God and these two Trees are as God and Satan so contrary one to another that the one brings Life unto us and the other death Therefore he that eates of the one its impossible he should eate of the other because they are divided by a flying Cherub and a flaming sword which I interpret sinne and disobedience which sometimes in the Scriptures is called a partition wall For hee that eates of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evill that is hee that is possessed with a Diabolicall wisdome of the Flesh he cannot eate the Tree of Life that is he is departed from divine knowledge and wisdome that proceeds from God For these two wisdomes are incompitable they cannot bee in one and the selfe-same heart being as contrary one to the other as heaven to hell He that eateth of the Tree of Life and is pertaker of divine knowledge hee cannot dye neither sinne For this Fruit eates the eater of it and changeth him into its owne nature into Life as the Scriptures doe testify of those that doe eate the flesh of Christ For it is one and the same thing to eate Christ to live in his word to eate of the Tree of Life to beleeve in God c. as it is also the same thing to be in Adam to live in Adam to eate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good Evill to obey the word of Satan and be God Therfore those that eate of this deadly Tree and adhere to the word and wisdome of the Serpent and are borne of Satan these cannot doe any thing that is pleasing unto God As on the contrary the other doth not any thing that is displeasing unto him Therefore he that would be the one must bidd adew to the other He must putt off the wisdome of the Serpent and vomitt up the Fruit of the Forbidden Tree who would eate of the Tree of Life Adam must dye in us and the witt of the Flesh must be unlearned of us if we would have Iesus Christ to live in us and obtaine the direction of the holy spirit For the death of the one is the life of the other the infirmity of the one is the strength of the other No man can serve two Masters neither is it possible to unite Adam God the Devill together CHAP. XII The praise of the Word of God on which alone man ought to build rest reside and it onely know if he will remain unshaken in adversity have his Faith manifest and approved and finde quietnesse to his Soule INdeed there be many arts profitable to the body which God the belly hath created and yet doth dayly finde out which truely bring much profit to the kitchin and onely serve worship obey their God the belly most zealously as it is expedient they should But as the cōmon proverbe is that which is profitable to the body doth often hurt the soule and that which is the bellies and flesh as life foode and plentie is often times the death of the soule and a meere poyson unto it because the spirit is contrary to the flesh Hence it comes to passe that table or belly arts because they be the Fruit off-spring and witt of the flesh are altogether vaine famine and death unto the soule And on the contrary that onely art the end whereof was not for God bellies advantage which the whole world doth so much sleight and litle regard that onely true wisdome and Theologie to witt God and the knowledge of his Word in him together with the knowledge of him divinely infused into our soules is the sole art onely necessary to mans salvation Therfore the true heavenly divine art the true tree of Life of which whosoever eateth hath everlasting life Furthermore I say this art is the Foode Wine Milke excellencie defence and all whether the profitt pleasure or advancement of Soules All other arts being vaine doubtfull and the poyson of the Soule hurtfull and deadly to the Spirit of Man if hee leane upon them rest in them glory in them or build his happinesse upon their sandy foundation In a word they are the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good evill of which whosoever eates as J have amply proved hee shall dye the death Therefore I desire that wee would not be to righteous nor wise in our owne eyes As Solomon Eccles. 8. as also Proverbs 3. doth faithfully instruct us that we should esteeme nothing to be our wisdome righteousnesse or any other vertue in us but onely to know God in and with himselfe and love praise worshipp feare honour and understand him as wee ought Which thing must necessarily proceede from God himselfe beeing the worke of his eternall and in it selfe everlasting and immutable word which without spokesman from him proceeds out of his mouth that hee speakes in our hearts teacheth himselfe in our soules imprinting and engraving his Image in us thereby enlightning so our understanding that to speake in a word he so teach love know understand pray unto heare guide governe and worshipp himselfe in us All other things whatsoever are to dull and all the vertue of things are to base that they should be able to teach us God and give us everlasting felicity or that God by them should give it unto us God will be himselfe teach himselfe give and convay himselfe into our hearts Neither will hee suffer his honour to bee given to any Creature that by it wee should be saved or sanctified but hee that heareth and learneth it of the Father commeth unto him He will himselfe be the Master of spirits and so a spirit shall be taught of a spirit And all those that are divinely instructed of the all-knowing and understanding God shall be said truely to be learned and wise The flesh hath teachers who belonging to the ould covenant have commerce with the flesh The new covenant because it is spirit and Life and in like manner hath a spirituall and new birth of God to be instructed hath also a spiritual word and Master to instruct it which is the word and spirit of Life Therefore if any man would know himselfe submitt himselfe quietly to the direction and permitt himselfe to bee spoken too sought and found in him He surely should be elevated to a wonderfull Light if any man I say doth follow the instruction and Doctrine of the Father in himselfe he verily should finde God in God and with God But the world busied and accupied in the Creatures passeth away in a confusion and not considering the hidden and secret treasure that is closed in his heart Neither seekes for this precious Pearle but covered all over with the earth of the Creatures remaineth in darknesse with the multitude of his arts and sciences weary ignorant and void of all true arts and sciences yet doth he in the meane space learne art after art further and further searcheth into the my fierie of knowledge And to use the words of Saint Paul is
old word beeing growen out of use And againe the old words are received the new being thrust out so farre forth that nothing is durable or constant in this life And if any man would observe he shall finde that our mother Tongue in England is dayly changed that at this day they speake otherwise then they did a few yeares since yea and such a curiositie nicenesses there is in the word and tongues that what men have a while made use off suddenly they cast away as disdaining the same Every man endevouring to bring out some new and rare thing that he seeme not to imitate the words of any other insomuch that the cheife inventour of words doe now obtaine the chief praise and estimation of Art And by this meanes all things are confounded in the earth and what now is new is presently growen old and anone become new againe and the hearts of men the Kingdomes peoples and Languages of the World like to the course of the yeare In times past France spoke the Dutch language as Beatus Rhenamis writing of the Germaine affaires most elegantly proves but now it hath gathered a proper speech to it selfe out of Italie Germaine Spaine but most specially from Italie which thing of the tongue was caused perhaps by their warre because divers people being mixed together they made and used a mixed kind of Speech Hence it came to passe that as yet they retaine some of the Germain words as Suppen Sacken kushen which they almost according to the Nether Germains pronounce after the bastard Germaine Souper Sacen Cuysten This I speake that we may see that nothing is constant or new in the earth and that is true which Terence writt Nothing is spoke now which was not spoke before So nothing is done which was not done before So that Cornelius Agrippa thinkes the invention of Gunpowder and â—uns was no new invention of which opinion in the Historian Volatiramis and this may be gathered out of the sixt of Virgils Eneads where thus he writes of Salmon I Salmon saw with paine torment late Who would loues flame thunder imitate For caried by foure steeds with torch in hand Through Elis Cittie all Grecian Land Did ride in triumph and command that all Shâ—uld give him honour and a dietie call O mad man he who with his Chariots noyce Would imitate the mightie thunders voyce And Solomon shewes the same all along in the 3. chapt. of Eccles. as also to the first that what hath beene that shall bee what hath beene done the same shall be done neither is there any thing new under the Sunne There is something which is as if it were new yet was that in auncient times which hath beene before us There is no memory of former ages neither shall there be of those that are to come amongst who are to be and a little after things past and things to come are all forgotten and the wise together with the fool doe dye In which words what other thing would the preacher show then that all arts are subiect to oblivion and death Neither can they alwayes remaine in the soule but together with the body departs or perisheth by death For nothing I say can adhere unto the Image of God I meane the Soule which is like unto God and consist in death and fire but what is onely God and his word this is the onely endure able creature and the meate of Eternall Life Not that opinion and Art of Philosophers but the true good of the minde and Soule which can happen to no other thing but the word although I doe not denye but that word appeared to some of the Gentils and taught them because God is no respector of Persons but as a common Light of soules as the Sunne is the Light of the whole world neither is the hand of God shortned nor his eye envyous that he should not looke upon the whole VVorld With the same love eye and grace since we are all alike the same workmanshipp of God all of the same love estimation and authoritie with him Hence thou mayst collect that all arts invented by men are death and fruits of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evill For assoone as Adam had eaten of that Tree the same day he dyed in the eyes of God as the historie declares although afterwards according to the flesh hee lived many yeares as from heavenly matters the same day was his eyes shutt up and he eat death although in his owne judgement his eyes were opened and he seemed to himselfe to be a living God knowing Good and Evill Then began he to exercise his art his cunning to expound dispute and seeke out a malitious sutle and captious meaning in all things and also to deale deceitfully with God and in all things to hide himselfe to cover himselfe with Figge leaves to kisse his owne hand in a word to worship himselfe by inventing many arts amongst his posterity And out of this Roote spring up all the precepts of men their expositions their arts and so excellent a foundation have they as both the inventour and the authour of them was the Devill and the first Scoller that learned them did eate death therefrom And this Science and Art is utterly to be abhorred being no other then a Diabolicall perswasion conceived in Adam formed and hid in the Seede of the Serpent And yet all the World as Adam did thinkes that Life is placed in it neither doth it receive any instruction from Adam neither indeed understand the historie of Adams fall or his rising againe and that whole matter at this day doth live yet accounting it but a Historie long since acted done and afterwards dare say the word of God endureth for ever Therefore wee must needs confesse that nothing is past which in its kinde is not yet extant Whole Moyses is urged upon Christians neither is one jott of the word of God lost which shall not be fulfilled in every moment in spirit truth Therefore the fall of Adam happeneth dayly dayly doth Adam in his posterity eate of the forbidden fruit And therfore his Sonnes in Adam as in the roote are damned dead Now this our fall as Adams is amended and repaired if we spirt out and vomitt up this knowledge of good and Evill as poyson and become as Adam was before his fall Children Fooles and innocent Turttles that wee may eate of the Tree of Life and suffer the Seed of the woman to be ingrafted in us This is not the Seede the art witt and counsell of the Serpent but the Seede word will the minde of God the Tree of Life which whosoever eateth and suffreth himselfe to be fedd therewith is indowed with Eternall Life Now in us there is a Medicine with poyson For as by sinne the Tree of knowledge of good and Evill was planted into the heart of Adam so by his conversion rising againe and Seede of the Woman the
THE FORBIDDEN FRVIT OR A TREATISE Of the Tree of Knovvledge of Good Evill of which Adam at the first as yet all Mankind doe eate death Moreover How at this day it is forbidden to every one as well as to Adam And how this Tree that is the wisedome of the Serpent planted in Ada is that great Image and that many headed Beast mentioned in Daniel and the Apocalyps whom the whole world doth worship LASTLY Here is shewed what is the Tree of Life contrary to the wisdome righteousnesse and knowledge of all mankind With a description of the Majestie and nature of Gods Word By AUGUST ELUTHENIUS Translated out of Latine into English Printed in the yeare 1640. CHAPTER I. What is the Tree of Knovvledge of Good and Evill I Will not much contend with them that would have the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evill accoâ—ding as it is in the Scriptures to be a Naturall Tree which being planted in Paradise had that nature devinely given unto it that who should eate thereof their eyes should be opened to view themselves and they be made Gods and so know both Good and Evill perhaps God would teach Adam both inwardly and outwardly and what hee forbad or taught him inwardly in his heart that he would propose outwardly to his eyes for greater testimony but yet I desiâ—e of them that they would grant this unto me that as the thing was done outwardly so the same to have happened inwardly in the heart of Adam that there hee was tempted by the seed of the Serpent to have the guiding of his owne will and nature not to be so void of knowledge and action as to be subordinate unto God That I should so thinke two reasons or causes doe especially move mee The 1. is that the Seed of the Woman was to breake the head of the seed of the Serpent but as a naturall and living Serpent whose head was broken of that Seed we doe not reade of any but as even then the Seed of the woman was spiritually in the heart of Adam so in the same manner was the seed of the Serpent for man at the first was created good not of God but of nothing and for that cause doth he turne himselfe alwayes from God and bend downewards to his owne nothing and vanity againe which nothing I with the auncient Fathers but especially Taulerus doe judge to be sinne Satan death hell and this perhaps was that devill inhabiting in Adam as also in Lucifer The other reason is this which the scripture doth testifie of the Citie of God and the Heavenly Ierusalem that Paradise to be in us but God alone and his omnipotent Word is our Paradise the Tree of Life and the Temple wherein we inhabit walk serve pray c. as wee are on the other part the Temple of God and his Paradise In like manÌ„er the Beast which even now the whole world both great and small doe worshipp in their hearts of which the scriptures make mention in the Apocalips as also the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil is in us for the exterior world whatsoever outwardly is to be seene or is done is onely an accident and a certaine signifying figure of the true and interior nature and there is nothing true in all those things which are seen with the eye that is substantiall for it behoveth that the forme of this World perish because it is nothing else but an imaginary world and a figure of the right true eternal and by it selfe the constant world therfore it is expedient that all these things in their course be done over againe which throughout all the Bible are related outwardly and significantly to have beene done and yet to this day after their manner the Historie of the Bible Moyses and the Prophets are spiritually and truely of force but all things are brought into the truth by Christ and it it is expedient that all the prophecies which have been from the beginning of the world which God hath spoken by the mouth of his Saints be againe reiterated Therefore that Tree was nothing else then the nature will knowledge and life of Adam whereof he ought not to eat That is not to attribute any part of it to himselfe But freely and willingly submitt himselfe to God and know nothing but what God would know in him doe nothing but what God would doe in him speake nothing but what God would speake in him c. Whereby without any impediment God might exercise his Kingdome will nature and power in him that being void of will wisdome and knowledge he might have nothing of his owne or arrogate any thing to himself this God would this was pleasing to him and thus he commaunded To this opinion the German Divinity ascents Theologia Germanica 3470. cap. Which saith that this tree is nothing else but our owne will knowledge of which alone in the Earthly Paradise of the world of our hearts we are not to eate but acount it is forbidden unlesse we desire to dye or eate death from it And now when Adam was fallen and had eaten of this tree then was it planted in his heart the same was derived into all his boughts and fruit so that the same case word precept and interdict is common to all his posterity we all have eaten death vvhosoever are in Adam and this uncorrected poyson have vve received from the Serpent being evill Egges of an evill Bird Hence may every man easily perceive hovv each man is the greatest enemy to himselfe and vvhat hee ought to esteeme of himselfe his vvill and understanding vvisdome and knowledge since it is the Counsell seede wisdome knowledge and head of the Serpent which by Christ is to bee broken in our hearts it behoveth that all things which Circumcision in the old and Baptisme in the new Covenant doth signify which are hereditary and naturall from Adam should dye in us that we should labour to unlearne and put of all things as if they were death and the devill that is our will wisdome and righteousnesse c. with which as with figleaves Adam strove to cover himselfe for this is sinne and the stinge of sinne and death that is to eate of this forbidden Tree and to arrogate any thing to a mans selfe as his will nature and understanding or himselfe But alas alas who knowes this or beleeves this who abandons or is weary of his owne will understanding or knowledge when will men give a farewell to them Give a Farewll say J why every one delights himselfe in his own imaginations sweetly slumbring recreats his soule in his own wisdom knowledge workes c. the Tree is fayre to the eye and pleasant to the tast Here all mankinde as Adam himselfe doe taste death But yet no man knowes no man thinkes of this but every man judgeth it to be right and the flesh esteemeth it to be the Tree of Life That is to follow
his fleshly wisdome and forsake that good he hath gott already then from the beginning to learne it for his profitt In so much that this is true who once hath played the Asse will scarcely learne to leave those doultish tricks O how difficult is it for them to become Fooles who have grounded themselves in a presumption of their owne witt And yet it is necessary that this they must bee or otherwise they shall bee nothing lesse then that which they desire to bee Therefore so requisite is this denyall hatred forgetfulnesse of himselfe that without it no man can be the disciple of Christ that is no man can be indued with divine wisdome unlesse in his affections he hath excluded and given a farewell adewe to his owne Wherefore what wonder is it if the worldly Man who is busied about the things of this life be altogether ignorant of the knowledge of God For since he is not obedient to that wisdome that is spâ—rituall neither can perceive any divine thing nor receive the spirit of truth nor for the wisdome of God exchange his owne For he neither cares to nourish that wisdome in his heart neither desires to learne it and because hee desires it not he cannot learne it And now it is requisite that as Sainct Paul sayes if any man will be wise with God he must be a foole in the World that thereby he may become truely wise That is he must cease to thinke as the world doth labour to gett a new minde and deliver over his sences thoughts to be renewd by God The cause of which Paul immediately annexeth to the same For the wisdome of the World saith he is foolishnes to God And in his Epistle to the Romans hee calleth it death and enmity to God And the same Paul bids adew to all his owne witt which he had learned at the feete of Gamaliell above all his equals and accounts all his owne righteousnes and knowledge as dung and drosse in respect of the excellencie of the knowledge of Christ And elsewhere he glories in this that he had learned to unlearne and forget all things and now desired to know nothing but Christ him crucified In the same manner all the Apostles become little Children again Besides Nichodemus and all other whosoever as Christ had said unto them unlesse they be changed and become as little Children they cannot see the Kingdome of God And a little after Christ saith that the Kingdome of God is of such little Children This is the reason why the Scriptures admonish us so often to beware of our owne witt least we doe any thing that seemes good in our owne eyes As also that we resist our owne wils neither that we suffer our selvs to be led and guided by our owne affections and desires and also those that trust in their owne hearts obey their own cogitations are foolish and wicked also that we seeme not wise in our owne conceits nor magnify our selves but feare and in feare and trembling worke out our owne salvation And lastly that we trust not nor leane not to our owne witt For what is or can be more wicked then what flesh and blood hath found out Truely the flesh cannot of its owne nature seeke God and have him in estimation unlesse it renounce it selfe and hate its owne life and soule that is all its owne workes though it gloze them over with a pretence of the word honour and glory of God for he cannot be beleeved loved prayed unto or found but only in God Therefore all the endeavour study art diligence of is altogether void of God and want his grace and spirit For the word of God requires an humble submissive trembling and abiected mind and a soule poore in spirit free from the bondag of the creatures like to tender wax or clay plyable in the finger of God to receive the figure and stamp of his image imprinted upon it To these Fooles and Children such as feare God and are seperated from the Dugges of the World doth he open his secrets and teach his divine wisdome knowledg if there be any man that fears God to him the Lord will shew the way that he may choose and he walke in the truth and his posterity shall inhabit the Land He sayes not to the Learned and to the wise of the World as also in an other place the Lord reveales his secrets to the righteous For this cause Christ the Sonne of God gives thankes to his Father that he had hidden his secrets from the prudent and wise of the World and had revealed unto Children and Babes That as wee have already spoken out of the mouths of sucking Babes Such as were Moyses Ieremias Amos and the Apostles c. hee might speake his praise and extoll his Kingdome and Glory Againe the rich proud he sends away emptie and filleth only the hungrie with good things Now no Money-master nor rich covetous Churle is more swollen up with the vaine confidence of his riches nor any woman more proud of her bewtie then these wise men pride and boast themselvs of their wisdome and knowledge perswading themselvs that this is the divine wisdome and riches of the soule which neither theevs can steale nor rust canker it nor moath corrupt it when notwithstanding it is nothing but meere death foolishnes and enmity against God and in a word the knowledg of the forbidden Tree Therefore the holy Scriptures speake expresly of the wise of the world these righteous men famous for their arts priding themselves in their owne hearts who are arrogant and proud and are indued with nothing lesse then the spirit of God who abides onely in simple Doves By this it appeares that no kinde of men are farther from the Kingdome of God and doe lesse square and agree with his word and more disagree from his will then those who leane and trust to their owne wisdome knowledge reason and will Christ in the holy Scriptures speaketh not so much against Publicans and common sinners as these who being puft up with a conceit of their owne righteousnes reflect upon themselves with a selfe pleasingnes with these can Christ least accord unto them doth so often threaten woes in the Scripture and sayes that adulterers and Publicans shall enter before them into the Kingdome of Heaven These are those wicked men against whom David so fervently and often prayes and of whom Christ hath so little hope and unto whom he with his Apostles and Steuen give so cutting language who being men of a wicked mind would seeme nothing lesse But those things which are written concerning wicked men they ignorantly interpret of others these are such whom the whole world esteeme and accounts to be the shining lights thereof Such were Nichodemus and Paul before his conversion these are those who in David Moyses Christs and all other times of the church have beene the righteous Scribes Pharises
and is so farre from bringing Life with it that it mortifies kills the Reader as Paul implies where he sayth the spirit quickens and not the Letter The Iewes in auncient times and so men in these dayes doe boast themselves of the word of God are strongly perswaded that out of it they are able to gather Life to their soules but they are farre deceived Wherefore Christ sayes In whom thinke ye to have Life As for the Scriptures his testimony of them is this that they are them which testify of him Therefore all arts and knowledges are no wayes the cause of Life but the knowledge of Life to know him in and with God wicked nature hath alwayes a perverse end proposed to it selfe and therefore it desires to know all things not for God but for its owne sake therefore all things are to the flesh as it is its self vaine and perverse if the learning of so many arts had beene necessary to salvation God had created and taught them in the beginning Neither would bee have suffered that men should so long have wanted that without which they were not able to attaine to Life but because they were formed out by men and still are found out by them though no man be any whitt the more unhappie if so be he never know any thing of them Yea hee were more happie if he could unlearne them though with greater difficulty then he learned them you may by the Tree conjecture what the Fruit is what humane arts and sciences are to witt the Fruit of the forbidden Tree How then can they conduce any thing unto Life being the only precepts in ventions of men Therefore very well in praise of that word of God doth Cornelius Agrippa call all arts and actions of men meere ignorant fables and foolishnes in his Booke de vanitate Scientiarum The beginning and end whereof wee have putt in this Booke that wee may not seeme alone with Ernestinus to contemne arts and praise folly Wherefore if thou leane unto arts please and boast thy selfe in them having any hope or accounting thy selfe any thing better for them they will prove death unto thee for they doe no more conduce to thy happines then garments time place or such like circumstances But as they are the inventions of the flesh so doe they produce no other thing in thee then the workes and Fruits of the flesh to witt selfe-love pride of spirit contempt disdaine security such like And this is verified by experience for no men are more perverse craftie covetous then these wordly wise and learned men bee being men drowned in their owne selfe-love esteemed of themselves worthy to be beloved and reverenced of all full of rash judgement lovers of all pleasures and so full of all vices that the whole world gives creditt to no men lesse speakes worse of no men more being full of taunting reproaching proverbs against them such as these the better learned the worser mannered the better Scoller the worser Christian No man scapes scotfree out of the clawes of a preist He that wil have an honest house must keepe it free from Preists Apes Doves A monk dare doe as much as he dare thinke These such like proverbs are common in every mans mouth which arise from this that they are so swollen with the poyson of the fruit of the forbidden tree so puft up with the false opinion of their owne wisdome and righteousnesse that no rich man is more insolent by reason of his riches then these perverse wise men are by reason of their arts knowledge So that it is as easie to remove Cyrus out of his Kingdome as one of these wise men out of his opinion and tenent And truely it cannot be but by how much a man is more wise in the art of the forbidden tree by so much hee is more miserable as Christ witnesseth in the gospell that the multitude of their arts and knowledge is an impediment why they come not into the Kingdome of God and publicans and harlots enter in before them Therfore these men are to perish with their arts to depart empty and so farr is any of them from leaving his art wisdome knowledge righteousnesse that he esteemeth these to be the good and riches of the soule which neither theevs can steale nor moathes corrupt when in very deed they are nothing but the inventions of Satan fruits of the forbidden tree and the death of the soule For the life of the soule is the true knowledge of God which himselfe doth work teach in us to wit the fruit of the Tree of life whose fruit is that it makes a man gentle loving humble lowly meeke c. By this let a man examine himselfe with what witt and righteouseesse hee is endued For if day by day he be lesse in his own eyes and in the judgement of the world if he seeme still more foolish in himselfe and a Child in his owne thoughts his knowledge is divine the Seede of the VVoman a Fruit of the Tree of Life but if hee finde contrary effects in himselfe then is all his wisdome Devilish the Seede of the Serpent and Fruit of the Forbidden Tree and so the death of the soule CHAP. XI Of the Tree of Life vvhat it is why Adam was excluded from it and not permitted to eate thereof I also grant thus much that this Tree was visible in Paradise and had this divine vertue bestowed upon it that whosoever eate thereof should live for ever But whereas Adam before had eaten of the Forbidden Tree and had incurred death therefore he should not eate of this Tree of Life least otherwise he should have lived for ever and in a word God should have beene false in his word which was that he should dye the death but God who is Life it selfe would not for ever be angrie with his Creature but was unwilling that man should for ever live in that misery into which he had cast himselfe and therefore drove him out of Paradise and afterwards shewed him the way by which he should returne into Paradise againe and eating of this Tree live for ever and then gaurded the Tree of Life with a Cherub and a flamming sword least man in his exile should have presumed to have come to this Tree and have eaten thereof The will and counsell of God was that it was better that man should dye in the flesh and so putt of this miserable life and change it for a better then live in it for ever Therefore God who cannot nor will not hate us delt every way most mercifull with us if so bee we would truely consider of it Now doe J think that the same also happened in the true Paradise of Adās heart the Tree of the Knowledge of Good Evill is the Seed Knowledge and wisdome of the Serpent And the tree of Life is the Seed of the Woman and the wisdome of
Tree of Life is planted by the Tree of death in the heart of Adam From these two Seeds trees so different doe spring different Fruits so as one is poyson and death the other is Medicine Life and if any man would know that plant which is called Man he may easily know what he ought to think of his owne art knowledge wisdome and righteousnesse how that this pleaseth all men and is of great respect with them For what is current with the world but its owne coyne What but the wisdome art and righteousnesse of the Flesh seemeth holie in the sight of men onely the Holy Ghost can reprehend the world of sinne righteousnesse and judgement It is wonderfull to behould how the world doth dayly yet eate death of the forbidden Tree which tree you may call as the Germaine Theologie doth our own will and although God doe dayly cry aloud in them and moreover provideth by the witnesses whom he sendeth to teach them externally that they abstain therefrom or otherwise they shall reape death therefrom yet none beleeveth but all follow that Serpent which secretly in our heart doth speake thus Not death shal you reape by any meanes but if you know many arts you shall bee like unto God and live for ever this the whole historie of the Bible remaines in force at this day from hence ariseth a certaine art and curiositie enquiring searching out Neither will any submitt himselfe docibly and simplie unto God and obey his word But every man will be his owne yea Gods Master too and teach both himselfe and God bring him into the Schoole and there prescribe unto him with whom where what wherefore he shall doe speake permitt or omitt Hence it commeth to passe that wisdome is justified alwayes of her Children and those men skilled in a thousand arts and above measure craftie God cannot satisfie neither can he obtaine his Kingdome or gett any love or right at their hands Since they will be altogether Gods and kisse their owne hands will wisdome prudence and reason The art of the Devill which is sucked out of the Duggs of the Serpent hereupon we compose many bookes desiring to teach the whole world not knowing how to teach our selves From hence it comes that the proud Devill alas is buried deepe in Learned men whom their deadly knowledge doth so dangerously puffe up that they thinke themselves worthie all honour both from God and men and oftentimes if not in word yet indeed they make their estate as Lucifer and Adam did No man understandeth how we dayly become Lucifers and Adams but thinke that to bee the relation of a thing long since done in Adam and condemne his wicked pride and fal when neverthelesse we all sticke fast over head and eares in the same and yet deride others who in this kinde are foolish Divines preach much the word and his precepts but when they are to be kept indeed they are wanting in this yea what themselves doe sometimes teach they will not suffer others to practise but contented meerly in the bare words so making the word of God nothing but a meere Art a matter of talke and disputation had rather be called knowers and fearers of God then lovers of him that not in vaine is the proverbe which is verified by experience teaching and confirming the same The greater Scoller the worser Christian The Gramarian is carefull that he erre not in his speaking but little regardeth the errour of his life In like manner the Poets had rather bee lame in their lives then halting in their Verses Philosophers would know all things but not themselves The Historian describeth all peoples but neglecteth himselfe The Orator is more sollicitous that he speake not rudely then that he beleeve not or live wickedly The Logitian will sooner forsake the truth then leave his opinion and conclusion They that have any thing to doe with Geometrie doe sooner measure the Earth then their wayes The Musician taketh more care that his Song bee not dissonant then that his cariage bee consonant Astrologers travell over the whole Heavens and foretell things to come but see not the ditch under their feete The Cosmographer relates of all Mountaines Valleyes Woods and Rivers but that makes him not one haire better in the sight of God The Phisician healeth sick mens bodies but neglecteth the healing of his owne soule Lawers are alone expert in the precepts of men but negligently violate the Lawes of God so as the proverb from hence hath risen Neither doth the Phisician live nor the Civillian dye well because Phisitians of all men are most intemperate and Civillians the worst Christians and for that cause as Baldus being an expounder of the Law himselfe doth say the most part of them are taken away by sudden death Other Arts-men J will not here mention but referre you to Cornelius Agrippa chap. 100. So the Devill doth compasse us about with the rope of folly insomuch that sometime with one question sometime with another art we be so amazed in the meane time wee neglect the onely science of God in which all things consist even as the Adulteresse Medea when her husband Jason pursued her cutt her Children in peeces dispersed their members in the way that Iason might bee busied in the gathering of them up while shee escaped out of the Countrie Alas shall death sinne and the Devill thus please us shall wee alwayes thus seeke God in hell with the Devill Light with darkenesse The living among the dead One thing is necessary and this no man will desire many things are unprofitable and unhealthfull yea deadly yet these are greedily desired off and devoured by all men In the word of God alone and no other thing are all things placed neither therefore will it profitt thee to have all things to know will speake surpasse in measure dispute off number paint adorn judge teach al things c. To know all things is nothing else then to know the arts of the Devill eaten by his counsell of the forbidden tree Onely to know the word and will of God and to live according unto it to be fruitfull in good workes is the true art and eternall Life eaten of the tree of Life in vaine it is to know all things yea rather it is bitter death as hath beene sufficiently spoken off before Since therefore all the arts witt and righteousnesse of men springeth from the tree of knowledge of good evill or rather from the Devill and therefore is the fall and death of Adam it necessarily followeth that the more any man is learned therein and experienced the higher he hath ascended the worse and more perverse he is as hee who hath made the greatest proficiencie in the wisdome and knowledge of the Devill And againe the more foolish a man is in this art and in the wisdome of the flesh and the Serpent and the more bee hath unlearned forgotten and emptied himselfe
againe nothing so great that can receive or circumscribe God As nothing is so little but God is lesse and nothing so great but God is greater beyond without below above all Creatures So also is his divine word As the free almightie eternall immutable omniscient incomprehensible invisible and unconceivable God is the beeing of all things So as as all things consist rather in him then in and by themselves as Taulerus and the Germain Theologie in a 1000 places doe avouch and is none of these things which can be seene or comprehended by sence or expressed by word So his divine word is free in all and beyond all bound unto nothing neither tyed to the prison or letters or cover of the Letter concluded included and so tyed unto it that otherwise it is no where even as the following Position and Sentence of a Learned man divinely instructed doe show As the word is covered and hidden by the Letter so it is opened and revealed by the spirit Hence it commeth to passe that the Letters be as a closed or sealed Booke so as the dark Letter except it be opened doth slay but the Spirit doth quicken and the Letters are as a certaine Image void of Life and Spirit that is a printed and dead expression of the Spirit therefore they want Life except the soule of the spirit be present and doe erre Therefore the Letters cannot be the word of God Since the word is farre otherwise an other thing then the letters For it is a spirit truth life but the letters are cōtrary flesh the letter death yea the letters if they want the Light of the word are an offence if they want the soule of the spirit are a stumbling block Therfore the Letters are an otherwise thing then the word that is they are not the Sword of the Spirit but a sheath For as the womb of the virgin conceived the word so the Letters For the word is clothed both with flesh with the Letters that Seede of Abrahem layeth hould of the Scriptures or Letters for they are both one and againe is apprehended by them but the spirit is not apprehended in the flesh or Letter of the Scriptures The cause thereof is this the flesh or Letter cannot containe conceive or comprehend the Majestie of the word yet even as it was so in the flesh that the Majestie thereof did not appeare so it is in the Letter that true neither to all or to any one that reads is it obvious and apparent This is witnessed by all Learned men in the meere Letter since the world began who neither could know finde or comprehend Christ in the flesh nor the word in the Letter which they should have done if Christ in the flesh or under the miserie of the flesh had beene known unto all not hidden but manifested and the Letter had beene not the covering mysterie but the true living and enlightning word of God it selfe As therefore the flesh was not the word but the cover thereof and a certaine great mysterie So the Letters are not the word properly but the shell the barke and cover thereof The word was made fleshly assumption not mixture and so the same word is made Letters yet not so as the same can be said of the Letters as of the word but as in a certaine Seale Therfore so farre are the Letters from being the word of God that they onely be the figure and barke thereof For the word is not that which is spoken by the Letter but that which is expounded by the Holy Ghost and understood onely of the Faithfull Therefore the Letters doe paint out shadow out and after a certaine manner set forth unto us the word and expresse something but are not the word although they be spoken and expressed For the word did not assume the flesh that it is not out of the flesh So it did not so fall into the Letter that it is not out of the Letter For there was the word when there was no Letters and the same will remaine after the Letters are perished Therefore as the word was never included and circumscribed in the flesh neither is it in the Letters For so it was in the bodie as it never yet left heaven and in the same manner it is so in the Letter as yet it is every where Therefore the word is in the Letter altogether but not all Hereupon we see that the letters have been exercised with a continuall encrease and addition Therefore the Letters are the Image of the word and not the word it selfe And if they be they are altogether a written and a dead not a living word For there is a twofould word one that quickneth viz. the Spirit another the Letter which is said to kill and slay The living word is that which inwardly teacheth and maketh us to fructifie the dead word is that which in the Flesh and Letter is proposed unto us The living word is a true Light which enlightneth all men and therefore a regenerating spirit because it reneweth all things In a word it is the power and might of God which giveth unto us that knowledge sence soule and Life which is from God A certaine brightnesse of the face of God which enlightneth us from above imprints in us the unction of the Holy Ghost by which it teacheth and instructeth us in all things But the dead word are the Letters that sealed booke and dead Letter sence and will which is the word of the flesh not of the Spirit of God The true and living word is that which God begetteth in us and the spirit of God effecteth in us But the dead and Litterall word is that which the Letters show unto us and men propound Therefore he doth not alwayes want the word who hath not the Letters For he may have the interior who wants the exterior word to witt the Law of God written in our hearts Hence it comes to passe that no man hath absolute neede to be taught of an other or to admonish his brother concerning the knowledge of God For al these shall know from the least to the greatest and are all the Disciples of Christ divinely taught This writing is not printed with inke and paper but written with the finger of God in the tables of our hearts This is the Doctrine of the truth and the inspiration of the Spirit to wit the propheticall breathing the inspiration of the Spirit and the true art of God Moreover hee may have the living word of God who wants the dead of the Letter and the thing it selfe who wants the signe that is the Life of the word though he wants the dead Letter For two things are cheifly to be considered in the word The first is the disposition and nature of the word which is a certaine Light intended for the enlightning of men The other is the action of it that is the spirit which giveth action and operation to