Conjectura Cabbalistica OR A CONJECTURAL ESSAY OF Interpreting the minde of Moses according to a Threefold CABBALA Viz. Literal Philosophical Mystical or Divinely Moral By HENRY MORE Fellow of Christs College in Cambridge EXOD. 34. And when Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses behold the skin of his face shones and they were afraid to come nigh him Wherefore Moses while he spake unto them put a veil on his face MATTH 10. There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed and hid that shall not be known What I tell you in darknesse speak you in light and what you hear in the ear that preach you on the house-tops LONDON Printed by James Flesher and are to be sold by William Morden Bookseller in Cambridge 1653. TO HIS EMINENTLY LEARNED and truly religious friend Dr Cudworth Master of Clare Hall and Hebrew Professor in the University of Cambridge SIR COncerning the choice of the subject matter of my present pains I have I think spoke enough in the insuing Preface Concerning the choice of my Patron I shall say no more then that the sole inducement thereto was his singular Learning and Piety The former of which is so conspicuous to the world that it is universally acknowledged of all and for the latter there is none that can be ignorant thereof who has ever had the happiness though but in a smaller measure of his more free and intimate converse As for my own part I cannot but publickly profess I never met with any yet so truly and becomingly religious where the right knowledge of God and Christ bears the inlightned minde so even that it is as far removed from Superstition as Irreligion it self And my present Labours cannot finde better welcome or more judicious acceptance with any then with such as these For such free and unprejudiced spirits will neither antiquate Truth for the oldnesse of the Notion nor slight her for looking young or bearing the face of Novelty Besides there are none that can be better assured of the sincerity and efficacy of my present Designe For as many as are born of the Spirit and are not meer sons of the Letter know very well how much the more inward and mysterious meaning of the Text makes for the reverence of the holy Scripture and advantage of Godlinesse when as the urging of the bare literal sense has either made or confirmed many an Atheist And assuredly those men see very little in the affairs of Religion that do not plainly discover that it is the Atheists highest interest to have it taken for granted that there is no spiritual meaning either in Scripture or Sacrament that extends further then the meer Grammatical sense in the one or the sensible grosse external performance in the other As for example That to be regenerated and become a true and real Christian is nothing else but to receive the outward Baptisme of visible water And that the Mosaical Philosophy concerning God and the nature of things is none other then that which most obviously offers it self in the meer letter of Moses Which if the Atheist could have fully granted to him on all sides and get but this in also to the bargain That there is no knowledge of God but what Moses his Text set on foot in the world or what is Traditional he cannot but think that Religion in this dresse is so empty exceptionable and contemptible that it is but just with as many as are not meer fools to look upon it as some melancholick conceit or cunning fiction brought into the world to awe the simpler sort but behinde the hangings to be freely laughed at and derided by those that are more wise And that it were an easie thing in a short time to raze the memory of it out of the mindes of men it having so little root in the humane faculties Which for my own part I think as hopeful as that posterity will be born without eyes and ears and lose the use of speech For I think the knowledge of God and a sense of Religion is as natural and essential to mankinde as any other property in them whatsoever And that the generations of men shall as soon become utterly irrational as plainly irreligious Which I think my late Treatise against Atheisme wil make good to any one that with care and judgement will peruse it Nor does it at all follow because a truth is delivered by way of Tradition that it is unconcludable by Reason For I do not know any one Theorem in all Natural Philosophy that has more sufficient reasons for it then the motion of the Earth which notwithstanding is part of the Philosophick Cabbala or Tradition of Moses as I shall plainly shew in its due place So likewise for the prae-existency of the Soul which seems to have been part of the same Tradition it is abundantly consentaneous to Reason And as we can give a genuine account of all those seeming irregularities of motion in the Planets supposing they the Earth move round about the Sun so we may open the causes of all those astonishing Paradoxes of Providence from this other Hypothesis and show that there is nothing here unsutable to the precious Attributes of God if we could place the eye of our understanding in that Center of all free motions that steady eternal Good were not our selves carried aloof off from him amongst other wandring Planets as S. Jude calls them that at several distances play about him yet all of them in some measure or other not onely pretending to him but whether they pretend or not really receiving something from him For of this First is all both Wisdome Pleasure and Power But it is enough to have but hinted these things briefly and enigmatically the wrath and ignorance of all Ages receiving the most generous Truths with the greatest offence But for my own part I know no reason but that all wel-willers to Truth Godliness should heartily thank me for my present Cabbalistical Enterprise I having so plainly therein vindicated the holy Mystery of the Trinity from being as a very bold Sect would have it a meer Pagan invention For it is plainly shown here that it is from Moses originally not from Pythagoras or Plato And seeing that Christ is nothing but Moses unveiled I think it was a special act of Providence that this hidden Cabbala came so seasonably to the knowledge of the Gentiles that it might afore-hand fit them for the easier entertainment of the whole Mystery of Christianity when in the fulness of time it should be more clearly revealed unto the world Besides this we have also shown That according to Moses his Philosophy the soul is secure both from death and from sleep after death which those drowsie Nodders over the letter of the Scripture have very oscitantly collected and yet as boldly afterwards maintained pretending that the contrary is more Platonical then Christian or Scriptural Wherefore my designe being so pious
I am not alone in this liberty of dissenting from Plotinus For besides my own conceit this way for I must confess I have no demonstrative reasons against his opinion I am emboldened by the example of Ficinus who is no small admirer of the forenamed Author That which I was about to say is this The informing or actuating of a body being so Indispensable and Essential an act of the Soul the temper and condition of the body that it thus actuates cannot but be of mighty consequence unto the Soul that is conscious of the plight thereof and reaps the joy of it or sorrow by an universal touch and inward sense springing up into her cognoscence and animadversion And we may easily imagine of what moment the health and good plight of the body is to the minde that lodges there if we do but consider the condition of Plants whose bodies we cannot but conceive in a more grateful temper while they flourish and are sweet and pleasing to the eye then when they are withered by age or drought or born down to the Earth by immoderate storms of rain And so it is with the body of man where there is a Soul to take notice of its condition far better when it is in health by discretion and moderation in diet and exercise then when it is either parched up by superstitious melancholy or slocken and drowned in sensuality and intemperance For they are both abaters of the joyes of life and lessen that plenitude of happiness that man is capable of by his Mystical Eve the woman that God has given every one to delight himself with Ver. 24. So far forth as they are incompetible with the health of the body This is an undeniable truth else how could that hold good that the Apostle speaks That Godliness is profitable for all things having the promise of this world and that which is to come when as without the health of the body there is nothing at all to be enjoyed in this present world And certainly God doth not tie us to the Law of Angels or Superiour Creatures but to precepts sutable to the nature of man Obedience to the precepts of that Superiour Light For if the life of the body grow upon us so as to extinguish or hinder the sense of divine things our dependence of God and joyful hope of the life to come it is then become disorderly and is to be castigated and kept down that it pull not us down into an aversation from all Piety and sink us into an utter oblivion of God and the divine Life Ver. 25. Without any shame or blushing See what has been said upon the Philosophick Cabbala CHAP. III. A story of a dispute betwixt a Prelate and a Black-Smith concerning Adams eating of the Apple 1 What is meant by the subtilty or deceit of the Serpent That Religion wrought to its due height is a very chearful state And it is only the halting and hypocrisie of men that generally have put so soure and sad a vizard upon it 5 6 That worldly Wisdome not Philosophy is perstringed in the Mysterie of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil 10 The meaning of Adams flying after he had found himself naked 20 Adam the Earthly-minded Man according to Philo. 21 What is meant by Gods clothing Adam and Eve with hairy Coats in the Mystical sense 23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Paradise of Luxury That History in Scripture is wrote very concisely and therefore admits of modest and judicious Supplements for clearing the sense 24 What is meant by the Cherubim and flaming Sword Plato's definition of Philosophy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A more large description of dying to Sinne and of the life of Righteousness That Christian Religion even as it referres to the external Person of Christ is upon no pretence to be annull'd till the Conflagration of the world IN this third Chapter is the said Catastrophe of the story the Fall of Adam and the Original of all that misery and calamity that hath befallen mankind since the Beginning of the World Of so horrid consequence was it that our Mother Eve could no better suppress her longing but upon the easie perswasion of the Serpent ate the forbidden Fruit as a famous Prelate in France once very tragically insisted upon the point to his attentive Auditory But it should seem a certain Smith in the Church as Bodinus relates when he had heard from this venerable Preacher that Universal Mankinde saving a small handful of Christians were irrevocably laps'd into eternal damnation by Adams eating of an Apple and he having the boldness to argue the matter with the Prelate and receiving no satisfaction from him in his managing the Literal sense of the Text and his skill it should seem went no further the Smith at last broke out into these words Tam multas rixas pro re tantilla ineptè excitari as if he should have said in plain English What a deal of doe has there here been about the eating of an Apple Which blasphemous saying as Bodinus writes had no sooner come to the ears of the Court of France but it became a Proverb amongst the Courtiers So dangerous a thing is an ignorant and indiscreet Preacher and a bold immodest Auditour Bodinus in the same place does profess it is his Judgement that the unskilful insisting of our Divines upon the literal sense of Moses has bred many hundred thousands of Atheists For which reason I hope that men that are not very ignorant and humorous but sincere lovers of God and the divine Truth will receive these my Cabbala's with more favour and acceptance especially this Moral one it being not of too big a sense to stop the mouth of any honest free inquisitive Christian But whatever it is we shall further endevour to make it good in the several passages thereof Ver. 1. Inordinate desire of pleasure It is Philo's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Serpent is a Symbole or representation of Pleasure which he compares to that creature for three reasons First because a Serpent is an Animal without feet and crawls along on the Earth upon his belly Secondly because it is said to feed upon the dust of the Earth Thirdly because it has poisonous teeth that kill those that it bites And so he assimilates pleasure to it being a base affection and bearing it self upon the belly the seat of lust and intemperance feeding on earthly things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but never nourishing her self with that heavenly food which wisdome offers to the Contemplative by her precepts and discourses It is much that Philo should take no notice of that which is so particularly set down in the Text the subtilty of the Serpent which me thinks is notorious in pleasure it looking so smoothly and innocently on 't and insinuating it self very easily into the mindes of men upon that consideration and so deceiving them when as other passions cannot so slily surprise
of Euphrates Pison Phasis or Phasi-tigris That the Madianites are called Aethiopians That Paradise was seated about Mesopotamia argued by six Reasons That it was more particularly seated where now Apamia stands in Ptolemee's Maps 18 The Prudence of Moses in the commendation of Matrimony 19 Why Adam is not recorded to have given names to the Fishes 24 Abraham Ben Ezra's conceit of the names of Adam and Eve as they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 25 Moses his wise Anthypophora concerning the natural shame of nakednesse 124 CHAP. III. 1 How much it saves the credit of our first Parents that the Serpent was found the prime Author of the Transgression That according to S. Basil all the living creatures of Paradise could speak undeniable reasons that the Serpent could according to the Literal Cabbala 9 The opinion of the Anthropomorphites true according to the Literal Cabbala 14 That the Serpent went upright before the fall was the opinion of S. Basil 16 A story of the easie delivery of a certain poor woman of Liguria 19 That the general calamities that lie upon mankinde came by the transgression of a positive Law how well accommodate it is to the scope of Moses 23 That Paradise was not the whole Earth 24 The Apparitions in Paradise called by Theodoret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 130 THE DEFENCE OF THE PHILOSOPHICK CABBALA CHAP. I. 1 Why Heaven and Light are both made Symbols of the same thing viz. The World of Life That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intimate a Trinity That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a title of the Eternal Wisdome the Son of God who is called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well in Philo as the New Testament That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the holy Ghost 2 The fit agreement of Plato's Triad with the Trinity of the present Cabbala 5 The Pythagorick names or nature of a Monad or Unite applyed to the first days work 6 What are the upper waters and that Souls that descend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the Naides or water Nymphes in Porphyrius 8 That Matter of it self is unmoveable R. Bechai his notation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very happily explained out of Des Cartes his Philosophy That Vniversal Matter is the second days Creation fully made good by the names and property of the number Two 13 The nature of the third days work set off by the number Three 16 That the most learned do agree that the Creation was perfected at once The notation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strangely agreeing with the most notorious conclusions of the Cartesian Philosophy 19 That the Corporeal world was universally erected into Form and Motion on the fourth day is most notably confirmed by the titles and propertie of the number Four The true meanning of the Pythagorick oath wherein they swore by him that taught them the mysterie of the Tetractys That the Tetractys was a Symbole of the whole Philosophick Cabbala that lay couched under the Text of Moses 20 Why Fish and Fowl created in the same day 23 Why living creatures were said to be made in the Fift and Sixt days 31 And why the whole Creation was comprehended within the number Six 135 136 CHAP. II. 3 The number Seven a fit Symbole of the Sabbath or Rest of God 7 Of Adams rising out of the ground as other creatures did 11 That Pison is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and denotes Prudence The mystical meaning of Havilah 13 That Gihon is the same that Nilus Sihor or Siris and that Pison is Ganges The Justice of the Aethiopians That Gihon is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and denotes that virtue 14 As Hiddekel Fortitude 17 That those expressions of the Souls sleep and death in the Body so frequent amongst the Platonists were borrowed from the Mosaical Cabbala 19 Fallen Angels assimilated to the beasts of the field The meaning of those Platonical phrases 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the like That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Platonisme is the same that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Moses that signifies Angels as well as God 22 That there are three principles in Man according to Plato's School 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that this last is Eve CHAP. III. 1 The Serpent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Pherecydes Syrus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 names of Spirits haunting Fields and and desolate places The right Notation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 13 That Satan upon his tempting Adam was cast down lower towards the Earth with all his Accomplices 15 Plato's Prophecie of Christ The reasonablenesse of divine Providence in exalting Christ above the highest Angels 20 That Adams descension into his Terrestrial Body was a kind of death 22 How incongruous it is to the divine Goodnesse Sarcastically to insult over frail Man fallen into Tragical misery 24 That it is a great mercy of God that we are not immortal upon Earth That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are all one A Summary representation of the strength of the whole Philosophick Cabbala Pythagoras deemed the son of Apollo That he was acquainted with the Cabbala of Moses That he did miracles As also Abaris Empedocles and Epimenides being instructed by him Plato also deemed the son of Apollo Socrates his dream concerning him That he was learned in the Mosaical Cabbala The miraculous power of Plotinus his Soul Cartesius compared with Bezaliel and Aholiab and whether he was inspired or no. The Cabbalists Apology 172 THE DEFENCE OF THE MORAL CABBALA CHAP. I. What is meant by Moral explained out of Philo. 3 That the Light in the first day improv'd to the height is Adam in the sixt Christ according to the Spirit 4 In what sense we our selves may be said to do what God does in us 5 Why 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are rendred Ignorance and Inquiry 18 Plato's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Pythagoreans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 applyed to the Fourth days progresse 22 That Virtue is not an extirpation but regulation of the Passions according to the minde of the Pythagoreans 24 Plotinus his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 applyed to the Sixt days progresse 26 What the Image of God is plainly set down out of S. Paul and Plato The divine Principle in us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of Plotinus 28 The distinction of the Heavenly and Earthly Man out of Philo. 31 The Imposture of still and fixed Melancholy and that it is not the true divine Rest and precious Sabbath of the Soul A compendious rehearsal of the whole Allegory of the Six days Creation p. 194 CHAP. II. The full sense of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that keeps men from entring into the true Sabbath 4 The great necessity of distinguishing the innocent motions of Nature from the suggestions of Sin 5 That the growth of a true Christian indeed doth not adaequately depend upon the lips of the Priest 7 The meaning of This is he that comes by Water and Blood 8 The meaning of Repent for the Kingdome of Heaven is at hand The seventh thousand years the great Sabbatism of the Church of God That there will be then frequent converse betwixt Men and Angels 9 The Tree of Life how fitly in the Mystical sense said to be in the midst of the Garden 17 A twofold death contracted by Adams disobedience The Masculine and Feminine Faculties in Man what they are Actuating a Body an Essential operation of the Soul and the reason of that so joyful appearance of Eve to the Humane Nature 209 210 CHAP. III. A story of a dispute betwixt a Prelate and a Black-Smith concerning Adams eating of the Apple 1 What is meant by the subtilty or deceit of the Serpent That Religion wrought to its due height is a very chearful state And it is only the halting and hypocrisie of men that generally have put so soure and sad a vizard upon it 5 6 That worldly Wisdome not Philosophy is perstringed in the Mysterie of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil 10 The meaning of Adams flying after he had found himself naked 20 Adam the Earthly-minded Man according to Philo. 21 What is meant by Gods clothing Adam and Eve with hairy Coats in the Mystical sense 23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Paradise of Luxury That History in Scripture is wrote very concisely and therefore admits of modest and judicious Supplements for clearing the sense 24 What is meant by the Cherubim and flaming Sword Plato's definition of Philosophy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A more large description of dying to Sinne and of the life of righteousness That Christian Religion even as it referres to the external Person of Christ is upon no pretence to be annull'd till the Conflagration of the world 224 ERRATA PAg. 39. lin 24. read sacred p. 79 l. 19. r. Sensus p. 87. l. 14. r. wilde p. 126. l. 26. r. goodly p. 204. l. 35. r. run p. 230. l. 34. r. generous FINIS
of heaven whose Providence reaches to all things and whose Mercy is over all his workes looking upon Adam perceived in what a pitifull ridiculous case he was who seeking to be like unto God for knowledge and freedome made himselfe no better then a Beast and could willingly have lived for ever in that baser kinde of nature Wherefore the Eternall Lord God in compassion to Adam designed the contrary and deriding his boldnesse and curiosity that made him transgresse Behold sayes he Adam is become like one of us knowing Good and Evill and can of himselfe enlarge his pleasure and create new Paradises of his owne which forsooth must have also their Tree of Life or Immortality and Adam would for ever live in this foolish state he hath plac'd himselfe in 23 But the Eternall Lord God would not suffer Adam to take up his rest in the Beastial delight which he had chosen but drove him out of this false Paradise which he would have made to himself and set him to cultivate his fleshly members out of which his Earthly mindednesse was taken 24 I say he forcibly drove out Adam from this Paradise of Luxury nor could he settle perpetually in the brutish Life because the Cherubim with the flaming sword that turned every way beat him off that is the Manly Faculties of Reason and Conscience met him ever and anon in his brutish purposes and convinced him so of his folly that he could not set up his rest for ever in this bestial condition THE DEFENCE Of the Threefold CABBALA Philo Jud. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is That the whole Law of Moses is like to a living Creature whose Body is the literal sense but the Soul the more inward and hidden meaning covered under the sense of the Letter R. MOSES AEGYPT Non omnia secundum literam intelligenda accipienda esse quae dicuntur in Opere Bereschith seu Creationis sicut vulgus hominum existimat Sensum enim illorum literales vel gignunt pravas opiniones de natura Dei Opt. Max. vel certè fundamenta legis evertunt HeresÃnque aliquam introducunt LONDON Printed by JAMES FLESHER 1653. THE PREFACE to the READER READER THE Cabbala's thou hast read being in all likelihood so strange and unexpected especially the Philosophical that the Defence it self which should cure and cese thy amazement may not occasion in any passage thereof any further scruple or offence I thought fit a while to interrupt thee that whatever I conjecture may lesse satisfie may afore-hand be strengthned by this short Preface And for my own part I cannot presage what may be in any shew of Reason alledged by any man unlesse it be The unusual mysterie of Numbers The using of the authority of the Heathen in Explication of Scripture The adding also of Miracles done by them for the further confirming their authority and lastly the strangeness of the Philosophical Conclusions themselves Now for the Mysterie of Numbers that this ancient Philosophy of Moses should be wrapped up in it will not seem improbable if we consider that the Cabbala of the Creation was conserved in the hands of Abraham and his family who was famous for Mathematicks of which Arithmetick is a necessary part first amongst the Chaldeans and that after he taught the Aegyptians the same arts as Historians write Besides Prophetical and Aenigmatical writings that it is usual with them to hide their secrets as under the allusions of Names and Etymologies so also under the adumbrations of Numbers it is so notoriously known and that in the very Scriptures themselves that it needs no proof I will instance but in that one eminent example of the number of the Beast 666. As for citing the Heathen Writers so frequently you are to consider that they are the wisest and the most virtuous of them and either such as the Fathers say had their Philosophy from Moses and the Prophets as Pythagoras and Plato or else the Disciples or Friends of these Philosophers And therefore I thought it very proper to use their Testimony in a thing that they seem'd to be so fit witnesses of for the main as having receiv'd the Cabbala from the ancient Prophets Though I will not deny but they have mingled their own fooleries with it either out of the wantonnesse of their Fancy or mistake of Judgement Such as are the Transmigration of Humane Souls into Brutes An utter abstinence from Flesh Too severe reproaches against the Pleasures of the Body Vilification of Marriage and the like which is no more Argument against the main drift of the Cabbala then unwarrantable superstitious Opinions and Practises of some deceived Churches are against the solid grounds of Christianity Again I do not alledge Philosophers alone but as occasion requires Fathers and which I conceive as valid in this case the Jewish Rabbins who in things where prejudice need not blinde them I should think as fit as any to confirm a Cabbalistical sense especially if there be a general consent of them and that they do not write their private fancy but the minde of their whole Church Now if any shall take offence at Pythagoras his Scholars swearing as is conceived by their Master that taught them the mystery of the Tetractys as you shall understand more at large in the Explication of the fourth days work I must profess that I my self am not a little offended with it But that high reverence they bore to Pythagoras as it is a sign of Vanity and some kind of Superstition in them so is it also no lesse an Argument of a stupendious measure of knowledge and sanctity in Pythagoras himself that he should extort from them so great honour and that his Memory should be so sacred to them Which profound knowledge and sanctity he having got by conversing with the Jewish Prophets it ultimately tends to the renown of that Church and consequently to the Christian which inherits those holy Oracles which were first peculiar to the Jews But what the followers of Pythagoras transgressed in is no more to be imputed to him then the Superstitions exhibited to the Virgin Mary can be laid to her charge Besides it may be a question whether in that Pythagorick Oath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. they did not swear by God the first Author of the Cabbala and that mysterious Explication of the Tetrctys that is indeed of all knowledge Divine and Natural who first gave it to Adam and then revived or confirmed it again to Moses Or if it must be understood of Pythagoras why may it not be look'd upon as a civill Oath or Asseveration such as Joseph's swearing by the life of Pharaoh and Noblemen by their Honours neither of which notwithstanding for my own part I can allow or assure my self that they are meerly Civill but touch upon Religion or rather Idolatrous Superstition As for the Miracles Pythagoras did though I do not believe all that are recorded of him are true yet those that I have
of the Clouds at the top And that these upper waters are no higher then so it is manifest from other passages in Scripture that place the habitation of God but amongst the Clouds who yet is called the most High Psalm 104. 3. Deut. 33. 26. Nahum 1. 3. Psalm â—8 4. But of this I have treated so fully elsewhere that I hold it needless to add any thing more Ver. 8. I cannot say properly that God saw it was good In the whole story of the three first Chapters it is evident that God is represented in the person of a Man speaking with a mouth and seeing with eyes Hence it is that the Firmament being of it self invisible that Moses omits the saying that God saw it was good For the nature of the eye is onely to see things visible Some say God made Hell the second day and that that is the reason it was not recorded that he saw it was good But if he did not approve of it as good why did he make it However that can be none of the Literal sense and so impertinent to this present Cabbala Ver. 10. And I may now properly say c. See what hath been said already upon verse the eight Ver. 11. Whence you may easily discern c. This Observation is Philo the Jew 's which you may read at large in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And it was very fit for Moses who in his Law which he received from God does so much insist upon temporal blessings and eating of the good things of the Land as a reward of their obedience to lay down such principles as should beget a firm belief of the absolute power of God over Nature That he could give them rain and fruitful seasons and a plentiful year when he pleased when as he could cause the Earth to bring forth without rain or any thing else to further her births as he did at the first Creation The Meditation whereof might well cause such an holy resolution as that in the Prophet Habakkuk Although the fig-tree shall not blossome neither fruit be in the Vines the labour of the Olive fail and the fields yeeld no meat yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation But that prudent and pious caution of Moses against Idolatry how requisite it was is plain if we consider that the power of the Sun is so manifest and his operation so sensible upon the Earth for the production of things below especially of Plants that he hath generally drawn aside the rude and simple Heathen to idolize him for a God And their nimble Oracles have snatched away the sacred Name of the God of Israel the true God to bestow upon him calling him Jao which is Jehovah as is plain from that Clarian Oracle in Macrobius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which I have translated thus in my Poems That Heavenly Power which Jao hight The highest of all the Gods thou maist declare In Spring nam'd Zeus in Summer Helios bright In Autumne called Jao Aides in brumal night These names do plainly denotate the Sunne In Spring call'd Zeus from life or kindly heat In Winter ' cause the day 's so quickly done He Aides hight he is not long in sight In Summer ' cause he strongly doth us smite With his hot darts then Helios we him name From Eloim or Eloah so hight In Autumn Jao Jehovan is the same So is the word deprav'd by an uncertain fame This Oracle Cornelius Labeo interprets of Bacchus which is the same with the Sun who is the God of the Vintage and is here described according to the four Quarters of the year And so Virgil Heathen-like attributes to the Sun and Moon under the name of Bacchus and Ceres that great blessing of Corn and Grain Vestro si numine Tellus Chaoniam pingui glandem mutavit aristâ If by your providence the Earth has born For course Chaonian Acorns full-ear'd Corn. But of this I have said so much in my Introduction that I need add nothing more Ver. 12. See ver 11. Ver. 14. See ver 3. I have there shown how easily the fancie of the rude people admit of days without a Sun To whose capacities the Prophet Jeremy accommodating his speech Her Sun sayes he is gone down while it was yet day How can it be day when the Sun is down unless the day be Independent of the Sun according to the fancie of the rude and illiterate Which is wonderfully consonant to the outward letter of Moses that speaks not of the Sun as the cause of the Day but as a badge of distinction from the Night though he does admit that it does increase the light thereof Ver. 15. In the hollow Roof c. Though the caeruleous upper Sea seems so neer us as I have already signified yet the Lights of Heaven seem something on this side it as white will stand off drawn upon a darker colour as you may see in the describing solid Figures on a blew slate they will more easily rise to your eye then black upon white so that the people may very well consulting with their sight Imagine the Firmament to be betwixt the Lights of Heaven and the upper Waters or that blew Sea they look upon not on this side nor properly betwixt the Lights or Stars Ver. 16. Two great Lights c. This is in counter-distinction to the Stars which indeed seem much less to our sight then the Sun or Moon when as notwithstanding many Stars according to Astronomers computation are bigger then the Sun all far bigger then the Moon So that it is plain the Scripture speaks sometimes according to the appearance of things to our sight not according to their absolute affections and properties And he that will not here yeeld this for a truth is I think justly to be suspected of more Ignorance then Religion and of more Superstition then Reason For their smalnesse c. The Stars indeed seem very small to our sight and therefore Moses seems to cast them in but by the by complying therein with the ignorance of the unlearned But Astronomers who have made it their business to understand their magnitudes they that make the most frugal computation concerning the bigger Stars pronounce them no less then sixty eight times bigger then the Earth others much more Ver. 18. To be peculiar garnishings See verse 14. Ver. 20. Fish and Fowl I suppose the mention of the Fowl is made here with the Fish by reason that the greatest and more eminent sorts of that kinde of creature most of all frequent the waters as Swannes Geese Ducks Herons and the like Ver. 20. In his own shape It was the opinion of the Anthropomorphites that God had all the parts of a Man and that we are in this sense made according to his Image Which though it be an opinion in it self if not rightly understood vain and ridiculous yet theirs
seem little better to me that imagine God a finite Beeing and take care to place him out of the stink of this terrestrial Globe that he may sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so confine him to Heaven as Aristotle seems to do if he be the Author of that book De Mundo For it is a contradiction to the very Idea of God to be finite and consequently to have Figure or Parts But it is so difficult a thing for the rude multitude to venture at a Notion of a Beeing Immatorial and Infinite that it seems their advantage to conceive of God as of some all-powerful Person that can do what ever he pleaseth can make Heavens and Earths and bestow his blessings in what measure and manner he lists and what is chief of all if need be can personally appear to them can chide them and rebuke them and if they be obstinate doe horrible vengeance upon them This I say will more strongly strike the inward Sense and Imagination of the vulgar then Omnipotency placed in a Thin Subtile Invisible Immaterial Beeing of which they can have no perception at all nor any tolerable conceit Wherefore it being requisite for the ignorant to be permitted to have some finite and figurate apprehension of God what can be more fit then the shape of a Man in the highest excellencies that it is capable of for Beauty Strength and Bignesse And the Prophet Esay seems to speak of God after this Notion God sits upon the circle of the Earth and the inhabitants thereof are as Grashoppers intimating that men to God bear as little proportion as Grashoppers to a man when he sits on the grasse amongst them And now there being this necessity of permitting the people some such like apprehensions as this concerning God and it is true Prudence and pious Policy to comply with their weakness for their good there was the most strict injunctions laid upon them against Idolatry and worshipping of Images that might be But if any one will say this was the next way to bring them into Idolatry to let them entertain a conceit of God as in humane shape I say it is not any more then by acknowledging Man to be God as our Religion does in Christ Nay I add moreover that Christ is the true Deus Figuratus And for his sake was it the more easily permitted unto the Jews to think of God in the shape of a Man And that there ought to be such a thing as Christ that is God in Humane shape I think it most reasonable that he may apparently visit the Earth and to their very outward senses confound the Atheist and mis-believer at the last day As he witnesseth of himself The Father judges none but he hath given all Judgement unto the Son And that no man can see the Father but as he is united unto the Son For the Eternal God is Immaterial and Invisible to our outward senses But he hath thought good to treat with us both in mercy and judgement by a Mediator and Vicegerent that partakes of our nature as well as his own Wherefore it is not at all absurd for Moses to suffer the Jews to conceive of God as in a corporeall and humane shape since all men shall be judged by God in that shape at the last day He made Females as well as Males That story in Plato his Symposion how men and women grew together at first till God cut them asunder is a very probable argument that the Philosopher had seen or heard something of this Mosaical History But that it was his opinion it was so I see no probability at all For the story is told by that ridiculous Comedian Aristophanes with whom I conceive he is in some sort quit for abusing his good old Friend and Tutor Socrates whom he brought in upon the stage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 treading the Air in a basket to make him a laughing-stock to all Athens The Text is indeed capable of such a sense but there being no reason to put that sense upon it neither being a thing so accommodate to the capacity and conceit of the vulgar I thought it not fit to admit it no not so much as into this Literal Cabbala Ver. 29. Frugiferous Castellio translates it so Herbas frugiferas which must be such like herbs as I have named Strawberries Wheat Rice and the like CHAP. II. 7 The notation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answerable to the breathing of Adams soul into his nostrils 8 The exact situation of Paradise That Gihon is part of Euphrates Pison Phasis or Phasi-tigris That the Madianites are called Aethiopians That Paradise was seated about Mesopotamia argued by six Reasons That it was more particularly seated where now Apamia stands in Ptolemee's Maps 18 The Prudence of Moses in the commendation of Matrimony 19 Why Adam is not recorded to have given names to the Fishes 24 Abraham Ben Ezra's conceit of the names of Adam and Eve as they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 25 Moses his wise Anthypophora concerning the naturall shame of nakednesse IN the four first verses all is so clear and plain that there is no need of any further Explication or Defence saving that you may take notice that in the second verse where I write Within six days the Seventies Translation will warrant it who render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the sixt day Ver. 5. See what hath been said on the eleventh verse of the first Chapter Ver. 7. The dust The Hebrew word signifies so and I make no mention of any moistning of it with water For God is here set out acting according to his absolute power and Omnipotency And it is as easie to make men of dry dust as hard stones And yet God is able even of stones to raise up children unto Abraham Blew into the nostrils Breathing is so palpable an effect of life that the ancient rude Greeks also gave the Soul its name from that operation calling it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to breathe or to blow Ver. 8. Eastward of Judea For so Interpreters expound Eastward in Scripture in reference to Judea To prevent any further trouble in making good the sense I have put upon the following verses concerning Paradise I shall here at once set down what I finde most probable concerning the situation thereof out of Vatablus and Cornelius à Lapide adding also somewhat out of Dionysius the Geographical Poet. In general therefore we are led by the four Rivers to the right situation of Paradise And Gihon saith Vatablus is tractus inferior Euphratis illabens in sinum Persicum is a lower tract or stream of Euphrates that slides into the Persian Gulph Pison is Phasis or Phasitigris that runs through Havilah a region near Persis so that Pison is a branch of Tigris as Gihon is of Euphrates Thus Vatablus And that Gihon may have his Aethiopia Cornelius à Lapide
vitae aerumnis That it is the mercy of God that he made man mortal that he might not always be tormented with the miseries and sorrows of this present life Passing through his fiery Vehicle The following words explain the meaning of the Cabbala it is according to the sense of that Plato amongst the Poets as Severus called him Virgil in the sixt Book of his Aeneids Donec longa diês perfecto temporis orbe Concretam exemit labem purúmque reliquit Aethereum sensum atque aurai simplicis ignem To this sense Till that long day at last be come about That wasted has all filth and foul desire And leaves the Soul Aethereal throughout Bathing her Senses in pure liquid Fire Which we shall yet back very fittingly with the two last Golden Verses as they are called of the Pythagoreans who adde immortality to this Aethereal condition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rid of this body if the Aether free You reach henceforth immortal you shall bee The Greek has it you shall be an Immortal God which Hierocles interprets you shall imitate the Deity in this in becoming immortal And Plutarch in his Defect of Oracles drives on this Apotheosis according to the order of the Elements Earth refined to Water Water to Air Air to Fire So man to become of a Terrestrial Animal one of the Heroes of an Heros a Daemon or good Genius of a Genius a God which he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to partake of Divinity which is no more then to become one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Immortal Angels who are instar flammae as Maimonides writes they are according to their Vehicles a versatile fire turning themselves Proteus-like into any shape They are the very words of the forenamed Rabbi upon the place And Philo Judaeus pag. 234. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For there is saith he in the Air a most holy company of unbodied Souls and presently he adjoins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and these Souls the holy Writ uses to call Angels And in another place pag. 398. he speaking of the more pure Souls calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. The Officers of the Generalissimo of the World that are as the Eyes and Ears of the great King seeing and hearing all things and then he addes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These other Philosophers call the Genii but the Scripture Angels And in another place he says That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that a Soul Genius and Angel are three words that signifie both one and the same thing As Xenocrates also made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all one adding that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 happy that had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a virtuous Soul Wherefore not to weary my Reader nor my self with overmuch Philogy we conclude that the meaning of Moses in this last verse is this That Adam is here condemned to a mortal flitting and impermanent state till he reach his Aethereal or pure fiery Vehicle and become as our Saviour Christ speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as one of the Angels This I say is the condition of mankinde according to the Philosophick Cabbala of Moses Let us now take a general view of this whole Cabbala and more summarily consider the strength thereof which we may refer to these two heads viz. the nature of the Truths herein contained and the dignity of those persons that have owned them in foregoing Ages And as for the Truths themselves first they are such as may well become so holy and worthy a person as Moses if he would Philosophize they being very precious and choice Truths and very highly removed above the conceit of the vulgar and so the more likely to have been delivered to him or to Adam first by God for a special mysterie Secondly they are such that the more they are examined the more irrefutable they will be found no Hypothesis that was ever yet propounded to men so exquisitely well agreeing with the Phaenomena of Nature the Attributes of God the Passages of Providence and the rational Faculties of our own minds Thirdly there is a continued sutablenesse and applicability to the Text of Moses all along without any force or violence done to Grammar or Criticisme Fourthly and lastly there is a great usefulnesse if not necessity at least of some of them they being such substantial Props of Religion and so great encouragements to a sedulous purification of our mindes and study of true piety Now for the dignity of the persons such as were Pythagoras Plato and Plotinus it will be argued from the constant fame of that high degree of virtue and righteousnesse and devout love of the Deity that is every where acknowledged in them besides whatsoever miraculous has happened to them or been performed by them And as for Pythagoras if you consult his life in Iamblichus he was held in so great admiration by those in his time that he was thought by some to be the son of Apollo whom he begot of Parthenis his known mother and of this opinion was Epimenides Eudoxus and Xenocrates which conceit Iamblichus does soberly and earnestly reject but afterwards acknowledges that his looks and speeches did so wonderfully carry away the minds of all that conversed with him that they could not withhold from affirming that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the off-spring of God Which is not to be taken in our strict Theological sense but according to the mode of the ancient Greeks who looked upon men heroically and eminently good and virtuous to be divine souls and of a celestial extract And Aristotle takes notice particularly of the Lacedemonians that they tearmed such as were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divine men According to which sense he interprets that verse in Homer concerning Hector 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But to return to him of whom we were speaking before This eminency of his acknowledged amongst the Heathen will seem more credible if we but consider the advantage of his conversation with the wisest men then upon Earth to wit the Jewish Priests and Prophets who had their knowledge from God as Pythagoras had from them From whence I conceive that of Iamblichus to be true which he writes concerning Pythagoras his Philosophy That it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That it is a Philosophy that at first was delivered by God or his holy Angels But that Pythagoras was acquainted with the Mosaical or Jewish Philosophy there is ample testimony of it in Writers as of Aristobulus an Aegyptian Jew in Clemens Alexandrinus and Josephus against Appion S. Ambrose addes that he was a Jew himself Clemens calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hebrew Philosopher I might cast hither the suffrages of Justine Johannes Philoponus Theodoret Hermippus in Origen against Celsus Porphyrius and Clemens again who writes
that it is nothing but the stilnesse and fixednesse of Melancholy that thus abuses him and in stead of the true divine Principle would take the Government to it self and in this usurped tyranny cruelly destroy all the rest of the Animal Figurations But the true divine Life would destroy nothing that is in Nature but only regulate things and order them for the more full and sincere enjoyments of man reproaching nothing but sinfulnesse and enormity entituling Sanguine and Choler to as much Virtue and Religion as either Phlegme or Melancholy For the divine Life as it is to take into it self the humane nature in general so it is not abhorrent from any of the complexions thereof But the squabbles in the world are ordinarily not about true Piety and Virtue but which of the Complexions or what Humour shall ascend the Throne and fit there in stead of Christ himself But I will not expatiate too much upon one Theme I shall rather take a short view of the whole Allegory of the Chapter In the first Day there is Earth Water and Wind over whâ—ch and through which there is nothing but disconsolate darknesse and tumultuous agitation The Winds ruffling up the Waters into mighty waves the waves washing up the mire and dirt into the water all becoming but a rude heap of confusion and desolation This is the state of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Earthly Adam as Philo calls him till God command the Light to shine out of Darknesse offering him a guide to a better condition In the second day is the Firmament created dividing the upper and the lower Waters that it may feel the strong impulses or taste the different relishes of either Thus is the will of man touch'd from above and beneath and this is the day wherein is set before him Life and Death Good and Evil and he may put out his hand and take his choice In the third day is the Earth uncovered of the Waters for the planting of fruit-bearing trees By their fruits you shall know them saith our Saviour that is by their works In the fourth day there appears a more full accession of divine Light and the Sun of Righteousnesse warms the soul with a sincere love both of God and man In the fift day that this Light of Righteousnesse and bright Eye of divine Reason may not brandish its rayes in the empty field where there is nothing either to subdue or guide and order God sends out whole sholes of Fishes in the Waters and numerous flights of Fowls in the Air besides part of the sixt days work wherein all kinde of Beasts are created In these are decyphered the sundry suggestions and cogitations of the minde sprung from these lower Elements of the humane nature viz. Earth and Water Flesh and Blood all these man beholds in the Light of the Sun of Righteousnesse discovers what they are knows what to call them can rule over them and is not wrought to be over-ruled by them This is Adam the Master-piece of Gods Creation and Lord of all the creatures framed after the Image of God Christ according to the Spirit under whose feet is subdued the whole Animal Life with its sundry Motions Forms and Shapes He will call every thing by its proper name and set every creature in its proper place The vile person shall be no longer called liberal nor the churl bountiful Wo be unto them that call evil good and good evil that call the light darknesse and the darknesse light He will not call bitter Passion holy Zeal nor plausible meretricious Courtesie Friendship nor a false soft abhorrency from punishing the ill-deserving Pity nor Cruelty Justice nor Revenge Magnanimity nor Unfaithfulnesse Policy nor Verbosity either Wisdome or Piety But I have run my self into the second Chapter before I am aware In this first Adam is said only to have dominion over all the living creatures and to feed upon the fruit of the Plants And what is Pride but a mighty Mountainous Whale Lust a Goat the Lion and Bear wilful dominion Craft a Fox and worldly toil an Oxe Over these and a thousand more is the rule of Man I mean of Adam the Image of God But his meat and drink is to do the will of his Maker this is the fruit he feeds upon Behold therefore O Man what thou art and whereunto thou art called even to bee a mighty Prince amongst the creatures of God and to bear rule in that Province he has assigned thee to discern the Motions of thine own heart and to be Lord over the suggestions of thine own natural spirit not to listen to the counsel of the flesh nor conspire with the Serpent against thy Creator But to keep thy heart free and faithful to thy God so maist thou with innocency and unblameablenesse see all the Motions of Life and bear rule with God over the whole Creation committed to thee This shall be thy Paradise and harmlesse sport on Earth till God shall transplant thee to an higher condition of happinesse in Heaven CHAP. II. The full sense of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that keeps men from entring into the true Sabbath 4 The great necessity of distinguishing the innocent motions of Nature from the suggestions of Sin 5 That the growth of a true Christian indeed doth not adaequately depend upon the lips of the Priest 7 The meaning of This is he that comes by Water and Blood 8 The meaning of Repent for the Kingdome of Heaven is at hand The seventh thousand years the great Sabbatism of the Church of God That there will be then frequent converse betwixt Men and Angels 9 The Tree of Life how fitly in the Mystical sense said to be in the midst of the Garden 17 A twofold death contracted by Adams disobedience The Masculine and Feminine Faculties in Man what they are Actuating a Body an Essential operation of the Soul and the reason of that so joyful appearance of Eve to the Humane Nature TO the fift verse there is nothing but a recapitulation of what went before in the first Chapter and therefore wants no further proof then what has already been alledged out of S Paul and Origen and other Writers Only there is mention of a Sabbath in the second verse of this Chapter of which there was no words before And this is that Sabbatisme or Rest that the Author to the Hebrews exhorts them to strive to enter into through faith and obedience For those that were faint-hearted and unbelieving and pretended that the children of Anak the off-spring of the Giants would be too hard for them they could not enter into the promised Land wherein they were to set up their rest under the conduct of Jâ—shua a Type of Jesus And the same Author in the same place makes mention of this very Sabbath that ensued the accomplishment of the Creation concluding thus There remaineth therefore a Sabbatisme or Rest to the people of God For he that has entred