not the Opinions of Men not Custom nor the invented Fictions of the Wise not the Magnificent Decrees of Sects not Syllogisms Enthymems not Inductions not soluble Consequences but Divine Oracles consonant to one another received by the Universal Church with an unanimous and solid consent approved by Miracles Prodigies Wonders Holiness of life and testimony of Martyrdom The Doctors of this Prophetick Theologie were Moses Job David Solomon and many other Canonical Writers and Prophets The Teachers of the New Testament were the Apostles and Evangelists but all these notwithstanding they were fill'd with the Holy Ghost yet all at one time or other stray'd from the Truth and in some measure spake untruly not that they did so wittingly or craftily for to say so would be a greater Errour than that of Arius or Sabellicus subverting the whole Authority of the Scripture in which Errour notwithstanding the great and holy S. Jerome persisted disputing against S. Augustine about the reprehension of Peter for S. Paul said that S. Jerome told a lye craftily Which should it be granted and that such an untruth should be admitted in the Bible immediately as S. Austin saith the whole certainty of the Bible would fall to ruine But S. Jerome being thus admonisht after many Contradictions and defences at length acknowledged his Errour and confess'd the Truth But what I say that the holy Writers did secundum quid speak things not altogether true I would have to be understood so as that they did not willingly erre but onely stray through humane frailty Thus Moses failed in telling the people he would bring them out of Aegypt and carry them into the Land of Canaan for though he brought them out of Aegypt he did not carry them into the Land of promise Jonas failed in foretelling the destruction of Nineveh within forty days intended but delay'd Elijah failed in foretelling many things to come to pass in the days of Ahab which yet were not fulfill'd till after his death Isaiah failed foretelling the death of Hezekiah the next day when his life was prolonged fifteen years afterwards Many other Prophets also fail'd and their predictions are found either not to have come to pass at all or else to have been suspended The Apostles also and Evangelists fail'd Peter also fail'd when he was reprehended by S. Paul Matthew also fail'd when he wrote that Christ was not dead till the Launce had pierced his side But this defect was no defect of the Holy Ghost but either of the Prophet not rightly delivering what was suggested by the Holy Ghost or the Vision did declare or else proceeding from some alteration of the event of the Command the sentence of the Oracle being either alter'd or defer'd Hence it follows that all Prophets and Writers in some things seem to fail and erre according to the Scripture which saith All men are lyers Onely Christ both God and man never was nor shall be found to fail nor shall his words be altered or be defective who void of Errour divulged his Oracles most immutable as he said himself The heaven and the earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away Now because all Truth is through the Holy Ghost therefore onely Christ possesses this Truth firmly nor shall it ever depart from him but remains in him But it is not so with others for the Spirit was with Moses but when he strake the Rock it was departed It was with Aaron but departed when he made the Calf It was with Anna their sister but not when she murmured against Moses It was with Saul David Solomon Isaiah c. but rested not constantly with them Neither are Prophets always Prophets or Seers or foretellers of things to come nor is Prophecie a continual habit but a gift passion or transient spirit And whereas there is no man who doth not sin so there is no man from whom the Spirit doth not sometimes depart and leave him unless it be Christ the onely Son of God of whom it was therefore said to John He upon whom thou sawest the Spirit descending and remaining with him he is the Son of God who Baptizeth with the Holy Ghost being also able to impart the same to others Therefore as saith Simonides onely God hath this honour that he is onely Metaphysical so may we say of Christ that onely Christ hath this honour to be a Divine However let no man think that the Writings of the Old Testament since the Gospel of Christ had its divine birth from them are therefore obsolete and dead for they will ever live in high authority for by them have the Apostles proved their Tenets and without their testimony they have spoken nothing and Christ refers us to the search of them whose Gospel doth not at all abolish those Writings but fulfill'd the Law to the least tittle This is also to be noted that many Volumes of the Holy Scripture are lost which we may easily gather from the Scripture it self For Moses cites Books of The Wars of the Lord and Joshuah The Book of the Just Esther The Book of memorable things and Macchabees cites the holy Books of the Spartiatae and the Books of the Kings cite Books of Lamentations Books of Samuel the Seer Books and Writings of Nathan God Semeiah Haddo Ahia the Shilonite of Jehu the son of Ammon Jude also in his Canonical Epistle cites the Book of Enoch And some Authors of credit have cited a Book of Abraham the Patriarch All which are lost and never to be found Nor are these which we have received of equal Authority for Dionysius makes mention of A Gospel of S. Bartholomew and S. Jerome takes notice of A Gospel according to the Nazarenes and S. Luke in his Preface to his Gospel saith that many did undertake to write Gospels which are all lost And many others there are which are either corrupted with Heresie or set forth without Authority and so neither received by the holy Fathers nor approved by the Church I omit false Prophets who have come in by the by prophesying through vain-glory things which the holy Spirit never suggested but unheard-of lyes neither according to the Scripture nor tending either to unity of Spirit or the peace of the Church but for the introducing of Schism who rashly making themselves of Gods Privie Council dare presume to take the Word of God into their own mouthes and to write Scriptures and Prophecies altogether Heretical or Apocryphal Nor were the Canticles of Solomon inserted among the Canonical Books till they were corrected and approv'd by Isaiah From hence it appears how that Theologie it self that is to say the holy Scripture wants many of its Volumes and may in a manner seem defective and few of many that remain are true and certain really Books of life and Canonical CHAP. C. Of the Word of God YE have now heard how doubtful how uncertain how ambiguous all the Sciences are and how for any thing in them contained we
and Prince of this World in Leviticus nam'd the Prince of the Deserts to whom it was said in Genesis Thou shalt eat the dust all the days of thy life And in Isaiah The Dust is thy bread that is our Corporeal Body Created out of the dust of the Earth so long as it remains unsanctifi'd and not chang'd for the better to be no longer then at the disposal of the Serpent but of God according to the word of St. Paul It is sow'd corporal but shall rise spiritual And in another place All shall rise but all shall not be chang'd for that many shall remain perpetual food for the Serpent This foul and detestable matter of the Flesh the food of the Serpent lies in the Grave in hopes of a better Lot and spiritual Transmutation which is already come to pass in those that have already tasted the first-Fruits of Redemption and some have attain'd it by vertue of the Deifick Spirit as Elias and Enoch and as some are of opinion Moses whose bodies being chang'd into the nature of Spirits never saw corruption nor as other Carcasses were left to the power of the Serpent And something to this purpose it was thought was the great dispute of Michael with the Devil about the body of Moses which St. Jude mentions in his Epistle Thus much concerning Conjuring and Necromancy CHAP. XLVI Of Theurgy MAny there are that believe Theurgy not to be unlawful which pretends to have to do with none but good Angels and the Divine Numen himself though under the names of God and Angels it proves to be onely the delusion and mockery of evil Spirits It pretends no natural Power but to make use of Celestial Ceremonies by which they think to attract and reconcile the Divine Natures Concerning which the antient Magi have deliver'd several Rules in several Volumes But the chiefest part of their Ceremonies is in observing Cleanliness first of the Soul then of the Body then of those things about the Body as in the Skin the Garments the Dwelling Vessels Utensils Immolations and Sacrifices which cleanliness renders them capable of being the receptacles and fit for the entertainment of Divine Spirits and is very much encourag'd and commended in Sacred Scripture according to the words of Esay Be glad and be clean and take away the evil of your thoughts But uncleanness which often corrupts and defiles and infects man disturbs the most clean and pure Society of Celestial Beings and chases away the spotless Spirits and Angels of God It is true that many times unclean and delusive powers to the end they may be ador'd and worship'd for Gods do counterfeit this Purity and therefore great diligence and care is to be us'd for the avoiding thereof and therefore we have abundantly discours'd thereof in our Books of Occult Philosophy Now of this Theurgy or Divine Magick Porphyrius having delivered many things at length concludes that by Theurgick Operations the soul may be made fit to receive Spirits and Angels and to see and converse with them but that there can be any access to the Deity thereby he altogether denies His Rules and Directions are contain'd in his Art Almabel his Notorious Art his Art Pauline his Art of Revelations where are abundance of Superstitions to be found which are so much the more pernicious by how much they seem more Losty and Divine to the unskilful CHAP. XLVII Of the Cabalists HEre the words of Pliny come into my minde There is saith he another Sect of Magicians of which Moses and Latopea Jews were the first Authors which words bring to my remembrance the Cabala of the Jews which as the constant opinion among the Hebrews goes was delivered by God to Moses and thence through succession of Ages even to the times of Ezra preserv'd by Tradition onely without the help of writing As of old the Doctrine of Pythagoras was delivered by Archippus and Lysiades who kept School at Thebes in Greece where the Scholars learning all their Masters Precepts by heart made use onely of their Memories instead of Books So certain Jews despising Letters plac'd all their Learning in Memory Observation and verbal Tradition whence it was call'd by the Hebrews Cabala that is to say a receiving from one to another by the Ear An Art by report very antient though the name be but of later times known among the Christians Now this Cabala they divide into three parts the first contains the knowledge of Bresith which they call also Cosmology explaining and teaching the force and efficacie of things created Natural or Celestial expounding also the Laws and Mysteries of the Bible according to Philosophical reasons which for that cause differs little from Natural Magick wherein they say K. Solomon excell'd Therefore we finde in the Sacred Histories of the Jews that he was wont to discourse from the Cedar of Libanon to the low Hyssop as also of Cattle Birds Reptiles and Fish all which contain within themselves a certain kinde of Magical vertue Moses also the Egyptian in his Expositions upon the Pentateuch and most of the Talmudists have followed the Rules of this Art The other part thereof contains the knowledge of more sublime things as of Divine and Angelical Powers the contemplation of Sacred Names and Characters being a certain kinde of Symbolical Theology wherein the Letters Figures Numbers Names Points Lines Accents are esteemed to contain the significations of most profound things and great Mysteries This part again is twofold Arithmantick handling the nature of Angels the Powers Names Characters of Spirits and Souls departed and Theomantick which searches into the mysteries of the Divine Majesty his Emanations his Names and Pentacula which he that attains to they account endu'd with most admirable power By vertue of this Art they say Moses wrought so many Miracles changing his Rod into a Serpent the Water into Blood and plagu'd Egypt with Frogs Flyes Lice Locusts Emrodes and Pestilence slaying the first-born of Man and Beast By this Art he divided the Red-sea caus'd Water to flow out of the Rock brought the Qualls into the Wilderness sweeten'd the bitter Waters made Lightning by day and a Pillar of Fire by night to lead the March of his people call'd down the Voice of God among the people By this Art he punish'd the Arrogant with Fire the Murmurers with Leprosie Mutiners with sudden Destruction causing the Earth to swallow them up preserv'd the Clothes of the Israelites from wearing out and gave them Victory over their Enemies Lastly by means of this Art Josua commanded the Sun to stand still Elias call'd down Fire from Heaven and rais'd the dead Youth to life Daniel muzzled the Lions mouths and the three Children sang in the middle of the fiery Furnace Nay the perfidious and unbelieving Jews stick not to aver that Christ himself wrought all his Miracles by vertue of this Art Solomon as they say did excel in this Art and that he discovered several secrets thereof
by the wit and help of Man Wine Oyl Bread and Cloth and other works of Nature are compleated by humane Arts so the Divine Oracles delivered to us obscure and hidden are to be explained by Interpretation not by the force of our own Wit or Invention but by the help of the Spirit who distributes his good things as he pleases and where he pleases making some Prophets and some Interpreters Therefore this Interpretative Divinity consists not in Compounding Dividing Defining after the manner of the Peripateticks neither of which belong to God who neither can be defined divided or compounded but leads to Knowledge by another way which is indifferent between this and Prophetical vision which is a kinde of discovery of the Truth to our purifi'd Intellect as a Key to a Lock and this as it is the most covetous of all Truth so it is the most susceptible of what things are to be understood and is therefore called Possible Intellect wherewith though we do not discover by a full light what the Prophets mean and those who beheld the Divine things themselves yet there is a door open to us that from the conformity of the Truth perceived to our Intellect and by the Light which illustrates us out of those open windows we gain more certainty than from the appearing Demonstrations Definitions Divisions and Compositions and we read and understand not with our outward eyes and ears but with our better senses and extract the Truth flowing from the sacred Scriptures which the other delivered in dark sayings and mysterious sentences and thereby see what is hidden from the wise and great Philosophers yet apprehend them not with so much certainty as that all perplexity may be removed And whereas there is a manifold Truth conceal'd in sacred Scripture holy men have gone about to try various and manifold Expositions of the same For some gently walking along the back of the Letter and expounding one place by another and one letter by another and making out the sence by the Order Etymologie and Propriety and Force of the signification of the words hunt out the truth of Scripture which is therefore call'd Literal Exposition Others refer all things written to the business of the Soul and works of Justice whose Expositions are therefore call'd Moral Others remit them by various Tropes and Figures to the Mysteries of the Church whose Exposition is call'd Tropological Others given to Contemplation refer all things to the Myitery of Celestia glory and this Exposition is call'd Anagogick And these are the four most usual sorts of Exposition besides which there are two more of which the one refers all things to vicissitude of Times Mutations of Kingdoms and Ages therefore call'd Typick Wherein among the Ancients Cyril Methodius and Joachim Abbas did most exel of Modern Authors Jeremy Savanarola of Ferrara The other enquires into the nature and qualities of the Universe the Sensible world and of the whole Fabrick of the World and Nature which Exposition is therefore call'd Physical or Natural wherein Rabbi Simeon ben Joachim excell'd who wrote a very large Volume upon Leviticus wherein discoursing of the natures of all things he shews how Moses according to the congruencie of the threefold World and nature of things ordain'd the Ark the Tabernacle the Vessels Garments Rites Sacrifices and other Mysteries for the appeasing and worshipping God Which Exposition the Cabalists follow especially those who treat of Beresith or the Creation For they who discoursing concerning the Judgement-seat of God by Numbers Figures Revolutions Symbolical reasons refers all things to the first Arch-type search for the Anagogical sence And these are the six most famous Senses or Meanings of the holy Scripture all whose Expositors or Interpreters are by a general word call'd Divines among whom we finde Dionysius Origen Polycarpus Eusebius Tertullian Ireneus Nazianzene Chrysostome Athanasius Basil Damascene Lactantins Cyprian Jerome Austin Ambrose Gregory Ruffinus Leo Cassianus Barnardus Anselm and many other holy Fathers which those ancient times brought forth and some of later years as Thomas Albertus Bonaventure Egidius Henricus Gandavensis Gerson and many others But now seeing that all these Interpretative Divines are but men they are subject to humane frailties sometimes they erre sometimes they write things contrary or repugnant sometimes they differ from one another in many things they are deceiv'd all of um not discerning all things for onely the Holy Ghost has the perfect knowledge of Divine things who distributes to all men according to a certain measure reserving many things to himself that we may be always learning of him for as S. Paul saith All of us know and preach by art onely Therefore all this Interpretative Theologie consists onely in liberty of speech and is a Knowledge separate from Scripture whereby every one has the liberty to abound in his own sence according to those various Expositions recited before which S. Paul in one word calls Mysteries or speaking of Mysteries when the Spirit speaks Mysteries whence Dionysius calls this Significative Theologie treated of by those holy Doctors in several Volumes Nor are we to believe all that they say seeing that many hold very Erroneous Opinions of Faith which are exploded by the Church as we may instance in Papias Bishop of Hierapolis Victorinus Pictoviensis Irenoeus Lugdunensis Cyprian Origen and Tertullian and many others who have err'd in the Faith and whose Tenets have been condemned as Heretical though they themselves are among the Canoniz'd Saints But this requires a deeper spirit of consideration to judge and discern which is not of men nor of flesh and bloud but granted from above by the Father of lights For no man can utter any thing rightly of God but by the light which comes from himself which light is the Word by whom all things were made and who illuminates every man coming into this world giving them power to become the sons of God whoever shall receive and believe Neither is there any who can declare the things of God but his own Word for who besides can know the minde of God or whoever was made of his council but the Son of God being the Word of the Father But of this we shall discourse no farther till we have perfected the next Chapter of Prophetick Theologie CHAP. XCIX of Prophetick Theologie AS Prophecie is the speech of the Prophets so is Theologie nothing but the Tradition of the Divines or men discoursing with God However not every one that can remember or repeat a Prophecie or interpret the meaning thereof is presently a Prophet but he that in divine things is endued with the knowledge of Piety Vertue and Sanctity who discourseth with God and meditates upon his Law day and night For so S. John Author of the Apocalypse in the Letters of Dionysius call'd The Divine testifies from holy Writing to whom the Truth it self has said He that hears you hears me and he that despises you despises me Which words are not
are generally ignorant where the Truth rests even in Divinity it self unless we could finde out any person who had the Key of Knowledge and Wisdom for the Armory of Truth is lockt and concealed under divers Mysteries and the way shut up from wise and holy men by which we might enter into so great and incomprehensible a Treasury Now this Key is nothing else but the Word of God This onely discerneth the force and vertue of all sors of words and what Disputes proceed meerly from the Cunning of Sophistry which discovers not the Truth but onely a meer shadow thereof and then distinctly shews you what communication sets forth the Truth not in outward appearance and counterfeit Colour but in effect and reason By this every Art of deceit and untruth is easily surmounted Neither Arguments nor Syllogisms nor any subtilties of Sophistry can stand against it He that is not satisfied therewith or is of an opinion contrary thereto as S. Paul saith is proud and knows nothing And there we are to try by the words of God all Doctrines and Opinions as Gold is try'd by the Touch-stone and in all difficulties to flee thither as to a Rock of most safety and out of that onely to search for the truth of all things and from thence to judge of the Doctrines Opinions and Expositions of men For as Gregory saith Whatsoever derives not its authority from thence is with the same ease rejected as approved Now as to the knowledge of this Word there is no School of Philosophers nor the subtilest Wits of the most subtil Sophisters that have been able to teach it us but onely God and Jesus Christ through the Holy Ghost by means of those Scriptures which are Canonical to which according to the command of God nothing may be added and from which nothing may be diminish'd for whoever shall do it though he were an Angel of heaven he is abandoned to the devil and curs'd by the Law of God So great the Majesty so great is the Power of this Scripture that it admits no strange Expositions no Glosses of Men nor Angels nor suffers it self to be wrested according to the inventions of mens Wits nor does it permit it self to be chang'd and transform'd into variety of Sences after the manner of humane Fables as it were some Poetical Proteus but is sufficient to expound and interpret it self and judging of all men is judg'd by none For the Authority thereof is greater as Austin saith than all the florid Subtilties of humane Wit for it hath one plain constant and holy meaning in the strength whereof it both combats and overcomes All other Moral meanings besides this as Mystical Typical Anagogical Tropological and Allegorical by the help whereof many men do besmear and Fucus over the Truth with sundry strange Colours may rightly and truely perswade us something for the edification of the people but they can never prove or disprove any thing to confirm the Authority of the Word of God For let any person bring into controversie the opinion of any one of these let him quote any substantial Author thereupon or let him alleadge the Exposition of any of the holy Fathers none of those things are so binding to us but that we may contradict um but out of the letter of the holy Scriptures from the draught and order thereof such indissoluble Bands are made which no man can break nor no man escape through but breaking and shattering all Engines of Argumentation enforces him to say and confess That it is the finger of God That Man never spake in that manner That he speaketh not as the Scribes and Pharisees but like one that has power But the Authors thereof inspir'd from Heaven have by their authority ordain'd us a Canon the magnificence whereof is such that we ought to believe all things therein contained and whatever that Word hath pronounced and taught that without any retraction is to be accounted holy and inviolable Of which thus S. Austin hath spoken That he gave this honour to those Books which be call'd Canonical that he most constantly believ'd that none of the Writers of them did or could erre but to the others be would give no credit how much learning and holiness soever they had in them except it be proved with evident reason out of Gods Word that there is a probability for the truth thereof Unto these Christ sends us teaching us that we should search the Scriptures From hence the Apostle commands us to try all things and to stick to the things which are good as also to prove the spirits whether they be of God and by the help of them to be able to give an account of all things and to reprove them that shall vainly go about to contradict that so becoming spiritual we may judge all things and be judged of none Now the truth and understanding of the Canonical Scripture depends upon the onely authority of God revealing the same which cannot be comprehended by any judgement of the Senses by most over-reaching Reason by any Syllogism of demonstration by any Science by any Speculation by any Contemplation or by any humane force but onely by Faith in Jesus Christ poured out into the soul from God the Father by the Holy Ghost which is so much the more predominant and stable than the Credulity of humane knowledge by how much God himself is superiour to and truer than Men. But why do I say truer Nay rather God alone is true and every man a lyer So that whatever proceeds not from this Truth is Errour as that which is not of faith is sin For God himself hath in himself the fountains of Truth out of which it is necessary for him to draw it whoever desires perfect knowledge seeing there is no knowledge can be had either of the secrets of Nature of separated substances nor of God the Author of all unless it be reveal'd from above For things divine are not to be reacht by humane force and natural things oft-times keep at too great a distance from the inward thought whence it comes to pass that what we believe to be the knowledge of these things appears to be Falshood and Errour Which presumption in the Caldeans and other Heathen Philosophers Isaiah reproves where he says Thy wisdom and thy knowledg have deceived thee thou hast fail'd in the multitude of thy inventious The Grammarian is very wary that he offend not in talk and that he utter not a rude and barbarous word but in the mean while he has no regard to the dishonest courses and sinfulness of his life So likewise the Poet chuses rather to halt in his Life than in his Verse The Historian leaves to Memory and commits to Writing the deeds of Kings and Princes and the transactions of successive times yet mindes not his own behaviour or if he do is yet ashamed to confess his failings The Orator more abhors the rudeness of his Language than the deformity
Principal Part of the substance of the Soul Aristotle believes the Intellect to be present only Potentially in the Soul and that Actually it works from without neither that it conduces to the Essence or Nature of Man but only to the Perfection of Knowledge and Contemplation Therefore he affirms That few Men and those only Philosophers are endu'd with Actual Understanding And indeed there is a great Dispute among Divines whether according to the Opinion of Plato the Souls of Men after they are Departed from the Body do retain any Memory of things done while the Body was alive or whether they altogether want the Knowledge thereof which the Tomists together with their mighty Aristotle firmly assert And the Carthusians confirm it from the Testimony of a certain Parisian Divine returning from Hell who being ask'd what Knowledge he had left him return'd Answer That he understood nothing but Pain and then citing the words of Solomon There is no understanding no knowledge no wealth in Hell he seem'd to them to make it out that after Death there was no Knowledge of any thing which notwithstanding is not only manifestly against the Opinion of the Platonicks but repugnant to the Authority and Truth of the Scripture it self also which teaches That the wicked shall see and know that he is God and that they shall give an account not only of aâ—l their Deeds but of all their idle Words and Thoughts Moreover there are some that have adventur'd to write and report many things concerning the Apparition of separated Souls and those oft-times repugnant both to the Doctrine of the Gospel and the sacred Text. For whereas the Apostle teaches us That we ought not to believe the Angels from heaven if they should preach otherwise than what is delivered yet the Gospel is so much out of date with them that they will rather believe one come from the Dead than the Prophets Moses Apostles or Evangelists Of this Opinion was the Rich Man in the Gospel who believed that his Brothers and Kindred living would give credit to any one that were sent from the Dead To whom so vainly Conjecturing Abraham made answer If they will not believe Moses and the Prophets neither will they believe any one that should be sent from the dead However I do not absolutely deny some Holy Apparitions Admonitions and Revelations of the Dead but yet I admonish ye to be very wary knowing how easie it is for Satan to Transform himself into an Angel of Light Therefore they are not absolutely to be believ'd but to be entertain'd as things which are Apocryphal and without the Rule of the Scripture There are many Fabulous stories to this purpose written by one Tundal in his Consolation of Souls and also by some others of which your Cunning Priests and Friars make use to terrifie the Vulgar sort and get Mony A certain French Notary hath also lately put forth a Relation of a Spirit walking at Lyons a Person of no Credit and less Learning But the most approved Authors that write of these things is Cassianus and James of Paradise a Carthusian But there is nothing in them of solid Truth or secret Wisdome tending to the encrease of Charity or edifying of the Soul only they thereby perswade people to Alms Pilgrimages Prayers Fastings and such other Practical Works of Piety which the Scripture nevertheless with far greater Reason and Authority enjoyns But of these Apparitions we have discours'd at large in a Dialogue which we have Written of Man as also in our Occult Philosophy But now let us return to the Philosophers All the Heathen who affirm the Soul to be Immortal by common consent also uphold the Transmigration of the Soul and farther That rational Souls do sometimes Transmigrate into Plants and Creatures void of Reason Of this Opinion of Transmigration Pythagoras is said to be the first Author of which thus Ovid Souls never die but in Immortal state From dead to living bodies transmigrate I now my self can call to minde how I When long since Troy the strength of Greece did try Was then Euphorbus that my life sold dear To crown the Conquest of Atrides Spear Which then my left hand bâ—re I knew the Shield Which late in Juno's Temple I beheld Much more has been written concerning this Pythagorical Transmigration by Timon Xenophanes Cratinus Aristophon Hermippus Lucianus and Diogenes Laertius But Iamblicus who has many other Abettors asserts That the Soul does not Transmigrate out of Man into Brutes nor return from Creatures Irrational into Men but that there are Transmigrations of Souls that is of the Souls of Beasts into Beasts and of the Souls of Men into Men he does not deny There are also Philosophers of which number Eâ—â—ripides is one a greatfollower of Anaxagoras together with Archelaus the Naturalist and after them Avicen who report the first Men to have sprung out of the Earth like Herbs in that not less ridiculous than the Poets who feign certain Men to have sprung from the Teeth of a Serpent sown in the Earth Some there are who deny that the Soul is Generated and others who deny that it has any Motion CHAP. LIII Of Metaphysicks BUT let us go a little farther and make it appear that these Philosophers are not only at a loss about those things that seem to have a Being in Nature but that they are also at great variance among themselves concerning such as have no Principle or Foundation at all it being altogether uncertain whether they be or no and which they believe to subsist without Body or Matter and which they call Separated forms which because they are not in Nature but thought to be above Nature therefore they are call'd Metaphysicks and said to be beyond Nature from thence sprang those Infinite every way contradictory and not less impious and unlearned Opinions concerning the Gods For Diagoras Milesius and Theodorus Cyrenaicus altogether deny that there was any God Epicurus held that there was a God but that he took no care of things below Protagoras said that whether they were or no they had little or no Power Anaximander thought that there were Gods Native of Countries some in the East and some in the West at great distances one from another Xenocrates held that there were Eight Gods Antisthenes that there were many popular Gods but one Supream the Creator of the rest Others have precipitated themselves into such a profundity of Madness as to make with their own hands the Gods which they intended to Worship such was the Image of Bell among the Assyrians which made and carved Gods Hermes Trismegistus does notwithstanding very much applaud in his Aesculapius But Thales Milesius discoursing of the Divine Essence asserted the Understanding to be God who Form'd all things out of Water Cleanthes and Anaximenes held the Air to be God Chrysippus Deified the Natural Ability endu'd with Reason or Divine Necessâ—â—y Zeno ascribes Divinity to the Divine Law of Nature Anaxagoras to
he cry'd out Wo be to you that build up the Sepulchres of the Prophets like to those that shew them Like to the Heathen to every Saint they allot his proper charge to one with Neptune they share the Command of the Seas and power of Deliverance from the dangers thereof to another with Jupiter to have the Dominion of Thunder to another with Vulcan to controul the Fire to another they pray with Ceres for seasonable and plentiful Harvests to another with Bacchus they give the Charge of their Vintages and Vines The Women also have their Deities from whom as from Lucina they beg for Children and the cure of Barrenness and another by whose Power they either Appease or Revenge themselves upon their Angry Husbands Others there are to whom they give the priviledge of recovering and finding Lost Goods Neither is there any Disease which has not its peculiar Physitian among the Saints Which is the reason that Physitians do not get so much as Lawyers there being no sort of Action though never so just that ever could boast of a Saint for its Patron 'T is true the Papists aver That as the Soul in every Member Displayes a several Act and every Act as it is variously dispos'd receives a distinct Power as the Eye to see the Ears to hear So Christ in his Mystical Body of which he is the Soul by his several Saints as Members accommodated to the same Body doth Administer and Distribute the several gifts of his Grace to the Inferiour Creatures and that to every Saint is allotted a particular operation for the dispersing of several Graces according to the variety of Graces given to each Man But this Conjecture as being one of Agrippa's Vanities for which there is no ground in Scripture we cannot reckon among the Vanities of Science but as a peculiar Invention of his own CHAP. LVIII Of Temples NOW as concerning Temples there was nothing wherein the Superstition of the Gentiles was more eminent who to every Deity were very curious in Building particular Temples after whose Example the Christians afterwards Dedicated their Temples to particular Saints Yet there were many Nations that never made use of any Temples and Xerxes is reported to have burnt all the Temples throughout Asia at the perswasion of his Magicians believing it to be an Impious thing to enclose the Gods in Walls But of these Temples Zeno Citicus Disputed formerly in these Words To build Churches and Temples saith he it is no way necessary for nothing ought to be accompted Sacred by Right nothing to be esteemed Holy which men themselves Build Among the Persians of old there were no Temples Neither was there among the Hebrews from their first beginning but only one Temple Dedicated to Divine use which was Built by Solomon of which however it is thus written in Isaias Thus saith the Lord The Heaven is my seat the Earth the footstool for my feet what is this house which thou buildest for me And Stephen the Protomartyr adds Salomon built a House but the most High Inhabits not in places made with Hands And Paul the Apostle saith to the Athenians God dwells not in Temples made with hands for being the Lord of Heaven and Earth he is not serv'd by mens hands who wants not their help However he teaches that Humane Nature even Men themselves Holy Pious Religious Devout to God are the most acceptable Temples to God as he Asserts writing to the Corinthians Ye are the Temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you the Temple of God is holy so ought you to be Moreover Origen writing against Celsus confesses That at the first beginning of Christian Religion and long after Christs Suffering there were no Churches Built Confirming by many Arguments that among Christians they avail neither to the right Worship of God nor to the Honour of true Religion Therefore faith Lactantius Temples are not to be made to God of Stones piled up to an immense height but there is a place to be reserv'd in the Heart of every Man where his Thoughts ought to retire when they are taken up in Religious Exercise Not Temples made with hands th' Almighty hold Just men are the true Temples made of Gold And Christ sends his Adorers not into the Temple not into the Synagogues but into their private Closets to Pray And we read that he himself did many times appear with the Multitude in the Cities in the Temple in the Synagogue when he made his Sermons but he went into the Mountain to Pray where he spent the Night in Prayer However the Church that does nothing but by the Inspiration of the Spirit of God when the Christian Religion began to increase and that Sinners entred into the Temple with the Godly the weak with the strong in Faith and as they entred the Ark of Noe the Clean with the Unclean did then Ordain certain Temples Chappels Churches and separated Places free from Prophane business wherein the Word of God might be Publickly Preached to the Multitude and the Sacraments might be more decently and orderly Administred which have since been held by the Christians in most Venerable Esteem and being guarded with the Immunities of several Princes have encreased to such a vast Number augmented with the Addition of Monasteries Abbies and the like that it is very necessary that many of them should be cut off as superfluous and unnecessary Members And here we cannot be unmindful of another Enormity which is the superbity of Building wherein vast sums of Alms and sacred Money is expended which as we have observ'd before would be more fitly and honestly employ'd in the maintenance of the true poor of Christ the true Temples and resemblances of God many times ready to perish for hunger thirst cold labour sickness and want CHAP. LIX Of Holy-days HOly-days both among the Gentiles as among the Jews were always in great estimation who did all at certain times of the year and upon certain days set apart several Holy-days for Divine worship upon several occasions as if it were lawful to be more religious or more ungodly at one time than another or that it were the pleasure of God to be worshipped more at one time than another which St. Paul objects to the Galatians as a shame writing to them afthis manner Ye observe days and months and times and years I fear I have labour'd for you in vain and without a cause Concerning which when he admonishes the Colossians he commands them in these words Let no man judge you for meat or drink upon a Holy-day or of the New-moon or of the Sabbath which are members of future things For to true and perfect Christians there is no difference of days who are always feasling and pleasing themselves in God always keeping a perpetual Sabbath as Isaiah prophesi'd to the Fathers of the Jews The time shall come that their Sabbath shall be taken away and when the Saviour comes there shall be a
spoken to contentious Theosophists but to the true Divines Apostles Evangelists and Messengers of the Word of God who say I dare not utter any thing which Christ doth not work by me Therefore the Traditions of these Divines concerning Faith and Godliness are truely Theological To the Writings and sayings of these men we give credit as being founded not upon contentious Syllogisms or Opinions of men but as S. Paul saith being divinely inspired not in defining compounding dividing contemplating after the manner of Philosophers but in an essential contact of Divinity apprehended through a clear vision in the divine light it self of which vision we finde several sorts in the holy Scripture as the Prophets had several dispositions to receive For we read how some saw God or Angels in the forms of men others in the shape of Fire others in the similitude of Air or Wind others in the shape of Rivers or Water others in the form of Birds Precious Stones or Metals others in the forms of Letters or Characters others in the sound of a Voice others in Dreams others in a Spirit residing within themselves others in the work of the Understanding And therefore the Scripture calls all Prophets Seers Thus we read of The Visions of Isaias The Visions of Jeremy The Visions of Ezekiel and the rest And under the New law S. John faith I was in the Spirit upon the Lords day On the wings whereof he was carried and beheld the Throne of God And Paul witnesses that he saw those things which it is not lawful for men to utter And this Vision is called a Rapture or Ecstasie or spiritual death Concerning this death it is said No man shall see God and live And in another place Precious in the sight of God is the death of his Saints And it is more clearly expressed by the Apostle where he says You are dead and your life is hid with Christ. And it is necessary for him to die this death that will pierce into the secrets of Prophetick Theologie Now there is a double sight of this Deifick vision One when God is seen face to face and then the Prophets see what S. Paul faith Things which are not fit for men to utter and which no tongue of men or Angels can express nor Pen unfold There is also a certain contact or union of the Divine Essence and an illustration or enlightning of the pure and separate Intellect without appearance of any shape or likeness This Divines call The Meridional Understanding Of which S. Augustin upon Genesis and Origen against Celsus largely dispute The other sort of Seeing is that by which we see the hinder parts of God when the creatures which are the hinder parts or effects of God are understood with a more exalted judgement as by the knowledge whereof the Creator the chief workman and the First Cause that moves all things is the better known as the Wiseman faith From the bigness of the kinde and of the creature may be known the Creator of things And Paul also about the same subject The invisible things of God are known being understood by these things which are made And it is an usual Saying among the Peripateticks that they who argue from the Effects to the Causes are said to argue à posteriori from the hinder part Moses enjoyed both these Visions as the Scriptures witness Of the first we read that Moses saw God face to face As to the other we read what God spake to him Thou shalt see my hinder parts And by the means of this later Vision Moses made a Law instituted Sacrifices and Ceremonies built a Tabernacle and other Mysteries according to the most elaborate Exemplar of the whole world comprehending all the secret works of God and Nature therein This Vision is again twofold for we either behold the creature in God himself which Divines call The Morning-vision or else we behold God himself in the creatures There is also another Prophetick Vision in Dreams thus we read in Matthew how the angel of God appeared to Joseph in a dream And in another place that the Magi who ador'd Christ were admonisht in a dream that they should return another way into their own Country There are in the Old Testament many Examples thereof Now what this Vision is Job expounds where he says In the horrour of nocturnal visions when sleep falleth upon men and they sleep in their beds then he opens their ears and teaching them instructs them with learning And this being a fourth species of Vision is called Nocturnal There are also two other kindes of Prophecie the one receiv'd by word of mouth and thus was Moses enlightened and taught in Mount Sinai Abraham Jacob Samuel and many other Prophets under the Old Law Under the New Law the Apostles and Disciples of Christ were taught by the mouth of Christ he being alive among them There is another sort of Prophecie which consists in the agitation of the Spirit while the soul ravisht away by some Deity then joyn'd to that and abstracted from the body of man is by the same Spirit fill'd with Knowledge beyond humane strength or wit Which ravishment is not performed always by Angels but sometimes by the Spirit of God as we read of Saul that the Spirit of God came upon him and he prophesied and was changed into a new man and numbered among the Prophets And in the Acts of the Apostles the Spirit of God came upon them that were baptized in flames of fire Which Spirit also many times seizes upon men that are liable to sin so that there were many Prophets among the Gentiles as Cassandra Helenus Calchas Ampharans Tiresias Mopsus Amphilochus Polybius Corinthus also Galanus the Indian Socrates Diotyma Anaximander Epimenides the Cretan Also the Magi among the Persians Brachmans among the Indians Gymnosophists among the Aethiopians Druids among the Gauls and Sibyls among the Romans To which Prophetick seizure of the Spirit many times certain previous Ceremonies authority of Function and communion of sacred Mysteries do very much conduce as the Scripture amply declares concerning Balaam and in other places by the application of the Ephod And the Evangelist witnesses concerning Caiaphas that he prophesied being high priest that year Hence the Mecubals among the Hebrews adventured to counterfeit their Artificial Prophecie I omit what the Hebrews have written concerning the Two and thirty paths of Wisdom and what S. Austin has toucht upon concerning the Degrees or Albertus in his reception of Forms of which he reckons up seven Apparitions in Dreams and as many waking So we read in Plato and Proculus of Socrates that he was not inspired by an intelligible influx but by voice and familiar speech But these things come to pass more easily in Dreams But let us return to our purpose Now therefore Prophetick Theologie is that which by an Intuitive Inspiration teaches the unshaken Word of God But the Authority and Arguments by which that Truth is confirm'd are