which proceeded from the Third Spirit and out of that Water went Aire and Fire But God forbid that I should speak any more of them publickly it is enough that wee Know the Original of the Creature and to whom wee ought to ascribe it The Cabalist when hee would tell us what God did with the Three Mothers useth no other phrase than this Ponderavit Aleph cum omnibus omnia cum Aleph sic de Singulis He weighed saith he Aleph with All and All with Aleph and so he did with the other Mothers This is very plain if you consider the various mixtures of the Elements and their Secret Proportions And so much for the Physicall part of the Cabala I will now shew you the Metaphysicall It is strange to Consider what Unitie of Spirit and Doctrine there is amongst all the Children of Wisdom This proves infallibly that there is an Universall Schoole-master who is Present with all Flesh and whose Principles are ever Uniforme namely the Spirit of God The Cabalists agree with all the world of Magicians That Man in spirituall Mysteries is both Agent and Patient This is plain For Jacobs Ladder is the greatest Mysterie in the Cabala Here wee find two Extreams Jacob is one at the Foot of the Ladder and God is the other who stands above it immittens saith the Jew Formas Influxus in Jacob sive Subjectum Hominem shedding some secret Influx of Spirit upon Jacob who in this place Typifies Man in general The Rounds or steps in the Ladder signifie the middle Natures by which Jacob is united to God Inferiors united to Superiors As for the Angels of whom it is sayd that they ascended Descended by the Ladder their Motion proves they were not of the superior Hierarchie but some other secret Essences for they Ascended first and Descended afterwards but if they had been from above they had Descended first which is Contrarie to the Text And here Reader I would have thee studie Now to return to Jacob it is written of him that he was asleep but this is a Mysticall Speech for it signifies Death namely that Death which the Cabalist calls Mors Osculi or the Death of the Kiss of which I must not speake one Syllable To bee short they agree with us in Arcano Theologiae That no word is efficacious in Magic unlesse it be first quickened by the Word of God This appears out of their Semhamaphores for they hold not the names of Angls effectuall unlesse some name of God as {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} be united to them then say they in the power and vertue of those names they may worke An Example hereof wee have in all Extracted names as Vehu-Iah Elem-Iah Jeli-El Sita-El Now this Practice in the Letter was a most subtil Adumbration of the Conjunction of the Substantiall Word or Spirit with the Water See that you understand me rightly for I meane with the Elements and so much for the Truth To Conclude I would have the Reader observe that the false Grammaticall Cabala consists onely in Râ—â—â—â—â—tions of the Alphabet and a Metathesis of Letters in the Text by which means the Scripture hath suffered many Racks and Excoriations As for the true Cabala it useth the Letter onely for Artifice whereby to obscure and hide her Pâ—â—â—â—sicall Secrets as the Egyptians heretofore did use their Hieroglyphics In this Sense the Primitive Professors of this Art had a literal Cabala as it appeares by that wonderfull and most ancient Inscription in the Rock in Mount Horeb. It conteines a Prophecie of the Virgin Mother and her Son Christ Jesus ingraven in Hieroglyphic fram'd by Combination of the Hebrew letters but by whom God onely knows it may be by Moses or Eliâ—ah This is most certain it is to be seen there this day and wee have for it the Testimonies of Thomas Obecinus a most learned Franciscan and Petrus a Valle a Gentleman who travailed both of them into those parts Now that the learning of the Jewes I mean their Cabala was Chimicall and ended in true Physicall performances cannot be better proved than by the Booke of Abraham the Jew wherein hee layd down the Secrets of this Art in Indifferent plaine Termes and Figures and that for the Benefit of his unhappy Country-men when by the wrath of God they were scattered over all the World This Book was accidentally found by Nicholas Flammel a French-man and with the help of it hee attained at last to that miraculous Medicine which Men call the Philosophers stone But let us hear the Monsieur himself describe it There fell into my hands saith he for the Summ of two Florens a gilded Book very old and large It was not of Paper nor Parchment as other books bee but it was made of delicate rindes as it seemed to mee of Tender young Trees The Cover of it was of Brasse well bound all ingraven with Letters or strange figures and for my part I think they might well bee Greek Characters or some such ancient language Sure I am I could not read them and I know well they were not Notes nor Letters of the Latine nor of the Gaule for of them I understood a little As for that which was within it the Bark leaves were ingraven and with admirable diligence written with a point of Jron in faire and neat Latin letters coloured It contained thrice Seven leaves for so were the leaves counted at the top and alwayes every Seventh leafe was without any writing but instead thereof upon the first seventh leaf there was painted a Virgin and Serpents swallowing her up In the Second Seventh a Crosse where a Serpent was Crucified and in the last Seventh there were painted Deserts or Wildernesses in the middest whereof ran many faire Fountains from whence there issued forth a Number of Serpents which ran up and down here and there Upon the first of the Leaves was written in great Capitall letters of gold ABRAHAM THE JEW PRINCE PRIEST LEVIT ASTROLOGER AND PHILOSOPHER TO THE NATION OF THE JEWES BY THE WRATH OF GOD DISPERSED AMONG THE GAULES SENDETH HEALTH After this it was filled with great Execrations and Curses with this word Maranatha which was often repeated there against every person that should cast his eyes upon it if hee were not Sacrificer or Scribe Hee that sold me this Booke knew not what it was worth no more than I when I bought it I believe it had been stolne or taken by violence from the miserable Jewes or found hid in some part of the Ancient place of their Habitation Within the Booke in the Second leafe hee comforted his Nation counselling them to fly Vices and above all Idolatrie attending with sweet patience the Comming of the Messiah who should vanquish all the Kings of the Earth and should reigne with his people in glorie aeternally Without doubt this had been some wise and understanding Man In the third
This doth no way impaire our Assertion or prove this generation miraculous and supernatural For no man I believe is so mad as to think those Appearances or Ramms of the dream did leap and supplie the natural males of the Flock God using this Apparition onely to signifie the Truth of that Arâ— Jacob acted by and to tell him that his hopes were effected But I shall not insist long on any particular and therefore I will paste from this Dream to another Joseph being seventeen years old an Age of some Discretion propounds a Vision to his Father not loosly and to no purpose as wee tell one another of our dreams but expecting I believe an Interpretation as knowing that his Father had the skill to expound it The wise Patriarch being not ignorant of the Secrets of the two Luminaries attributes Males to the Sun and Females to the Moon then allowes a third Signification to the minor starrs and lastly answers his sonne with a Question What is this Dream that thou hast dreamed Shall I and thy Mother and thy Brethren indeed come to bow down our selves to thee to the Earth Now I think no man will deny but the Interpretation of Dreams belongs to Magic and hath been ever sought after as a piece of secret Learning True it is when the Interpreter receives his knowledge immediatly from God as Daniel did then it falls not within the Limits of a Naturall Science but I speak of a Physicall Exposition as this was which depends on certain abstruse Similitudes for hee that knowes the Analogie of parts to parts in this great body which wee call the World may know what every Signe signifies and by Consequence may prove a good Interpreter of dreames As for Jacob's first practice which wee have formerly mention'd namely the Propagation of his speckled Flocks it is an effect so purely Magicall that our most obstinat Adversaries dare not Question it I could cite one place more which referrs to this Patriarch and points at the Fundamentals of Magic but being annex'd to this discourse it would discover too much I shall therefore leave it to the Search of those who are Considerable Proficients if not Masters in the Art The summ of all is this Man of himself could not attain to true Knowledge it was God in meer mercie did instruct him To confirm this I shall desire the Reader to Consider his own Experience Wee have in these our dayes many Magicall Books extant wherein the Art is discovered both truly and plainly Wee have also an infinite Number of Men who studie those books but after the Indeavours of a long life not one in Ten Thousand understands them Now if wee with all these Advantages cannot attain to the Secrets of Nature shall we think those first fathers did who had none of our Libraries to assist them nor any learned man upon Earth to instruct them Could they doe that without means which wee cannot doe with means and those too very considerable The Peripaterties perhaps will tell me their Syllogism is the Engine that can perform all this Let 'em then in Barbara or Baroco demonstrate the first matter of the Philosopher's stone But they will tell mee there is no such thing Behold I tell them again and assure them too on my Salvation there is but in Truth their Logic will never find it out It is clear then that God at first instructed Adam from him his Children received it and by their Tradition it descended to the Patriarchs every Father bequeathing these Secrets to his Child as his best and most lasting Legacie I have now attended Jacob the Israel of God both in his Pilgrimage at Padan-aram and in his Typicall Inheritance the Earnest of the Land of Canaan But two Removalls perfect not the wandrings of a Patriarch God calls him from the Habitation of his Fathers to the Prison of his Posteritie and provides him a plac of Freedom in the house of Bondage I must follow him where his Fortune leads from I saac's Hebron to the Goshen of Phaaroh then back again to the Cave and Dust of Machpelah As for his sons and their Traine who attended his Motion thither I find not any Particular Remembrance of them onely Moses tells me of a generall Exit Joseph died and all his brethren and all that Generation I must now then to prove the Continuance and Succission of this Art addresse mâ— self to the Court where I shall find the Son of Levi newly translated from his Ark and Bulrushes Yet there is somthing may be sayd of Joseph and verily it proves how Common Magic was in those dayes and the effects of it no newes to the Sons of Jacob for having conveyed his Cup into the Sack of Benjamin and by that policie detain'd his Brethren hee asks them What Deed is this that you have done Knew yee not that such a man as I can certainly divine In this Speech he makes his Brethren no strangers to the performances of Art but rather makes their familiarity therewith an Argument against them Knew you not but the following words are very effectuall and tell us what qualified persons the ancient Magi were They were indeed as hee speaks of himself such as Joseph was Princes and Rulers of the People not beggarly Gypsies and Mountebanks as our Doctors are now It was the Ambition of the Great in those Dayes to bee Good and as these Secrets proceeded from God so were they also entertained by the Gods I mean by Kings For saith the Scripture I have said yee are Gods a name Communicated to them because they had the power to doe wonders for in this Magical sense the true God speaks to Moses See I have made thee a God to Phaaroh and thy Brother Aaron shall bee thy Prophet And verily this true Knowledge and this Title that belongs to it did that false Serpent praetend to our first Parents Eritis sicut Dii You shall be as Gods knowing good and evill But 't is not this subtill Dragon but Bonus ille Serpeats that good Crucified Serpent that can give us both this Knowledge and this Title for by him all things were made and without him not any thing was made that is made If hee made them then hee can teach us also how they were made I must now refer my self to Moses who at his first Acquaintance with God saw many Transmutations One in his own Flesh another of the Rod in his hand with a third promised and afterwards performed upon Water It is written of him that he was skill'd in all the learning of the Egyptians but for my part I doe much question what kind of learning that was the Scripture assuring mee and that by the Pen of Moses their Wonders were effected by Inchantments This is certain their Learning was Ancient for I find Magicians in AEgypt four hundred and thirty years and upwards before Jamnes and Jambres This is Confirmed by Phaaroh's
Knowledge which made him sinfull and altogether unlike him For God if I may so expresse it knows the Evill onely speculatively in asmuch as nothing can escape his Knowledge and therefore is not guilty of Evill For as Tritemius hath well observed Scientia Mali non est Malum sed usus The knowledge of Evill is not Evill but the practice of it It remains then that this Speech concern'd the Second Adam Christ Jesus who knew the Evill but did not commit it and therefore was like one of us that is like One of the Trinitie knowing Good and Evill and yet no way guiltie of the Evill This primitive and Compendious Gospell was no sooner imparted to the Angels but they became Ministers of it the Law as St. Paul saith being ordained in their hands till Christ should take it into his own and their Administration to Man took Beginning with this Oracle Thus say the Cabalists Raziel the Angel was presently dispatch'd to communicat the Intelligence to Adam and to acquaint him with the Mysteries of both world AEternall and Temporall For as he could not obtain the Blessings of the AEternall World unless by a true faith hee apprehended the Three AEternall Principles of it so neither could he fully injoy the benefits of this Temporall World unless hee truly understood the Three Visible substances whereof it consists For there are Three above and Three beneath Three as St. John saith in Heaven and Three on Earth The Inferior bear witness of the Superior and are their only proper Receptacles They are Signatures and Created Books where wee may reade the Mysteries of the supernaturall Trinitie But to proceed in our former Discourse The Cabalists doe not onely attribute a Guardian to Adam but to every one of the Patriarchs allowing Them their Praesidents and Tutors both to assist and instruct Them in their wearisome and worldly Peregrinations A Doctrine in my Opinion not more Religious than Necessary how Prodigious soever it may seem to some Phantastic insiped Theologicians For Certainly it is impossible for us to find out Mysteries of our selves wee must either have the Spirit of God or the Instruction of his Ministers whereher they bee Men or Angels And thus wee see out of the Traditions and Doctrine of the Jewes how their Cabala and our Magic came first into the world I shall now examine the Scriptures and consult with them where if I am not much mistaken I shall find some Consequences which must needs depend on these Principles and thus I apply my self to the Task The first Harvest I read of was that of Cain and the first Flocks those of Abel A Shepheards life in those Early Dayes was no difficult Profession it being an Imployment of more Care than Art but how the Earth was plow'd up before the sound of Tubal's Hammers is a piece of Husbandrie unknown in these Dayes Howsoever it was a Labour perform'd and not without Retribution Cain hath his Sheaves as well as Abel his Lambs both of them receive and both acknowledge the Benefit I find established in these Two a certain Priesthood they attend both to the Altar and the first Bloud was shed by Sacrifice the Second by Murther Now so dull am I and so short of Syllogismes those strange Pumps and Hydragogues which lave the Truthex Puteo like Water that all my Reason cannot make these Men Levits without Revelation For I desire to know how came they first to Sacrifise and by whom were they initiated If you will say by Adam The Question indeed is deferr'd but not satisfied For I would know further In what Schoole was Adam instructed Now that it was impossible for him to invent these Shadowes and Sacraments of himself I will undertake to Demonstrate and that by invincible Reason which no Adversarie shall dare to contradict It is most certain that the Hope and Expectation of Man in Matters of Sacrifices consist in the Thing signisied and not in the Signe it self For the Material Corruptible shadow is not the Object of Faith but the Spiritual aeternall Prototype which answers to it and makes the dead figure Effectual The Sacrifices of the Old Testament and the Elements of the New can be no way acceptable with God but inafmuch as they have a Relation to Christ Jesus who is the great perfect Sacrifice offered up once for all It is plain then that Sacrifices were first instituted upon supernatural grounds for in Nature there is no reason to be found why God should be pleased with the Death of his Creatures Nay the very Contrary is written in that Book for Death both Natural and Violent proceeds not from the pleasure but from the displeasure of the Creator I know the learned Alkind builds the efficacie of Sacrifices on a Sympathie of parts with the great world for there is in every Animal a portion of the star-fire which fire upon the Dissolution of the Compound is united to the General fire from whence it first came and produceth a sense or Motion in the Limbus to which it is united This indeed is true but that Motion causeth no Joy there and by Consequence no Reward to the Sacrificer for I shall make it to appeare elsewhere that the Astral Mother doth mourn and not rejoyce at the Death of her Children Now if wee look back on these two first Sacrificers we shall find Abel and his Oblation accepted which could not be had he not offerr'd it up as a Symbol or Figure of his Saviour To drive home my Argument then I say that this knowledge of the Type in whom all offerings were acceptable could not bee obtained by any humane Industrie but by sole Revelation For the Passion of Christ Jesus was an Ordinance wrapt up in the secret will of God and he that would know it must of Necessitie bee of his Councell Hence it is called in Scripture the Hidden Mysterie for the Truth and Certainty of it was not to bee received from any but onely from him who had both the Will and the Power to ordain it But if you will tell mee like the Author of the Praedicables that men sacrifised at first by the Instinct of Nature and without any Respect to the Type I shal indeed thank you for my mirth whensoever you give mee so just a Reason to laugh It remains then a most firme infallible Foundation that Adam was first instructed concerning the Passion and in order to that he was taught further to Sacrifise and offer up the Blouds of Beasts as Types and Prodroms of the Bloud of Christ Jesus the Altars of the Law being but steps to the Cross of the Gospell Now if it be objected that severall Nations have sacrifised who did not know God at all much less the Son of God who is the Prototype and perfection of all Oblations To this I answer that the Custome of Sacrificing was communicated to Heathens by Tradition from the first Man who having instructed his own Children they also
Flora which appears not without the Complements of the Sun Behold I will tell you as plainly as I may There are in the world two Extremes Matter and Spirit one of these I can assure you is earth The Influences of the spirit animate and quicken the matter and in the Material Extreme the seed of the spirit is to be found In middle Natures as Fire Aire and Water this Seed stayes not for they are but Dispenseros or Media which convey it from one extreme to the other from the Spirit to the Matter that is to the Earth But stay my friend this Intelligence hath somewhat stirr'd you and now you come on so furiously as if you would rifle the Cabinet Give me leave to put you back I mind not this Common faeculent impure Earth that falls not within my Discourse but as it makes for your Manuduction That which I speak of is a Mysterie it is Coelum Terrae and Terra Coeli not this dirt and dust but a most Secret Coelestiall Invisible Earth Raymund Lullie in his Compendium of Alchimie calls the Principles of Art Magic Spiritus fugitivos in Aere condensatos in forma Monstrorum Diversorum Animalium etiam Hominum qui vadunt sicut Nubes modo hùc modo illùc Certain fugitive spirits condensed in the Ayre in the shape of Divers Monsters Beasta and Men which move like Cloudes hither and thither As for the Sense of our Spaniard I refer it to his Readers let them make the most of it This is true As the Ayre and all the Volatile Substances in it are restlesse even so it is with the first Matter The eye of Man never saw her twice under one and the same shape but as Cloudes driven by the winde are forced to this and that figure but cannot possibly retain one constant forme so is shee persecuted by the fire of Nature for this fire and this water are like two Lovers they no sooner meet but presently they play and toy and this Game will not over till some new Babee is generated I have oftentimes admired their subtil perpetual Motion for at all Times and in all places these two are busie which occasioned that Notable sentence of Trismegistus That Action was the Life of God But most excellent and Magisterial is that Oracle of Marcus Antoninus who in his Discourse to himself speaks indeed things worthy of himself {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} The Nature saith he of the Universe delights not in any Thing so much as to alter all Things and then to make the like again This is her Tick Tack shee playes one Game to begin another The matter is placed before her like a peece of Wax and shee shapes it to all formes and figures Now shee makes a Bird now a Beast now a Flowre then a Frog and shee is pleas'd with her own Magicall performances as men are with their own fansies Hence shee is call'd of Orpheus {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Mother that makes many Things and ordaines strange shapes or figures Neither doth shee as some sinfull Parents doe who having their pleasure care not for their Child shee loves them still after shee hath made them hath an eye over them all and provides even for her Sparrowes IT is strange to consider that shee workes as well privatly as publicly not onely in Gardens where Ladyes may smell her perfumes but in remote Solitudes and Deserts The Truth is shee seeks not to please others so much as her self wherefore many of her works and those the Choysest never come to Light Wee see little Children who are newly come from under her hand will be dabling in ' Dirt and Water and other idle sports affected by none but Themselves The Reason is they are not as yet Captivated which makes them seek their own pleasures But when they come to Age then Love or Profit makes them square their Actions according to other mens Desires Some Cockney claps his Revenues on his backe but his Galantrie is spoil'd if his Mistris doth not observe it Another fights but his Victory is lost if it be not Printed it is the world must heare of his Valour Now Nature is a free spirit that seeks no Applause shee observes none more than her self but is pleased with her own Magic as Philosophers are with their Secret Philosophie Hence it is that wee find her busie not onely in the Potts of the Balconies but in Wildernesses and ruinous places where no eyes observe her but the Starrs and Planets In a word wheresoever the fire of nature finds the Virgin Mercurie there hath he found his Love and there will they both fall to their Husbandrie a pleasure not subject to Surfets for it still Presents new Varieties It is reported of Marc Antonie a famous but unfortunate Romane how he sent his Agent over the world to Copie all the handsome faces that amongst so many excellent features hee might select for himself the most pleasing peece Truly Nature is much of this straine for shee hath infinite beauteous patternes in her self and all these shee would gladly see beyond her self which shee cannot doe without the matter for that is her Glasse This makes her generate perpetually and imprint her conceptions in the matter communicating life to it and figuring it according to her Imagination By this Practice shee placeth her Fansie or Idea beyond her self or as the Peripatetics say extra Intellectum beyond the divine Mind namely in the Matter but the Idea's being innumerable and withall different the pleasures of the Agent are maintain'd by their Varietie or to speak more properly by his own fruitfulnesse for amongst all the Beauties the world affords there are not two that are altogether the same Much might bee spoken in this place concerning Beautio what it is from whence it came and how it may be defaced not onely in the outward figure but in the inward Idea and lost for ever in both worlds But these pretty shuttles I am no way acquainted with I have no Mistris but Nature wherefore I shall leave the fine Ladies to fine Lads and speak of my simple AElia Laelia It was scarce Day when all alone I saw Hyanthe and her Throne In fresh green Damascs she was drest And o're a Saphir Globe did rest This slipperie Sphaere when I did see Fortune I thought it had been Thee But when I saw shee did present A Majestie more Permanent I thought my Cares not lost if I Should finish my Discoverie Sleepie shee look'd to my first sight As if shee had Watch'd all the Night And underneath her hand was spread The White Supporter of her head But at my Second studied View I could perceive a silent Dew Steale down her Cheeks lest it should Stayne Those Cheeks where onely Smiles should reigne The Tears stream'd down for haste and all In Chaines of liquid Pearle did fall Faire Sorrows and more
vero fiebat unum aliquod in Quo Omnia Creaturae Coelestes I errestres God sayth hee incomparable good and Great out of nothing created something but that Something was made one Thing in which all Things were contained Creatures both Coelesliall and Terrestriall This first Something was a certain kind of Cloud or Darknesse which was condensed into water and this water is that One Thing in which all Things were contained But my Question is what was that Nothing out of which the first Cloudy Chaos or Something was made Canst thou tell mee It may bee thou doest think it is a meere Nothing It is indeed Nihil quò ad Nos Nothing that wee perfectly know It is Nothing as Dionysius saith Nihil eorum quae sunt Nihil eorum quae non sunt It is nothing that was created or of those things that are and nothing of that which thou doest call nothing that is of those Things that are not in thy empty destructive sense But by your leave it is the True Thing of whom wee can affirme nothing it is that transcendent Essence whose Theologie is Negative and was known to the Primitive Church but is lost in These our Dayes This is that Nothing of Cornelius Agrippa and in this nothing when hee was tyr'd with humane Things I mean humane Sciences hee did at last rest Nihil Scire sayd hee est vita felilcissima to know Nothing is the happiest Life true indeed for to know this Nothing is Life Eternall Learne then to understand that Magicall Axiom Ex Invisibili factum est Visibile for all Visibles came out of the Invisible God for hee is the Well-spring from whence all things flow and the Creation was a certain stupendious Metaphysicall Birth or Deliverie This fine Virginwater or Chaos was the second Nature from God himself and if I may say so the Child of the Blessed Trinitie What Doctor then is hee whose hands are fit to touch that Subject upon which God himself when he workes layes his own Spirit for verely so we reade The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water And can it bee expected then that I should prostitute this Mysterie to all hands whatsoever that I should proclame it and crie it as they cry Oysters Verily these Considerations with some other which I will not for all the world put to Papyr have made mee almost displease my dearest friends to whom notwithstanding I owe a better Satisfaction Had it been my fortune barely to know this Matter as most men doe I had perhaps been lesse carefull of it but I have been instructed in all the Secret Circumstances thereof which few upon Earth understand I speak not for any Ostentation but I speak a Truth which my Conscience knowes very well Let me then Reader request thy Patience for I shall leave this Discoverie to God who if it bee his blessed will can call unto Thee and say Here it is and thus I worke it I had not spoken all this in my own Defence had I not been assaulted as it were in this very point and told to my face I was bound to discover all that I knew for this Age looks for Dreames and Revelations as the Traine to their invisible Righteousnesse I have now sufficiently discours'd of the Matter and if it be not thy fortune to find it by what is here written yet thou canst not bee deceived by what I have sayd for I have purposely a voyded all those Termes which might make thee mistake any Common Salts Stones or Minerals for it I advise thee withall to beware of all Vegetables and Animals avoyd them and every part of them whatsoever I speak this because some ignorant Sluttish Broylers are of Opinion that mans Bioud is the True Subject But Alas is mans Bloud in the Bowels of the Earth that Metals should bee generated out of it or was the world and all that is therein made of man's Bloud as of their first Matter Surely no such Thing The first Matter was existent before Man and all other Creatures whatsoever for shee is the Mother of them all They were made of the first Matter and not the first Matter of them Take heed then Let not any man deceive thee It is totally impossible to reduce any particular to the first Matter or to a Sperm without our Mercurie and being so reduc'd it is not Universall but the Particular Sperm of its own Species and works not any Effects but what are agreeable to the Nature of that Species for God hath seal'd it with a particular Idea Let them alone then who practise upon man's bloud in their Chemicall stoves and Athanors or as Sendivow hath it in Fornaculis mirabilibus they will deplore their Error at last and sit without Sackcloth in the Ashes of their Compositions But I have done I will now speak something of Generation and the wayes of it that the Process of the Philosophers upon this Matter may be the better understood You must know that Nature hath two Extremes and between them a Middle Substance which elsewhere wee have call'd the Middle Nature Example enough wee have in the Creation The first Extreme was that Cloud or Darkness whereof we have spoken formerly some call it the Remote Matter and the Invisible Chaos but very improperly for it was not invisible This is the Jewish Ensoph outwardly and it is the same with that Orphic Night {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} O Night thou black nurse of the golden stars Out of this Darkness all things that are in this world came as out of their Fountain or Matrix hence that Position of all famous Poets and Philosophers Omniaex Nocte Prodiisse The middle Substance is the Water into which that Night or Darkness was condensed and the Creatures fram'd out of the Water make up the other Extreme But the Magicians when they speak strictly will not allow of this last Extreme because Nature doth not stay here wherefore their Philosophie runs thus Man say they in his natural state is in the meane Creation from which hee must recede to one of wo Extremes either to Corruption as commonly all men doe for they die and moulder away in their graves or else to a spirituall glorified Condition like Enooh and Elijah who were translated and this say they is a true Extreme for after it there is no Alteration Now the Magicians reasoning with themselves why the meane Creation should be subject to Corruption concluded the Cause and Original of this disease to be in the Chaos it self for even that was corrupted and cursed upon the Fall of Man But examining Things further they found that Nature in her Generations did onely concoct the Chaos with a gentle heat shee did not separate the parts and purifie each of them by it self but the purities and impurities of the Sperme remained together in all her Productions and this Domestic enemie prevayling at last occasion'd