Magia Adamica and Coelum Terrae, part 3 of 8

In this Speech he makes his Brethren no strangers to the performances of Art, but rather makes their familiarity therewith an Argument against them: Knew you not? but the following words are very effectuall, and tell us what qualified persons the ancient Magi were. They were indeed (as hee speaks of himself) such as Joseph was, Princes, and Rulers of the People, not beggarly Gypsies, and Mountebanks, as our Doctors are now. It was the Ambition of the Great in those Dayes to bee Good, and as these Secrets proceeded from God, so were they also entertained by the Gods, I mean by Kings: For saith the Scripture, I have said yee are Gods: a name Communicated to them, because they had the power to doe wonders, for in this Magical sense the true God speaks to Moses: See, I have made thee a God to Phaaroh, and thy Brother Aaron shall bee thy Prophet. And verily this true Knowledge. and this Title that belongs to it, did that false Serpent praetend to our first Parents; Eritis sicut Dii, You shall be as Gods knowing good and evill. But 'tis not this subtill Dragon, but Bonus ille Serpeats, that good, Crucified Serpent, that can give us both this Knowledge, and this Title: for by him all things were made, and without him not any thing was made, that is made; If hee made them then, hee can teach us also how they were made. I must now refer my self to Moses who at his first Acquaintance with God, saw many Transmutations: One in his own Flesh, another of the Rod in his hand, with a third promised, and afterwards performed upon Water. It is written of him, that he was skill'd in all the learning of the Egyptians: but for my part I doe much question what kind of learning that was, the Scripture assuring mee, and that by the Pen of Moses, their Wonders were effected by Inchantments. This is certain, their Learning was Ancient, for I find Magicians in AEgypt, four hundred and thirty years and upwards, before Jamnes and Jambres. This is Confirmed by Phaaroh's Dreame, which his own Sorcerers, and Wizards could not interpret, but Joseph alone expounded it. Verily it cannot be denyed, but some Branches of this Art, though extremely corrupted, were dispers'd among all Nations by Tradition from the first man, and this appeares by more Testimonies than one. For in the Land of Canaan, before ever Israel possest it, Debir, which Athniel the son of Kenaz conquered, was an Universitie, at least had in it a famous Librarie, wherefore the Jewes call'd it Kiriath-Sepharim. I might speak in this place of the Universalitie of Religion: for never yet was there a people, but had some confused Notion of a Deitie, though accompanied with Lamentable Ceremonies, and Super stitions. Besides, the Religious of all Nations have alwaies praetended to Powers Extraordinarie, even to the performance of Miracles, and the healing of all Diseases, and this by some secret meanes, not known to the common Man: and verily if wee examine all Religions, whether false, or true, wee shall not find one, but it praetends to something, that is Mysticall. Certainly if men be not resolved against Reason, they must grant, these Obliquities in matters of Faith proceeded from the Corruption of some Principles received, (as we see that Heretics are but so many false Interpreters) but not withstanding in those very Errors there remained some Marks and Imitations of the first Truth. Hence comes it to passe, that all parties agree in the Action, but not in the Object. For Example: Israel did Sacrifise, and the Heathen did Sacrifise, but the One to God, the other to his Idol; Neither were they onely Conformable in some Rites, and Solemnities of Divinitie, but the Heathens also had some Hints left of the Secret Learning, and Philosophie of the Patriarchs, as wee may see in their false Magic, which consisted for the most part in Astrologicall Observations, Images, Charmes, and Characters. But it is my Designe to keep in the Rode, not to follow these Deviations, and misfortunes of the Art, which notwithstanding want not the weight of Argument, the Existence of Things being proved as well by their Miscariage, as by their Successe. To proceed then, I say, that during the Pilgrimage of the Patriarchs, this Knowledge was delivered by tradition from the Father to his Child, and indeed it could be no otherwise, for what was Israel in those Dayes, but a privat Familie? Notwithstanding when God appointed them their Possession, and that this private house was multiplied to a Nation, then these secrets remained with the Elders of the Tribes, as they did formerly with the Father of the Familie. These Elders, no doubt, were the Moysaicall Septuagint, who made up the Sanhedrim, God having Selected some from the rest, to be the stewards, and Dispensers of his Mysteries. Now that Moses was acquainted with all the abstruse Operations, and Principles of Nature, is a Truth I suppose which no man will resist. That the Sanhedrim also participated of the same Instruction and Knowledge with him is plain out of Scripture, where wee read, That God took of the spirit that was in Moses, and gave it to the Seventy.

But lest any Man should deny that, which wee take for granted. namely the Philosophie of Moses, I shall demonstrate out of his own Books, both by reason, as also by his practice, that hee was a Natural Magician.

First of all then it is most absurd, and therefore improbable, that hee should write of the Creation, who was no way skill'd in the Secrets of God and Nature, both which must of necessitie be known before wee should undertake to write of the Creation. But Moses did write of it, Ergo. Now I desire to know what hee hath written, Truth or a Lie; if Truth, how dare you denie his Knowledge? if a Lie (which God forbid) why will you believe him? You will tell mee perhaps he hath done it onely in general Termes: and I could tell you that Aristotle hath done no otherwise: but think you in good earnest that hee knew no more, than what hee did write? There is nothing you can say in this point, but wee can disprove it, for in Genesis he hath discovered many particulars, and especially those Secrets which have most Relation to this Art. For Instance; hee hath Discovered the Minera of Man, or that Substance out of which Man, and all his fellow-Creatures were made. This is the first matter of the Philosophers stone: Moses calls it sometimes Water, sometimes Earth; for in a certain place I read. thus; And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving. Creature that hath life, and Fowle that may fly above the Earth in the open Firmament. But elsewhere wee read otherwise: And out of the Ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowle of the Aire. In this later Text hee tels us that God made every fowle of the Ayre out of the Ground, but in the former it is written, hee made them out of the Water. Certainly Aristotle and his Organ can never reconcile these two places, but a little skill in Magic will mak them kisse, and be friends without a Philtre. This substance then is both Earth and Water, yet neither of them in their Common Complexions, but it is a thick water, and a subtil Earth. In plain termes it is a slimie, spermatic, viscous Masse, impraegnated with all powers Coelestiall, and terrestriall. The Philosophers call it Water and no Water, Earth and no Earth: and why may not Moses speak as they doe? or why may not they write, as Moses did? This is the true Damascen Earth, out of which God made man: you then that would be Chimists, seem not to be wiser than God, but use that subiect in your Art. which God himself makes use of in Nature. He is the best workman, and knowes what matter is most fit for his work, hee that will imitate him in the Effect, must first imitate him in the Subject. Talk not then of Flint-stones and Antimonie, they are the Poets Pin-dust, and Egshells; Seek this Earth, this Water. But this is not all that Moses hath written to this purpose, I could cite many more Magicall and mysticall places, but in so doing I should be too open. wherefore I must forbeare. I shall now speak of his Practice, and truly this is it which no Distinction, nor any other Logicall Quibble can wave, nothing but Experience can refell this Argument, and thus it runs. And Moses took the Calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and grinded it to powder, and strewed it vpon the water, and made the Children of Israel drink of it. Certainly here was a strange kind of Spice, and an Art as strange as the Spice it self. This Calf was pure gold, the Israelites having contributed their Eare-rings to the Fabric. Now would I gladly know by what meanes so solid and heavie a Body as Gold, may bee brought to such a light powder, that it may bee sprinkl'd on the face of the water, and afterwards drunk up. I am sure here was Aurum potabile, and Moses could never have brought the Calf to this passe had he not plowed with our Heyfer. But of this enough: if any man think hee did it by common fire, let him also doe the like, and when he hath performed, hee may sell his powder to the Apothecaries. If I should insist in this place on the Moysaicall Ceremoniall Law with its severall Reverend shadows and their Significations; I might lose my self in a Wilderness of Mysteries both Divine and Naturall; For verily that whole System is but one vast Skreen, or a certain Majestic Umbrage drawne over two Worlds, Visible, and Invisible. But these are things of a higher speculation than the Scope of our present Discourse will admit of. I onely informe the Reader that the Law hath both a shell, and a Kernell, it is the Letter speaks, but the spirit in: erprets. To this agrees Gregorie Nazianzen, who makes a twosold Law, [non-Latin script], and [non-Latin script]: one literal, another spirituall. And elsewhere hee mentions, [non-Latin script], [non-Latin script], the hidden, and the manifest part of the Law; the manifest part (saith he) being appointed, [non-Latin script], for many men, and such whose thoughts were fixed here below but the hidden, [non-Latin script], for few onely, whose Mindes aspired upwards to heavenly Things. Now that the Law being given, might benefit the people in both parts, spiritual and literal, therefore did the Law-giver institute the Sanhedrim, a Councell of Seventy Elders, upon whom hee had poured his Spirit, that they might discerne (as Esdras did) the Deep Things of the Night, in plain Termes, the hidden things of his Law. From these Elders the Cabala (I believe) had its Originall: for they imparted their Knowledge by word of Mouth to their Successors, and hence it came to passe, that the Science it self, was styl'd Cabala, that is, a Reception. This continued so long as Israel held together; but when their Frame began to discompose, and the Dilapidations of that House proved desperat, then Esdras a Prophet Incomparable (notwithstanding the brand of Apocrypha) writ that Law in Tables of Box, which God himself had sometimes written in Tables of stone. As for the more secret, and mysterious part thereof, it was written at the same time in Seventy Secret Bookes, according to the Number of the Elders, in whose hearts it had been sometimes written.

And this was the very first time the Spirit married the Letter; for these Sacraments were not trusted formerly to Corruptible Volumes, but to the aeternall Tables of the Soul. But it may bee there is a blind Generation, who will believe nothing but what they see at hand, and therefore will deny that Esdras compos'd any such Bookes; To these Owles (though an unaequal Match) I shall oppose the Honour of Picus, who himself affirmes, that in his time hee met with the Secret Bookes of Esdras, and bought them with a great Price; Nor was this all, for Eugenius Bishop of Rome order'd their Translation, but hee dying, the Translators also fell asleep. It is true indeed, something may be objected to mee in this place concerning the Cabala, An Art which I no way approve of, neither doe I condemne it as our Adversaries condemne Magic, before I understand it; for I have spent some yeares in the S̄earch, and Contemplation thereof. But why then should I propose that for a Truth to others, which I accompt for an Error my self? To this I answer, that I condemne not the true Cabala, but the Inventions of some dispersed wandring Rabbies, whose braines had more of Distraction, than their fortunes; of this thirteenth Tribe I understand the Satyrist, when hee promiseth so largely.

Qualiacun q; voles, Judaei Somnia vendunt. These I say have produc'd a certain up-start, bastard Cabala, which consists altogether in Alphabeticall knacks. ends alwayes in the Letter where it begins, and the Vanities of it are grown Voluminous. As for the more Ancient, and Physicall Traditions of the Cabala, I embrace them for so many Sacred Truths, but verily those Truths were unknown to most of those Rabbins whom I have seen, even to Rambam himself, I mean Rabbi Moses AEgyptius, whom the Jewes have so magnified with their famous Hyperbole: A Mose ad Mosen non surrexit sicut Moses.

But to deale ingenuously with my Readers, I say the Cabala I admit of consists of two parts, [Hebrew] and [Hebrew] the Name, and Thing. The former part is meerly Typicall in reference to the later, Serving only as the shadow to the substance. I will give you some instances. The Literal Cabala, which is but a Veile cast over the Secrets of the Physicall, hath Three Principles, commonly styl'd Tres Matres, or the Three Mothers: In the Masculine Complexion the Jewes call them [non-Latin script] Emes, in the Foeminine [non-Latin script] Asam, and they are [non-Latin script] aleph, [non-Latin script] mem, [non-Latin script] schin. Now I will shew you how the Physical Cabala expounds the Literall. Tres Matres [Hebrew] Emes (saith the great Abraham, or as some think Rabbi Akiba) id est, Aer, Aqua, & I gnis; Aqua Quieta, I gnis sibilans, Aer spiritus medius. That is, the Three Mothers Emes, or Aleph, Mem and Schin, are Aire, Water, and Fire; a still Water, (mark that) a hissing Fire, and Aire the middle Spirit. Again sayth the same Rabbi, Tres Matres [non-Latin script] Emes in Mundo, Aer, Aqua, & Ignis. Coeli ex Igne Creati sunt, Terra ex Aquá, Aer egressus est ex spiritu, qui stat medius. The Three Mother Emes in this world are, Ayre, Water and Fire. The Heavens were made of the Fire, The Earth was made of the Water, (mark well this Cabalism) and the Ayre proceeded from a middle spirit. Now when the Cabalist speaks of the Generation of the Three Mothers, he brings in Ten secret Principles, which I think ten men have not understood since the Sanhedrim, such Nonsence doe I find in most Authors, when they undertake to discourse of them. The first Principle is a Spirit, which sits in Retrocessu suo fontano, in his primitive, Incomprehensible Retreats, like Water in its Subterraneous Chanel, before it springs. The Second Principle is the Voice of that first Spirit, this breaks forth like a Well-spring, where the Water flowes out of the Earth, and is discovered to the eye, They call it Spiritus ex Spiritu. The third Principle is Spiritus ex Spiritibus, a Spirit which proceeds both from the first Spirit, and from his Voice. The Fourth Principle is Aqua de Spiritu, a Certain Water which proceeded from the Third Spirit, and out of that Water went Aire and Fire. But God forbid that I should speak any more of them publickly, it is enough that wee Know the Original of the Creature, and to whom wee ought to ascribe it. The Cabalist when hee would tell us what God did with the Three Mothers, useth no other phrase than this, Ponderavit Aleph cum omnibus, & omnia cum Aleph, & sic de Singulis, He weighed (saith he) Aleph with All, and All with Aleph, and so he did with the other Mothers. This is very plain, if you consider the various mixtures of the Elements, and their Secret Proportions. And so much for the Physicall part of the Cabala, I will now shew you the Metaphysicall. It is strange to Consider what Unitie of Spirit, and Doctrine, there is amongst all the Children of Wisdom. This proves infallibly that there is an Universall Schoole-master, who is Present with all Flesh, and whose Principles are ever Uniforme, namely the Spirit of God. The Cabalists agree with all the world of Magicians, That Man in spirituall Mysteries is both Agent and Patient. This is plain: For Jacobs Ladder is the greatest Mysterie in the Cabala. Here wee find two Extreams: Jacob is one, at the Foot of the Ladder, and God is the other, who stands above it, immittens (saith the Jew) Formas, & Influxus in Jacob, sive Subjectum Hominem, shedding some secret Influx of Spirit upon Jacob, who in this place Typifies Man in general. The Rounds, or steps in the Ladder signifie the middle Natures, by which Jacob is united to God, Inferiors united to Superiors. As for the Angels of whom it is sayd, that they ascended & Descended by the Ladder, their Motion proves they were not of the superior Hierarchie, but some other secret Essences, for they Ascended first, and Descended afterwards: but if they had been from above, they had Descended first, which is Contrarie to the Text. And here Reader, I would have thee studie. Now to return to Jacob, it is written of him, that he was asleep, but this is a Mysticall Speech, for it signifies Death, namely that Death which the Cabalist calls Mors Osculi, or the Death of the Kiss, of which I must not speake one Syllable. To bee short, they agree with us in Arcano Theologiae: That no word is efficacious in Magic, unlesse it be first quickened by the Word of God. This appears out of their Semhamaphores; for they hold not the names of Angls effectuall, unlesse some name of God, as [non-Latin script] or [non-Latin script] be united to them then (say they) in the power and vertue of those names they may worke. An Example hereof wee have in all Extracted names, as Vehu-Iah, Elem-Iah, Jeli-El, Sita-El. Now this Practice in the Letter was a most subtil Adumbration of the Conjunction of the Substantiall Word or Spirit with the Water; See that you understand me rightly, for I meane with the Elements and so much for the Truth. To Conclude, I would have the Reader observe, that the false Grammaticall Cabala consists onely in R[…]tions of the Alphabet, and a Metathesis of Letters in the Text, by which means the Scripture hath suffered many Racks, and Excoriations. As for the true Cabala, it useth the Letter onely for Artifice, whereby to obscure, and hide her P[…]sicall Secrets, as the Egyptians heretofore did use their Hieroglyphics. In this Sense the Primitive Professors of this Art, had a literal Cabala. as it appeares by that wonderfull, and most ancient Inscription in the Rock in Mount Horeb. It conteines a Prophecie of the Virgin Mother, and her Son Christ Jesus. ingraven in Hieroglyphic fram'd by Combination of the Hebrew letters, but by whom God onely knows, it may be by Moses or Eli[…]ah. This is most certain, it is to be seen there this day. and wee have for it the Testimonies of Thomas Obecinus, a most learned Franciscan, and Petrus a Valle, a Gentleman, who travailed both of them into those parts. Now that the learning of the Jewes, I mean their Cabala, was Chimicall, and ended in true Physicall performances, cannot be better proved than by the Booke of Abraham the Jew, wherein hee layd down the Secrets of this Art in Indifferent plaine Termes and Figures, and that for the Benefit of his unhappy Country-men, when by the wrath of God they were scattered over all the World. This Book was accidentally found by Nicholas Flammel a French-man, and with the help of it hee attained at last to that miraculous Medicine, which Men call the Philosophers stone. But let us hear the Monsieur himself describe it.

There fell into my hands (saith he) for the Summ of two Florens, a gilded Book, very old, and large; It was not of Paper, nor Parchment, as other books bee, but it was made of delicate rindes (as it seemed to mee) of Tender young Trees: The Cover of it was of Brasse, well bound, all ingraven with Letters, or strange figures, and for my part, I think they might well bee Greek Characters, or some such ancient language. Sure I am, I could not read them, and I know well they were not Notes, nor Letters of the Latine, nor of the Gaule, for of them I understood a little. As for that which was within it, the Bark leaves were ingraven, and with admirable diligence written, with a point of Jron in faire and neat Latin letters coloured. It contained thrice Seven leaves for so were the leaves counted at the top and alwayes every Seventh leafe was without any writing, but instead thereof upon the first seventh leaf there was painted a Virgin, and Serpents swallowing her up; In the Second Seventh a Crosse where a Serpent was Crucified; and in the last Seventh there were painted Deserts, or Wildernesses, in the middest whereof ran many faire Fountains from whence there issued forth a Number of Serpents, which ran up and down here and there. Upon the first of the Leaves was written in great Capitall letters of gold ABRAHAM THE JEW, PRINCE PRIEST LEVIT, ASTROLOGER, AND PHILOSOPHER, TO THE NATION OF THE JEWES, BY THE WRATH OF GOD DISPERSED AMONG THE GAULES SENDETH HEALTH.