Fruits Grains or Seeds would answer the ravenous Appetite thereof and therefore it required Blood which is the highest Life in the humane Nature and cannot be procured but by Violence and has the nearest Affinity to the Wrath of any thing in the whole Creation whence it is said Blood requires Blood And this may be illustrated in every particular Man when he does suffer the fierce Wrath and Fire to burn in him he becomes like a raging Bedlam nothing can calm or satisfie him except he doth some Mischief kill and oppress for in such a Fit Blood and Revenge is sweet unto him and assoon as he has glutted himself with Blood that wrathful Property is satisfied And as it is thus in the little World the same is to be understood by way of Analogy in the great For this cause the Lord declared That whoever did kill a Man his Blood he would require at his Hands The Reason and Equity of which Law comprehends all Creatures and therefore it is said That Beast that shall shed Blood or kill any other Beast should be slain So that 't is without doubt the original cause of killing of Beasts and offering them in Sacrifice was to see whether it would have satisfied that fierce poysonous Wrath which Man had so terribly awakened by his Violence and corrupting the whole whence the Deluge proceeded But after the Flood which had so swept away all Mankind except eight Persons to prevent the like dreadful Judgment for the future Sacrifices and the Blood of Beasts was used to assuage the Wrath and to make atonement for the Sins of Men because the Blood of Beasts has both the nearest affinity to the original Properties of Man's Life and also to the awakened Wrath as well within as without him for Men cannot kindle the Wrath within themselves but they must do it without them also But â—â—ill the Scripture saith That the Blood of Bulls and the like would not satisfie the Justice and awakened Wrath of God nor make a perfect Atonement for the Sins of Mankind and therefore besides their daily Sacrifices the High Priest was once every Year to go into the second Tabernacle but not without Blood which he offered for himself and for the People Also it is said that the way into the Holiest Tabernacle of all was not made manifest whilst the first Tabernacle was yet standing whence it appears that all the Sacrifices and other Circumstances of Worship in the time of the Law did proceed from the Wrath especially Sacrifices and Killing which cannot flow from the divine Principle for that holy Principle of Love and Light was not manifest whilst the first Tabernacle did stand that is so long as the first Principle of God's fierce Wrath did predominate But all Sacrifices Violences and Killing do cease in all those whom the Lord doth appear to in the power of his Son Jesus Christ but so long as Men are captivated in the first Tabernacle of Wrath the Holiest of all is not manifest that is the holy and good Love of God in his Son is not known or manifested in them and therefore it is said Sacrifices and Offerings for sin thou didst refuse that is the divine Principle had no pleasure in Violence in the Blood of Beasts and Groanings of the Creation but then steps in the Holy Principle of Love and saith Lo I come to do thy Will O God! That is to destroy the Works of the Devil and establish everlasting Righteousness and he taketh away the first that is the kindled Wrath Violence and Oppression and establisheth the second that is his eternal Light and Love in Jesus Christ in whom alone he is well pleased which brings glad Tidings unto all Mankind and to the whole Creation especially if Men become the Sâ—â—s of God for then all the inferiour Creatures would be delivered into glorious Liberty It does appear by what the Apostle saith That all Sacrifices Killing and Blood of Beasts could not sufficiently appease God's Wrath nor reconcile Man unto God otherwise than as if one Man kill another the Blood of him that is slain doth call for Vengeance on the Slayer but all this while the Principle of God's fierce Wrath is by their violence and oppression increased and strengthened even so it was in all Sacrifices Men by their Violences had corrupted the Earth and awakened God's Wrath which called for Vengeance even as the Blood of a particular Man doth on a Beast for all kind of Violence be it either little or much doth call for vengeance and retaliation if not confessed repented of and by the power of the divine Love of God forsaken which holy Principle of God's eternal Love and Light in his Son was not manifest unto them as the Apostle saith because the first Tabernacle or Principle of God's Wrath had through their Cruelties and Evils gotten the Ascendent over them so that the divine Principle could not have its operation in them so long as they continued in their sins committing those Violences and Oppressions for the first Tabernacle or Wrath in Man must be done away before the second can take place that is before the holy Light of the Son of God can reign and rule in our hearts for nothing can allay overcome or make the stern fierce Wrath of the Father to bow or satiate its fiery hunger in Mankind but only the eternal Fountain of his meek Love in Christ from whom as the Scripture saith there does flow Rivers of living Waters which alone can allay the fiery Wrath and reconcile Men to the God of Peace and bring to nought the lofty proud violent Desires and vain Thoughts and Inclinations in Man and by its operation gives them an Eye of discerning to distinguish of God's Love and Anger in himself and makes the fierce harsh Fire of Wrath to burn more gentle so that instead of its raging Fierceness it becomes a meek and cherishing Fire which is the pleasant motion in every Life that tunes a Man up to an intellectual Harmony causing all the Properties and Qualities to kiss and incorporate with each other whence arises a most pleasant Crasis or Euphony of Temper Thoughts and Operations A Similitude whereof we have in a Musical Instrument that is skilfully tuned and plaid upon where there are various Strings and Notes whence proceed different Sounds but all conspiring to make up most ravishing and delightful Harmony the dull melancholy harsh jarring Notes of Saturn and Mars being made pleasant by the incorporating of the melodious Sounds of Venus Iupiter the Sun and Mercury Do not the Foundations of all Harmony both in Men and all other things arise from the Basis viz. from the first Principle or Tabernacle for if there were no Fire there would be no Light so if there were no Basis there could be no Trebbles or if there were yet there could be no Harmony if one were without the other What Harmony do Men make to themselves or others when
how the thing is in it self they themselves are as blind as Bats and the Reason is they are like the Old Hagg that Seneca somewhere mentions who never put her Eyes into her Head but when she went abroad Thus some of our silly Travellers will tell you forty Stories of France Spain and Italy but of the Rarities the Commodities the Manufactures the Laws and Privileges of England their Native Country they are utterly ignorant What a Madness is it for me with toil and hazard to ramble to the Ends of the Earth to dig in the Mines of Potosi or pick up the glittering Dirt of Guinea when God hath furnish'd me at home with a Soil that yields me precious Oar much more noble and useful Now that these Hear-say-Men or Book-Philosophers called The Learned are as ignorant as any nay commonly more than any others of the true knowledge of God in themselves appears undeniably by their walking contrary to the Ways of Vertue by their compelling and forcing others to their Self-invented Belly-Forms that are utterly destitute of the Life of Truth who do commit the greatest Outrages against God and against his People but chiefly the Learned It is they that set the Rabble on to torment the innocent and simple-hearted and all such as are of contraÌ„ry Forms to themselves All which are the Effects of the awakened fierce Wrath and does declare that the Devil and Hellish Powers do predominate in their hearts and that Love Mercy Meckness and doing as a Man would be done unto have no being in them and it will be so as long as Men prefer Vanity Tradition and their Belly before the Man that told the Woman of Samaria all things that ever she did which is Iesus Christ the true Light that enlightneth every Man that cometh into the World It was not therefore without deep Understanding that the more prudent in all Ages did esteem the knowledge of themselves before all other Attainments and recommended it as a thing principally necessary to every Man for all that do know the Power of God in themselves and are guided by the Voice of Wisdom and live in the friendly Love of God have abandoned and utterly exiled all Hatred Pride Malice Back-biting Fighting Killing Violence and Oppression whatsoever either of Man or Beast and in them meek innocent Dispositions and Inclinations do reign using and doing unto all Creatures as one would be used and done unto for Violence and all kind of Cruelty and Oppression is as contrary to such Natures as Darkness to Light And we may affirm That never any Men have harmed oppressed killed or used any kind of violence to any innocent Creature from the excitement or power of this Divine Principle Therefore let every one consider this they that find Hatred Envy the Spirit of Oppression and Violence to dwell in them may certainly conclude themselves in the fierce wrath of God for all such Dispositions and Inclinations do proceed from that dark Root of Bitterness which is all contrary to the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Great is the whole Mystery of Godliness but especially Christ manifest in the Flesh viz. That the eternal Love and Light of God should dwell essentially in man for after Man suffered his Will and Desires to enter into Vanity and Bestiality the Lord said It is not good nor safe for Man to be alone but promised him the Seed of the Woman the holy Principle of divine Light and Love which will bruise the head of the Serpent in all that adhere to and follow its Counsel that is it will destroy the works of the Devil and then all Violence and Oppression departs from that Man and that Saying is fulfilled The Lord is my Strength my Safeguard and Portion And every Man thus qualified is taught of God Iehovah is his Tutor and his Guide the mighty Counsellor so that he will no longer run after other Gods nor contend for any thing but Truth and Righteousness and to live a sober harmless innocent Life in the sight of God and Man and doing unto all as he would be done unto And such purified Souls amidst all the Hurries the Storms and Agitations of the World round about them do securely ride at Anchor in a blissful Calm and are satisfied with their Portions and know their Centre and to them all Contention ceaseth and there is Peace on Earth as in Heaven 9. There is no necessity for Mankind to oppress burry and kill the Beasts and eat their Flesh and Blood as many ignorantly affiâ—m crying out What shall we do with them They will over run us and eat us up if we do not kill and eat them But I answer That there is no sort of Cattel but is otherwise of use besides to be eaten and Horses are not eaten and yet what Nation complains of having too many of them But some will say Many of them are killed by Violence and Oppression which is confessed But if there were no Horses destroyed that way but used moderately and gently yet there would be no fear of having too many of them the like may be said of other innocent Creatures 10. The eating of Flesh and killing of Creatures for that purpose was never begun nor is now continued for want or necessity or for the Maintenance of Health but chiefly because the high lofty Spirit of Wrath and Sensuality had gotten the Dominion in Man over the meek Love and innocent harmless Nature and being so rampant could not be satisfied except it had a proportionable Food and of all others Flesh has the greatest affinity as is mentioned before And if all Men would refrain eating of Flesh there would be no cause for them to complain for want of Food for the Almighty has in all particulars been gracious and bountiful unto all Creatures but more especially unto Mankind for whom he hath spread a plentiful Table furnishing the whole Earth with a great multitude of variety of Herbs Fruits Grains and Seeds fit for Food which do afford a Nourishment of a most excellent Substance and far beyond Flesh as it doth appear by all that have applied themselves to such harmless innocent Foods especially in decayed Natures and sick as all with one voice consent as well the Learned as they call them as the Simple For when People are ill and Nature weakned with Distempers they all advise them to Pottages Grewels and various sorts of Foods made of Herbs Fruits and Grains but no Flesh must come near them during their Weakness Now if these Vegetables and Fruits do afford such an excellent nourishment and have such a natural and secret Power to help and recover Nature and restore lost Health and Srength how much more then shall they maintain and preserve it when it is restored But Flesh was never desired because Men found any defect in the nourishment of Vegetables and the like but because it hath a Simile with that unclean Nature and fierce Wrath that now became predominant
the sweet Oyl and Balsamick Virtues or Humour Radicalis turns sour and loseth its friendly Nature and Operation and the harsh astringent fierce original Poysons do rouse themselves raging and domineering and put Nature into an agonious Condition which can no way be allayed or moderated but either by the Secret and Divine hand of God which strengthens and raiseth up the half Dead or fading Oyl and wounded Spirit or by a Balsamick Medicine which may by simile incorporate it self with the wounded Spirits and Radical Moistures and so reinforce and restore them to their former strength and power and then immediately the raging Fury of the bitter astringent and sour Properties becomes moderated not annihilated and then the strife and contention of Nature ceaseth and the Cure is effected Therefore every Physician should understand how to prepare such a Medicine as can by its innate power and virtue thus incorporate it self and operate in raising up the languishing powers of Nature or else he is not fit to be called a Doctor The Old Physick-Mongers tell us that Mallows and Marsh-Mallows which differ but very little in their Qualities being variously applyed will cure near Fifty Diseases or Defects of Nature which are generated and do proceed from as various Causes and as Different Matters Seeds and Radixes but how unlikely improbable nay impossible it is that one Herb should effect so many Disagreeing Cures let Reason and Experience judge Infinite almost is the variety of Constitutions whence the same Intemperances that will load one man with fat and phlegmy gross moist Humours occasioning various Dropsical Diseases will in another produce Leanness and Consumption Much drinking of Wine and Srong Liquors puffs up some Bodies and wears away others And the same is to be understood of all things in the Vegitable Animal and Mineral Kingdoms therefore there is an absolute necessity to study to know the Properties and Qualities of a man 's own individual and specifick Nature and Complexion and not rely upon and trust to the adulterated Medicines ahd phantastick Directions of ignorant Physicians there being nothing that brings so many both Natural and Divine Benefits unto a man as the true knowledge of himself and is yet the least minded of any thing in this World What pains and slavery do Youth undergo to learn a few strange Words be able to tell the Name of a thing in Latine and Greek or three or four Languages and when all 's done they know not one Tittle more of the Essence Nature or Use of the Thing than if they had called it in plain English as their Granum does What Drudgery do they submit unto to learn some ordinary Mechanick Trade which yet in general are more laudable by half because more useful than many of those Crafts which idle men call Sciences others run all sorts of hazards the Scorchings of the Tropicks or the Ice of the Northern Pole cannot affright them they 'l venture into New Worlds and become acquainted with Stars that never peep'd into our Hemisphere only to get a little useless uncertain perishing and many times harmful and destructive Riches They 'l be acquainted at Iava and Iapan the Streights of Gibaltore and the Bay of Mexico but all the while are meer Strangers at home to understand their own Constitution to know what is good and profitable for the Conservation of their Being how to preserve their Body in Health and their Mind in Serenity to make their Lives truely comfortable and their Deaths happy These are things that scarce any man studies for or labours after Greedy we are to amass White and Yellow Dirt and fill our Houses with that Lumber which sillily we call Goods but utterly neglect the true Knowledge of God and Nature in a Man's self which does furnish one with all kind of profitable and permanent Riches Pleasures and Delights both of Time and Eternity and which yet are so easie to be acquired as we need not serve an hard Apprenticeship or hazard our Health or Life by Sea or Land to obtain it But the Minds of people are set wholly upon outward Trumpety admire nothing but Shews and Titles and Vanity Money and Babylonish Learning are their Idols If a Fantastical Blade in a Velvet Iacket tells the people that one Herb will cure a hundred various Diseases in as many particular people of contrary Complexions and Natures though he himself with that Herb or any other cannot cure one of them or if he bids them jumble an hundred things together most of them being of contrary Qualities and tells them 't is an excellent Medicine though he knows not the true Nature of the several Parcels much less the Qualities of the Whole yet all is swallowed as an Oracle his Authority is not to be disputed he was a great Man could speak several Languages and was such a King's Doctor and has writ abundance of Books and keeps his Coach and has got a bushel of Money by his Practice Will you question such a man's Iudgment Whereas if we may speak a bold Truth 't is certain there have been in all Ages a sort of a Letter-Learned Curers of both the Souls and Bodies of men which have proved the Pests the Vermine and Evil Savage wrathful Beasts of the Earth that have destroy'd all the good Fruits of God in this World and as soon as such good Fruits begins to bud in mankind are ready with the Beetle of Aristotle or Aquinas an Old Aphorism or a New Canon to beat it down under their feet and extinguish it These are the AEgyptian Necromancers that bewitch poor people to admire and run after them and like our common Vagabond Gypsies the intent and design of all their Canting and their Skill is to have their hands crossed with a piece of Silver or Gold and to juggle your Money out of your Pockets For to gain the greater Veneration and Esteem they have invented abundance of hard Words or speak in unknown Tongues making the people believe thereby that they know the more of God and Nature Whereas they are only Changers of Words and know nothing of the Inward Virtue and Life of things whether Divine or Natural If a man could name any particular Herb or Disease in an hundred several Languages what would this better him as to the Inward Virtue of that Herb or the Nature and Cure of that Disease All Languages are but one in the Root und therefore to speak with several Tongues has never been known to make a man wise where a good natural Genius is wanting But unto the Study and Knowledge of God and his Divine Principles of Love and Light I recommend all the Lovers of Wisdom which is sufficient to teach them all things Divine and Natural and to heal all their Diseases for so saith the Kingly Prophet David Psal. 107. 20. The Lord sent his word and healed them and delivered them from destruction And again Psal. 30. 17. I cryed unto the Lord
natural heat burns but dully 2. But if the Sweet Quality be joyned with this and hath an equal share of government then such People are of pleasant merry tempers apt to laugh of easy Faith and a small occasion will move them out of one thing into another not fixed nor of any depth search or understanding apt to speak much but not wise being like Children laugh and cry all in a breath very good to carry Tales and Stories from one to another 3. But if the Bitter Quality doth predominate equally with this and the Sweet weak or underneath then such People are bestial hard-hearted cruel inhuman Swearers Lyars and the like fit for all robustick dirty killing Imployments but they are of stronger Constitutions than the former and healthier and also of better and quicker Apprehensions but of very ill Tempers 4. But if the saltish or astringent quality doth predominate and have an equal share in government and the Sweet Quality weak then this sort of People are not so corpulent nor fleshy but taller and more slender of Stature of sour Countenances and Dispositions cunning in Words and Deeds apt to Dissemble and Lye they are also apt to bear Malice having two Faces the Diseases they are subject to are the Stone Wind-Colick Consumptions and many windy Diseases and Infirmities if Temperance be wanting many of this sort of People are also great drinkers 5. When this Sour Quality doth predominate in any Beast then such are of a dull heavy Disposition and Spirit apt to have great bellies and slow in motion If in Horses they are neither handsom nor free dull Eyes and great Heads If in Cows their Milk is not so good as others being thin If in Herbs or Fruit then their taste is some-what unpleasant harsh and sour and their Colour is of a dark Green Of the Astringent or Saltish Quality 1. When this Quality doth predominate in any Person they are of a tall Stature and for the most part slender but of a swarthy pale or muddy Complexion rather Lean than Fat generally of hardy strong Constitutions and also of good Apprehensions when this sort of People do apply themselves to the learning of any Art they attain to an excellent Understanding therein being fixed in those things they resolve on 2. But if the Bitter Quality doth equally govern in the Body and Senses and the Sweet Quality weak then such People are very sordid Lyars Swearers Gluttons Drunkards inclined to all kind of robustick Plays and Games as Ringing Bull-baitings Bear-baitings to follow Drums and Fencers and the like evil Communications having strong Bodies and fierce savage bestial Spirits and abusers of Women 3. But if the Sweet Quality doth interpose and the Bitter and Astringent weak then such Persons are more moderate in Words and Works ingenious apt to learn of good Understandings and of handsom healthy Bodies 4. But if the Sour be joyned in government with the Astringent then such People are more gross and Phlegmatick and not so quick of Apprehension slow of Motion and of sordid Dispositions 5. Also it is to be noted when this Astringent quality doth predominate in any Beast then they are large big boned strong and heady but not free of motion but cunning and sullen When in Herbs and Fruit they are tall but not handsom their taste is harsh hard and unpleasing they are good against the Diseases of the Phlegmatick and Sanguin Complexions if the Saturnine Venoms thereof be corrected This is a short Description of the four grand Qualities and their natural Operations But this I would have every one consider and be sensible that their Influences are not compelling on Men as they are on Beasts except Men live as Beasts viz. in the power and operation of the bestial Nature as many Thousands do and far worse whence proceed those violent and cruel disorders in the World But those who do turn the Eye of their Mind inward and search and find themselves and come to distinguish the secret workings of God and Nature and hearken unto the Voice of the Divine Principle which is the holy Oracle that will teach every one in all particulars what is right in the sight of the Lord and the contrary the fear of the Lord and the true knowledg of God in a mans self and thereby furnish every one with virtue strength and power to resist every evil Influence though it proceed from the most harsh and worst of Complexions it will also teach him to tune and bring all the four Qualities into an equal accord even as a skilful Musicianer composeth a harmonious consort in the variety of parts or as he by skill tunes his Instrument for the most skilful Musicianer in the World can make no harmony if his Instrument be not in tune all the various Notes and Tones of an Instrument most incorporate in each other or else no Harmony can be made even so it is with the Qualities in a Man it is as possible for him that hath learned himself to tune himself and compose all the properties of Nature and to play on them as a Musicianer doth on his Instrument so great is the power of Man if he cast his Will and Desire into the divine Principle and Love of God which is able to tincture and change the worst Complexion and convert it into its own Nature therefore let no man dare to say and complain that the Lord hath dealt hardly by him that he hath made him of the harsh wild Nature And though it be true that many men as their Natural Qualities are sordid and wild yet nevertheless they have the true Tincture that can transmute and change all sorts of Metals into the finest Gold even that very Word of the Lord that made and formed all things which doth enlighten every man that cometh into the World and blessed are all those that are obedient and follow its Counsel of what Complexion soever they are the Blessing of the Lord is with them Thus having treated of the four grand Qualilies I shall now proceed to discover the four Complexions which proceed there from and to what Virtues Vices and Diseases each of them are most subject Of the Cholerick Complexion The Cholerick Complexion answereth to Fire and that sort of People which are dignified with it are of a strong Body and lively active Spirit quick both in doing and apprehending of any thing free in Speech and of all other action apt to Wrath and Passion quickly affronted but because the Fire in them burns fierce their Passions are quickly over not subject to retain Anger nor premeditate Revenge they are of a hardy strong Nature generally of good Apprehensions and Witty but more or less so according to the strength or weakness of the predominant Constellation at their Birth If People of this Complexion do observe the rules of Temperance and keep themselves within the bounds of Sobriety then they are some of the Healthiest of men But many
Drink ought to be drank sparingly by such as regard their Health It is also to be noted that not only strong Drinks but all other things have an Operation on the Spirits and Bodies of Men whether Meats Drinks Air Exercise or Communication were it not so Man could not be altered within for better or worse But what a sensible change do we find in our selves many times between a dull heavy Day and a brisk clear Sun-shiny Morning Every thing be it what it will has a power of influencing and varying us which the Apostle seems to take notice of when he saith Evil Communication corrupts good manners and the Psalmist where he affirms With the Froward thou shalt learn Frowardness The Original of all good or evil Tempers and natural Inclinations are according to the Nature of that form and property that did predominate at the Conception and Birth and are made either better or worse according to the good or ill Custom of the Place and People they communicate with or the Imployments they are put to and the Meats Drinks Exercises and Air they are used to Take two Youths one of the Sanguine Complexion the other of the Cholerick put the first to a Butcher Car-man Waterman or any such robustick Trade the second to a Shop-keeper Merchant or some such neat Profession and in a little time the Sanguine Lad will become more Cholorick and the Cholerick more Sanguine But note there is a two-fold possibility of altering and changing either for the better or the worse First Natural as the free Will shall consent to either Evil or Good one being as near to man as the other who being a compleat Image or Epitome of all things their true Natures being contained in him therefore he is both capable and liable to be influenced and wrought upon by every thing it meddles or communicates with as is seen in Soldiers most of them when raw and at tâ— first Fight are timerous and very apprehensive o 〈…〉 ger but after they are once flesht in Blood and Slaughter they become unconcerned and remorsless and can kill men with as little trouble or regret of Mind as a Butcher does Sheep and Oxen without having any particular Quarrel or Enmity but even in cold Blood so great is the Power of Imployment For as Fighting and Killing of men is the work of the fierce Wrath of God in men and so soon as you consent with your Will to enter upon this wrathful Imployment the center of the dark strong Wrath is awakened and by a little custom and use it becomes ten-fold stronger than at first then all doing as one would be done unto and Tenderness and Compassion are laid aside as if never any such Notion or Principle had been planted in Man The very same happens in other Imployments that Quality which therein predominates awakens and strengthens its Simile for which reason in former Ages some that have written Romances and Love-stories in a passionate and pleasing Style and lively Representation have been banisht for their labour their Works proving of very evil and fatal Consequence to Young and Amorous Minds for all Books be they what they will do bear the Image and Figure of the Spirit of him that wrote them and so much the more as the Imagination of the Author is more strong which in this sort of Writers and Poets c. use to exceed and if such Books be read with attention and inclination then they awaken and strengthen such a like Propensity in the Reader as was in the Writer be it either good or evil Therefore the perusal of all Play-Books Romances and Love-stories have and do prove very injurious to such as mis-spend their time therein it is like playing with Edge-Tools at first they are innocent and think no harm that look into them but after a while if it take with their Affections the case is altered they make a real change in the whole Bodâ—â— â—nd Mind the Thoughts are all taken up with tho◠〈…〉 itching Idea's and thay prove leading Cards to many real Evils and Temptations The Son must needs fall in Love with and Marry the Chamber-maid and the young Lady run away with the Coach-man or the more impertinent Chaplain only to act over some of those fine Intrigues which they admired with such delight in Sidney's Arcadia or the grand Cyrus 'T is sottish Ignorance that makes some say What hurt can these external things or Food Communication c. do unto us For they never consider that every thing has power to open its own Principle the understanding of which ground was the Original cause of Moses's Law of Cleanness and Separation and the occasion of the Abstinence of all the wise Men in former Ages from this or the other sort of Food Drinks Habits and Communications for they saw the inward Power and Sympathetick Drawings of every thing and therefore wise Pythagoras the better to draw the wild barbarous Nations to the practice of this profound Philosophy insinuated into them the belief of a Transmigration or shifting of the Souls of Men when they dyed into other Creatures as Cows Horses or the like with which Opinion being once possest they would neither oppress nor kill any sort of Beasts or living Creatures for then they believed they should do Violence to their departed Friends viz. Fathers Mothers Children c. Through which Conceit and Custom they were not only much brought off from their former Cruelty and Barbarity but betook themselves to the more wholsom eating of Fruits Herbs and Grains so that this wild savage People became Merciful and full of Humanity And some of this sort of People do continue this Custom and Law unviolated to this day in some parts of the East-Indies 2dly The Grace holy Light and Love of God of which the Lord hath given a measure or portion to every individual Person as St. John saith The Word of God which made all things and without it nothing was made this same Word is the LIGHT OF MEN and doth enlighten every man that cometh into the World This pure Spirit of Life hath power to tincture and change all evil Inclinations and harsh Tempers which do arise from the malignant Configurations of the predominant Constellations and Complexions if man gives up his Will and is guided by its Counsel This holy Light and Word is the Essential Life and Living Power of all things the Eye of the Mind by which man is able to distinguish the Good from the Evil in himself and also in all other things according to the measure he hath thereof and the knowledg he hath of himself It is also the true Balsamick Virtue from whence all Friendlyness doth proceed not only in Man but in all other things according to their respective Degrees and Natures is likewise the Moderator and Qualifier of the fierce fiery harsh Brimstone Spirit and in what Complexion soever this pure Life and Power does predominate that Person by
done by others so that there is no boubt to be made of the matter of fact The very same sympathetical Power have all other things though in some it be more Occult. What man in the World would believe the attractive Inclination which the Loadstone has upon Iron if it did not appear to his sight All or most men of Reason believe that the Constellations Signs and Elements have a particular and also a general Influence on all Inferior Earthly Bodies which is apparent to all our Senses varying Times and Seasons Night and Day making the Earth fruitful and the contrary and do not our Bodies alter as the Elements do And as the Influences of the Sun vary so do all things under Heaven How verdent and sprightly does our Mother Earth appear in fresh and rich Emdroideries and all the Trees in new Perriwigs and Flowers springing and wanton Birds with inimitable Harmony seem to welcom the approach of that great Eye of the World when he begins to renew his Visits to us in the Spring and all Creatures look blyth and jolly and the Blood capers in Youthful Veins and nothing appears in Natures universal Face but Smiles and Gallantry On the contrary when he with draws his vivifying Beams and retreats to the Chambers of the South how dull and dejected does every thing become and Fields and Trees stript of their Ornament and Beauty languish like forsaken Lovers and appear forlorn as hopeless Prisoners and Melancholy as old Age Nay if under the Protection of Truth we might Alarum lazy Tradition with a bold Paradox without dreading Excommunication from the Vertuoso for advancing Heresies in Philosophy I would add that Inferiors counter-act on Superiors as well as Superiors on them that all things in this lower World have the like Influences on the Coelestial Bodies and Elements as the Coelestials have on Sublunaries and Terrestrials and that this mutual Influx they have one upon the other by a certain natural Attraction and sympathetical Inclination Thus the wonderful and wise Creator has endued every thing with an Attractive and Influential Vertue and hence it often comes to pass that the Sons of Men by their Unclean Conversations do awaken and stir up the Wrath of the Coelestial Bodies and by a secret and yet powerful Attraction draws down the malignant Configurations which sometimes cause Epidemical Diseases at other times Wars Famine c. all according to the Nature of the Evils or Property of Nature that was awakened As for Example If the People of any Town or City give way to Uncleannesses in Meats Drinks c. and addicted to the Impurities of Venus as most such places are then by mutual Inclination the like Property in the Coelestial Bodies and Elements are excited and by degrees contaminate the whole Atmosphere or parts of the Air next the Earth with Pestilential Poysons causing Botches Boils Venerial Diseases Fevers and Plagues all according to the degree of the awakened Wrath and the length or shortness of the time of its operation for all Plagues and Pestilential Airs caused by Uncleanness do by degrees corrupt the pure Spirits or venerial Properties in the Body for whensoever this sweet Quality is violated the Distempers thence arising will for the most part manifest themselves in Botches Boils Scabs or Leprosies and Spots in the Flesh often accompanied with general Weakness and a decay of the Radical Moisture But if the Properties of Saturn and Mars be so violently stirred up or awakned and the fierce Storms of Nature do predominate in the Hearts and Souls of Men then follow Tumults Wars Burning of Towns and Cities and such like Calamities and Devastations For Mens evil Words and Works and Unmerciful Cruelties certainly awaken the Wrath of God in the Stars and Elements and hasten on Judgments No Man or Nation can escape the great Law of Retaliation which the Creator ordained in the beginning for Moses's Law was the greatest and most excellent of all Laws because it was built and had its Root in Nature therefore whensoever the Iews observed it they were sure of being blessed for Those that were obedient thereunto did preserve the Camp of the Lord from being defiled The Camp of the Lord is Man and if Man keep himself from being defiled he will not awaken the Wrath of God in the Stars and Elements but as he keeps himself clean and from doing Violence and obeys the Voice of Wisdom and follows the friendly Counsels of the divine Principle of God's eternal Love and Light then 't is most certain that by a secret power he will awaken the benevolent Properties of the Coelestial Bodies and Elements and attract their propitious Influences For the Lord promised to such as were obedient the Dew of Heaven but when they became Rebellious Unclean and Intemperate then the Lord permitted the Evil Configurations and Influences of the Coelestial Bodies to take place and many sore Evils and Calamities they endured This the Scriptures of Truth do testifie and indeed it cannot be otherwise for it is the Eternal Law of God in Nature That whatsoever Property or Principle Men do awaken and enter into with their free-will whether it be good or evil the same grows strong and he is comprehended by it and swallowed up in it and made a subject unto that Kingdom and this both in the particular and in general as Experience teaches for whensoever any particular Man gives way to any particular Evil that is a sin against God and his Law in Nature and shall continue in the same without Repentance 't is certain he will pull down the Judgments upon himself but as Mens Sins and Transgressions are not alike so neither their Rewards or Punishments This is further manifested by Mens Words and Works doth not every word carry the Power of its Principle whence it had its birth For that Property that was predominate in the Word Sound or Tone the same or the like Quality it does stir up and awaken in those to whom the Words or Discourses are directed whether it be good or evil if the Words are formed by the Saturnine Property then they awaken Envy Contention and a Morose Dogged Humour If they proceed from Mars then the fierce wrathful Fires are excited and so of the rest For if it were not so an Angry Word would not have any power to move them to Anger to whom it is directed nor would Loving Speeches beget Love nor a Meek Answer according to Solomons Observation Turn away Wrath But as one Man has power to stir up and awaken Love or Anger in another by his Words and Works the same is to be understood in all other things for there is a proportionate similitude between Men and the Coelestial Bodies and Elements Man being not only an Image and Likeness of God and Nature but the Horizon of both Worlds in which the Superiour and Inferiour Natures are conjoyned and the Son of the Stars and Elements so that there is a power
be pronounced Unclean and must pass through Purification Now if there were no possibility of Catching the Disease and Uncleanness that the Sick was infected with wherefore should this great Philosopher and Illuminate of his Age who saw with divine Eyes into the Secrets of Nature command his People to observe so many Circumstances which were not only difficult but chargable to them Certainly if it had not been some real benefit to them it would have been the greatest Folly to command them so punctually and punish them for not observing and obeying those Rules But far be it from us whatever the foolish World may dream to harbour such thoughts of the Law of God and his holy Prophet That Law had its Foundation from the Center of Nature and to demonstrate the same we must treat of the Punishment of Uncleanness and on the other side of the Excellency of Cleanness and Purity the handling of which will give satisfaction touching the things proposed to be discussed in this Chapter 1. All created things in the Animal Vegetable and Mineral Kingdoms do proceed from One only ground and though the multitude and variety of them be beyond any human Number or Comprehension yet each and every one of them doth in one degree or other contain the true Nature and Property of the whole but more especially the humane Nature for every Property has a Central Being in Man both the Good and the Evil. But the Properties and Qualities are not in each Man alike but varied in some one quality of Nature is strong in others another whence proceeds the difference of Mens Inclinations Dispositions Love and Hate and that Property which is strongest in the Radix oversways and governs the whole Life Yet even that which is weakest in the human Nature is capable by the accession and assistance of its Similies to be made and grow very strong and on the contrary strong Inclinations and Properties are made weak all acoording to Time Place Imployments and Communications or a Mans joyning himself with this or the other thing For this cause the Philosophical Ancients made distinction of things some being Clean others Unclean betwixt which they commanded a separation should be made but few in this blind Age do understand or regard the same though there be scarce any sort of Learning more necessary For those secret conveyances of Vertue and Vice Cleanness or Uncleanness or the transferring of Distempers from one to another is done after an hidden imperceptible manner by way of Spirits Glances and Rays The natural Spirits in Men being so subtle and penetrating as they powerfully search into all things so that a Man cannot touch any thing though it be ever so Impassible or hard as Iron Stone or the like but these nimble Scouts do not only penetrate it but are more or less retained thereon if this were not so the Dog would not find the Stone his Master throws among many others nor follow him unseen by his Foot-steps nor could the deep-mouth'd Hounds trace the light-heel'd Hare in all her doubles and windings and tho' she run so swift as if she scarce toucht the surface of the Grass yet she leaves real Effluviums and Impressions enough to betray her to those persuing Enemies Nothing can hold or withstand the Spirits they are so thin quick and piercing no Iron Stone or Wood can resist them but they penetrate and search the depth of all things and also will incorporate with those hard Substances and if so how much must they be imbib'd by Beds where People lie warm and sweat and where the Air cannot come with its refreshing Influences to cleanse and purifie those grosser Excrements the Vehicles or Lodgings of malignant Spirits that are continually breath'd forth by all Infirm Persons which are so much the more retain'd therein because all Feathers are of an hot sulpherous unclean Nature and therefore more disposed to entertain and wellcome such unclean fulsom Vapours which are presently awakned when others come to lie in such Beds and readily enter and penetrate all parts of their Bodies even to the very Center and especially if it happen as often it does that such Persons succeed to lie in such Beds as have but weak Heats and few Spirits and under the Dominion of theirs who lodg'd there before then those pernicious Vapours and Spirits more violently seize them and incorporate with their Similes and quickly awaken the sleeping Poysons and infect the whole Mass of Blood and thence flow Diseases the most dangerous of all others because they weaken and cramp Nature by degrees stealing on gently and mildly destroying the Health before People are sensible for when once any begin to feel them then commonly they are grown incurable neither do the Physitians know what to administer because they do not know whence such Distempers proceeded But on the contrary those People that have strong Spirits and natural Heats and who have Dominion over the Spirits of such diseased Persons as they shall lie with or after or whose predominant Qualities in their Radix are of a contrary Naure are nothing so subject to catch or receive Injuries this way because they resist and repel such ill Vapours and Spirits that they cannot enter or wound them For as Diseases are received by Simile and being weak under the dominion of the distempered Persons so on the other side may those ill Rays be withstood by Antipathy so as they cannot enter the Center of Life by which means the Radical Moisture and Balsamick Vertues are preserved Hence many do commit great Uncleannesses and lie in all manner of Beds and with People that are infected with loathsom Diseases and yet are not sensibly toucht but as we use to say The Pitcher never goes so oft to the Well but it comes home crackt at last So even these VIGOROUS Constitutions must expect by degrees to be debiliated and at last become liable to the like Impressions as well as others I am not ignorant that many People will be very incredulous in these matters 't is true they believe that the Plague Small-Pox the Itch and other Mangy and Leprous Distempers are catching because the Effects immediately follow and they see them externally in the Flesh therefore most Persons do both fear and shun communicating and lying with such but as to all inward Diseases of various Kinds and Natures few or none either fear or regard them not imagining that there is any danger of Contracting those Distempers by conversing or lying with or after those that are so internally diseased But I must be free to tell them that all inward Diseases as Consumptions Ptysicks c. are of a far more dangerous consequence as to Health than Itchy or Leprous Distempers the one being outward the other inward the one hid and hard to be discovered till it is too late but the other manifest and more easily cured And Nature has the same power to receive inward Distempers as outward but whereas
Treatise occasionally mentioned Flesh and that vulgar eating thereof is prejudicial yet we esteem it a matter of such Importance as deserves to be particularly and distinctly treated of in a Chapter by it self For there is greater Evil and Misery attends Mankind by killing hurrying and oppressing his Fellow-Creatures and eating their Flesh and that without distinction than is generally apprehended or imagined Man's strong Inclinations after Flesh and his making so light and small a matter of killing and oppressing the inferior Creatures does manifest what Principle has got the Dominion in him for had Man continued in the pure Law of God and lived in the power of the humane Nature and followed the Voice and Dictates of the Divine Principle which he was created to live in he would have been far from oppressing killing or eating the Flesh and Blood of the Beasts which was not allowed him in the beginning for Man was created to be obedient and to live in the power of the Divine Principle and therefore was put into a Garden amongst innocent Herbs Fruits and Grains which were intended and ordained for his Food and was forbidden that Fruit in which was manifest Good and Evil which should not have been awakened and made manifest in Men for all Hurrying Hunting Oppressing and Killing be it in what kind you will arises from one only Ground viz. from the wrathful Powers of Nature Now Herbs c. have an innocent Original and no Power to awaken or kindle any other Properties but what are like themselves but the Beasts are equally endued with Wrath Revenge Hate Envy Love and indeed with all the wrathful and sensual Passions For which cause their Flesh especially when unclean and Blood was so strictly forbidden by the holy Ancients for the humane Nature ought not to have incorporated it self with the bestial otherwise God would have indulged man the freedom of eating of Flesh in his first estate since he loves it so well but on the contrary the Diet prescribed him was this Every green Herb shall be unto thee for Meat There was no mention made or thoughts of Flesh. 2. It should be considered That Flesh and Fish cannot be eaten without violence and doing that which a man would not be done unto and making destruction of God's Creatures which are generally more profitable living than dead as Cows and Sheep which are the Creatures most eaten Now killing not only of those of our own kind but also of any other Creatures came in with the Transgression for Man was not made to be a Tyrant unto the rest of God's Creatures nor to live in the wrathful bestial Nature but in love and meekness to have dominion over all things for their good and to maintain Unity and Concord which can never be done unless he live in the Spirit of Love and Meekness whence ariseth that noble Vertue Compassion which opposeth all Violence as much as the Night doth the Day This all the wise Ancients understood but more especially the most learned and illuminate Prophet Moses who did use all possible Means both Natural and Divine to bring the Children of Israel off from eating of Flesh as appears first in their forty years Travel in the Wilderness during which they were not commonly admitted to eat Flesh as appears by their Murmurings after the Flesh-pots of Egypt which when the Lord heard he said unto Moses Give them Flesh. Moses answers Shall we kill our Flocks and Herds or where shall we have Flesh to feed this Multitude Which shews they did not use to kill and eat the Beasts in their March towards the Holy Land for if they did why then do they complain for want of it 'T is true the Lord gave them Flesh but it was in his Wrath and to their Destruction For they had awakened the Centre of Wrath which provoked the Lord for Flesh cannot be otherwise procured but this they ought not to have done for the Lord had brought them out of Egypt by his mighty Power that is out of the Vanity Violence and Oppression for so Egypt rightly signifies and the Wilderness does intimate the Path and Way of Regeneration that leads all that persevere in Self-denial to the holy eternal Land of Peace that flows with Milk and Honey Therefore none ought to look back or murmur that are once got through the Red-Sea lest they fall as the Children of Israel did and become like Lot's Wife Monuments of Vengeance 3. All kind of Violence whether towards our own kind or upon inferior Creatures and whether little or much does wholly arise from the awakened Wrath of God in Nature and from the very same Root does proceed all Back-biting Envy Strife Rancor and Contention and whatever else a Man can think of that is of that Nature there being but one only Foundation that does generate Discord and Inequality amongst all Creatures and whenever any man does hurt oppress kill or speak evil of any other Creature it proceeds from this original Spring of Wrath. On the other side from the Divine Principle of God's eternal Light and Love doth arise and flow as from an inexhaustible Fountain all Friendly Qualities Love Good-Will Meek innocent Compassion courteous Dispositions and Inclinations and whatever can be called or deserves the Name of Good No man did ever strike oppress use violence to or kill either Man or Beast from the excitement and power of this friendly Principle for all Contention Strife and Cruelty is as contrary to the Nature and Operation of this Principle as Light is to Darkness but from this Divine Fountain in Man does proceed that great Law of doing unto all Creatures as a man would be done unto which cannot therefore admit that any Violences or Injuries should be done unto God's Creatures either superior or inferior This our great and blessed Law-giver Iesus Christ did demonstrate whilst he was in the humane Property for all his Practices Examples Discourses and Preachings unto Mankind were tending to lead them into Peace Meekness and Unity and therefore he said unto Peter Put up thy Sword for my Kingdom is not of this World that is My Kingdom does not consist in Wrath Enmity Oppression Cutting off of Ears and Killing but in Peace Love and Concord So likewise have all the holy and enlightned Men in all Ages both by speaking and writing declared against Violence and endeavoured all that in them lay to draw all men to Unity which was the first state of Man and which he lost by suffering his Will and Desire to enter into Violence and Inequality viz. into dark Wrath which presently causeth uneven operations in his Soul which our Saviour Christ came to seek and to save that is to draw the Soul of Man back again out of Egypt through the Red Sea and Wilderness into the Land of Promise a state of Innocency and Unity For except Man do again depart from all Violence and from under the Government of the Spirit of Oppression and
Blood so let forth was to be buried in the ground or burned and so the bestial Spirits prevented from Evaporations or incorporating themselves with the Air and consequently from entring into and infecting the humane Nature with their wrathful Effluviums and dreadful Species that the Blood of all Creatures are full of when killed in their health and perfect strength The greatest Excellency and common Virtue of men's eating much Flesh and Fish is that it makes them surly robustick sordid and of cruel inhumane Dispositions and Inclinations it being the most proper for Soldiers Hunters Moss-Troopers and all such as would have the bestial savage Nature strengthened and encreased and have a mind to be Lions and Devils not only to their own kind but all other Creatures and so long as People give their Wills up unto the fierce proud wrathful poysonous Nature we may not expect any other Trade to be driven amongst us whence we sind that the meek friendly Principle is trodden under foot Compassion has little or no place in Man farther than it is a Custom and he seems wholly given up to Rapine Oppression and Wickedness Whereas on the contrary Herbs Fruits Grains and many other the like innocent sorts of Food are more pleasant to the Eye of a better Scent and Smell afford a more grateful Taste to the Palate Nourishment finer and of better Substance to the Stomach they are of an easier Concoction breed better Blood are much more readily procured the Creation groans not or sighs there 's no Pain Violence or Cruelty committed in the Use of them they generate purer Spirits and make the Body lightsome and pleasant free the Mind from Dulness Care and Heaviness quicken all the Senses make a good Understanding preserve Innocency increase Compassion Love Humility and Charity give the Spirit of distinction between Good and Evil Clean and Unclean and help us with many opportunities for the study of all true Wisdom both of God Nature and our selves In a word the Virtues both Divine and Natural that follow Abstinence and Cleanness are not to be numbred many of them I know by experience through the mercy and good favour of the Lord It makes a man hate all rude vain talkative Company and the many Inconveniences that attend such a course of Life it also makes the observers thereof capable at all Seasons to speak the Words of Wisdom either divine or humane being but like large Glass-Windows to an House it lets in the pleasant light Air by giving opportunities to all the noble Faculties of man's Soul to exercise their Functions it tunes the Properties of Nature whence proceeds most excellent Harmony and whoever shall try it shall certainly find much more satisfaction and advantages than is here related or indeed than can be expressed in Words 15. It is farther to be noted that all kind of Inventions and Arts that encourage Violence and Oppression have proceeded from the fierce harsh wrath of God and the uneven properties of Saturn and Mars as Gun-powder Guns Drums and all Warlike Instruments of Musick There is nothing that does more manifest this than Gun-powder where the pure spirituous Parts and balsamick Vertues in all the Ingredients are suffocated and destroyed so that it becomes a meer composition of Wrath and Fierceness for every Property of Nature becomes fierce and terrible or strong fulsome and poysonous if the virtue and light thereofbe destroyed or separated from it for every particular Creature or Substance both Vegetable Mineral and Animal does consist of Fire and Light Love and Anger Ioy and Sorrow Good and Evil These are the Radixes of each Subject throughout all the three Kingdoms of Nature and if in any thing you violate the lovely light part then the angry Properties appear in their own Forms an Instance whereof we have before mentioned in Charcoal which is one Ingredient towards Gun-powder and all the rest are alike being of a terrible rending tearing devilish fierce nature and in it is a true Figure of the Wrath of God in the outward nature So likewise the sound of Drums and all Weapons of War and Violence proceed from the same Root of Wrath and accordingly the use of all such things do much encourage and strengthen the wrathful Properties in Mankind who if they had not or did not suffer their Wills and Desires to enter into the Wrath and fierce Properties of Nature in themselves and were not acted and influenced by it there would never have been any of those Hellish Inventions as Swords Guns Powder Drums Bows Arrows and other murthering Engines nor any thoughts of Killing Oppressing and Destroying those of their own Kind nor any other Creatures but Man should have kept that Dominion over the Creatures wherewith the Creator invested him in the beginning and no Creature should have had power to have influenced him or imposed their Properties upon him Hence then touching all Fighting Oppressing and Killing let it be little or much and the pretence what it will we affirm from a true light and ground That the same do arise and proceed from the fierce wrath of God and from that devilish hellish nature in Man which is as contrary to the friendly Love and Light of God in Jesus Christ as the Night is to the Day for if in man or any other Creature the evil Property do predominate and is most manifest there the good Qualities and friendly Light is overcome and so on the contrary For every Property and Principle does manifest and bring forth its own fruit as our Saviour Christ says Every Tree is known by its Fruits a good Tree cannot bring forth evil Fruit nor an evil Tree good Fruit. According to what Property does rule in the Heart of any Man such are his Thoughts Words and Actions where the divine Principle of God's eternal Love and Light doth predominate such Persons bring forth those good and precious Fruits of Love Mercy Compassion courteous Speeches Works of Charity and doing unto all men as they would be done unto but those in whom the hellish Principle bears sway their Fruits are worse than Briars and Thorns such as Back-biting Hatred Oppression Killing not only inferiour Creatures but even those of their own Kind and working all sorts of Impiety with greediness Therefore 't is of unspeakable moment to be able to distinguish in our selves the Two Principles and their respective Fruits and to be careful to deny and root out the Evil and cherish and follow the Counsel of the holy Light which if obeyed is sufficient to destroy all the mischievous Works of Self-hood and the Devil for as the more men habituate themselves to Cruelty Oppression Unmercifulness Killing and the like the stronger the hellish Principle of Wrath does grow and the worse and more cruel they become So in the practice of Vertue every Property and Principle grows strong by Use and Exercise and he that enters into the narrow Path of Regeneration and Self-denial ought always
in them and without them the fierce Wrath of God and Nature as the Blood of innocent Abel did cry awaken the Lord whence Cain's Judgment proceeded And withal we are to remember that the Offerings of such as live the in power and operation of the Spirit of Cain are not accepted of the Lord because they are tainted with the Spirit of Violence and Oppression for every Principle is moved by a sympathetical operation and therefore when Men live and act in the power of God's Love and Light in Jesus Christ the Offerings of such are most grateful and powerfully attract the sweet Influences of God and Nature but where the wrathful Principle reigns without the Love and Light of God it is a meer Devil and does attract Venom and Poyson out of every thing to the encreasing and strengthening of it self The holy Ancients have in many other places of the Scriptures deciphered and endeavoured to describe these two grand Fountains or Principles under the Allegory or Figure of two Brothers But it is to be noted that the younger always obtained the Blessing as the case of Iacob Esau and Isaac and Ishmael which doth contain many great Mysteries for Ishmael is the Son of the Bond-woman where the Forms and Properties of Nature are at strife and contention the same is said of Esau that he was a rough man and a Hunter which Names in the Radix do signifie strong men in the Wrath and Principle of the wild Nature into which most men are fallen nor doth any Religion or Form of Godliness bring profit to the Soul but that only that is void of violence and therefore the Offerings of Cain Ishmael and Esau and many others were not accepted of by the Lord for the fierce Wrath and violent Spirit did reign in them and thence their Offerings proceeded and so could not awaken or open any other Principle but only what was like and from the same Root and Centre If this were well considered so many persons would not content themselves in Religious Forms and giving God long Prayers whilst all this while their hearts are full of Envy Back-biting Contention Oppression Hurrying and Killing Men and Beasts most of them counting it their Right to domineer over the meek humble Spirit of Abel but the Blood of Abel doth cry unto the Lord for Vengeance for this is the great Law of God in Nature that there can be no Evil Violence or unjust Action done be it either to the superiour or inferiour Creatures but there must be retaliation made for the Groans of the oppressed have a natural Force and powerful Inclination to open the Gate of God's Wrath and draw down the Judgments of the Lord because all things were made by one therefore they have but one only Root and Foundation proceeding from that one Lord and Creator they all live and move in him and by his Power and Spirit and are all sustained by his divine hand of Providence which does not respect one and neglect another there being in him no variation or shadow of Change or Passion but equally distributes his Blessings to all his according to the Nature of each one having given every thing it s well being in its self and allotted thereto a certain number of days and ordained proper Food for every Creature therefore whensoever Men shall violate these Laws of God in Nature and work contrary unto them by oppressing the Creatures then the Wrath of the Creator is kindled for every Creature when it is in danger of being hurt or pursued for its Life does as naturally and powerfully cry to the Creator for help in their own natural Language as Men do and tend and fly to that Fountain of Being and Protection for their Lives are as sweet and their Desires to continue it are as strong as Man's 17. Here 't is like I shall be complained of and condemned by the wise Men of this World who count it their right in Nature as Cain did to domineer and Lord it over all Creatures who will say The Creator hath no respect or regard to the preservation or well-being of inferiour Animals but only unto Men and that his Will is that Men should destroy and live upon them and use them as they please Were they not made for that purpose and if we should not destroy them they would destroy us c. Thus they object but the Truth tells every one That there are no Creatures that will hurt or be injurious unto Mankind but only Dogs Bears Foxes and other of the like Nature who are Beasts of Prey and fierce by kind few or none of which are eaten But this Allegation I shall more particularly consider in its proper place Others more materially will urge the Authority of the holy Scriptures to prove that killing and eating of Flesh was according to the Will of God which is true in a certain Sense but from the beginning it was not so but only after Man had disobeyed the Lord his Maker and broken his pure Law and imbarked his corrupt Will and tainted Desires in the fierce Spirit of Oppression and suffered the bestial savage Nature to predominate in him over the divine Principle of God's Love and holy Light as the Scripture doth testifie Gen. 6. The Lord looked down from Heaven and behold every imagination of Man's Heart was evil altogether evil and that continually Also the Lord said The Earth is filled with violence it repenteth me that I have made Man and the Earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence for all Flesh had corrupted his way upon the Earth c Here it appears Man had with his Will and Desires entred into the violent Spirit which had corrupted the Earth and all things therein whence the desire of killing and eating of Flesh and Blood of Beasts did proceed and for this reason the Lord was so provoked to Anger that he said My Spirit shall not always strive with Man for that he is Flesh yet his days shall be an Hundred and Twenty Here the Lord shortned the Days of Mankind as David saith in another place The Wicked shall not live out half his days If Man had not thus entred into the violent Spirit of wrath the Lord had not destroyed Mankind but being thus incensed he commanded Noah to build an Ark which signifies a place of Safety Peace and Mercy and to take the clean Beasts by Sevens which is a holy Number in Nature comprehending all Mysteries but the unclean by Pairs or Two's which is a Number of Contention as being the first that separates from Unity He was likewise required to take all sorts of Food both for himself and for the Beasts but there was no mention made of Flesh and all the Creatures both clean and unclean that he took with him into the Ark he delivered out again after the wrath of God was assuaged there was no Oppression Violence nor Killing in all that time for if there
had then would the wrath have been again awakened and Noah with the Creatures would have been comprehended in the same Judgment with those without the Ark For the Ark does truly signifie the heavenly Principle of God's eternal Love in which he has established his Covenant with Mankind and all Men that safeguard their desires and wills in this holy Ark denying themselves and abandoning all kinds of Violence but taking with them all kinds of Food that do bear a Simile with this friendly Principle shall be preserved from that deluge of Wickedness and Misery wherein the rest of the World is overwhelmed Now after this Deluge the Lord did permit Man to eat Flesh but not without distinction not with the Blood for Man would not be obedient nor keep himself within the Bounds and Limits of the holy Ark of God but turned their Wills into the wild bestial Nature and so longed after the Essences and Qualities of the Beasts whence arises the desire of killing and devouring of Flesh. This the Lord did well know and also his Prophets viz. That if Man did not obey the Voice of Wisdom and abstain front eating of the Fruit that grows in the midst of the Garden viz. in his Heart which is the wrathful violent Spirit of Oppression he should die which Spirit should not have been manifested nor have had any Government in Man As for the Tree that grows in the midst of the Garden 't is called the Tree of Life but not without a great Mystery for the Centre of Life stands in the Wrath's Property or fierce Fire whence proceeds the Sensibility and knowing Part in Man and therefore he was forbidden to eat thereof that is he should not have awakened it by his Imaginations and Desires but have continued in Resignation and Self-denial and then the Evil would not have been manifested in him nor have overcome him but as it came to pass well might the Prophets call it The Tree of Death For when Man did eat of the Fruit thereof be died unto the divine Life and lived in the Power of the fiery Spirit of wrath which has corrupted all Flesh even the very Earth and all things therein 'T was after this was come to pass when Man had by his Longing and Lusts precipitated himself into the fierce Spirit and wild Nature that the Lord permitted him to kill and eat the Flesh of the Beasts but it must be understood that this License or Permission of killing or eating of Flesh proceeded from the wrath of God in Nature as the Scripture saith in another place Such as the People are such is their God For the Lord appears to every one according to what Spirit and Property they live in whether it be in his Love or his Anger If they live in the divine Principle of his eternal Love then he appears to them in the same Principle as a loving Father and the God of all Consolation And on the contrary when men introduce their Wills and Desires into the fierce wrath then the Lord appears to them in the same Spirit dreadful and Terrible As the Scripture saith in another place Unto those that fear my Name and obey my Commandments I will be merciful and gracious but to those that despise my Commandments I will be an angry jealous God and a consuming Fire Or as the Apostle saith To one a savour of Life unto Life to the other of Death unto Death Thus all shall glorifie God either in his Love or Anger and remain Monuments of his Mercy or Trophies of his Justice Thus it happened to the Men of old whom the Lord permitted to kill their fellow-Creatures and eat their Flesh their Cruelties and Oppressions soon awakened the Wrath of the Lord even as the Blood of innocent Abel did therefore the Lord said He would go down and see if it were so Which Expression of God's coming down does intimate the kindling and awakening of his Wrath in the external Element as it came to pass in the ensuing Deluge when the Element of Water was enraged from this very Property of the awakened Wrath did the permission proceed for killing and eating of Flesh as also all the Commands for Fighting and the like for if the Lord's People in former Ages had continued their Obedience and lived in his fear there had never been any cause or foundation for Wars nor Oppression for as our Saviour saith The Tempter cometh but findeth nothing in me that is he findeth no Wrath nor Violence awakened in him and therefore he could have no ground to work on nor matter to entertain him or that would suit his Principle The like is to be understood of all Men that do live in the Power of God's Love and Light for whensoever the Lord suffers any to sight or engage in War with his People the original cause thereof hath been Sin in that they have forsaken the ways of Truth and Righteousness and entred into Oppression Pride and Cruelty which awaken the evil Principle and cry for vengeance and strengthen the common Enemy of Mankind and then the Lord suffers Wrath to take place Now whereas Men say It is lawful in the sight of God to fight kill and destroy one another and oppress and kill all other Creatures 't is true if it be understood as it ought to be viz. in the sight of the Principle of his Wrath as he is a consuming Fire and a jealous God but not as he is a God of everlasting Love and Mercy in Jesus Christ for in that respect all Fighting and other Violences are as contrary to him as Light is to Larkness Therefore in the Revelations to the Souls that were under the Altar crying to God to avenge their Cause being slain for the Testimony of Jesus it is answered Rest for a season which was as much as to say Be still do not awaken the Powers of Wrath for no Man can call for Vengeance but from the Power of that Principle and therefore White Garments were given unto them that is they were more replenished with the blessed Power and Vertue of the Love of God in Jesus Christ. Some may say If we should not fight and be ready to withstand our Enemies and neighbouring Nations we should quickly be brought into subjection This is very true if Men should leave off fighting and yet live such wicked ungodly Lives as they do but if any Nation would repent of the Evil of their Ways and enter with one mind into Unity and live in the power and operation of the Love of God c. they then should have no occasion to fear or dread any outward Enemies having so perfectly subdued those within they should rest secure This the Children of Israel did often witness when they did fear the Lord and refrain from Idols that is when they did not set their Hearts and Affections upon the Creatures nor live in Wantonness c. Then their Enemies were bowed before them and the very
sight or appearance of Ten would make a Thousand fly but when they did forsake the Fear of the Lord and turned the use of natural things into wantonness they awakened the Wrath by which their Enemies got many Advantages over them and overcame them and carried them away captive The very same is now-a-days amongst us this being a certain Truth that will stand for ever against all gain-sayers and evil Men viz. That all Oppression Violence and Killing doth proceed from the seed of the Serpent the Betrayer which I wish all our Hero's and Fighters and great Martial Men would well consider and turn the Eye of their Understandings inward and search themselves then they would certainly find that it is the fierce Cain-like Spirit which reigns in them and excites them to commit such Outrages When the Soldiers asked the Lord Christ What they should do to be saved he said unto them Be contented with your Pay and do violence to no Man Which is to say They should be Soldiers no longer for all Soldiers do live in the Spirit of Violence and must kill and destroy whenever their Commanders please So likewise Christ says to Peter than whom certainly never man drew Sword in a better Quarrel Put up thy Sword those that use the Sword shall perish by the Sword my Kingdom is not of this World that is My Kingdom consists in Love Mercy Meekness Friendliness Peace and good Will unto all Men. 18. It is farther to be considered that the eating of Flesh was not permitted till after the overflowing of God's Wrath had got the dominion in Man's heart and God had tried and proved them and saw that they were stiff-necked and would not be obedient unto his Commands nor enter into the holy divine Principle of Love and Peace but would live in the Power of the lordly poysonous Nature and continually lusted after Oppression and the Ways of Egypt and for this cause the Lord suffered them to be carried away into the Land of Nod and Egypt which is a Land of Vanity Oppression and Cruelty and they suffered the fierce Wrath to domineer over them but in process of time they cried unto the Lord and he had regard unto them and raised up Moses and inspired him with divine and humane Wisdom and made him their Guide for Moses doth signifie The Strength and Power of God in his meek friendly Light and Love or A Cleanser and Purger of the People from Iniquity This great Prophet by the mighty power of the Lord wrought many wonderful Miracles amongst the Egyptians which made the Wrath to bow or give way and by a strong hand caused his People to pass through the Red Sea that is through the fierce Wrath and fiery Judgment of the Lord untouch'd and unhurt whilst the same Sea of Wrath did swallow up and comprehend the Egyptians the Men of Sin and Vanity with their Horses and Chariots that is with all their strength and deeds Then the Lord caused his People to travel forty years in the Wilderness which signifies the wild Nature which they were not to stay in Likewise these forty years are an holy mystical Number viz. the Number of Regeneration during which time the Lord works many Marvels and delivers the true Israelite from inward and outward Enemies Yet still they provoked the Lord their God to wrath by lusting after the Flesh-pots of Egypt that is the Oppression and the Cruelty for the Lord did not permit them in all their March towards Canaan to kill their Flocks or Herds nor to eat any Flesh in those forty years travel for they were not to stay or continue in the wild bestial Nature but to pass through and by degrees leave it behind them and to deny themselves all those Oppressions Vanities worldly Lusts and Passions which the Men of Egypt are subject unto that thereby they might be cleansed purified and fitted to enter into the holy Land For the chief Enemies the Children of Israel met with were their inward Lusts Passions and bestial Spirits which did mightily strive in them to get the Victory over the divine Principle of God's Love and this was the main Cause of their many Lets Stops and Hinderances and the Occasion that so many Thousands did fall in the way and never entred into the holy Land of which the Lord told them That it was a Land that flowed with Milk and Honey not with Oppression Cruelty Killing and Blood but with Milk and Honey the Emblems of Innocency and Sweetness and beautified with many excellent Virtues for the maintenance of the Life and Health of Man but because they looked back and longed after the Egyptian Vanities they did fall and could not enter into the Land of Peace As in like case the Scripture saith of David That he being a Man of Violence and Blood as having been bred up in Wars and Fighting therefore the Lord would not admit him to build the Temple Which outward Temple was a true Figure of the inward divine Temple for David had awakened the wrathful Powers of Nature within and without himself and consequently was not so fit for Temple-work wherein there must not be heard any noise of Axes or Hammers much less the clashing of Swords and ratling of Spears these are the Musick of Babel's Builders But perhaps some will say Though it cannot be proved that the Children of God did eat any Flesh in their Travel towards the Holy Land yet long before that the two Angels that were going towards Sodom to destroy it did eat Flesh I Answer This is so far from being an Objection that rightly understood it confirms and illustrates all that I have been saying for first 't is plain these Words are not to be understood literally for Angels are incorporeal therefore Flesh must needs be too crude and gross a Food for such intellectual Essences void of Matter and therefore some more hidden meaning and signification is to be understood and indeed there lies couch'd a very great Mystery in this Passage The Sodomites had by their crying Sins awakened the fierce wrathful Principle in Nature even in the outward Elements which did kindle the Indignation of the Lord and draw down the Judgment Now out of this strong power of the kindled wrath these two Angels did proceed which had in them the power of the same Principle viz. the inward and outward Wrath and therefore it was no marvel that Abraham should kill and shed Blood at their approach whose travelling towards Sodom and staying here by the way does denote the gradual kindling of the fierce Wrath and their eating Flesh under a Tree or Oak does signifie the harsh wild Nature for they entred not into Abrahams Tent that is into the divine Principle but hasted towards Sodom that was in the kindled Wrath of Nature Moreover there were Three Angels appeared unto Abraham but there went but Two towards Sodom Now I have told you that the Number Two is a Number of Division
and intimates the strite between the Properties of Nature but as touching the Third Angel the Scripture is silent for Three is an holy Number and signifies the heavenly Seed in which the Lord hath establish'd his Covenant of Grace and Mercy with Mankind It was therefore this holy Number that brought the glad Tidings unto Abraham and his Wife that she should bear a Son in her old age which is as much as to say That the divine Principle viz. The Love and Light should abide and manifest it self in Abraham's Line for the Word Abraham does signifie The original Properties and Strength of God in the Fire and his Wife the Love or Meekness from which Principle should be generated a Son of true Light For Isaac does intimate the divine Principle or Son of God who in the fulness of time was manifested in the humane Nature This holy Number Three or good Angel continued with Abraham that is the divine Principle and holy Power staid and made intercession for the Sodomites for so we find Abraham immediately intreating and petitioning the Lord to save the Cities of the Plain for the sake of such Righteous as might be therein but the Two fiery Angels hasted towards Sodom for the original Fire is fierce and quick in its motion and when any People have by their Transgressions kindled the Wrath of God then there does arise an Instrument out of the same Principle which does destroy and punish that People as is manifested in this outward World which is but a Figure of the inward for when a Prince and his People have by their Sins stirred up the Lord's indignation against them then a neighbouring Prince or Nation is excited to be their Scourge and Punisher though oftentimes the latter is as great an Evil-doer as the former for every Principle and Property both in the divine and humane Nature does always raise up Instruments from it self to perform its own work for look what Property or Principle is most predominant in either a particular Person or Nation good or evil just or unjust such an Angel they have given them or is attracted by Simile If the fierce Wrath bear sway then the evil Angel obtaineth the Government of that Person or People which does inwardly stir up Enmity in the hearts of Men one against another whence does arise all kinds of Oppression and Violence both of Man and Beasts Besides it is to be understood that the Angels both good and evil are prompt and always desirous to obey and attend all such as live in the power of their respective Principle as the Scripture takes notice That the evil Angel was ready and offered his service to be a Lying Spirit in the Mouth of Ahab's Prophets for the evil deeds and perverseness of Mankind to each other and their oppressing the rest of God's Creatures does as naturally awaken the fierce dark Powers and attract them as the Load-stone doth Iron whence doth proceed the Judgments and so many Calamities For no Extreams can continue long without alteration as we see if any particular Person give himself to Vanity and commits Evil with desire and greediness such an one cannot continue long without bringing destruction to Body and Soul For when any Property of Nature is so violently awakened it powerfully draws to it self all things that are capable or have a Simile with it viz. the evil Angels and also the Venom out of all things and so grows a devouring hungry Fire that is never satisfied till it hath consumed all the sweet Oyl and Radical Moisture and then the Body droops and languishes and dies On the contrary Virtue and the Fear of the Lord do with a powerful hand not only withstand and resist the baneful Influences of bad Angels and all other evil things but does also attract the Virtue out of all things to the increasing and strengthening its own Principle and innumerable good Angels are ready at all times to assist and defend the sober and upright in Heart as the Scripture saith He hath made his Angels ministring Spirits to administer to those that serve the Lord and are in necessity In another place the Lord saith Is there any Evil in the City that is in Man and am not I the Lord in the midst of it As much as to say I am in and through all and govern all things in my Love or in mine Anger and Man being his Image doth in his measure the same but the Evil should not have been awakened or manifested in Man therefore he was in the beginning forbidden it but after he had eaten this Fruit the Lord said The Man is become as one of us knowing Good and Evil. Then the Gates of Paradise were shut against him and it is said The Lord drove him out of the Garden into the Earth that is into the wild Nature to labour and dress it and the Lord set two Cherubims on the East-side of the Garden with flaming Swords that did turn every way to keep the Tree of Life lest Man should touch it and live for ever The East here does signifie in the Radix the open Gate or Eye that sees into the great Mysteries and working Powers of the Creator The Tree of Life does intimate the creating Power of God and the original Forms in Nature viz. the three grand Properties Salt Sulphur and Mercury from whence all the variety of Complexions Forms and Qualities do arise the Cherubims and Flaming Sword that defends this Tree of Life do signifie the original Fire and strong Forms of Nature in which the Lord calls himself an angry jealous God and a consuming Fire The Cherubims are the strong fiery Angels and great Powers of God in the working and government of all the Kingdoms of Nature which mighty Operations and my stick creating Powers Man was not fit to know after he had awakened the Wrath and came to know Good and Evil for if Man should once have touched this Tree of Life then would he have been capable to have wrought Wonders in the dark strong fiery original Property viz. the dark Magick and changing of one Form into another and the creating Power of God would have been known unto Man who then would have lived for ever in the hellish Qualities It may be noted That the Lord said nothing in the beginning to Adam of the Tree of Life but only of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil the Fruit of this latter Tree only he should not have eaten for Eating signifies to nourish and strengthen which Adam should not have suffered his Will and Desires to have longed after for if the fiery wrathful Principal had not been awakened in Adam then the Lord would not have drove him out of the Garden that is out of the Government of the divine Principle neither would there have been any danger of his touching of the Tree of Life that is of the original creating strong Powers of the Lord for if he had continued
in the Government and Operations of God's eternal Principle of Love and Light then he would have been satisfied with the Fruit of Paradise whose Originals sprung and proceeded from the Filial Property and therefore the illuminate Prophet Moses saith God placed Adam in a Garden which does intimate a separated place of Pleasure where all sorts of innocent Herbs Fruits Grains and fragrant Flowers do thrust and give forth their delicate Beauties ravishing Odours and excellent Virtues in silence there being no grutching envying or contention amongst them because of their different Scents Colours or Properties but all stand still and suffer the divine hand to do with them as he pleaseth Not but that in the most fragrant Flower and best of Herbs and Fruits there is the strong poysonous Root viz. Tree of Life for the Radix of every Creature stands in Poyson And therefore in what Creature soever these original fiery Properties are predominant all such Creatures are of a greedy ravenous fiery Nature If it be an Herb it is poysonous rank and fulsome as on the contrary all Things and Creatures in which the divine Principle does predominate the poysonous wrathful Tree of Life lies hid and unmanifested as in a curious Flower which is of various Colours and sends forth a most fragrant Scent here is no Poyson Wrath nor evil Quality manifest but as a Man may say a Paradisical and most pleasant Virtue the original Qualities are occult because the good Properties predominate But yet there would be no Vertue if there were no Vice for these original Forms are the cause of all Motion whence the Life and Light doth take Birth but if this original Fire do predominate in any thing be it what it will it presently becomes fierce and poysonous Therefore when Adam did eat of the Fruit of the Tree that grew in the midst of his Paradisical Garden that is in the very centre of his Life which central Fire he was forbidden to awaken and feed on he was forthwith turned out of the Garden of Pleasure which if he had not done then the blessed fra grant divine Fruit would have predominated and the evil Nature would not have been manifested and he had still continued in Paradise from whence he was now necessarily expelled for when the original Fire and strong Power was manifest in the Centre of Man's Life he would have proceeded farther viz into the very Centre of Nature and become a Formerand Figurer in the fierce Wrath and then there had been no hope of his Restauration therefore the Lord drove him out of Paradise and from the Tree of Life into the humane Nature whose operation is in Good and Evil by which Means the God of Wisdom Peace and Mercy has through the Feminine Tincture in the fulness of time restored again whatsoever Adam lost as to the Soul For the eternal Son of Love saith That he came to seek and to save that which was lost and proclaimed Peace and Good-Will unto all Men that is he invited them to come unto him and he would refresh and ease them of their Burthen for he saith My yoke is easie and my Burthen light and you shall find rest to your Souls And if this Voice of Wisdom were hearkned unto Men would no longer live in the wild Nature and bestial Qualities nor oppress God's Creation the Groanings thereof would no longer be heard nor would those that are travelling to the Land of Promise any more look back and hanker after the Flesh-pots of Egypt but would content themselves with the innocent food of Paradise nor would they murmur like the Israelites in the Wilderness Give us Flesh or else we die that is if they did not feed upon the Fruit of the forbidden Tree and bestial savage Nature and follow the Superfluities of the Egyptians the wrathful fiery bestial Life would die in them which they were very unwilling to part with therefore the Lord heard them in his Wrath for they had awakened it and in the same Principle he gave them Flesh which darkned the divine Principle in them and gave advantages to the Wrath that it got the victory over them therefore many Thousands of them were thereby destroyed in the Wilderness that is in the wild bestial Nature and entred not into the Holy Land for Bears Lions and the like Beasts of Prey are not admitted to enter there Without are Dogs saith the Apostle All that enter the New Ierusalem must leave behind them Pharaoh and all his Troops in the Red Sea and travel through all the degrees of the wild bestial Nature and return unto every Form and Constellation all such Inclinations and evil Dispositions as Men have received from them viz. Unto the first Form or Constellation called Saturn you must leave Covetousness Envy Suspicion and all dark evil Thoughts and Jealousies Unto the second Form called Iupiter you must leave all worshipping of Idols false Forms of Religion envious peevish Inclinations and Persecutions which are devilish Dispositions that do possess many from whence do proceed great Troubles and Discords When you come to the third Form called Mars you must with him leave all Wrath Passion Cruelty and Violence With the fourth Form called The Sun you must leave all Pride High-mindedness and Self-conceit all Inclinations tending to Ambition and Vain-glory. But at the fifth Form called Venus you must abandon all Desires after unlawful Beds all wanton Discourses and Enticements to fleshly Lusts. When you arrive at the sixth Form called Mercury put away all idle Jesting much Talking Lying Dissembling and carrying two Faces so as to appear good with the Good and bad with the Bad. And at the seventh Form called The Moon you must leave all unconstant Humors and fickle Fancies as also Gluttony and sottish swinish Living as to Superfluities either of eating or drinking All these bad Dispositions and Inclinations the Children of God and of the divine Principle must deny themselves and leave them behind in the Wilderness for they do belong unto the wild bestial Nature and thither ought to return and none that live under their Powers can enter into the Holy Land 19. It may be farther objected If Flesh had not been in some degree profitable unto the Children of Israel and if Killing were not lawful why did the Lord command Beasts to be killed for Sacrifices I answer The killing of Beasts for Sacrifice is a great Figure or Mystery which shews the depraved state of Man and how he is fallen from his primitive Integrity and Innocency for it signifies that Man by his Evils and Transgressions had so mightily awakened the Wrath and fierce fiery Power of God that it would not be satiated or appeased except there were Violence used and Blood spilt for all Sacrifices were made to atone and satisfie the enkindled Wrath which after the Gate of Violence was once opened nothing but Blood could allay for Man having awakened it by Sin nothing in the Vegetable Kingdom no Herbs
to corrupt the very Air In the other you have delicate Fruits of most excellent Tastes wholesome Medicinal Herbs savoury Grains and most beautiful fragrant Flowers whose various Scents Colours c. make at once a Banquet to all the Senses and nourish the purer Spirits and refresh the very Souls of such who pass through them and perfume all the circumambient Air with redolent Exhalations This was the Place and Food ordained for Mankind in the beginning The Lord planted a Garden for him replenish'd with all manner of ravishing Fruits and Herbs There was no Flesh-Markets nor Shambles talk'd of in the primitive times But every green Herb Fruit and Seed shall be for Food to Man saith the Creator Which if it had been still observed Man had not contracted so many Diseases in his Body and cruel Vices in his Soul by making his Throat an open Sepulchre wherein to entomb the dead Bodies of Beasts nor should the Noble Image of the Deity have been thus shamefully defiled with Brutalities Creatures of Sea and Land we slay And in our Maws do bury And worse by half than Beasts of Prey Are at their Fun'rals merry How shall they but Bestial grow That thus to feed on Beasts are willing Or why should they a long Life know Who daily practise KILLING 22. There remains yet one Question which I have been often ask'd viz. If all People should live on Fruits Herbs and the like what should we do with the Beasts and what would become of them They would grow so numerous that they would be prejudicial to Mankind c. To all which I answer 1. That these are rather Suppositions than Arguments meer Fancies weak and unconcluding because unexperienced There is and pity it is that there is but little likelihood of the generality of Peoples forsaking this ill and harmful but too long continued devouring of Flesh and consequently there is no great force in this Objection yet still it may not be amiss to warn the Lovers of Virtue and Piety to abstain for the many Reasons aforesaid but these are but a few and the Multitude will still pursue and ingulf themselves in their accustomed Cruelties and Superfluities 2. Should any Nation or great number of People through the divine sight and true Wisdom scruple Violence Oppression Killing and Eating the Flesh of their Fellow-Creatures of an inferiour Rank the same Wisdom would teach them what to do with and how to order the Beasts 3. There are abundance of several sorts of these Creatures in the World that Men do not kill and eat and yet there are no more of them than are useful or not so many as to occasion any such prejudice to Mankind as this Objection supposes but find room enough in their proper Elements and the almighty Providence liberally sustains them To instance in one most common and useful Species viz. Horses they are not any where that I know of usually killed to be eaten and yet I never heard of any Country in the World that complained of being over-stock'd with them It may perhaps be alledged That the hard usage and tyranny which Men inflict upon them do destroy great Numbers of them I confess this is too true but yet if there were no such Exorbitances committed there would not be too many nor would their Troops be burthensome unto Mankind For are there not various sorts of Birds many of them not fit to be eaten and others that for the most part escape the Stratagems and Snares of the Fowler and yet we do not find too many of them nor indeed shall you but very seldom find any of them dead though they cannot hide their dead since their Feathers would betray them The Raven as unfit for Food because of its rapacious preying on dead Carcases and the pretty Robin-red-breast for its Innocency are very seldom killed and yet they do not become offensive to Men. 4. How many sorts of Beasts and Birds both wild and tame are there in other Countries that are rarely killed by Men and yet there is a natural consumption of them nay there are divers kinds whom to kill or injure is to this day accounted ominous or foreboding Mischief to those that meddle with them for which cause most People forbear to offer violence to them unless by accident and yet there are no more extant in the World than of others whom Men make it their Business and Interest and Diversion to destroy 5. If People had not occasion for so many Sheep for their Wool or Cows for their Milk c. they might as easily lessen the Numbers of them as increase them which every Husbandman might be sensible of by keeping the Males from the Females and not suffering them to generate too young whereby such Beasts would he larger stronger and more healthy whereas now so many Cattel are industriously bred up in many places that when a Scarcity happens of Grass Hay or Corn multitudes of them perish for Cattel being now become a grand Commodity and as it were a Manufacture Husbandmen for the most part living at rack'd Rents are forced to raise as many of them as possibly they can and to keep them on improper and unhealthy Pasturages and to over-labour both themselves and their Beasts merely to raise Rents for their idle extravagant Landlords who only aim to satisfie their Pride and Superfluity 6. 'T is certain that God and Nature who do nothing in vain never created or made more Creatures in any of the four Worlds or Elements whether visible or invisible than the same would nourish and maintain as in the Element of Water if there were never any killed by Men their Mother-Element that brought them forth would be sufficient to nurse them up and maintain them The like is to be said of the Fowls of the Air and Beasts of the Earth for do we not see even in Desarts and Wildernesses all Nature's Productions are liberally provided for and fewer there of every Species than in those we call Civilized Regions So gross an Error 't is to imagine That if Men should not kill them the Earth would be over-run and that there would be so many of them as would not be sustained but that they would be injurious to Mankind For in truth nothing would or could hurt or injure Man if he lived in Innocency and did not first outrage them for as Innocency hurts nothing so nothing can hurt it 23. Now it is farther to be considered That if any Nation or People should leave off or scruple killing Men and the inferiour Creatures and eating their Flesh and Blood from a true understanding of God's Law in Nature and in obedience to the friendly and innocent Principle of God's Love and Light then all Oppression Violence Controversies and Killing would cease and that excellent Saying of the Prophet would take place viz. That every Man would be taught of the Lord All outward Enquiries would have an end then would not Men build outward
Temples in which they say They will worship God but in truth they make the Seats of War Dissention and Controversie but instead thereof Men's Bodies would become living Temples in which his holy Spirit would have the dominion then the dolorous frightful Noise of Guns Drums Swords and the Tumults of Armed Men would not be heard in the Streets no Plotting and Contriving the destruction of each other would be neither would the Prince need to fear his own Warders nor no wounding one another by Back-biting and slanderous Speeches neither would the superiour World and Element be filled with the mournful Tones and doleful Cries of the inferiour Inhabitants nor with the wrathful fierce Species of Man-slaughter which doth render every Man unsafe even from the Prince to the Peasant neither would there be any vain Plays Games nor wanton superfluous Treats to waste precious Time and destroy God's good Creatures then Man would not say what should be done and do it not then the inward savage violent Beasts of Prey would be rooted out of Man's heart and the violent wrathful Spirit must lose its dominion and lay down its wrathful Arms and Weapons of War and become subject to the divine Principle of God's eternal Love neither would Men then count themselves at home in this World but Strangers and Guests that must wander hence then also all outward fighting and slaying one the other for Money and Honour would have no being for having overcome the inward Enemies of their Members they would rest secure there being no Peace so excellent and commendable as that which is made by good living neither in the sight of God nor Man viz. by the Sword of God's Spirit not by the high lofty domineering envious Spirit who by force doth endeavour to subject all unto it self such a Peace cannot long continue unviolated because it proceeds from the poysonous serpentine Root and it hath its motion and operation where the Forms of Nature are divided and at Enmity with each other also here each Property doth with highest diligence endeavour to get the dominion which sometimes one doth and then by and by another so that there is a continual strife and enmity for Superiority or Government which is the foundation of all Controversies Violence Oppression Fighting and Killing and why Men forget God and despise the Dictates of the innocent Principle of his Love which continued Violences and Oppressions do more and more kindle and keep the fierce Wrath in motion and by a sympathetical inclination draw on Man many sore Evils for every Principle or Quality becomes either strong and powerful or weak and impotent according as Man shall joyn himself or live in the power and operation of whether it be in the evil or good therefore it hath always come to pass that those that have given themselves up and immersed their Wills and Desires into the Principle of Wrath have become strong and powerful therein committing Intemperances and outraging God's Law with greediness but on the contrary those that have separated themselves from Violence Intemperance and Uncleanness and followed the Counsel of the Voice of Wisdom they have become strong and powerful in the same Principle whence hath flowed all kinds of Virtue What could hurt Man either externally or internally or destroy his Peace and Well-being if he lived in Innocency The Creator hath not made any visible Prince greater or ordained any to reign over him but only the friendly Light and Love which he hath dispossessed himself of by stepping out of the Law of God in Nature and so hath lost his dominion both external and internal and thereby hath subjected himself under the dominion of the poysonous fierce Wrath where Enmity Strife and Violence take their Birth But this is the happiness still of Mankind that the God of eternal Peace hath in his Mercy given a portion of his friendly Light and Love to every one to profit withal and also Man's Will is free if he do not suffer it to be depraved and captivated under the dominion of the evil Nature for this cause the Scripture of Truth saith That the Lord hath set Life and Death before Man that is in Man as also the Right-hand Way and the Left and bid him chuse The Right-hand-Way is the Principle of his eternal Love and Light in Jesus Christ and the Left is his fierce Wrath and he that chuseth the good part doth not only become a Friend of God's and himself but also to the whole Creation and becomes incorporated into that unspotted Body and holy Fountain of Innocency into which state all the inferiour Creatures as well as Man do travel with pain and groan to be delivered as the worthy Apostle Paul saith The whole Creation groans to be delivered into that glorious liberty of the Sons of God this is the Land that flows with Milk and Honey Here is Peace and Plenty of all things for Unity and Innocency makes the Kingdoms of this World Emblems of Paradise For Temperance Cleanness and Separation from Violence freeth the Body from great Labours and Travels and the Mind from carking Cares Suspicions and Perturbations attracting the benevolent Influences of the Celestials and all the Host of Heaven and Earth blesseth him that lives in Innocency because he oppresseth nor hurteth nothing It is Violence Oppression and Superfluity which have broke the Unity between God and Man and also between all other Creatures and rendered Man the most unhappy of all others his wrathful Mouth is so wide and his Paunch so large that the Spoil and Destruction of all the numerous Inhabitants of the Elements will not content him he contends with all things and therefore all contend with him no place is free from his poisonous Rays and unreconciled Controversies therefore all curse him and he doth the same by them Every Creature feareth Man because he hurts and destroys their Peace and in so doing he doth the same by himself for the Groaning of those Creatures that suffer Pain and Oppression will overtake him that doth it but on the contrary those that have separated themselves from Violence Oppression and Superfluity all things that are necessary for them and for the support of Life are near at hand and may be easily procured without hazarding the Health either of the Body or Mind and without Oppression to any of God's Creatures as the great number of fragrant Herbs Seeds Grains and Fruits which are endued with brave innocent Properties and many excellent Virtues beyond Expression which being well prepared and moderately eaten do not only maintain Health and Strength but they do beget their own Species and innocent Properties both in the Body and Mind as I have before demonstrated And whosoever shall make trial and initiate now this innocent way of Living shall not only make Peace with the whole Creation but shall overcome his inward Lusts and violent Passions which are Man's deadly Enemies and then he may rest secure under his own
Vine viz. under the Government of the divine Principle of God's Eternal Love Here all Contention ceaseth no hideous Cries nor mournful Groans are heard neither of Man nor Beast no Chanels running with the Blood of slaughter'd Beasts no stinking Shambles nor bloody Butchers no roaring of Canons nor firing of Towns no loathsome stinking Prisons nor Iron Grates to keep Men from enjoying Wife Children and the pleasant Air nor no crying for want of Food and Cloths no Rioting nor wanton Inventions to destroy as much in one day as a Thousand can get by their hard Labour and Travel no swearing nor stabbing Heaven with dreadful Execrations no galloping Horses up Hills without any consideration or fellow-feeling of the Creatures pains and burthens no deflouring of Virgins and then expose both them and their own Seed to all the Miserie 's imaginable nor no Letting Lands and Farms so dear that the Farmer must be forced to oppress himself Servants and Cattle almost to death and all too little to pay his Rent no Disobedience of the Inferiour nor Oppression of the Superiour but the first knows how to obey and the last how to govern neither is there any Want because there is no Superfluity nor Gluttony No Noise nor Cries of wounded Men no need of Chirurgeons to cut Bullets out of their Flesh nor no cutting off Hands broken Legs and Arms no roaring nor crying out with the torturing pains of the Gout nor other painful Diseases as Leporous and Consumptive Distempers except through Age and the Relicks of some Strains they got whilst they lived in intemperate Egypt neither are their Children afflicted with such a great number of Diseases but are as free from Distempers as Lambs Calves or the young ones of any of the Beasts who are preserved sound and healthful because they have not outraged God's Law in Nature the breaking of which is the Foundation of most or all cruel Diseases that afflict Mankind there being nothing that makes the difference between Man and Beasts as to Health but only Superfluity and Intemperance both in Quality and Quantity Man in his first state was made the soundest healthiest of the greatest Spirit and the longest life'd as witness the Antients in the first Ages of the World But when Man enter'd with his Will into Violence Oppression and Cruelty then the Lord said That Man had corrupted the Earth and filled it with Violence that is the Elements and Properties of the Humane Nature was corrupted and become unequal in their Operation every particular Quality did endeavour to get the upper hand Here the Harmony was broken and Discord took place here was the Strife Then the Lord shortned Man's Life but not before he became intemperate and did Violence not only unto himself but to all other Creatures therefore they do groan to be delivered into that first State and glorious Liberty Man was created in which if he had continued in Obedience and lived under the Government of the innocent Principle of God's Light and Love all the inferiour Creatures would have enjoyed all the Privileges and Liberty which were ordained for them according to their Capacity For this Cause whensoever any of the inferiour Creatures are oppressed hurt or killed they do by a natural Disposition and Inclination cry unto the Fountain whence they proceeded and groan for Deliverance which will never be until Men with their Wills and Desires enter into the innocent Principle of God's Love and holy Light whence doth arise no Disposition of Hatred Violence or Oppression it being as contrary to it as Light is to Darkness All Cruelty and Blood-shedding do proceed from another Fountain as different in Nature and Operation as the common consuming Fire doth differ from the Light thereof which is of a most friendly pleasant Quality and benevolent Operation but the Fire is fierce and altogether the contrary yet nevertheless the harsh Fire is the cause of the Light and if there were no Fire there would be no Light The Fire is the Father and the Light is the Son and they are Emblems of the Father and Son or of the internal Fire and Light The Light of this internal Fire is a most pleasant chearing Quality of Life but the Fire in its own Nature is a strong harsh sulphurous Property a devouring lofty proud Spirit who endeavours to consume all things and the internal dark Fire is its Root and the Scripture saith Who can dwell with everlasting Burnings God is a Consuming Fire to all that are not cloathed with the Son's Wedding-Garment of Light Love and Innocency therefore the scrupling Violence and Oppression both to Man and Beast and denying our selves of other Vanities and Superfluities is of great moment and the only Path that leads Men to the holy Land preserving both the Body and Soul in health For this Cause in the Beginning the Lord put Man into a Garden which doth truly signifie Innocency and gave him a great number of fragrant Herbs Seeds Fruits and Grains which are all endued with an innocent Nature and Operation but when he had precipitated his Will and Desires into the Principle of Wrath then presently the Earth was filled with Violence and the Element of his Body and Soul was corrupted then Distemperatures took place in him and his Life was shortned but not before Therefore the Eating of Herbs Seeds Grains and Fruits is of far greater consequence than most imagine and they may justly be esteemed the Food of good Angels for their Innocency excellent Virtues Fragrancies and Odours and therefore they were the Food ordain'd for Man whilst he remained in his Angelical State and if he had continued in Innocency he would never have desired any other Food but when by Desire he awaken'd the fierce Wrath and lived under the Power and Government of its Nature then he could not be satisfied without doing Violence and Killing for innocent Herbs and Fruits had no Simile with that Nature that had gotten the upper Dominion in him for every Property as I have told you before must have its own Food or else it cannot subsist then it was and not before that the Lord permitted Men to kill and eat the Flesh and Blood of Beasts which would never have been had Man continued in Innocency And therefore great are the Benefits and manifold Privileges that now do accompany all those that have attained to that state of Purity and Innocency which our first Parents were cloathed with their Minds being freed from Snares and their Bodies from superfluous Labours therefore can say We have no need of Lawyers Honesty Justice and Prudence makes their Trade nothing worth and but a few Physicians and none of them keep neither Coaches nor Chariots they are not clothed with Gold Silver nor Plush Coats our Temperance keeps them poor The true Knowledge of God and Nature in our selves destroys the Trade of divining for Money Our Superiours are not proud nor ambitious neither do they spend the choicest and
to intreat our Friends to eat or drink beyond what is needful We have not forgot the great Affliction and torturing Distempers we endured whilst we were in Captivity and under the Government of Pharaoh's Task-masters viz. under the unequal Oppressions of the awakened Wrath and divided Forms of Nature where each Property endeavours to get the Mastery and therefore we do continually shun and arm our selves with the Armour of our Lord Jesus Christ viz. by taking up the Cross and denying our selves those Egyptian Vanities and Superfluities which the common Enemy of Mankind doth seek with all cunning Inventions to enslave us again in worldly Lusts that he may separate us from our sovereign Good but the Word of Truth is engraven in our Hearts by whose Power and Virtue we withstood his Temptations and beware of his Snares in time and count it our chief Good that the Lord hath in his Eternal Mercy delivered us out of Captivity therefore it behoveth us to live soberly in this present World We desire always and in all states to submit our selves to the good Pleasure of the Lord for we do not know what is good no farther than we are guided by his Holy Spirit it belongeth to him to determine what is most expedient for us and his own Glory We all hold this Maxim That all that have throughly profited themselves in the School of Christ do daily beat down or keep under the Elemental Body by denying themselves the Worldly Vanities within We do not give Names to our Children nor imitate the Philosophical Ancients like Apes without understanding the true Nature or Genius of the Child as to call them at a venture by such Names as do express a Deity whereas this Nature and Genius of the Child is quite contrary This is not to imitate our first Parents Adam gave Names to every Creature and Thing according to their Natures that is expressing their Natures and Properties He did not give Names to wild savage Beasts that did signifie Cleanness or friendly tractable Dispositions and Natures nor call Sheep Lions nor Lions Sheep The Prophet Isaiah saith Woe unto those that call Evil Good and Good Evil being ignorant of the true Nature of things and divine Mysteries they make no distinctions between Good and Evil. Adam called his First-born Cain Why did not he call him Abel No that would be to call a Devil a Saint and a Saint a Devil Cain doth sound forth and signifie the strong Might and Power of the Wrath and divided Forms of Nature which had Dominion in him and Abel doth as we have told you before signifie the eternal Principle of God's Love viz. Cain imitates the fierce devouring Fire and Abel the Light thereof The very same is to be understood of Ishmael and Isaac and Esau and Iacob the elder doth truly signifie the consuming Fire and the younger the Light thereof the first is the Father and the second is the Son The Ancients did not therefore gather together all the good Names which do express the holy divine Power and eternal Grace and Love of God in his second Principle or eternal Light and call their Children by them at a venture no this would have been great Impiety Would not every sober Man count it sordid and vain to call an Angel a Devil and a Devil by the Name of an Angel as most of the Men of Egypt do at this day They name and call their Children by Names expressing the divine Virtue and Power when as most of them do live under the Government of the evil unclean Nature and the Spirit that doth predominate in them is fierce and wrathful so that they call Good Evil and Evil Good which is far off from imitating the holy Men of the first Ages This doth more clearly appear by Abram which doth signifie the original Wrath and wild Nature of this World Why did not his Parents call him Abraham Emanuel Grace Hope Charity Abel Iacob or Isaac No those Names were too sublime but Abram did truly sound forth and signifie his inward and outward Nature But in process of time when the Light of God's Grace and Eternal Mercy appeared to him and that he believed in God which was accounted to him for Righteousness then the Lord said unto him Thy Name shall no more be called Abram but Abraham which doth truly comprehend and signifie both the first and second Tabernacle The Lord did not destroy or annihilate the Wrath and wild Nature no that must not be if there were no Fire then there would'be no Light as our Saviour Christ saith in another Case He came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it The Lord did reinforce Abraham's Soul and replenish it with his holy divine Principle of Love and Light and therefore his Name should no more be called Abram a Thorn or wild Thistle but Abraham the Father of the Faithful The same Order and changing of Names was continued till Christ was manifested in the humane Nature and afterward by all the divine Seers Did not Christ change St. Peter's Name because of his fixed Faith calling him Sephas which signifies a Stone or Rock And was not Saul called Paul after his Conversion The Ancients never changed Names but first their Natures were changed Christ called Herod a Fox which did truly signifie his inward Nature and what Spirit did govern in him The same is to be understood when the wise Ancients gave Names to their Children Places Cities and other things which Names did always truly signifie what Property or Quality did predominate in the Child or Thing so named This Knowledge is Angelical which Man hath lost by suffering his Desire and Will to enter into Vanity and as the Name of each Creature which Adam gave them doth express their Properties and Nature so the Name of each Angel doth express and signifie their Office The understanding each Name and what is signified thereby doth remain as a Mystery unto Mankind which is the original Language or the true Language of Nature the sound of each Word or Name doth declare what Property is predominant in it which original Language of Nature Birds and some other inferiour Creatures do retain to this time because they have not broken the Law of God in Nature but have lived in the Simplicity thereof and though they are not endued with that noble Faculty of Speech nevertheless they can by their general Tone and Cry as intelligibly communicate their Desires and various Passions as Love Hate Hunger Thirst and the like as Men can by their distinct Dialects viz. by altering and varying this one simple Tone or Cry as when they are hungry or want their Fellows or if one particular Bird doth know of some Food that his Fellows are ignorant of then he sends forth such a Tone or Sound as does as intelligibly acquaint all those of their own Kind as Men can by discoursing together for every Tone and Cry according to the various States Wants
Chymical Liquors are at the end of Nature and therefore they will not admit of another Motion Hence it follows that all sorts of Spirits as of Scurvey-Grass of Salt and many others of like Nature that are prepared by Fire whereby the Radical Moisture or sweet Balsamick Quality the Volatile Spirit and Vegitative Vertue or middle Quality are alâ— destroyed have no such physical Virtues 〈◊〉 their Authors appropriate unto them And we do affirm that such as have the Disease called the Scurvey in their Blood shall be as soon and as well cured by taking every morning so many Drops of strong Spirit of Wine as they shall by taking this sort of Spirit of Scurvey-Grass and so of the Spirit of Salt and others For the harsh sulpherous Fires in Stills where the friendly Element of Air is hindred from having its Influence does totally destroy the pure Virtues and opening cleansing Qualities and there does run off only a fierce keen harsh fiery astringent bitter furious Spirit which is very pernicious to Nature and to all the friendly Virtues in the Body nor was it ever known that any such Spirits have given help or cured any of those Diseases which the Lying Authors do so much boast of You may try whether this be true if you take any opening cleansing or purging Herbs Seeds or the like and put them into any kind of Liquor viz. Water Beer Ale Wine or Brandy the last of which those great Physicians and Masters of Art do use to draw their Spirits of Scurvey-grass in when you have put your Ingredients into your Liquor let them lie in it two or three days more or less as you please then put the Herbs and Seeds with the Liquor into your Still or Limbeck and draw it off and you shall only have an harsh strong fiery tart Spirit void of all the Purging Opening and Cleansing Qualities such Herbs or Seeds were naturally endued withal The very same or other as great Evils are in many other of the Physicians and Apothecaries Preparations which ought to be considered and their blind Traditionary senseless Ways and Methods to be abandoned as destructive to the Health and Well-being of Nature It is further to be noted that none ought to apply themselves to the â—â—actice of Physick but such only as the Lord hath in their Radixes endued with proper Gifts and natural Parts for 't is not sufficient for them to read other mens Works and vapour with their Receipts like the proud Iack-daw in the Fable with the fine Feathers stolen from other Birds but they ought to know the true Principles Nature and Operation of every Herb Plant Animal or Mineral that they make use of and for what it is good and the contrary in themselves and also what Simples are proper to be Compounded and what not For he that has no true Knowledge in himself of the Nature of things but follows Tradition blind-fold and trusts to other peoples Say-so's must needs make strange work and instead of Curing often-times Kill and when he does Cure 't is by meer chance Whereas Physicians ought not to administer any Medicine without true Knowledge both of his Patients Disease and what he gives to remove it all things especially where mens Lives are concerned ought to be done with sight and judgment and not without Faith and Prayer to God the Creator of all things who is the inward Virtue Power and Life of every thing For Faith and Prayer do Wonders opening the inward Virtue and Centre of every mean and simple Medicine or thing even Clay and Spittle with it shall cure the Blind this all Physicians ought to be inwardly sensible of and not put so much trust in their Authors for many of them have been very vain and extravagant in their Writings telling us that such and such Herbs and other things were indued with such wonderful Virtues and would cure such Diseases when in truth there were no such things and also invented many improper Compositions even any thing they fancied and most of their Sayings are meer Stories and as contrary to Truth as Light to Darkness Now on such a tottering Foundation what Structure of safety can be expected to be built Our Modern Physicians are much like our Lawyers if a man is like to lose part of his Estate and will vindicate his Cause by Law 't is twenty to one but he spends the other partto secure that and after abundance of charge and trouble loseth the whole Just so if a man through Disorder and Intemperance hath in part destroyed his Health he may be sure to destroy the other part also if he keep close and follow the Physicians Prescriptions and take good store of their adulterated Medicines We must also note that every Patient ought to turn the Eyes of his Mind inward and wait at the Altar of the Lord for an answer and not to do or take any Medicines without some Assurance or Faith in the Lord of his Blessing nor ought any to think himself too mean or simple because he is unlearned for do but read the Scriptures and you may be satisfied that the Lord in all Ages has plentifully given his Gifts and Graces both Divine and Natural to the Simple and Unlearned And as to the Learning of this World did not our Lord Christ himself give his Father the Author of all Beings thanks That he had hid the Mysteries of Salvation both of Soul and Body from the Wise and Letter-learned of this World and revealed them unto Babes poor mean and unlearned People Peter the Fisher-man Paul the Tent-maker c. For indeed the Rich and Learned have shut and double-bar'd the Windows of their Souls against the simple Light of Truth they have cloathed themselves with Vanity and Self-hood being contented with Tradition and a Worldly puffing-up Knowledge which serves them to swagger with but not to do any good with either to themselves or others so that there is no room for the operation of the friendly Love and Light of God they are so full of swelling proud Spirits and noise and boasting Hence it comes to pass that these Admirers of Tradition and Pocket-Learning and the ways of the Multitude are always apt to despise the Simplicity of the Divine Power and Voice of Wisdom not only in themselves but all others and therefore the Lord chuseth to unfold his holy and natural Mysteries unto the Poor and Needy and such who are not wise in their own Eyes and whose Eye-lids are not lifted up For nothing obstructs the Work of the Lord and the Revelations of his Holy Spirit in men more than Inward-Riches Self-conceitedness and the Babylonical-Learning of the Schools of this World which like a too Luxuriant and not well Cultivated Soil produce such abundance of Rank-weeds as overtop and choak the good Seed that it cannot attain to any maturity in the Government of a mans Life the same is to be understood of all outward Fulness and Intemperances
and Minerals The Salnitral and Seminary Virtues of the Earth varying also in the predominant Qualities from ours there being a concurrence in all Countries and Climates between the Influences and Operations of the heavenly Bodies and the earthy whence it comes to pass that the people of the South are black and the Northern white their Countrey generates Gold and ours Lead Tin and Iron the East-Indies yielding precious Stones which is a Degree higher than Gold and the West-Indies Silver which proceeds from the powerful Influences of the Sun and Venus but especially of the Sun its warming Beams continuing there all the year without much variation and therefore their Nights and Days are more equal than in the North where the cold harsh Properties of Saturn and Mars do bear sway Therefore the Herbs Drugs and Fruits that are brought forth in those remoter Regions are not Homogenial to our Bodies as Experience might teach us by the great numbers of new Diseases that have of late been cantracted by the superfluous Mixtures of the East and West-Indian Ingredients with our common Food as Spices Fruits Sugars as also Tobacco c. which have strangely wasted the Healths of many For the All-wise Creator of all Beings has endued both the Heavenly and Earthly bodies with an inward Virtue Power and Nature in every Climate and Country so as all places do plentifully bring forth all manner of Herbs Fruits Seeds Drugs and Grains suitable and proper for the Sustenance of both Men and Beasts of that place and also for Medicine there being a Sympathetical agreement in the Radixes between the Animals of each Country and the Vegetations thereof both being brought forth under the same Influence Do not our own Herbs Fruits and Grains growing in our own Country maintain the numerous Troops of brave Animals amongst us viz. Cows Sheep Horses and many others in plentiful healthy state without the help of Foreign Vegetatives And are there not a great number of Medicinables likewise of our own growth proper for the cure of those Diseases that are generated in our Elevation and had it not been the great happiness of England if men had known no more of Outlandish-wines Spices Sugars c. either for Food or Physick than our Beasts do which would have rendred us more healthy and sounder both in Body and mind For in the Beginning the Divine Word of the Lord that as the Scriptures testifie made all things moved it self in all Places and Climates and formed framed and figured all Bodies according to the Degrees of the Innate instant Qualities of each Place and as the property of the Seven-fold Nature and Constellation did there predominate and as the Salnitral Properties and Spirits were internally strong or weak good or evil such was the Nature Inclinations Forms and Shapes of the Creatures in each Climate for every Creature was clothed with a Body according to the Nature and Degrees of the Spirit which is the Life of all things having an innate Power to attract proper matter for a Body of a proportionable Nature And as the Internal Powers and Qualities are infinitely various so are the External forms every thing both in the Animal Mineral and Vegetative Kingdoms varying in Shape Virtue and Vice And where the Property of the Wrath did predominate in the Salnitral Quality in any Country there did arise and were made fierce wrathful wild Beasts of Prey as Bears Lyons Tygers c. On the contrary where the sweet Water and friendly Nature had Dominion there were generated Tame Mild Creatures as Sheep Cows c. the same is to be understood in the Vegetative and Mineral Kingdoms and the outward Body or Signature does in all particulars manifest and shew the inward Nature of each thing to the enlightned understanding and sagacious Naturalist whom God and Nature have made capable of such sublime Learning It is very Improbable if I had said Impossible I had not much over-shot the Truth that one Herb should have specifick virtue and power to cure so many various Diseases and Defects of Nature as the Ancients do appropriate except such an Herb Fruit Seed or the like be endued with and have the Universal Tinctures compleat which hath never been known nor is it possible that any gross Herb should have that Divine Efficacy to cure so many Different Distempers and in various Complexions except there be a Living Faith in the Patients and also in the Physician which then can make Water Wine and Clay and Spittle an Eye-Salve and as Christ saith remove Mountains as also witness the Woman that had the Bloody Issue she believed in her heart That if she could but touch the Hem of Christ's Garment she should be whole which enabled her to press through the Throng and Multitude to touch his Garment where 't is to be noted that this Woman did first press in her self by Faith through the Wrath of God and Multitude of Evil Properties and Inclinations into the Divine Power and Virtue of the Son of God which by a sympathetical Attraction and Divine Power awakened the Balsamick Virtue and friendly Nature first in her self and afterwards in our Lord for then he enquired Who had touched him At which his Disciples marvelled because of the Multitude that pressed him but Christ was sensible of the Inward Kindlings and of the secret Attractions and Influences the Wowan's Faith had in a powerful Degree awakened and as it were drawn forth and united or joyned it self with the friendly Divine Principle of the Light and Love of God in Iesus Christ which healing Virtues her earnest Faith did draw forth and so miraculously her Cure was immediately effected for Christ saith Thy FAITH hath made thee whole The truth is there is but One Way for the right Cure of all Diseases both Corporeal and Incorporeal whether they proceed from the Body or the Mind which is by the Virtue and Power of the Good Quality and friendly Nature which the Creator hath endued every Herb and other thing with for as the Sickness of the Soul or Mind is nothing else but the Deprivation of the Divine Vision viz. man's being departed from the Government and Council of the good Light and Love of God which cannot be remedied nor the Soul restored unto its first state of Health Strength and Unity with God but only by Faith and elevating the Soul to the Divine Principles which will reinforce all the good Powers and Virtues of God's Love and not only render a man sound and healthy but the same Grace-being obeyed will maintain the Soul and Spirit in serenity so the very same is to be understood of all kind of Sicknesses of the Body and Elements of the Outward Nature Diseases being nothing else but an unequal Motion or Contrarieties of the Properties and Qualities of Nature which comes to pass through various Intemperances and concurring Influences of the Elements and Coelestial Bodies which wound the pure Volatile Spirit and then presently
and coupling of Stocks as if their Bags must needs mutually Engender and breed and multiply as well as their Persons This making of Matrimony a Matter of Money and Miserly Parents sacrificing their Children to Mammon is a wretched Idolatry little inferiour to theirs of Old who offered their Sons and Daughters to Molock they made oblations of them in Flames which quickly devoured them but you deliver them up and force them into loathed Embraces where perhaps they languish out twenty or thirty Years in perpetual Vexations and Torment without one hours solid Content or Satisfaction and all this for a little Base Pelf which never has been known to make any happy where Content Sobriety and Virtue have been wanting But if God's Law and the Influences of unbiast Nature did take place in peoples hearts there would not be such over-looking those that have but a little Money the Rich and Noble then would often marry with the poor or those they now call their Unequals For where shall we find a healthy fresh rosie straight-Limb'd Angel-fac'd Innocent Virgin fit for Emperours to get Princes upon sooner than amongst the Daughters of Shepherds or the untutor'd Troops of a poor Country-Village Did men live in the Power and Operation of God's Laws and the Dictates of Nature none of them would delude the Simplicity of Virgins by Deceitful Kindnesses and when they have gotten their Lewd Desires of them then leave them and their own Off-spring to beg their Bread exposed to shame and want and all the Evils imaginable making nothing to cut off the Thread of Love and bury Affection through the power of their depraved Wills which is a Crying Sin and next door to Murther The truth is there is scarce one Person of an hundred that make his or her choice from Wisdom or a right Understanding and to answer the end for which the Lord instituted Marriage in the beginning but if a Man have but an Estate tho otherwise never so diseased infirm or unfit all is overlook'd and excused Money covers all Infirmities where the heart is degenerated from Truth and Virtue making that there Master which if well used would be a good Servant most People being so blind and stupid that they dare not cast their Care and repose their Trust in him who by his bountiful Divine Hand of Providence taketh care for all and preserveth all and from whom every good Gift proceeds both Temporal and Spiritual this trusting and relying on the Creature more than the Creator is the greatest Idolatry and that which the Lord abominates for a Curse does follow all those who prefer their devillish Lusts and foolish Passions and greedy Desires of Money before the good and holy fear of the Lord and his Innocent Law Themselves Wives and Children being afflicted with a numberless Number of Diseases and Infirmities and what Fruit can be expected from such corrupt Trees Whence think ye proceed Leprous Scabby Diseases Joint-evils and that which they call the Kings-Evil wherewith many thousands in this Nation of all sorts are afflicted as also the Gout in Youth Consumptions and other incurable Diseases Are not most or all these Evils the effect of undue Marriages Uncleannesses and Intemperances And yet if a Man ask them how came such or such a Disease they will confidently answer We do not know even as it pleaseth God we know nothing we have done which should occasion it Thus laying the Cause on the Lord of all their Infirmities and Evils never considering that it is the Reward of their own Transgression and of their own Evil Courses which have awakened the poysonous Properties in the Elements of the Body 4. A fourth sort of Blame-worthy are those who do Marry without any due Consideration of the weight and importance of what they go about sure a thing in which the Happiness or Misery of a Man's whole future Life is involved and which can be done but Once should be considered Twice before we undertake it But many People are so hurried away with the Heat and Fury of youthful Lusts Passions and Wantonness as they mind nothing but a present Satisfaction of their bruitish Desires vainly imagining that they shall never be otherwise but alas as soon as those fiery Transports are allayed their Love languishes grows cold and flat and those very Embraces wherein they placed their highest Happiness become wearisom nauseous and perhaps loathsom and then these hot Lovers become Rude Sordid Stubborn Bold Surly and Inhumane having no true Natural Affection unto nor taking any honest Care for Wife or Children but grow Dissolute Drunken and Idle as they get Childen in the heat of Drink and Lust so they make not the least Provision to preserve them How many thousands of poor Women and Children are more miserable than any Creatures on the Earth if we do but consider the Hunger Cold Diseases Griefs Vexations and Distractions which they endure from the intolerable Idleness Debauchery Crosness or other ill Carriage Words and Communications of some brutified Things whom they are obliged to call Husbands and Fathers 5. The Fear of the Lord being the beginning of all Wisdom both Divine and Humane ought to be the principal Object of every Man and Womans Thoughts Words and Actions and then they would be taught by the Spirit of Truth how they may chuse unto themselves suitable Wives and Husbands For Marriage is as it were the Foundation either to Virtue or Vice and nothing can make a Conjugal Life happy but suitable Dispositions and Virtue and where their coming together is from a well-grounded Love and natural Affections mutually combined to answer the End of that State that is to raise up Seed in the fear of the Lord and then the Blessing of the most High is with and upon them in all their Affairs and whether they have much or little of the World's Wealth they are satisfied as knowing that it is not Riches but true Love that can make a married Life pleasant or encourage Industry in the Man and Wife But where Equality in Tempers Years and Virtues meet it makes this Society the most happy of all others there Love covers a multitude of Infirmities Joys are doubled Griefs divided and all Troubles made easy 'T is true every Married Estate is followed more or less with Inconveniences for it forceth a Man to appear in the World and thrust himself into Business and attend and bow himself to those that perhaps he doth not much care for or desire their Company because they often spur him to Evil or to do that which if Interest were not at stake he would not do and where there are six or seven more in a Family there will unavoidably be committed many Disorders sometimes by Servants sometimes by Children and seldom is it that they are all in Health long together And if it happens that the Wife have a good esteem of her Doctor and his Physick then she will do nothing without his Advice
temperately which formerly they have spent in superfluity and of late have altogether declined but with Colour of using moderately many are ensnared and by degrees led again into Captivity It being for Example more difficult to drink Wine with a just Moderation than to drink no Wine at all And 't is the part of a wise Man if he sees an hundred things lawful to deny himself of ninety of them being certain of this that every inferior thing a Man toucheth or communicateth with has a special Power and natural Inclination to beget its own property and by degrees enslave the more noble Properties in Man Therefore 't is safer to deny ones self many of those things that are lawful and mean as well as those things that are not because Men has Power either by Sense or Understanding to hinder the Influences and Spiritual Impressions of Nature if he shall joyn himself to any thing whether it be Meats Drinks Imployments or Communications there being no Caviates that can prevent those Inconveniences but only Scruple and Self-denial which has been and alone is the first step and also the last to all Virtue and Wisdom He that can regulate himself and his Imaginations Words Communications Meats Drinks and Imployments may preserve his Spirit pure and potent and make his Soul thereby an unpolluted Temple of God which is the Supream Musick attainable where all the various Forms do incorporate and imbrace each other in an holy Consort of Love and where there is no despising envying or persecuting of one another because they are of different Forms Shapes Figures Complexions Inclinations or Understandings of which Vocal and Instrumental Harmony is a true Similitude Therefore it is much to be pitied that those that are Players on Instruments and skilled in Musick be not more Temperate Sober Grave and Wise for the wicked Wantonness and vain Lives of some of them have brought a Scandal on Musick and most People being ignorant of the Nature and Eccellency of Harmony have charged Musick as tho that had been the chief Cause of those Evils some of them have committed against God Themselves and the Law of Nature But this is a grand Mistake for the Original Cause of all Evil and Sin proceeds from a Man 's own Lusts and Passions and not from any outward thing 'T is true Man hath the two Seeds and Tinctures in himself and as he shall give his Will up unto either Evil or Good so he has power to attract unto himself either Virtue or Vice out of all things and also to use them either to the Praise of his Creator or profit of himself or the contrary as the Apostle saith Unto the Pure all things are Pure but to the perverse the contrary for the Lord appears to every Man either in his Love or Anger according to what Principle he hath suffered his Will to enter into as the Scripture saith That the Lord is an angry jealous God and a consuming Fire And yet again it saith That he is a merciful gracious God full of Love and Pity and will shew Mercy unto the third and fourth Generation of those that fear his Name and live in Unity Therefore Musick is not at all to be contemned or slighted for the badness of some that pretend to its outward Practice for they still are Strangers to its inward Power and Efficacy For Concord and Harmony are the best Accomplishments and sublimest Gifts that can be attained in this World the pleasures of Time and Eternity enduing both Soul and Body with perpetual Health it being that happy state which Man and all other Creatures do travel with great Desires and Groanings to be delivered unto even that holy Unity whence all proceeded But Unity Concord and Intellectual Harmony have hardly any thing in the hearts of Men for if they had then there would be Peace and Love not only amongst Men but to the whole Creation for that Paradisical State in this World which many have hoped to see and do expect shall come viz. that all Mankind shall live in perfect Love Concord and Harmony can never be expected to come to pass except Men do take other Measures than hitherto they have done For before any can attain to such a blessed harmonious Condition he must first live in the Observation of God's Law in the outward Nature for the greater cannot be understood if the lesser be not put into practice Man cannot by his Prayers move the Lord in his holy Fountain of Love except he lives in the Power and Operation of the same Fountain nor can attract the sweet Influences of the Elements and Coelestial Bodies any other way but by living and observing the simple innocent Law of Nature For this cause those that live under the Dominion of the Spirit of Discord Pride Envy and Contention their Devotions cannot move the Lord in this principle of his Love and Mercy but on the contrary moves him in the stern Wrath and therefore is said to be an Abomination unto him For this Reason there ought to be more care in every one to know what Spirit reigns in the hidden Ground of the heart than about outward Forms Every one that feareth God and worketh Righteousness saith the Apostle is accepted of the Lord who makes no difference of Forms for every Form is either Good or Evil as the People are either Virtuous or the contrary Therefore it is highly necessary for every one to study the knowledg of himself that he may understand the differences of Spirits and from what Fountain or Property every Thought Word and Work does proceed and to recommend and promote such Self-study and Heart-knowledg is the scope of this whole Treatise which being once attained unto a Man may be able to correct himself and Tune his own Instrument whence will proceed Concord Love and Harmony without which there is no Satisfaction either in this World or that which is to come For to fear God and keep his Commandments is the true Musick which all Mankind ought to be skill'd in and practise This is both the Glory and the Happiness the Ioy and Solace of created Beeings the celebrated Musick of the Spheres the Eocho of Heaven the Business of Seraphims and the Imployment of Eternity Amon. FINIS A DIALOGUE Between an East-Indian Brackmanny OR Heathen-PHILOSOPHER AND A French-Gentleman Concerning the Present Affairs in EUROPE LONDON Printed for D. Newman and R. Baldwin at the King 's Arms in the Poultrey and near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane 1691. A Dialogue between an East-Indian Brackmanny or Heathen Philosopher and a French Gentleman c. Heathen SIR I will not be so inquisitive as to ask what Accident or Occasion brought you into these Oriental Regions Be it either Curiosity or Business a natural desire of improving your Understanding or intension of Commerce I speak you heartily welcome and shall to my power be ready to serve you esteeming it both my Duty and my Happiness to