Magia Adamica and Coelum Terrae, part 2 of 8

The first Harvest I read of, was that of Cain, and the first Flocks, those of Abel. A Shepheards life in those Early Dayes was no difficult Profession, it being an Imployment of more Care, than Art, but how the Earth was plow'd up before the sound of Tubal's Hammers, is a piece of Husbandrie unknown in these Dayes. Howsoever it was a Labour perform'd, and not without Retribution. Cain hath his Sheaves, as well as Abel his Lambs: both of them receive, and both acknowledge the Benefit. I find established in these Two a certain Priesthood, they attend both to the Altar, and the first Bloud was shed by Sacrifice the Second by Murther.

Now so dull am I, and so short of Syllogismes, those strange Pumps, and Hydragogues, which lave the Truthex Puteo, like Water, that all my Reason cannot make these Men Levits without Revelation. For I desire to know how came they first to Sacrifise, and by whom were they initiated? If you will say, by Adam: The Question indeed is deferr'd, but not satisfied For I would know further In what Schoole was Adam instructed? Now that it was impossible for him to invent these Shadowes and Sacraments of himself, I will undertake to Demonstrate and that by invincible Reason, which no Adversarie shall dare to contradict.

It is most certain that the Hope and Expectation of Man in Matters of Sacrifices, consist in the Thing signisied, and not in the Signe it self. For the Material Corruptible shadow is not the Object of Faith but the Spiritual, aeternall Prototype, which answers to it, and makes the dead figure Effectual. The Sacrifices of the Old Testament, and the Elements of the New, can be no way acceptable with God, but inafmuch as they have a Relation to Christ Jesus, who is the great, perfect Sacrifice offered up once for all. It is plain then that Sacrifices were first instituted upon supernatural grounds, for in Nature there is no reason to be found, why God should be pleased with the Death of his Creatures. Nay the very Contrary is written in that Book, for Death both Natural and Violent proceeds not from the pleasure, but from the displeasure of the Creator. I know the learned Alkind builds the efficacie of Sacrifices on a Sympathie of parts with the great world; for there is in every Animal a portion of the star-fire; which fire upon the Dissolution of the Compound is united to the General fire from whence it first came, and produceth a sense, or Motion in the Limbus to which it is united. This indeed is true, but that Motion causeth no Joy there, and by Consequence no Reward to the Sacrificer: for I shall make it to appeare elsewhere that the Astral Mother doth mourn, and not rejoyce at the Death of her Children. Now if wee look back on these two first Sacrificers, we shall find Abel and his Oblation accepted, which could not be, had he not offerr'd it up as a Symbol, or Figure of his Saviour. To drive home my Argument then, I say, that this knowledge of the Type, in whom all offerings were acceptable, could not bee obtained by any humane Industrie, but by sole Revelation. For the Passion of Christ Jesus was an Ordinance wrapt up in the secret will of God, and he that would know it, must of Necessitie bee of his Councell. Hence it is called in Scripture the Hidden Mysterie, for the Truth and Certainty of it, was not to bee received from any, but onely from him, who had both the Will, and the Power to ordain it. But if you will tell mee (like the Author of the Praedicables) that men sacrifised at first by the Instinct of Nature, and without any Respect to the Type, I shal indeed thank you for my mirth, whensoever you give mee so just a Reason to laugh. It remains then a most firme infallible Foundation that Adam was first instructed concerning the Passion, and in order to that, he was taught further, to Sacrifise, and offer up the Blouds of Beasts as Types and Prodroms of the Bloud of Christ Jesus, the Altars of the Law being but steps to the Cross of the Gospell. Now if it be objected that severall Nations have sacrifised, who did not know God at all, much less the Son of God, who is the Prototype and perfection of all Oblations: To this I answer, that the Custome of Sacrificing was communicated to Heathens by Tradition from the first Man: who having instructed his own Children, they also delivered it to their Posteritie, so that this Vizard of Religion remained, thought the Substance and true Doctrine of it was lost. And thus in my Opinion it sufficiently appears, that the first men did sacrifise, not by Nature as Prophrrius that Encmie of our Religion would have it, but some by Revelation, others by Custome and Tradition. But now I think upon it, I have Scripture to confirme me concerning this Primitive Revelation, for Salomon numbring those serverall Blessings which the Divine Wisdome imparted to the Ancient Fathers, amongst the rest specifies her Indulgence to Adam. Shee praeserved (saith hee) the first formed Father of the world, that was created alone, and brought him out of his Fall. Here I find Adam in some measure restored, and how could that bee, but by discovering unto him the Great Restorative Christ Jesus, the second Adam in whom he was to believe? for without Faith he could not have been brought out of his Fall, and without Christ revealed, and preached unto him, hee could have no Faith, for hee knew not what to believe. It remaines then that hee was instructed, for as in these last dayes wee are taught by the Son of God, and his Apostles; so in those first times they were taught by the Spirit of God and his ministring Angels. These were their Tutors, for of them they heard the Word, and verily wee are told that faith comes by hearing.

It is now (as I think) sufficiently proved, that Adam had his Metaphysics from Above: our next Service (and perhaps somewhat difficult) is, to give some probable. if not Demonstrative reasons, that they came not alone but had their Physics also to attend them. I know the Scriptures are not positive in this point, and hence the Sects will lug their Consequence of Reprobation. Truly for my part. I desire not their Hum but their patience: I have though against the Praecept for many years attended their Philosophie, and if they spend a few hours on my Spermalogie it may cost them some part of their Justice, but none of their Favours. But that we may come to the thing in hand; I hold it very Necessarie to distinguish Arts, for I have not yet seen any Author, who hath fully considered their difference. The Art I speak of, is truly Physicall in Subject, Method, and Effect But as for Arts publickly professed, and to the Disadvantage of Truth allowed, not one of them is so qualified: for they are meer Knacks and Bables of the Hand, or Braine, having no firm Fundamentals in Nature. These in my opinion S[…]l[…]o[…] numbers amongst his Vanities, when hee speakes in a certaine place, That God had made man upright, but hee had sought out many Inventions. Of these Inventions we have a short Catalogue in Genesis, where Moses separates the Corn from the Chaff, the Works of God, from the Whymzies of Man. Thus wee read that Jabal was the Father of such as dwell in Tents, his brother Jubal the father of all such as handle the Harp and Organ, and Tubal-Cain an Instructer of every Artificer in Brasse and Iron. What mischiefes have succeeded this Brasse-and-Iron Cyclops, I need not tell you: if you know not the fates of former Times, you may studie the Actions of your owne, you live in an Age that can instruct you. Verily, it is worth our observation that these Arts, and their tooles, proceeded not from the Posterity of Seth, in whose Line our Saviour stands, for as wee shall make it appeare hereafter questionlesse they had a better knowledge; But they proceeded from the Seed of Cain, who in Action was a Murtherer, and in the Circumstance of it a fratricide.

To be short, there is no Vanity to the Vanitie of Sciences, I mean those Inventions, and their Professors, which produce nothing true and Natural, but Effects either false, or in their Ends corrupt and Violent. But 'tis no Conquest to tread on Ruines, Cornelius Agrippa, hath already layd these Rodomontados in the Dirt, and that so handsomely, they were never since of a general Reputation. Give me an Art then, that is a perfect intire Map of the Creation, that can lead me directly to the Knowledge of the true God, by which I can discover those Universal invisible Essences which are subordinat to him; An Art that is no way subject to Evill, and by which I can attain to all the Secrets and Mysteries in Nature. This is the Art wherein the Physics of Adam, and the Patriarchs consisted, and that this Art was revealed to him, I will undertake to demonstrat by Scriptures, and the Practice of his Posteritie.

This Truth, I am certain, will seem difficult, if not incredible to most men, the Providence of God being praejudic'd in this point, for they will not allow him to instruct us in Naturall things, but onely in Supernaturals, such as may concerne our Souls, and their Salvation. As for our Bodies he must not praescribe for their Necessities, by teaching us the true Physic, and discovering the Lawes of his Creation; for though he made Nature, yet hee may not tutor us in Natural Sciences: by no means, Aristotle and his Syllogism can doe it much better. Certainly this Opinion is nothing different from that of the Epicure, Deum ad Coeli Cardines obambulare, & nullâ tangi Mortalium curâ, That God takes the Aire I know not in what walkes and Quarters of his Heaven, but thinks not of us Mortals, who are here under his feet. Questionlesse, a most eminent Impietie, to make God as Iertullian said of old, Otiosum, & inexercitum Neminem in rebus Humanis, An idle, unprofitable No body in this World, having nothing to doe with our Afaires, as they are Natural, and Humane. Sure these Men are afraid lest his Mercy should diminish his Majestie, they suffer him to trade onely with our immortal parts, not with Corruptible bodies that have most need of his Assistance, they are base Subjects, which he hath turned over to Galen, and the Apothecaries. Not so my friend: he hath created Physic, and brings it out of the Earth, but the Galenist knowes it not; Hee it is, that pitties our afflictions, he is the good Samaritane that doth not pass by us in our miseries, but poures Oile and Wine into our wounds; This I know very well and I will prove it out of his own Mouth. Did not hee instruct Noah to build an Ark, to pitch it within and without, and this to save life in a Time, when hee himselfe was resolved to destroy it? In a time when the world was acquainted with no Mechanics, but a little Husbandrie, and a few Knacks of Tubal-Cain, and his brethren? But even those Inventions also proceeded from that light which hee planted in man: an Essence perpetually busie, and whose Ambition it is to performe wonders, yet hee seldome produceth any thing of his owne, but what is fantastic, and monstrous. Did he not put his spirit in Bezaleel the son of Uri, and in Aholiab the son of Ahisamach? Did hee not teach them to devise cunning Workes, to work in Gold, in Silver, in Brasse, in Cutting of stones, in setting of them, in Carving of Timber, and in all manner of Workmanship? But to come neerer to our purpose: did hee not informe Moses in the Composition of the Oile, and the Perfume? Did hee not teach him the Symptoms of the Leprosie, and the Cure thereof? Did he not praescribe a Plaster of Figs for Hezekiah, and to use your owne Term; an Ophthalmic for Tobit? Did not Jesus Christ himself in the Dayes of his Flesh, work most of his Miracles on our bodies, though his great Cure was that of our Soules? Is hee not the same then to day as yesterday? Nay was hee not the same then from the Beginning? Did he care for our Bodies then, and doth he neglect them now? or being seated on the right hand of the Majestic on high, is hee become lass good, because more glorious? God forbid to think so were a sin in Superlatives. Let us then take him for our Praesident, for he is not (saith St. Paul) such an one which cannot bee touched with the feeling of our Infirmities, but hee is indeed one that looks to our present estate aswell as to our future and is as sensible of our Insirmitie. as hee is Carefull of our Immortaletie. When hee was on Earth, with the Dust of that Earth hee made the Blind to see, and of meer Water he made Wine. These were the visible Elements of his Physic, or rather (so the Notion doth not offend you) of his Magic. But shall I shew you his Librarie, and in that his Three-fold Philosophie? Observe then first, and censure afterwards. Have Salt in your selves, and again, you are the salt of the Earth, and in a third place, salt is good. This is his mineral Doctrine, will you know his Vegetable? It is in two little Books, a Mustard-seed, and a Lillis. Lastly, he hath his Animal Magic, and truly that's a Scrowle Seal'd up, I know not who may open it. Hee needed not that any should beare witnesse of man, for he knew what was in man. And what of all this Blasphemie sayes some splenetic Sophister? Behold I will instruct thee. First of all have Salt in thy self, for it will season thy soule that is infected, and praeserve thy Braines that are putrified with the Dirt of Aristotle. In the second place learn what the Salt of the Earth is, to which the Disciples are compared, and that by a regular, solid speculation. Thirdly come up to Experience, and by a Physicall legitimat practice know in what sense Salt is most good. Fourthly, examine the Lilies by Fire, and the Water of Fire, that thou mayst see their miraculous invisible Treasures, and wherein that speech of Truth is verified, That Salomon in all his Royaltie was not cloathed like one of them. If thou wilt attempt a higher Magic, thou mayst being first seasoned. but in this place it is not my designe to lead Thee to it. Animal and Vegetable Mysteries thou canst never perfectly obtain without the Knowledge of the first mineral secret, namely the Salt of the Earth, which is Salt and no Salt, and the Praeparation thereof. This Discourse I confesse, is somewhat remote from that I first intended, namely that Philosophie was revealed to Adam, as well as Divinitie, but some Pates are Blocks in their own wayes, and as I told you formerly, will not believe that God dispenseth with any Naturall secrets; This made mee produce these few Instances out of Scripture, as Praeparatives to the Proposition it self, and if hee be any thing ingenious, to the Reader. His Compliance to my Principles I expect not, nay I am so far from it, hee may suspend his Charitie. Let him bee as rigid as Justice can make him, for I wish not to praevaile in any thing but the Truth, and in the Name of Truth, thus I begin.

You have been told formerly, that Cain and Abel were instructed in Matters of Sacrifice by their father Adam, but Cain having murthered his brother Abel, his Priesthood descended to Seth, and this is confirm'd by those Faculties which attended his Posteritie, for Enoch, Lamech, and Noah, were (all of them) Prophets. It troubles you perhaps that I attribute a Priesthood to Abel but I have besides his own practice, Christs Testimonie for it, who accounts the Bloud of Abel amongst that of the persecuted Prophets and Wisemen. Now to conclude that these men had no Knowledge in Philosophie, because the Seripture doth not mention any use they made of it, is an Argument that denies something, but proves nothing. To shew the vanitie of this Inference, I will give you an Example out of Moses himself. Wee know very well there are no Prophecies of Abraham extant, neither doe wee read any where, that ever hee did Prophesie, but notwithstanding he was a Prophet. For God reproving Abimelech King of Gerar, who had taken Sarah from him supposing she had been his Sister, hath these words; Now therefore restore the Man his Wife, for hee is a Prophet, and hee shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live. Hence wee may learn, that the holy Ghost doth not alwayes mention the secret perfections of the Soul, in the public Character of the Person. Truly I should not be so impudent, as to expect your assent to this Doctrine, if the Scriptures were silent in every Text, if I did not find there some infallible steps of Magic, such as may lead me without a Lanthorn to the Archives of the Art it self. I know the Troup, and Tumult of other Affaires are both the Many, and the Maine in the Historie of Moses. But in the whole Current, I meet with some Acts which may not be numbred amongst the fortunes of the Patriarchs, but are performances extraordinarie, and speak their Causes not Common. I have ever admir'd that Discipline of Eliezer the steward of Abraham, who when he prayed at the Well in Mesopotamia, could make his Camels also kneele. I must not believe there was any Hocas in this, or that the spirit of Banks, may be the spirit of Prayer. Jacob makes a Covenant with Laban, that all the spotted and brown Cattell in his Flocks should be assigned to him for his wages. The Bargain is no sooner made, but he finds an Art to Multiplie his own Colours, and sends his Father-in-law almost a Woolgathering. And Jacob took him Rods of green Poplar, and of the Hasel, & Chesnut-tree, & pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods; And hee set the rods, which he had pilled, before the Flocks in the Gutters, in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink: And the Flocks conceived before the Rods, and brought forth Cattel ring straked, speckled and spotted. As for that which the Scripture tells us elsewhere, namely that Jacob saw in a dream, and behold the Rams that leaped on the Cattell were ringstraked speckled, and grisled, This doth no way impaire our Assertion, or prove this generation miraculous, and supernatural: For no man, I believe is so mad as to think those Appearances, or Ramms of the dream, did leap, and supplie the natural males of the Flock: God using this Apparition onely to signifie the Truth of that Ar[…] Jacob acted by, and to tell him that his hopes were effected. But I shall not insist long on any particular, and therefore I will paste from this Dream to another. Joseph being seventeen years old, an Age of some Discretion, propounds a Vision to his Father, not loosly and to no purpose, as wee tell one another of our dreams, but expecting, I believe, an Interpretation, as knowing that his Father had the skill to expound it. The wise Patriarch being not ignorant of the Secrets of the two Luminaries, attributes Males to the Sun, and Females to the Moon, then allowes a third Signification to the minor starrs, and lastly answers his sonne with a Question: What is this Dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I, and thy Mother, and thy Brethren indeed come to bow down our selves to thee, to the Earth?

Now, I think no man will deny but the Interpretation of Dreams belongs to Magic. and hath been ever sought after as a piece of secret Learning. True it is, when the Interpreter receives his knowledge immediatly from God, as Daniel did, then it falls not within the Limits of a Naturall Science; but I speak of a Physicall Exposition as this was, which depends on certain abstruse Similitudes, for hee that knowes the Analogie of parts to parts in this great body, which wee call the World, may know what every Signe signifies, and by Consequence may prove a good Interpreter of dreames. As for Jacob's first practice, which wee have formerly mention'd, namely the Propagation of his speckled Flocks, it is an effect so purely Magicall that our most obstinat Adversaries dare not Question it. I could cite one place more, which referrs to this Patriarch, and points at the Fundamentals of Magic, but being annex'd to this discourse, it would discover too much, I shall therefore leave it to the Search of those, who are Considerable Proficients, if not Masters in the Art. The summ of all is this: Man of himself could not attain to true Knowledge it was God in meer mercie did instruct him. To confirm this, I shall desire the Reader to Consider his own Experience. Wee have in these our dayes many Magicall Books extant, wherein the Art is discovered both truly, and plainly. Wee have also an infinite Number of Men, who studie those books, but after the Indeavours of a long life not one in Ten Thousand understands them. Now if wee with all these Advantages cannot attain to the Secrets of Nature, shall we think those first fathers did, who had none of our Libraries to assist them, nor any learned man upon Earth to instruct them? Could they doe that without means, which wee cannot doe with means, and those too very considerable? The Peripaterties perhaps will tell me their Syllogism is the Engine that can perform all this. Let 'em then in Barbara or Baroco demonstrate the first matter of the Philosopher's stone. But they will tell mee there is no such thing. Behold I tell them again, and assure them too on my Salvation, there is, but in Truth their Logic will never find it out. It is clear then, that God at first instructed Adam from him his Children received it, and by their Tradition it descended to the Patriarchs, every Father bequeathing these Secrets to his Child, as his best and most lasting Legacie. I have now attended Jacob, the Israel of God, both in his Pilgrimage at Padan-aram, and in his Typicall Inheritance, the Earnest of the Land of Canaan. But two Removalls perfect not the wandrings of a Patriarch; God calls him from the Habitation of his Fathers to the Prison of his Posteritie, and provides him a plac of Freedom in the house of Bondage. I must follow him where his Fortune leads, from I saac's Hebron, to the Goshen of Phaaroh then back again to the Cave and Dust of Machpelah. As for his sons and their Traine, who attended his Motion thither, I find not any Particular Remembrance of them onely Moses tells me of a generall Exit: Joseph died, and all his brethren and all that Generation. I must now then to prove the Continuance and Succission of this Art addresse m[…] self to the Court, where I shall find the Son of Levi newly translated from his Ark, and Bulrushes. Yet, there is somthing may be sayd of Joseph, and verily it proves how Common Magic was in those dayes, and the effects of it no newes to the Sons of Jacob; for having conveyed his Cup into the Sack of Benjamin, and by that policie detain'd his Brethren, hee asks them: What Deed is this that you have done? Knew yee not that such a man as I can certainly divine?