words Quis hominum cognoscit consilium Dei nam ratiocinationes mortalium sunt timidae instabiles cogitationes eorum Infestum enim corruptioni corpus aggravat animam deprimit terrena habitatio mentem plenam curis multis vix conjicimus ea quae in terra sunt quae autem in coelis sunt quis investigavit consilium tuum quis noverit nisi tu dederis sapientiam miseris sanctum Spiritum tuum è locis altissimis sie enim correctae sunt eorum quae in terris sunt semitae itaque sapientiâ fuerint salvati What man doth know the counsell of God for the reasonings of mortall men are doubtfull and unstable are their cogitations For the body being subject unto corruption doth aggravate the soul and an earthly habitation doth depresse the mind which is full of cares And we do scarcely guesse at the things which are upon the earth who is then able to find out the things which are in heaven Or who can know thy counsell unlesse thou shalt give wisdom and send thy holy Spirit from above for by that means were the waies of such men as were upon the earth corrected and amended and therefore were they saved or preserved by wisdom c. Out of which golden words I gather first That the heathen men were ignorant in the mysteries and abstruse operations of God because they wanted the true spirit of wisdom which God revealeth unto his Elect by the vertuous infusion and influxion of his holy Spirit Next that for this reason the subject of true Philosophy is not to be found in Aristotle's works but in the Book of truth and wisdom forasmuch as it is a copy of the revealed Word Thirdly that it is a great folly for Christians to seek for the truth where it is not to be found I mean in the works of the pagan Philosophers and that is made manifest forasmuch as it contradicteth altogether the verity of Scriptures and therefore it is pronounced by St. James to be terrene animal and diabolicall Verbum saepienti CHAP. XIII A conclusion of this work including an admonition unto all good Christians to beware of the Ethnick Philosophy and to stick and cleave fast unto that which is taught us by the Scriptures and that for reasons herein set down LEt it now be lawfull for me in the concluding of this Section O ye Europaeans who seem so seriously and zealously to spend your daies in the Christian Religion to turn the sharp edge of my pen and the rougher file of my speech unto you who being too too much seduced by the fals doctrin of Aristotle do think and imagine the meteors but especially lightning and thunder to be a common natural thing of little or no estimation at all as being onely produced of nature by reason of a hot distemper of the air I would request you as a true Christian ought unto his brethren to observe well and attend with diligence this admonition which I will for a Farewell bestow upon you beseeching you not to scorn or reject my precedent assertion whith hath told and sufficiently proved unto you that the lightnings and thunders yea and all other meteors are the immediate works of Gods hand being that by this endeavour of mine you may not onely bring a comfort and consolation unto your soules when you hear the terrible voice of the Lord and make you to call to mind your passed sins and iniquities and to pray him heartily to pardon you and not to call your offences unto an account in his anger but also give the honour and glory unto him who thundering from above worketh marvellously I would have you therefore to know that the worldly wise-men of this our Christian world who are as it were pages or followers of the Ethnick Philosophers have hitherto blindly or after the manner of lunatick persons erred in their imaginations forasmuch as they being instructed in the blind wisdom of this world by their Ethnick tutors and doctors will not be brought to believe that God doth work immediately all things in heaven and in earth onely by his word but mediately namely by other necessary natural or supernatural means as essential efficient causes when as the holy Text doth in plain terms instruct us that it is one the self-same essence which doth act and operate all in all by his word using each creature onely as his organ or instrument wherein and by the which he moveth and worketh his will Is not this their tenet or assertion I beseech you altogether opposite and contradictory unto the divine authority which saith Though there be that are called gods whether in heaven or in earth as there be many gods and many lords yet unto us there is but one God which is that Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him But every man hath not that knowledge c Out of which words we may gather that though we worldlings attribute this or that work unto angels or stars or winds or a created nature according unto the doctrine of the Ethnick wisdom yet such true Christian Philosophers as St. Paul was dâ—d acknowledge but one God of whom proceed all actions in this world and one Word by which onely and not by any creature in the world each thing is immediately effected in this world All which although unto reall Christians it seemeth verity and truth yet unto the Philosophers and wise men of this world this kind of doctrine issuing from the heavenly wisdom is rejected and derided And why Forsooth because as the Text doth teach us every man hath not this knowledge and the reason is because they respect more the wisdom of this world which is terrene and animal and as St. Paul saith meer foolishness before God then that which is from above namely from the Father of light Et sic evanuerunt in imaginationibus suis And so they did vanish in their imaginations I heartily wish you therefore which are brought up and made familiar in the holy Bible and nourished spiritually and guided by the law of our Lord Jesus Christ to conceive seriously and perpetually to revolve with your selves that God created the first consistence of things namely the humid and fluid waters by his word and they remain in the word and by the word in the self-same humid or moist estate as they did even unto this very day Also he framed out of this catholick water the heaven and the earth by his word as St. Peter saith Again he did produce by his said word the light in heaven the Sun the Moon the Starrs the day the night and all other creatures and did ordain them to serve for divers Organs by the which he might variously act or operate his volunty as well in heaven above as in the earth and waters beneath All which do move and work in and by the Word
was pure light but the world did not know it And Solomon Sapientia Deus fundavit coelos stabilivit terram in prudentia By wisdom God made the heavens and by his prudency he laid the foundations of the earth In conclusion the whole harmony of holy Writ which is too long for me punctually in this place to rehearse doth testifie thus much that all things of what nature or condition soever were made disposed and effected in by and through this divine vertue or emanation which is God himself forasmuch as it is the divine act whose root is the word Ex ipso saith St. Paul per ipsum in ipso sunt omnia Of him by him and in him are all things But because some of the learned of this world may reply that though it is true that God by his divine Spirit or Word did create all things yet it followeth not that he doth act immediately and exist essentially in every thing But after that this eternall Spirit of wisdom had bestowed on each creature a peculiar vertue in its creation then the creature can act of it self by a free-will which is absolutely and distinguished and divided from the immediate act of God I answer that by our founded rules in Divinity the true essence of the Deitie is individuall and therefore God doth impart no essentiall act or vertue unto any creature which can be discontinued or seperated from Himself And for this reason Christ who is the eternall spirit of wisdome is said to fill all I marry will our learned say that is vertually but not substantially or essentially I would fain know laying all such school distinctions apart of which St. Paul biddeth Timothy to beware if the vertue of God be not his essence or whether the one can be divided from the other If they reply and say that this vertue of God is no essence but an accident Verily they must needs erre in saying so being that it is most certainly known unto the very Jewes and Gentiles themselves that God hath not any accidents in him seeing that he is absolutely essentiall and reall of himself for where his divine act is there is also his vertue and where his vertue is there is he truly said to be essentiall for else the word or divine act which doth vivifie and quicken every creature should seem to be but an Accident and that divided from the divine essence which how absurd it is the immortality and root of it doth argue For David in his forsaid text sayeth spiritu ab ore ejus omnis virtus eorum from the spirit of his mouth doth issue every vertue of the heavens I imagine that there is no man of an upright sense that will esteem this vertue to be an Accident which being so then must it needs be essentiall and consequently in God and of God and therefore not divisible from his spirit But what needs more words when Scriptures do confirme this every where St. Paul sayeth in the text before mentioned Quoniam in ipso condâ—ta sunt universa in coelis et in terra tam visibilia quam invisibilia omnia in ipso et per ipsum creata sunt et omnia in ipso constant Because all things in heaven and earth are made in him as well visible as invisible all things are created in him and by him all consist in him Ergo nothing without him Again St. John saith In verbo erat vita Life was in the Word And therefore the creature is annexed unto him by a continuated tye of one and the self-same spirit of life which is in the creature without the which it cannot exist one minute And for this cause the Psalmist saith O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom thou hast made them all The earth is full of thy riches so is the wide sea and the innumerable creeping things therein both great and small Thou givest unto them and they gather it thou openest thine hand and they are filled with good things but if thou hide thy face they are troubled if thou takest away their breath they die and return unto dust Again if thou sendest out thy Spirit they are re-created and revive and thou renewest the face of the earth Whereby we see that it is the immediate act of the Spirit of wisdom that worketh these things by which God is said to vivifie all things and that by him we breathe and live and have our being And not onely we but also all other flesh whatsoever as it appeareth by the foresaid Text as also by this testimony of Job Si Deus apponens ad hominem animum suum spiritum seu flatum ejus ad se reciperet deficeret exspiraret omnis caro simul homo in câ—nerem reverteretur If God setting his heart or mind upon man should receive or draw unto himself his spirit or breath of life all flesh would die together and man would return unto dust And the Prophet Deus dat flatum populo qui est super terram spiritum calcantibus eam God giveth breath unto the people which is on the earth and a spirit unto the creatures which tread on it Now I beseech you How is it possible that this spirit of life should be present with and in all things and therefore essentially in every thing and yet it should cease to act immediately that is in persona sua when it is the most swift and mobil ' in his active nature and agility of all things as the wise man telleth us That he is present in all things it is apparent because all things do act and live in him and by him for St. Paul's Text before mentioned saith Omnia in ipso constant All consist in him And again Ipse operatur omnia in omnibus He worketh all in all And St. Peter The heavens and the earth which were of water exist by the word And Solomon Incorruptibilis Dei spiritus inest omni rei The incorruptible Spirit of God is in all things And again Spiritus disciplinae sanctus implet orbem terrarum The spirit of wisdom filleth the earth And the Prophet David Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend into heaven thou art there if I lie down in hell thou art there Let me take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea yet thither shall thine hand lead me and thy right hand hold me If I say yet the darknesse shall hide me even the night shall be light about me yea the darknesse hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darknesse and night are both alike Therefore it is his reall Spirit that filleth all things and not any accidentall vertue as is falsly imagined by some And the Prophet Isaias Coelum est sedes mea terra scabellum pedum meorum saith the Lord The heavens
Mosaicall Principles are very plain and evident unto all such as do wisely contemplate and observe the words of the most excellent Philosopher Moses in his first Chapter of Genesis For before there is made any mention of that Spagiricall separation which by the Word of God or divine Spirit Elohim was effected in the six daies work of the Creation mentioned and expressed there It is said that darknesse was upon the face of the Abysse and that Terra erat inanis vacua the Earth was without shape and form Where it appeares that the Heavens and the Earth were not as yet inacted or informed but were one deformed rude and indigested masse and consequently all were complicitly comprehended in one dark Abysse but explicitly they were as yet nothing as for example we see that a great tree with his body branches bark leaves and fruit is complicitly comprehended in a grain or kernell but explicitly it is no such thing but only somewhat in imaginatione St. Augustin compareth this Nothing unto Speech which whilst it is in the mind of the speaker is as nothing unto him that it is spoken unto that is to say somewhat in puissance and nothing in essence but when it is uttered or spoken then is that which was before complicitly in animo loquentis now explicitly apprehended by the hearer Plato compareth it in this estate of its Nullity unto a vision in a dreame which when a man awaketh proveth nothing saving a mere imagination But because this speech to wit God created all things of nothing hath pusled the minds of many understanding persons being it could not be perceived really what should be intended by this word Nihil I purpose in few words to discourse upon it and to expresse mine opinion what is meant thereby Saith the Prince of Peripateticks Ex Nihilo nihil fit A learned Sentence and infallible axiom of so learned a Personage if the sense of the word were alwaies to be construed one and the same way But I say being founded on good grounds that if there be any who either upon presumption or through ignorance are of an opinion that in these words God created all things Ex nihilo Of nothing this word Nihilum or nothing ought not to be taken or interpreted for Nihilum negativum or such a negative nothing which falleth not under the capacity or understanding of mans reason or intellect Such a kind of Nihilum or Nothing was never meant or taken for the first-matter of the Creation For it appeareth as well by the infallible sense of holy Scriptures as the sacred Light in nature that the first essence and matter of all things was from all eternity in God and with God one and the same thing and this we prove out of Scriptures after this manner Saith Moses In Principio creavit Deus coelum terram In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth In which speech this word Principium is not to be taken for a negative nothing For the Scripture telleth us in plain terms that ex ipso per ipsum in ipso sunt omnia Of him by him and in him are all things And therefore if all things proceed from God the Creatour who is the highest of Entities it followeth that it proceedeth not from a negative nothing And again Scriptures say Omnipotens Domâ—ne manus tua creavit orbem teâ—rarum saith St. Jerom or mundum according unto Tremellius ex mateteria invisa as St. Jerom interpreteth it but Tremellius hath it Ex materia informi Almighty Lord thine hand hath created the earth or world of an invisible or informed matter And therefore if of an invisible matter or substance without shape it followeth that it is not of a negative or absolute Nothing Also the Scriptures say in another place Fide intelligimus aptata esse secula verbo Dei ut ex invisibilibus visibilia fierent We understand by faith that the world was so made or adapted by the word of God that of invisible things such things as are visible were made and consequently not of an absolute or negative Nothing Moreover if God had not produced and created all things essentially out of himself but of a vain negative nothing then creation would not appertain unto God neither could it rightly be referred unto him that is to say if all things were not essentially of him nor did take their beginning from him then verily it must needs follow that all were not made by him but would have their existence from Nothing neither would they consist in him but in Nothing But it is evident that the case is otherwise for the Creation is the work of God and not the work and subject of Nothing he is the entity of all entities the life of all the living the beginning of all beginnings and the fountain of all waters of which heaven and earth were framed To conclude nothing ever came into being or had its existence from any other but onely from him and by him neither can any thing exist but onely in him And therefore we may conclude that God did beget produce make and create nothing but that which was eternally in himself which also the Apostle seemeth to verifie in these words In Christo sunt omnia condita sive visibilia sive invisibilia ipse ante omnes omnia in ipso constant angeli throni potestates dominationes per eum in eo sunt creata qui est principium In Christ are all things made and created He is before all and all as well visible as invisible consist in him The angels thrones potestates dominations were by him and in him created who is the beginning But because this is more fully discussed in the first Book of my sympatheticall and antipatheticall History I will say no more of it in this place but proceed directly unto my purpose As therefore darknesse is rightly termed potentia divina so also is light called actus divinus which the Cabalists express by Alephtenebrosum and lucidum as else-where it is declared And therefore the Scriptures aver in another place that God is omnia in omnibus God is all in all And again Christus est omnia in omnibus Christ is all in all c. I say therefore that the very same which is meant by Moses his dark abysse and terra inanis Job tearmeth umbra lethalis because it is void of form and life and for that cause he saith also Aquilonem extendit Deus supra inane vacuum suspendit terram supra nihilum God spread or extended the north upon the void or inanity and did hang the earth upon nothing Whereby also it appeareth that it was not the negative Nihil but a matter that was in potentia ad actum in the way to be inactuated being destitute neverthelesse as yet both of any form or act But Forma dat nomen esse Form doth give
aeri appendit aquas in mensura facit pluviae statuta viam fulgetro tonitruum Coelos creabat extendebat eos firmabat terram quae germinant ex ea sapientia creavit Deus terram stabilivit coelos prudentia facit ut oriatur lumen in coelis indeficiens sicut nebula tegit omnem terram Facit anni cursus constituit dispositiones stellarum fecit Arcturum Oâ—ionem Convertit in mane tenebras diem in noctem mutat vocat aquas maris effundit eas super faciem terrae Praeparavit terram in aeterno tempore replevit eam bipedâ—bus quadrupedibus ipsam effudit Deus super omnia opera ejus super omnem carnem secundum datum Ipsa denique operatur omnia Deus per ipsam operatur omnia in omnibus ipse vivificat animat omnia ut Apostolus Quare Propheta recte In sapientia omnia fecisti repleta est terra possessione tua c. Wisdom created the world of a matter without form She revealeth the foundations of the deep and discovereth the things that are hid in darknesse and light is with her She maketh the foundations appear out of darknesse and converteth the deadly shaddow into light She spreadeth forth the North upon the void or empty face of the abysse and hangeth the earth upon nothing For God made all things by the wisdom which came out of his mouth and compassed about the circuit of the heavens and walked in the profundity of the abysse She was present when he prepared the heavens when he covered by a certain law or compasse the abysse When he established the heavens or etheriall region above then was she with him as the composer of all those things She laid the foundations of the earth and fastned the heavens and broke up the Abysse and made the clouds to gather in a dew She giveth waight unto the Aire She hangeth or ballanceth the waters or clouds by measure She giveth unto the raine its laws and ordaineth a way unto the Lightning of the Thunder She created the heavens and did spread them abroad She fastned the earth and made the things which grow upon it God created the earth by her and established the heavens by his Providence and she causeth an indeficient Light to rise and appeare in the heavens and she covereth as it were with a cloud the whole earth She maketh the courses of the year and instituteth the dispositions or natures of the Stars She made the Pole-star and Orion and turned the darkness into the morning and changed the day into night She calleth the waters of the Sea and poureth them upon the face of the Earth She hath prepared the Earth from eterniâ—y and filled it with two-footed and four-footed Creatures God effused or poured her forth upon all his Works and upon all flesh in a divers measure To conclude â—â—e operateth all things as Solomon saith and therefore God by her doth operate all and in all things And again she vivifieth and animateth all things as the Apostle telleth us whereupon the Royall Prophet David doth rightly conclude in these words Oh Lord how glorious are thy works in Wisdome thou hast made them all the Earth is full of thy riches So is the wide Seas and innumerable creeping things therein both great and small Thou givest unto them and they gather it thou openest thy hand and they are filled with good things But if thou hide thy face they are troubled if thou dost take away their breath they die and return unto dust Aâ—ain if thou dost send out thy Spiâ—it they are re-created or re-vive and thou renewest the face of the Earth c. In which Speech the Prophet confirmeth that it is the Spirit of the Lord who by his presence reviveth that it createth and generateth and by his absence or vacancy mortifieth or corrupteth it And lastly by his returning or restoring of it again causeth both revivification and resurrection from the dead The which three mysticall operations of one Spirit in this world the whole Scriptures do handle at full and therefore we will conclude the last Chapter of this Book namely that which succedeth with this very Subject which shall truly correspond unto that defective treatise which Aristotle maketh of generation and corruption But before we come to speak of it we must proceed a little further in the opening of this present Principle By this therefore that is already said we may easily perceive that the Catholick Act or formall Principle with his infinity of dilatations or emanations are in the hands and volunty of the Creator who for that cause is said to operate by his Wisdome all in all as is already declared And therefore the Schoole distinction de operatione mediata immediata principali seu primaria minus principali seu secundaria with many other such like evasions forged out by the Ethnick Philosophers being necessary instruments of the Prince of this world forasmuch as they by their worldly discipline do distract even Christians themselves from Truth and Unity by a multiplicity of confused distinctions ought to be quite abolished being that the only act and Catholick agent in all things is immediatly from God and is all one in essence with God and is essentially in all things For the text saith that God hath poured out his Spirit on all his works and the incorruptible Spirit of God is in aâ—l things and the heavens and earth are full of it Again this Spirit is the most active and mobil of all things which being so what I beseech you should hinder it to work immediatly and absolutely in all things Being that it is the immediate vertue and vivifying emanation from God and consequently there can be no difference between the immediate act of God and the act of this Spirit which must needs be immediate in the creature because as it is present in it so also it is most mobil and all-sufficient in it selfe to operate Now therefore seeing it is evident that this Spirit is God and that the essence divine is indivisible it must needs follow that where it acteth immediatly there God also must act and operate immediatly and therefore all distinctions framed out after the inventions of men being laid aside these words of the Apostle and Solomon God worketh all in all doth generally hold over all and every particular and consequently we ought to acknowledg no subalternate acting or efficient cause in this world but onely one identity or divine essence and that is he who worketh all in all and vivifieth informeth and animateth immediatly all things alone without any assistance as Scripture tells us in divers places Ego IEHOVAH saith the Text faciens omnia solus nullus mecum I am IEHOVAH who work all things alone and have none to help or aid me Ego Sapientiaciâ—cumivi rotunditaâ—em coelorum sola I wisdome compassed the heaven alone c. For
nostrills the waters were gathered together thou dâ—dst blow with thy winde and the sea covered them And Job Glaciem edit Deus vento suo flante Deo concrescit gelu God doth bring forth the ice with his breath when he doth blow the frost and ice ice is ingendered Deus facit pondus vento God giveth proportion unto the aire or winde And the Prophet David Qui facit angelos ventos minâ—stros suos ignem urenâ—em Who maketh his angels winds and his ministers flames of fire And hereupon such learned personages and Doctors as are profoundly seen and dived into the mysteries of the true nature do averre that the externall of the Angels is aire or the subtle humid nature of the world and that their internall or formall portion is a hidden divine fire And for this cause St. Denis doth tearm the Angels Algamatha that is to say clear Mirrours or looking-Glasses which do receive the splendour or light of God and do represent his image And therefore the Prophet in the place above mentioned doth describe both the hidden and invisible winde and that which is fiery and doth manifestly appear in the form of lightning to be an angelicall spirit animated by the divine fire or bright emanation from God All which being rightly considered we must either confesse that the Spirit of the nostrills or mouth of IEHOVA is a hot and dry exhalation subject unto preternaturall passions and arising out of the earth which would appear too profanely uttered out of a Christian's mouth or that this member of the Peripateticall definition is most false and erroneous But this shall be discovered more plainly in my enquiry and laying open of the other members The second member of this definition doth intimate unto us that the place wherein that exhalation which is the materiall cause of the winde is ingendred and from the which it is derived is the earth but the place or seat unto the which it tendeth saith it is the middle region of the aire and the medium and space in which that moveth as well upward and downward as laterally is the lower region of the aire In the which assertion of this Ethnick Philosopher I will make plain and prove evidently that there will be found divers grosse errours and palpable absurdities But that we may the better effect our enquiry and hunt after the truth of the businesse that is to say for the exacter examinations cause it will be necessary for us to divide this member or clause into three parts in the first whereof we ought seriously to consider whether the matter of the winds be extracted out of the earth or no. In the second if that substance do onely soar up and make his way unto the concave superficies of the middle region of the aire onely In the third whether the place in which the wind moveth be onely the lower region of the aire To the former question or doubt we say That either the sacred Bible which is the fountain of truth is false or this particle of the second member must be most erroneous for saith St. John Spiritus ubi vult spirat vocem ejus audis sed nescis unde veniat aut quò vadat The wind or spirit bloweth where it will and thou hearest his voice but thou knowest not from whence it commeth or whither it goeth Which being rightly pondered by wise-men they must conclude that either Aristotle saw further into the mysteries of God and nature than the Evangelist who was a true and sincere Christian Philosopher and Theosopher and then St. John must be proved a lyar in his doctrine which were a great impiety in any Christian to imagine or else the assertion of Aristotle must clearly be found false and in all things contradictory unto the truth Aristotle saith that the matter of the winde doth move from the earth and ascendeth into the middle region of the aire and from thence is repelled downward But St. John saith that the winde moveth not constrainedly that is to say by coaction nor any accidentall compulsion but voluntarily and according unto its own pleasure and appetite for his words are Spiritus spirat ubi vult It bloweth where it will and that although the voice and noise of it be familiar unto the ears yet neverthelesse it is not known from whence it commeth or whither it will This doctrine of the Evangelist which so mainly differeth from that of Aristotle is maintained out of divers places of holy Writ for the royall Psalmist with the Prophet Jeremy saith Depromit ventos è the sauris suis He draweth forth the winds out of his treasuries But the Scriptures prove that the earth is not the seat or place of Gods treasure where it speaketh thus Aperiet tibi IEHOVAH thesaurum suum optimum coelos dando pluviam terrae suo tempore IEHOVA will open unto thee his best treasure the heavens giving rain unto the earth in his due time He doth not say the earth but the heavens so that between these two there is a great difference as between night and day Wherefore it is evident that the heaven or catholick element of air is the secret cabinet of these meteorologica Dei magnalia or meteorologick wonders Hereupon it is said in another place Januas coelorum aperuit pluens Manna c. He opened the gates of heaven raining down Manna Again it is so hard a thing for a mortall man that is not illuminated with the spirit of wisdom to find out or discover this arcane treasury of God that JEHOVAH himself speaketh unto Job though he were a just man and one that feated God much more he pointeth at the wise-man or Philosopher of this world who never was acquainted with the divine Word in this manner Pervenisti nè in the sauros nivis et in the sauros grandinis inspectionem habes Camest thou ever into the treasury of the snow or hast thou any insight into the treasury of the hail Arguing that without his Spirit had shewed or revealed his treasury it was impossible to know it And for this cause Solomon saith Corpus infectum corruptione aggravat animam vix conjicimus ea quae in terra sunt quae autem in coelis sunt quis investigavit nisi tu dederis sapientiam The body which is subject unto corruption doth aggravate and depress the soul and we scarcely conjecture or guesse at those things which are upon the earth Who hath found out or discovered the things which are in heaven unlesse thou give and bestow upon him wisdom Now Soâ—omon confesseth that he knew the force of the elements and power of the winds and consequently of their reall originall or beginning for Sapientia saith he omnium artifex me docuit Wisdom the worker of all things taught him Now Aristotles false Philosophy and his Ethnick and worldly wisdom sheweth that he never attained unto the wisdom which
suae God doth weary the thick clowds and disperseth abroad the light of his clowds for the watering of the earth Whereby it appeareth that God doth ordinarily gather together the clowds and maketh them his organicall instruments to utter his voice unto mortall men for the prospering of the annuall fruits upon the earth And therefore thus in another place Si consideraret homo extensiones densarum nubium fragores in tugurio illius exteâ—dâ—t super illud lucem suam cum his judicaturus est populum daturus cibum abunde Also in another place all this is more plainly expressed where it is said Vide arcum benedic eum qui fecit illum valde specio sus est in splendore suo gyravit coelum in circuiâ—u gloriae ejus manus Excelsi aptaverunt illum imperio suo accelerat nivem accelerat coruscationes emittere judicii sui Propterea aperti sunt thesauri evolarunt nebulae sicut aves in magnitudine sua posuit nubes confracti sunt lapides grandinis in conspectu ejus movebantur montes in voluntate sua spiravit Notus Vox tonitruum ejus reverberavit terram tempestas Aquilonis congregatio spiritus aspergit nivem c. Behold the rainbow and blesse him that made it it is wondrous beautifull in his brightnesse it did compasse the heaven in the circle of his glory the hands of him that is on high made it By his command he hastens the snow and maketh speed to send foâ—th the lightnings of his judgment Therefore are the treasurâ—es opened and the clowds fly forth like birds He placed the clowds in his greatnesse and the stones of the hail are broken In his sight the mountains did move and according to his will the south-winde hath blown and the voice of his thunder have reverberated the earth The tempest of the north and the congregation of spirits doth spread abroad or besprinkle the snow c. In this speech of the son of Syrach the Lord of lords is proved to be the sole essentiall and efficient cause of all meteors namely of the rainbow the snow the lightnings the clowds the hail the thunder the winds and tempests as also it sheweth that the matter of them is the aire Wherefore he saith in the conclusion The congregation of spirit doth spread abroad the snow Lastly it telleth us that the hands or Spirit of God are not idle in the effecting of such works as Aristotle termeth natural and therefore operateth not only primarily but also secundarily yea and catholically in and over all things as well in their generation as preservation and corruption To the last clause of his definition wherein he seemeth to aver that the lightnings move downward because the stuff of it is of a terrestriall compacted nature I answer that this reason is over weak considering the Gigantean author that alledged it for it may in the self-same manner be inferred that the Gun-powder which is of a far grosser stuff then is that of the lightnings must therefore strike downwards and yet we see by experience it riseth in spight of a mean resistance by its naturall inclination upward as we may perceive by places that are undermined and squibs which are violently carried upward I come therefore unto such true definitions of lightning and thunder as are maintained and allowed by the Book of Verity CHAP. XII How the lightning and the thunder oughtrightly to be described by the true Philosopher and that seriously according unto the tenour of holy Writ SInce therefore it hath been made manifest in the precedent Chapter that Aristotle hath utterly erred in his conceit touching as well the materiall as essentiall and formall cause of the lightnings let me gather as near as my weak capacity will give me leave what should be the true nature and originall essentiall cause of the lightnings according unto the harmonicall consent of holy Scriptures Lightning is a certain fiery aire or spirit animated by the brightness of JEHOVA and extracted out of his treasury which is the heavens or catholick aire to do and execute his will for the good or detriment of the creature Or else in this manner Lightning is a shining brightnesse proceeding out of the clowds being the pavilion of JEHOVA and is sent from the throne of God even down unto the earth covering the surface of the seas But if we would describe the lightning with all his accidents and consequently expresse the whole essence of the thunder which is a mixed nature we may effect it thus out of the testimony of the holy Bible Lightning is a fire burning from the face or presence of JEHOVA at the sight or contact of whose brightnesse the clowds do pass away and the Almighty doth thunder and utter his voice from heaven and sendeth forth his arrowes for the destruction of the wicked Or thus Lightning is a fire proceeding from JEHOVA being sent out of his dark tabernacle from above at the sight whereof the waters or clowds as being terrified and the abysse as it were troubled do haste away in which turmoil the voice of his thunder moveth circularly and the fiery or kindled coals are sent forth as arrowes sent out from a well bent bow to effect his will as well for benediction as for vengeance both in heaven and earth Or in this sort Lightning or coruscation is a clear and pure light in the clowds above the which the winde that passeth by doth purifie c. By the first of these descriptions the manifest materiall cause of the lightning is expressed to be a fiery aire the place out of which it is drawn is the treasure-house of God or the heavens Also the formall cause is expressed in that it is set down to be a fiery spirit or aire the efficient cause I said according unto the truths testimony to be the will or word of God on which dependeth that spirit of wisdom by which God operateth all things Lastly the finall cause is also noted forasmuch as it is said That it was created to do the will of him that ordained it either for the pain or pleasure of mortall men All which is evidently confirmed out of the places of Scripture mentioned before The second definition is confirmed out of the Revelation which saith Fulgura procedunt à throno Lightnings proceed from the throne Again he is said Fulgurare lumine suo desuper cardâ—nâ—sque maâ—is operire To lighten with his brightness from above and to cover with it the corners of the Sea And again prae fulgore in conspectu ejus nubes transierunt The clowds did move by reason of the Lightning and brightness which was in his sight or presence And again ignis ab ore ejus evolavit Fire flew out of his mouth And again Ab ore ejus velut taedae praeeuntes quasi halitus ejus carbones accenderent flamma â—x ore ejus prodicret From
Lightnings into rain and bringeth the wind out of his Treasury Or in this manner Thunder is the multitude of the sound of waters or the voice of the clowds being effected by the coruscations and Lightnings of the Almighty Or thus Thunder is a sound of the multitude of waters being troubled fearing and bâ—aying at the bright aspect or presence of JEHOVA In which description the materiall Organ of the voice is the clowds or waters being as it were afraid and troubled at the emission of the Lightnings whereupon they give a loud voice or sound by reason of that penetrative power which the bright and shining or fiery presence of JEHOVAH who is the worker of wonders doth effect Whereupon the royall David as is said prae fulgore in conspectu ejus nubes transierunt grando carbones ignis intonuit de coelo Dominus At the brightnesse of his presence the clowds did move or pass their way hail and coales of fire the Lord did thunder from heaven And again Viderunt te aquae Deus timuâ—runt turbatae sunt abyssi multitudo sonitus aquarum vocem dedeâ—unt nubes vix tonitrui tui in rota The waters have seen thee O God and were afraid and the abysse was troubled a multitude of the sound of the waters the clouds ecchoed forth a voice the noise of the thunders wheeled about c. Also the formall cause is explicated in that it was made by a great noise and Lightnings The efficient cause seemeth to be the Lightnings from God or rather the fiery aspect of God animating the Lightnings and directing them unto a determinated mark So that it appeareth that the Lightnings are as it were the Instruments of God in his Wrath no otherwise then a sword is the instrument of the man that striketh when we say that it is this or that man which did strike and not the sword And for this cause I say with the Apostle that as it is onely God who is the sole Actour in things So also is he the Father of the Thunders who sendeth out his Lightnings as arrows from his throne Lastly I say that the finall cause expressed in them is to accomplish the divine will of the Creator To conclude it may be defined thus Thunder is the voice speech or eloquence of the Almighty or a sound going out of the mouth of JEHOVA which is directed under the whole heavens with light dispersed over the face of the earth after the which there followeth a loud noise or rumbling or God thundereth with the voice of his excellency the which when it is heard is not found Audite saith Job cum tremore vocem seu loquelam vel eloq â—um abore ejus egrediens quod sub â—oto-coelo dirigit lucem super terminos vel oraâ— terrae Post eum rugit sonitus tonat voce excellentiae suae non investigatur cum audita fuerit vox ejus Hear with trembling he directeth the voice speech or eloquence proceeding from his mouth under the whole heavens and his light over the ends of the earth After him roareth a sound he thundereth with the voice of his excellency the which when it is heard is not found To conclude it is most apparent by this which is already said that the opinion of the Peripateticks as well Christian as Ethnick is most inconsiderate and erroneous in averring that the lightnings are hot and dry exhalations extracted out of the earth and elevated on high even unto the middle region of the aire by the attractive vertue of the Sun and that they being included into a clowd and kindled partly by the collision or knocking together of other clowds and partly by the coldness of the place do by the eruption of their flames cause the thunders I would have every wise Christian to observe duely by what hath already been said whether the mystery of a tempest and whirl-wind do consist and stand upon a thing of so small moment and poor esteem as Aristotle would make us believe or if it arise not out of a far more profound and inscrutable abysse or profundity seeing that the lightnings are reported by truth it self to be such fiery lights of God as issue or proceed from his throne and the thunders are justly termed the voice word and eloquence of JEHOVA And for this reason JEHOVA reprehending the boldness of these kind of worldly Philosophers which presume so far to censure his inscrutable actions or to dive into the depth of his mysteries touching the essentiall causes of these meteors without the warrant and assistance of Gods Spirit and falsly to make the world believe that his hidden and abstruse secrets are effected after their vain imaginations which vanish in the conclusion and become as nothing because indeed they are grounded on nothing else but foolish and self-conceited phantasies and vanities seemeth to utter unto them these speeches Auribus percipite considerate mirabilia Dei fortis Nosti cum disponat Deus de illis cum splendeat lux nubis suae Nosti-ne de libramentis densae nubis mirabilia Dei perfecti scientiis Quaenam est via qua in partes dissilit lux Cujus utero egressa est glacies Aut pruinam coeli quis genuit Quanam via itur ubi habitat lux tenebrarum ubi est locus Perceive with your ears and consider the marvellous works of the strong God Dost thou know when God disposeth of them when the light of his clowd doth shine forth Dost thou understand the marvails of God who is perfect in sciences touching the ballancing and pondering of the thick clowds Which is the way in which the lightnings do skip forth being divided into parts Out of whose womb doth the ice proceed or who hath begotten the frost of heaven Which is the way that directeth oâ— leadeth unto the habitation of lâ—ght and which is the seat of darknesse This saith JEHOVA I say the strong God in checking of the vain-glorious wise-men of this world for their presumption and especially he pointeth at the bold Peripateticks who presumptuously profess that they of themselves without the teaching of the true wisdom do know all these things And yet the wisest amongst men speaketh thus Animadverti totum opus Dei non posse hominem ass qui illud opus quod sit sub sole quam laboriose homo quaerat non tamen assecutum esse quinetiam si cogitet sapientissimus cognoscere non tamen posse assâ—qui I observed every work of God that man is not able to attain unto that work which is under the sun how laboriously soever he seeketh Yea verily if the wisest man thinketh to know it he will not be able to attain unto it By which words Solomon pointeth at the insufficiency of man in himself that is to say without the conduct of the spirit of wisdom to attain unto the knowledge of Gods mysteries which also he doth seem to intimate in these
reall and essentiall And therefore I may boldly conclude and speak unto you with other Christians in Moses his language saying Contestor hodie contra vos Coelum Terram me vitam mortem bonum malum benedictionem maledictionem praepossuisse tibi Quare elige vitam ut tu cum semine tuo vivas I call Heaven and Earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death good and evill benediction and malediction Therefore chuse life that you with your seed may live and increase in the knowledge and understanding of God being that in the true Wisdom consisteth all true Philosophy certain Science and compleat Discipline FINIS THE SECOND SECTION OF THIS TREATISE WHEREIN The reall History and fundamentall grounds of Sympathy or concupiscible Attraction and Coition and consequently of all Magneticall sorts of curing As also of Antipathy or odible expulsion and therefore of each malady or annoyance are proved by infallible reasons maintained by the assertions of the wisest Philosophers and Cabalists justified by the inviolable Testimonies of Holy Scriptures And lastly verified and confirmed by sundry Magneticall Experiments Gemina fecit Deus omnia quorum alterum contrarium est alteri nec quicquam factum est quod mancum est Syrach 42.25 Omnia duplicia unum contra unum non fecit quicquam deesse Eccles. 42. vers 25. LONDON Printed for Humphrey Moseley at the Prince's Armes in St. Paul's Church-yard 1659. The Second Section of this TREATISE The First Book The Argument of the First Book AFter that the Author had by diligent enquiry understood that all Sympathy and Antipathy did spring immediately from certain different passions of the Soul or vivifying Spirit whereof the one is Concupiscible and the other is Irascible and yet perceived them by effect to be in Creatures as well Vegetable and Minerall as Animal he was surprised with an especiall desire to find out the radicall occasion or beginning thereof And when he had well pondered and considered that eternall Unity which is the head and root of all things in its simple and absolute nature he could discern no such diversity in its essence seeing that it existeth for evermore but onely one and the same Identity For according unto holy Writ Sicut tenebrae ejus ita lux ejus As his darknesse so is his light Wherefore he gathered that a two-fold aeviall effect or principle clean opposite unto one another in condition and disposition must needs spring and arise from these two severall properties in that one entire essence namely Nolunty and Volunty whereof the first was expressed by darknesse and the other by light For when this mentall Eternity and infinite Light in whom in verity there is no darknesse wills not it reserveth it self within it self that is it reflecteth his beams into it self and so informeth nothing by his presence but leaveth the universall Abysse or Chaos which is said in this estate to dwell and exist in the divine puissance dark deformed quite void and destitute of its vivifying act or resplendent brightnesse and this his negative action is the perfect character of his Nolunty the generall effects whereof are darknesse and privation But when this abstruse unity doth send out the benigne and salutary brightnesse of its essence which is the expression of his Volunty or will into the deformed Chaos then deformity or darknesse and privation are forced to give place unto their opposite corrivalls Conformity or Light and Position which are the affirmative acts of life and essentiall existence By this object therefore of his contemplation he did gather that the act of Volunty and that of Nolunty were in one essentiall Unity which was all goodnesse and consequently that Nolunty in it is nothing else but its Volunty being that as it is one and all so also is its Volunty but one Identity in it and yet all and over all with it for thereby it acteth or worketh its pleasure both privativly and positivly as well in the heavenly vertuâ—s as the inhabitants of the earth And therefore darknesse and light are all one in this Archetypicall Unity because that all in it is good forasmuch as if is onely and absolutely good indeed in it self As for the contrary effects namely the deformed and privative darknesse of the rude chaos or undigested abysse and the informing act or positive emanation of light they indeed appear such unto the creatures and seem to produce unto this world an infinity of contrarieties which are esteemed by mortals to be either good or evill according as by effect they find them Howsoever it seemeth most apparent unto the Author that these two contrary effluxions or extensions proceeding in effect from one essentiall eternity were the principles of all things being that the dark Chaos did afford and produce out of her womb the waters which was the onely matter whereof the world and consequently the heavens and earth were made And the vivifying emanation or irraciation of the eternall light did bestow on it form shape vertue and motion All which when the Author had discovered and seriously pondered with himself his reason did clearly thereupon inform him that the world was compacted and framed of contrary stuffe for how is it possible but that opposite and discordant parents should bring forth children disagreeing in condition from their kind And yet such was the will of the Creator that these two dissonant accords should in the beginning and shaping forth of an Image like unto himself be united into one Unison or unity by the inviolable tye of his never-dying Spirit of love and concord that thereby the matter which is the substance of the dark waters might serve as a female unto the formall and masculine eradiation or illuminating spirit which issued from him and so make of that duality or confusion of unities a typicall Trinity in Unity figured after the similitude of the Archetype which being meerly spirituall was the eternall life and formall being of the world it self remaining without any beginning and for that cause the world being its image must also have a catholick life or soul by which it may act and live according unto the pattern from whence as well the form of its essence as the matter of its existence did flow and must for that reason be endued with the opposite properties of willing and nilling or Volunty and Nolunty and by consequence of amiable attraction or odible expulsion Hereupon therefore he did observe that both the internall and externall type or typicall world must needs be subject to contrary passions and alterations proceeding from the like properties namely being sometimes apt to incline unto the disposition of darknesse following therein by a naturall instinct the condition and inclination of matter or water which was the offspring of the dark Abysse or Chaos over which the divine puissance hath dominion and therefore in this condition it endueth the character
there is not any bodily substance that is viod of a soul and that the world and every part thereof doth consist of a body therefore there is an intermediate spirit betwixt this soul and body which they neither call a soul or a body but a mean substance participating of them both to reduce both extreams together into one The wiser sort of Alchymists do make the Soul a certain infinite nature or power in all things which doth procreate like things of their like for this nature doth engender all things yea and multiplieth and nourisheth or sustaineth them and they also style it the Ligament or bond of the elements since by it they are fastned together with the Symphoniacal accords of peaceable harmony although of themselves that is in regard of their matter they are dissonant Also it is termed the true virtue that mingleth and proportionateth every thing in this sublunary world allotting unto each specifick creature a convenient and well agreeing form that thereby one thing might be distinguished and made to vary from another and in conclusion the mysticall Rabbies do averre that this occult fire is that Spirit of the Lord or fiery love which when it moved upon the waters did impart unto them a certain harmonious and hidden fiery vertue without whose lovely assistance and favorable heat nothing could be generated of them or multiplied in them Thus you may discern the manifold opinions as well of Christian as Heathen Philosophers touching this Anima mundi or soul of the world which will appear to vary little or nothing at all from the tenent of Holy Scripture in sense but in words onely Neither are these their opinions so hainous or abominable as some more superstitiously zealous than truly understanding Christians of this our Age will make them if they will scan the matter wisely and with moderation for then they shall really perceive that it doth concurre with the Bible of Truth And to confirm what I now say my purpose is in the first place to expresse unto each learned and well minded Reader the harmony of the Scriptures touching this point and then I will compare every one of the foresaid opinions with the sense and grounds of the said harmony that each wise man may thereby the better conjecture and guesse at the truth of the business before he shall rashly enter into the censuring of that deep and profound mystery which concerneth the Divine action in naturall effects I told you in my precedent discourse that the Eternall Unity which is the God of gods and Beginning of beginnings did cause by a double property in one essence two divers principles to issue out of himself whereof the one was potentiall and no way as yet inacted by the brightnesse of his emanation and in that respect is termed Darkness privation Nolunty opposit to Light and a friend unto death and rest The other was actuall and nothing else but a pure catholick form and brightness which is tearmed Light Position Volunty and in nature opposit to Darknesse and a friend unto life and action or motion And then I signified unto you that by the bright appearance of Eternity or the Eternall Spirit of Wisdom which I termed with the Scriptures the radiant emanation or effluxion from the Almighty which is all one with him in essence the deformed waters were inacted and made manifest out of this dark Principle or Chaos that is reduced from Potentia Divina or the Divine Puissance without form in which they abode into Actum Divinum the Divine Act and because all the humid and passive catholick nature of which both the heavens and the earth were framed did issue from this Mass of watery matter which the Poets call Pana or the second birth of Chaos we must imagine it to be that spirituall matter of the world which was made fertill and multiplicable by reason of that hidden active and formall Light or invisible fire which this increated emanation imparted unto it immediatly before the creation of the heavens and the earth Whereupon the holy Text hath it Spiritus Domini serebatur super aquas The Spirit of the Lord moved or was carried upon the waters And as St. Aâ—gustin addeth to it igneum illis vigorem impâ—râ—ieâ—s Bestowâ—ng upon thâ—m a fiery vigor or formall and actâ—ve vertue Now as we see that Man which is called the little-world is composed of soul and body whereof the soul is his heaven or spirituall part or as we may say the superiour and higher waters and the body with the humours thereof as it were the lower waters is the earth and gâ—osser humouâ—s and each of these two are informed united and vivified by the Spirit of life which God inspired into it even so we may observe that the heaven or spirituall humid nature of the great world is animated by the eternall emanation or spirit of the supernaturall wisdom of God to give life and figure unto the world And forasmuâ—h as it is eaâ—ie to discern that the macro cosmicall heavens are of two sorts namely composed of upper spirituall waters which are called Aeâ—her or heavenly and of the lower spirituall waters which are called Aer or elementary no otherwise than in the lesser world or man the receptacle of the heavenly spirit is known to be Aer so that Physitians distinguish by reason of this difference between the vitall or aetheriall spirits and the naturall or elementary body So we ought to consider that this materiall humid spirit of the heavens in both worlds which are the subtlety of the waters are in themselves dead but in respect of the super-celestiall emanation into them which informeth and vivifieth them they live move and are thinner or thicker according unto that more or less formall grace which the all-informing Spirit doth allot them for the more the sacred Spirit of life doth abound or really act in this or that region of the universall aire the more that sphear is thin subtle active worthy and noble Doth not Scripture seem to verifie that Deus sapientia sua aptet pondus aeri appendat aquas in mensura fecerit terram in fortitudine sua preparaverit orbem in sapientia sua prudentia sua extenderit coelos appenderit aquilonem super inane suspenderit terram super nihilum In coelorum structura cum Deus stabiliret fundâ—menta terrae ipsa aderat cuncta componens And again Wisdom saith Ex ore altissimi prodii primogenita ante omnem creaturam in initio ante seculum creata sum usque ad futurum seculum non desinam habitatione sancta coram ipsum ministravi In coelis â—eci ut oriretur lumeninde ficiens sicut nebula texâ— omnem terram In altissimis habitavi thronus meus in columna nubis coeli gyrum circuivi sola profundum abyssi penetravi in fluctibus maris ambulavi in omni terra sâ—eti Feci Arcturum Orionem converti in
mane tenebras diem in noctem mutavi vocavi aquas maris effudi eas super terrae faciem Coelos den que mediante Spiritu meo ornavit Deus converti coelum in gyro in locum suum uno die omniaque numero pondâ—re meâ—sura disposuit temperavit God by his wisdom giveth proportion of weight unto the aire hangeth the waters in measure He made the earth in his strength prepared the world in his wisdome and extended the heavens by his prudency He hanged the North upon emptinesse and inâ—nity and ballanced the earth upon nothing For she was present at the building of the heavenâ— and it was â—he that did compasse and fashion out all things When God did establish the foundations of the earth she was present and composed all things And in another plaâ—e this Spirit of wisdom saith I came out of the mouth of the most high being first-born or brought forth before any creature I was created in the beginning before all ages neither shall my beeing cease in the latter age of the world and I do administer before him in his holy habitation I caused a never failing light to rise in the heavens and I covered the earth after the manner of a mist. I dwelled in the highest places and my throne was in a câ—owdy pillar I alone did compasse round about the heavens and did penetrate into the profundâ—â— of the abysse and I walked in the waves of the seas and I stood upon every earth I made the North or pole-star and Orion and I turned the darknesse into day and the day unto night I called the waters of the seas and poured them out upon the face of the earth I turned the heavens about unto his place in one daies space To conclude God adorned the heavens by my spirit and did proportionate and temper all things in number weight and measure c. By which testimonyes it is most apparent that all changes alterations actions ornaments of beauty motions numbers weights measures and consequently all diversities that are made in the generall homogeniall mass of the waters are effected by this vivifying emanation of the benigne and bright spirit of the eternall Unity whose root is the Word for in verity according unto St. Paul it is onely this Spirit that doth operate all in all And therefore I must needs conclude with the kingly Prophet and say Opera Dei mirabilia ampla sunt quae omnia fecisti in sapientia The works of God are marvellous and ample which thou hast effected in thy wisdom And again Verbo Domini firmati sunt coeli Spiritu oris ejus omnis virtus eorum By the word of the Lord the heavens were fashioned and fastned and by the Spirit of his mouth each vertue thereof Which words do seem to infer not onely the materiall substance of the world which is intimated by that word Heavens but also the inacting form that is the vivifying beginning of all things which hath no beginning and this is signified by the Word and his off-spring the Spirit from the which the waters first received their beeing and then of these catholick waters were the heavens the earth and elements made in number weight and measure that is to say were effected by a subdivision through the spagerick act of the self-same word or spirit And therefore St. Peter hath it Coeli erunt priùs terra de aquis per aquas consistentes verbo Dei The heavens and the earth were of old of waters and by waters consisting by the word of God As who should say after the Spirit of the Lord had issued out of the dark abyss for it is said Verbum erat in principio The Word was in the beginning and had given act and form and consequently a name unto the waters for it was said that the Spirit of the Lord was carried upon the waters the same Spirit did operate to reveal explicitely and particularly that which the Chaos did at the first contain in it self complicitely and confusedly and that in a generality wherefore when it had revealed the universall matter of all things which was water it did by little and little anatomise it and open the secret closets thereof to shew forth and make manifest that which from all eternity lay hid in it and was without form or beeing and therefore esteemed rightly for Nothing And first the substance of the world was made of it in generall as it appeareth by this Text Manus omnipotentis mundunt ex informi materia effecit The hand of the Omnipotent did make the world of a matter without form or shape And as St. Jerom interpreteth it Ex materia invisa Of an unseen or invisible thing Then that watry and humid substance was divided into the heaven and earth in distinguishing the waters from the waters by the same Spirit which is the ministring hand of the Almighty for the Text hath it In habitatione sancta coram ipso ministravi I did administer before him in the holy habitacle And again Sapientia apud ipsum fuit cuncta componens Wisdom was she that composed all things with God And this was the second daies work Then the lower waters were divided into elements namely earth water aire c. and that was the third daies separation as Moses doth methodically demonstrate All which Hermes expresseth thus as is said before Ex luminis voce verbum factum prodit verum hoc naturae humidae astans eam fovebat Ex humidae autem naturae visceribus sincerus ac levis ignis protenus evolans alta petit aer quoque levis spiritûs parens in mediam regionem inter aquam ignem sortiebatur terra verò aqua sic invicem commixta jacebant ut terrae facies obruta nusquam pateret The word which was made did issue out of the Light 's voice and this Word being present and assistant unto the humid nature did foster and preserve it Then the light fire proceeding out of the bowells of the humid nature soared or mounted aloft The thin air aâ—sâ— which is the father of the spirit did elect the middle region which is between the fire and the water for his abode The earth and water did lie so intermingled together that the face of the earth was no where overflowed or drowned by the waters Whereby it is evidently proved that this thin spirituall water or humid nature in it self is no more than mans spirit without the vivifying act of life for as in the soul of every creature that liveth there are two things chiefly to be required namely an Agent and a Patient so where the one of these are wanting there can be no created soul for if that the world's life was onely the essentiall breath of God without the vehicle of the created humid spirit which is the matter of heaven then that life would be simple identity and of one and the same property
excellently-bright throne of Eternity All this in effect we may collect from the Fathers of the Church for St. Dionys. saith That an Angell is the image of God and the shining forth of his hidden light a mirrour pure and most bright without spot without wemm and withâ—ut defiling And for this cause he calleth the Angels Algamatha that is mâ—st clear Mirrâ—rs receâ—ving the light of God arguing theâ—eby that they are the images of the catholick Emanation from whence they spring For Scriptures say that the Spirit of wisdom is the brighâ—nesse of the eternall light a glasse or mâ—rroâ— of the maâ—esty of God wâ—thout â—pot and the image of his Goodnesse And Bartholâ—mâ—w saith That an Angell taketh his hidden light from God by influence and sendeth it forth unto those Angells whiâ—h are of a lower order or condition And Austin and Damascens say that Angeâ—ls are intellectuall lights receiving their light from the first light Again Baâ—tholâ—mâ—w saith that they are called Gold by reason of the beams which they send forth Also they are called Fiery Rivers by reason of the bright influences which they receive and send forth to those of a lower region Also St. Dennis saith that the higher Ordeâ—s receive most plentiously the light of God which afterward they impart by influence unto such Spirits as are lower And this Law is observed in the Oâ—der of Angels namely that some be the first and some the second and some the last For this cause therefore the SERAPHINS are Angels so called because they are said to burn and be set on fire by reason of their immediate presence befâ—re the face of God But letting all these testimonies passe we are instructed by many places of Scripture that Angels are bright â—â—ning lights that they are above in the third heaven attending on the Throne that there are seven which are Presidents in heaven as there are seven Candlesticks which import the seven Planets and that there is one great Angeâ— that is head or master over them all which held the seven stars in his hand And that there are four Angels which have dominion over the four winds who have power to hurt the earth and the seas And that they are commanded and over-ruled by one great Angel who beareth the soveraâ—gn seal of preservation And that there is a Prince of daâ—knesse who is that great opposite spirit which hath dominion in the aire And that there are as well deadly as hurtfull Principalities Potestates and Governours in this world which are adverse unto Gods creatures as good Angels or Angels of light which are friends unto them To conclude the multiplicable fruit or seeds we compare unto the stars of heaven and the leaves unto the creatures below which have their natures and mutations from those internall or spirituall organicall agents So that we may see that Eternity giveth life unto eviality and eviality unto tempâ—rality And as we see that in the eternall world the First Person addeth a beeing unto the Second and the Third proceedeth from them both so the aeviall or Emperiall Angells poure down the influences of life into the Olympicall or heavenly ones and the Olympicall or starry spirits do send them down on the Elementary In the same manner the Emperiall Spirits are the soul or life unto the Starry or Aetheriall heaven which animateth by his influences the Elementary and the earth is animated by them all Thus therefore we see that God operateth by his divine organs variously all in all which being well understood in the first place we may boldly conclude that also all the peculiar angelicall lights do proceed from one and the self-same catholick Emanation aâ—d consequently we find that the diversity and opposition of their natures proceed from the multiplicity of properties which is in that generall emanation proceeding from the throne oâ— God or Unity before all beginnings And this is the reason that this eternall creating Spirit of wisdom is tearmed by Solomon Unicus multâ—plex One and manifold One I say in regard of his essence and manifold in regard of the multiplicity of its properties by which it worketh variously and sometimes by opposition in the world But all this is excellently expressed by the learned Cabalisticall Rabbies in the description of their Numericall or Sephiroticall Tree You must therefore understand that as the mysticall Theologians did observe but ten speciall names or attributes which were ascribed unto God in the Hebrew Bible a proprietate so they did perceive that each of these did import a diverse operation to be effected so that the Hebrewes did call upon this or that Name of God mentioned in the holy Text according unto the nature of the severall necessity they had of Gods assistance And though they collected by the word of God that as the Divinity or Godhead is but one internall immutable essence and therefore hath but one onely essentiall title to be expressed by namely Tetragrammaton or Jehova which is his unseparable name forasmuch as it is appropriated unto him onely for it includeth as Rabbi Moses the Aegyptian hath it and argueth by a pure signification the substance of the Creator without any respect or participation that it hath unto the creature yet neverthelesse they found that the other names ascribed unto him in Scripture do note or signify God as he participateth with his creatures or as he hath relation unto things that are created and consequently are known by the effect of his works As touching his essentiall name it was had amongst the Hebrewes or Jewes in that high esteem and reverence that it was never uttered but in the Sanctuary and that by such Priests as were consecrated and made holy onely unto the Lord and then it was pronounced in that Benediction which the High Priest uttered in the day of fasting For this reason that name was had in that honourable regard that it was never rashly spoken or uttered because as the said Rabbi Moses saith denotat Deum esse fuisse super omnem essentiam quatenus antequam ullares esset existeret Iâ— importeth that God is and was above any essence forasmuch as he did exist before that any thing was existent in the world And this was that pretious Name of God which Moses was so desirous of him to hear and know when he received from him this answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hoc est nomen meum in aeternum IEHOVA is my everlasting name Which name is so pure and simple that it cannot be articulated or compounded or truly expressed by mans voice As for the other denominations appropriated unto God they do not expresse him according unto his Essence but onely in respect of his works as is said namely as he appeareth all in all and existeth in all things We must understand therefore for our better instruction that seeing the Divine Nature is and operateth in all created things as also without them for he is the
essentiall perfect and only reall one forasmuch as it is from the father of lights acccording unto the Tenent of the forementioned Apostle and divine philosopher Now we proceed to shew you briefly what this wisdome is and how it was produced and that according unto the mind of the wise Solomon Sapientia saith he est vapor virtutis Dei emanaâ—io quaedam claritatis omnipotentis dei sincera et candor lucis aeternae et speculum sine macula Dei maâ—estatis et imago bonitatis illius Wisdome is the vapor of the vertue of God and a certaine sincere emanation of the brightness of the omnipotent God and the beauty of the eternall light and the immaculated or unspotted mirror of the majesty of God and the image of his goodness And the Apostle Christ is the brightness of the glory and the ingraved forme of his person which beareth up all things by his mighty word Whereby it is an easie thing for wisemen to discern what a main difference there is between the false Ethnick and mundane wisdome which is terrene and that true and essentiall one which is from above and hath his originall from the Father of light forasmuch as the fountain thereof is the Word or voice of the Lord. Sapientiae fons saith the Text verbum Dei in excelsis ingressus illius mandata aeterna The fountain or beginning of wisdom is the word of God from above and her entrance the eternall Commandements Having then expressed unto you what this onely true wisdom is I will endeavour to open and discover also her catholick vertues in the which she acteth and operateth as well in generall as in particular over all the world Nay verily what can she not do and effect when she is all in all and operateth all in everything as the Apostle teacheth us For this reason also is Christ the true wisdom said in the forementioned Text to sustain and bear up all things by the word of his vertue This omnipotent power of hers in and over all things in this world is most excellently explained and set down thus by the divine Philosopher Paul Christus est imago Dei invisibilis prâ—mogenitus omnis creaturae quoniam in ipso condita sunt universa in coelis terra visibilia invisibilia sive thront sive dominationes sive principatus sive potestates omnia per ipsum in ipso creat a sunt ipse est ante omnes omnia in ipso constant Christ is the image of the invisible God the first begotten of every creature because that in him all things visible and invisible in the heavens and in the earth were made whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or potestates all were created by him and in him and he is before all creatures and all things consist in him This may seem very strange doctrine unto such Academick persons as are too confident in the Ethnick Philosophy forasmuch as it doth acknowledge no such wisdom from above no such a Christ or sacred Word which was the Creator of heaven and earth and who made the Angelicall Intelligences and in whom and by whom all things were and do yet exist But it telleth us of subalternat efficient natures namely of Intelligences of Stars of Elements and such like things which operate or effect of themselves all things above and beneath and will have the world to be eternall and without all beginning when contrariwise this true Philosophy telleth us that God created all things in and by his word and wisdom that he operateth all in all and that he is all and in all For the plain words of the precedent Text is Omnia in ipso constant All consist in him But to the purpose The foresaid Text seemeth to confirm this of the wise Solomon Sapientiam possidebat in principio viae suae ante opera sua ante ullum tempus ante seculum cum nullae essent abyssi edita erat ipsa cum nulli essent fontes abundantes aquis ante montes fundati essent cum nondum fecerat terram cum aptaret coelos ibi erat cum slatueret ambitum in superficie abyssi cum fortificaret superiores nubes superne quando roborabat fontes abyssi quando ponebat mari statutum suum cum statueret fundamenta terrae erat sapientia apud ipsum cuncta componens Jehovah did possesse wisdom in the beginning of his waies before any of his works and before there was any time before the world was made she was brought forth before there was any abysse and before there was any fountains that did abound with water before the mountains had their foundations when as yet he had made no earth When he did adapt and make fit the heavens she was there when he did ordain a compasse or appoint margins for the surface of the abysse When he did fortifie the highest clouds above when he did corroborate the fountains of the deep when he did set bounds unto the sea when he did establish the foundations of the earth then was wisdom with him composing or making all things Whereby he argueth first the antiquity of the eternall wisdom and then he proveth that she was the composer and maker of Heaven and Earth and consequently of every thing as well invisible as visible therein And this agreeth in all things with that of our sacred and essentiall Philosopher Moses where he acknowledgeth first an abysse without form then that the informed matter of the abysse was by the presence of Gods emanating Spirit universally informed and called waters Then how by the acting of the divine or essential voice or word Fiat which was uttered by the mouth of the Omnipotent the light or created form was produced in the waters and afterwards by the will of the Creator the word was pronounced the second time and the waters above were divided from the waters beneath by the firmament and so the heavens were made by the second fiat as by the third the division of the lower waters into elements was effected by the assistance of this one and the self-same word or the Spagerick operation of this divine and catholick Spirit Elohim but in a various property Doth not David in few words affirm so much saying Verbo Domini firmati sunt coeli Spiritu ab ore ejus omnis virtus eorum By the word of the Lord the heavens were made and by the spirit of his mouth each vertue thereof Again In sapientia omnia secisti Thou hast created all things in wisdom And St. Peter Coeli erant prius terra de aqua per aquam existentes verbo Dei The heavens were first and the earth of water and by water consisting by the word of God And doth not St. John say By it all things were made and without it nothing was made The world was fashioned by this word or essentiall spirit which
are my seat and the earth my foot stool And Jeremy Coelum terram nunquid impleo Do not I fill the heaven and the earth Now that you may know more particularly how this is done hearken unto David In sapientia saith he omnia fecisti repleta est terra possessione tua Thou madest all things in wisdom and the earth is full of thy possession or riches he meaneth with his Spirit which replenisheth inacteth and informeth all things And therefore saith the son of Syrach Sapientiam effudit Deus super omnia opera sua super omnem carnem secundum datum suum God powred out his wisdom upon all his creatures and upon all flesh according unto the measure that he bestoweth it That is to say The Spirit of wisdom is more or lesse in all things according as it pleased God to impart it unto this or that creature And for this reason Solomon in another place Sapientia operatur omnia Wisdom worketh or acteth all things Which agreeth with this Text of the Apostle Deus operatur omnia in omnibus Why should we not infer then that this spirit is essentially and presentially in every thing To conclude therefore this general discourse of the true Philosophy Moses teacheth us that after the foundation of the Heavens and Elements every creature that was framed or composed of them and lived and moved in them did exist and was preserved by the self-same spirit namely the Sun Moon and other Starrs in heaven the seeds trees herbs and such like vegetables and the creeping and four-footed beasts of the earth and fishes of the seas And lastly Man was created by one and the self-same spirit but God imparted unto him a greater proportion of his Spirit that thereby he might excell in perfection all other creatures It were too infinite to expresse and set down the main scope of this businesse in writing as Scriptures do at large recite it for look into the works of Moses the books of Joshua and Judges the history of Kings or Chronicles the reports of Job the Psalms of David the Proverbs Ecclesiastes Cantiques and Wisdom of Solomon the monuments of the Prophets the subject of Ecclesiasticus and Maccabees and lastly the relations or stories of Christ and his Apostles and we shall find that this sacred wisdom with her essentiall vertues and acts in the vast cavity of this world both above and beneath is the ground and firm foundation of all their doctrine and science as well concerning naturall as supernaturall businesses or rather touching the acts of God in his naturall Tabernacles or watry and humid mantles which he assumeth or putteth off at his pleasure as Scriptures do testifie And yet I would have no man so far to mistake me as not to think that as God is not excluded from the creatures so he is not included by any of them I will now descend unto particularities and shew you how this eternall wisdom is the fountain or corner-stone first of the higher Arts namely of Theology Physick or the art of Curing Astronomy Musick Arithmetick Geometry Rhetorick and after that how the Meteoro-logicall Science onely dependeth on his act then how true Morall learning and Politick government is derived from the instructions and directions of this onely wise Spirit And lastly how all mysticall and miraculous Arts and discoveries are effected and brought to light by it confirming that place in Scripture where it is said Caeterae sunt ancillae hujus All sciences are but the handmaids unto this wisdom Of each of these therefore in order CHAP. III. In this Chapter it is proved that the true Sophia or wisdom is the ground of all Arts and therefore it being revealed or discovered unto man he may be taught and instructed by it as by the onely wise and essentiall School-mistress in all science and knowledge IN Christo saith the Apostle sunt omnes the sauri sapientiae scientiae absconditi All the treasures of wisdom and science are hid in Christ. And Solomon Sapientiam dat Dominus ex ore ejus prudentia scientia The Lord giveth wisdom and from his mouth is prudency and knowledge And Ecclesiasticus Thesaurabit super virum scientiam intellectum justitiae Wisdom will treasure up in man science and the understanding of justice And again Ego doctrinam quasi prophetiam effundam relinquam illam quaerentibus sapientiam I will powre forth doctrine or learning as prophesie and I will leav it upon such as seek wisdom And the incarnated Word or Christ Jesus said Spiritus sanctus vos docebit omnia The holy Spirit will teach you all things And again Cum venerit ille Spiritus veritatis docebit vos omnem veritatem When that Spirit of truth shall come it will teach you all truth Esdras tasted of that materiall wisdom in the form of a fiery drink and he was so full of sapience that he indited books of science and wisdom for the space of forty daies together which his Scribes did register as he uttered it by word of mouth And Solomon saith Sapientiam optavi data est mihi invocavi venit in me spiritus sapientis I wished for wisdom and understanding was given me I invocated and the spirit of wisdom came into me But lest the captious of this world should say that these words of Solomon were meant in another sense than in the conceiving of such sciences as are comprehended under Philosophy called Naturall I wish them for their better direction to listen unto Solomon who doth in this case sufficiently interpret himself and that to the simplest mans capacity in this sense Spiritus sapientis mihi datus est ut cognoscerem constitutionem mundi vim elementorum principium finem mediumque temporum solstitiorum mutationes varietates temporum seu tempestaium anni circuitus stellarum situs naturas animantium animos seu iras bestiarum ventorum seu spirituum vim cogitationes hominum differentias plantarum radicum facultates etiam cognovi quaecunque sunt occulta manifesta omnium enim artifex me docuit Sapientia By the spirit of wisdom I came to know certainly how the world was made and the power of the elements and the beginning end and middle of times the changing of the Solstices the variety of times and tempests the compasse or revolution of the year the scituation of the Starrs the natures of living creatures the dispositions and angry conditions of beasts the strength of the winds or spirits the cogitations of men the differences of plants and the faculties of roots Also I knew both what was hid and manifest for wisdom the work-mistresse of all things did teach me Out of which words we gather that by the revelation of this divine spirit he attained to the knowledge of all things For since wisdom is the center root or corner-stone of all things how should
which are extant For this reason also Renclin speaketh of the beginning by the mouth of the mysticall and learned Rabbies in these words It is written in the book of â—ahir Nihil est principium nisi sapientia haec est infinitudo ipsa trium summarum cabalisticae arboris numerationum quas vos tres in divinis personas appellare consuevistis quae est absolutissima essentia quae cum sit in abysso tenebrarum retracta immanens ociosaque vel ut aiunt ad nihil respiciens idcirco dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est Nihil sive non ens ac non finis quia nos tam tenui erga res divinas ingenii paupertate mulctati de iis quae non apparent haud secus atque de iis quae non sunt judicamus At ubi se ita ostenderit ut sit aliquid reverá subsistat tum Aleph tenebrosum in Aleph lucidum convertitur scriptum enim est Sicut tenebrae ejus ita lux ejus Nothing is the beginning but wisdome or sapience and it is the infinity of the three highest numerations of the Cabalisticall tree which yee are accustomed to call the three persons in divinity the which is an absolute essence which whilest it is retracted in the abysse of darkness and resteth still and quiet or as they say having respect unto nothing is for that cause termed of the Hebrewes Ain that is to say Nihiâ— or nothing or no entity Because that we being affected with extreame shallowness or poverty of wit and capacity in the conception or apprehension of divine things do judge of those things which do not appeare as we are accustomed to do of such things as are not at all But when it hath shewed forth it selfe to be somewhat indeed and that it doth really in human apprehension exist somewhat then is dark Aleph converted into light Aleph for it is written As his darknesse such is his light or the expresse words of the Prophet are Tenebrae sunt ei sicut ipsa lux darknesse is unto him as Light Whereby it is Evident that though darknesse or invisibility do appear unto our sense to be nothing in regard of that which is made manifest in light yet in verity all are reall and essentiall before God and therefore that nothing or deformity in regard of our weak capacity out of which the waters which is the materiall principle of all things were originally extracted seem unto him in whose divine puissance they remain a materiall existence For as much as nothing is in God but what is essentiall reality or a something in being but of him by him and in him are all things as we are taught by holy-Text wherefore as well the dark matrix or womb of the waters as the watry infant or humid nature which sprung out of the belly of the gloomy abysse or Chaos were really in God before they appeared to sight that is to say they remained in the Almighties puissance or volunty and were to be disposed of by him as he pleased no otherwise then the number of things to be builded was first in the mind of the builder But that this is so namely that the world was framed and made of such a matter which was said therefore to be without forme because it was invisible we find it proved and maintained by this Authority of Scripture before mentioned which Tremellius interpreteth thus Omnipotens manus tua creavâ—t mundum ex informi materia which Jerome translateth ex invisa materia ô Omnipotent thy hand hath Created the world of a matter without forme or as Jerome speaketh of an invisible matter Now that this generall matter was waters which the presence of the all-informing spirit of the Lord did vigorate and inact in a generality and termed them by the name Shamaim and that the waters were the first materiall principle of which the world was made no otherwise then out of a rude masse of Clay a great pallace is fashioned or framed the Text of Moses doth seem evidently to confirme first for that it doth mention the waters on which the spirit of the Lord was carried and that immediatly after he had nominated the confused Chaos under the Title of the dark abysse and Terra inanis vacua or the void and deformed earth and that immediatly before the first day's seperation Whereby it is plainly argued that waters were the materiall principle being created or inacted by the spirit of the Lord or Elohim Ruach Forasmuch as they were nominated before the first dayes work Secondly that it was the said eternall wisdome or spirit Elohim who acting as it were the part of a mid-wife did deliver and bring forth this birth and gave it act and form Again we may learn out of the same Chapter of Moses that the waters were the Subject of that separation which was effected by the Spagirick or fiery-vertue of the said Spirit or divine word Thirdly that the heavens above were made of the purer brighter and more worthy waters and the Elementary world beneath of the grosser darker and viler sort of waters and that there was a midle kind of them which participating of both extreames was termed the firmament whose main office was to devide and seperate the water from the waters Then out of the lower waters by the same word or spirit were the Elements proportioned and placed their severall regions namely the Aire the Seas and the dry Land So that we see how the spirit of the Lord did fabrick the whole world and every member thereof out of this humid spirit or aquatick nature which also is most plainly verified by this Text of the Apostle Peter Coeli saith he erant prius et terra de aqua et per aquam existens verbo Dei The heavens were First and the earth of waters and by waters existing in and by the word of God But the world is composed only of heaven and earth and therefore it followeth that the whole world is made and existeth of the waters and by the waters consisting by the word of God Now therefore since the Starrs of heaven are esteemed nothing else but the thicker portion of their Orbes and again every Creature which is below is said to be compacted of the Elements it must also follow that both the Starrs in the higher heaven and the compound-Creatures beneath in the Elementary world be they meteorologicall or of a more perfect mixtion namely Animal vegetable or minerall must in respect of their materiall part or existence proceed from waters the which as they were brought unto light by the divine word So also do they eternally consist and are in their being sustained in and by the same Spirit as shall be plainly manifested unto you in this Chapter following Thus therefore I have sufficiently expressed unto you and evidently proved by holy Authority that the originall Catholick matter of all things was Water
of holy conversation the title of Sainct which is attributed unto him doth confirm and argue Besides all this that he had by many degrees a deeper insight into the mystery of the Bible and a profounder reach into the nature of the divine wisdom then any Interpretour of the Bible which ever was and much more then those of later daies John Reucline in his third Book of the Cabalistcall Art seemeth to verify in these words Cum Hieronymias librum Jetzira multum saepe nocturna versaret manu atque diurna venisse ad eum filia vocis dicitur qua juberet illum tribus annis volumini eidem insudare c. Quo facto se ab ipso Deo virtutes potestates Alphabetorum et Elementariarum commutationum asserebat reperisse Nam dispositionem conjugationis de libro creationis ante noverat Inde ad posteros Alphabeticaria haec cabula id est receptio transmigravit per quam Arcana divinorum maxima panduntur When Jerom had often turned over the Book of Jetzira or of the Creation with a nocturnall and diurnall hand It is reported that the daughter of the voice came unto him which commanded him to take paines in the said Volume for three years space which when he had effected he said that he was taught by God the vertues and powers of the Alphabets and Elementary commutations For he had known the disposition of the conjugation out of the book of Creation before And hereupon did this Alphabetary caball or reception spring by the which he did bewray or disclose the great mystery of divine things c. Which if he meant of this Jerom as by many of the learned it is imagined you will not deny but he was deeply seen in the profound and arcane meaning of the Scriptures and therefore he was a man who should not lightly be so deceived or deluded in his Interpretation Again no man can deny but that the Pope and whole Christian Clergy did assist him in this business with all the antique books or manuscripts which might direct him into the true way or sense of interpretation so that he wanted not the consent of antique Authority but could discern between the true and corrupt Text in his interpretation and therefore that we may neither accuse the later interpreters for their exposition nor derogate from St. Jerom's labours which deserve an everlasting monument we must rather impute the errour unto the corruption or alteration of the Hebrew Text being that the whole harmony of the Scriptures and main subject of the Psalm in which it is recited do tend and incline rather unto the construction of St. Jerom as I will particularly prove and expresse unto you by these Arguments following Whereof the first is taken from the main Subject of the Chapter wherein these words Posuit tabernaculum suum in sole are mentioned as also from other Testimonies of holy Scriptures Next from the mysticall and cabalisticall exposition of the Hebrew word of the Sun Then from the resolution of the ancient Theologians with other circumstances belonging unto them Fourthly from an Astonomicall observation and the dignity and excellency of the solar creature Fifthly from an Arithmeticall consideration Sixtly from the point and circle in Geometry Seventhly from the consonant of the greatest perfection in Musick or harmony Eighthly from a Physicall or naturall regard And lastly by the asseverations of the wisest and divinest Philosophers which accord exactly with the Symphony of Scriptures Of each of those therefore in their order As for the first Argument it is evident that the main Subject of this Psalm doth touch the revelation of Divinity or God in his celestiall creatures and therefore it must as well be in this Psalm intended that the divine Spirit doth plentifully and that essentially inhabit this illustrious palace of the heavenly Sun as there it is related that the heavens are full of his presence But the same Psalm beginneth thus The heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament the works of his hands c. Where he expresseth that the glory of the Creator which is in the creature doth reveal the Creator in the creature but where the glory is present the essence is not absent And thereupon it followeth justly that this Creator which hath filled the Sun of Heaven with his glory and beauteous influence of essentiall vertue and light hath revealed himself unto all the world out of his Sunny tabernacle egregiously and perspicuously as by the Physicall and naturall effects it shall be declared hereafter in the eighth rank Again the Son of Syrach confirms this more plainly where he saith Sol illuminans per omnia respexit gloria Domini plenum est opus ejus The Sun shining forth looketh over all and it is a work that is full of the glory of the Lord that is to say of essentiall Divinity not that it is included in it but that also it is exclusively in and over all no otherwise then the Spirit of mans blood is said to have his principall tabernacle in the Heart and yet is in all and every part of the Spirit and body Again it appeareth by these words that the Eternall Spirit of Wisdome did elect the celestiall Sun as a pure vessell or Subject to operate and act in for the vivification and animation of every creature And therefore she in her own person saith Ex ore Altissimi prodii primogenita in coelis feci ut oriretur lumen indeficiens I came out of the mouth of the Almighty being the first bâ—gotten I made or caused a never-fading light to rise in the heavens Whereby this catholick Agent doth shew that the Sun doth move in and by it The great Lord saith the text in another place made the Sun and by his Commandements he causeth it to run hastily c. As if he had said by the Divine Word the Sun did move But this will be better proved hereafter Touching the second which dependeth on the cabalisticall enucleation of the Hebrew word for the Latin word Sol or the Sun in English is written thus in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where we have two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Shins which the Cabalists do make the Symbolicall character of fire and light and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mem in the middle which importeth a watry corpulency for Mem is the SYmbolicall expression of the waters as if we should say that the humid nature of the heavens being contracted in their center is illuminated with a double proportion of the divine emanation streaming down or flowing from the Sephiroth or Cabalisticall numeration called Tiphereth or pulchritude and beauty Whereby it is argued that this heavenly mass is made a Tabernacle for the Spirituall Sun or beauteous and divine Spirit of Light not that it includeth it as is said before but as the Scriptures say that the holy Spirit was in the carnall Christ abundantly and yet it was
not denied for all that to fill the earth and heavens Concerning the third The Theologians do affirm that the Light which was expansed over all the heavens and did operate in place of the Sun for the first three daies space was at the fourth day congregated into the body of the Sun But this Light which was so dispersed was the immediate act of that Eternall Spirit which was carried on the waters and therefore that Light which is in the Sun doth participate with divinity as shall be more evidently expressed in the eighth and last Argument By the fourth which is proved out of the Celestiall or Astronomicall dignity which the Sun representeth it is most evident that it comprehendeth in his mansion divinity being that by how much the more perfection any thing hath in it self and excelleth the rest in glory by so much the more it approacheth unto divinity For as much as Hermes doth rightly tell us not disagreeing in that from our Saviour Christ his doctrine that Bonum and perfectum is onely God Now the Macrocosmicall Sun's dignity and perfection is easily to be discerned in that this Royall Phoebus doth sit in his chariot even in the center or middle of the heavens glittering with his golden hair as the sole visible Emperour holding the royall Scepter and government of the world in whom all the vertue of the celestiall bodies do consist as Jamblicus and many other learned personages have confirmed And Proclus averreth that all the powers of the starrs are congregated and collected into one at the aspect of the Sun the which are afterward disseminated by the fiery spiracle of the said Sun upon the Earth Doth not the Wiseman also by reason of the glory of this heavenly vessell or organ compare the brightness of the in-created Spirit or fiery emanation of divinity with it by reason of his excellency in brightness And again is it not proved before by the Son of Syrach that the Fabrick of the Sun is full of the glory of the Lord But I will say more unto this point in the eighth and last Argument The fifth sheweth how by an Arithmeticall regard Divinity must needs dwell in the Sun namely as it is onely one unity from which all the multitude of the starrs in heaven do derive and draw their formall essence no otherwise than from the Arithmeticall unity all numbers whatsoever are produced for the number two hath but the form of one and the same unity twice conceived and then one unity more maketh three and so in infinitum In the very like manner as one candle lighteth another and a third and so proceedeth in infinitum Even so this one heavenly Candle informeth with light and beauty all the starry candles in heaven and yet it reserveth still without any detriment his wonted unity in perfection power and glory By the sixt Argument which is Geometricall in regard that the Sun is a most bright circular body it must needs be that it hath a centrall point unto his circumference in the which all his illuminating power doth consist being that the circumference is nothing else but a semi-diametrall dilatation of a punctuall and essentiall vertue from the center unto the circumference And this is the meaning of that Axiom in Philosophy In medio consistit virtus veritas Now if that wonderfull beauty and clear brightnesse which is in the Sun were not extended from the center it would not proceed à principio interno and then it must like as the Moon doth require some other externall corporall illuminator but that is proved to be otherwise being that there is not any body found in the world that is equall in brightnesse unto it And this is an argument that it hath a centrall divinity or divine vertue in it which like unto the soul in the center of the creature vivifieth or acteth from the center unto the circumference thereof and so making the superficies of the body a fiery and bright coloratum causeth it according unto the infinity of its centrall agent to extend his beamy emanation to all the limits of the vast world Hence is it that God is said to be the center of all whose circumference is no where that is to say in and over all and beyond or without all Neither let it seem strange unto any that I say the in-created light is visible in regard of his tabernacle which it endueth being that Scriptures do testifie that he is a consuming fire And again that the spirit of wisdom excelleth the sun and starrs in brightnesse And again it is said He is attired with light as with a vestment To conclude he is fons pater luminis and therefore there can be no light either visible or invisible in this world which is not from it Doth not St. Paul seem to aver that all visible things were first from things that were not visible whereby is argued that all visible light was first from the invisible whose fountain is God the which invisible light is continued in essence unto his like in the creatures as shall be shewed anone The seventh is confirmed by an observation in Musick namely that the divine Spirit hath elected the Sun for his tabernacle to wit by reason of his position in heaven For if we consider that God as he is said to exist in himself is reputed by Scripture to be seated in the heaven of heavens and in another place in the highest heavens and yet he respecteth and looketh down unto the earth In that regard we may compare him si sacra cum mundanis componere fas sit unto an unison in Harmony for if a string of a musicall Instrument be struck open it soundeth a unity from the bridge of the Instrument unto the nut or head So we imagine that a chord may be extended from the worlds circumference or highest heavens unto the center or earth Again if we presse the chord of the Instrument just in the middle then each half chord being struck will sound in a diapason unto the whole and will prove the center or perfection unto each end of the chord which will then point out as it were the circumference Now the consonant diapason is the most perfect accord of all others and therefore noteth that the middle betwixt the light or heaven and the earth is the seat of the greatest perfection which doth correspond unto the unison as 1 doth to 2 which is in proportione dupla in a double proportion It followeth therefore and by effect it appeareth that the Sun is placed in this centrall seat which correspondeth unto the whole as 2 doth unto 1. because it is the opinion of all Astronomers that the Sun is placed in the middle or center of the heaven Now how this perfect accord was mystically shaped out of the divine and radicall unity or unison which said Fiat and it was done I beseech you observe Unity said Fiat and so this unison caused
the Sun hath his seat or place in heaven Alass what child knoweth not this by an ocular direction without any such precept of the Prophet And what is this pertinent unto the Text going before The heavens declare the glory of God c. Why should he mention the Sun immediatly afterward What To tell us that the Sun was in heaven A thing known unto every man No but that the heaven's beauty was derived from that glorious Spirit of God which had chiefly his abiding or dwelling in the sunny Tabernacle that thereby blind worldly men might discern that it was God in that beauteous creature and not the creature which sent down so affluently those vertuous influences and lights which were effused out of the vessell of the Sun being that by the mistaking of that knowledg so many of Gods creatures which he framed out after his own Image have been seduced into errour and allured ignorantly to adore the Sun and other Starrs for Gods Which in verity are nothing of themselves Spiritu suo ornavit coelos saith Job He doth not say Sole but Spiritu suo which made the Sun its Tabernacle And now to our last Argument wherein I will shew you how by the assertion of certain wise Philosophers that exposition of Jerom seemeth to be confirmed Saith one unto whose opinion also St. Austin doth adhere Quaelibet res tantum sibi Dei vindicat quantum capax est luminis Every thing doth challenge unto it self so much of divinity as it is capable of Light But the Sun is the brightest creature in the world Ergo it possesseth abundantly the Spirit of divinity Many Philosophers therefore consent in this not erring from the tenent of Scriptures namely that In lumine numen in numine lumen In Light is divinity and in divinity is Light And Plato Ne loquaris de Deo sine Lumine Speak not of God without Light Doth not Scriptures confirm all this in saying that God is Light and that vestitur seu â—miâ—tuâ— est Lumine quasi vestimento He is clothed with Light as with a garment Yea verily he is said to be a consuming fire I conclude therefore that Jerom hath translated that place according unto the true sense and consequently we may gather the reason of Rarefaction and Condensation from the presence or absence of the the Sun and confess after the due examination of the case that the onely Agent of these two operations in the waters or catholick Element is the Eternall Spirit 's presence action and emanation or his absence and rest And this is easily demonstrated by our experimentall glass for the nearer the Sun is unto us and the deeper we are in Summer the more will the aire in the glass be dilated which is manifested therefore because that in summer-time the water is beaten down and precipitated lowest Again the further the Sun is from us and the deeper we are in winter the more is the aire condensed in the glass and that is made evident by the elevation or exaltation of water in the neck of the mattrass or glass Neither do we say that the whole reason of Condensation and Rarefaction doth proceed from the Spirit in the Sun onely being that the same Spirit is as well present in this Elementary region as aethereall and hath the power and life of the winds in his rule by which both in the winter and summer he exalteth or depresseth the waters in the glass and consequently causeth Condensation and Rarefaction of the aire as well included in the Instrument as excluded and by that means causeth a diuturnall change in the generall Sublunary Waters or catholick Element of aire after a four-fold nature from one condition unto another Which mutation or alteration of the inferiour humid nature out of one form into an other is commonly called Elements as shall be expressed hereafter But first we will come unto the Fabrick of the heavens and shew how they were framed out by Condensation and Rarefaction Effected by this one Eternall Ruach Elohim or Spirit of God CHAP. IV. After what manner this Eternall Spirit or Ruach Elohim did frame out the Heavens and shaped or made the Starrs thereof by his Act of Condensation and Rarefaction IT is the Apostle Peter's assertion that the Heavens and the Earth were of the Wateâ— and by the Waters by the Word of God So that the Word we see is the Agent as wâ—ll in the Condensation of the invisible waters into waters that are visible and then of these visible waters into a visible earth Thus was the world in generall distinguished into thicker and thinner regions by that divine Spirit Ruach Elohim which was carried on the waters And this is well argued by Hermes in these words Distinctis libratisque rebus quae igneo Spiritu vehebantur emicuit coelum septem in circulos Things being distinguished and ballanced the which were sustained by a fiery Spirit the heaven did shine forth into seven circles Where he signifieth that it was a fiery Spirit and a little before he calleth it Splendorem Sanctum the holy Splendor which sustained and bore up every circle or Sphere of the heavens in his due place And hereupon the Wiseman Omnia mensura numeroque pondere disposuisti seu temperâsti Thou hast disposed all things in measure and number and weight that is to say in a distinct measure and proportion in ponderosity and levity and in a due and convenient number namely into seven distinct Spheres and an infinity of condensed bodies For although all the heavens be composed of aire and fire and therfore it is called Aether quasigneus aer yet by the rule of St. Paul who teacheth us that things visible were first of things invisible we are instructed that both the visible bodies in heaven and also all visible lights were first of invisible waters and invisible formall Light which hath its root in God the bright eternall Unity of all created numbers and therefore as Aristotle saith that Stellae are densiores partes sui orbis So I say that as the Substance of the heavens is invisible by reason of its rarity in like manner are the starrs visible by reason of their density For it was Condensation that caused visibility and Rarefafaction which is the occasion of invisibility And yet for all this it is not concluded with Aristotle that the starrs are the denser parts of their orbs but rather Lights which were included in the spirit of the dark shadow of the abysse which spirit in separating of Light from Darkness sored upward by vertue of the included Light and so according unto the proportion of that eternall formall fire which it retaineth unto this day as his corner-stone it is sustained and elevated in its proper place no otherwise then we see that the artificiall squib according unto the proportion of its artificiall and fading fire with the ponderosity of its body is during the time of the
gunpowders force raised in the aire to a certain height moving neither lower nor higher then the form all vigor affordeth it vertue and there remaineth untill the force of the corruptible and wasting fire be spent and then it falleth down againe But the Light of the star carrieth and raiseth up the spirituall body according unto the proportion of the mounting Light which soreth as high as its power and the ponderosity of the body will permit and so it hangeth perpetually at a certain distance from the center because the fire is of an eternall and incorruptible nature and will not fade as that artificiall fire of the squib doth Now as all the illuminating vigors and animating forces or flames that are imparted unto the universall waters was bestowed on them by that bâ—ight catholick Spirit or emanation which was sent forth by God to be carried on the waters which as Scripture doth averre is brighter then the Sun or Starrs So there is none of all those Lights which are separated or divided in essence from that glorious and glittering Spirit whose beams were dispersed over all the waters in the abysse in giving of them life and being For this reason therefore because each Light had a diversity in proportion of formall brightness and measure of corpulency it is that one celestiall body doth vary in his manner of vertue motion and influence from another but because the extracted quintessence or purer materiall essence of all the Chaos with the purity of Light that issued from the creating Spirit were united into an Angelicall alterity both of those natures in the figure of one masse sored up out of the dark abysse into the heaven's center where they challenged the Royall Phoebaean Throne and that Sphaericall masse is to this hour termed the Sun of Heaven which as from the created Fountain of Light enflameth and formally enlightneth all the rest of the Starrs in the heavens above and the Element and elementated creatures below So that after the universall contracted Light was effected the fourth day of the Creation it was ordained to be that capitall Organ of life and vegetation in the starry world which did send and showre down his influences and fiery spiracles of life conservation vegetation and multiplication upon the sublunary earth and waters Thus therefore in few words you have the reason of that Condensation and Rarefaction whereby both the invisible heavenly Substance and visible celestiall bodies were made And it seemeth not to disagree from the opinions of the learned Theologians Basil and Damascene touching the causes of the divine Spirit 's action in Condensation and Rarefaction before the apparition of the Sun in the heavens Forasmuch as they will have the daie's Rarefaction or cleare heaven to be occasioned by an emission of Light ordained by the divine will or act of this Omnipotent Spirit But they think that the night's Condensation and the opake or condensed bodie in the heavens are effected by a contraction of Light which was also caused by the sacred Spirit 's volunty Thus therefore we see out of the confession of certain of the prime Fathers of the Church what was the cause of the cold condensing Night and the hot rarifying Day before the Spirit was congregated into the Tabernacle or quintessentiall substance of the Sun which was extracted by the Spageâ—ick or separative action of the divine Spirit out of the huge deformed waters of the abysse And therefore this also must be the reason of Condensation and Rarefaction unto this day For as the Spirit in the Sun being far from us and as it were contracting his beames in regard of us unto himself or absenting himself from our Hemisphere so that the cold waters do incline unto the nature of their mother Chaos by reason whereof the night and darkness are long and the light and day but short and faint in heat So also in that season the common sublunary Element is subject to Condensation and Incrâ—ssation and therefore is constrained or contracted into the consistence of Frosts Snows Hail Ice and Cold showers c. Again when it is neare unto us it dilateth it self and by his heat and presence the cold waters become hot and the daies are augmented and fortified or made strong in heat and then the common sublunary Element is apt for dilatation and subtiliation being easy to be inflamed and set on fire with Lightnings coruscations and such like But I leave the history of the Condensation and Subtiliation of the aethereall Spirit to descend unto the like acts or conditions in the sublunary Element CHAP. V. How the lower waters or catholick sublunary element were distinguished ordered and shaped out into sundry distinct sphears which are called particular Elements and that by the foresaid all-working Spirit or dâ—vine Word SInce that it is most certainly proved already that the universall substance of the world's machin was made but of one onely thing namely of a matter that was produced out of the potentiall bowells of the dark chaos or abyss by the spagerick vertue of the divine Word the which matter Moses tearmed Waters and Hermes the humid nature of the which in generall as both Moses and St. Peter aver the heavens and the earth were made of old it must needs follow that out of this catholick masse of waters the universall sublunary element was derived which is commonly termed by the name of Aer as all that humid substance in the celestiall orbe is called Aether Now this generall element is by the breath of the divine Spirit Râ—ach Elohim altered and changed from one shape unto another for that which is the visible waters was made first of the aire which is an invisible water as again the visible water by condensation is made earth And this is proved first by the words of St. Paul who saith Per fidem agnovimus quod semper ita actum sit cum mundo per Verbum ut ex iis quae videri non poterant fierent ea quae possunt videri We know by faith that it hath been ever acted with the world by the word that those things which can be seen were effected or made of those things which could not be seen And again Solomon saith that the world was made of a matter that was not seen But besides these proofs we are taught by chymicall experience that earth is nothing else but coagulated water nor visible water any thing else but invisible air reduced by condensation to a visibility nor fire any thing else but ratified aire And in conclusion all the sublunary waters were in the beginning but an invisible humid or watry spirit which we call by a common name Aire and consequently the catholick sublunary element was in its originall nothing else but one aire being that heaven was made before the seas or the earth as Moses teacheth us And therefore by faith we must believe according unto St. Paul's doctrine that all
is proved true For when the the wood and Coal is consumed we shall find that their terrestriall Corpulency or bodily masse is almost resolved by fire and heat into watry smoke and fumish ayre But the Philosophicall axiom is that every thing is resolved into his first matter or principle therefore it is apparent that both the water and aery smoke which make up the Earthly bulk of a great Oake or mountaine of pit-Coal was first of the invisible Ayre Again if these were not so the brimstone Stones and dust which authority of the Bible and common experience teacheth to descend from heaven being that they fall in one place or another daily would increase the Earth more and more But leaving these speculative proofs I will descend unto such ocular demonstrations as I have learned out of mine Experimentall glasse The Demonstration We find that from the lower region of the Calender or Weather-glasse unto the summity or top of the head there is nothing but a portion of the common invisible element namely the Aire within it But we shall find even in this little modell of aire strange mutations or alterations effected by vertue of the four winds which blow in the open element for when the hot Easterly wind doth blow it dilateth and extendeth it self all along the neck of the Glasse and beateth down the water unto the lowest degree by reason of its extension so that it approacheth unto the nature of fire for fire is said to be nothing else but aire extreamly dilated though indeed it is the abundant presence of the bright form which dilateth it so but if the South-wind bloweth then it will not be so extreamly dilated but it will endue the mean nature of aire and therefore it will draw up the water by certain degrees But if it happen that the westerly wind have the sole domininion in the sublunary element then will the aire in the Glasse grow thicker and for that reason it draweth or attracteth the water higher For cold hath a great power in the said air whose nature is to condense and thicken Lastly if the cold northern winds do govern or dispose of this universall sublunary element then will the included aire be contracted or coarcted into a very strait room which is argued in this namely because the colder the winde is the higher will the water be elevated in the Glasse and therefore it is made manifest that by how much the more the aire is contracted by so much the more it is thickened and consequently it must be made ponderous considering the proportion of place in which it is for all the aire which weighed thus much in half a yard of Place doth weigh at the least even so much in 2 inches of Space after Contraction Thus you see that in verity there is radically but one catholick sublunary Element though by the angelicall spirit that bloweth from the four corners of the heavens it is four-foldly informed and altered which made the Antients to imagine in their phantasies four distinct elements of an equall birth and beeing from all beginnings But you see apparently by this that is said that this position of the Peripateticks and other sects is false though that it hath gotten an universall name and dominion in this world among men as well of learning as of the ignorant who ground their sayings on the doctrine of the learned of this world who are corrupted and seduced from the truth by the Ethnick discipline I will now expresse unto you in the last place of this book how all generation and corruption in this world is made and that the lowest profundity or terminus ad quem the motion of corruption tendeth is but unto the simple element of nature and then beginneth a new generation from that principle being four-foldly altered according unto the nature of the four winds and therefore when the dead carcasses should live again the Prophet said Come from the four winds O Spirit and blow on these dead bones that is inform and vivifie their Spirit with thy breath for bones were made after a hard Northern and fixt manner the humours after their proportion the Westerly and Southerly property namely flegm and blood and lastly the Spirit of life came from that all-vivifying fire which Hermes calleth Splendorem Sanctum The holy Splendor To conclude I will demonstrate the mystery of the worlds Creation by way of an Arithmeticall progression after this manner Here we have the progression in the worlds Creation where 1. signifieth the Unity which was before all things which whilst it was in it self and did not shine forth conteined its inacting property within its potential Nolunty or Darkness and therefore was esteemed as nothing in regard of mans weak capacity although that in it self it is all in all Then the rank 2. sheweth the actuall emanation of the in-created Light out of the potentiall Unity at the presence whereof the humid nature did appeare out of the dark abysse 1. 0. in the shape of waters so that the light and waters as active and passive are ranked next after Unity thus 0. Light 0. Water 2. then by the fiery Spirit of eternall love and union those two opposit natures are joyned together into the nature of heaven by a spirituall union or composition the which is termed by the Platonicks the soul of the world which the Philosophers have styled by the name of Quinta essentia the quintessence For we must understand that as the 4. Elements were made after the Heavens so also are the Heavens said to animate the Elements no otherwise then the soul doth the body So that this degree of Progression in the Creation standeth thus 0. Light 0. Aire 0. Water 3. The last scale in the Progression of the worlds Creation is thus 0. Fire 0. Aire 0. Water 0. Earth which importeth the four-fold alteration of the catholick Element by the four Winds which was and is effected by the Word the third day of the Creation and this was nothing else but the generall sublunary or lower waters This therefore was the estate of the world in the Creation and in this very state doth continue hitherto and will do till it be refined by the fiery Tryall All this the wise Hermes hath according unto the Tenor of Moses described unto us exactly in these words Erat umbra infinita in abysso aqua insuper spiritus tenuis intellectualis per divinam potentiam in chaos inerant floruit autem splendor sanctus qui sub arena humidanatur a elementa deduxit cumque indistincta fuissent levia postmodum in excelsam regionem provolarunt gravia sub arena humida resederunt distinctis libratisque rebus quae igneo Spiritu vehebantur emicuit coelum septem in circulos c. An infinite shadow or darkness was in the abysse moreover water and a subtil intellectuall spirit was by the divine puissance in the Chaos And a holy brightness or splendor did
maketh the fire mild and gentle lest it should burn and now again he maketh it to burn between the waters yea and in the clouds of hail and snow without melting of them Again He maketh the fire to forget his destroying property that the righteous may be nourished by it It was also an evident argument that God worketh not of necessity in or upon this creature of fire when the three servants of the living Lord were untouched by the fire of the Chaldean furnace although it was heated three times This also is confirmed by that History where it is said that in the time of Joshua the Sun stood still for a whole daies space as also that in the daies of Hezekiah the Sun was made to go backward fifteen degrees in the Horologe or Diall without any evident reason in nature Moreover it is proved and verified in that wonderful Eclipse of the Sun which happened at the death and passion of our Saviour wherein the Sun of heaven was totally obscured which also chanced beyond the expectation or capacity of the Astrologians Naturalists of this world forasmuch as at the instant of that Eclipse or passion of the Sun the Moon was neither in the head or tail of the Dragon as Firmicus that great artist in Astronomy doth witnesse and therefore it was effected against the common course of nature all which events could never have fallen out if God had acted of necessity in this world It followeth therefore plainly that God doth operate in this world of his own free will not of necessity to effect the ordinary or annuall course of things according to the lawes and necessities of nature all which also he effecteth voluntarily and of his own free-will namely as well for their creation and preservation as finall corruption But come hither and hearken O ye vain Philosophers who would have God which is the actor and ordinator of all things to be bound up by the lawes of necessity What honour and glory can any man justly attribute to God for his wisdom justice and clemency if he were constrained of necessity not onely to create all things after this or that manner but also to nourish and sustain them and afterward to bring them to corruption What thanks or service or adoration should we owe him if what he did for us were of necessity Wherefore O Aristotle is it according unto thine assertion that we should offer sacrifice unto the roots of nature or what availed it for us mortall men to pray and pour forth our supplications unto God the which duty neverthelesse Plato Porphyry Jamblâ—cus and Proclus do teach us to be most necessary if that he could not be propitiated or appeased by praying since that he worketh of necessity Or wherefore did Socrates and Pythagoras the which by the testimony of the Oracle were esteemed the most sage persons of their time use accustomarily to pour out their prayers unto God if God were onely constrained to act and operate whatsoever he did in the world Or why doth the Prophet proclaim it Quod Deus sit solus inclamandus deprecandus That God was onely to be called upon and prayed unto if there were any necessity in God to act in the generation and conservation of things Yea verily it is evidently to be demonstrated by this which is already said that God by the means of prayer is accustomarily inclined to misericord and pitty and that it is in his free-will to deal either in severity or clemency with the world and the creatures thereof and consequently that he is not urged of necessity to operate or bring forth effects as certain vain Ethnick Philosophers have averred amongst the which I must nominate a remarkable personage and a follower of Aristotles doctrine namely Gaâ—en that Prince of the Ethnick Physitians who speaketh Atheistically in these words Moses arbitratur omnia Deum posse facere etiamsi ex cineribus equum aut bovem facere velit Nos autem non ità sentimus sed confirmamus quaedam naturam facere non posse eaque Deum nè aggredi omnino sed ex his quae facere potest quod melius est eligere Jam vero cum pilos in palpebris satius esset equales semper esse maâ—nitudine unme o non ipsum quidem hoc voluisse affirmamus illos mox factos fuisse neque enim id facere potuisset affirmamusque si eos etiam millies voluâ—sset nunquam tamen tales futurâ—s si ex cute molli producti fuissent Moses did imagine that God can do all things yea although he would make a Horse or an Oxe of ashes But I am of another opinion For I say that Nature cannot do some things and that God doth not attempt those things at all but doth elect and make choice of the best of such things as he is able to effect Now since that it would be better that the hair in the eie-brows should be alwaies equall in magnitude and numbers I affirm that it is not he that would have it so and they were forthwith made neither could he do it and I say that if he would a thousand times have them so yet would they never be such if they had been produced out of the soft skin Lo how Atheistically he speaketh and how he would restrain the Omnipotency of God and limit his actions with the main clog of necessity yea and impotency in Power But there are certain other Philosophers which do behave themselves more modestly in the beforesaid doubt For Avicenna affirmeth that these actions are neither of necessity nor violent but do consist in a mediocrity betwixt them both and thereupon he concludeth that it is in the volunty or will of the Agent In the which resolution he seemeth not much to vary from Scriptures which say Deus castigavit nos propter iniquitates nostras ipse salvabit nos propter misericordiam suam God hath chastised us for our iniquities he will save us for his mercy's sake By which this elected vessell doth intimate that there is a free volunty in God to punish and to have mercy But this is expressed in plain words after this manner Deus juxta voluntatem suam facit tam in coeli virtutibus quam in habitatoribus terrae God operateth according to his Will as well with the vertues of heaven as with the Inhabitants of the earth In which words the Prophet doth evidently show that every operation in this world is effected by the Will and in or by the Word or Spirit of the Almighty and therefore not of Necessity as Aristotle Galen and many other of the Ethnick Philosophers have averred to the derogation from God and blemishing of his Omnipotency But that there is an undoubted necessity in the Organicall causes and in the effects which issue from God's Acts in them it appeareth most evidently Wherefore the Prophet Baruch saith Deo obediunt per omnia Sol Luna Sydera Fulgur
for the words following importeth so much which are Appendit aquas seu nubes in mensura He hangeth or ballanceth the waters or clowds by measure or attenuateth it into lightnings as the words following do witnesse So that he seemeth to aver that the invisible aire is altered according to weight and measure into the bodies or substances of the visible clowds which afterwards are resolved into rain and fiery lightnings which by compression do appear Again that it is neither the earth nor waters from which the existence or substance of a clowd is made but onely the aire we plainly do gather out of these words in Deuteronomy Aperiet tibi IEHOVA the saurum suum optimum â—oelos dando pluviam terrae tuae suo tempore IEHOVA will open his best treasury the heavens giving rain unto thy earth in due season Out of which words observe first that by the heavens is meant the Aire for in the aire the clowds are procreated and again the aire is called heaven in many places of Scripture as volatilia coeli the fouls or birds of heaven And therefore this is the sacrarium divinum the divine treasury or treasure-house out of the which God at his pleasure produceth and fashioneth the clowds Secondly that the aire is called his best treasury and therefore it is out of it that not onely he doth extract his meteorologicall creatures but also that wise-men do enquire after their mysticall summum bonum and Christian Philosophers that are well grounded the character of the divine wisdom Again it is said in another place Propterea aperti sunt thesauri evolarunt nubes nebulae sicut aves Therefore his treasuries are opened and the clowds did fly out like birds But this is made yet more evident by these plain words of Job Subitò aer condensabitur in nubes ventus transiens fugabit eas The aire will suddenly be condensed or thickned into clowds and the moving winde will drive them before it By which words it is apparent that the aire is the subject out of the which the clowds are compacted and framed and that the heavens are the onely treasury out of the which they are collected and therefore neither the earth nor the water as Aristotle would have it which if it were true indeed mark what an absurd impossibility must follow For then whereas the Sun doth attenuate the aire in the summer-season it would contrary unto reason condense it by the continuall raising of vapours and then a greater absurdity would follow on the neck of this to destroy Aristotles tenent touching the generation of the clowds for then we should have more clowds and rain in the summer than winter being that there are made more vapours at that season by the Suns heat and emptying of ponds and rivers then in the winter which experience proveth false And lastly it is neither the heat of the Sun nor Stars but the eternall Spirit of JEHOVA whose dominion is over the angelicall winds by which he moveth and operateth all these alterations in the air and by the aire as shall be told you hereafter And therefore it was said By his wisdom he giveth weight unto the aire and hangeth the clowds in measure and assigneth rules unto the rain and proportioneth a way or passage unto the lightnings and thunders c. But I come unto the second Doubt To the resolution of the second doubt I say that there is another manner of reason for the incrassation and condensation of an invisible vapour or the aire into a cloud than that which Aristotle and his followers have assigned and set down for whereas he saith that this feat is performed by the contractive cold of the middle region of the aire it may be wondered at why this effect is not wrought as well at other times as when the winds do blow from their certain quarters of the earth for when the southerly winds have dominion then do we see clouds to multiply and the rain to poure down in the greatest abundance I would fain know of these Peripateticks why the vapours should be raised so thick just at that time when the wind bloweth from the south to make a greater abundance of clowds in the aire then at another season namely when they have no dominion Or why should the cold of the middle region of the aire be apter to coagulate or curdle vapours at that time than at other times being that the warm clouds or dense aire which is driven from the Aequinoctiall do moderate the middle region's cold through which they glide by reason of their hot temper Verily I know that they are ignorant what to answer touching this point and therefore I will presse them no further But I will tell you of an experiment of mine own whereby I was induced unto the truth concerning the generation of the mists and clouds When in my travells I went or journeyed from Venice unto Augusta or Ausburg in Germany as I travelled between the high mountains and rocks of the Alps upon a certain day when the heavens were passing clear and without any cloud to be seen in the Horizon the Sun also as in these times it must needs being passing bright I espied on the top of a steepy mountain on the which the Sun-beams did strongly beat a certain fogg or mist by little and little to arise and ever it thickned more and more untill it grew from a sleight vapour unto a mist and from a foggy mist at the last unto a thick cloud and all this while the aire was every where clear except only on that side the hill from the top unto the bottom which we beheld It made me a little to marvell and therefore alighting from our Coach I took some grasse and flung it into the aire to try which way the wind did blow and I found it to be full upon or against that eminent hlll which was advanced towards the heavens above his fellows Whereupon I did streight-way gather that the degrees of progression from a vapour unto a mist and from a mist unto a fogg and so forward unto the consistence of a clowd was by compression of the common aire which was chased before the winde by little and little against the lofty rock or mountain which hindering of it in its passage or flight was the cause that the consequent-aire was added unto the precedent and so by adding and compressing of parts of the aire unto other parts a perfect clowd onely conformable unto that part of the mountain was made which forthwith when it became ponderous and apt to endure the reflexion of the Sun did resolve it self for four miles space on this side the rock into rain all the rest of the aire remaining still clear and without any clowd Whereby I did forthwith conceive that clowds were not ingendered after the manner described by the Peripateticks that is by the vapours rising out of the earth and waters but by
and windy Angels as the Seraphins are fiery Spirits and so moveth upon the wings of the wind or aire which his Angelicall Cherubin doth animate So that in and by the windy Organ he is said to blow when and where he list It is I say the Eternall Spirit of Wisdome which is in brightness and vertue more noble then the Sun of Heaven as Solomon testifieth For as much as it also giveth life and splendor unto the Sun And therefore it is said to excell the Sun in brightness which is the onely efficient cause or formall and essentiall Agent in this business and consequently neither the Sun or any other of the created host of Heaven It is I say again the all-creating Spirit and not the created which is the generall act and onely formall mover in the Meteors whom his Angelicall Ministers which do ever stand before this Lord of all the earth that I may speak with the Prophet Zachary are ready to assist as Organs or instrumentall causes to execute his will It is I say the essentiall wind or Spirit which bloweth from the center of the cloud and moveth or inciteth his spirituall created Organs according unto his will For by it his Spirit also moveth in the Angels and winds causing them to effect his Command according unto David's assertion Wherefore we may see by this which is said how incongruous is this opinion of the Ethnick Peripatetick unto the Truth and how far it derogateth from the right of God's Word and consequently what an errour it is in our Christian Philosophers to follow and imitate his learning with such a devotion and fervency as if they were Theodidacti taught by God himself when in verity his doctrine doth rather disswade Christians from the knowledg of him in his works then instruct them therein being it perswadeth them that things are effected both in heaven above and in the earth and in the waters beneath by vain waies and accidentally that is to say meerly by naturall causes onely and so would blemish the honour and reputation of Him who in verity is all in all and operateth all in all and that not by constraint as the vain Peripatetick imagineth but according unto his Will as it is proved before CHAP. VI. The true and essentiall Definition or rather description of a Cloud is set forth in this Chapter WEll then will they reply Let us understand how you can better define or describe the nature of a clowd according unto that holy Philosophy and true Wisdom which you seem to profess To the which I answer that I am willing and that after a divers manner though agreeing in one unity of Essence A clowd is the revealing and making manifest of the invisible mundan spirit which is hidden in the treasury of God namely the heavens by the centrall operation of the divine wisdom and his windy ministers being incited thereunto by the will of God into a vaporous heap or clowdy substance which the said spirit of wisdom erecteth for his secret place or vehicle to move in and for the effecting of his will as well in heaven above as in the earth and waters beneath Or after this manner A clowd is the reducing of the invisible aire into a visible thick and gloomy consistence which is by the will of God effected through the concurrence or meeting together of opposite or transversall winds for the accomplishment of his secret will and pleasure Or else thus A clowd is a certain visible condensed heap of aire the which the Spirit of wisdom being expansed every wheâ—e doth make and compose as it were of nothing that is to say of an airy invisible somewhat which it extracteth out of his mysticall treasury to do and effect the will of God as well in heaven as in earth In which definitions or rather descriptions the materiall substance seemeth to be a coagulated mist or condensed masse or heap of aire the formall cause is set out in the shape and form of the clowd the efficient cause or centrall agent is the essentiall act of the divine wisdom who employeth and exciteth his windy ministers to work externally by the way of compression We have also the magazine or treasury out of which the substance of the winds is produced namely the heavens or aire which is termed Arca Dei thesauraria The chist or cabinet of Gods treasures To conclude the finall cause is manifested in this that the clowd is ordained to bring forth the effects as well of Gods clemency and benignity as of his severity and anger Now for the defence of the first part of these descriptions we find it thus written Deus sapientia suâ apt at pondus aeri appendit aquas in mensura facit pluviae statuta viam fulgetro tonitruum c. God doth by his wisdom proportionate the weight of the aire and hangeth the waters or clowds in measure assigneth lawes unto the rain and maketh a way unto the lightnings of the thunder That is to say according unto the will and ordination of the divine Spirit the aire or substance of heaven is changed from a lighter or thinner estate or weight unto a heavier or thicker the degrees of which mutation are expressed in the words following for first it was aire then clowds then rain or vulgar water Also the Text doth seem to make the lightnings internall or formall light of the clowd which is not revealed but by the violation or ruption of the compound and ablation of darkness Again it is said by Job as is already related Aer condensabitur in nubes ventus transiens fugabit eas The aire will be thickned into clowds And touching the clowds of snow Congregatio spiritus aspergit nivem The aire being gathered together doth scatter the snow on the earth Touching the efficient cause it appeareth to be God or the eternall Wisdom and therefore in the precedent Text it is said Deus sapientia sua aptat pondus aeri appendit aquas vel nubes in mensura God by his wisdom hangeth or ballanceth the waters or clowds in measure And again Nubibus densis obtegit Deus coelos God covereth the heavens with thick clowds But all this is sufficiently expressed before As for the finall cause set down in the foresaid definitions it is confirmed by Scriptures in this fashion Pro irrigatione fatigat Deus den sam nubem dispergit lucem nubis suae quodcunque praecipit illis faciendum in terra sive ad flagellum sive ad faciendam beneficentiam efficiet ut presiò sit God wearieth the thick clowd for the watering of the earth and he disperseth every where the light of his clowd whatsoever he commandeth them to be done upon the earth whether it be for a scourge or else in favour and benignity he maketh them to be ready to accomplish it And Baruch saith When God commandeth the clowds that they passe over the whole earth they
without it was nothing made and preserved So that if it were not for the present action of this formall spirit the watry matter of the world would return unto the deformed estate of her mother Chaos for being in this world it is inclined unto the disposition of her mother being that it is passive feminine and serveth in place of the mother of all things and in another respect the vivifying and bright emanation of the eternal Unity is become the masculine actor or father of all things being that it doth vivify every thing in this world as the Apostle teacheth us and as the before-said Poets do seem to intimate unto us under the name of Apollo or the father of light This therefore being well observed we may by the detection of these two abstruce and mysticall principles I mean of Light and Darknesse attain unto the radicall knowledge and originall of the true sympathy and antipathy being that it is evident that the first proceedeth from that concording and vivifying love which ariseth from the benigne emanation of the Creator which desireth to be joyned with his like and seeketh to preserve his like by union and the other issueth from that discording privative and hatefull affection which darknesse and deformity doth afford unto the children of light and life and to all the beautious offsprings thereof By this therefore it appeareth that as before the separation of these different properties or effects of one unity namely of light from darknesse which was brought to passe by the divine word all things were one and the same without distinction and difference and that unity or one was no way to be numbered among those things which were created so that light was darknesse and darknesse light and neither of these discernable nothing was really distinguished but all were one in the first matter of all things which was in the eternall unity So that then there was neither light nor darkness nor day nor night nor heaven nor earth nor spirit nor body nor good nor evill nor pure nor impure nor generable nor corruptible nor this nor that and yet nevertheless all these as well spirituall as corporall proceeded from that potentiall subject which remained complicitely in that infinite Unity which both was and is and ever shall be all in all and over or without all O admirable wisdom of God in all his works All things I say proceeded from one matter the which nevertheless was nothing of these things which were made All things were abstrucely hidden and in secret but according unto our Saviours words nothing was so occult and obscure but was to be revealed and made to appear unto sighr by the penetrating operation of the admirable word Fiat by whose divine spagericall action or vertue that one thing was divided into two contraries upon the which names well befitting their natures were imposed for the one as I have told you was called Light and the other Darkness the first also was tearmed Day the last Night and thus was the pure separated from the impure Hence therefore it commeth that all the world was originally divided into two contrary Kingdoms that correspond unto these two radicall branches of one unity by the which relation it is easie to express what in verity is light and darkness what day and night what goodness and what badness what is heaven and what is hell what is truth and what is falshood what is humility and what is pride what justice and what injustice what is gladnesse and what is sorrow what is sweet and what is bitter what is action and what passion what is life and what is death what is generation and what corruption what is pure and what impure what is wholsom and what pernicious what is a medicine and what a poison and to conclude what is amiable and what is odious what is concord and what is discord and by consequence what is sympathy and what antipathy in an infinity of creatures in this world That the whole world and every creature thereof is composed of these two contrarieties or opposite natures we find it justified as well by the sacred authority as testimony of Ethnick Philosophy for the son of Syrach saith in the place before specified Gemina sunt omnia quorum alterum contrarium est alteri nec quicquam factum est quod mancum est All things are of a two-fold nature whereof the one is contrary unto the other and yet there is not any thing which is defective And thereupon the Philosopher Heraclitus concludeth that all things in the world are made by strife and concord and Empedocles will have the soul to be composed of the elements and of friendship and enmity To conclude lest some scrupulous Reader should condemn me for making so long a discourse upon these two contrary principles proceeding from one Root I thought it most fit to certifie each judicious person that the true knowledg thereof is of an especiall importance because that the two foresaid principles are observed to be the reall and onely foundation both of universall Philosophy and Theology For that the root and bases of them both doth consist on the true understanding of these two contrarieties And therefore if they be not first of all well opened and conceived how is it possible afterwards that they should be rightly handled either in true Philosophy or understood in those places of Holy-Writ wherein they are so often mentioned Touching the explication of this most profound Sphyngian Riddâ—e or abstruse question namely Why God in his secret sense or mentall intent did raise up and ordain out of the informed matter or Ideally delineated in himself these two contrarieties to cause thereby that all things in the world should be put into a mutuall dissonance or fight and conflict with one another so that there is found nothing which participateth of goodness which hath not his contrary that is to say which doth not communicate with badness insomuch that God himself is not without an adversary verily it is too occult a Caball to be explained by mortall capacity being that it may well be esteemed the profoundest secret of all the divine mysteries wherefore there is required a mentall aspect well purged and mundified from each misty cloud of ignorance and error to search into the bowells of this question and therefore it is impossible to be revealed unto any but to such as God doth immediatly bestow his grace and holy Spirit which is the searcher out of all mysteries the which Spirit is in us and breatheth and blows when and where it listeth and it is called in Scriptures the Spirit of Truth the Spirit of Sanctification the Spirit of Illumination the Spirit of Revelation which is the best interpreter of the Divine Secrets mentioned in holy-Writ neither verily doth it become us of our selves to enquire why God made this or that or thus or after this fashion But it behoveth the zealous to refer all this unto the
according unto these multiplications in form the more will the creatures be exalted in excellency You see now how far and by what proportions as well spirituall as materiall the Platonick harmony of the world extends it self and may observe that where this harmonious proportion between form and matter is not there must needs be as well spirituall as corporall dissention or discord and consequently antipathy We see also that the root of life is fixed in the angelicall composition which is of simple light pure spiritual matter so that the eternal sapience or essential soul is the act of the Angels the aevial angelicall spirit is the act or essential life of the starrs or heavenly influence and the starry influence is the soul and life of the winds the spirituall emanation from the winds do fourfoldly inform the catholick sublunary element or lower waters the element doth animate the meteorologicall impressions and of these are the compound creatures compacted which draw from the divine fountain of them all being one spirit in essence but multiform in regard of the variety of organs by which it worketh variously in the world So that it appeareth that God animated immediately the Emperiall heaven or the intellectuall spirit which is the seat of Angells and this we compare to the root the emperiall heaven animates the stars or aetheâ—iall region which we refer to the square and the starry heaven is as it were the male or multiplyer and vivifier of the elementary region and his creatures which we compare unto the cube Verily not onely the abstruse Cabalists but also the profoundest Philosophers have made an everlasting memory of this perfect and formall root or ternary number with his triple dimension I mean not that which is taken for a mercatory number or such an one as the vulgar Arithmeticians do use in their Algorism but as it is a spirituall and essentiall character of numeration proceeding from a certain circular revolution and square and cubick multiplication And therefore the Learned have founded on this subject their formall and mysticall Arithmetâ—ck and Geometry which are not exercised about common and vulgar subjects but wholly employed about the profound meditations of the true Cabâ—le naturall Magick and essentiall Alchimy which because the ignorant vulgar people do rashly condemn under those titles are otherwise tearmed by the mysticall with the name of the science Elementary Celestiall and Supermundane as well because it entreateth of separated Intelligences and substances as some do style them as also because it is the worthiest of all others to be understood as being conversant about the knowledge of the Creator for the greatest perfection in which man may most glory is to artain unto the true knowledge of God which also the Prophet doth testifie in these words Let not the wise glory in his wisdom noâ— the strong man in his strength nor the rich man in his riches but let him that will glory vaunt and glory in that he knoweth and understandeth me And verily these are the three mysticall sciences which are by wise men appropriated unto the knowledge of the three worlds I mean the Intelligible the Celestiall and Elementary represented according unto the Cabalists by these three Letters of the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adam Also the three parts of man termed the little world to wit the Intellect the Soul and Body which is subject to alteration and corruption as also the elementary part Upon this foundation also the Rabbi Zoar said That there are three things which correspond unto one another in this ternary dimension forasmuch as they are framed or formed after the pattern of the Archetype and radicall Idea namely the Tabernacle of God which Moses erected the Temple of Solomon and mans Body according unto the three manner of numbers which were applyed unto them namely the vocall or operative which is the extract of the measure unto the elementary world the formall which is extract from the vocall unto the celestiall and the rationall or divine which is extracted out of the formall unto the intellectuall I will make all this plain by the reall description of the Tabernacle This Tabernacle did symbolize with the three worlds in his parts for the former of them was uncovered and was exposed unto the winde rain hail snow and all other impressions which are ingendered in the sublunary world with perpetuall alterations and changes and unto this part the common sort of people as also the beasts in an assiduall vicissitude of life and death did resort by reason of the continuall sacrifices which were slain and offered in this place And therefore this region importing the cube of matter is rightly referred unto the elementary world which is composed of the grosser waters as of a substance fluid and unstable and for this reason it is properly called the world of darkness wherefore the Evangelist in one place styleth the devill the Prince of darknesse and in another place the Prince of this world This region also hath his relation unto the body of man The second part of the Tabernacle which was burnished over with gold and illuminated with a Candlestick of seven lights doth decypher out the starry heaven and his seven erratick lights of Planets and this heaven as it is in the middle betwixt two extreams namely between the bright fountain of the formall or emperiall heaven and the obscure and dark abysse of matter or elementary world so also it doth participate of the two extreams namely of water and fire And for this reason the heaven is called of the Hebrewes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aâ—â—amaiim of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 esch fire and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 maym water in Greek Aether quasi igneus aer But the warry body or matter of it is therefore incorruptible because her appetite is so fulfilled by the affluence of the formall nectar from above that it desireth not any alteration and touching her activity and motion it hath it from that eternall emanation which is said by Solomon to be the most movabâ—e of all things and in verity it is the first catholick mover who is said to be the President of the primum mobile at whose act all the inferiour intelligences do move about their rouling and twinckling fires no otherwise than at the motion of a centrall wheel many externall wheels do move and have their life Thus we may see first why this region of the world is tearmed Heaven or sphear of equality namely by reason of his mixtion in equall proportions of form and matter also why it is called the sphear of the soul of the world by reason that it is composed of the pure spirit of the waters which is female and passive and the bright fire or act of eternity for the mentall divinity doth by and through this humid nature which is his vehicle act and shew forth his vivifying and emanating property in and by this spirituall organ and
doth proceed from one eternall Essence as from the root of al things IT is most certain that as there are an infinity of creatures of divers natures in the universall machin So also every one of them was variously first created and then generated and maintained after generation even untill the day of their corruption by sundry celestiall influences or many thousand of varieties of beams descending from above And therefore the wisest amongst the Cabalisticall Rabbies affirm Quod non sit ulla planta aut herba inferiùs cui non sit stella in firmamento quae percutiat eam dicat ei Cresce That there is not any plant or herb here beneath which hath not a Star in the firmament to beat on it with his influence and as it were to say unto it Increase or muliply Neither do the Scriptures appear to be repugnant unto this their opinion as hereafter shall plainly in his convenient place be expressed But because the radicall indication of this matter requireth a more profound speculation it will be most necessary for the Reader 's better edification or instruction to make a diligent inquisition after the depth of this Mystery namely first to discover how all Creation was effected by the sending forth of the beams of God's eternall Light and whether that Emanation be of one or divers and manifold in property I told you and prooved manifestly before that all things were in the beginning created by one eternall Spirit of Wisdom which was sent forth from the infinite Fountain of Light in the shape of an emanation eradiation or effluxion to inform and inact all things explicitly which before were contained complicitly in the divine puissance of that everlasting Unity which in it self is all in all I prooved it by these expresse places in Scripture Solomon calleth this holy Spirit of discipline the vapour of God's Virtue and the sincere emanation and effluxion of his brightness and the splendor or beams of his Divine Light and the mirrour without all spot of his goodness And St. John saith that in the Word is the life of all things and that this Spirit was Light in which was no darkness and that by it all things were made and without it nothing was made And the son of Syrach That it came forth of the mouth of the Most High And Solomon That it was with IEHOVA in the beginning of all his waies in the creation and was that holy Spirit whereby be composed or made all things in the Creation and therefore it is apparent that it was by the emanation or sending forth of the catholick or universall beam of divine Light that all particular things were diversly framed shaped and animated and that by a many of streamings forth of more particular beames of light proceeding by multiplication from the root unto the trunck or body namely from the Unity fountain or head unto the generall emanation which may rightly be compared unto the body of a tree forasmuch as from it all boughs twigs leaves and fruit do spring and as in this progression the trunck of the tree doth immediatly issue from the root and yet is continued with the root which is the beginning so the divine emanation in like manner proceedeth directly from Ensoph or the fountain or root of infinity by the way of emanation not divided or separated from his eternall Originall and by reason of this his emanation the Spirit is said to be the first created before all things as the trunck before the boughs twigs leaves or fruit So that in respect of his essentiall existence he is eternall but in regard of his emanation into the world he is said to be aeviall that is to have a beginning without end and therefore becometh the head and Prince of all the aeviall world I mean the Angelicall creaâ—ures We proceed therefore in the progression and multiplication of this universall emanation thus From the trunck of the tree issueth the generall speciall and individuall branches whereof the most strongest after the trunck are all armes of the body the next boughs then twigs and lastly the leavs c. To this we compare in our Angelicall or aeviall world the divers stations of the Angels assigned unto them according unto their dignity and riches in the divine influences which they receive from the root or fountain of Light by the mediation of their body Christ Jesus And for this reason it is said that He is the Image of the invâ—sible God the first begotten of all creatures for in hâ—m are maâ—e all things both in heaven and earth as well visible as invisible whether they are Thrones or Dominations or Potestates all by him and in him are made and he is before all and all consist in him So that all Angells do no otherwise proceed immediately from him and are continuate with him than the branches of a Tree proceed from the body thereof but as we see that the greater armes of the Tree are neerer in distance unto the trunck and therefore are more substantiall and strong and beautifull than the rest so are these Angels of the Emperiall or supercelestiall heaven nearer to the body to wit the eveâ—lasting stream of light and therefore more rich and abundant in divine light and that by degrees and order according as they are nearer the face of the divine essentiall inâ—â—uence that bestoweth that most excellent light and glory on them to deck and adorn them with so perfect a formall beauty and existence And as we see that each main arme of the tree hath a dimension in longitude in the which as it depaâ—teth from the body of the tree it waxeth lesser and lesser so each of the nine Orders of Angels are of a lesse proportion of light than other and their preheminence in light is ever more diminished by little as it is remote from the body that giveth it that light and life Then as we see the lesser boughes which by a subdivision do proceed from those armes of the tree do immediately spring out of them but have a place diâ—â—inguished from them although they are continued and no way disjoynted or seperated fâ—om them either in substance or essence So also the Olympick or Aetheriall Angells have their lights and souls poured out from the Emperiall diversly and that according unto severall measures and againâ— they send forth their beams or bâ—ight effluâ—nces from the starry Orbes which they possesse and illuminate unto the elementary spirits which have dominion over the winds with their legionâ— which we compare unto the many twigs which spring out of the said boughes for as the twigs are small in substance in regard of the bough and yet are continuate unto the bough and have all one naturall life so those Angels are not so illuminated as the Olympick Spirits as also the Olympick Spirits are not so bright and affluent in divine riches as those angelical Intelligences which approach the
of the Israelites through the Desart Ne exacerbes eum quia non feret defectionem vestram quoniam nomen meum est in eo Do not displease him for he will not endure your defections or errours for my name is in him Whereby it is evident that this princely Angell which is taken for this Emanation from Jah elsewhere hath a double property but his greatest inclination is to preserve the creature which it made The third cognomination is Elohim and the bright port through which the reflecting beames of his property do stream forth is called in Hebrew Binah in Latine Prudentia in English Prudency And this name Elohim according to the Cabalisticall interpretation doth signifie fear and terror because they have observed that by this property or attribute of God there happeneth unto each world punishments and stratagems for under this denomination JEHOVA doth exercise his power as well for the sudden alteration of the world as unto the punishment of the wicked And therefore the Spirits which do receive this divine influence are called Been Elohim the sons of Elohim which are his instruments in the Elementary world for the effecting of his will in this property By virtue whereof also the commotions of the waters were made in the first creation and the production of them out of the dark Chaos which was not effected but by the extream contradiction and oppugnancy which happened between the fire and the water and consequently not without the dreadfull dissention and warre of the Elements causing terror and many thundering commotions in the dark abysse or deformed waters when each word Fiat was divinely uttered For it was by the Spagericall or high Chymicall virtue of the word and working of the Spirit that the separation of one region from another and of the distinction of one formal virtue from another was effected or made of the which business the Psalmist meaneth where he saith By the Word of the Lord the heavens were made and by the Spirit from his mouth each virtue thereof Ye may therefore perceive that the whole power of the Cabalisticall Tree is comprehended in these three first branches no otherwise then the typicall world is comprehended in the Archetype which consisteth in a triple property most aptly referred unto the Trinity of Persons For therein the intelligible world doth import that which seaven doth in this materiall and watery world For 2 is the root of Matter as 3 is the root of Form As therefore 1 is the formall root unto three and the materiall root unto 2 So verily is 2 the materiall root unto 4 and therefore 4 which is the Symbole or character of matter and 3 the figure of form being added together produce the universall substance of the world consisting of form and matter we must therefore with diligence observe that those three first denominations do belong unto these properties whereby JEHOVA did create the three first daies work wherein the whole world with his heavens and elements were crâ—â—â—ed and received their due positions The seaven following branches of the Sephiroticall Tree do appertain unto those various alterations or mutations as well propitious as unfortunate unto the creatures which do befall them in this world being thus compleated and finished by the virtuous properties of the three precedent emanations or streamings forth of the divine beames Wherefore the fourth branch of this Tree hath for his President the gentle and mercifull attribute of God or JEHOVA called EL whose bright port numeration or channell by which it poureth forth its beames into the world is for that cause styled Chesed in Hebrew which in Latine is Clementia in English Clemency because the divine influence which shineth out of it is full of grace benignity life and goodness as by the consequence it shall appear For it is the fountain from the which the good and fortunate Planet Jupiter receiveth his benevolent Emanantion or beams of life this name therefore Moses used for the healing of Miriam when she was made leprous for her disobedience saying El na rapha na la Deus gratiae quaeso sana illam The fifth name which is assigned unto the first branch of the Cabalisticall Tree is called Elohim Gibbor and it is an attribute which sendeth malevolent and unwholsome influence down unto the creatures making disturbances and troubles in the world by Thunders Lightnings Comets Warrs Contentions Anger Pestilence and hot diseases c. And the celestiall magazine of this influence is the Planet Mars for this reason therfore the port or channell through which this fiery influx doth immediatly stream forth is called in Hebrew Gehurah which importeth power force violence The next branch or numeration being the sixth hath for its Lord the name Eloach whose influxion or emanations are full of life and golden beauty and therefore the trunck or port by which it passeth is tearmed Tiphereth in Hebrew which noteth Grace ornament beauty and delight By the golden emanation which floweth from this channell the visible Sun of this world receiveth his bright beauty and is adorned with that admirable vivifying virtue which by effect doth manifest and testifie it self unto the whole world And this is that Grace and ornament of which Job meaneth when he saith Spiritu suo ornavit coelos He adorneth the heavens with the beauty of his Spirit The seventh divine cognomination or attribute is JEHOVA Seboath which is as much as to say the God of Armies the God of jubilation rest and perfection therefore the port or channell by which his beames or irradiations do pass is called Netzeth which signifieth triumph and victory as also Justice Charity and Love and therefore the influence of generation and multiplication and delight issueth from this emanation which maketh the rowling Globe of the celestiall Venus his store-house The eighth name is Elohim Saboth or Deus exercituum the God of Armies and his port or channell by the which he sendeth forth the influxes or beames of this his property into his celestiall treasury which is the Globe of Mercury is called by them Hod or praise honour and formosity by which afterwards he operateth in this property by his will on the earth by changeable and mutable effects The ninth Elohai that is the Living God or Sadal that is the Omnipotent God and his numeration or the gate or channell by which he sendeth down his bright influences is called Jesod that is to say the basis or foundation Redemption or rest and these are received by the Sphere of the Moon which is as were the celestiall earth unto the which all the influences in generall do fall and this is the reason that it is subject to so many and divers mutations The effects whereof as well to generation as corruption is observed on the Earth and in the Sea The last name or attribute is Adonai or Dominus and his port or gate by which he sendeth forth his illuminations or the active beames
are reasonable namely Man as unreasonable to wit the Stars of heaven and earthly creatures both animals vegetables and minerals And therefore Archangelus the Cabalist maketh many degrees in the offices of Angels For some saith he do stand before the divine tribunall of God still praising him some administer unto him and unto us also some have the custody of the watches of the night of which CHRIST maketh mention If he came in the second or thâ—â—d watch of the nâ—ght c. Some have the government of the four quarters of the year and these are Presidents over the four stations of the Sun others are ordained rulers over the seven Planets and some do dispose of the influences and vertues of the fixed Stars and twelve Signes of which St. Joâ—â— doth seem to make mention saying That in the twelve gates that is the twelve Signes which as Plato saith are the ports of heaven are the twelve Angels Some are tuâ—elar Angels and are ordained for the creatures safeguard some have the custody of beasts others of plants others of pretious stones and mineralls All these the secret Theologians and wisemen do affirm averring withall that God worketh all in this inferiouâ— world by the administration of Angells And therefore St. Paul saith That all are administring spiâ—â—ts sent to effect that office Thus far Archangelus And again Reuclin argueth That the influxion of angelicall beams from the stars must be divers and of sundry natures because that the Angells do not by their voluntary action move the celestiall Orbe alwaies after one manner though by reason of the violent motion it doth move daily by a diurnall motion from East to West But what needs many words when the progression of the foresaid Cabalisticall work doth open and discover all the myâ—ticall operation and variety of action in the Angells For if once the ten names of God which produce ten divers emanations of different conditions which are sent by the ten foresaid numerations or sephiroticall ports or channells do breed contrary effects both in heaven above and in earth beneath it followeth by the foresaid testimony of the Prophet David that there must be so many angelicall vehicles to conduct them into the lower world as there are Cabalisticall ports and channells and consequently as many diversities of the divine properties proceeding from the variety of his will as also varieties of vehicles to conduct them For I would have each judicious Reader to conceive that the Hebrew Doctors did judge of the nature and property of each Name or attribute ascribed unto God in holy Writ by that self-same effect which it produced after the uttering or expressing of it therein no otherwise than the Philosopher useth to judge of the nature and property of the complexion by the aspect of the Physiognomy or as by the signes whiâ—h he beholdeth in the heavens he determineth of their effects to wit of rain winds thunder c. namely because such presages in the heavens do use to bring forth such and such effects Now as I have proved before if it be the divine influence of light which animateth and informeth each angelicall spirit it must needs follow that every one of these angelicall conductions or vehicles of these influences must have also a divers property because the formall influences which do animate these intelligences which carry them are different and therefore they will be naturally prone and enclined to operate the will of the Creator according unto the nature of emanation or beams of that property which it receiveth from his proper port As concerning therefore those angelicall receptacles or organs which are ordained to receive the divers kinds of divine influences or irradiations I purpose briefly to expresse them in the first place for the better understanding of the Reader with the channell they do belong unto and then the order of Angels which doth first receive them After this I will set down the celestiall Orbes or Stars into the which as unto their particular store-houses they are conveyed And lastly I will speak somewhat of the effects that these influences which are conveyed down from their starry treasury into the elementary world do effect both in the aire seas or water and earth Touching therefore the Names or attributes of God as also their emanations or streaming forth of beams with their peculiar properties I have in few words written them in the precedent Chapter as for the rest I would have the Reader to know that those ten severall divine emissions of ten severall lights out of so many Sephiroticall or Cabalisticall spouts or channells into the vast cavity of the world to accomplish the will of the Creator have their particular angelicall waggoners or conductors for in this the best Theosophers agree that as the upper Order of the Angels do receive their light and bright emanations immediately from God so do they emit them and manifest them unto the inferiour Orders and for this reason they are called Mirrours because they receive their light from the face of God or his eternall catholick emanation which as I have proved before is the head and fountain of all these Angelicall lights And again as the secret Theologians have by their serious observation of the holy Bible espied ten distinct properties as also ten divers cognominations or Names of God appropriated unto them so they perceived that there was a singular Angel appointed to receive each of these emissions of beams endued with the self-same property or condition as the lights which they receive do possesse forasmuch as these Spirits do live and are animated by them being that as the externall of the Angell is a spirituall aire so the internall of it is the formall irradiation or emanation which is according unto Gods will emitted into it And this is a generall note amongst all the secret Theologians unto whom Bartholomaeus and St. Dennis do adhere touching this point that no Angell can intermeddle with anothers businesse or take upon him the work that belongeth unto another except it be such inferiour Angels as are destinated to serve under their Arch-angels in the same function or property as shall be said more at large We must therefore understand that the office of the great and catholick Angell Mitattron was so universall that it was employed first about the information of the whole world and the division of light from darknesse as also for the vivifying of the watry spirit of the world and the diurnall rouling about of the heavens And therefore it is said and not without a good cause That it was the divine and generall Emanation that is the eternall Sapience which for this reason is said to be created before all things by whom afterward all things were made or created And for this reason it is said That this Angel doth contain in it all the angelicall perfection no otherwise than the universall beams of the Sun are comprehended in the body of the Sun Wherefore we
unity and consequently of sympathy namely by making the catholick child of darknesse like it self and therefore to make two to compassionate each other But contrariwise that of darknesse is evermore enclined to make duality of unity and to breed discord by violating the bands of concord and so to procreate a new antipathy and hatred thereby to destroy the fruits of love So that the spirit which light hath redeemed out of the dark Chaos is the intermediate subject betwixt both the extreams that is to say between light and darkness and therefore is the passive subject ordained by the Creator to endure the impressions of each opposite extream whereupon it becommeth sometimes the subject of sympathy namely when it is obedient unto union and light and sometimes of antipathy to wit when it rebelleth against that light Thus do we see the true subject of all passion in the soul of the world and this was the onely reason why the Philosopher Heraclitus avowed with such confidence That all things were composed of strife and friendship and Empedocles That the soul was made of amity and enmity I will now therefore expresse unto you that concordant order which that eternall love who shined out from the Father of light and love hath put and placed in each region of this world to distinguish the two different natures from one another by placing between them an intermediate subject which doth agree with each extream And first I will speak of the orders in the universall spirit of the world and lastly of every particular vivified and inacted spirit as well in the intellectuall or emperiall as vitall or aetheriall and naturall or elementary heaven and that in order We must place the two opposite principles in this world in the two extreams of the semidiameter thereof and first we imagine the seat of the God of light or of the divine act to consist in the convexity of the higher and purer Orbe of the Angells or Emperiall Heaven I speak unto the vulgars understanding that is in the circumference of the vawted world and then we deem the throne of darknesse or the divine puissance to be in the center thereof as the furthest place from its opposite in nature which is light Here you may see the two principles of concord and discord of love and hatred and consequently of sympathy and antipathy of the effects whereof all the Scripture and each member of Philosophy is full The catholick matter which was originally extracted out of darkness namely the waters which was made the materiall substance of which the heavens and the earth were framed by the divine word doth occupy all that space which the world containeth was by the celestiall Alâ—himy or spagerick vertue of the divine illuminating emanation divided according unto the contrary and discordant natures of the said two principles into the upper waters and the lower waters whereof the first or higher waters were good and obedient unto the bright Divinity and were converted into a fiery nature being thereupon tearmed the Emperiall nature for their obedience unto the bright emanation were full of intellectual fire and angelicall light And therefore this portion of the waters was ordained for the seat of the good Angells The lower waters contrariwise as being fecall gross impure and therefore more rebellious unto light and obedient by participation unto darknesse were placed next unto their dark beginning namely the earth and did possess all that space between the starry heaven and the earth which is called Elementary and for this cause is subject to all changes of generation and corruption And this was ordained to be the seat of Satan and his angels which is for that cause called the Prince of this world the Prince of the aire and his prime subjects are called Principalities Potentates and Governours of this world Lo here the two extreams in the created nature from the upper whereof a generall sympathy and love or a Symphoniacall consent of things is made and effected in this world by the other namely the lower an universall Antipatheticall jar is by turns effected and intruded into the Symphoniacall accord of things in the lower world namely when the severe Attributes of God do rain down into the starry world influences of a contrary nature which afterward by their emissions unto the lower world give liberty and power unto the bad Angells to work their destructive and Antipatheticall effects on certain creatures thereof As for example the attribute ELOHIM doth send down into the starre or Planet of Saturn the fruits of his chill and frozen effects whereby the spirits of that Sphere are corroborated the which again do pour down their Boreall or Northern nature unto the spirits which are their Substitutes in the Elementary world to wit those which have power to harm by the Northern winds Hereupon Archangelus Cabalista Hoc nomen EL quod nos Deum habemus interpretatu omnia fovet omnibus succurrit summa pietate clementia id quod est illi proprium ideo illi gratia attribuitur At per ipsum nomen ELOHIM veniunt severa punitiones strages Angeli ei inservientes dicuntur BEN-ELOHIM i. e. filii ELOHIM ELOHIM ergo terrorem significat pavorem Hinc locus Aquilonaris ei assignatur à quo procedit omne malum This name or attribute EL which is by interpretation God doth foster or nourish all things and assisteth every creature by his piety and clemency which is appropriated unto him But by the name or Attribute ELOHIM come severe punishments and Straâ—agems and the Angells which are his Ministers to effect his will are called BEN-ELOHIM that is to say the sons of ELOHIM ELOHIM therefore signifieth terror and fear And for this cause the Northern quarter of the world from whence cometh all evill is assigned unto this property c. By this therefore we may discern how the spirits which are dispensatours as well of salutary as malevolent and destructive influences are in the mass of the lower Elementary waters whereby man and the other creatures of God may be either preserved or destroyed To conclude that middle spirit in the world called the Firmament which divideth both the extreamly-differing waters from one another and is that intermediate spirit of the world which doth equally participate and behold each extreme is the Centrall mansion of that eternall Spirit which emitteth his beams from his stately Solar or sunny palace even unto the Center of darkness and extendeth his emanation even unto the seat of Light which is his root for his brightness is emitted from the attribute ELOAH by the beautifull or glorious port or gate TIPHERETH which importeth grace beauty and pulchritude by the Angelicall order of the Virtues into that purified pallace of the Sun So that by his emanating presence he penetrateth every where and filleth all things by his presence and vivifieth all things by his Virtue and is the Father of life
greater and of more force by how much the nearer the spirits of the things either present or dispersed are in nature and consanguinity to one another As for example If that both be of one minier or thing in number also like specifick individualls though they differ in number as the Uznea fat or blood of one man do sympathise with another ad distans the Load-stone of one Mine may affect harmonically the Iron of another ad distans And I told you before the true reason thereof as well radicall as immediate namely because both the natures belong unto one divine influence or proceed from angelicall beams or an emanation sent forth from one and the same star as well fixed namely of the firmament or eighth sphear as erratick and planetary For I told you that there is not one animal or vegetable or mineral upon the earth or in the seas which hath not a peculiar star that poureth out upon him his proper influence as well to produce and generate its like and to continue it in succession as to preserve and maintain it in essence Now each angelicall nature hath his appropriated beams from the radicall emanation of some divine Attribute which conveyeth it to his destinated or starry store-house and from the Olympick spirits of that star it is sent down unto such spirits in the elements as are their inferiour ministers which operate according unto the self-same nature in each specifick and every individuall there As for example The stars in the Ram or Aries of the Zodiack have chiefest influence over such like cattle on the earth and the Scorpion over the like creeping things thereof the Crab over such like creatures of the sea for we finde by experience that if the Crab be taken when the Sun and Moon do joyne together according unto the Longitude or degree of the Aequinoctiall in which the great star of the celestiall Crab's claw is found it is of mighty vertue and power against poyson and if it be collected or taken at another time it will have but small effect Again we must note that each fixt star or constellation of the Zodiack hath his proper Planet whose peculiar House he is which concurreth in the fortification and alteration of that influence For the diversity of application of other Planets unto it doth cause a variety of operation even in the same animals sperm or plants seed and mettles secret spirit And yet howsoever they do more or less agree and sympathize in nature as the beams of each Planet so applying unto one another will give them leave for if the concurrence be between friendly Planets and of one and the same triplicity namely where their Houses are of friendly elements then the sympathy will be the stronger And thus much Agrippa doth seem to intimate in these words In rebus proprietates occultas non ab elementali natura sed caelitus in sitas sensibus nostris occultas rationi vix denique notas quae quidem à vita spirituque mundi per ipsos stellarum radios proficiscuntur quae à nobis non aliter quam experientia conjecturis indagarâ— possunâ— Scire ergo debes quod unaquaeqâ—e res movet ad suum simile incâ—inat aa seipsum secundum totum posse suum The occult properties in things which are not grafted in them by an Elementary nature but descend from heaven are hidden from our sâ—nses and scarcely known unto our reason Forasmuch as they are derived from the life and spirit of the world by the beams of â—he starrs the which cannot be otherwise scanned and found out by us than by experience and that conjecturally or by ghesse You must therefore know that every thing doth move unto his like and by all the means possible dâ—th incâ—ine unto it self c. Whereby he argueth that the catholick Angelicall spirit which vivifieth the world in whose Diviner part cosisteth the Sephiroticall power or Virtue of all the Divine Attributes in which also as Ezekiel testifieth is contained the virtues of the four wind is the main actor who by his severall subdivided emissions of diversly conditioned beams doth operate in and by his starry Organs all these occult and hidden effects below which cannot fall into the Sphere or capacity of a common man's understanding though by effect we find it to be thus and thus So that there is not a particular beam that is emitted from it which hath not a secret disposed act no otherwise varying from one another than by ocular experience we find the effects of them to differ For whatsoever was originally decreed in the secret Counsell of the Archetype is effected from a generality unto many Specialities and from each Speciality unto an infinit number of individuall particularities So that the aeviall or Angelicall effect is the image of the eternall Idea and the temporall world is the similitude of the aeviall and again in the temporall or typicall world every stellar shape is the likenesse or paterne of the Angelicall Idea and again the Elementary things are the shadows of the spirituall shapes or Images in heaven Wherefore as God sendeth out his Emanation which is his Image unto the Angelicall world in a diversity of fashions and multiplicity of respects So the Angelicall spirits do send out their severall different Lights unto each other namely every order unto his inferior and every upper Sphere unto the Spheres which are below them and so from the starrs whiâ—h also apply their lights unto one another by severall aspects infusing them in and upon the creatures by degrees downward even unto the very Center of the earth which creatures after the manner of their pattern do also shine forth unto one another by beams which are either Sympathetical and harmonious or Antipathetical and discordant to each other neither ought we to doubt that there are such agreeing and disagreeing beams here below seeing that in the fountain of Unity from whence all things do flow we observe an opposition of properties namely a privative Nolunty and a positive Volunty Nor yet ought we to deem otherwise then that the passive spirituall matter of the world's soul is the substject by which the Divine Virtue worketh and in which it stirreth up as well loving and positive or good and Sympatheticall passions by pouring out plentifully his positive and vivifying beams of life adding delight and joyes with a completion of the spirituall created matter 's appetite So that it forgetteth the rooted nature which its dark Parents or Mother Chaos and the Divine Puissance did in her nativity bestow upon it and is converted into a child of Light by adoption and therefore in this case it doth Sympathize with those golden showers of charitable and vivifying Light which are sent down from the benigne attributes of God and begins to hate and dread and lothe or eschew all such privative influences as are poured down from the severe insalutary and destructive attributes no otherwise then
Light flieth from darkness and being delighted at the presence of more light and life avoideth and hateth the presence of his contrary namely of death and evill Hence therefore it cometh that the children of Light which are grafted unto this catholick illuminated spirit do flie as from a pestilence the children of darknesse and their works And the reason is because this humid created spirit finding now the pleasure volunty and felicity of its illuminated estate is affraid least the privative beams of darkness or the dismall Emanations of God's wrath should dimm their light and obscure the brightness of life that is to say lest they should turn their Sympathizing passions of joy and gladness into the Antipathizing storms of sadness and mourning by sucking or contracting the beauteous Emanations of joy love and gladness from the Circumference into the Center of the Spirit and so deprive it of that salutary and sprightfull irradiation of love and life by hiding of God's face which he did emit from the Center to the Circumference of the creature to recreate and rejoyce it According unto that of Moses God forsakes the wicked and hideth his face from them that much evill may befall them Or unto that of David God hiding his face from the wicked they are troubâ—ed receiving their spirit they expire That is vexation and privative passions befall them which may also be understood of the catholick Microcosmicall wordl's spirit as of the Microcosmicall and other creatures all which have their beeing from the Macrocosmicall Spirit For when the Divine nature which animateth the Sun of heaven was displeased at the Passion of our Saviour it did Centrally withdraw his beamâ—s from it and it lost its beauty and became dark against the common course of nature So that the pleasant Sympathy which it produced by its presence unto the creatures beneath and in the heavens above was quite changed into Antipathy for a while This therefore was a privative passion in the heart of the great world or as a man may say a Syncope or swooning of the world when ELOAH did abstain for that season to pour forth his influence of beauty by the port of TIPHERETH Also that palpable darkness which happened in Egypt was a privative passion caused by the hiding away of God's face or by the contracting the beams of light within himself Such privative passions also are menaced unto the Sun Moon and Starrs towards the latter end of the world For if the world was made by the sending forth of God's bright Emanation for by the Spirit of the Lord the heavens were adorned as Job telleth us it followeth that by taking it away all will return again unto darkness and plain nothing or deformity even as it was before But this producing of good and Sympatheticall passions by emitting of light from the Center to the Circumference and again the effects of Antipatheticall passions which do oppose the concord and Sympathy of life is excellently described and painted forth by the due examination of the vital action in man For as there are noted to be in generall two severall active Virtues in man's spirit whereof the one is voluntary which is the Prince over the other and commandeth and moveth the inferior actions even as the Divine Angell Mitattron doth in the Primum mobile of the great world which is referred unto the Volunty and moveth by it the celestiall orbs and Elementary world so in the Microcosmicall Fabrick the first mover is that Divine mentall beam which is the head of man's soul and the other kind is involuntary because it is commanded and ruleth after the will of the intellectuall or rationall beam no otherwise then all the lower Orbs are constrained to move after the will of the mover in the Primum mobile So the vitall action in man is one of those branches which is involuntary and no otherwise subject unto the Volunty of the mental beam then the starry heaven which is the seat of life forasmuch as the Sun which is the heart of the world hath his residence there is commanded by the Emperyall Spirit Now as we find that according unto the will of the Divine essence poured out into the heavens and consequently here below as well joyfull and compassionate effects do spring from the positive and dilative property of Unity to recreate and stir up volupty and pleasure in the creature as also trist and sad effluxions proceeding from the contractive Virtue whereby God hideth the face of his benignity from the creatures and thereupon as well concupiscible as odible or irascible passions are caused in the world Even so we find it manifested as well by experience as by the observation of the learnedest in Physick and Philosophy that the vitall action which is over-ruled according unto the mind of the superior Volunty either is opened or enlarged by the dilative property of the first movers will and thereby openeth the cabinet of the heart to produce in the vitall spirit those good passions which Sympathize with life and light namely gladness hope confidence love miserecord and affability or it is contracted and thereby gathereth together also the spirits in the heart whereby is engendred in the vitall spirit such bad privative passions as do antipathise with those good ones which rejoyce and comfort the life and these passions are termed Antipatheticall because they are wholly contrary unto the nature of those which are good of which number proceeding from the hearts contraction are sadness care dispaire fear hatred anger furor bashfullness and so forth So that as by the former the spirit by dilatation did look up unto the Fountain of Light and did rejoyce to see the volupties and pleasure thereof So by the later the spirit was forced by contraction to be deprived from the vision of light and to look pâ—onely downward into the abysse of darkness and to participate with the dark passions thereof And by this decifering and opening therefore of the two opposit passions in the little world we may easily collect the reason and manner of them in the great world being that as eadem sit ratio parcis totius so also the passions of the great world may easily be considered by those of the little world As for example The Load-stone is in comparison of its mother earth even as man is to the whole world wherefore Man is called the Son of the world by Heâ—mes as Cardanus Bap. Porta D. Gilbert and others have made the Load-stone the child or son of the earth We find I say in the Load-stone all the passions as well sympatheticall as antipatheticall which do affect his mother earth for it hath his Poles with the earth and it escheweth all in conformity with the earth it flyeth from that which is contrary unto its nature And again doth sympathise with that which is its like it hath its Aequinoctialls Colures Meridians and Tropiâ—ks as the earth hath and in conclusion it argueth not onely