WHEN I found out this Trueth, That Man in his Originall was a Branch planted in God and that there was a continuall Influxe from the Stock to the Sion, I was much troubl'd at his Corruptions, and wonder'd his Fruits were not correspondent to his Roote. But when I was told he had tasted of an other Tree, my admiration was quickly off, it being my chiefe care to re­duce him to his first Simplicitie, and separate his Mixtures of Good and Evill. But his Fall [Page 2] had so bruised him in his best part. that his Soule had no knowledge left to study him a Cure, his Punishment presently followed his C. Agrip. de vanit. Scient.Trespasse: Velata sunt omnia, intra­vitq oblivio mater ignorantiae. This Lethe remained not, in his body, but passing together with his Nature, made his Posterity her Channell. Imperfection's an easy inheritance, but Vertue seldome finds any Heires. Man had at the first, and so have all Souls before their Intrance into the body, an Explicite methodicall knowledge, but they are no sooner Vessel'd but that Liberty is lost, and nothing remaines but a Vast confused Notion of the Creature, Thus had I only left a Capa­city without Power, and a Will to doe that, which was far enough above me. In this per­plexity I studied severall Arts, and ramel'd over all those Inventions which the folly of man call'd Sciences; But these endeavours sor­ting not to my purpose, I quitted this Booke-bu­sinesse, and thought it a better course to study Nature then Opinion. Hereupon I considered with my selfe, that man was not the Primitive immediate worke of God, but the World, out of which he was made. And to regulate my stu­dies in point of Methode, I judg'd it conveni­ent to examine his Principles first, and not him. But the World in generall being too large for [Page 3] Inquisition, I resolv'd to take Part for the Whole, and to give a guesse at the Frame by Proportion. To perfect this my Essay, I tooke to task the Fruits of one Spring: Here I obser­ved a great many Vegetables fresh and beauti­ous in their Time, but when I looked back on their Original, they were no such things as Ve­getables. This Observation I apply'd to the World, and gained by it this Inference: That the World in the beginning was no such thing as it is, but some other seed or matter out of which that Fabrick which I now behold, did arise. But resting not here, I drove my Con­clusion further; I conceav'd those seeds whereof Vegetables did spring, must be something else at first then Seeds, as having some praeexistent mat­ter wherof they were made, but what that mat­ter should be I could not guesse. Here was I forc'd to leave off Speculation, and come up to Experience. Whiles I sought the World, I went beyond it, and I was now in Quest of a Substance, which without Art I could not see. Nature wrapps this most strangly in her very bosome, neither doth she expose it to any thing but her own Vitall Caelestiall Breath. But in respect that God Almighty is the onely proper immediate. Agent which actuates this matter, as well in the work of Generation, as formerly in his Creation, it will not be amisse to speak [Page 4] something of Him, that we may know the Cause by his Creatures, and the Creatures by their Cause.

It is Gods own positive truth: In the Beginning That is, In that dead silence, Esdr. In that horrible & empty Darknes when as yet nothing was fashioned, then (saith the lord) [Page 5] did I consider those things, and they all were made through me alone, and through non other, By me also shall they be ended and by none other. That Meditation forerunns every Solemne Worke, is a thing so well knowne to man, that he needs no further Demonstration of it then his owne Practice: That there is also in God something Analogicall to it from whence Man derived this Customary Notion of his; As it is most agreeable to Reason, so withall is it very sutable to Providence.Dij (saith I amblicus) concipiunt in se totum opus, antequam parturi­unt. And the Spirit here to Esdras, Then did I consider these things, He consider'd them first and made them afterwards. God in his AE­ternall Idea, foresaw That whereof as yet there was no Materiall Copy: The goodnes and Beauty of the one, mov'd him to create the o­ther, and truly the Image of this Prototype being imbosom'd in the Second made Him so much in love with his Creature, that when Sin had defac'd it, He restor'd it by the suffer­ing of that Patterne by which at first it was made. Dyonisius the Areopagite, who liv'd in the Primitive Times, and received the Myste­ries of Divinity immediately from the A­postles, stiles God the Father, sometimes Arca­num Divinitatis, somtimes Occultum illud Su­per substantiale and elsewhere he compares him [Page 6] to a Roote, whose Flowers are the Second and Third Person. This is true; For God the Fa­ther is the Basis or supernaturall Foundation of his Creatures. God the Son, is the Patterne in whose expresse Image they were made: And God the Holy Ghost is Spiritus Opifea, or the Agent, who fram'd the creature in a just sym­metrie to his Type. This Consideration or type God hath since used in the performance of in­feriour works. Thus in the Institution of his Temple he commands Moses to the Mount, where the Divine Spirit shews him the Idea of the future Fabrick; And let them Exod. make me a Sanctuary that I may dwell amongst them, according to all that I shew thee, after the patterne of the Tabernacle, & the pattern of all the Instruments thereof, even so shall you make it. Thus the Divine mind doth instruct us porrigendo Ideas quadam extensione fui extra se, and sometimes more particularly in dreames. To Nebuchadnezzar he presents a Tree strong and high, reaching to the Hea­vens and the sight thereof to the ends of the Earth. To Pharaoh he shews seven Ears of Corne. To Joseph he appears in sheafes, and then resembles the Sun, Moon and Stars. To con­clude he may expresse himselfe by what he will, for in him are innumerable, eternall Prototypes, and he is the true Fountaine. and Treasure of [Page 7] Forms. But that we may come at last to the scope proposed: God the Father is the Meta­physicall, supercelestiall Sun, The second Person is the light, and the Third is Amor igneus, or a Divine heate proceeding from Both. Now with­out the presence of this Heate there is no Rece­ption of the Light, and by Consequence no In­flux from the Father of Lights. For this Amor is the Medium which unites the Lover to that which is beloved, & probably tis the Platonicks Daemon magnus, Qui con [...]ungit nos spirituum praefecturis. I could speak much more of the Offices of this Loving spirit, but these are Magnalia Dei, & Naturae, and require not our Discusse, so much as our reverence. Here also I might speak of that supernaturall Gene­ration, whereof Trismegistus: Monas gignit Monaden, & in se suum reflectit Ardorem; But I leave this to the Almighty God as his own Es­sentiall, Centrall mystery. It is my onely Inten­tion in this place to handle Exterior Actions, or the Processe of the Trinity from the Center to the Circumference: And that I may the bet­ter do it, you are to understand, that God before his work of Creation was wrapp'd up, and con­tracted in himself. In this state the Egyptians stile him Monas solitaria, and the Cabalists A­leph tenebrosum; But when the decreed Instant of Creation came, then appeared Aleph Luci­dum, [Page 8] and the first Emanation was that of the holy Ghost into the bosom of the matter. Thus we read that Darknesse was upon the sace Gen.of the deep and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Here you are to ob­serve that notwithstanding this processe of the third person, yet was there no Light, but dark­nesse on the face of the deep, Illumination pro­perly being the Office of the second. wherefore God also, when the matter was prepared by Love for Light, gives out his Fiat Lux, which was no Creation as most think, but an Ema­nation of the Word, in whom was life, and that life is the light of Men. This is that light whereof Saint John speaks, that it shines in the darknesse, and the darknesse comprehended it not. But lest I seem to be singular in this point, I will give you more evidence. Pimandras in­forming Trismegistus in the work of the Crea­tion tells him the self-same thing. Lumen illud Ego sum, Mens, Deus Tuus antiquior quam na­tura humida, quae ex umbra effulsit. And Geor­gius Venetus in his Book de Harmonia mundi: Omne quod vivit, propter inclusum ca­lorem vivit, Indè colligitur Caloris na­turam vim habere in se vitalem, in Mun­do passim diffusam: imo omnia ex Igne fa­cta esse testatur Zoroastres, dum ait, O­mnia sub I gne uno genita sunt, I gne quippe [Page 9] illo, quem Deus Igneae essentiae Habitator, (ut Plato ait) messe jussit materiae Coeli, & Terrae jam creatae, rudi & informi: ut vitam praesta­ret, & formam, Hinc illis product is statim subintulit Opifex, sit Lux: pro quo Mendosae Traductio habet Fiat lux, Non enim facta est Lux, sed Rebus adhuc obscur is communicata, & insita: ut in suis Formis Clarae, & splendentes furent. But to proceed: No sooner had the Divine Light pierced the Bosom of the Matter, but the Idea, or Pattern of the whole Material World appeared in those primitive waters like an Image in a Glasse: by this Pattern it was that the Holy Ghost fram'd and modelled the Universal Structure. This Mystery or appearance of the Idea is excellently manifested in the Magicall Analysis of Bodies; (For he that knows how to imitate the Proto-Chymistrie of the Spirit by Separation of the Principles where­in the Life is Imprisoned, may see the Impresse of it Experimentally in the outward naturall vestiments. But lest you should think this my Invention, and no Practicall Trueth, I will give you another Mans testimony. Quid quaeso dice­rent bi [...]tanti Philosophi, (saith one) is Plantam quasi: Momentonasci in vitreo vase viderent, cum suis ad Viuum Coloribus, & rursum inte­rixe, & renasci, idque quoties, & quando luhe­ret? Credo Daemonium Arte Magica inclu­sum [Page 10] dicerent illudere sensibus humanis. They are the words of Doctor Marci in his Defensio Idearum Operatricium. But you are to be ad­monished, there is a twofold Idea: Divine, and Naturall. The Naturall is a fiery, invisible, cre­ated Spirit, and properly a meer Inclosure, or vestiment of the true One. Hence the Platonicks called it Nimbus Numinis Descendentis. Zo­roaster, and some other Philosophers think it is Anima Mundi, but by their leave they are mistaken, there is a wide difference betwixt A­nima and Spiritus. But the Idea I speak of here, is the true primitive exemplar one, and a pure Influence of the Almighty. This Idea before the Coagulation of the seminall principles to a grosse, outward Fabrick, which is the End of Generation, impresseth in the Vitall Ethereall Principles a Modell, or Pattern after which the Body is to be framed, and this is the first inward production, or Draught of the Creature. This is it which the Divine Spirit intimates to us in that Scripture where he saith, That God Gen. Created every plant of the field before it was in the ground, and every herb of the field be­fore it grew. But notwithstanding this presence of the Idea in the Matter, yet the Creation was not performed Extramittendo aliquid de Es­sentiâ Ideae, for it is God, that Comprehends his Creature, and not the Creature God.

[Page 11]Thus farre have I handl'd this primitive su­pernaturall part of the Creation. I must con­fesse it is but short in respect of that which may be spoken but I am confident it is more then formerly hath been discovered: Some Authors having not searched so deeply into the Centre of Nature & others not willing to publish such Spiritual mysteries. I am now come to the gross work or mechanicks of the Spirit, namely the se­paration of severall substances from the same Masse: but in the first place I shal examine that Lymbus or Huddle of Matter wherein all things were so strangely contained. It is the opinion of some men. and those learned, That this sluggish empty Rudement of the Crea­ture was noe created thing. I must confesse the Point is obscure as the thing it selfe, and to state it with Sobriety except a man were illu­minated with the same Light that this Chaos was at first, is altogether impossible, For how can wee judge of a Nature differrent from our owne, whose Species also was so remote from any thing now existent, that it is impossible for Fancy to apprehend, much more for Reason to define it. If it be created, I conceive it the Effect of the Divine imagination acting beyond it selfe in Contemplation of that which was to come, and producing this Passive darkenesse for a Subject to worke upon in the Circumfe­rence. [Page 12] Trismegistus having first exprest his Vision of Light, describes the Matter in its primitive state thus Et paulo post (saith he) Tenebrae deor sum ferebantur, partim trepidan­dae, ac tristes effectae tortuosae terminatae: ut ma­ginarer me vidisse commutatas Tenebras in hu­midam quandam Naturam ultra quam dici potest agitatam, & velut ab igne fumum evome­re, ac sonum aliquem edere inenunciabilem, & lugubrem. Certainly these Tenebrae he speakes of or Fuliginous spawne of Nature, were the first created Matter, for that Water we read of in Genesis was a Product or secondary. Sub­stance. Here also he seemes to agree further with the Mosaicall Tradition; For this Fumus which ascended after the Transmutation can be nothing else but that Darknesse which was upon the Face of the Deepe; But to expresse the particular Mode or way of the Creation, you are to understand that in the Matter there was a horrible confused Qualme, or stupifying spirit of Moysture, Cold and Darknesse; In the oppo­site Principle of Light there was Heate and the Effect of it Siccitie; For these two are noe Elementall qualities as the Galenists and my Peripateticks suppose: But they are (if I may say so) the Hands of the divine Spirit by which He did worke upon the Matter, applying eve­ry Agent to his proper Patient. These two are [Page 13] Active and Masculine, Those of Moysture and Cold are Passive and Faeminine, Now assoone as the holy Ghost and the Word (for it was not the one nor the other, but both, Mens opifex una cum Verbo, as Trismegistus hath it; I omit that Speech, Let us make man, which effectually prooves their Union in theGen. Worke) had applyed themselves to the Matter, there was extracted from the Bosome of it a thinne Spiritualt Caelestiall substance, which receiving a Tincture of Heat and Light proceeding from the Divine Treasuries, became a pure sincere innoxious Fire. Of this the Bo­dyes of Angells consist, as also the Empyraeall Heaven, where Intellectuall Essences have their Residence. This was primum Matrimo­nium Dei, & Naturae, the First and best of Compositions. This Extract being thus soiled above, and separated from the Masse, retaind in it a vast portion of Light, and made the first Day without a Sun. But the Splendour of the Word, expelling the Darkenes downwards it became more setl'd, and compact towards the Centre, and made a Horrible thick Night. Thus God (as the Hebrew hath it) was be­tweene the Light and the Darknesse, for the Spirit remained still on the Face of the Infe­rior portion to extract more from it. In the second separation was educed Aer agilis, as [Page 14] Trismegistus calls it a Spirit not so refined as the former, but vitall, and in the next degree to it. This was extracted in such abundance that it fill'd all the space from the Masse to the Em­pyraeall heaven, under which it was condens'd to a water, but of a different constitution from the Elementall, and this is the Body of the In­ter-stellar skie. But my Peripatericks follow­ing the Principles of Aristotle and Ptolomie, have imagin'd so many wheeles there with their smal diminutive Epicycles that they have turn'd that regular Fabrick to a rumbling Confused Labyrinth. The Inferior portion of this second Extract from the Moon to the Earth remained Air still, partly to divide the inferior and supe­rior waters, but chiefly for the Respiration, and Nourishment of the Creatures. This is that which is properly called the Firmament, as it is plain out of Esdras; On the Second Day thou diddst create the Spirit of the Firmament: for it is Ligamentum totius Naturae, and in the outward Geometricall Composure it answers to Natura media, for, it is spread through all Things, hinders Vacuity, and keeps all the parts of nature in a firm, invincible union.

This is Cribrum Naturae, as one, wittily calls it,Auth. Philos. Rest it. a thing appointed for most secret and mysterious offices, but we shall speake further of it, when we [Page 15] come to handle the Elements particularly. No­thing now remained but the Two inferior prin­ciples, as we commonly cal them, Earth and wa­ter. The Earth was an impure, Sulphureous subsidence, or Caput mortuum of the Creation. The water also was Phlegmatick, crude, and raco, not so vitall as the former Extractions But the Divine Spirit to make his work per­fect, moving also upon These, imparted to them Life, and Heate, and made them fit for future Productions. The Earth was so overcast, and Mantl'd with the Water, that no part thereof was to be seen: But that it might be the more immediatly exposed to the Coelestiall Influen­ces, which are the Cause of Vegetation, the Spirit orders a Retreat of the Waters, breaks up for them his decreed place, and sets them Bars and Doors. Job. The Light as yet was not confined, but reteining his vast Flux, and primitive liberty, equally possest the whole Creature. On the Fourth Day it was collected to a Sun, and taught to know his Fountain. The darknesse, whence proceed the Corruptions, and consequently the death of the Creature, was imprisoned in the Centre, but breaks out still when the Day gives it Leave, and like a baffl'd Gyant thrusts his head out of doors in the Absence of his Adversary. Thus Nature is a Lady whose face is beauteous, but not without [Page 16] a Black-bag. Howsoever when it shall please God more perfectly to refine his Creatures, this Tincture shall be expelled quite beyond them, and then it will be an Outward darknesse from which Good Lord deliver us?

Thus have I given you a Cursorie, and short Expresse of the Creation in generall: I shall now descend to a more particular Examination of Nature and especially her Inferior, Ele­mentall parts, through which Man passeth daily, and from which he cannot be separated. I was about to desist in this place to prevent all future Acclamations; for when a Peripatetick findes here but Three, nay but two genuine Ele­ments Earth, and Water, for the Air is some­thing more: will he not cry out I have commit­ted Sacrilege against Nature, and stole the fire from her Altar? This is Noise indeed: but till They take Coach in a Cloud, and discover that Idol they prefer next to the Moon, I am resol­ved to continue in my Heresie. I am not onely of Opinion, but I am sure there is no such prin­ciple in Nature, The Fire which she useth, is Horizon Corporeorum, & Incorporeorum, Nexus utrinsque Mundi, & Sigillum Spiri­tus sancti. It is no Chymaera, Commentitious Quirck like that of the School-men. I shall therefore Request my Friends the Peripateticks to return their fourth Element to Aristole, that [Page 17] he may present it to Alexander the Great as the first part of a new world, for there is no such Thing in the Old.

To proceed then: The Earth (as you were told before) being the Subsidence, or Remaines of that Primitive Masse, which God formed out of Darknesse, must needs be a faeculent im­pure Body: for the Extractions which the Di­vine Spirit made, were pure, oleous, aethereall substances: but the Crude, phlegmatick, indi­gested humors settled like Lees towards the Centre. The Earth is spungie, porous, and mag­neticall, of Composition loose, the better to take in the severall Influences of Heat, Rains, and Dewes for the Nurture, and Conservation of her Products. In her is the Principall Residence of that Matrix, which attracts, and receives the sperm from the Masculine part of the world. she is Natures AEtna: here Vulcan doth exer­cise himself, not that limping, Poeticall one which halted, after his Fall, but a pure, Coelesti­all, plastick Fire. we have Astonomy here under our feet, the stars are resident with us, and a­bundance of Jewels and Pantauras, she is the Nurse and Receptacle of all Things, for the Superior Natures ingulph themselves into her; what she receives this Age, she discovers to the next, and like a faithfull Treasurer conceales no part of her Accounts, Her proper, Conge­neall Quality is Cold.

[Page 18]I am now to speak of the Water. This is the first Element we read of in Scripture, the most Ancient of Principles, and the Mother of all Things amongst visibles; without the medita­tion of this the Earth can receive no blessing at all, for Moysture is the proper Caus [...] of Mix­ture and Fusion. The water hath severall Com­plexions according to the severall parts of the Creature; Here below, and in the Circumfe­rence of all things it is volatil, crude, and raco. For this very Cause Nature makes it no part of her provision, but she rectifies it first, exhaling it up with her Heat, and then condensing it to Rains and Dews, in which State she makes use of it for Nourishment. Some where it is Interior, vitall, and Coelestiall, exposed to the Breath of the first Agent, and stirred with Spirituall, ae­ternaell Windes. In this Condition it is Na­tures Wanton, Foemina Satacissima as One calls it. This is that Psyche of Apuleius, and the Fire of Nature is her Cupid. He that hath seen Them both in the same Bed, will confesse that love rules All. But to speak something of our Common Elemental water. It is not altogether Contemptible, there are hidden Treasures in it, but so inchanted we can not see them, for all the Chest is transparent. Spiritus Aquae Invi­sibilis congelatus melior est quam Terra Uni­versa, saith the noble, and learned Sendivow. I [Page 19] doe not advice the Reader to take this Phlegm to task, as if he could Extract a Venus from the Sea, but I wish him to study water, that he may know the Fire.

I have now handled the Two Elements, and more I cannot finde: I know the Peripate­ticks pretend to four, and with the help of their Masters Quintessence to a fift Principle. I shall at leysure diminish their stock, but the thing to be now spoken of, is Air. This is no Element, but a Certain miraculous Herma­phrodit, the Caement of two worlds, and a Med­ley of Extremes. It is natures Common Place, her Index, where you may finde all that ever she did, or intends to do. This is the worlds Panegrick: The Excursions of both Globes meet here, and I may call it the Rendezvouz. In this are innumerable Magicall Forms of Men and Beasts, Fish and Fowle, Trees, Herbs, and all Creeping Things This is Mare Rerum in­visibilium, for all the Conceptions in sinu supe­rioris Naturae wrap themselves in this Tiffany, before they imbark in the shell. It retaines the species of all Things whatsoever, and is the Im­mediate Receptacle of Spirits after Dissolution, whence they passe to a Superior Limbus. I should amaze the Reader if I did relate the se­verall offices of this Body but it is the Magici­ans Backdoor, and none but Friends come in at [Page 20] it. I shall speak nothing more, onely This I would have you know: The Air is Corpus vitae spiritus nostri sensitivi, C.Ag. our Animal Oyl, the Fuell of the Vital, Sensual fire, without which we cannot subsist a Mi­nute.

I am now come to the Fourth, and last sub­stance, the Highest in Scalâ Naturae. There is no Fift principle, no Quintessence as Aristotle dream'd but God Almighty. This Fourth Es­sence is a moyest, silent Fire. This Fire passeth thorough all things in the world, and it is Na­tures Chariot, in this she rides, when she moves this moves, and when she stands this stands, like the wheeles in Ezekiel whose Motion de­pended on that of the spirit. This is the Mask, and skreen of the Almighty, wheresoever he is, this Traine of Fire attends Him. Thus he ap­pears to Moses in the Bush, but it was in Fire. The Prophet sees him break out at the North, but like a Fire catching it self. At Horeb he is attended with a mighty strong winde rending the Rocks to pieces, but after this comes the Fire, and with it a still small voice. Esdras also defines Him a God, whose Service is Conver­sant in Winde, and Fire. This Fire is the vesti­ment of the Divine Majesty, his Back-parts which he shewed to Moses, but his naked, Roy­all Essence none can see, and Live; The Glory [Page 21] of his presence would swallow up the Naturall man, and make him altogether spirituall. Thus Moses his Face, after conference with him, shines, and from this small Tincture we may guesse at our Future Estate in the Regeneration. But I have touch'd the Veyle, and must returne to the outer Court of the Sanctuary,

I have now in some measure performed that which at first I promised, an Exposition of the world and the parts therof; But in respect of my affectiō to Truth and the dominion I wish Her, I shallbe somwhat more particular in the Ex­amination of Nature, and proceed to a further Discovery of her Riches. I advise the Reader to be diligent, and curious in this subsequent part of the Discourse, That having once attained to the Fundamentalls of Science, he may the better understand her superstructures.

Know then, that every Element is threefold, this Triplicity being the expresse Image of their Author, and a Seale he hath laid upon his Crea­ture, There is nothing on Earth though never so simple, so vile, and abject in the sight of man, but it beares witnesse of God even to that ab­struse Mystery, his Vnity and Trinity. Every Compound whatsoever is Three in One and One in Three. The basest Reptill even in his outward Symmetrie testifies of his Author, his severall proportions answering to their aeternall [Page 22] superior Prototype. Now Man hath the use of all these Creatures, God having furnished him with a living Library wherein to imploy him­selfe; But he neglecting the works of his Cre­ator, prosecutes the Inventions of the Creature; Laps up the Vomits of Aristotle and other il­literate Ethnicks, Men as concerning the Faith, Reprobate, and in the Law of Nature alltoge­ther unskillful, Scribling Blasphemous A­theists, Quorum Animas (as Agrippa hath it) distraht, & torqueri audiunt; vident (que) Inferi. He is much troubled at those Mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation, one Denies, ano­ther Grants them: But if they did once see the Light of Nature, they might find those Myste­ries by Reason, which are now above their Faith. When I speake of a Naturall Tripli­city, I speake not of Kitchen-stuffe, those three Pot - Principles Water, Oyle and Earth, But I speake of Caelestiall hidden Na­tures, knowne only to absolute Magicians, whose eyes are in the Center, not in the Circum­ference, and in this sence every Element is Threefold. For example, there is a threefold Earth, first there is terra Elementaris, then there is terra C aelestis, and lastly, terra spiritualis, The Influences of the spirituall Earth by me­diation of the caelestiall are united to the ter­restiall, [Page 23] and are the true Cause of Life and Ve­getation. These Three are the Fundamentalls of Art and Nature. The First is a visible, Tan­gible substance, pure, fixed, and Incorruptible: of Quality Cold, but by Application of a Superior Agent, Drie, and by Consequence a fit Recep­tacle of Moysture. This is Aleph Creatum, the true Terra Adama, the Basis of every Building in Heaven, and Earth. It answers to God the Father, being the Naturall Founda­tion of the Creature, as He is the Supernatu­rall: without this Nothing can be perfected in Magick. The Second Principle is the in­fallible Magnet, the Mystery of Union. By this all Things may be attracted whether Phy­sicall, or Metaphysicall, be the distance never so great. This is Jacobs Ladder: without this there is no Ascent, or Descent either Influen­tiall, or Personall. The Absence of This I con­ceive to be that Gulph between Abraham, and Dives. This answers to God the Son, for it is That which mediates between Extremes, and makes Inferiors and Superiors communicate. But there is not One in ten thousand knows ei­ther the Substance, or the use of this Nature. The third Principle is properly no Principle, It is not Ex Quo, but per Quod omnia. This can do all in all, and the Faculties thereof are not to be exprest. It answers to the Holy Ghost, for [Page 24] amongst Naturalls it is the onely Agent, and Artificer. Now He that knows these three per­fectly with their severall Graduations, or an­nexed Links, which differ not in Substance, but Complexion: He that can reduce their impuri­ties to one sincere Consistence, and their Multi­plicities to a Spirituall. Essentiall simplicity, he is an absolute compleat Magician, and in full possibility to all strange, miraculous Perfor­mances. In the second place you are to learn, that Every Element is two fold. This Duplici­ty, or Confusion is that Binarius whereof A­grippa in Scalis Numerorum, as also both himself and Trithemius in their Epistles. O­ther Authors who dealt in this Science, were Pragmaticall Scriblers, and understood not this Secretum Tenebrarum. This is it in which the Creature praevaricates, and falls from his first Harmonicall Vnity. You must therefore subtrahere Binarium, and then the Magicians Ternarius may be reduced per Quaternarium in Monaden Simplicissimam, and by Conse­quence in Metaphysicam cum supremâ Mo­nade vnionem.

The Sun, and Moon, are two Magicall prin­ciples, the One active, the other passive, this Masculine, that Eoeminine. As they move, so move the wheeles of Corruption, and Genera­ion: They mutually dissolve, and compound [Page 25] but properly the moon is Organum Transmu­tationis inferioris materiae. These Two Lumi­naries are multiplied and fructifie in every one particular Generation. There is not a Com­pound in all Nature but hath in it a little Sun, and a little Moon. The little Sun is Filius solis Coelestis, The little Moon is Filia Lunae Coele­stis. What offices soever the two great Lumi­naries perform for the Conservation of the great world in Generall, These two little Lu­minaries perform the like for the Conservation of their small Cask, or Microcosm in particu­lar. They are Mimulae Majoris Animalis, Heaven and Earth in a lesser Character. God like a wise Architect, sits in the Center of All, repaires the Ruines of his Building, composeth all Disorders, and continues his Creature in his first, primitive Harmony. The Invisible, Cen­trall Moon is Iela illa rivosa, & Multifontana, at whose top sit Iove, and Iuno In a Throne of Gold, Juno is an incombustible, Eriternall Oyl, and therefore a fit Receptacle of Fire. This Fire is her Jove, the little Sun we spoke of for­merly. These are the true Principles of the stone, these are the Philosophers Sol & Luna, not Gold and Silver, as some Mountebanks, and Carbonadoes would have it. But in respect I have proceeded thus far, I will give you a true Receipt of the Medicine. Rc. L [...]ni Coele­stis [Page 26] partes decem, Separetur Masculus a Fae­minâ, vterque porro à Terrá suâ physicae tamen & citra omnem violentiam Separata proportione debitâ, harmonicâ, & vitali conjungs: statim (que); Anima descendens a sphaerâ pyroplastica, mor­tuum suum, & relictum Corpus amplexis miri­sico restaur abit; Conjuncta foreantur Igne na­turali imperfectum matrimonium spiritus, & Corporis. Procedas Artisicio vulcanico-Ma­gico quousque exaltentur in Quintam Rotam Metaphysicam. Haec est Illa, de Quâ tot scri­billarunt, tam Pauci noverunt, Medicina.

It is a strange thing to consider, That there are in Nature incorruptible, immortall princi­ples. Our ordinary Kitchin Fire, which in some measure is an Enemy to all compositions, not­withstanding doth not so much destroy, as pu­rifie some parts. This is clear out of the Ashes of Vegetables, for although their weaker exte­rior Elements expire by violence of the fire, yet their Earth cannot be destroyed, but Vitrified. The Fusion, and Transparency of this substance is occasioned by the Radicall moysture or Se­minall water of the Compound. This water resists the fury of the Fire, and cannot possibly be vanquished. In huo Aquâ (sayth the learned Severino) Rosa latet in Hiemo. These two principles are never separated for Nature pro­ceedes not so far in her Dissolutions. When [Page 27] Death hath done her worst, there is an Vnion between these two, and out of them shall God rise us at the last day, and restore us to a spiritu­all constitution. Besides there remaines in them that primitive, universall Tincture of the Fire: this is still busie after Death, brings nature again into Play, produceth wormes, and other inferi­our Generations. I do not conceive there shall be a Resurrection of every Species, but rather their Terrestiall parts together with the Ele­ment of Water (for there shall be no more Sea) shall be united in one mix­ture with the Earth and fix'd to a pure,Revel. Diapha­nous substance. This is Saint Johns Chrystall­gold, a Fundamentall of the new Jerusalem, so called not in respect of Colour, but constituti­on. Their Spirits I suppose, shall be reduced to their first Limbus, a sphaene of pure, ethereall fire like rich Eternall Tapestry spread under the Throne of God. Thus Reader, have I made a plenary, but short Inquisition into the Mysteries of Nature. It is more then hitherto hath been discovered, and therefore I expect the more Op­position. I know my Reward is Calumnie, but he that hath already condemn'd the Vanity of Opinion, is not like to respect that of Censure. I shal now put the Creatures to their just use, and from this shallow Contemplation ascend to Mine, and their Author.

It is requisite now, if we follow that Me­thod which God himself is Author of, to ex­amine the Nature, and Composition of Man, having already describ'd those Elements, or principles whereof he was made, and consists, Man, if we look on his materiall parts, was ta­ken out of the great world, as woman was ta­ken [Page 29] out of Man. I shall therefore to avoyd re­petitions, refer the Reader to the former part of this Discourse, where if things be rightly understood, he cannot be ignorant in his mate­riall Frame, or Composure. We read in Genesis that God made him out of the Earth; This is a great Mystery: For it was not the common `Pot-clay, but an other thing and that of a far better nature. He that knowes this, knowes the subject of the Philosophicall medicine, and by consequence what destroyes or preserves the Temperament of Man, In this are Principles homogeneall with his life, such as can restore his Decayes and reduce his Disorders to a Har­mony. They that are ignorant in this point, are not competent Judges of Life and Death, but Quacks and Piss-pot Doctors. The learned A­rias Montanus calls this matter Multiplicis Terrae particula singularis, If these words be well examined, you may possibly find it out, and so much for his Body. His Soule is an Es­sence not to be found in the Texture of the great world & therfore meerly Divine & Super­naturall. Montanus calls it divini spiritus au­ra, & vitae Divinae Halitus, He seemes also to make the Creation of Man a little Incarnation, as if God in this worke had multiplyed him­selfe. Adam (saith he) received his Soule exadmiranda singulari (que) Dei Inspiratione, & ut [...] [Page 30] [...] [Page 29] [Page 30] sic loqui sit fas, Fructificatione. S. Luke also tells us the same thing For he makes Adam the son of God, not in respect of the exterior Act of Creation, but by way of Descent; and this S. Paul confirmes in the words of Aratus, For we also are his Generation. Act. The Soul of man consists cheifly of two Portions Ru­ach, and Nephes, inferior and superior, the superior is Masculine and Eternall, the inferior Foeminine and Mortall. In these two consists our spirituall generation. Vt autem in Coeteris ani­mantibus, atque etiam in ipso homine Maris ac Foeminae conjunctio Fructum propagationemq,Arias Mont.spectabat naturae sin­gulorum dignam: ita in homine ipso illa Maris ac Foeminae interior, arcanaque soci­etas, hoc est animi atque animae Copulatio ad fru­ctum vitae Divinae idoneum producendum com­parabatur. Atque huc illa Arcana benedictio & faecunditas concessa, huc illa declarata Facultas & monitio spectat, Crescite, & multiplicamini, & replete Terram, & subjicite illam, & Domi­namini. Out of this and some former passa­ges, the understanding Reader may learn, That Marriage is a Comment on Life, a meer Hiero­glyphick, or outward representation of our in­ward vitall Composition. For Life is nothing els but an Vnion of Male and Foemale Princi­ples, and he that perfectly knowes this secret, [Page 31] knowes the Mysteries of Marriage, both Spi­rituall and Naturall, and how he ought to use a Wife. Matrimony is no ordinary triviall busines, but in a moderate sence Sacramentall. It is a visible signe of our invisible Vnion to Christ, which S. Paul calls a Great mystery, and if the thing signified be so Reverend, the signature is no ex tempore, contemptible A­gend. But of this elsewhere. When God had thus finished his last, and most excellent Crea­ture, he appointed his Residence in Eden, made him his Vice-Roy, and gave him a full juris­diction over all his Works; That as the whole man consisted of Body, and Spirit, so the Infe­riour Earthly Creatures might be subject to the one, and the superiour intellectuall Essences might minister to the other. But this Royalty continued not long for presently upon his pre­ferment there was a Faction in the Heavenly Court, and the Angels scorning to attend this piece of Clay, contrived how to supplant him. The first in this plot was Lucifer, Montanus tells me his name was Hilel. He casts about to Nulli­fie that which God had Inacted, that so at once he might overreach him and his Creature. This Pollicy he imparts to some others of the Hie­rarchy, and strengthens himself with Conspi­rators. But there is no Counsel against God. The mischief is no sooner hatched but he and [Page 32] his Confederates are expell'd from Light to Darknesse, and thus Rebellion is as the sinne of Witchcraft, a Witch is it Rebel in Physicks, and a Rebell is a Witch in Polliticks: The one acts against Nature, the other against Order, the Rule of it: But both are in League with the di­vel as the first Father of discord and sorcerie. Satan being thus ejected, as the condition of Reprobates is, became more hardned in his Resolutions, and to bring his malice about, ar­rives by permission at Eden. Here he makes Woman his Instrument to tempt Man, and o­verthrowes him by the same Meanes that God made for an help to him. Adam having thus transgrest the Commandement, was exposed to the Lash, and in him his Posterity. But here lyes the Knot: How can we possibly learn his Disease, if we know not the immediate Effici­cent of it? If I question our Divines what the Forbidden Fruit was, I may be long enough without an answer, Search all the School-men from Ramus to Peter Hispan, and they have no Logick in the point. What shall we do in this case? To speak any thing contrary to the sling of Aristotle (though perhaps we hit the mark) is to expose our selves to the common Hue; But in respect I prefer a private Trueth to a publick Errour, I will proceed. And now Rea­der Arrige Aures, come on without preju­dice, [Page 33] and I will tell thee that which never hitherto hath been discovered.

That which I now write must needs appeare very strange, and Incredible to the common man, whose knowledg sticks in the Barke of Allegories, and Mysticall speeches, never ap­prehending that which is signified by them un­to us. This I say must needs sound strange, with such as understand the Scriptures in the Litterall plaine sence, considering not the scope and Intention of the Divine spirit, by whom they were first penned and delivered. Howso­ever Origen being Vnus de multis, and in the judgement of many wise men, the most learned of the Fathers, durst never trust himselfe in this point, But alwaies in those Scriptures where his Reason could not satisfie, con­cluded a Mystery.

Certainly if it be once granted (as some stick not to affirm) that the Tree of knowledge was a Vegetable, and Eden a Garden; it may be very well inferred, that the tree of life being de­scribed in eodem Genere, as the School-men ex­presse it, was a Vegetable also. But how dero­gatory this is to the power of God, to the Me­rits, and Passion of Jesus Christ, whose Gift eternall life is, let any indifferent Christian judge. Here then we have a certain intrance in­to Paradise, where we may search out this tree [Page 34] of knowledge, and (happily) learn what it is. For seeing it must be granted, that by the tree if life is figured the Divine Spirit (for it is the Spirit that quickeneth, and shall one Day tran­slate us from Corruption to Incorruption) it will be no indiscreet Inference on the Contrary, that by the tree of knowledge is signified some sen­suall Nature repugnant to the Spirituall, wherein our worldly sinfull Affections, as lust, anger, and the rest have their seat, and predo­minate.

I will now digresse a while, but not much from the purpose, whereby it may appear unto the Reader that the letter is no sufficient Expo­sitor of Scripture, and that there is a great deal of difference between the sound and the sense of the Text Dionysius the Areopagit in his E­pistle to Titus gives him this Caveat. Et hoc praeterea Operae & pretium est cognoscere, Duplicem esse Theologorum Traditionem, Arcanam Al­teram, ac mysticam: Alteram vero manifestaem. & notiorem. And in his Book of the Eclesiasti­call Hierarchie written to Timotheus, he af­firms, that in the primitive, Apostolicall times, wherein he also lived, the mysteries of Divinity were delivered partim scriptis, partim non scri­ptis Institutionibus. Some things he confesseth were written in the Theologicall Books, and such are the Common Doctrinals of the Church [Page 35] now; in which notwithstanding (as Saint Peter saith) there are many things hard to be under­stood. Some things again Ex Animo in Ani­mum medio quidem intercurrente verbo corpo­rali, sed quod Carnis penitus excederat sensum, Sine literis transfusa sunt. And certainly this Orall Tradition was the Cause that in the sub­sequent Ages of the Church all the mysteries of Divinity were lost. Nay, this very day there is not one amongst all our School-Doctors, or late Ex-Temporaries that knows what is represent­ed unto us by the outward Element of Water in Baptism. True indeed: They tell us it beto­kens the washing away of sin, which we grant them, but this is not the full signification for which it was ordained. It hath been the Com­mon errour of all times to mistake signum for signatum, the shell for the Kernell; yet to pre­vent this, it was that Dionysius wrot his book of the Caelestiall Hierarchie, and especially his Theologia significativa, of which there is such frequent mention made in his works. Verely our Saviour Himself who is blessed for ever­more, did sometimes speak in parables, and commanded further that Pearles should not be cast forth unto swine, for it is not given to all men to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. Supposing then (as it is most true) that amongst other mysticall speeches contained [Page 36] in Scripture, this of the Garden of Eden, and the Trees in it, is one: I shall proceede to the Expo­sition of it in some measure, concealing the par­ticulars notwithstanding.

Man in the beginning (I mean the substan­tiall inward Man) both in, and after his Crea­tion for some short time, was a pure intellectual Essence, free from all fleshly, sensuall Affecti­ons. In this state the Anima, or sensitive Na­ture did not prevail over the spiritual, as it doth now in us. For the superior Mentall part of Man was united to God per Contactum Essen­tialem, and the Divine light being received in, and conveyed to the inferiour portions of the Soul did mortifie all carnall desires, insomuch that in Adam the sensitive Faculties were scarce at all imployed, the spirituall prevailing over them in him, as they do over the Spirituall now in us. Hence we read in Scripture, that during the state of Innocence he did not know that he was naked: but no sooner eats he of the tree of knowledge but he saw his nakednesse, and was ashamed of it; Wherefore also he hides himself amongst the Trees of the Garden, and when God calls to him, he replies; I heard thy voice in the Garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid my self. Gen. But God knowing his former state, answers him with a Question. Who told thee that Thou wast [Page 37] naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee thou shouldest not eat? Here we see a Twofold state of Man: his first, and best in the spiritual substantiall union of his In­tellectuall parts to God, and the Morti­fication of his aethereall, sensitive Na­ture, wherein the fleshly sinfull Affections had their Residence. His second, or his Fall in the eating of the forbidden fruit which did cast asleep his Intellectuall Faculties but did stir up, and exalt the Sensuall. For (sayth the Serpent) God doth know that in the Day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as Gods knowing Good, and Evill. And when the woman saw that the Tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise: Shee, took of the Fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband, with her, and he did eat; And the Eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. Gen. Thus we see the sen­suall faculties revived in our first Parents, and brought de potentia in actum as the School-men speak, by vertue of this forbidden Fruit. Nei­ther did this Eating suppresse the Intellectuall powers in Adam onely, but in all his Genera­tions after him, for the Influence of this Fruit past together with his Nature into his posterity. We are all born like Moses with a Veil over the [Page 38] Face: This is it, which hinders the prospect of that Intellectuall shining Light, which God hath placed in us; And to tell you a Trueth that concernes all Mankinde, the greatest Mystery both in Divinity and Philosophie is, How to remove it.

It will not be amisse to speake something in this place of the Nature and Constitution of Man, to make that more plaine which already hath been spoken.

As the great World consists of Three parts. the Elementall the Coelestiall and the Spirituall above all which God himselfe is seated in that Infinite, inaccessible Light, which streames from his own Nature; Even so man hath in him his Earthly, Elemental parts, together with the Coelestiall, & Angelical natures, in the Center of all which moves, and shines the Di­vine Spirit. The sensuall, Coelestiall, aethereall part of Man is that whereby we do move, see, feel, taste, and smell, and have a Commerce with all materiall Objects whatsoever. It is the same in us as in Beasts, and it is derived from Heaven, where it is predominant, to all the infe­riour Earthly Creatures. In plain Terms it is part of Anima Mundi, commonly called A­nima media, because the Influences of the Di­vine Nature are conveyed thorough it to the more material parts of the Creature, with which [Page 39] of themselves they have no proportion. By meanes of this Anima Media, or the aethereal Nature: Man is made subject to the Influence of Stars, and is partly dispos'd of by the Coele­stial harmony. For this middle spirit (middle I mean between both Extreames, and not that which actually unites the whole together) as­well that which is in the outward Heaven, as that which is in Man, is of a fruitfull insinua­ting nature, and carried with a strong desire to multiply it self, so that the Coelestiall Form stirs up, and excites the Elementall. For this Spirit is in Man, in Beasts, in Vegetables, in Minerals: and in every thing it is the mediate Cause of Composition and Multiplication. Neither should any wonder that I affirm this spirit to be in Minerals, because the Operations of it are not discerned there. For shall we conclude there­fore, that there is no inward Agent that actuats, and specifies those passive, indefinite Principles whereof they are Compounded? Tell me not now of blind Peripateticall Formes, and Qualities. A Form is that which Aristotle could not de­fine substantially, nor any of his followers after Him, and therefore they are not competent Judges of it. But I beseech you, are not the fa­culties of this Spirit supprest in Man also, when the Organs are Corrupted, as it appeareth in those that are blind? But notwithstanding the [Page 40] Eye onely is destroyed, and not the Visible power, for that remaines, as it is plain in their dreams. Now this vision is performed by a re­flection of the Visuall Radii in their inward, proper Cell: For Nature imployes her gifts on­ly where she findes a Conveniencie, and fit di­sposition of Organs, which being not in Mine­rals we may not expect so clear an Expression of the naturall powers in them. Notwithstand­ing in the Flowers of severall vegetables (which in some sort represent the Eyes) there is a more Subtile, acute perception of heat and cold, and other Coelestiall Influences then in any other part. This is manifest in those Herbs which open at the Rising, and shut towards the Sun­set: which motion is caused by the spirit being sensible of the Approach and departure of the Sun; For indeed the Flowers are (as it were) the spring of the Spirit, where it breaks forth, and streames, as it appears by the Odours that are more Coelestiall, and Comfortable there. A­gain, this is more evident in the Plantanimals, as the Vegetable Lamb, the Arbor Casta, and severall others. But this will not sink with any, but such as have seen this Spirit separated from his Elements, where I leave it for this time.

Next to this Sensuall Nature of Man is the Angelicall, or rationall Spirit. This Spirit ad­heres somtimes to the Mens or superior portion [Page 41] of the Soul, and then it is filled with the Divine light, but most commonly it descends into the aethereal inferior portion, which Saint Paul calls Homo animalis, where it is altered by the Coe­lestial influences, and diversly distracted with the irregular Affections, and passions of the sensuall Nature.

Lastly, above the Rationall Spirit is the Mens, or Intelligentia abscondita, commonly called Intellectus illustratus, and of Moses spi­raculum Vitarum. This is that Spirit which God himself breathed into Man, and by which Man is united again to God Now as the Di­vine light flowing into the Mens, did assimilate and convert the inferiour portions of the soul to God; so on the Contrary the Tree of Know­ledge did obscure, and darken the superiour por­tions, but awak'd and stir'd up the Animal sin­full Nature. The sum of all is this. Man as long as he continued in his union to God knew the Good onely, that is, the Things that were of God: but assoon as he stretched forth his hand, and did Eat of the forbidden fruit that is, the Anima media, or Spirit of the greater world, presently upon his disobedience and trans­gression of the Commandment, his Vnion to the Divine Nature was dissolved, and his Spirit be­ing united to the Spirit of the world, he knew the Evil onely, that is the things that were of the [Page 42] world. True it is, he knew the Good and the Evil, but the Evil in a far greater measure then the Good.

Some sparks of Grace were left, and though the perfection of Innocence was lost upon his Fall from the Divine Light, yet Conscience re­mained still with him, partly to direct, partly to punish. Thus you see that this Anima Media or middle Spirit is figured by the Tree of know­ledge, but he that knows why the Tree of Life is sayd to be in the middest of the Garden, and to grow out of the Ground, will more fully un­derstand that which we have spoken. We see moreover that the Faculties ascribed to the Tree of Knowledge are to be found onely in Middle Nature. First, it is said to be a Tree to be desired to make one wise, but it was Fleshly sensuall Wisdom, the Wisdom of this world, and not of God. Secondly it is sayd to be good for Food, and pleasant to the Eyes: So is the Middle Nature also; For it is the onely Medicine to repair the Decayes of the Natural Man, and to continue our Bodies in their primitive strength, and Integrity.

Lastly, that I may speak something for my self: This is no new unheard of fansie, as the understanding Reader may gather out of Tris­megistus. Nay, I am verily of opinion, that the Egyptians received this knowledge from the [Page 43] Hebrews who lived a long time amongst them, as it appears out of Scripture, and that they de­livered it over to the Graecians. This is plain out of Iamblichus in his Book de Mysteriis, where he hath these words. Contemplabilis in se Intellectus Homo, erat quondam Deorum Con­templationi conjunctus: deinde vero alteram in­gressus est Animam, circa humanam Formae Speciem contemperatam, atq, propterea in ipso Necessitaetis, Fatique Vinculo est alligatus. And what els I beseech you, is signified unto us in that poeticall Table of Prometheus? That he should steal a certain fire from Heaven, for which Trespasse afterwards, God punished the World with a great many Diseases, and Mortality.

But some body may reply: Seeing that God made all Things very Good, as it appears in his Review of the Creatures on the sixth day; how could it be a sin in Adam to eat that which in it self was good? Verily the sin was not grounded in the Nature of that which he did eate, but it was the Inference of the Com­mandment, in as much as he was forbidden to eate it. And this is that which Saint Paul tells us, That he had not known sin, had it not been for the law; And again in another place, The strength of sin is the law. But presently upon the Disobedience of the first Man, and his [Page 44] Transgression of the Commandement the crea­ture was made subject to Vanity: For the curse followed, and the impure seedes were joyned with the pure, and they reigne to this hour in our bodies, and not in us alone, but in every o­ther Naturall Thing. Hence it is we reade in scripture, That the Heavens them­selves are not clean in his sight. Job. And to this alludes the Apostle in that speech of his to the Colossians, That it pleased the Father to reconcile all things to himself by Christ, whe­ther they be things in Earth or Things in Hea­ven. And here you are to observe that Cornelius Agrippa mistook the act of Generation for O­riginal sin, which indeed was the Effect of it, and this is the onely point wherein he hath miscar­ried.

I have now done, onely a word more con­cerning the Situation of Paradise, and the ra­ther because of the diversity of Opinions con­cerning that solace and the Absurdity of them. Saint Paul in his second Epistle to th Cori [...]thi­ans discovers it in these words. I knew a Man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in the Body, or out of the Body I cannot tell, God knoweth:) such an One caught up to the Third Heaven. And I knew such a Man (whe­ther in the body, or out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth) how that he was caught up [Page 45] into Paradise. Here you see that Paradise and the third Heaven are convertible Terms, so that the one discovers the other. Much more I could have sayd concerning the Tree of knowledge, being in it self a large, and very mysticall sub­ject but for my part I rest contented with my own particular apprehension, and desire not to inlarge it any further: Neither had I commit­ted this much to paper, but out of my love to the trueth and that I would not have these thoughts altogether to perish.

You see now, if you be not durissimae Cer­vicis Homines, how man fell, and by Conse­quence you may guesse by what means he is to rise. He must be united to the Divine light from whence by disobedience he was separated. A Flash, or Tincture of this must come, or he can no more discern things spiritually, then he can distinguish Colours naturally without the light of the Sun. This light descends, and is united to him by the same Meanes as his Soul was at first. I speak not here of the Symbolicall exte­riour Descent from the Prototypicall-planets to the Created spheres and thence in Noctem Corporis: but I speak of that most secret and silent Laps of the Spirit per Formarum natura­lium Seriem, and this is a mystery not easily ap­prehended. It is a Cabalisticall maxime, Nulla res spiritualis descondens inferius operatur sine [Page 46] Indumento. Consider well of it with your selves, and take heed you wander not in the Circumference. The Soul of Man whiles she is in the Body, is like a Candle shut up in a dark­Lanthorn, or a Fire that is almost stifl'd for want of Aire. Spirits (say the Platonicks) when they are in sua patriâ, Procl. de. Ani. are like the Inhabitants of green Fields, who live perpetually amongst Flowers, in a Spicie oderous Aire: but here below, in Sphaerâ Generationis, They mourn because of darknesse, and solitude, like people lock'd up in a Pest­house. Hinc metuunt, cupiuntque dolent, &c. This is it makes the Soul subject to so many Passions, to such a Proteus of humors. Now she flourishes, now she withers, now a smile, now a tear: And when she hath play'd out her stock, then comes a Repetition of the same fancies, till at last she cries out with Seneca, Quousque eadem? This is occasioned by her vast, and infinite Capacity, which is satisfied with nothing but God, from whom at first she descended. It is miraculous to consider how she struggles with her Chaines when Man is in Extremity, how she falsisies with Fortune; what pomp, what pleasure, what a Paradise doth she propose to her self? she spans King­doms in a Thought, and injoyes all that in­wardly, which she misseth outwardly, In her [Page 47] are patterns and Notions of all things in the world. If she but fancies her self in the midst of the Sea, presently she is there, and hears the ru­shing of the Billowes: she makes an Invisible voyage from one place to another, and presents to her self things absent, as if they were present. The dead live to her, there is no grave can hide them from her thoughts. Now she is here in dirt and mire, and in a trice above the Moon:

But this is Nothing. If she were once out of the Body, she could act all that, which she ima­gin'd in momento (saith Agrippa) quicquid eupit, assequeretur. In this state she can movere Hu­mores majoris Animalis, make general Com­motions in the Two sphaeres of Aire, and water, and alter the Complexions of Times. Neither is this a Fable, but the unanimous Tenent of the Arabians, with the two princes Avicebron, and Avicen. She hath then an absolute power in miraculous, and more then naturall Transmuta­tions. She can in an Instant transfer her own, vessell from one place to another, She can (per unionem cum virtute. universali) infuse, and communicate her thoughts to the Absent, be the distance never so great; Neither is there any [Page 48] thing under the Sun but she may know it, and remaining onely in one place, she can acquaint her self with the Actions of all places whatso­ever. I omit to speak of her Magnet, where­with she can attract all things as well Spiritu­all, as naturall.Cor. Agr. Finally, Nullum opus est in totâ Naturae serieatam arduum, tam excellens, tam deni (que) miraculosum, quod Anima humana Divinita­tis suae Originem consecute, Quam vocant Ma­gi Animam stantem, & non Cadentem, propriis viribus, absque omni Externo Adminiculo non queat efficere. But who is he inter tot millia Philosophantium, that knows her Nature sub­stantially, and the genuine, specificall use there­of? This is Abraham's secretum magnum, maxime mirable, & occul­tissimum sex Annulis sigillatum, & ex eis exeunt Ignis, Aqua, & Acr, Quae dividuntur in Mares, & Foeminas. We should therefore pray continually.Sepher. Tetz. That God would open our Eyes, whereby we might see to imploy that Talent, which he hath bestowed upon us, but lyes buried now in the ground, and doth not fructifie at all. He it is, to whom we must be united Contactu Essentiali, and then we shall know all things revelatâ facie, per claram in Divino Lumine Visionem. This Influx from Him is the true, proper Efficient of our Regene­ration, [Page 49] that [...]of Saint John, the seed of God which remaines in us. If this be once ob­tained, we need not serve under Aristotle or Ga­len, nor trouble our selves with foolish Vtrums and Ergos, for his Unction will instruct us in all things. But indeed the Doctrine of the School­men which in a manner makes God and Na­ture Contraries, hath so weakened our Confi­dence towards Heaven, that we look upon all Receptions from thence, as Impossibilities. But if things were well weighed, and this Cloud of Tradition remov'd, we should quickly finde that God is more ready to give, then we are to receive. For He made Man (as it were) for his Play-fellow, that he might survey and examin his works. The inferior Creatures he made not for themselves, but his own Glory: which glory he could not receive from any thing so perfect­ly as from Man, who having in him the Spirit of discretion, might judge of the Beauty of the Creature, and consequently praise the Creatour. Wherefore also God gave him the the use of all his works, and in Paradise how familiar is He, or rather how doth he play with Adam? Out of the Ground (sayth the Scripture) the Lord God formed every Beast of the Field,Gen. and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them, and whatsoever [Page 50] Adam called every living Creature, that was the Name thereof. These were the Books which God ordained for Adam, and for us his Poste­rity, not the Quintessence of Aristotle, nor the Temperament of Galen the Anti-Christ. But this is irritare Crabones: Now will the Peri­pateticks brand me with their Contra `Principia and the School-Divines with a Tradatur sa­tanae. I know I shall be hated of most for my paines, and perhaps scoff'd at like `Pythagoras in Lucian. Quis emet Eugenium? Quis super Hominem esse vult? Quis scire Vniversi Har­moniam; & reviviscere denuò? But because, according to their own Master, [...], and that an Affirmative of this Nature cannot fall to the Ground with a Christian, I will come to my Oath. I do therefore protest before my glorious God, I have not written this out of malice, but out of zeal and Affecti­to the Trueth of my Creatour. Let them take heed then, least whiles they contemn mysteries, they violate the Majesty of God in his Crea­tures, and trample the Bloud of the Covenant under Foot. But shall I not be counted a Con­jurer, seeing I follow the Principles of Cornelius Agrippa, that grand Archimagus, as the Anti­Christian Jesuits call Him? He indeed is my Author, and next to God I owe all that I have unto Him. why should I be asham'd to [Page 51] confesse it? He was, Reader, By Extraction, Noble. By Religion a Protestant, as it ap­peares out of his own writings, besides the late, but malicious Testimony of Fromondus, a learned Papist. ForIn Crisi Sua ad Causam despera­tam Sisber ti Voetii. his Course of Life, a Man famous in his Person both for Actions of war, and peace. A Favorit to the greatest Princes of his Time, and the just wonder of all learned men. Lastly He was One, that carried himself above the Miseries he was born to, and made fortune know, Man might be her Master. This is an­swer enough to a few Sophisters, and in de­fiance to all Calumnies thus I salute his Me­mory.

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[Page 55]Thus far Reader I have handl'd the Compo­sure and Royalty of Man, I shall now speake something of his Dissolution, and close up my Discourse, as he doth his Life, with Death. Death is Recessus vitae in Absconditum: not the Annihilation, of any one Particle but a Re­treat of hidden Natures to the same State they were in, before they were Manifested. This is occasioned by the Disproportion and inequality of the Matter: For when the Harmony is bro­ken by the Excesse of any one Principle, the vi­tall Twist (without a timely Reduction of the first Vnity) Disbands and unravells. In this Recesse the severall Ingredients of Man returne to those severall Elements, from whence they came at first in their Accesse to a Compound; For to thinke that God creates any thing ex nihilo in the worke of Generation, is a pure Metaphysicall Whymsey. Thus the Earthly parts, as we see by experience, returne to the Earth, the Coelestiall to a Superiour heavenly Limbus, and the Spirit to God that gave it. Neither should any wonder that I affirme the Spirit of the living God to be in Man, when God himselfe doth acknowledge it for his own. My spirit (saith he) shall not alwaies be shea­thed Gen. (for so the Hebrew signifies) in man, for that he also is flesh, yet his dayes shall be an hun­dred and twenty yeares. Besides, the breathing [Page 56] of it into Adam proves it proceeded from God, and therefore the Spirit of God. Thus Christ breathed on his Apostles, and they received the Holy Ghost. In Ezechiel the Spirit comes from the Foure Winds, and Breathes upon the Slaine, that they might live. Now this Spirit was the Spirit of Life, the same with that Breath of Life which was breathed into the First Man, and he became a Living Soule: but without doubt the Breath or Spirit of Life is the Spirit of God. Neither is this Spirit in Man alone, but in all the Great World though after an other manner: For God breathes con­tinually, and passeth through all things like an Aire that refresheth: wherefore also he is cal­led of Pythagor as [...] Animatio u­niver sorum, Hence it is that God in Scripture hath severall names according to those severall Offices he performes in the Preservation of his Creature. Quin etiam (saith the Areopagite) in mentibus ipsum inesse dicunt, at (que) in Ani­mis, & in corporibus, & in Caelo esse, at (que) in Terra, ac simul in seipso; Eundem in Mundo esse, circa mundum, supra mundum, supra Cae­lum, superiorem Essentia, Solem, Stellam, Ig­nem, Aquam, Spiritum, Rorem, Nebulam, Ip­sum Lapidem, Petram, Omnia esse quae sunt, & nihil eorum quae sunt. And most certaine, it is because of his secret passage and Penetration [Page 57] through all, that other simile in Dionysius was given him. Adam etiam (saith he) & quod omnium vilissimum esse, & magis absurdum videtur: Ipsum sibi vermis speciem adhibere, ab ijs, Qui in rebus Divinis multum, diu (que); ver sati sunt, esse traditum. Now this Figura­tive kind of speech, with its variety of Appella­tions, is not only proper to Holy Writt, but the AEgyptians also (as Plutarch tells me) call'd I­sis; or the more secret part of Nature, Myri­onymos; and certainely that the same thing, should have a Thousand Names, is no newes to such as have studied the Philosophers Stone. But to returne thither whence we have digres­sed. I told you the severall Principles of Man in his Dissolution, part, as sometimes Friends doe, severall wayes. Earth to earth, as our Li­turgie hath it, and Heaven to Heaven, accor­ding to that of Lucretius.

But more expresly the Divine Virgil speak­ing of his Bees.

This Vanish, or ascent of the inward Ethere­all Principles doth not presently follow their separation: For that part of man which Para­celsus calls Homo Sydereus, and more apposit­ly Brutum hominis: but Agrippa Idolum, and Virgil

This Part I say, which is the Astral Man hovers sometimes about the Dormitories of the Dead, and that because of the Magnetism, or Sympathie which is between him and the Radical, vital moysture. In this Idolum is the seat of the Imagination, and it retaines after Death an Impresse of those passions, and Affe­ctions to which it was subject in the Body. This makes Hun haunt those Places, where the whole Man hath been most Conversant, and imitate the actions, and gestures of Life. This Magnetism is excellently confirmed by that me­morable [Page 59] accident at Paris, which Doctor Flud proves to be true by the testimonies of great, and learned Men. Agrippa also speaking of the ap­paritions of the Dead, hath these words. Sed & Ipse Ego, quae meis Oculis vidi, & manibus tetigi, hoc loci referre nolo, nè me ob Rerum stupendam Admirationem de Mendacio ab In­credulis argui contingat. But this Scaene ex­ceedes not the Circuit of One year, for when the Body begins fully to corrupt, the Spirit re­turnes to his Originall Element. These Appa­ritions have made a great noise in the world, not without some Benefit to the Pope; But I shall reserve all for my great work, where I shall more fully handle these mysteries.

I am now to speak of Man as he is subject to a Supernatural Judgement: And to be short, my Sentiment is this. I conceive there are besides the Empyraeall Heaven, two inferior Mansions, or Receptacles of Spirits. The One is that, which Our Saviour calls [...], and this is it whence there is no Redemption: [...], unde Animae nunquam egrediuntur, as the Divine Plato hath it. The Other I sup­pose, is somewhat answerable to the Elysian Fields, some delicate, pleasant Region, the Sub­urbs of Heaven as it were; Those Seven migh­ty Mountaines, whereupon there grow Roses [Page 60] and Lilies, or the Outgoings of Paradise in Es­dras. Such was that Place, where the Oracle told Amelius the soul of Plotinus was.

Stellatus supposeth there is a Successive, gra­duall ascent of the Soul according to the process of Expiation, and he makes her Inter-Residence in the Moon. But let it be where it will, my O­pinion is, That this middlemost mansion is ap­pointed for such Soules, whose whole man hath not perfectly repent in this world: But notwith­standing they are de Salvandorum numero, and reserved in this place to a further Repentance in the spirit, for those Offences they committed in the Flesh. I do not here maintain that I gnis Fa­tuus of Purgatory, or any such painted, imagi­nary Tophet, but that which I speak of (if I am not much mistaken) I have a strong Scripture for. It is that of Saint Peter, where he speaks of Christ being put to Death in the Flesh, but Quickened by the spirit; By which also he [Page 61] went, and preached unto the spirits that were in Prison: which sometimes were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the Dayes of Noah, while the Ark was a prepa­ring, wherein Few, that is, eight Souls were sa­ved by Water. These spirits were the souls of those who perished in the Floud, and were re­served in this place till Christ should come, and preach Repentance unto them. I know Scaliger thinks to evade this Construction with his Qui Tunc, That they were then alive namely before the Floud, when they were preached unto. But I shall overthrow this single Non-sense with Three solid Reasons drawn out of the Body of the Text. First, it is not sayd that the spirit it self precisely preached unto them, but He who went thither by the Spirit, namely Christ in the Hy­postaticall union of his Soul and Godhead, which union was not before the Floud, when these Dead did live. Secondly, it is written that he preached unto spirits, not to Men: to those which were in Prison, not to those which were in vivis, [...], which is quite contary to Scaliger; and this Exposi­tion the Apostle confirms in another place, [...], the Dead were preached to, not the living.Cap. 4. ver. 6. Thirdly, the Apostle sayes. These spirits were but sometimes disobedient, and withall tells us [Page 62] when, namely in the Dayes of Noah: whence I gather they were not disobedient at this time of preaching and this is plain out of the subse­quent Chapter.

For this Cause (sayth the Apostle) was the Gospell preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit. Now this Judgement in the Flesh was grounded on their Disobedience in the Dayes of Noah, for which also they were drowned, but Salvation according to God in the Spirit proceeded from their Repentance at the preaching of Christ; which was after death. I do not impose this on the Reader, as if I sate in the infallible Chaire, but I am confident the Text of it self will speak no other sense. As for the Doctrine it is no way hurtfull, but in my Opinion as it detracts not from the Mercy of God so it addes much to the Comfort of Man.

I shall now speake a word more concerning my self, and another concerning the Common Philosophy, and then I have done. It will be question'd perhaps what I am, and especially what my Religion is? Take this short answer. I am neither Papist, nor Sectary but a true, re­solute Protestant in the best sense of the Church of England. For Philosophy as it now stands, it is altogether imperfect, and withall false. A [Page 63] meer Apothecaries Drug, a mixture of inconsi­stent, Contrary Principles, which no way agree with the Harmony, and Method of Nature. In a word, the whole Encyclopaedia (as they call it) bateing the Demonstrative Mathematicall part, is built on meer Imagination without the least Light of Experience. I wish therefore all the true sons of my famous Oxford Mother to looke beyond Aristotle, and not confine their Intellect to the narrow, and cloudy Horizon of his Text, for he is as short of Nature, as the Grammarians are of Steganography. I expect not their Thanks for this my Advice, or Disco­very, but verily the Time will come when this Trueth shall be more perfectly manifested, and especially that great, and glorious mystery, whereof there is little spoken in this Book, Solus Rex Messias, Verbum Patris Caro fa­ctum, Arcanum hoc revelavit, Aliqua Tem­poris plenitudine apertius manifestaturus. It is Cornelius Agrippa's owne prediction, and I am confident it shall find Patrons inough when no­thing remaines here of me, but Memory.

I have now done Reader, but how much to my own prejudice, I cannot tell. I am confident this shall not passe without Noise, but I may do well inough if thou grant'st me but one Re­quest. I would not have Thee look here for the Paint, and Trim of Rhetorick. and the rather because English is a Language the Author was not born to. Besides, this Piece was compos'd in Haste, and in my Dayes of Mourning, on the sad Occurence of a Brother's Death. Et Quis didicit scribere in luctâ Lacrymarum, & At­ramenti?

To Conclude: If I have err'd in any Thing (and yet I follow'd the Rules of Creation) I expose it not to the Mercy of Man, but of God: who as he is most able, so also is he most willing to forgive us in the Day of our Accounts.