in danger of being hurt or pursued for its Life does as naturally and powerfully cry to the Creator for help in their own natural Language as Men do and tend and fly to that Fountain of Being and Protection for their Lives are as sweet and their Desires to continue it are as strong as Man's 17. Here 't is like I shall be complained of and condemned by the wise Men of this World who count it their right in Nature as Cain did to domineer and Lord it over all Creatures who will say The Creator hath no respect or regard to the preservation or well-being of inferiour Animals but only unto Men and that his Will is that Men should destroy and live upon them and use them as they please Were they not made for that purpose and if we should not destroy them they would destroy us c. Thus they object but the Truth tells every one That there are no Creatures that will hurt or be injurious unto Mankind but only Dogs Bears Foxes and other of the like Nature who are Beasts of Prey and fierce by kind few or none of which are eaten But this Allegation I shall more particularly consider in its proper place Others more materially will urge the Authority of the holy Scriptures to prove that killing and eating of Flesh was according to the Will of God which is true in a certain Sense but from the beginning it was not so but only after Man had disobeyed the Lord his Maker and broken his pure Law and imbarked his corrupt Will and tainted Desires in the fierce Spirit of Oppression and suffered the bestial savage Nature to predominate in him over the divine Principle of God's Love and holy Light as the Scripture doth testifie Gen. 6. The Lord looked down from Heaven and behold every imagination of Man's Heart was evil altogether evil and that continually Also the Lord said The Earth is filled with violence it repenteth me that I have made Man and the Earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence for all Flesh had corrupted his way upon the Earth c Here it appears Man had with his Will and Desires entred into the violent Spirit which had corrupted the Earth and all things therein whence the desire of killing and eating of Flesh and Blood of Beasts did proceed and for this reason the Lord was so provoked to Anger that he said My Spirit shall not always strive with Man for that he is Flesh yet his days shall be an Hundred and Twenty Here the Lord shortned the Days of Mankind as David saith in another place The Wicked shall not live out half his days If Man had not thus entred into the violent Spirit of wrath the Lord had not destroyed Mankind but being thus incensed he commanded Noah to build an Ark which signifies a place of Safety Peace and Mercy and to take the clean Beasts by Sevens which is a holy Number in Nature comprehending all Mysteries but the unclean by Pairs or Two's which is a Number of Contention as being the first that separates from Unity He was likewise required to take all sorts of Food both for himself and for the Beasts but there was no mention made of Flesh and all the Creatures both clean and unclean that he took with him into the Ark he delivered out again after the wrath of God was assuaged there was no Oppression Violence nor Killing in all that time for if there
had then would the wrath have been again awakened and Noah with the Creatures would have been comprehended in the same Judgment with those without the Ark For the Ark does truly signifie the heavenly Principle of God's eternal Love in which he has established his Covenant with Mankind and all Men that safeguard their desires and wills in this holy Ark denying themselves and abandoning all kinds of Violence but taking with them all kinds of Food that do bear a Simile with this friendly Principle shall be preserved from that deluge of Wickedness and Misery wherein the rest of the World is overwhelmed Now after this Deluge the Lord did permit Man to eat Flesh but not without distinction not with the Blood for Man would not be obedient nor keep himself within the Bounds and Limits of the holy Ark of God but turned their Wills into the wild bestial Nature and so longed after the Essences and Qualities of the Beasts whence arises the desire of killing and devouring of Flesh. This the Lord did well know and also his Prophets viz. That if Man did not obey the Voice of Wisdom and abstain front eating of the Fruit that grows in the midst of the Garden viz. in his Heart which is the wrathful violent Spirit of Oppression he should die which Spirit should not have been manifested nor have had any Government in Man As for the Tree that grows in the midst of the Garden 't is called the Tree of Life but not without a great Mystery for the Centre of Life stands in the Wrath's Property or fierce Fire whence proceeds the Sensibility and knowing Part in Man and therefore he was forbidden to eat thereof that is he should not have awakened it by his Imaginations and Desires but have continued in Resignation and Self-denial and then the Evil would not have been manifested in him nor have overcome him but as it came to pass well might the Prophets call it The Tree of Death For when Man did eat of the Fruit thereof be died unto the divine Life and lived in the Power of the fiery Spirit of wrath which has corrupted all Flesh even the very Earth and all things therein 'T was after this was come to pass when Man had by his Longing and Lusts precipitated himself into the fierce Spirit and wild Nature that the Lord permitted him to kill and eat the Flesh of the Beasts but it must be understood that this License or Permission of killing or eating of Flesh proceeded from the wrath of God in Nature as the Scripture saith in another place Such as the People are such is their God For the Lord appears to every one according to what Spirit and Property they live in whether it be in his Love or his Anger If they live in the divine Principle of his eternal Love then he appears to them in the same Principle as a loving Father and the God of all Consolation And on the contrary when men introduce their Wills and Desires into the fierce wrath then the Lord appears to them in the same Spirit dreadful and Terrible As the Scripture saith in another place Unto those that fear my Name and obey my Commandments I will be merciful and gracious but to those that despise my Commandments I will be an angry jealous God and a consuming Fire Or as the Apostle saith To one a savour of Life unto Life to the other of Death unto Death Thus all shall glorifie God either in his Love or Anger and remain Monuments of his Mercy or Trophies of his Justice Thus it happened to the Men of old whom the Lord permitted to kill their fellow-Creatures and eat their Flesh their Cruelties and Oppressions soon awakened the Wrath of the Lord even as the Blood of innocent Abel did therefore the Lord said He would go down and see if it were so Which Expression of God's coming down does intimate the kindling and awakening of his Wrath in the external Element as it came to pass in the ensuing Deluge when the Element of Water was enraged from this very Property of the awakened Wrath did the permission proceed for killing and eating of Flesh as also all the Commands for Fighting and the like for if the Lord's People in former Ages had continued their Obedience and lived in his fear there had never been any cause or foundation for Wars nor Oppression for as our Saviour saith The Tempter cometh but findeth nothing in me that is he findeth no Wrath nor Violence awakened in him and therefore he could have no ground to work on nor matter to entertain him or that would suit his Principle The like is to be understood of all Men that do live in the Power of God's Love and Light for whensoever the Lord suffers any to sight or engage in War with his People the original cause thereof hath been Sin in that they have forsaken the ways of Truth and Righteousness and entred into Oppression Pride and Cruelty which awaken the evil Principle and cry for vengeance and strengthen the common Enemy of Mankind and then the Lord suffers Wrath to take place Now whereas Men say It is lawful in the sight of God to fight kill and destroy one another and oppress and kill all other Creatures 't is true if it be understood as it ought to be viz. in the sight of the Principle of his Wrath as he is a consuming Fire and a jealous God but not as he is a God of everlasting Love and Mercy in Jesus Christ for in that respect all Fighting and other Violences are as contrary to him as Light is to Larkness Therefore in the Revelations to the Souls that were under the Altar crying to God to avenge their Cause being slain for the Testimony of Jesus it is answered Rest for a season which was as much as to say Be still do not awaken the Powers of Wrath for no Man can call for Vengeance but from the Power of that Principle and therefore White Garments were given unto them that is they were more replenished with the blessed Power and Vertue of the Love of God in Jesus Christ. Some may say If we should not fight and be ready to withstand our Enemies and neighbouring Nations we should quickly be brought into subjection This is very true if Men should leave off fighting and yet live such wicked ungodly Lives as they do but if any Nation would repent of the Evil of their Ways and enter with one mind into Unity and live in the power and operation of the Love of God c. they then should have no occasion to fear or dread any outward Enemies having so perfectly subdued those within they should rest secure This the Children of Israel did often witness when they did fear the Lord and refrain from Idols that is when they did not set their Hearts and Affections upon the Creatures nor live in Wantonness c. Then their Enemies were bowed before them and the very
sight or appearance of Ten would make a Thousand fly but when they did forsake the Fear of the Lord and turned the use of natural things into wantonness they awakened the Wrath by which their Enemies got many Advantages over them and overcame them and carried them away captive The very same is now-a-days amongst us this being a certain Truth that will stand for ever against all gain-sayers and evil Men viz. That all Oppression Violence and Killing doth proceed from the seed of the Serpent the Betrayer which I wish all our Hero's and Fighters and great Martial Men would well consider and turn the Eye of their Understandings inward and search themselves then they would certainly find that it is the fierce Cain-like Spirit which reigns in them and excites them to commit such Outrages When the Soldiers asked the Lord Christ What they should do to be saved he said unto them Be contented with your Pay and do violence to no Man Which is to say They should be Soldiers no longer for all Soldiers do live in the Spirit of Violence and must kill and destroy whenever their Commanders please So likewise Christ says to Peter than whom certainly never man drew Sword in a better Quarrel Put up thy Sword those that use the Sword shall perish by the Sword my Kingdom is not of this World that is My Kingdom consists in Love Mercy Meekness Friendliness Peace and good Will unto all Men. 18. It is farther to be considered that the eating of Flesh was not permitted till after the overflowing of God's Wrath had got the dominion in Man's heart and God had tried and proved them and saw that they were stiff-necked and would not be obedient unto his Commands nor enter into the holy divine Principle of Love and Peace but would live in the Power of the lordly poysonous Nature and continually lusted after Oppression and the Ways of Egypt and for this cause the Lord suffered them to be carried away into the Land of Nod and Egypt which is a Land of Vanity Oppression and Cruelty and they suffered the fierce Wrath to domineer over them but in process of time they cried unto the Lord and he had regard unto them and raised up Moses and inspired him with divine and humane Wisdom and made him their Guide for Moses doth signifie The Strength and Power of God in his meek friendly Light and Love or A Cleanser and Purger of the People from Iniquity This great Prophet by the mighty power of the Lord wrought many wonderful Miracles amongst the Egyptians which made the Wrath to bow or give way and by a strong hand caused his People to pass through the Red Sea that is through the fierce Wrath and fiery Judgment of the Lord untouch'd and unhurt whilst the same Sea of Wrath did swallow up and comprehend the Egyptians the Men of Sin and Vanity with their Horses and Chariots that is with all their strength and deeds Then the Lord caused his People to travel forty years in the Wilderness which signifies the wild Nature which they were not to stay in Likewise these forty years are an holy mystical Number viz. the Number of Regeneration during which time the Lord works many Marvels and delivers the true Israelite from inward and outward Enemies Yet still they provoked the Lord their God to wrath by lusting after the Flesh-pots of Egypt that is the Oppression and the Cruelty for the Lord did not permit them in all their March towards Canaan to kill their Flocks or Herds nor to eat any Flesh in those forty years travel for they were not to stay or continue in the wild bestial Nature but to pass through and by degrees leave it behind them and to deny themselves all those Oppressions Vanities worldly Lusts and Passions which the Men of Egypt are subject unto that thereby they might be cleansed purified and fitted to enter into the holy Land For the chief Enemies the Children of Israel met with were their inward Lusts Passions and bestial Spirits which did mightily strive in them to get the Victory over the divine Principle of God's Love and this was the main Cause of their many Lets Stops and Hinderances and the Occasion that so many Thousands did fall in the way and never entred into the holy Land of which the Lord told them That it was a Land that flowed with Milk and Honey not with Oppression Cruelty Killing and Blood but with Milk and Honey the Emblems of Innocency and Sweetness and beautified with many excellent Virtues for the maintenance of the Life and Health of Man but because they looked back and longed after the Egyptian Vanities they did fall and could not enter into the Land of Peace As in like case the Scripture saith of David That he being a Man of Violence and Blood as having been bred up in Wars and Fighting therefore the Lord would not admit him to build the Temple Which outward Temple was a true Figure of the inward divine Temple for David had awakened the wrathful Powers of Nature within and without himself and consequently was not so fit for Temple-work wherein there must not be heard any noise of Axes or Hammers much less the clashing of Swords and ratling of Spears these are the Musick of Babel's Builders But perhaps some will say Though it cannot be proved that the Children of God did eat any Flesh in their Travel towards the Holy Land yet long before that the two Angels that were going towards Sodom to destroy it did eat Flesh I Answer This is so far from being an Objection that rightly understood it confirms and illustrates all that I have been saying for first 't is plain these Words are not to be understood literally for Angels are incorporeal therefore Flesh must needs be too crude and gross a Food for such intellectual Essences void of Matter and therefore some more hidden meaning and signification is to be understood and indeed there lies couch'd a very great Mystery in this Passage The Sodomites had by their crying Sins awakened the fierce wrathful Principle in Nature even in the outward Elements which did kindle the Indignation of the Lord and draw down the Judgment Now out of this strong power of the kindled wrath these two Angels did proceed which had in them the power of the same Principle viz. the inward and outward Wrath and therefore it was no marvel that Abraham should kill and shed Blood at their approach whose travelling towards Sodom and staying here by the way does denote the gradual kindling of the fierce Wrath and their eating Flesh under a Tree or Oak does signifie the harsh wild Nature for they entred not into Abrahams Tent that is into the divine Principle but hasted towards Sodom that was in the kindled Wrath of Nature Moreover there were Three Angels appeared unto Abraham but there went but Two towards Sodom Now I have told you that the Number Two is a Number of Division
in the Government and Operations of God's eternal Principle of Love and Light then he would have been satisfied with the Fruit of Paradise whose Originals sprung and proceeded from the Filial Property and therefore the illuminate Prophet Moses saith God placed Adam in a Garden which does intimate a separated place of Pleasure where all sorts of innocent Herbs Fruits Grains and fragrant Flowers do thrust and give forth their delicate Beauties ravishing Odours and excellent Virtues in silence there being no grutching envying or contention amongst them because of their different Scents Colours or Properties but all stand still and suffer the divine hand to do with them as he pleaseth Not but that in the most fragrant Flower and best of Herbs and Fruits there is the strong poysonous Root viz. Tree of Life for the Radix of every Creature stands in Poyson And therefore in what Creature soever these original fiery Properties are predominant all such Creatures are of a greedy ravenous fiery Nature If it be an Herb it is poysonous rank and fulsome as on the contrary all Things and Creatures in which the divine Principle does predominate the poysonous wrathful Tree of Life lies hid and unmanifested as in a curious Flower which is of various Colours and sends forth a most fragrant Scent here is no Poyson Wrath nor evil Quality manifest but as a Man may say a Paradisical and most pleasant Virtue the original Qualities are occult because the good Properties predominate But yet there would be no Vertue if there were no Vice for these original Forms are the cause of all Motion whence the Life and Light doth take Birth but if this original Fire do predominate in any thing be it what it will it presently becomes fierce and poysonous Therefore when Adam did eat of the Fruit of the Tree that grew in the midst of his Paradisical Garden that is in the very centre of his Life which central Fire he was forbidden to awaken and feed on he was forthwith turned out of the Garden of Pleasure which if he had not done then the blessed fra grant divine Fruit would have predominated and the evil Nature would not have been manifested and he had still continued in Paradise from whence he was now necessarily expelled for when the original Fire and strong Power was manifest in the Centre of Man's Life he would have proceeded farther viz into the very Centre of Nature and become a Formerand Figurer in the fierce Wrath and then there had been no hope of his Restauration therefore the Lord drove him out of Paradise and from the Tree of Life into the humane Nature whose operation is in Good and Evil by which Means the God of Wisdom Peace and Mercy has through the Feminine Tincture in the fulness of time restored again whatsoever Adam lost as to the Soul For the eternal Son of Love saith That he came to seek and to save that which was lost and proclaimed Peace and Good-Will unto all Men that is he invited them to come unto him and he would refresh and ease them of their Burthen for he saith My yoke is easie and my Burthen light and you shall find rest to your Souls And if this Voice of Wisdom were hearkned unto Men would no longer live in the wild Nature and bestial Qualities nor oppress God's Creation the Groanings thereof would no longer be heard nor would those that are travelling to the Land of Promise any more look back and hanker after the Flesh-pots of Egypt but would content themselves with the innocent food of Paradise nor would they murmur like the Israelites in the Wilderness Give us Flesh or else we die that is if they did not feed upon the Fruit of the forbidden Tree and bestial savage Nature and follow the Superfluities of the Egyptians the wrathful fiery bestial Life would die in them which they were very unwilling to part with therefore the Lord heard them in his Wrath for they had awakened it and in the same Principle he gave them Flesh which darkned the divine Principle in them and gave advantages to the Wrath that it got the victory over them therefore many Thousands of them were thereby destroyed in the Wilderness that is in the wild bestial Nature and entred not into the Holy Land for Bears Lions and the like Beasts of Prey are not admitted to enter there Without are Dogs saith the Apostle All that enter the New Ierusalem must leave behind them Pharaoh and all his Troops in the Red Sea and travel through all the degrees of the wild bestial Nature and return unto every Form and Constellation all such Inclinations and evil Dispositions as Men have received from them viz. Unto the first Form or Constellation called Saturn you must leave Covetousness Envy Suspicion and all dark evil Thoughts and Jealousies Unto the second Form called Iupiter you must leave all worshipping of Idols false Forms of Religion envious peevish Inclinations and Persecutions which are devilish Dispositions that do possess many from whence do proceed great Troubles and Discords When you come to the third Form called Mars you must with him leave all Wrath Passion Cruelty and Violence With the fourth Form called The Sun you must leave all Pride High-mindedness and Self-conceit all Inclinations tending to Ambition and Vain-glory. But at the fifth Form called Venus you must abandon all Desires after unlawful Beds all wanton Discourses and Enticements to fleshly Lusts. When you arrive at the sixth Form called Mercury put away all idle Jesting much Talking Lying Dissembling and carrying two Faces so as to appear good with the Good and bad with the Bad. And at the seventh Form called The Moon you must leave all unconstant Humors and fickle Fancies as also Gluttony and sottish swinish Living as to Superfluities either of eating or drinking All these bad Dispositions and Inclinations the Children of God and of the divine Principle must deny themselves and leave them behind in the Wilderness for they do belong unto the wild bestial Nature and thither ought to return and none that live under their Powers can enter into the Holy Land 19. It may be farther objected If Flesh had not been in some degree profitable unto the Children of Israel and if Killing were not lawful why did the Lord command Beasts to be killed for Sacrifices I answer The killing of Beasts for Sacrifice is a great Figure or Mystery which shews the depraved state of Man and how he is fallen from his primitive Integrity and Innocency for it signifies that Man by his Evils and Transgressions had so mightily awakened the Wrath and fierce fiery Power of God that it would not be satiated or appeased except there were Violence used and Blood spilt for all Sacrifices were made to atone and satisfie the enkindled Wrath which after the Gate of Violence was once opened nothing but Blood could allay for Man having awakened it by Sin nothing in the Vegetable Kingdom no Herbs
behind them a disorder'd Body and a perplexed Soul the Memory of which calls for Repentance and do ingender in the Mind Sottishness and insolency and a Forgetfulness of all Good making the Body an House of Sorrow and the Soul a Den of Thieves Intemperance never goes alone having many other Evils and perverse Companions attending her but at her first appearance doth court her Lovers with a curious painted smiling Countenance which doth allure and draw after her a great Train of young Gallants by her counterfeit Beauties but we through the good Favour of the Lord know her Snares and that she is that Woman the wise Man saith Sits in the Corners of the Streets of Man's City alluring and inviting the foolish Ones by her fading Delights and Pleasures therefore we warn our Citizens to beware of her Charms But Vertue who is our Captain though at first she do appear to us with a dismay'd Face and in modest plain Garments and neither decked with feigned Speeches nor with fading Beauties but with other most sublime and durable Riches as Temperance Cleanness Separation Self-denial which is a little austere and burthensome at first to old Adam and to those that have spent most of their days in the Intemperances and Oppressions of Egypt nevertheless a little Use Custom and Self-denial makes them most friendly both to the Body and Mind for she freeth them both from Ignorance vain Opinions Self-conceitedness and all other Snares and Troubles and crowns the Soul with eternal Felicity If our Children are gluttonous idle or disobedient to Parents our Law and Custom constrains them to make retaliation by Servitude in our publick Houses and Places provided for that purpose We do not enslave our Bodies by Labours nor put our more noble Parts on the Rack by carking Cares to maintain our Wives and Children because we observe order and count that unlawful that is not needful a little serves and supports the necessity of Nature where Superfluity is laid aside The more Children we have the richer we do esteem our selves we do not pray and wish that we may have no more Children and at the same time continue the Means neither do we hinder Conception for fear of Disgrace Trouble or that we shall have more Children than we can maintain all those things we esteem to be Sins against God and his Law in Nature We are contented and highly gratified with the most pleasant Fruits of the Gardens and desire as much as we can to imitate our first state of Innocency counting every green Herb and Seed our principal Food having a Simile with the friendly Principle in Man We fear all Inclinations after Flesh and Blood they smell of the Original Sin and of the awakened fierce Wrath of God which renders man fitter to live in a Flesh-Market and Butcher's Shambles than in a Garden there being no more affinity between Slaughter-houses Shambles Butchers-Shops and Sheep than there is between a pleasant Garden and the Fruits that grow therein and Dogs Lions Bears and the like wild Beasts of Prey We do not complain and say If we should not eat Flesh and Blood we should die as some will meaning the death of the Body this none need to fear but the main thing lies occult they are not willing to kill and destroy the Government of the violent wrathful Spirit and ravenous Nature which most Men love to practise all such things that support and keep that Spirit in motion which would quickly be weakned if Man did not supply it with its proper Food and Aliment If Violence nor Oppression did not come into the noble Tents of Men then Man would be like a pleasant Field in May where there grow various sorts of fragrant Herbs Fruits Grains and Seeds of different Forms Shapes Colours Beauties Odours and Natures but they have but one Mother whence they have and receieve Virtue Life and Power standing all in quietness and silence suffering all sorts of Winds to blow on them they complain not neither do they grutch or envy each other because they are not all alike or that one is more beautiful and fairer than another no they all thrust forth their Virtues in quietness to God's Praise and Glory even so it would be with Man if he did fear the Lord as he ought and lay aside Violence and live in Innocency then the Tempter would lose his labour 2. If any amongst us be idle gluttonous or commit any evil and will not amend his Life and become sober at the first second or third Reproof then they are committed to Houses and Places appointed for several sorts of Work and there they are put to such Labour Arts or Trades as they shall be capable of being well furnished with Meat Drink Cloathing sweet wholesome Chambers and Beds there to continue until they have made retaliation their greatest Punishment is they are confined to work double the time that is allotted for others viz. twelve hours in a day for we do not oppress our selves nor Servants with labour it being not lawful among us to work above six hours in a day which doth bountifully support us with plenty of all things where Superfluity is not there needs not much labour neither to Man nor Beast the remaining time is set apart for Prayer Meditations and Contemplations of the divine and natural Mysteries of God as Arts and Sciences and all lawful innocent Recreation We do account none capable to know the hidden Mysteries of God and the Creation but those that become even as Nature her self viz. true simple constant patient and pious no ways hurtful to any thing viz. a regenerated Man none else are fit for the search and speculation of divine Mysteries but those that are thus qualified when by an innocent pious Life we have made God our Friend then the Heavens the Earth Elements and all the Terrene and Celestial Influences are constrained to come to our help We draw Peace Love and Vertue out of all things for every Likeness doth forcibly draw proper Aliment out of all things for the increase and support of its own Body both in good and evil and for this same purpose we do often meet together for our outward occasions do not hinder us where we do speak and discourse freely like so many Children keeping nothing back or hidden whether it be good or evil but manifesting the inward secrets of our Hearts and the Mystical Operations of the various Properties of our own Nature and of the Force Power Vertue and Vice of each Quality and of their rising and continual contest amongst themselves for Mastery and also the manner and way the divine Principle of God in us doth open the seven Seals and call the Soul back out of Egypt viz. out of Discord and Inequality into Concord and Harmony We do not admit of any Discourse that is not filled with Vertue and Experience either of divine or natural Wisdom by which the low mean Capacities are rais'd by
time Our Friends Abstinence Temperance and Cleanness do continually shew us the vanity of such things and spur us on and hasten us towards the Land of Peace We do not look back for fear we should awaken the Centre the original Poisons and then our sweet Water would be in danger of being dried up as it came to pass in Lucifer and his Legions there being but nine Figures or degrees of Wisdom attainable by mortal Men the tenth Number viz. o is the highest and those that have gradually passed through the Nines must stand still in silence and leave off all numbering and suffer God's Holy Spirit to work the Will and the Deed in him as he pleaseth We have no Butchers Fowlers nor any that belong to the Trade of Killing Violence or Oppression amongst us most of them revolted and join'd themselves to Pharaoh before they came out of Egypt and were destroyed with his Troops in the Sea of Blood or Wrath and those of them that passed through the Red Sea were cut off in the Wilderness for finding their Trade very bad and low and the nearer they came to the Land of Peace the worse it grew so they began to tumult and complain and murmur against the Lord that he dealt so hardly with them Which awaken'd the Centre of Wrath and destroyed them so that none of this sort of People enter'd the holy Land that flows with Milk and Honey and not with the Blood of the humane nor bestial Nature Neither have we any Billings-gates all that sort of People are our Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water And but very few Inns of Court-Gentlemen or Templers all of them that escaped the Egyptian Plagues were destroyed with Corah Dathan and Abiram in the wild Nature of this World or Wilderness Neither have we many Churches and yet have a great number of Temples in which we worship the Lord but there be no Bells in them that are compounded of imperfect Metals therefore we have no need of those robustick Musicians viz. Ringers to call the People to worship such Musick is too Saturnine and Martial for us No every one of us hath his own Bell and none can ring or make Musick of it but himself which being skilfully handled makes a more sweet soft and pleasing Harmony than the Egyptian Bells who are loud harsh and penetrating and all the Ringers are rude cruel and inhumane Our young People do not learn to ring any Bells but their own which when well learned calls them to the Worship of God in the proper Times and Seasons even as the good Spirit of God shall teach them as the Scripture saith The holy Men of God taught and spoke as the Holy Spirit moved in them We do not admit any to be Magistrates or Governours over us but only those that by Industry Prayer and Meditation have attained to a more excellent Understanding of God Nature and Themselves than their Neighbours which doth render them fit to govern We account none capable to govern others that have not first learned in all particulars to govern themselves It is contrary to our Philosophy to mix or compound our Food with things of disagreeing natures We use no double Preparations the more simple our Food is the more agreeable it is to our Nature and best sustains our Healths It is not a Custom for our Women to give or suffer their Children to drink any kind of Beer or Syder whilst their Food is chiefly Milk there being nothing more contrary to Milk than such sharp Liquors Milk being of a sweet gentle mild friendly Nature and Operation having no manifest Quality that doth too violently predominate there being a certain Harmony between the Properties of Nature in Milk and therefore it hath always been found by Experience to be the best Food for Children and all young People administring proper Nourishment in Equality to all Parts But on the contrary all sorts of Beer Syder and other fermented Drinks are of a sowr keen or sharp Quality and for this cause being mixed with Milk it turns or separates the wheyish part from the thick the same is to be understood if Children or others drink after eating of Milk if they do not forbear a convenient time till the Stomach hath made separation and alter'd the Property of it Besides the constant drinking of such Liquors do sowre the Stomach and generate a keen or sharp Quality which is apt to turn the Milk into an hard tough substance and thereby puts Nature to great difficulty to concoct or make Separation Doth not our daily Experience shew us that all Curd of Milk is hard of Concoction and burthensome to the Stomach For this Cause many having used themselves to drink plentifully of strong Drinks and to the eating of compounded Food which have so sowr'd the Stomach and alter'd it from its simplicity that the eating of this friendly harmless Food becomes offensive to them and disagreeing especially to some particular People whose Stomachs are as it were naturally inclined to generate a sowre Matter For this cause if any shall drink immediately after eating of Milk it will cause them to puke up the thin wheyish parts whilst the hard substance remains in the Stomach which doth foul and hinder Concoction For these Reasons it is much better for all Children and young People whose Food is chiefly Milk to drink Water it being the most like Milk of any Drink of a mild gentle friendly Nature and Operation which is farther manifested by its being mixed with Milk they mix or incorporate themselves as one entire Body making no variation or separation as other Liquors will and therefore it hath been found by Experience in all Ages to be the best and most natural Drink for all People but more especially for Women and Children who are endued with tender Spirits and gentle Heats and if their Meats and Drinks have not a near Affinity both in quality and quantity to their Natures it will quickly put them out of Tune and cause them to fall into Diseases and then Nature will become unequal in her Operations Every like doth with highest diligence endeavour to beget its Simile both in the Body and Mind Water being in its own nature so clean simple and innocent that it doth not only wash and cleanse the Mouth throughly and all the Vessels of the Stomach from such gross thick Matter that doth stick and furr them but it doth distil its moist Nourishment into all parts of the Body without making any noise or causing an unequal Motion cooling and refreshing Nature strengthens Concoction thins the Blood causing it to circulate freely makes the natural parts brisk and lively For this cause those Women and Children that do constantly drink Water are not subject to so many Diseases as others whose practice is to drink strong Liquors We have but one sort of Bread which is neither coarse nor fine We never change the Fashions of our Garments nor deck them
of Stars and the various Species in the four Worlds or what doth more ravishingly declare the Greatness Goodness and eternal Wisdom of the immense Creator This is a Book we study in which the grand Charter of Nature and the Holy Mysteries of God are recorded and we think we do not err in preferring it before the endless and contentious thwarting Volumes of the Talkative Philosophers and Wrangling Schoolmen French-man I have been told and you seem to own it That you will not Kill any of the inferior Creatures nor eat their Flesh but I pray hath not Man power to do as he pleaseth with those Creatures and were not they made for that very purpose Heathen God hath made all Creatures inferior to Man who hath freedom to use and do unto them all as he pleaseth having free will to chuse either Good or Evil but he that follows the better and leaveth the worse chuseth the better part and is made God's Friend and in Amity with all the Creation for man is a likeness of all things and contains their true Natures and Properties and therefore whatever he giveth himself unto the same becomes strong in him be it Virtue or Vice For which cause our well-advised Fathers commanded us our Wives and Children to abstain from all kinds of Violence and Oppression especially to those of our own Species that thereby our Souls might be preserved from being precipitated into wrath and so retain Humanity and the more noble Faculties of our Souls unspotted as well as our Bodies rendred wholsome clean and fit to be Temples for the Divine Spirit esteeming Abstinence Cleanness and Separation to be the true paths that lead to all external and eternal bliss it being in our opinion an unfit and altogether unworthy thing that the great noble and immortal Soul of man should so much degenerate from its high and illustrious Birth as to joyn or suffer it self to be incorporated with the low and savage Nature of Beasts Nor do we think it lawful for us to heat our Veins and distemper our blood with Wine since Water more kindly quencheth our Thirst the innocent and fragrant Herbs and Fruits of our Gardens afford us ample satisfaction and we should be ashamed to make our Bodies the Graves of the Inferiour Creatures And tho our Princes are sometimes harsh and severe to us yet we pacifie them with meek submissive and humble Behaviour And since as little as possibly we can we hurt not any thing therefore nothing hurts us but we live in perfect Unity and Amity with all the numberless Inhabitants of the four Worlds doing by them as we would be done unto whereby we dis-arm their Rage and their Fury finds no place against us French-man But pray tell me how long you have led this kind of Life and whether your Sons and Daughters do follow your Religion and Example for amongst the Europeans nothing is more common than for Youth to degenerate and wander after the Multitude and abandon their Fathers Rules especially if they should be but half so singular as you are Heathen As for the Antiquity of our Course of Life I think for the greater part I may date it from the World 's Original Your own Doctors teach that Adam the first Man was placed in a Garden and that the green Herb. and Tree bearing Fruit was to be to him for Meat and do generally agree that afterwards at least during the Old World viz. to the time of the Flood which was in the Year of the World 1656. eating of Flesh was not allowed or practised and though afterwards it was practised yet 't is probable it did not obtain with all But there is reason to believe that still the better and more reserved sort did abstain For about the Year of the World 3300. near the time that your holy Records mention Ierusalem to be besieged by Nebuchadnezzar we find the famous Philosopher Pythagoras flourishing who expresly taught his Followers which by reason of his Parts and Virtues were not a few not to eat any Flesh but content themselves altogether with Vegetables and this great Man travelling for the acquest and diffusion of Knowledge into divers parts left not our India unvisited and there planted this wholsome Doctrine which ever since hath not wanted Observers derived down by a continual Succession to our Times 'T is true our Ancestors have obliged us to some things which may seem frivolous and vain as not to kill any kind of Vermin which are very offensive to the Life of Man But indeed these Prohibitions well regarded shew their more deep Wisdom and Fore-sight for they did consider that their Philosophy would not only be embraced by Wise Men but also by a great number of Fools as the most part of all Men are in one thing or other and if they should have permitted them to have killed any kind of Creatures the Foolish would have concluded they might by the same Rule as well kill others and so by degrees come to kill men as most other Nations do Besides not only our cleanly regular temperate Lives free us from many of those Vermin wherewith others are troubled but we take it for a Rule that such as would live an abstemious separated Life from Evil and Violence must refrain from some things that are lawful as well as from those that are unlawful as one of your Prophets says excellently All things are lawful but not expedient Touching our Sons and Daughters they all constantly follow our Foot-steps and it hath very rarely been known that any of them have forsaken the Percepts of their Fathers being descended from a Root of Temperance and Equality they are naturally Sober and Temperate for they use not Tippling-Houses nor spend their Patrimony in drinking Wine Gaming Debauchery and Gluttony so that the more Children we have the Richer we esteem our selves they proving no more chargeable to us than Lambs do to Sheep They all marry Wives of our own Tribe and Religion and there is no Dispute about either Portion or Joynture Their greatest Pleasure and chief Recreation is to contemplate the Heavens and their glorious Furniture the Sun Moon and Stars in their Various Motions and Configurations as also the pleasant Gardens Groves and Fountains and to free the Inhabitants thereof from the Tyranny and Bondage of men as much as in them lies And so through the whole course of our Lives abstaining from all that tendeth to Evil and promoting what we can the good of the whole Creation we endeavour to imitate the adorable Maker and Conserver of the Universe whose Off-spring we are and in whom we live and move and have our Beeing French-man You have not only gratified my Curiosity but in several things informed my Understanding And I heartily wish that your Virtue and Morality were crowned with true Christianity and our Christianity embellish'd with the real practice of your Virtue Temperance and Moderation And so bid you Farewell To shew that the recommending Abstinence from Flesh is no new Upstart Conceit I shall here add those notable Verses of the ingenious Poet Ovid written above 1600 Years ago in his Metamorphosis as I find them translated by Sandys where he brings in the famous Philosopher Pythagoras from whom the Indian Bannians derive their Doctrine thus discoursing FOrbear your selves O Mortals to Pollute With wicked Food Corn is the generous Fruit. Apples oppress their Boughs plump Grapes the Vine Thousand sweet Herbs and savoury Roots combine With beauteous Flowers of most fragrant scent Your nice and liquorish Pallates to content The prodigal Earth abounds with gentle Food Affording Conquest without Death or Blood But Beasts with Flesh their ravenous Hunger cloy And yet not all Horses in Pastures joy So Flocks and Herds But those whom Nature hath Endu'd with Cruelty and savage Wrath Wolves Bears Armenian Tygers Lyons in Hot Blood delight How horrible a Sin That Intrails bleeding Intrails should Entomb That greedy Flesh with Flesh should fat become Whilst by the Livers Death the Living Lives Of all which Earth our bounteous Mother gives Can nothing please except thy Teeth in Blood And Wounds and Stygian Fury be imbrew'd Nought satiate the wild variety Of thy rude Paunch unless another dye That good Old Age that Innocent Estate Which we the Golden call was fortunate In Herbs and Fruits her Lips with Blood undy'd Then Fowls through th' Air their Wings in safety ply'd The Hare then fearless wandred o're the Plain Nor Fish by their Credulity were slain Nor taught was Man that fawning Treachery All liv'd secure till he that did Envy What Daemon e're it was those harmless Cates And cramb'd his Guts with Flesh set ope the Gates To cruel Crimes But first these slaughtering harms A fire of Zeal at Holy Altars warms Enjoyning Sacrifices with the Blood Of Savage Beasts which made our Lives their Food Thus the Wild Boar for rooting up the Corn And leaving painful Plough-mens hopes forlorn Was thought to merit Death Vine-brouzing Goats Do next to angry Bacchus yield their Throats What harm have poor Sheep done whose Udders swell And yield of Nectar a perpetual Well Supplying Man with their soft Wooll and are Alive than Dead more profitable far Or what the Ox a Creature without Guile Inur'd to Patience and continual Toil He most ungrateful is deserving ill The gift of Corn that can Unyoke then Kill The Husband-man that Neck with Ax to wound Is too severe that plow'd his stubborn Ground So oft till'd so many Crops brought in Yet not content therewith ascribes the Sin To guiltless Gods as if the Powers on high In Death of labouring Innocence could joy Whence springs so dire an Appetite in Man To interdicted Food O Mortals can Or dare you feed on Flesh Henceforth forbear I you intreat and to my words give ear When Limbs of slaughtered Beasts become your Meat Then think and know that you your Servants Eat FINIS Numb 11. 4 18 22.