mient XIII Here Spirit Soul and cleansed Body may Bathe in this Fountain of true Bliss Of Pleasures that will n'ere decay All joyful Sights And hid Delights The sense of these renewed here daily is XIV Come therefore come and take an higher flight Things perishing leave here below Mount up with winged Soul and Spright Quick let 's be gone To him that 's One But in this one to us can all things show XV. Thus shall you be united with that ONE That ONE where 's no Duality For from this perfect GOOD alone Ever doth spring Each pleasant thing The hungry Soul to feed and satisfie XVI Wherefore O man consider well what 's said To what is best thy Soul incline And leave off every evil trade Do not despise What I advise Finish thy Work before the Sun decline Concerning the MACROCOSME OR Great World CHAP. I. Concerning the Lights of Heaven Quest. 1. HOw are we to consider the Lights of Heaven Respond The Lights of Heaven are to be considered in a twofold respect for there are some warm Lights and some cool or refrigerating Lights both which may be united because they are of kin together and symbolize with each other 2. Q. Which are those you call warm Lights R. The warm Lights are those that are Male or Day-lights 3. Q. Which are the Cool Lights R. Those which in opposition to the former may be termed Female or Night-lights 4 Q. How can we know that the warm Lights are Male or Day-lightâ—â— R. Because the Sun which is the â—arm Male Day-light doth govern or rule by Day and the Day is more noble than the Night 5 Q. Why are the cool Lights Female or Night-lights R. Because the Moon and Stars which are cool Night-lights rule in the night and for that the Night is the Days Wife 6 Q. Must we then consider the Sun in opposition to the Moon and Stars as the Male or Husband R. Yes forasmuch as we perceive that part of the Moons light proceeds from the Sun even as the Woman from the Man Gen. 2. 22. 7 Q. When now the Light of the Sun which is warm comes into the Moon which is cold what disposition or property is produced from this meeting or union R. Cold and Frost 8 Q. How can this be made out R. This may be demonstrated several ways both from Natural and Mechanical Experiments 9 Q. How can this be made out from Nature R. We perceive in the Summer that when for some time together a great heat hath been in the air and a cool air follows upon it the drops of rain become changed into cold Hail-stones by which means the former heat ceaseth and a cool air succeeds 10 Q. How may the same be demonstated Mechannically R. First When the warm Light of the Sun and the cool light of the Moon both which are united in the Moon are caught and concentred by means of a large burning-glass the said united Rayes produce cold according to what several curious persons from their own experience have attested and even Rusticks know as much for they will not lye down to sleep in the Moon shine but in the shade because they know by experience that the Rayes of the Moon are cold Secondly The same is likewise demonstrated by a peculiar Instrument made for this purpose invented by Basilius Title Governour of the Electoral Castle of Pleissenburg with which Instrument by means of a cool air which is drawn out of a Cellar through Leather Pipes into a Copper vessel and another air heated over the fire in a second vessel being both of them in due manner through Copper Cocks blown into a third vessel that stands in water he produceth Snow Several other experiments might be here alleadged for confirmation of this as well from Nature as from Art by means of Salts and Sulphars warm and cool things which we on purpose pass by as being commonly known 11 Q. What is properly Heat and Cold R. Heat as well as Cold is not a bare accident but a right true spiritual Essence or Being 12 Q. How can it be made out that Heat is a Being R. That Heat is a real Being may be perceived by this instance when a Wain-load of wood of four or five thousand weight is burnt and reduced to ashes which wood is for the most part a birth or product of the Sun as is evident from its burning and forasmuch also as by its warmth it makes the Vegetables of the earth to grow like the Sun which is the Father of all Sublunary things which ashes do not amount to above ten or twelve pound in quantity In these ashes there remains a fix Salt which before was a Sulphurious Oyl but is now precipitated by Heat and may be reduced again into a natural Volatile Salt and this in the way of Nature by means of the Air. The greatest part of the said Sulphurous Oyl would have gone away in case the wood had been burnt in the open Air with a slow soft fire but when it is burnt by a quick strong fire of Reverberation the said Sulphurous Nature becomes precipitated into Salt through the violence of the fire A small part of the said word is changed into a Combustible soot so that all the remaining quantity of so many thousand pounds was all turned to heat Now this Heat which at first was a Spirit and afterwards became a Body viz Wood and now again is changed into a Spiritual Being can pierce through the closest bodies even through the hardst Stones and Metals forasmuch as from it they derive their original and dwell only in those bodies that stand in need of it for their sustenance and makes the same more powerful and full of vertue as also more ponderous as we may perceive forasmuch as men and all other Creatures are fed and maintained by the Heat of the Sun for a man cannot eat so much in the Summer as he can in Winter And the people that live in hot Countries as well as the Beasts do not stand in need of so much food as those of Cold Countries and yet they are more lively vigorous and strong than these So likewise we observe that the Fruits Wood and other Vegetables which grow in hot Countries are more vertuous vigorous ponderous and balsamick because they enjoy more of the Sun than those of other Countries The same is likewise further evidenced from hence for that we find by experience that when the water of the Thames is carried to the East Indies when the ship in which it is comes under the Aequator where the power of the Sun is most intense the water becomes thick tough and clammy but as soon as it is brought again to these parts it becomes thin again and takes fire like Brandy From whence is plainly seen that the fiery vertue of the Sun is entered into the said water and corporified in the same The same effect may likewise be produced by
evident that as well the spiritual life and the spiritual living operation of the Sun as of the Moon and Stars are in themselves a true spiritual Essence and can by means of an Out-working be reduced to a true essential comprehensible body which then is a true Out-birth of their spiritual contexture joyn'd together in one united Seed Now it is further queried whether the Sun as well as the Moon and Stars do grow less or are diminished by parting with that which they continually give forth from themselves as their Out-working or Out-birth and so finally may be brought to nothing Or whether they receive again what they give out from other Heavens and consequently may continue the same without any change in their own Beings R. Neither of these can be admitted for if the first should be allowed viz. that they should still give forth before they had attained to their due perfection then by means of this their giving forth the heavenly Lights would at last be brought to nothing and this World on the contrary would grow to an immense confused and monstrous bigness which would be contrary to Nature who as was said before conducts all things from an Unity into an innumerable and incomprehensible multiplication or increase and melioration whereas in this case the quite contrary would happen because all particular Out-workings would go to nothing and perish and all of them without the glorification and melioration of all and every natural Essence or being be reduced into an unripe unseasonable and confused Mass like an Abortion And in case we should admit of the other Hypothesis then by reason of this never-ceasing and ever-renewed Influx this World with all its parts and members would never arise to its destinated and appointed age perfection and glorification because still new Essences and Bodies would be produced by which means the bulk or mass of matter would be continually increased and at last mount to such an height that it would reach beyond Sun Moon and Stars and swallow up the same in it self from whence necessarily a total confusion would over-spread Nature 18 Q. Forasmuch then as neither of these Hypotheses can stand as drawing impossibilities after them and that this World and all Beings of the same did receive a beginning from their Creator from a Being that never had a beginning and therefore can have no end who placed and bounded them in a measured and exactly-determined time in which they must work out themselves to their due perfection and glorification in all parts what way or means is then left by which the heavenly Lights may so work out themselves in their several set-times in a right beautiful order and harmony that without losing their own proper Beings and without hindring the due perfection of Nature every one of them according to their measure might work together to the glorification as well of themselves as of this lower World R. This way is no other nor can there be any other than that which is represented by Jacob's Ladder for even as upon the same the Angels of God ascended and descended so likewise the essential living Powers or spiritual Bodies of the heavenly Lights do continually descend from above through the aethereal Air to this lower World as from the head to the feet and afterward when they have finished their Out-working there to their own improvement and melioration they mount upwards again from below to the head for to be united again with the same and by means of the said Union to be more and more advanced bettered and glorified until after the consummation of the destinated and set-time all the particular imperfect parts and beings may gradually be conducted to obtain their perfection And this Ascension and Descension of the heavenly Powers and the continual melioration and glorification of the same which depend thereon and proceed from thence endures and continues still without intermission and must needs do so Now Descension and Ascension is performed with a twofold difference viz. as is fore-mentioned according to Day and Night Sun Moon and Stars or a male and female property and that in all and every Creature after one and the same manner as shall be declared more amply hereafter when we shall come to speak of Man and his Revolution and how the same is likewise done in his body The descension of the Sun as the male is chiefly in the day-time and that of the Moon and Stars as the female-part mostly by night The Sun by his descension or influence generates a fire in the Creatures which in Man is to be likened to his bloud but the influential descent of the Moon and Stars generates a water both of which are driven about with the self-same circulation in Man the Microcosm as they are in the Macrocosm or greater World 19 Q. It is evident then that there must be a never-ceasing Revolution by means of which as well the fiâ—ry and male virtue of the Sun as the cool watry and female influx of the Moon are first darted from above and afterwards must mount up again without ceasing if ever they shall obtain a perfect spiritual body and consequently thereby arrive to their full perfection according to the kind and property of a perfect World And because the Ascendings and Descendings are twofold and of two different kinds and properties as also that the same are become a spiritual body it will follow that there must needs be a third as an Uniter of both the said Essences of which the said spiritual Body or Birth doth consist as before hath been shewed and that the said Uniter must be more subtile than they both and therefore in comparison of them a Spirit or right true spiritual Being much more spiritual than either of them and that to the end it may be able to pierce through them work in them and rule them in a wise order and harmony being united with and dwelling in them that so by means of this Spirit both these may attain to their due melioration and perfection by continually approaching nearer to the same and becoming more like unto it until finally they be perfectly united with the same Now the Question is whether this Spirit be â—he same in all and every Creature or whether it â—t is different in every Creature according to the Creatures particular kind and property And whether it admits of a particular exaltation and melioration in it self R. Many Questions are here joyned together which may be answered in two parts for first as â—o what belongs to the first Question the same brings its answer along with it and as for the other Questions which are Whether the said Spirit be one and the same in all Creatures or different â—s also whether it admitteth of its particular exalâ—ation The Answer to these may be best held forth in this Example A Stone is a part of the Great World as of the whole and is a right true living member in
ways as for example when a man is onely entred upon the beginning of any year he counts the same inclusively with the other years of his age notwithstanding that the said year be not yet ended but onely begun Have not we reason then to think that a very particular hidden meaning lies wrapt up in these words of Lamech and whether they may not import thus much when he saith I have stain a man to my wounding and a young man to my hurt that by the man Cain is to be understood and by the young man his Brother Abel And will not this interpretation lay a fair ground for the opening of many other misteries in a due and right order As amongst other things we learn from hence that both the Brothers Cain and Abel did from the time of their conception until Cain was killed inseparably continue together viz. Abel in Cain for his vengeance and punishment But that after Cain was killed they no longer continued Twins but separated themselves from each other and by Revolution were afterwards born of two distinct Mothers Where again we may observe that Abel who was the first conceived in Eve now became the first-born of Ada and was now named Jabal and his Brother Jubal which denotes the year of Jubile and continnes now his former course of life being a keeper of Cattle as he was before whereas Cain who was the first-born of Eve is here the youngest Son of Zillah and his name now is Tubal Cain which signifies the world of Cain and his exercise and labour is in the earth viz. about Minerals and Metals and his Sister is Naëmah which denotes Beauty of whom no further mention is made in Scripture but according to the common tradition of the Jews she and her Daughters did intice and seduce all men by their Beauty according to what is mentioned Gen. 6. 1. That the Sons of God were inticed by the Daughters of men But what may be the reason that in Holy Writ after the mentioning of Lamech's Speech to his Wives nothing further is declared concerning his being avenged nor any account of the Actions of Cain or Lamech's posterity May not we suppose that it was because they were all of them entred upon Revolution For how could they any other way have been so often avenged except that they themselves were present and born anew into this World And did not all of them afterwards perish in the Deluge and by this means enter into Noah for to be revolved in him in order to their perfection which they in process of time after Christs Resurrection according to Gods wise and good Disposal in part attained And is not this plain and evident from many places of Scripture particularly 1 Pet. 3. 19 20. where we are told that Christ as the Greek Text doth declare compared with v. 22. after his Ascension into Heaven preached in Spirit by which he was raised again to Life to the Spirits in Prison even to the same Spirits who formerly were unbelieving in the days of Noah while the Ark was a preparing wherein few that is eight Souls were saved Doth it not therefore follow from hence that all those Spirits whose Bodies perished in the Deluge and to whom afterwards Christ after his Ascension in that Spirit by which he was raised again to life and which was poured forth upon the Apostles preached in and by them which Spirits at that time appeared again in bodies in this world from the which they could not be separated forasmuch as they had not yet attained to their full and final perfection and consequently were in a condition to hear the Sermons of the Apostles in flesh I say may we not infer from hence that all these Spirits entred into these eight Souls in order to their Revolution and so consequently were propagated by them until the time of Christ 5 Q. Noah now as who derived his descent from Adam and Seth was an upright perfect man and begat three sons Japhet Sem and Cham Gen. 9. 24. and Chap. 10. 21. And may not we suppose that in him a new World began and that the same day he entred into the Ark for to bring forth a new World he represented the Spirit of God which in the beginning of the Creation moved upon the Waters And may we not compare the six hundredth year of Noah's age in which he entred into the Ark with the sixth day of the Creation in which Man and all Beasts were created In like manner may not Cham his youngest Son be supposed to represent Adam forasmuch as Adam in his Central Spirit in the Garden of Eden by his eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil desired through Knowledge which is a seeing of the Spirit to behold his Source and Original by which means Adam fell out of the inner into the outward and so begat Seth in his own likeness and not in the Image of God in which he was created Now Cham did the same also though in a more gross and material manner when he gazed upon his Fathers nakedness wherefore also he was cursed by his Father and made a Servant of Servants whereas his other two Brothers Japhet and Sem went backwards with a Garment upon their shoulders to cover their Fathers nakedness whereupon they obtained the Blessing as Adam likewise might have done in case he had behaved himself as they did which indeed he ought to have done in his Central Spirit viz. he should have gone backwards and wrought out the whole Creation which was created before him and of which â—he was the last viz. from the sixth day to the third which is the middle of the six days and not have gone from one extreme to the other as from the End to the Beginning viz. from Man immediately to the Trees but beginning from himself should have gone through all Beasts backwards and wrought them out one after another and glorified them in himself unto the very last of them counting backwards which are the creeping things as the first bestial Life which had their Original from the putrefaction of Herbs and Trees Is not this likewise the reason why the spiritual Serpent as being the head and chief amongst all the spiritual creeping Creatures in the spiritual World of Man did first speak in Adam 6 Q. When after the Deluge the Children of Noah who were saved in the Ark and in whom all the Souls that lived before the Deluge except Henoch alone whom the Scripture exempts and perished in it were ingrafted had now propagated and multiplied themselves until the number of their Children and Grand-children was grown very great and perceived in themselves one Mindâ— Speech and Expression but withal considering that this unity of theirs could not be lasting and constant but that in process of time they would be divided May we not suppose therefore that from an apprehension of such a Division and aâ— endeavour to prevent the same when in their
the Egyptians might be joyned and cleave to the Israelites to the end that they thereby might be able to draw the Egyptians unto them as by a magnetical power And was not this amongst other things a mean in order hereto that the Children of Israel were commanded to borrow of the Egyptians Jewels of Gold and of Silver and Raiment to the end that for the recovering of these they might be put upon pursuing after the Israelites their hearts and minds sticking fast and cleaving to the beloved Goods and Jewels the Israelites had taken from them Yea may not yet possible a greater mystery lie hid under the veil of this outward Narrative For seeing that here was designed a total and perfect ingrafting of the whole man with his three chief parts viz. Body Soul and Spirit may not we suppose that according to a mystical understanding by Gold the Spirit by Silver the Soul and by Raiment the Body of the Egyptians is signified to us viz. that all these three were to be ingrafted into the Israelites Is not this likewise hinted to us Exod. 3. 22. where God commanded the Israelitish women to borrow these things from the Egyptians without making any mention of men at all And may not we suppose this to have been the reason for that this transplantation in order to a new Birth and Life could not be accomplished but by women And is not this transplantation further intimated to us in that God expresly commanded the Israelites that they should take the Jewels and Raiment by which in a mystery was signified the Spirit Soul and Body of the Egyptians as might be easily made out which they had borrowed of the Egyptians and put them upon their Sons and Daughters because the Egyptians were 〈◊〉 enter into them and by their means be ingrafâ—ed into the Lineage of the Children of Israel And is it not clear from hence that the Sons â—nd Daughters which were afterwards be got and â—orn of the Children of Israel were even those very Egyptians which perished and were drowned 〈◊〉 the Red-Sea And that consequently the Children of Israel by bestowing them upon their Children did restore to the Egyptians what formerly 〈◊〉 had onely borrowed of them And was not Pharaoh himself the King of Egypt â—he chief means of accomplishing this great work 〈◊〉 his being hardened for which end God had raised him as himself saith to Moses Exod. 4. 21. Chap. 7. 3. Chap. 9. 16. To which also the Apostle hath an eye Rom. 9. 17. What think we also was the reason why God in order to the delivering of the Children of Israel slew all the First-Born of the Egyptians both of Men and Beasts and thereupon commanded the Children of Israel to sanctifie to him all the First-Born of Man and Beast with this express injunction that when their Children should ask of them why they did so they should give them this answer That therefore they Sanctified to the Lord every First-born both of Man and Beast because the Lord for to deliver them had slain all the First-born of the Egyptians Exod. 13. 14 15 16. What else can be the kernel of Wisdom and Mystery that lies concealed under the shell of the History but this that God would thereby signifie seeing that what he kills he makes alive again according to the Testimony of Holy Writ Deut. 32. 39. Wisd. 16. 13. Tob. 13. 2. that the First-born that were killed in Egypt were in the first place made alive again in the First-born of the Children of Israel Doth it not likewise seem probable that the transplantation of those First-born of the Egyptians was chiefly into the Tribe of Levi because God Sanctified them to himself instead of all the First-born of Israel and set them apart for the Priesthood and Temple service What may we likewise think to be the reason comporting with that Divine Wisdom which every where shines forth in Holy Writ why the Women even all the Israelitish women and particularly Miriam the Prophetess as the chief and leader of the Chorus went out with Timbrels and made the Air resound with their Voices and Instruments when they saw the dead Bodies of the drowned Egyptians lying upon the Shore of the Red-Sea and without doubt by this Spectacle were put in mind of the Gold and Silver Jewels and Raiment of theirs which they were now possessed of as likewise that according to the Divine Disposal they were the causes of their Death And may it not here be worth our enquiry whether these very thoughts of theirs might not be a mean by which the drowned Egyptians entred into the Women of Israel and so in process of time were born of them in order to their Renovation 15 Q. Forasmuch as we read Deut. 7. 22. that God commanded the Israelites not by destroy the Heathen People all at once but by degrees and time after time that the Beasts of the Field might not increase upon them c. Doth not this seem to bear this understanding viz. that because the Children of Israel did onely seed on the tame and clean Beasts whereas the Heathen did promiscuously make use of the wild Beasts of the Field for food and that in case the Heathens had been destroyed all at once the said wild Beasts would have grown too numerous wherefore the command was given to destroy them by degrees that some of them might remain to consume the Beasts of the Field May we not therefore conclude from all this that forasmuch as the said Beasts of the Field served for food and nourishment to the Heathen they by this means became ennobled into Mankind and when those Heathens that were afterwards destroyed by the Israelites they entred by Revolution into them by which means an advance and melioration was brought about First of the Beasts by their being ennobled and then of the Heathens by their being ingrafted into the Line of the Sons and Children of God and from thence still to advance further and further from one degree of exaltation and melioration to another until all at last return to unity again Thus we se that all the Israelites that came out of Egypt Caleb and Joshuah onely excepted did even in like manner perish in the Wilderness and did not enter into the Promised Land but were fain to revolve several times before they could arrive to a certain step or degree of perfection 16 Q. We read further Levit. 25. That the Land of Canaan was to be divided amongst the Children of Israel by lot according to the names of the Tribes of their Fathers and that the Law was made by God himself that the Inheritance of every Tribe was to abide with it and could not be alienated or devolve to another Upon which account also the year of Jubile was appointed 〈◊〉 which whatsoever had been alienated was to â—turn to its first owners to the end that every â—e being repossessed of the self-same Land which 〈◊〉 the first casting of Lots
again upon the earth if ever they shall say Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord Forasmuch as the Jews hitherto have never said or confessed any such thing 23 Q. Again when Matth. 14. 1. till v. 12. we read that when it was told Herod what the ever Blessed Jesus had spoken and done he presently supposed v. 2. that this Jesus was no other than John the Baptist who was risen from the Dead whom formerly he had beheaded as appears from what follows till v. 12. When we also find in the Evangelist Mark Ch. 6. 14. until 29. that he informs us there with some very express and remarkable words and circumstances concerning this matter Were it not well worth our pains once for all to inspect these and following places which hereafter shall be alledged more dilligently enquire into their meaning and more maturely to weigh and consider of them than hitherto we have done For in the foresaid place of Mark we are told at the 15. v. that not onely Herod was of that Opinion that Jesus was John the Baptist but that others said that he was Elias and others again one of the Prophets From whence we may perceive that this was a very common Opinion and taken for granted by the King as well as his Subjects And we have the same repeated by Luke Ch. 9 7 8 9. that some said that Jesus was John others Elias and others that one of the Prophets was risen from the Dead c. 24 Q. Now if any man should object that these last cited places of Scripture do not evidence or make out the Return of Humane Souls but rather the Resurrection of the Dead may we not meet him with this answer That the Return of Humane Souls was according to the Doctrine of the Jews taken in a twofold meaning to wit First when the Soul of a deceased person returns and is imbodied in a new born Child And again when a man dies and his Soul is transposed into the body of another man who at that time is alive so as the said Soul becomes as it were united with the Soul of that person which state the Jews call Ibber or a joyning and union of two Souls in one and the same body In like manner as it happens to a woman that is with Child she and her Child being so linked together that both of them make up but one body though the Souls both of Mother and Child are in the said body being as it were joyned together As it was with Eliah and Elisha of which we may read 2 Kings 2. 9. till v. 15. that the Spirit of Eliah rested upon Elisha Now these passages of Scripture now alledged out of the three Evangelists must be taken according to the second meaning or acception of this Doctrine of the Jews concerning the Return of Souls and not in the first 25 Q. Doth not likewise what is said of John the Baptist John 1. 19 20 c. agree perfectly with what was just now mentioned where the Jews being desirous to know of him who he was asked him whether he were the Christ or Elias or that Prophet as being of opinion that he was really one of the parties they had mentioned or some such like And if we compare with this place Matth. 17. 10. till v. 13. Shall we not find that our Saviour himself as well as the Scribes understood that Elias must first come Yea in the 11 12 and 13. v. our Saviour doth plainly confirm that John the Baptist was indeed Elias We may compare with this what is said Matth. 11. 7. till v. 14. as likewise Malach. 4 5 6. And will not all these places make out most clearly that John the Baptist according to the Testimony of Christ himself was really and truly Elias But in case it be objected that John the Baptist himself John 1. 21. expresly denied that he was Elias and how can this be reconciled with what our Saviour saith Matth. 17. 10 11 c. and 11. 5 6. compared with Malach. 4. 5. that John the Baptist was Elias May not this objection be met with by saying that John the Baptist answered the Jews that were sent to ask of him who he was that he was not that Elias whom they expected viz. One that was to re-establish and set up again the temporal and worldly Government of the Jews 26 Q. When yet further we take notice what was the common Opinion the Jews had of our Saviour Mat. 16. 13 14 15. viz. that he was either John the Baptist or Elias or Jeremy or one of the Prophets And we find the same likewise Mark 8. 27 28 29. Luke 9. 18 19. in which last place this is added Others say that one of the old Prophets is risen again What think we then may have been the reason why Christ asked his Disciples what the People said of him who he was Shall we suppose it was because he needed to be informed by them No surely he knew very well what the Jews said of him For as it is witnessed in the fore-mentioned place John 2. 24 25. be knew all things and needed not that any man should bear wintness of man for he knew what was in man But he was willing as on another occasion relating to Lazarus Joh. 11. 15. for their sakes to ask them these questions that by this means this Doctrine might be imprinted in their minds and consequently that it might be a perpetual memorial and remembrance for all times and people to come by being set down amongst the Testimonies of Holy Scripture As likewise that it might be a means at any time when Atheism should arise and begin to prevail upon the minds of men then to deliver and disintangle them from the snares of many confused contentions and jarrings about Gods Righteousness Love Praescience Praedestination and other glorious Attributes of God And that by this Doctrine of the Revolution of Souls they might be helped to rid themselves of the former intanglements and might come plainly to see and acknowledge the Beauty Riches and agreeing Harmony of all the Divine Attributes For we must here take notice that the Jews have always esteemed this point as an undeniable and eternal firmly established truth viz. that God at all times and in all ways and manners is perfectly Righteous and Good in all that he doth and that it never can be thought of him that in any thing he should in the least measure deal unbecomingly and that all judgements and punishments which light upon any are therefore laid upon them because they are deserved equal and becoming rewards of Sin When therefore at any time the Righteousness of God should seem to be impeach'd by our dark and ignorant reason and thoughts will it not then beseem us to take our refuge to this Doctrine and fundamental Point forasmuch as the same doth evidence to us all the glorious Attributes of God and frees them from great difficulties
the Sun or common fire in these parts for if we take clear rain-water and put it into a well closed glass and set it for a long time in the Sun or to digest in warm water it will putrifie and praecipitate and the water when distilled will yield an Oyl Thus in like manner in Holland when the Sun shines into the water the faeces are praecipitated of which Turff are made which in those parts they make use of for their common firing It is likewise observed that where fish-ponds lye exposed to the Sun that the fish in them are much greater and multiply more abundantly than in those that are shaded from it We see also in the Countrey about Boisleduc and other places besides where the Earth is not deep nor far from the Quick-sand that when it rains and the rain-water by reason of the nearness of the Quick-sand cannot sink deep in the Earth the water stands in pools and when the Sun by shining into the same doth putrifie and dry it up some brown faeces are found upon the white sand and when this hath been oftentimes repeated a sulphurous Earth is produced which burns like Brimstone In the same Countries when the Rain-water falls on a place which is not above a foot or two above the Quick-sand so as the said brown Sulphur can reach the lower water which is a Sand-making water which water containing all seeds the said Sulphur takes to it self from thence the seed of Iron and so between this Brimstone and the sand-making water Iron-oare is produced for that we see that in such places whole great plates of such Iron-oare two fingers thick have been sound under the grass In the same Countries upon the Moor called the Peel which is all Turff and nine miles over I have met with people of an hundred years of age who themselves had digged up Turff there twenty foot deep who shewed me from place to place where formerly forty fifty sixty and seventy years agone they had digged up Turff which were by degrees filled up again as before And at the bottom of these pits from whence the Turff is digged a yellow clay is found of which the Potters make their earthen ware Now from all these instances we may undeniably conclude that the living and vivifying heat of the Sun is in it self a true Spiritual Essence and that out of the same as from their Universal Father all real tangible bodies are produced And forasmuch as we see that by means of the swift motion of a little common fire so vast a quantity of combustible matter is reduced into a Spiritual Being as into Fire or Heat and also that afterwards as but now was mentioned this invisible Being is brought to a Body again it is well worth our consideration what a vast quantity of Matter and Corporeal substance the Sun who as the Father source and original of all fire doth by the Central effusion of his Rayes feed and maintain all comprehensible tangible Beings of this world whether they be above or below doth daily and without ceasing produce and work out or give forth from himself as shall be more amply evidenced in what follows when of all the several parts we shall have made a whole and shewed how all and every comprehensible Body works together in order to one only Being 13 Q. It is before mentioned that the Light or Heat of the Sun which was called the Light of the day is the Male or Father of all comprehensible Beings and so consequently must be a true Spiritual Being in it self now the Query is how we are to understand that the Cooling and refrigerating power of the Moon which is the Night light and the Stars is the Mother of all comprehensible Beings and likewise in it self a true Spiritual Being R. We have before said that the Sun as the Father generates and produceth an essential Birth in the water forasmuch as in the same the Heat of the Sun becomes corporified from whence afterwards Stones Metals Trees Herbs and Animals are brought forth Now it is notorious that no Birth can be produced without the Union of Father and Mother Now then if Father and Mother must be united that so from their union a Birth as a third thing may be accordingly brought forth it is necessary that they viz. the Male or Father and the Female or Mother must be of kin and symbolize with each other forasmuch as the Birth which proceeds from them both must be compleatly and in all its parts partaker of both their Natures and Essences without which it cannot be a true and perfect Birth Now this Union of Father and Mother in order to a Birth can by no means be performed in and according to the body as Body yet not for the reason which our Modern Philosophers assigne who suppose that all bodies as such and in themselves are devoid of all life and can never be made partakers of the same but in and according to the Spirit of which the body is made and doth consist and into which after it hath attained its perfection it must with improvement and advance be again reduced For a Body when considered and looked upon as a dead and wholly lifeless thing and as being an Aggregate onely of corporeal parts put together corporeally may touch another Body but cannot be united with it though its parts were brought to the utmost smalness imaginable for that Union is to be performed in unity and indivisibility that is to say in spirituality and indefinitness which hath made the Body and cannot be attributed to a Body as a Body To which we may superadde this that no Union can be performed unless that the things to be united do through and through penetrate or pierce one another Now it is notorious that sensible and comprehensible Bodies cannot so intimately pervade and pierce one another but can onely outwardly touch and be contiguous It follows therefore that all Union is to be performed in and according to the Spirit and by no means in and according to the Body as being that which is not susceptive of inward and penetrating Union except it be first reduced to a kind of spiritual body And such a spiritual and not corporeal Being must we suppose the coolness of the Moon to be by means of the spiritual coalition and commixture of which with the spiritual warmth of the Sun all comprehensible Beings are produced and in due time again reduced into Spirit 14 Q. How is this Union of Father and Mother the Sun and Moon performed and how is the said Birth brought forth by and from them R. A Birth cannot be without a preceding Impregnation neither can this Impregnation be without two viz. Father and Mother For according to the common and usual course of Nature the Father cannot impregnate himself nor the Mother her self neither can the Mother impregnate the Father so then it onely remains that the Father must impregnate the Mother
Now if this Impregnation is to be performed which is nothing else but the spiritual Union of both their spiritual Natures and Essences in order to the birth of a third Being or Body which resembleth them they the Parents must needs according to Nature be of the same specifical nature or of kin and symbolize together so as the Father must be partaker of the Mother's and the Mother of the Father's nature Now forasmuch as naturally they are of kin and both of them work together in one in order to the bringing forth of one onely third Being it must needs follow that before the said Impregnation they both proceeded from the same Unity and were once united together and that this Union of both was in the man as he that hath the pre-eminence above his Wife and doth not come from the woman but the woman from the man as shall be shewn hereafter when we shall in particular treat of Man From whence then it is evident that the Mother the Moon must of necessity lie hid in the Father the Sun and be one with the same and that in a far more high and noble degree than she is in her self viz. according to the nature and property of the Father viz. the Sun Forasmuch then as we may suppose it evident from what hath been said that the Sun impregnates the Moon and that he dwells in her and not that the Moon impregnates the Sun or that she should dwell in him Neither can it in like manner be demonstrated that as the Sun which is a Fire and the Day-light becomes corporified in the Water which is an out-working and out-birth of the Night-light viz. the Moon and Stars so the Moon and Stars cannot become corporeal in the Sun which if it were so would cause a great confusion in Nature 15 Q. What kind of Essence or Being is that which the Night-lights the Moon and Stars after that they are impregnated by the Sun their Male do work out and bring forth R. The Night-light viz. the Moon and Stars do by day with great desire and longing draw in for their life increase and melioration the Sun as the Day-light Now every Star as well as the Moon have each of them their own distinct substantial Life Essence and Nature and every one of them draws in the power of the Sun according to the kind and property of their own Essence and in it self changeth the same into its own property and afterward by night gives forth again in part this attracted virtue of the Sun together with some part of its own Essence viz. the Night And thus the out-birth or working and efflux of the Stars downwards into the Moon as the Center of the Night-light happens according to the kind and property of the distinct Essence of each Star And in this manner the universal distinct efflux or out-birth of all and every Star becomes concentred in the Moon into an upper aethereal water which in comparison of the lower and grosser is a spiritual water which also is cool and more subtile than that in and upon which the Birds flie viz. the Air even as the Fish swim in the lower grosser waters which last water is made or produced under the Quick-sand in the Center of the Earth concerning which we shall speak more when we come to treat of a Vacuum improperly so called This foresaid living essential virtue of all and every Star which at first proceeded from the Sun in the which they in and with the Moon as an Army under their General were all hid as their Seed which was sowed above in the Heavens these virtues of the Stars I say after that by their entring into the Moon they are united and concentred in the same as the universal Night-light do work and bring forth out off or from themselves by means of an universal co-operation of all and every one these lower waters which forasmuch as they be the universal common effect and outworking of all and every Star it follows that every part of the same even the very least and most imperceptible drop must comprehend and contain in it self the innumerable multiplicity of powers essences and out-births of all and every Star that is of all together and each in particular all which are comprehended together in one onely indivisible Being which is the very body and essential out-birth of the Stars who therein have conjoyned themselves into a body And as the outward water is produced out of the universal Night-light viz. the cooling refrigerating virtue which is a spiritual Essence so can likewise this coolness as being the Spirit of this water-body pierce through the said water and all bodies proceeding from the same nourish support and work in them altogether in the same manner as the heat of the Sun goes through all Bodies From hence therefore we may plainly see and acknowledge that as the Out-birth of the Sun in these lower waters as before-mentioned is an Oyl Balsome and sulphurous Essence into which the heat or light of the Sun is changed in the water so likewise the Out-working or Out-birth of the Moon and Stars is this lower and material water which is without form and therefore susceptive of all as being the Mother of all sublunary Creatures that are produced from the spiritual Union of all Stars and the Moon and that the coolness of the Night-lights is as well a true spiritual Being from whence all sublunary Creatures do in part receive their support and nourishment as the heat of the Sun 16 Q. According to what hath been said hitherto doth it not appear as if in the Out-working as well of the Sun when he brings forth out of himself the Moon and Stars as well as of the Moon and Stars in their producing the lower material water all and every part of the Out-birth as the circumference did perfectly contain in it self the whole and the center which at this rate seems to run out into a kind of infinity R. It is so indeed and may be clearly enough demonstrated by an example from Quicksilver which is like a Looking-glass being a round or globular metalline water If we take a quantity of this Mercury and lay it in some place under the open Heaven we can see the whole Horizon with all its parts or objects very plainly represented in the same and when this Mercury is reduced into sublimate and by means of sublimation divided into an innumerable multiplicity of little globular bodies which by reason of their smalness must be distinguished by a Microscope we shall find that the whole Horizon as was said before will appear in every one of them altogether in the same manner as they appeared in the said greater quantity of Quicksilver And in case the said division should be yet further carried on into more minute parts than these of the sublimate yet the same Phaenomena would still appear in them also 17 Q. From what hath been said it is
the body of the Great World Now the Spirit of the Great World it dwells and rules in this Stone when now this Stone dies or consumes it doth not therefore go to nothing but by the means of a new birth and multifarious changes the same is reduced to a sort of Earth and that Earth in which the said Spirit is still working on towards perfection when it dies also it brings forth by means of another new birth divers Herbs Trees and creeping Things which when they are fed upon by Animals or to speak more particularly by man for his sustenance they are by means of the digestion performed in his stomach in which his vital specifick powers doth over-rule and operate transmuted into his Essence even into his Flesh and Bloud And all these changes are superintended and governed by the same Spirit which by means of those vicissitudes and alterations doth advance and carry on its own multiplication and glorification And this Dominion and Rule which the universal Spirit of the World hath as a Mother over the Creatures as over her Children doth continue so long in every Creature as the same like a member or part of this World is fastened to and united with it as a Child to its Mother whilst yet in the Womb but when it is born out of the Mother and hath attained to its perfection so as to be able to rule it self then it begins to work for it self and doth not stand in need to be ruled by its Mother for itself is now become that what the Mother was before And this is the joy and glory of the Mother that she now sees her self living in her Child 20 Q. Since then there is in manner as hath been said a never-ceasing Revolution of whole Nature as if it were a living Clock-work bounded within a certain beginning and end in which the whole Age of the World consists and wherein the same must work out it self until its total perfection and Sabbath this Query seems to be necessary in this place viz. Whether there be not a sure way by which we may come to know and understand the true and right order of this Clock-work even the end and beginning of the same and that from the present point of time wherein we live And whether there can be any other way than the course and revolution of the Sun Moon and Stars which were created in the midst of the seven days of the Creation viz. on the fourth day R. Yea verily the Creator of this beautiful World who is the Master of this Clock-work hath pointed us to and given us such a way by means of which we may know when this Clock-work will have accomplished its Period or when this World which comprehends in it self all the Wheels of this Clock-work will have wholly wrought out it self to its own perfection in one onely harmony as well above as below in order to the attaining of her proper exaltation and glorification Now this way is to be considered in a twofold manner First in Man the Microcosm for seeing he is a Member or rather the very Center of the Great World in whom all the parts of it concurre and meet together it is not at all to be doubted but that if man could dive so deep into himself he would no less perceive and understand the same than heretofore some few holy men have found and perceived it But because this way at present is unknown to the greatest part of men in as much as they are too far fallen into the outward obscurity of this World and are become lost therein therefore the Creator doth likewise set it continually before man in the Macrocosm that by the outward beholding thereof he might be stirr'd up to enter into himself for to find and know that which is no less in the Microcosm than in the Macrocosm 21 Q. Seeing then that this forementioned knowledge of the great Clock-work of this World must be gathered from the course of the Sun Moon and Stars and that the total Period of the Age of this World is far greater than that it can be measured by the course of the Sun and Moon alone forasmuch as the Sun partly compleats his course in one day through the twelve hours of it according to what our Saviour saith John 11. 9. Are there not twelve hours in the day and partly also in a year through the twelve Signes of the Zodiack And as for the Moon she finisheth her course in a month or twenty eight days accordingly as we find by experience that by virtue of this circumvolution of the Moon with sound and understanding people the same working thoughts which they have had before but not wholly wrought them out do return upon them at the same time when the Moon comes to that point in her Revolution where she was when they had them before But it is not so perceived with Fools and Lunaticks inasmuch as they are so inamour'd of the Image once born in them out of the lunar waters that they will not easily let it go again and in freedom or unconcernedly work it out wherefore also they are by means of the said Image subjected to the dominion of the Moon whereas otherwise they ought and might rule over their Moon and its Image Is it not therefore necessary that the whole period of the Age of this World should be reckoned and measured by a greater Clock-work consisting of greater wheels and which make a longer motion or circumvolution and forasmuch as there is no other remaining but the course and circumvolution of the other Planets must not they make far greater hours days and years than the Sun and Moon do R. Yes certainly for according to the common received Opinion of Astronomers the Circles of the other Planets viz. Saturn Jupiter Mars Venus and Mercury are so great that some of the highest of them take up several common years in pâ—â—forming one of their Revolutions Now the right circumvolution of these by which the whole Age of the World may be defined determined reckoned and measured as being commensurate to its total duration is this when the Planets all in general and every one of them in particular hath so finished his Course as that after he hath perfectly wrought out his whole circumference he returns again to the self-same point in which he stood at his creation and from whence he at first set out so as all the Planets in this state and at this juncture of time become perfectly united together after that every one of them by means of his foregoing conjunctions with them all hath wrought out a total perfect World according to his measure and is made partaker of the Essences of all the rest 22 Q. In how long time is this perfect Circumvolution and Out-birth of all and every Planet accomplished And how many Revolutions must they perform before their finishing of this universal Revolution when all of them shall be united together
Soulish body of him who receives it And because these out-going Spiritual Ideal Beings are not meer Spirits but Spiritual Bodies and bodily Spirits as being born of the whole man who consists of the Soulish Body and Spirit and that all these Spirits have their original out of and from the Central Spirit of man viz. out of the Heart and are sent abroad as his Messengers Must not therefore these Messengers perform that which they were duely sent about and go thither whether the contral Spirit or will of man designs and aims them and in like manner return by revolution to man again And must not therefore the works of man follow him which he hath done in his life-time whether they be good or evil especially seeing as was mentioned before that new Spiritual Bodies go forth continually from man which belong to him and contribute to the whole man for to make out his full measure until that member which he supplies in Adam or Christ do attain to that perfection which sutes with such a Head that so a perfect member may be joyned to a perfect Body and a perfect Body united to a perfect Head Must not also finally those Spirits as a great and well ordered Army under their Captain General or Adonai Zebaoth and every least Atome after they have wrought out their revolution return to man again and unite themselves with his Central Spirit and so all these Spirits being united with the Central Spirit make up the whole man 6 Q. When now a man hath lived long we may consider how many of these Spiritual Bodies must needs have flown forth from him during the time of his life seeing that as hath been elsewhere hinted every three Months the whole man is totally renewed in all his parts all which parts or spiritual Bodies which flow forth in the time of these three months belong to the Regiment of that whole Body which in the said three months hath been renewed And when farthermore as follows from what hath been said out of every part of man such a total Ideal man goes forth and yet these altogether make up but one man though there be a very great difference between them so as some are in the state of Children some of Youths and others of Manhood and these again either good or bad the question therefore is whether they always continue in these states of imperfection or whether or no there be a way whereby they may be advanced to their perfection and so become right perfect men to the end that every one of them for himself may become a perfect member in the perfect body of Christ. And seeing that Christ himself in this world was to be perfected by suffering Heb. 2. 10. whether there be any other way to perfect these Spiritual Bodies than by suffering in this world since no renovation can be brought about without dying and that all dying is suffering In like manner whether it doth not follow from hence that they must so oft perform their Revolutions in this world until they attain to their due perfection 7 Q. Forasmuch then as every man in manner as is shewed before doth send forth this Spiritual Ideal Image of himself as a Spiritual Body or bodily Spirit from himself into another man or thing which he lays hold of with any of his senses and at the same time receives a like Image flowing forth from the person or any other thing he hath laid hold off so that every one is in a state of uncessant giving forth and receiving in again forasmuch as he continually gives forth his own Image and again takes in and receives the image of every object And seeing moreover that this out flowing Idea is taken in by the receiving party with great lust and desire as if it were drawn in by a Magnet so that he becomes enamoured of the Beauty of the said Image which takes so much the deeper root in him and becomes more powerful and operative in him by how much the more he loves the same so that his Central Spirit doth image himself with it how can then this fore-mentioned giving out and receiving when it happens in due likeness and equality be any thing else but love it self in such a degree as the Reception is Now as the senses of man through which this Image or Spiritual Body and out going Spiritual feed is conveyed into man cannot be separated from Man will it not follow from hence that the received Image cannot be taken away from Man before it be duely wrought out according to the property of the fore-going reception or conception Of which we have an example in Thaman Gen. 38. according to the Female property how that after the death of her two Husbands Er and Onan who were Brethren Judah the Father of her Husbands was to raise up and excite in her the seed of his departed Sons and so bring forth the seed which remained in her of her two Husbands and was not yet wrought out Which likewise may be supposed to be the reason why God expresly commanded that a Brother should raise up the Seed of his departed Brother Deut. 25. 5. 8 Q. Seeing also that this Doctrine viz. that such a spiritual Seed without ceasing goes out and in from every man is represented to us by out blessed Saviour much more clearly and expresly in several places of the New Testament but especially Mat. 5. 28. where he faith Whosoever looks upon a woman to lust after her bath committed adultery wit hs hers already in his heart the Query is then Whether or no there be any Doctrine besides this whereby all difficulties may be removed which not without ground are moved by the objecting Jews viz. how we can make out that our blessed Saviour Jesus was the right true and natural Son of David and consequently the true Messiah promised by God For that the Messiah was to be the Son of David is questioned neither by Jews nor Christians But now it is evident from Luke 1. 5. 36. that Mary of whom Christ was born was of the Tribe of Levi that so the Messiah might at once be both King and Priest viz. a King by his Father's and a Priest by his Mother's side Now in this case a satisfactory and unanswerable solution of this difficulty cannot be found out by which it may appear without the least injury to the pure and perfect virginity of Mary that our blessed Saviour was also a Son of Joseph who was of the House of David how shall we ever be able to make out that our Saviour was a true Son of David and consequently the true Messiah Besides how shall we else be able with wisdom and exactness to make up the number of the fourteen Generations mentioned Mat. 1. seeing that otherwise we shall find onely thirteen Generations from the Captivity of Babylon to Christ Moreover by what other way can we make out the reason why our Saviour in the
New Testament is so often called the Son of Joseph for Joseph and Mary being promised and betrothed to each other became by this means united in spirit so that this Image and David's spiritual Seed of promise entred into her and hers again into him and became united together and being united were wrought out by the Holy Ghost According to which Position we see clearly that Christ was really a Son of Joseph viz. of the spiritual Joseph or spiritual multiplication increase or propagation seeing that in Joseph the total fulness of the promised Seed of Abraham and David were concentred CHAP. II. Concerning the Spiritual and Bodily Conception and Birth of Man 1 Q. SEeing that every man can know by himself and certainly acknowledge that all Images which enter into him through the Senses do retain the same bigness and measure of the original whose Image is received may not we apprehend from hence that the central Spirit of man being the Image of God with which these Images are united doth want no room or matter to receive them in and work them out in time And seeing that no Image enters into this central Spirit but for this end that in the same it may be wrought out and perfected must it not follow therefore that the more of these good Images are wrought out in the central Spirit of man the more perfect such a man must be 2 Q. Moreover when the central Spirit of man which dwells in the heart as a Center between the two extremities of his out-flowing and receiving faculty both which tend and are in order to Union viz. as well in the upper extremity the Brain as in the lower parts which is demonstrable by Anatomy If the said Spirit I say shall both receive and work out to perfection these spiritual Images and we know that one thing alone can perform no operation because wheresoever shall be any working there must necessarily be one that works and one that receives and so the thing working must contain both natures will it not follow then that the central Spirit of man which is both male and female in union together hath room enough in his inward spiritual World to range in himself every one of the received Images in the place which is alike and proper for it and to give them their proper and peculiar food suiting with their several Natures and Beings by which the said spiritual Image may maintain its Being and attain to its Perfection Forasmuch as by means of this food it becomes united with the central Spirit and in order to its further perfection becomes the properiety of the said Spirit forasmuch as it cannot return to nothing May not we therefore conclude from hence that the central Spirit in man in its male and female propriety is able to work out in himself perfectly all the Images of created things and that in the same there is no distinction of male and female but that they both inasmuch as respects the central Spirit and his receiving of the spiritual Images are alike and perfect 3 Q. Forasmuch as the spiritual Conception happens and is compleated inwardly as hid in two distinct persons and spiritually in the central Spirit which wells in the heart and hath its out-working in the Brain and the lower parts of our body and that nothing that is to be known in this outward World is known onely in Spirit but must manifest it self in a Body must not then the forementioned spiritual Conception and Birth also become bodily to the end that likewise a corporal and fleshly Conception and Birth may follow wherein the foregoing spiritual Conception may appear and be manifested And seeing that the spiritual shews it self and dwells in the corporeal must not they both therefore needs be of near kin to one another 4 Q. Seeing then that the spiritual Conception and Birth must become bodily and that no bodily fleshly Conception and Birth can naturally be compleated without a male and female must not therefore a union of Man and Wife precede because without a foregoing Conception and Union no Birth can be brought forth Now how can such a Conception and Union of both be made out otherwise than thus that Man and Wife before they are contracted must have been pleased with taken delight in and loved one another And must not this Love ordinarily stand in a constant growth because every right Union must proceed from a stedfast Love And doth not the Love which a man bears to his Wife cause him to have the Image of his Wife continually standing before him with her face turned towards his even face to face In like manner the Love which the Wife bears to her Husband doth it not cause her to have the Image of her Husband within her standing before her which she more and more unites to her self the said Image having its face likewise turned towards her even face to face But forasmuch as no Union can be of two things which in all their parts are strange to one another and between which there is no interceding relation or affinity as was hinted before when we spake of the Sun Moon and Stars will it not follow that a man hath the woman in a hidden manner and as it were asleep in himself and so likewise a woman the man insomuch that the one is truly in a spiritual manner partaker of the other and this in order to the bringing forth a common first spiritual and afterwards a bodily comprehensible Birth And doth not all this notwithstanding the strangeness of it at first sight very well agree with the Doctrine of the ancient wise men both amongst the Jews and Heathens who with one voice witness this And likewise with the Holy Writ it self which with its high authority confirms the same Gen. 1. 27. where speaking concerning the Creation of Man Moses expresly declares that God created man male and female As also Mat. 19. 4. where our Saviour himself doth further confirm the same 5 Q. When now Man and Wife have taken in and received each others Image are they satisfied with this alone that they have received into themselves each others Image spiritually and retain the same or rather have they not each of them an uncessant longing and desire to restore the Image they have taken in to the party from whom they received it to the end that one Image being united with the other they may by this Union be brought to a corporeal visible and comprehensible Being When therefore such a longing desire possesseth the whole Humanity both of Man and Wife so that every part and member of both none excepted press to the union of both Images and the bodily manifestation of them as to a bodily likeness of themselves is it then possible for either Man or Wife any longer to keep in themselves the received Image seeing that it must now be wrought out and brought to perfection 6 Q. And forasmuch as the female Image
out of bondage and convoy them home again to their Wives and Children and after that he having made them meet together in one place should make a Speech or Discourse to them full of the greatest love and friendliness can we imagine that these redeemed Slaves their Wives and Children would ever be able to forget this mans countenance words or works Or may not we much rather suppose that they would from time to time relate all this to their Children and Grand-children that so the remembrance of this their Redeemer might abide stedfast and fixed in all their Posterity Moreover may it not probably be supposed that some of these women one more another less would become so far possessed of the Idea of this their Redeemer as even to bring forth Children which might resemble be like him and have as it were his perfect shape and form just as we have had many such examples of women who have through liking and love strongly imprinted on themselves the Image of other men or women and being impregnated have brought forth Children which have very much resembled those whose Image they had imprinted in themselves insomuch as others though strangers could observe and take notice that the Children greatly resembled such and such persons 38 Q. Now that not onely the words of man but also his operative thoughts before they are yet brought forth into word or work have a Being is not to be doubted of seeing that it is witnessed by our Saviour himself Mat. 5. 28. when he saith Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery already with her in his heart And do not we in like manner experience daily in many that are united together by a strong and vehement love that when they are absent from one another yet not withstanding they are made partakers of each others thoughts and dreams by day and night and that also when they are present they can understand one another without speaking and be able to answer before the other hath spoke out his meaning or expressed his thoughts The same on the contrary is likewise found in those who fall into great Anger Envy Jealousie c. against each other of which many examples might be here alledged but are on purpose as being but too notorious omitted Must not now this knowledge which one man hath of the thoughts of another be caused and wrought by a continual influx as well as eâ—flux of Spirits which are the good or bad Angels of Man Seeing that these Spirits without being bound to time or place do penetrate and pass through all bodies Even as we see that when a man fights in a Fencing-School that according to the bent and intention of his mind all his members at once in one moment become operative and move themselves Now like as the Spirit of a man in his body doth thus operate and man cannot be separated from the Greater World as being united to the same both in his Spirit and his Body shall not we suppose then that by means of this union and sympathy arising from thence man is able to work in all parts of the said Macrocosm which are in harmony with him As we may partly gather by a similitude from without viz. that when two Lutes are alike tuned if we touch the strings of the one the corresponding strings in the other will give forth a like fund 39. Q. Upon this occasion we may enquire concerning the living Word and Wisdom that are hid in the deep and abstruse Parables which every-where occur in Scripture whether the reason why the same seem to be dead to many who read the Scripture be not this as the Jews say by way of similitude that the case here is the same as when a beautiful lovely and virtuous Virgin dwells in a certain house and of whom some young man becomes enamoured who knowing that this Virgin doth oft open a certain window of that house and shews her self thereat to the doing of which he often secretly draws her by his strong love whereas others on the contrary who know nothing of this Virgin nor have any love for her they find the said window always shut so that though they look never so often yet they onely see the window but do never see the Virgin And in like manner the inward mystery of the Parables in Scripture continues hid and concealed from the unwise as who gaze onely upon the dead Letters 40 Q. Seeing then that this is so is there no Key to be found wherewith the Mysteries of Scripture might be opened And forasmuch as the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and that it cannot be translated into another Language so as to retain its own proper force and energy may not we therefore suppose that in the Hebrew Language as we consider the same to be a living Language this Key is to be found especially since we see that there is no radical word in the said Language very few excepted that consists of more than three Consonants as of a Beginning Middle and End and that they are all writ without Vowels when especially the said Language is rightly and truly writ by the Wise and that for this reason that they might be read and understood so as to afford a variety of Wisdom and diversity of Signification yet all agreeing and harmonizing together the like to which cannot be found in any other Speech whatsoever And they who thus read the Hebrew without Vowels are necessitated to read the same with understanding and attention and cannot heedlesly run over it as is common in other Languages Must it not follow then from hence that the perfection of this Speech and the wisdom which is contained in it doth chiefly consist in this that the most part of the radical words very few excepted are made up onely of three Consonants whereas in other Languages there is great confusion by reason of the many Letters and Syllables of which their words do consist and we know that wisdom is not to be found in confusion but in order Concerning this see Alphabetum Naturae pag. 94 95 c. V. Concerning the Sense of Feeling in Man Also concerning the Brain and the Pith of the Back-bone commonly called by Anatomists the Spinal Marrow 41 Q. That there is as it were a Seed in the Brain of man and that the said Seed must be generated there is it not apparent from the three parts of which the Brain consisteth two of which are in the fore-part of the Head the other behind all which unite together and generate one Spirit or Seed which they afterwards conveigh by the Nerves to the other Senses and Members of the Body For if in case the Brain were but one onely thing would it not then follow from thence that either a man must understand nothing at all inasmuch as there would be no Worker nor Receiver or else that he would understand all things in unity and perfection which
Dutch Tongue is called wild flesh for that the same is not natural but a Disease and is like an Excrecence growing on a Tree of which several reasons may be given which for brevities sake are here omitted May not we therefore conclude that the foresaid nervous capillary Filaments of which the Skin is woven together are not there in vain but that they serve for motion dilatation and contraction 65 Q. Moreover seeing that the foresaid nervous Skin is covered with a thin and smooth upper Skin full of little Pores or Sweat-holes and small Hairs through which all the spiritual Powers of the whole man especially in his Face which is an Epitome of and represents the whole man do continually flow out from and enter and that in the appearance of Light as we do see in some persons that a light fire or shining glance doth continually proceed from their Faces and Skins and that when in the dark we rub their Skin with a piece of Cloath the said Cloath will appear full of light-shining flames in like manner as hath been mentioned before concerning the Hair of the Head Moreover experience teacheth that in great and dangerous Diseases the said upper Skin doth peel off and the Hair of the Head falls which is worth our observation as hath partly been mentioned though we find also that in other Accidents yea without any during the whole life of man the said upper Skin doth continually wear away and is renewed again in order to the continuation of mans life insomuch as the whole man in all his parts not so much as the Nails of his Feet and Hands or Flesh excepted is continually renewed which we may perceive by setting a mark at the root of our Nails for we shall find that in the time of three months the same will be grown up to the top of them The same is likewise demonstrable from hence that when a man by sickness hath lost the greatest part of his flesh he recovers the same again in three months accounting from the time he begins to recover Yea the very Bones of man from which the Flesh hath its original are not exempt from this Renovation for don 't we see that out of living broken Bones a moisture proceeds by means of which they are conglutinated again Now how can we conceive that this could ever be brought about without a continual Renovation and alteration of the Bones and their moisture The Seed of man likewise which contains in it and comprehends the whole man in all his parts the Bones as well as the Flesh doth evidence this for we see that a Child that is generated of the said Seed doth not onely resemble his Father in shape and flesh but also in his bones from which the flesh is produced And also because the Spirit of man doth properly dwell in the Bones which probably was the reason why Joseph commanded the Children of Israel to take his bones along with them out of Egypt viz. that his Spirit might go long with them which Spirit is that which forms the Body seeing it is impossible that a Body as such should bring forth a Spirit but the Spirit must bring forth the Body which Spirit therefore may be supposed to be that Rib of which Eve was built And may not we from all this conclude that the Bones must be renewed as well as the other parts of mans Body forasmuch as all proceeds from one and the same Spirit And doth it not follow from all this that the whole man according to all his parts not the meanest or least point excepted must be subject to a continual and never-ceasing Revolution 66 Q. This continual Revolution of Man is not onely to be gathered from the Sickness and Health of man according to what before hath been mentioned concerning his never-ceasing giving out and taking in but may likewise be inferr'd from other accidents happening to persons that are in perfect health amongst which the following instance will I suppose not be unacceptable to the Reader A known Friend was on a time carried a Prisoner out of Germany towards Rome to be laid up in the Inquisition there and passing through many great Cities and places in Italy in all which the Streets and Houses Doors and Windows were filled with People that flock'd to see him because the report was that he was to be burnt at Rome Forasmuch then as upon this account all eyes were fixed upon him as being desirous to eye him earnestly and to have a full view of him and he on the other side had as great desire to look upon them as being free and unconcern'd in his mind so as their imaginative sight could gain no entrance into him or be received by him and consequently all the central Aspects which they cast upon him were fain to concenter elsewhere and so made up a kind of shadowy Person or Image which sate with his back towards him insomuch that he could not imagine that the People gazed upon him but upon the Person that sate before him at which he was much surprized because he did not then apprehend the reason of it For further confirmation of this another person that was a Preacher once propounded this Query to the fore-mentioned party whence it was that many times as he was preaching he had seen a person in his own shape and likeness standing before him who as he thought preached instead of him forasmuch as when his Sermon was ended he found himself as fresh and lively as he was before he had begun to preach The fore-mentioned party hereupon related to the Preacher the fore-going accident which had hapned to himself which as he was doing these following thoughts opened in him viz. whether this might not be the reason of what the Preacher had related to him that forasmuch as his words were at that time received by his Hearers and taken root in them he again received back from them the strength or power he had given forth and thus seeing his Hearers continually received his image and word with delight and satisfaction and gave forth the same again to him himself all this while continuing free and unconcerned that from all this it could not be otherwise but that he must see the back of his image which his Hearers had made or fram'd before him XII Concerning the Stomack of Man 67 Q. Forasmuch as the Body of Man according to the testimony of Scripture is and should be the Temple of God 2 Cor. 3. 13. and Chap. 6. 19. 2. Cor. 6. 16. And that in the Temple at Jerusalem there was an Altar of Burnt-offering upon which many Beasts c. was offered and seeing that all the meat a man feeds upon enters into the stomack might not the stomack be compared with the said Altar And might it not properly be called an Altar in the Temple of God on which all right and well ordered food for the life of man is to be offered up For
sight yet are ready to fall into a swound And is it not plain from hence what a great and hidden power man hath in himself which when excited can distinguish and discern the Spirits that come from Bodies which are concealed from them 72 Q. Seeing that Man as the Little World hath everywhere in himself several fiery Solar and also cool Lunar Spirits the union of both which is the cause of a good order and health but when the said Spirits by means of any excess are disordered will not that be the best way of pacifying them which is done without the least weakning of Nature And must not a good experienced Physician be like an understanding Master of a Ship who well weighs and considers the condition his Ship is in and the circumstances of the Storm and look to himself and have a care that he doth not do as an unexperienced Master of a Ship who not onely casts over board what is an overpoise to the Ship but together with it the necessary Provisions of Life and so afterwards for want of the same must perish together with his Ships Company 73 Q. When therefore an experienced Ship-Master who hath weathered many Storms and hath seen many Ships lost sees a Storm arising he is not at all affrighted or dismayed thereat but keeps all things in good order as knowing that God is the Governour of Nature and doth all things in number weight and measure and that Storms themselves are not without their use and profit And ought not likewise an understanding man to consider that Sickness and Diseases prepare men for Patience and Virtues In like manner as a Ship-Master is not against the Wind because he knows the Wind to be advantageous to him as furthering his Voyage and ought not a Physician as well to understand the same When by means of disorderly Heats and Colds the wind in man is at any time raised that the same must be laid and stilled again and that he must wait the time when As our Saviour did in curing Peter's Wives Mother where he did not proceed as when he cast out Devils but onely in the same way and manner as when he rebuked and stilled the raging Waves of the Sea Furthermore like as a Ship-Master when he is at Sea and hath a good Wind though not very strong and violent is satisfied therewith Ought not so likewise a man to consider who finds no Wind in himself that the Wind is there though he doth not perceive it forasmuch as the Wind is his Life but that a sensible perception of it is no more needful to him than a strong and stormy Wind is necessary to a Ship-Master to advance his Voyage And forasmuch as some persons-when they perceive a Wind in themselves are ignorant that it is onely some disorder of their life and that the Wind it self is good for them and their very life yet afterwards when they have learnt by experience that the Wind Heat and Cold are not hurtful to their Life but rather useful and profitable can we suppose that ever after they will be against the same and not rather love it as the Mother loves her sick Child And may not this be accounted the first and best step towards Recovery And when such a ground or foundation as this is laid in those that are right Patients will not then first the outward Medicaments be received and rightly applied by Nature Furthermore that the Wind as was now mentioned doth work in stilness in Man without being perceived can we not infer this from the dissection of Excrements viz. that a Wind is made in the Guts which by degrees thrusts forth the said Excrements CHAP. IV. Concerning the Revolution of Humane Souls 1 Q. FOrasmuch as we are informed from Scripture as well as Nature that God is a God of Order who hath created every thing in its certain and determinate number measure and weight to the end that by a never-ceasing Revolution it might be still renewed until it grow up to its full age maturity and perfection in all the Macrocosm or great World from above from the Sun Moon and Stars and thence down even to the Center of the Earth and then again to move and rise up from a state beneath to one above And seeing that man is made out of the Great World and is the Beginning and End of the same and continues as it were bound and fastened thereunto as long as he is in this life and will it not follow then that in like manner there must be a continual Revolution in the whole Man as well as there is in the Greater World Might not we also by this means be able from Nature it self to answer and satisfie Jews Heathens and Turks in Asia Africk and Europe who are wont to produce weighty grounds in relation to this matter in hand viz. the Revolution of Humane Souls For seeing that our Christian Religion as it is the best so must be the wisest of all others in order to convince Gainsayers and lead them to the perfect Truth the Query is how we may be able to satisfie these People when in confirmation of this their Opinion they produce these following instances and proofs out of the Old and New Testament of our own Bible which we will set down here and illustrate as briefly as may be 2 Q. Forasmuch as we find in the Old and New Testament that the first of all the divine Commands is this Hear O Israel the Lord 〈◊〉 God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord 〈◊〉 God with all thy heart with all thy soul and with 〈◊〉 thy might Mat. 22. 37. Mark 12. 30 33. Luke 10 27. Deut. 6. 4 5. and cb 10. 12. Now how can any one love God when he doth not know him And how can he know him otherwise than by 〈◊〉 Attributes and Properties which amongst others are these That he is a Creator of Heaven and Earth and of all created Beings Moreover 〈◊〉 Unchangeableness Goodness Love Wisdom Justice and Perfection which are incontestable and unchangeable and must be allowed him without the least question Now which way can we reconcile with these Attributes of God that he wh◠is a wise and perfect Creator who hath created a things in so wise an order that they might all at last be able to attain their full and ultimate perfection should have created such imperfect Creatures as Fools and Naturals Abortives and Monsters and all those wicked and barbarous men we find in the World which kill and afterwards feed on one another c Now to suppose that all these must continue in this their state of imperfection would not this run directly contrary to the forementioned Attributes But how can this be that God should work and act contrary to his own nature and himself And is there any other way to be found whereby such imperfect Creatures should arrive at perfection besides that very same which the New Testament points
Is it not therefore more rational for us to conceive that the Soul of a Child prae-exists in its Parents and takes its original from them and they being sinners do intangle their children in their sin by which means they get a share in their guilt and punishment And may not we in this way often be informed of the sin by the punishment and learn the sins of Parents and Forefathers by the punishments inflicted on their Children As if we should suppose a wild Apple-tree that hath two main boughs should have one of them cut off and that a twig taken from the same should be grafted upon the stump from whence the bough was cut off this ingrafted twig now brings forth good fruit and the oftner it is grafted the better because each grafting being a suffering or dying doth advance it to a better Life whereas on the contrary the branches of the other bough continue as they were because being without suffering or dying it cannot be advanced to a new Life And may not we with truth infer that for this very reason that passage of Gods visiting the Parents upon the Children unto the third and fourth generation was inserted into the second Commandment 19 Q. If any one here should object that forasmuch as the punishment of sin continues onely to the third and fourth Generation as in which the utmost farthing is paid of which our Saviour speaks Matth. 5. 26. and Matth. 18. 23 24 c. but the reward of love and obedience to God is promised to thousands there seems to be no equallity or proportion betwen the rewards and punishments of God May we not answer this Objection thus First we ought well to mind that both of them are bounded within a certain number And again that Gods rewards always exceed his punishing to the glory and magnifying of his Mercy and Goodness which by far exceeds his Severity and Vengeance In the third place that sin is a falling off from God downwards which in a short time comes to its end whereas the recovery and bringing again to God doth still mount upwards and ascend higher and higher to Infinity because the Divine Glory hath neither end nor limit and that still nearer and nearer approaches are made to God in all Eternity Lastly for that wickedness must and shall have an end because there can be no Eternal or Infinite Will Wherefore the punishment of wicked men is not to be looked upon as that whereby the Creature should still become worse and worse but as it is in order to the changing of it from Evil to good for that when the evil is transchanged the Good then begins to work upwards by innumerable steps of ascension towards God though it can never reach so high as to reach his Being or Essence forasmuch as it is impossible that a Creature should become God but must therefore continue to mount upwards and continually attain to more and greater degrees of Glory For is not every Creature of God Infinite Or at least Indefinite so as no end or bound can be assigned to the increase and out-working of its power Forasmuch as it is a piece or part of man who is made out of all Creatures and is the end of them Seeing then that man was created in the Image of God and that no end or bound is in God must it not follow that this creature Man and in him all other Creatures must still work upwards and advance in good to the utmost degree of possible perfection without all end or bounds For God works without ceasing in the Creature through Christ as our Saviour witnesseth John 5. 17. My Father worketh hitherto and I work also 20 Q. Notwithstanding that many other places of the Old Testament might be alledged for confirmation of this Doctrine of the Revolution of Humane Souls yet for brevity we shall pass them by and betake our selves to the New Testament but there is yet one remarkable passage Ezek. 16. 55. which we cannot pass by without some observation The Query is then that seeing the Lord there speaks thus When thy Sisters Sodom and her Daughters shall return to their former estate and Samaria and her Daughters shall return to their former estate then thou also and thy Daughters shall return to your former estate The question I say is how it is possible for Sodom Samaria and Jerusalem to return to their former estate without their living again in this world in flesh and body as they did formerly And whether this could be brought about any other way than by being born again the common way into this world 21 Q. We turn now to the New Testament in which we find as clear and express testimonies of the Spirit of God in Christ and his Disciples concerning the Truth and importance of this Doctrine of the Revolution or return of Souls as in the old we shall onely take a short view of some of the said places because in the 200 Queries they have been more largely handled The Question is then how these following Texts of Scripture Matth. 7. 2. Luke 6. 37 38. Mark 4. 24. may be reconciled viz. With what measure you mete it shall be measured to you again And Rev. 13. 10. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity he that killeth with the sword shall be killed with the sword Now how can these words be fulfilled when we see that many of those who have used violence and unrighteousness committed Murther and Mansslaughter led others into captivity and the like do notwithstanding all this die upon their beds or how can the just Vengeance of God be satisfied upon them if they be not to return again into this World there to receive a due reward and punishment for their misdeeds which in a former life or lives they have committed and for which they have not been punished but are yet accountable and therefore must make restoration payment and satisfaction 22 Q. Moreover when our Saviour saith Mat. 23. 35 36. That upon You speaking to the Jews may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias whom ye slew between the Temple and the Altar Verily I say unto you that all these shall come upon this Generation How shall we understand this or how can it be supposed that that generation should have killed Abel Zachary and all the Prophets In like manner how shall we clear the 39th v. of the same Chapter viz. that they to whom Christ there speaks should not see him from thenceforth until they should say Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord In case this be not admitted as a necessary consequence from these words that the Souls of the men of that generation had before been in bodies upon the Earth and then committed these Murthers and shed the foresaid righteous blood And likewise that the same persons must appear
Scripture as may be seen Prov. 1. 6. and Chap. 25. 2. Eccles. Syr. 39. 1. Math. 13. 34. 35. 1 Cor. 13. 12. Even because the outward man hath onely an outward understanding and therefore can onely understand the outward and not the inward 1 Cor. 2. 14. 15. And therefore the Scripture was written in this Parabolical way that we from thence might take occasion to pass from the outward into the inward from the Body and Letter into the Spirit and by this means become Spiritual I have many years since communicated and discoursed the Contents of this Appendix to persons of several perswasions to try whether the same would be received and put in practice amongst any of them but they all with one accord told me that the same was impracticable and impossible forasmuch as none would be able to return an answer to all the questions which in case this way were introduced would be propounded and therefore must needs be the cause of numberless contests and disputes By which answer of theirs they tacitly acknowledge that they keep the Door fast lock'd which leads to the Steps of Wisdom Without any further considering whether it be likely that our Saviour or his Disciples could leave us any Commands but what were possible to be obeyed and put in practice c. Wherefore notwithstanding these discouragements and in hope that what hath not been done hitherto may be done and put in practice hereafter I have here briefly set down the same together with a short Introduction concerning the Education and Instruction of Children As also added Christ's Hundred Commandments of which by the constant use the Children may have them as it were engrafted in them by the careful and loving Mothers direction to read and write them over daily instead of their Horn and Coppy Books that so they may serve them all their Lives time for their true guides Which practice the Lord grant may tend to his most Holy Names Praise Honour and Glory CHRIST's Hundred Commandments c. 1. JEsus said unto him it is written again Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God Mat. 4. 7. And Jesus answering said unto him it is said Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God Luke 4. 12. 2. Then saith Jesus unto him get thee hence Satan for it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve Mat. 4. 10. And Jesus answered and said unto him get thee behind me Satan for it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve Luke 4. 8. 3. And said unto them that sold Doves Take these things hence make not my Fathers House a House of merchandize John 2. 16. 4. Marvel not that I said unto thee Thou must be born again John 3. 7. 5. But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him John 4. 23. 6. And saying the time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand Repent ye and believe the Gospel Mark 1. 15. 7. Afterwards Jesus findeth him in the Temple and said unto him Behold thou art made whole Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee John 5. 14. 8. Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testifie of me John 5. 39. 9. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Mat. 5. 16. 10. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the Judgement and whosoever shall say unto his brother Racha shall be in danger of the Council but whosoever shall say Thou Fool shall be in danger of Hell fire Mat. 5. 22. 11. But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery already with her in his heart And if they right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not thy whole body should be cast into Hell And if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not thy whole body should be cast into Hell Mat. 5. 28 c. 12. But I say unto you That whosoever shall put away his wife saving for the cause of Fornication causeth her to commit Adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth Adultery Mat. 5. 32. 13. But I say unto you Swear not at all neither by Heaven for it is God's Throne nor by the Earth for it is his Footstool neither by Jerusalem for it is the City of the great King Neither shalt thou swear by thy head because thou canst not make one hair black or white But let your communcation be Yea yea and Nay nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of Evil Mat. 5. 34 c. 14. But I say unto you That ye resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek turn to him the other also And if any man sue thee at the Law and take away thy cloak let him have thy coat also And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile go with him twain Mat. 5. 39. Luke 6. 27 29. 15. Give to him that asketh thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away Mat. 5. 42. Luke 6. 30. 16. But I say unto you Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you Mat. 5. 44 c. Luke 6. 27 35. 17. Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Mat. 5. 48. Luke 6. 35. 18. Take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them otherwise ye have on reward of your Father which is in Heaven Therefore when thou dost thine alms do not sound a trumpet before thee as the Hypocrites do in the Synagogues and in the streets that they may have glory of men Verily I say unto you they have their reward But when thou dost alms let not thy left hand know what thy right hand does Mat. 6. 1 c. 19. And when thou prayest thou shalt not be as the Hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the Synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men Verily I say unto you they have their reward But thou when thou prayest enter into thy Closet and when thou hast shut the door Pray to thy Father which is in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly Mat. 6. 5 6. 20. But when ye pray use not vain repetitions as the Heathen do for they think they shall be heard for