it self after his kinde so that the several sorts of plants might by this means be conserv'd upon the earth And God saw that it was good 13 And the evening and the morning made up the third natural day 14 There have three days past without a Sun as well as three nights without either Moon or Stars as you your selves may happily have observ'd some number of Moonless and Starlesse nights as well as of Sunlesse days to have succeeded one another and so it might have been always had not God said Let there be Lights within the Firmament of heaven to make a difference betwixt day and night and to be peculiar garnishings of either Let them be also for signes of weather for seasons of the year and also for periods of days months and years 15 Moreover let them be as lights hung up within the hollow roof or Firmament of heaven to give light to men walking upon the pavement of the earth and it was so 16 And God made two great lights the greater one the most glorious Princely object we can see by day to be as it were the Governor and Monarch of the day the lesser the most resplendent and illustrious sight we can cast our eyes on by night to be Governesse and Queen of the night And he made though for their smalnesse they be not so considerable the Stars also 17 And he placed them all in the Firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth 18 And to shew their preheminence for external lustre above what ever else appears by either day or night and to be peculiar garnishings or ornaments to make a notable difference betwixt the light and the darknesse the superaddition of the Sun to adorn the day and to invigorate the light thereof the Moon and the Stars to garnish the night and to mitigate the dulnesse and darknesse thereof And God saw that it was good 19 And the evening and the morning was the fourth natural day 20 After this God commanded the waters to bring forth fish and fowl which they did in abundance and the fowl flew above the earth in the open Firmament of heaven 21 And God created great whales also as well as other fishes that move in the waters and God saw that it was good 22 And God blessed them saying Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas and let the fowl multiply on the earth 23 And the evening and the morning made up the fifth natural day 24 Then God commanded the earth to bring forth all creeping things and four footed beasts as before he commanded the waters to send forth fish and fowl and it was so 25 And when God had made the beast of the earth after his kinde and cattel and every creeping thing after his kinde he saw that it was good 26 And coming at last to his highest Master-piece Man he encouraged himself saying Go to let us now make man and I will make him after the same image and shape that I bear my self and he shall have dominion over the fish of the Sea and over the fowls of the Air and over the cattel and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth 27 So God created man in his own shape and figure with an upright stature with legs hands arms with a face and mouth to speak and command as God himself hath I say in the image of God did he thus create him But mistake me not whereas you conceive of God as masculine and more perfect yet you must not understand me as if God made mankinde so exactly after his own image that he made none but males for I tell you he made females as well as males as you shall hear more particularly hereafter 28 And having made them thus male and female he bad them make use of the distinction of sexes that he had given them and blessing them God said unto them Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with your off-spring and be lords thereof and have dominion also over the fish of the sea and over the fowls of the air as well as over beasts and cattel and every creeping thing that moves upon the earth 29 And God said Behold I give you every frugiferous herb which is upon the face of the earth such as the Straw-berry the several sorts of Corn as Rye Wheat and Rice as also the delicious fruits of Trees to you they shall be for meat 30 But for the beasts of the earth and the fowls of the air and for every living thing that creepeth upon the earth the worser kind of herbs and ordinary grasse I have assign'd for them and so it came to passe that mankinde are made lords and possessors of the choicest fruits of the earth and the beasts of the field are to be contented with baser herbage and the common grasse 31 And God viewed all the works that he had made and behold they were exceeding good and the evening and the morning was the sixt natural day CHAP. II. 3 The Original of the Jewish Sabbaths from Gods resting himself from his six days labours 5 Herbs and Plants before either Rain Gardning or Husbandry and the reason why it was so 7 Adam made of the dust of the ground and his soul breathed in at his nostrils 8 The Planting of Paradise 9 A wonderful Tree there that would continue youth and make a man immortal upon earth Another strange Tree viz. the Tree of knowledge of good and evil 11 The Rivers of Paradise Phasis Gihon Tigris Euphrates 18 The high commendation of Matrimony 19 Adam gives names to all kinde of creatures except fishes 21 Woman is made of a rib of Adam a deep sleep falling upon him his minde then also being in a trance 24 The first Institution of Marriage 1 THus the Heavens and the Earth were finisht and all the creatures wherewith they were garnisht and replenisht 2 And God having within six days perfected all his work on the seventh day he rested himself 3 And so made the seventh day an holy day a festival of rest because himself then first rested from his works Whence you plainly see the reason and original of your Sabbaths 4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth which I have so compendiously recounted to you as they were created in the days that the Lord made heaven and earth and the several garnishings of them 5 But there are some things that I would a little more fully touch upon and give you notice of to the praise of God and the manifesting of his power unto you As that the herbs and plants of the field did not come up of their own accords out of the earth before God made them but that God created them before there were any seeds of any such thing in the earth and before there was any rain or men to use gardning or husbandry for the procuring their growth So that hereafter
lie upon them nor be covered over with water though they be invironed round with the fluid air 10 But he makes it partly dry Land and partly Sea Rivers and Springs whose convenience is obvious for every one to conceive 11 He adorns the ground also with grasse herbs and flowers and hath made a wise provision of seed that they bring forth for the perpetuation of such useful commodities upon the face of the earth 12 For indeed these things are very good and necessary both for man and beast 13 Therefore God prepared the matter of the Earth so as that there was a vital congruity of the parts thereof with sundry sorts of seminall forms of trees herbs and choicest kinds of flowers and so the Body of the Earth drew in sundry principles of Plantall Life from the World of Life that is at hand every where and the Passive and Active Principle thus put together made up the Third Days work and the Ternary denotes the nature thereof 14 The Ternary had allotted to it the garnishing of an Earth with trees flowers and herbs after the distinction of Land and Sea as the Quinary hath allotted to it the replenishing of an Earth with fish and fowl the Senary with man and beast But this Fourth Day comprehends the garnishing of the body of the whole world viz. That vast and immense Ethereal matter which is called the fluid Heaven with infinite numbers of sundry sorts of lights which Gods Wisdome and Power by union of fit and active principles drawn from the world of life made of this Ethereal matter whose usefulnesse is plain in nature that they are for Prognostick signes and seasons and days and years 15 As also for administring of light to all the inhabitants of the world That the Planets may receive light from their fountains of light and reflect light one to another 16 And there are two sorts of these Lights that all the inhabitants of the world must acknowledge great every where consulting with the outward sight from their proper stations And the dominion of the greater of these kinde of lights is conspicuous by day the dominion of the lesser by night the former we ordinarily call a Sun the other a Moon which Moon is truly a Planet and opake but reflecting light very plentifully to the beholders sight and yet is but a secondary or lesser kind of Planet but he made the Primary and more eminent Planets also and such an one is this Earth we live upon 17 And God placed all these sorts of lights in the thin and liquid Heaven that they might reflect their rayes one upon another and shine upon the inhabitants of the world 18 And that their beauty and resplendency might be conspicuous to the beholders of them whether by day or by night which is mainly to be understood of the Suns that supply also the place of Stars at a far distance but whose chiefe office it is to make vicissitudes of day and night And the Universal dark Aether being thus adorn'd with the goodly and glorious furniture of those several kindes of lights God approved of it as good 19 And the union of the Passive and Active principle was the Fourth days work and the number denotes the nature thereof 20 And now you have heard of a verdant Earth and a bounded Sea and Lights to shine through the air and water and to gratifie the eyes of all living creatures whereby they may see one another and be able to seek their food you may seasonably expect the mention of sundry animals proper to their elements Wherefore God by his inward Word and Power prepared the matter in the waters and near the waters with several vital congruities so that it drew in sundry souls from the world of Life which actuating the parts of the matter caus'd great plenty of fish to swim in the waters and fowls to flye above the earth in the open air 21 And after this manner he created great Whales also as well as the lesser kindes of fishes and he approved of them all as good 22 And the blessing of his inward Word or Wisdome was upon them for their multiplication for according to the preparation of the matter the Plastical Power of the souls that descend from the world of Life did faithfully and effectually work those wise contrivances of male and female they being once rightly united with the matter so that by this means the fish filled the waters in the seas and the fowls multiplyed upon the earth 23 And the union of the Passive and Active principle was the Fift days work and the Quinary denotes the nature thereof 24 And God persisted farther in the Creation of living creatures and by espousing new souls from the world of Life to the more Mediterraneous parts of the matter created land-serpents cattel and the beasts of the field 25 And when he had thus made them he approved of them for good 26 Then God reflecting upon his own Nature and viewing himself consulting with the Super-essential Goodnesse the Eternal Intellect and unextinguishable Love-flame of his Omnipotent Spirit concluded to make a far higher kinde of living creature then was as yet brought into the world He made therefore Man in his own Image after his own Likenesse For after he had prepared the matter fit for so noble a guest as an humane Soul the world of Life was forced to let go what the rightly prepared matter so justly called for And Man appeared upon the stage of the earth Lord of all living creatures For it was just that he that bears the Image of the invisible God should be Supreme Monarch of this visible world And what can be more like God then the soul of man that is so free so rational and so intellectual as it is And he is not the lesse like him now he is united to the terrestrial body his soul or spirit possessing and striking through a compendious collection of all kinde of corporeal matter and managing it with his understanding free to think of other things even as God vivificates and actuates the whole world being yet wholly free to contemplate himself Wherefore God gave Man dominion over the fowls of the air the fish of the sea and the beasts of the earth for it is reasonable the worser should be in subserviency to the better 27 Thus God created Man in his own Image he consisting of an intellectual Soul a terrestrial Body actuated thereby Wherefore mankinde became male and female as other terrestrial animals are 28 And the benediction of the Divine Wisdome for the propagation of their kinde was manifest in the contrivance of the parts that were framed for that purpose And as they grew in multitudes they lorded it over the earth and over-mastered by their power and policy the beasts of the field and fed themselves with fish and fowl and what else pleased them and made for their content for all was given to them by right of their
of the Clouds at the top And that these upper waters are no higher then so it is manifest from other passages in Scripture that place the habitation of God but amongst the Clouds who yet is called the most High Psalm 104. 3. Deut. 33. 26. Nahum 1. 3. Psalm â—8 4. But of this I have treated so fully elsewhere that I hold it needless to add any thing more Ver. 8. I cannot say properly that God saw it was good In the whole story of the three first Chapters it is evident that God is represented in the person of a Man speaking with a mouth and seeing with eyes Hence it is that the Firmament being of it self invisible that Moses omits the saying that God saw it was good For the nature of the eye is onely to see things visible Some say God made Hell the second day and that that is the reason it was not recorded that he saw it was good But if he did not approve of it as good why did he make it However that can be none of the Literal sense and so impertinent to this present Cabbala Ver. 10. And I may now properly say c. See what hath been said already upon verse the eight Ver. 11. Whence you may easily discern c. This Observation is Philo the Jew 's which you may read at large in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And it was very fit for Moses who in his Law which he received from God does so much insist upon temporal blessings and eating of the good things of the Land as a reward of their obedience to lay down such principles as should beget a firm belief of the absolute power of God over Nature That he could give them rain and fruitful seasons and a plentiful year when he pleased when as he could cause the Earth to bring forth without rain or any thing else to further her births as he did at the first Creation The Meditation whereof might well cause such an holy resolution as that in the Prophet Habakkuk Although the fig-tree shall not blossome neither fruit be in the Vines the labour of the Olive fail and the fields yeeld no meat yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation But that prudent and pious caution of Moses against Idolatry how requisite it was is plain if we consider that the power of the Sun is so manifest and his operation so sensible upon the Earth for the production of things below especially of Plants that he hath generally drawn aside the rude and simple Heathen to idolize him for a God And their nimble Oracles have snatched away the sacred Name of the God of Israel the true God to bestow upon him calling him Jao which is Jehovah as is plain from that Clarian Oracle in Macrobius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which I have translated thus in my Poems That Heavenly Power which Jao hight The highest of all the Gods thou maist declare In Spring nam'd Zeus in Summer Helios bright In Autumne called Jao Aides in brumal night These names do plainly denotate the Sunne In Spring call'd Zeus from life or kindly heat In Winter ' cause the day 's so quickly done He Aides hight he is not long in sight In Summer ' cause he strongly doth us smite With his hot darts then Helios we him name From Eloim or Eloah so hight In Autumn Jao Jehovan is the same So is the word deprav'd by an uncertain fame This Oracle Cornelius Labeo interprets of Bacchus which is the same with the Sun who is the God of the Vintage and is here described according to the four Quarters of the year And so Virgil Heathen-like attributes to the Sun and Moon under the name of Bacchus and Ceres that great blessing of Corn and Grain Vestro si numine Tellus Chaoniam pingui glandem mutavit aristâ If by your providence the Earth has born For course Chaonian Acorns full-ear'd Corn. But of this I have said so much in my Introduction that I need add nothing more Ver. 12. See ver 11. Ver. 14. See ver 3. I have there shown how easily the fancie of the rude people admit of days without a Sun To whose capacities the Prophet Jeremy accommodating his speech Her Sun sayes he is gone down while it was yet day How can it be day when the Sun is down unless the day be Independent of the Sun according to the fancie of the rude and illiterate Which is wonderfully consonant to the outward letter of Moses that speaks not of the Sun as the cause of the Day but as a badge of distinction from the Night though he does admit that it does increase the light thereof Ver. 15. In the hollow Roof c. Though the caeruleous upper Sea seems so neer us as I have already signified yet the Lights of Heaven seem something on this side it as white will stand off drawn upon a darker colour as you may see in the describing solid Figures on a blew slate they will more easily rise to your eye then black upon white so that the people may very well consulting with their sight Imagine the Firmament to be betwixt the Lights of Heaven and the upper Waters or that blew Sea they look upon not on this side nor properly betwixt the Lights or Stars Ver. 16. Two great Lights c. This is in counter-distinction to the Stars which indeed seem much less to our sight then the Sun or Moon when as notwithstanding many Stars according to Astronomers computation are bigger then the Sun all far bigger then the Moon So that it is plain the Scripture speaks sometimes according to the appearance of things to our sight not according to their absolute affections and properties And he that will not here yeeld this for a truth is I think justly to be suspected of more Ignorance then Religion and of more Superstition then Reason For their smalnesse c. The Stars indeed seem very small to our sight and therefore Moses seems to cast them in but by the by complying therein with the ignorance of the unlearned But Astronomers who have made it their business to understand their magnitudes they that make the most frugal computation concerning the bigger Stars pronounce them no less then sixty eight times bigger then the Earth others much more Ver. 18. To be peculiar garnishings See verse 14. Ver. 20. Fish and Fowl I suppose the mention of the Fowl is made here with the Fish by reason that the greatest and more eminent sorts of that kinde of creature most of all frequent the waters as Swannes Geese Ducks Herons and the like Ver. 20. In his own shape It was the opinion of the Anthropomorphites that God had all the parts of a Man and that we are in this sense made according to his Image Which though it be an opinion in it self if not rightly understood vain and ridiculous yet theirs
own eyes nor misbelieve their dictates no more nor so much as we may those of our outward senses Wherefore to men recovered into a due command of their reason and well-skill'd in the contemplation and experience of the nature of things to propound to them such kinde of Mosaical Philosophy as the boldnesse and superstition of some has adventured to do for want of a right Literal Cabbala to guide them is as much as in them lies to hazard the making not only of Moses but of Religion it self contemptible and ridiculous Whence it is apparent enough I think to what good purpose it is thus carefully to distinguish betwixt the Literal and Philosophick Cabbala and so plainly and fully to set out the sense of either apart by themselves that there may hereafter be no confusion or mistake For beside that the discovering of these weighty Truths and high but irrefutable Paradoxes in Moses his Text does assert Religion and vindicate her from that vile imputation of ignorance in Philosophy and the knowledge of things so does it also justifie those more noble results of free Reason and Philosophy from that vulgar suspicion of Impiety and Irreligion THE LITERAL CABBALA CHAP. I. 2 The Earth at first a deep miry abysse covered over with waters over which was a fierce wind and through all darknesse 3 Day made at first without a Sun 6 The Earth a floor the Heavens a transparent Canopy or strong Tent over it to keep off the upper waters or blew conspicuous Sea from drowning the world 8 Why this Tent or Canopy was not said to be good 9 The lower waters commanded into one place 11 Herbs flowers and fruits of Trees before either Sun or seasons of the year to ripen them 14 The Sun created and added to the day as a peculiar ornament thereof as the Moon and Stars to the night 20 The Creation of fish and fowl 24 The Creation of beasts creeping things 27 Man created in the very shape and figure of God but yet so that there were made females as well as males 28 How man came to be Lord over the rest of living creatures 30 How it came to passe that man feeds on the better sort of the fruits of the Earth and the beasts on the worse 1 WEE are to recount to you in this Book the Generations and Genealogies of the Patriarchs from Adam to Noah from Noah to Abraham from Abraham to Joseph and to continue the History to our own times But it will not be amisse first to inform you concerning the Creation of the world and the original and beginning of things How God made Heaven and Earth and all the garnishings of them before he made Man 2 But the Earth at first was but a rude and desolate heap devoid of herbs flowers and trees and all living creatures being nothing but a deep miry abysse covered all over with waters and there was a very fierce and strong wind that blew upon the waters and what made it still more horrid and comfortless there was as yet no light but all was inveloped with thick darknesse and bore the face of a pitchy black and wet tempestuous night 3 But God let not his work lie long in this sad condition but commanded Light to appear and the morning brake out upon the face of the abyss and wheel'd about from East to West being clearest in the middle of its course about noon and then abating of its brightnesse towards the West at last quite dis-appear'd after such sort as you may often observe the day-light to break forth in the East and ripen to greater clearnesse but at last to leave the skie in the West no Sun appearing all the while 4. And God saw the Light for it is a thing very visible that it was good and so separated the darknesse from the light that they could not both of them be upon the face of the earth together but had their vicissitudes and took their turns one after another 5 And he called the return of the light Day and the return of darkness he called Night and the evening and the morning made up the first natural day 6. Now after God had made this Basis or floor of this greater edifice of the world the Earth he sets upon the higher parts of the fabrick He commands therefore that there should be a hollow expansion firm and transparent which by its strength should bear up against the waters which are above and keep them from falling upon the earth in excess 7. And so it became a partition betwixt the upper the lower waters so that by virtue of this hollow Firmament man might live safe from the violence of such destructive inundations as one sheltred in a well-pitch'd tent from storm of rain For the danger of these waters is apparent to the eye this ceruleous or blew-coloured Sea that over-spreads the diaphanous Firmament being easily discern'd through the body thereof and there are very frequent and copious showers of rain descend from above when as there is no water espyed ascending up thither wherefore it must all come from that upper Sea if we do but appeal to our outward sense 8 Now therefore this diaphanous Canopy or firmly stretched Tent over the whole pavement of the earth though I cannot say properly that God saw it was good it being indeed of a nature invisible yet the use of it shows it to be exceeding good and necessary And God called the whole capacity of this hollow Firmament Heaven And the evening and the morning made up the second natural day 9 And now so sure a Defence being made against the inundation of the upper waters that they might not fall upon the earth God betook himself the next day to order the lower waters that as yet were spread over the whole face thereof at his command therefore the waters fled into one place and the dry land did appear 10 And God called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters he called Sea and I may now properly say that God saw that it was good for the Sea and the Land are things visible enough and fit objects of our sight 11 And forthwith before he made either Sun Moon or Stars did God command the earth to bring forth grasse herbs and flowers in their full beauty and fruit-trees yeilding delicious fruit though there had as yet been no vicissitude of Spring Summer or Autumn nor any approach of the Sun to ripen and concoct the fruit of those trees Whence you may easily discern the foolishnesse of the idolatrous Nations that dote so much on second causes as that they forget the first ascribing that to the Sun and Moon that was caus'd at first by the immediate command of God 12 For at his command it was before there was either Sun or Moon in the Firmament that the earth brought forth grasse and herb yeilding seed after his kind and the tree yeilding fruit whose seed was in
Aegyptum in manum dominorum duri And Exod. 22. 10. Et accipiet domini ejus for dominus The Text therefore necessarily requiring no such sense and the mysterie being so abstruse it is rightly left out in this Literal Cabbala Vers 2. In the first verse there was a summary Proposal of the whole Creation in those two main parts of it Heaven and Earth Now he begins the particular prosecution of each days work But it is not needful for him here again to inculcate the making of the Earth For it is the last word he spake in his general Proposal and therefore it had been harsh or needless to have repeated it presently again And that 's the reason why before the making of the Earth there is not prefixed And the Lord said Let there be an Earth Which I conceive has imposed upon the ignorance and inconsiderateness of some so as to make them believe that this confused muddy heap which is called the Earth was an Eternal First Matter independent of God and never created by him Which if a man appeal to his own Faculties is impossible as I shall again intimate when I come to the Philosophick Cabbala The sense therefore is That the Earth was made first which was covered with water and on the water was the wind and in all this a thick darkness And God was in this dark windy and wet Night So that this Globe of Earth and Water and Wind was but one dark Tempest and Sea-storm a Night of confusion and tumultuous Agitation For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not in the Letter any thing more then Ventus ingens A great and mighty wind As the Cedars of God and Mountains of God are tall Cedars great Mountains and so in Analogy the Wind of God a great Wind. Vers 3. But in the midst of this tempestuous darkness God intending to fall to his work doth as it were light his Lamp or set up himself a Candle in this dark Shop And what ever hitherto hath been mentioned are words that strike the Fancy and Sense strongly and are of easie perception to the rude people whom every dark and stormy Night may well reminde of the sad face of things till God commanded the comfortable Day to spring forth the sole Author of Light that so pleases the eyes and chears the spirits of Man And that Day-light is a thing independent of the Sun as well as the Night of the Stars is a conceit wondrous sutable to the imaginations of the Vulgar as I have my self found out by conversing with them They are also prone to think unlesse there be a sensible wind stirring that there is nothing betwixt the Earth and the Clouds but that it is a meer vacuity Wherefore I have not translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Air as Maimonides somewhere does but a mighty wind For that the rude people are sensible of and making the first deformed face of things so dismal and tempestuous it will cause them to remember the first morning light with more thankfulness and devotion Vers 4. For it is a thing very visible See what is said upon the eighth verse Vers 5. By Evening and Morning is meant the Artificial Day and the Artificial Night by a Synecdoche as Castellio in his Notes tells us Therefore this Artificial Day and Night put together make one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Natural Day And the Evening is put before the Morning Night before Day because Darkness is before Light But that Primitive darkness was not properly Night For Night is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle describes it one great Shaddow cast from the Earth which implies Light of one side thereof And therefore Night properly so called could not be before Light But the illiterate people trouble themselves with no such curiosities nor easily conceive any such difference betwixt that determinate Conical shaddow of the Earth which is Night and that infinite primitive Darkness that had no bounds before there was any Light And therefore that same Darkness prefixed to an Artificial Day makes up one Natural Day to them Which Hesiod also swallows down without chewing whether following his own fancy or this Text of Moses I know not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is But of the Night both Day and Skie were born Vers 6. This Basis or Floor That the Earth seems like a round Floor plain and running out so every way as to join with the bottome of the Heavens I have in my Introduction hinted to you already and that it is look'd upon as such in the phrase of Scripture accommodating it self to our outward senses and vulgar conceit Upon this Floor stands the hollow Firmament as a Tent pitched upon the ground which is the very expression of the Prophet Esay describing the Power of God That stretcheth out the Heavens like a Curtain and spreadeth them out as a Tent to dwell in And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is usually rendred Firmament signifies diduction expansion or spreading out But how the Seventy come to interpret it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Firmamentum Fuller in his Miscellanies gives a very ingenious reason and such as makes very much to our purpose Nam coelum seu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he quandoquidem Tentoxio saepissimè in sacris literis assimilatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicitur quatenus expanditur Sic enim expandi solent Tentâ—ria quum alligatis ad paxillos in terram depactos funibus distenduntur atque hoc etiam pacto firmantur Itaque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 immensum quoddam ut ita dicam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ideóque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non ineptè appelletur The sense of which in brief is nothing but this That the Seventy translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Firmamentum because the Heavens are spread out like a well-fastned and firmly pitched Ten. And I add also that they are so stiffely stretched that they will strongly bear against the weight of the upper waters so that they are not able to break them down and therewith to drown the world Which conceit as it is easie and agreeable with the fancy of the people so it is so far from doing them any hurt that it will make them more sensible of the divine Power and Providence who thus by main force keeps off a Sea of water that hangs over their heads which they discern through the transparent Firmament for it looks blew as other Seas do and would rush at once upon them and drown them did not the Power of God and the strength of the Firmament hold it off Vers 7. See what hath been already said upon the sixt verse I will only here add That the nearness of these upper waters makes them still the more formidable and so are greater spurs to devotion For as they are brought so near as to touch the Earth at the bottome so outward sense still being Judge they are to be within a small distance
Matter Castellio translates it Liquidum and this universal Matter is most what fluid still all over the world but at first it was fluid universally Betwixt the aforesaid fluid Possibility c. But here it may be you 'll enquire how this Corporeal Matter shall be conceived to be betwixt the waters above and these underneath For what can be the waters above Maimonides requires no such continued Analogy in the hidden sense of Scripture as you may see in his Preface to his Moreh Nevochim But I need not fly to that general refuge For me thinks that the Seminal Forms that descend through the Matter and so reach the Possibility of the parts of the outward Creation and make them spring up into act are not unlike the drops of rain that descend through the Heaven or Air and make the Earth fruitful Besides the Seminal Forms of things lie round as I may so speak and contracted at first but spread when they bring any part of the Possibility of the outward Creation into act as drops of rain spread when they are fallen to the ground So that the Analogy is palpable enough though it may seem too elaborate and curious We may adde to all this concerning the Naides or Water Nymphs that the Ancients understood by them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All manner of Souls that descend into the Matter and Generation Wherefore the watry Powers as Porphyrius also calls these Nymphs it is not at all harsh to conceive that they may be here indigitated by the name of the Vpper waters See Porphyrius in his De Antro Nympharum Ver. 7. What mischief straying Souls The frequent complaints that that noble Spirit in Pythagoreans and Platonists makes against the incumbrances and disadvantages of the Body makes this Cabbala very probable And it is something like our Divines fancying Hell to be created this day Ver. 8. Actuated and agitated This is consonant to Plato's School who makes the Matter unmovable of it self which is most reasonable For if it were of its own nature movable nothing for a moment would hold together but dissolve it self into infinitely little Particles whence it is manifest that there must be something besides the Matter either to binde it or to move it So that the Creation of Immaterial Beeings is in that respect also necessary Rightly called Heaven I mean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For this agitation of the Matter brought it to Des Cartes his second Principle which is the true Aether or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For it is liquid as water and yet has in it the fierce Principle of Fire which is the first Element and most subtile of all The thing is at first sight understood by Cartesians who will easily admit of that Notation of the Rabbines in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as being from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fire and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Water For so R. Bechai The Heavens sayes he were created from the beginning and are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fire and Water which no Philosophy makes good so well as the Cartesian For the round particles like water though they be not of the same Figure flake the fierceness of the first Principle which is the purest Fire And yet this Fire in some measure alway lies within the Triangular Intervals of the round Particles as that Philosophy declares at large And the Binary How fitly again doth the number agree with the nature of the work of this day which is the Creation of Corporeal Matter And the Pythagoreans call the number Two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matter Simplicius upon Aristotles Physicks speaking of the Pythagoreans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They might well sayes he call One Form as defining and terminating to certain shape and property whatever it takes holds of And Two they might well call Matter it being undeterminate and the cause of Bigness and Divisibility And they have very copiously heaped upon the number Two such appellations as are most proper to Corporeal Matter As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnfigured Vndeterminated Vnlimited For such is Matter of it self till Form take hold of it It is called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the fluidity of the Matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it affords substance to the Heavens and Starres 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Contention Fate and Death for these are the consequencies of the Souls being joined with corporeal Matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Motion Generation and Division which are Properties plainly appertaining to Bodies They call this number also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Subject that endures and undergoes all the changes and alterations the active Forms put upon it Wherefore it is plain that the Pythagoreans understood Corporeal Matter by the number Two which no man can deny but that it is a very fit Symbole of Division that eminent Property of Matter But we might cast in a further reason of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being created the second day for the Celestial Matter does consist of two plainly distinguishable parts to wit the first Element and the second or the Materia subtilissima and the round Particles as I have already intimated out of Des Cartes his Philosophy Ver. 9. It is referred to the following day You are to understand that these Six numbers or days do not signifié any order of time but the nature of the things that were said to be made in them But for any thing in Moses his Philosophick Cabbala all might be made at once or in such periods of time as is most sutable to the nature of the things themselves What is said upon this ninth verse will be better understood and with more full satisfaction when we come to the fourth days work Ver. 13. And the Ternary denotes In this third day was the waters commanded into one place the Earth adorned with all manner of Plants Paradise and all the pleasure and plenty of it created wherein the Serpent beguiled Eve and so forth What can therefore be more likely then that the Pythagoreans use their numbers as certain remembrancers of the particular passages of this History of the Creation when as they call the number Three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Triton and Lord of the Sea which is in reference to Gods commanding the water into one place and making thereof a Sea They call also the Ternary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The former intimates the plenty of Paradise the latter relates to the Serpent there But now besides this we shall find the Ternary very significant of the nature of this days work For first the Earth consists of the third Element in the Cartesian Philosophy for the truth of that Philosophy will force it self in whether I will or no and then again there are three grand parts of
Animadversion of the Order and Oeconomy of the Universe And Philo who does much Pythagorize in his Exposition of Moses observes That this number Four contains the most perfect proportions in Musical Symphonies viz. Diatessaron Diapente Diapason and Disdiapason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. For the proportion of Diatessaron is as Four to Three of Diapente as Three to Two of Diapason as Two to One or Four to Two of Disdiapason as Four to One. We might cast in also the consideration of that divine Nemesis which God has placed in the frame and nature of the Universal Creation as he is a Distributer to every one according to his works From whence himself is also called Nemesis by Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because he every where distributes what is due to every one This is in ordinary language Justice and both Philo and Plotinus out of the Pythagoreans affirms that the number Four is a Symbole of Justice All which makes towards what I drive at that the whole Creation is concerned in this number Four which is called the Fourth day And for further eviction we may yet adde that as all numbers are contained in Four virtually by all numbers is meant Ten for when we come to Ten we go back again so the root and foundation of all the Corporeal Creation is laid in this fourth days work wherein Suns Earths and Moons are made and the ever whirling Vortices For as Philo observes Pythagorean-like Ten which they call also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the World Heaven and All-perfectnesse is made by the scattering of the parts of Four thus 1 2 3 4. Put these together now and they are Ten. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Vniverse And this was such a secret amongst Pythagoras his disciples that it was a solemn oath with them to swear by him that delivered to them the mysterie of the Tetractys Tetrad or number Four 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By him that did to us disclose The Tetrads mysterie Where Natures Fount that ever flowes And hidden root doth lie Thus they swore by Pythagoras as is conceived who taught them this mysterious tradition And had it not been a right worshipful mysterie think you indeed and worthy of the solemnity of Religion and of an Oath to understand that 1 2 3 4. make Ten. And that Ten is All which rude mankinde told first upon their fingers and Arithmeticians discover it by calling them Digits at this very day There is no likelihood that so wise a man as Pythagoras was should lay any stress upon such trifles or that his Scholars should be such fools as to be taken with them But it is well known that the Pythagoreans held the Motion of the Earth about the Sun which is plainly implied according to the Philosophick Cabbala of this Fourth days work So much of his secrets got out to common knowledge and fame But it is very highly probable that he had the whole Philosophick Cabbala of the Creation opened to him by some knowing Priest or Philosopher as we now call them in the Oriental parts that under this mysterie of numbers set out to him the choicest and most precious conclusions in Natural Philosophy interpreting as I conceive the Text of Moses in some such way as I have light upon and making all those generous and ample conclusions good by Demonstration and Reason And so Pythagoras being well furnished with the knowledge of things was willing to impart them to those whose piety and capacity was fit to receive them Not laying aside that outward form of numbers which they were first conveied to himself in But such Arithmetical nugacities as are ordinarily recorded for his in dry numbers to have been the riches of the Wisdome of so famous a Philosopher is a thing beyond all credit or probability Wherefore I conceive that the choicest and most precious treasures of knowledge being laid open in the Cabbala of the Fourth day from thence it was that so much Solemnity and Religion was put upon that number which he called his Tetractys which seems to have been of two kindes the one the single number Four the other Thirty six made of the four first Masculine numbers and the four first Feminine viz. of 1 3 5 7. and of 2 4 6 8. wherein you see that the former and more simple Tetractys is still included and made use of for Four here takes place again in the Assignment of the Masculine and Feminine Numbers Whence I further conceive that under the number of this more complex Tetrad which contains also the other in it he taught his disciples the mysterie of the whole Creation opening to them the nature of all things as well Spiritual as Corporeal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a certain Author writes For an even Number carries along with it divisibility and passibility But an odde Number indivisibility impassibility and activity wherefore that is called Feminine this Masculine Wherefore the putting together of the four first Masculine Numbers to the four first Feminine is the joining of the active and passive Principles together matching the parts of the Matter with congruous Forms from the World of life So that I conceive the Tetractys was a a Symbole of the whole Systeme of Pythagoras his Philosophy which we may very justly suspect to be the same with the Mosaical Cabbala And the root of this Tetractys is Six which again hits upon Moses and remindes us of the Six days work of the Creation Ver. 20. Fish and Fowl are made in the same day And here Moses does plainly play the Philosopher in joining them together for there is more affinity betwixt them then is easily discerned by the heedlesse vulgar for besides that Fowls frequent the waters very much many kindes of them I mean these Elements themselves of Air and Water for their thinnesse and liquidity are very like one another Besides the sinnes of fishes and the wings of birds the feathers of one and the scales of the other are very Analogical They are both also destitute of Vreters Dugges and Milk and are Oviparous Further their motions are mainly alike the fishes as it were flying in the water and the fowls swimming in the Air according to that of the Poet concerning Daedalus when he had made himself wings Insuetum per iter gelidas enavit ad Arctos Cast in this also that as some fowls dive and swim under water so some fishes fly above the water in the air for a considerable space till their finnes begin to be something stiffe and dry Ver. 23. And the Quinary denotes Philo does not here omit that obvious consideration of the Five senses in Animals But it is a strange coincidence if it was not intended that living creatures should be said to be made in the Fift and Sixt day those Numbers according to the Pythagorical mysterie being so fitly significant of the nature of them For Five is
obvious to insist upon And thus Ignorance and Inquiry The soul of man is never quiet but in perpetual search till she has found out her own happinesse which is the heavenly Adam Christ the Image of God into which Image and likenesse when we are throughly awakened we are fully satisfied therewith till then we are in Ignorance and Confusion as the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does fitly signifie This Ignorance Confusion and Dissatisfaction puts us upon seeking according to that measure of the Morning light that hath already visited us And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to seek to consider and inquire This is the Generation of those that seek thy face O Jacob that is the face of Jesus Christ the result of the Sixt days work as I have intimated before Ver. 6. Of savoury and affectionate discernment Wherefore he will not assent to Solomons whore who says Stoln water is sweet but will rather use the words of the Samaritane woman to Christ when he had told her of those waters of the Spirit though she did not so perfectly reach his meaning Sir give me this water that I thirst not neither come hither to draw For who would seek to satisfie himself with the toilsome pleasures of the world when he may quench his desires with the delicious draughts of that true and yet easie-flowing Nectar of the Spirit of God Ver. 10. To compare to the Earth Origen compares this condition to the Earth for fruitfulnesse but I thought it not impertinent to take notice of the steadinesse of the Earth also But the condition of the ungodly is like the raging waves of the Sea or as the Prophet speaks The wicked are as the troubled Sea that cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt Esay 57. Ver. 11. He is a fruitful field This Interpretation is Origens as I intimated before Ver. 14. According to the difference of these lights What this difference is you will understand out of the sixteenth and eighteenth verses Ver. 18. To this one single but vigorous and effectual Light For indeed a true and sincere sense of this one comprehends all For all the Law is fulfilled in one word to wit in this Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul and thy neighbour as thy self and to do so to others as we our selves would be done to Wherefore for men to make nothing of this Royal Law of Christ and yet to pretend to be more accurate Indagators into matters of Religion and more affectionate Lovers of Piety then ordinary is either to be abominably hypocritical or grossely ignorant in the most precious and necessary parts of Christianity and they walk by Star-light and Moon-light not under the clear and warm enlivening raies of the Sunne of Righteousnesse It is an excellent saying of Plato's in an Epistle of his to Dionysius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Truth lies in a little room and assuredly that which is best and most precious does when as the folly of every man notwithstanding so mis-guides him that his toil and study is but to adorn himself after the mode of the most ridiculous fellow in all the Graecian Army Thersites of whom the Poet gives this testimony that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he had a rabble of disordered Notions and fruitlesse Observations but that neither he nor any body else could make either head or foot of them nor himself became either more wise or more honest by having them That Precept of the Pythagoreans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Simplifie your self Reduce your self to One How wise how holy how true is it What a sure foundation is it of life liberty and easie sagacity in things belonging to Virtue Religion and Justice I think no man is born naturally so stupid but that if he will keep close to this single Light of divine Love in due time nay in a short time he will be no more to seek what is to be done in the carriage of his life to God or man then an unblemished eye will be at a losse to distinguish colours But if he forsake this One Light he will necessarily be benighted and his minde distracted with a multitude of needlesse and uncomfortable scrupulosities and faint and ineffectual Notions and every body will be ready to take him up for a night-wanderer and to chastise him for being out of his way and after it may be as friendly offer himself a guide to another path that will prove as little to the purpose unlesse he bring him into this Via Regia or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint James calls it This Royal Law of the sincere love of God and a mans neighbour Ver. 20. That is that the Concupiscible in man That the waters are an Emblem of this Concupiscible Venus her being born of the Sea does intimate which were not so much to the purpose did not Natural Philosophy and Experience certifie that Concupiscence is lodg'd in moisture Whence is that of Heraclitus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Porphyrius his De antro Nympharum i. e. Anima sicca sapientissima And without all question the inordinate use of the Concupiscible does mightily befor the soul and makes her very uncapable of divine Sense and Knowledge And yet to endevour after an utter insensibility of the pleasures of the body is as groundlesse and unwarrantable But concerning this I shall speak more fully on the 22. and 31. verses of this Chapter Ver. 21. Winged Ejaculations Whether mental or vocal they are not unfitly resembled to Fowls according to that of Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And if vocal words have wings the inward desires of the soul may well be said to have wings also they being the words of the minde as the other are of the mouth and fly further for the most part and get sooner to Heaven then the other Note also that Origen likewise makes a difference here betwixt the Fish and the Fowl and makes the Fowl to be good cogitations the Fish evil But I account them rather both indifferent and to be regulated not extirpated by the Mystical Adam Christ the Image of God in Man And these strong Heats and Ejaculations are the effects of Melancholy wherein the divine Principle in man when it actuates it works very fiercely and sharply and is a great waster of the delightful moisture of the Concupiscible and weakens much the pleasures of the body to the great advantage of the minde if it be done with discretion and due moderation otherways if this passion be over-much indulged to it may lead to Hecticks Phrenzies and Distractions The contrivance of the Text mentioning only such Fowls as frequent the waters naturally points to this sense we have given it but if our imagination strike out further to other winged creatures as the Fowls of the Mountains and sundry sorts of Birds they may also have their proper meanings and are a part
that it is nothing but the stilnesse and fixednesse of Melancholy that thus abuses him and in stead of the true divine Principle would take the Government to it self and in this usurped tyranny cruelly destroy all the rest of the Animal Figurations But the true divine Life would destroy nothing that is in Nature but only regulate things and order them for the more full and sincere enjoyments of man reproaching nothing but sinfulnesse and enormity entituling Sanguine and Choler to as much Virtue and Religion as either Phlegme or Melancholy For the divine Life as it is to take into it self the humane nature in general so it is not abhorrent from any of the complexions thereof But the squabbles in the world are ordinarily not about true Piety and Virtue but which of the Complexions or what Humour shall ascend the Throne and fit there in stead of Christ himself But I will not expatiate too much upon one Theme I shall rather take a short view of the whole Allegory of the Chapter In the first Day there is Earth Water and Wind over whâ—ch and through which there is nothing but disconsolate darknesse and tumultuous agitation The Winds ruffling up the Waters into mighty waves the waves washing up the mire and dirt into the water all becoming but a rude heap of confusion and desolation This is the state of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Earthly Adam as Philo calls him till God command the Light to shine out of Darknesse offering him a guide to a better condition In the second day is the Firmament created dividing the upper and the lower Waters that it may feel the strong impulses or taste the different relishes of either Thus is the will of man touch'd from above and beneath and this is the day wherein is set before him Life and Death Good and Evil and he may put out his hand and take his choice In the third day is the Earth uncovered of the Waters for the planting of fruit-bearing trees By their fruits you shall know them saith our Saviour that is by their works In the fourth day there appears a more full accession of divine Light and the Sun of Righteousnesse warms the soul with a sincere love both of God and man In the fift day that this Light of Righteousnesse and bright Eye of divine Reason may not brandish its rayes in the empty field where there is nothing either to subdue or guide and order God sends out whole sholes of Fishes in the Waters and numerous flights of Fowls in the Air besides part of the sixt days work wherein all kinde of Beasts are created In these are decyphered the sundry suggestions and cogitations of the minde sprung from these lower Elements of the humane nature viz. Earth and Water Flesh and Blood all these man beholds in the Light of the Sun of Righteousnesse discovers what they are knows what to call them can rule over them and is not wrought to be over-ruled by them This is Adam the Master-piece of Gods Creation and Lord of all the creatures framed after the Image of God Christ according to the Spirit under whose feet is subdued the whole Animal Life with its sundry Motions Forms and Shapes He will call every thing by its proper name and set every creature in its proper place The vile person shall be no longer called liberal nor the churl bountiful Wo be unto them that call evil good and good evil that call the light darknesse and the darknesse light He will not call bitter Passion holy Zeal nor plausible meretricious Courtesie Friendship nor a false soft abhorrency from punishing the ill-deserving Pity nor Cruelty Justice nor Revenge Magnanimity nor Unfaithfulnesse Policy nor Verbosity either Wisdome or Piety But I have run my self into the second Chapter before I am aware In this first Adam is said only to have dominion over all the living creatures and to feed upon the fruit of the Plants And what is Pride but a mighty Mountainous Whale Lust a Goat the Lion and Bear wilful dominion Craft a Fox and worldly toil an Oxe Over these and a thousand more is the rule of Man I mean of Adam the Image of God But his meat and drink is to do the will of his Maker this is the fruit he feeds upon Behold therefore O Man what thou art and whereunto thou art called even to bee a mighty Prince amongst the creatures of God and to bear rule in that Province he has assigned thee to discern the Motions of thine own heart and to be Lord over the suggestions of thine own natural spirit not to listen to the counsel of the flesh nor conspire with the Serpent against thy Creator But to keep thy heart free and faithful to thy God so maist thou with innocency and unblameablenesse see all the Motions of Life and bear rule with God over the whole Creation committed to thee This shall be thy Paradise and harmlesse sport on Earth till God shall transplant thee to an higher condition of happinesse in Heaven CHAP. II. The full sense of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that keeps men from entring into the true Sabbath 4 The great necessity of distinguishing the innocent motions of Nature from the suggestions of Sin 5 That the growth of a true Christian indeed doth not adaequately depend upon the lips of the Priest 7 The meaning of This is he that comes by Water and Blood 8 The meaning of Repent for the Kingdome of Heaven is at hand The seventh thousand years the great Sabbatism of the Church of God That there will be then frequent converse betwixt Men and Angels 9 The Tree of Life how fitly in the Mystical sense said to be in the midst of the Garden 17 A twofold death contracted by Adams disobedience The Masculine and Feminine Faculties in Man what they are Actuating a Body an Essential operation of the Soul and the reason of that so joyful appearance of Eve to the Humane Nature TO the fift verse there is nothing but a recapitulation of what went before in the first Chapter and therefore wants no further proof then what has already been alledged out of S Paul and Origen and other Writers Only there is mention of a Sabbath in the second verse of this Chapter of which there was no words before And this is that Sabbatisme or Rest that the Author to the Hebrews exhorts them to strive to enter into through faith and obedience For those that were faint-hearted and unbelieving and pretended that the children of Anak the off-spring of the Giants would be too hard for them they could not enter into the promised Land wherein they were to set up their rest under the conduct of Jâ—shua a Type of Jesus And the same Author in the same place makes mention of this very Sabbath that ensued the accomplishment of the Creation concluding thus There remaineth therefore a Sabbatisme or Rest to the people of God For he that has entred
that in processe of time not onely Ecclesiastical but Civil power it self will be involved in those ruines and Christ alone will be exalted in that day For before he deliver up the Kingdome to his Father he is to put down all Rule and all Authority and Power For he must reign till he have put all his enemies under his feet The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death which as I have already signified unto you though he be now the King of Terrours will in that great Festival and Sabbatisme by reason of so sensible and palpable union betwixt the Heavenly and Earthly nature be but a pleasant passage into an higher room or to use that more mysterious expression of the Rabbins concerning Moses in whose writings this Sabbatisme is adumbrated God will draw up a mans soul to himself by an Amorous kisse For such was the death of that holy man Moses who is said to have died in Moab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the kisses and embracements of God This shall be the condition of the Church of Christ for many hundred years Till the Wheel of Providence driving on further and the Stage of things drawing on to their last Period men shall not onely be freed from the fear and pain of death but there shall be no capacity of dying at all For then shall the day of the Lord come wherein the Heavens shall passe away with a noise and the Elements melt with fervent heat and the Earth with all the things in it shall be burnt up Thus Christ having done vengeance upon the obstinately wicked and disobedient and fully triumphed over all his enemies he will give up his Kingdome to his Father whose Vicegerent hitherto he hath been in the affairs of both Men and Angels But till then whosoever by pretending to be more Spiritual and Mystical then other men would smother those essential Principles of the Christian Religion that have reference to the external Person of Christ let him phrase it as well as he will or speak as magnificently of himself as he can we are never to let go the plain and warrantable Faith of the Word for ungrounded fancies and fine sayings Wherefore let every man seek God apart and search out the Truth in the holy Scripture preparing himself for a right understanding thereof by stedfastly and sincerely practising such things as are plainly and uncontrovertedly contained therein and expect illumination according to the best communication thereof that is answerably to our own faculties otherwise if we bid all Reason and History and Humane helps and Acquisitions quite adiew the world will never be rid of Religious Lunacies and Fancies FINIS AN ACCOUNT of what is contained in the Prefaces and Chapters of this Book In the Preface to the Reader What is meant by the tearm Cabbala and how warrantably the literal Exposition of the Text may be so called That dispensable speculations are best propounded in a Sceptical manner A clear description of the nature and digniety of Reason and what the divine Logos is The general probabilities of the truth of this present Cabbala The designe of the Author in publishing of it THE LITERAL CABBALA CHAP. I. 2 The Earth at first a deep miry abysse covered over with waters over which was a fierce wind and through all darknesse 3 Day made at first without a Sun 6 The Earth a floor the Heavens a transparent Canopy or strong Tent over it to keep off the upper waters or blew conspicuous Sea from drowning the world 8 Why this Tent or Canopy was not said to be good 9 The lower waters commanded into one place 11 Herbs flowers and fruits of Trees before either Sun or seasons of the year to ripen them 14 The Sun created to and added the day as a peculiar ornament thereof as the Moon and Stars to the night 20 The Creation of Fish and Fowl 24 The Creation of beasts and creeping things 27 Man created in the very shape and figure of God but yet so that there were made females as well as males 28 How man came to be Lord over the rest of living creatures 30 How it came to pass that man feeds on the better sort of the fruits of the Earth and the beasts on the worse p. 1 CHAP. II. 3 The Original of the Jewish Sabbaths from Gods resting himself from his six days labours 5 Herbs and Plants before either Rain Gardning or Husbandry and the reason why it was so 7 Adam made of the dust of the ground and his soul breathed in at his nosthrils 8 The Planting of Paradise 9 A wonderful Tree there that would continue youth and make a man immortal upon earth Another strange Tree viz. the Tree of knowledge of good and evil 11 The Rivers of Paradise Phasis Gihon Tigris Euphrates 18 The high commendation of Matrimony 19 Adam gives names to all kinde of creatures except fishes 21 Woman is made of a rib of Adam a deep sleep falling upon him his minde then also being in a trance 24 The first Institution of Marriage 9 CHAP. III. 1 A subtile Serpent in Paradise indued with both reason and the power of speech deceives the woman 2 The Dialogue betwixt the woman and the Serpent 7 How the shame of nakednesse came into the world 8 God walks in the Garden and calls to Adam 10 The Dialogue betwixt Adam and God 14 The reasons why Serpents want feet and creep upon the ground 15 The reason of the antipathy betwixt Men and Serpents 16 As also of womens pangs in childe-bearing and of their being bound in subjection to their husbands 18 Also of the barrennesse of the earth and of mans toil and drudgery 21 God teacheth Adam and Eve the use of leathern clothing 24 Paradise haunted with apparitions Adam frighted from daring to taste of the Tree of Life whence his posterity became mortal to this very day 15 THE PHILOSOPHICK CABBALA CHAP. I. 1 The world of Life or Forms and the Potentiality of the visible Vniverse created by the Tri-une God and referr'd to a Monad or Unite 6 The Vniversal immense matter of the visible world created out of nothing and referr'd to the number Two 7 Why it was not said of this matter that it was good 9 The ordering of an Earth or Planet for making it conveniently habitable referr'd to the number Three 14 The immense Aethereal Matter or Heaven contriv'd into Suns or Planets as well Primary as Secondary viz. as well Earths as Moons and referr'd to the number Four 20 The replenishing of an Earth with Fish and Fowl referr'd to the number Five 24 The Creation of Beasts and Cattel but more chiefly of Man himself referr'd to the number Six 22 CHAP. II. 2 Gods full and absolute rest from creating any thing of anew adumbrated by the number Seven 4 Suns and Planets not only the furniture but effects of the Ethereal Matter or Heaven 6 The manner of Man and other Animals rising out of the
he was taken 24 So he drove out Adam and his wife was forced to follow him For there was no longer staying in Paradise because the place was terribly haunted with spirits and fearful apparitions appeared at the entrance thereof winged men with fiery flaming swords in their hands brandished every way so that Adam durst never adventure to go back to taste of the fruit of the Tree of Life whence it is that mankinde hath continued mortal to this very day THE PHILOSOPHICK CABBALA CHAP. I. 1 The world of Life or Forms and the Potentiality of the visible Vniverse created by the Tri-une God and referr'd to a Monad or Unite 6 The Vniversal immense matter of the visible world created out of nothing and referr'd to the number Two 7 Why it was not said of this matter that it was good 9 The ordering of an Earth or Planet for making it conveniently habitable referr'd to the number Three 14 The immense Aethereal matter or Heaven contriv'd into Suns or Planets as well Primary as Secondary viz. as well Earths as Moons and referr'd to the number Four 20 The replenishing of an Earth with Fish and Fowl referr'd to the number Five 24 The Creation of Beasts and Cattel but more chiefly of Man himself referr'd to the number Six 1 OUR designe being to set out the more conspicuous parts of the external Creation before we descend to the Genealogies and Successions of mankinde there are two notable objects present themselves to our understanding which we must first take notice of as having an universal influence upon all that follows and these I do Symbolically decypher the one by the name of Heaven and Light for I mean the same thing by both these tearms the other by the name of Earth By Heaven or Light you are to understand The whole comprehension of intellectual Spirits souls of men and beasts and the seminal forms of all things which you may call if you please The world of Life By Earth you are to understand the Potentiality or Capability of the Existence of the outward Creation This Possibility being exhibited to our mindes as the result of the Omnipotence of God without whom nothing would be and is indeed the utmost shadow and darkest projection thereof The Tri-une God therefore by his eternall Wisdome first created this Symbolical Heaven and Earth 2 And this Earth was nothing but Solitude and Emptinesse and it was a deep bottomless capacity of being what ever God thought good to make out of it that implyed no contradiction to be made And there being a possibility of creating things after sundry and manifold manners nothing was yet determined but this vast Capability of things was unsettled fluid and of it self undeterminable as water But the Spirit of God who was the Vehicle of the Eternal Wisdome and of the Super-essential Goodnesse by a swift forecast of Counsel and Discourse of Reason truly divine such as at once strikes through all things and discerns what is best to be done having hover'd a while over all the capacities of this fluid Possibilitie forthwith settled upon what was the most perfect and exact 3 Wherefore the intire Deity by an inward Word which is nothing but Wisdome and Power edg'd with actual Will with more ease then we can present any Notion or Idea to our own mindes exhibited really to their own view the whole Creation of spiritual Substances such as Angels are in their inward natures the Souls of men and other Animals and the Seminal Forms of all things so that all those as many as ever were to be of them did really and actually exist without any dependency on corporeall matter 4 And God approved of and pleased himself in all this as good but yet though in designe there was a settlement of the fluid darknesse or obscure Possibility of the outward Creation yet it remained as yet but a dark Possibility And a notorious distinction indeed there was betwixt this Actual spiritual Creation and the dimme possibility of the material or outward world 5. Insomuch that the one might very well be called Day and the other Night because the night does deface and obliterate all the distinct figures and colours of things but the day exhibits them all orderly and clearly to our sight Thus therefore was the immateriall Creature perfectly finisht being an inexhaustible Treasury of Light and Form for the garnishing and consummating the material world to afford a Morning or Active principle to every Passive one in the future parts of the corporeal Creation But in this first days work as we will call it the Morning and Evening are purely Metaphysical for the active and passive principles here are not two distinct substances the one material the other spiritual But the passive principle is matter meerly Metaphysical and indeed no real or actual entity and as hath been already said is quite divided from the light or spiritual substance not belonging to it but to the outward world whose shadowy possibility it is But be they how they will this passive and active principle are the First days work A Monad or Unite being so fit a Symbole of the immaterial nature 6 And God thought again and invigorating his thought with his Will and Power created an immense deal of reall and corporeall matter a substance which you must conceive to lie betwixt the foresaid fluid Possibility of Natural things and the Region of Seminall Forms not that these things are distinguisht Locally but according to a more intellectual Order 7 And the thought of God arm'd with his Omnipotent will took effect and this immensely diffused matter was made But he was not very forward to say it was good or to please himself much in it because he foresaw what mischief straying souls if they were not very cautious might bring to themselves by sinking themselves too deep therein Besides it was little worth till greater polishings were bestowed upon it and his Wisdome had contrived it to fitting uses being nothing as yet but a boundlesse Ocean of rude invisible Matter 8 Wherefore this Matter was actuated and agitated forthwith by some Universal Spirit yet part of the World of Life whence it became very subtile and Ethereal so that this Matter was rightly called Heaven and the Union of the Passive and Active Principle in the Creation of this Material Heaven is the second days work and the Binarie denotes the nature thereof 9 I shall also declare unto you how God orders a reall materiall Earth when once it is made to make it pleasant and delightful for both man and beast But for the very making of the Earth it is to be referred to the following day For the Stars and Planets belong to that number and as a primary Planet in respect of its reflexion of light is rightly called a Planet so in respect of its habitablenesse it is as rightly tearmed an Earth These Earths therefore God orders in such sort that they neither want water to