Section I, Book 3, chapters 3–5: The Mosaicall principles: darkness, light and the waters

CHAP. III. Of the mate[…]iall fruit or principle, which issued and was revealed by the Spirit of God out of the dark Abysse, and how the substantiall Machine of the world was framed of it.

ALL things were complicitely contained or comprehended in the divine puissances, (as is already shewed) which, in the regard of human capacity, was without form, forasmuch as it was contained within one deformed or invisible water, which was therefore called, the Mother of the Elements, and Seed of all things; for as the whole plant or tree is contained in a small kernell, or little misshapen seed, and is no way subject unto mans apprehension, before it sprouteth forth, even so all things were in the beginning in the water potentially, as also the water was an invisible thing, without form or shape, vailed over with deformity; for darknesse was upon the face of the abysse, which was termed the first matter, that had no formall act that man could imagine, and therefore was said to be onely in puissance. A wise Philosopher therefore, and deeply seen in the mysticall works of the Creation, speaketh in this manner: The first matter out of which the water did issue, was nihil, or nothing, and out of it was created the matter of the waters; and this ought not to be understood after an human manner, namely, that God did create the waters of Nothing; and yet it was spoken rightly, because that in the beginning, nothing was visible. But if wise men would elevate their thoughts above the vulgar capacities, to find out by speculation the originall of the waters, then would they not deny, but that before the creation of the waters, there was a certain matter in the highest mystery, that is to say, in the divine puissance, or dark and informed abyss, which was the catholick treasury or store-house, as we may say, out of which the waters did flow in the creation: and this is partly confirmed by Scripture in divers places, for the Apostle Paul teacheth us in the place before mentioned, saying, Fide intelligimus aptata esse secula verbo Dei, ut ex invisibilibus visibilia fierent; We understand by faith, that the world was made or ordained by the word, so that things which are visible were made of things which were invisible. Whereby it is evident, that the things which fall under mans sense and kenning, were not at the first subject unto mans sense, and therefore were esteemed as if they were not. St. Paul also in like manner saith, Deus eligit ea quae non sunt, ut ea quae sunt destrueret; God maketh election of the things which are not, […] destroy the things which are extant. For this reason also, Renclin speaketh of the beginning, by the mouth of the mysticall and learned Rabbies, in these words; It is written in the book of […]ahir, Nihil est principium nisi sapientia; & haec est infinitudo ipsa trium summarum cabalisticae arboris numerationum, quas vos tres in divinis personas appellare consuevistis quae est absolutissima essentia, quae cum sit in abysso tenebrarum retracta & immanens, ociosaque, vel, ut aiunt, ad nihil respiciens, idcirco dicitur [non-Latin script], id est, Nihil, sive non ens, ac non finis, quia nos tam tenui erga res divinas ingenii paupertate mulctati, de iis quae non apparent haud secus atque de iis quae non sunt, judicamus. At ubi se ita ostenderit ut sit aliquid & reverá subsistat, tum Aleph tenebrosum in Aleph lucidum convertitur: scriptum enim est, Sicut tenebrae ejus, ita & lux ejus. Nothing is the beginning but wisdome or sapience, and it is the infinity of the three highest numerations of the Cabalisticall tree, which yee are accustomed to call the three persons in divinity, the which is an absolute essence, which whilest it is retracted in the abysse of darkness, and resteth still and quiet, or, as they say, having respect unto nothing, is for that cause termed of the Hebrewes, Ain, that is to say, Nihi[…], or nothing, or no entity: Because that we being affected with extreame shallowness or poverty of wit and capacity in the conception or apprehension of divine things, do judge of those things which do not appeare, as we are accustomed to do of such things, as are not at all. But when it hath shewed forth it selfe to be somewhat indeed, and that it doth really in human apprehension exist somewhat, then is dark Aleph converted into light Aleph: for it is written, As his darknesse, such is his light, or the expresse words of the Prophet are, Tenebrae sunt ei sicut ipsa lux, darknesse is unto him as Light. Whereby it is Evident, that though darknesse or invisibility, do appear unto our sense to be nothing in regard of that which is made manifest in light, yet in verity all are reall and essentiall before God, and therefore that nothing, or deformity in regard of our weak capacity, (out of which the waters, which is the materiall principle of all things, were originally extracted) seem unto him, in whose divine puissance they remain, a materiall existence. For as much as nothing is in God, but what is essentiall reality, or a something in being, but of him, by him, and in him are all things, as we are taught by holy-Text: wherefore as well the dark matrix or womb of the waters, as the watry infant or humid nature which sprung out of the belly of the gloomy abysse or Chaos; were really in God, before they appeared to sight, that is to say, they remained in the Almighties puissance or volunty, and were to be disposed of by him as he pleased, no otherwise then the number of things to be builded, was first in the mind of the builder: But that this is so, namely that the world was framed and made of such a matter which was said therefore to be without forme, because it was invisible; we find it proved and maintained by this Authority of Scripture before mentioned, which Tremellius interpreteth thus, Omnipotens, manus tua creav[…]t mundum ex informi materia, which Jerome translateth, ex invisa materia: ô Omnipotent, thy hand hath Created the world of a matter without forme, or as Jerome speaketh, of an invisible matter: Now that this generall matter was waters which the presence of the all-informing spirit of the Lord did vigorate and inact in a generality, and termed them by the name Shamaim, and that the waters were the first materiall principle, of which the world was made, no otherwise then out of a rude masse of Clay a great pallace is fashioned or framed, the Text of Moses doth seem evidently to confirme: first for that it doth mention the waters on which the spirit of the Lord was carried, and that immediatly after he had nominated the confused Chaos, under the Title of the dark abysse, and Terra inanis & vacua, or the void and deformed earth, and that immediatly, before the first day's seperation. Whereby it is plainly argued that waters were the materiall principle being created or inacted by the spirit of the Lord, or Elohim Ruach: Forasmuch as they were nominated before the first dayes work. Secondly, that it was the said eternall wisdome, or spirit Elohim, who acting as it were the part of a mid-wife, did deliver, and bring forth this birth; and gave it act and form. Again we may learn out of the same Chapter of Moses, that the waters were the Subject of that separation, which was effected by the Spagirick or fiery-vertue of the said Spirit, or divine word. Thirdly that the heavens above were made of the purer brighter and more worthy waters; and the Elementary world beneath, of the grosser darker and viler sort of waters, and that there was a midle kind of them, which participating of both extreames was termed the firmament, whose main office was to devide and seperate the water from the waters. Then out of the lower waters by the same word or spirit, were the Elements proportioned and placed, their severall regions, namely the Aire, the Seas, and the dry Land. So that we see how the spirit of the Lord did fabrick the whole world, and every member thereof, out of this humid spirit or aquatick nature, which also is most plainly verified by this Text of the Apostle Peter, Coeli (saith he) erant prius et terra, de aqua, et per aquam existens verbo Dei, The heavens were First and the earth, of waters, and by waters existing in and by the word of God. But the world is composed only of heaven and earth, and therefore it followeth that the whole world is made and existeth of the waters, and by the waters, consisting by the word of God; Now therefore since the Starrs of heaven are esteemed nothing else but the thicker portion of their Orbes, and again every Creature which is below, is said to be compacted of the Elements, it must also follow that both the Starrs in the higher heaven and the compound-Creatures, beneath in the Elementary world; be they meteorologicall, or of a more perfect mixtion, namely Animal vegetable or minerall, must in respect of their materiall part or existence proceed from waters, the which, as they were brought unto light by the divine word; So also do they eternally consist, and are in their being sustained in and by the same Spirit, as shall be plainly manifested unto you in this Chapter following.

Thus therefore I have sufficiently expressed unto you, and evidently proved by holy Authority, that the originall Catholick matter of all things was Water: I come now unto my description of that universall principle, which giveth life and being unto all the waters and every thing which is framed of the waters and consequently of the whole world.

CHAP. IV.

How the catholick formall Principle, by which the waters in generall, and consequently the heavens and elements, and every thing else in particular, were fashioned, informed, and reduced into a specifick act, or essentiall being, and are hitherto preserved in that estate, did proceed, and was immediately derived from God.

I Told you, that, according unto the Rabbies, or Cabalisticall Doctors opinion, the eternall Sapience, which is the radicall beginning, or unity of all things, (when it remained, as it were, quiet and at rest, as being retracted in the dark abyss) was in regard of our weak capacities esteemed as Ain, that is to say, nihi[…], or nothing, or non ens & non finis; and yet out of this nihil was revealed unto us infinity; forasmuch as the emanation which issued from it, is all in all, and yet without all, as it is that fountain out of which the universall waters are drawn, which is the existence of all things, (as I said before) and that catholick and bright-shining-forth, or fiery and formall vertue, is sent out, which doth impart an essence unto every thing; and, in conclusion, both the externall, or passive, and internall, or active, of all creatures in the world, do issue out of this eternall, which is nihil in regard of us, but omnia in omnibus, & extra omnia, in respect of it self, in whose eyes darkness and light, invisibility and visibility, and therefore all potentiall Nothing, or first matter, and actuall Something, are one and the same thing in essence, without any difference. For this cause, this eternall infinitude, this all in all, and without all, is rightly described, first by the Apostle, and then by the divine Philosopher Hermes, after this manner; Unus Deus Pater omnium (saith Paul) qui super omnes & per omnia, & in omnibus; One God is the Father of all, who is above all, and over all, and in all. Ex ipso, per ipsum, & in ipso, sunt omnia; Of him, by him, and in him are all things. And Hermes, Deus est circulus intellectualis, cujus centrum est omne illud quod est, circumferentia verò extra omnia; God is an intellectuall circle, whose center is all that which existeth, and whose circumference is without and beyond all things. Hereupon in another place he calleth him, Locum in quo mundus continetur, The place in which the world is contained; inferring thereby, according unto that of the Scriptures, that he filleth all the world, and yet remains in himself without all, in the very self-same nature of a unity as he was. For as he seemed in the eyes of mans weak and fragil capacity to be Ain or Nihil, before he would create any thing, yet was he both unity and infinity unto himself, and therefore was complicite all in all in himself, namely, as he to our blinded fancy appeareth, Aleph tenebrosum, or dark and deformed Aleph. Also, though he shined forth of darkness, and by the revelation of his hidden wisdom or essence, made all things, as well visible as invisible, to exist formally, and so made dark Aleph to be changed into light Aleph; yet nevertheless, he remaineth all one in himself, and passeth not beyond the limits of his uniformity: for, (as it is already said) His darknesse unto him is as his light: Even no otherwise, than we see in the mind or divine mentall beam of man, that it is all one without alteration, when it willeth, and when it nilleth, namely, when it granteth or giveth, and when it denyeth. In like manner, whether the divine infinity doth shine forth from its center towards its circumference, or centrally contracteth his acting beams within it self, yet it is all one and the same in its self, without any alteration of the essentiall identity. I come to the purpose. The Apostle, speaking of the eternall Christ, saith, Christus est Dei virtus, & sapientia Dei; Christ is the vertue of God, and the wisdom of God. Now I will tell you here, as I have done before by the mouth of Solomon, what this divine wisdom is: Sapientia (saith Solomon) est spiritus intelligentiae sanctus, qui est vapor vi[…]tutis seu potentiae Dei, & fluxus seu emanatio quaedam claritatis omnipotentis Dei sincera, candor seu splendor lucis aeternae & speculum sive macula Dei majestatis & imago bonitatis illius. Wisdom is the holy spirit of discipline, which is the vapour of the vertue or power of God, and a certain flowing forth or emanation of the brightnesse of the Almighty, the beauty or clearnesse of his eternall light, and an immaculate mirrour of the majesty of God. So that we may discern by this description of the wise-man, what is the spirituall Christ, who is the wisdom, vertue, and word of God, and how by his apparition out of darkness, that is, by the mutation or change of the first principle, (which was in darknesse, quasi […]rbum in principio) from dark Aleph to light Aleph, the waters which were contained in the profound bowells of the abysse were revealed, and were animated, that is to say, by the emanation or emission of this self-same spirit of eternall fire or light, and afterward by his admirable activity, and restless motion and penetration, (for by Solomon it is said to be, omnibus mobilibus mobilior, & attingere ubique propter suam munditiam: The swiftest and most agile of all movable things, and to attain and pierce every where, by reason of its purenesse and subtlety) it first distinguisheth and separateth the darkness from the light, the obscure and gross waters from the subtle or pure, and then it disposeth the heavens into sphears; lastly, it divideth the grosser waters into sublunary elements, as by the words of the first Chapter of Genesis, each man may plainly discern. But that I may particularize more at large on this point, to express unto you the glorious and immortall works, which this spirit did first by creation, and still doth by preservation, effect and operate in this world; Mark well these places in Scriptures: Mundum ex materia informi creavit. Revelat fundamenta & abscondita novit in tenebris constituta, & lux est cum eo. Revelavit fundamenta è tenebris & educit in lucem umbram lethal[…]m. Aquilonem extendit super inane & vacuum, & suspendit terram super Nihilum: nam sapientia ab ore ejus prodeunte rotunditatem caelorum circumeunte so[…]a, & in profundo abyssi ambulante, omnia fec[…]t Deus. Aderat ipsa quando praeparavit coelum, quando certa lege & gyro velavit abyssos, quando aethera firmabat sursum, erat ipsa cum eo cuncta componens: Ipsa fundavit terram, stabilivit coelos, erupit abyssos, nubes rore concrescere facit. Aptat pondus aeri, appendit aquas in mensura, facit pluviae statuta & viam fulgetro tonitruum: Coelos creabat & extendebat eos, firmabat terram & quae germinant ex ea: sapientia creavit Deus terram, & stabilivit coelos prudentia, facit ut oriatur lumen in coelis indeficiens, & sicut nebula tegit omnem terram. Facit anni cursus & constituit dispositiones stellarum, fecit Arcturum & O[…]ionem. Convertit in mane tenebras, diem in noctem mutat, vocat aquas maris, & effundit eas super faciem terrae. Praeparavit terram in aeterno tempore, & replevit eam biped[…]bus & quadrupedibus: ipsam effudit Deus super omnia opera ejus, & super omnem carnem secundum datum. Ipsa denique operatur omnia, & Deus per ipsam operatur omnia in omnibus, & ipse vivificat & animat omnia, ut Apostolus. Quare Propheta recte; In sapientia omnia fecisti, repleta est terra possessione tua, &c. Wisdom created the world of a matter without form. She revealeth the foundations of the deep, and discovereth the things that are hid in darknesse, and light is with her. She maketh the foundations appear out of darknesse, and converteth the deadly shaddow into light. She spreadeth forth the North upon the void or empty face of the abysse, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. For God made all things by the wisdom which came out of his mouth, and compassed about the circuit of the heavens, and walked in the profundity of the abysse. She was present when he prepared the heavens, when he covered, by a certain law or compasse, the abysse. When he established the heavens, or etheriall region above, then was she with him as the composer of all those things. She laid the foundations of the earth, and fastned the heavens, and broke up the Abysse, and made the clouds to gather in a dew. She giveth waight unto the Aire. She hangeth or ballanceth the waters or clouds by measure. She giveth unto the raine its laws, and ordaineth a way unto the Lightning of the Thunder. She created the heavens, and did spread them abroad. She fastned the earth, and made the things which grow upon it. God created the earth by her, and established the heavens by his Providence, and she causeth an indeficient Light to rise and appeare in the heavens, and she covereth as it were with a cloud the whole earth. She maketh the courses of the year, and instituteth the dispositions or natures of the Stars. She made the Pole-star and Orion, and turned the darkness into the morning, and changed the day into night. She calleth the waters of the Sea, and poureth them upon the face of the Earth. She hath prepared the Earth from eterni[…]y, and filled it with two-footed and four-footed Creatures: God effused or poured her forth upon all his Works, and upon all flesh in a divers measure. To conclude, […]e operateth all things, as Solomon saith, and therefore God by her doth operate all and in all things. And again, she vivifieth, and animateth all things, as the Apostle telleth us: whereupon the Royall Prophet David doth rightly conclude in these words, Oh Lord how glorious are thy works, in Wisdome thou hast made them all, the Earth is full of thy riches: So is the wide Seas, and innumerable creeping things therein, both great and small. Thou givest unto them, and they gather it, thou openest thy hand and they are filled with good things: But if thou hide thy face they are troubled, if thou dost take away their breath they die, and return unto dust. A[…]ain, if thou dost send out thy Spi[…]it, they are re-created or re-vive, and thou renewest the face of the Earth, &c. In which Speech the Prophet confirmeth, that it is the Spirit of the Lord, who by his presence reviveth; that it createth and generateth, and by his absence or vacancy mortifieth or corrupteth it. And lastly, by his returning, or restoring of it again, causeth both revivification and resurrection from the dead. The which three mysticall operations of one Spirit in this world, the whole Scriptures do handle at full, and therefore we will conclude the last Chapter of this Book, namely, that which succedeth, with this very Subject: which shall truly correspond unto that defective treatise, which Aristotle maketh of generation and corruption. But before we come to speak of it, we must proceed a little further, in the opening of this present Principle. By this therefore that is already said, we may easily perceive, that the Catholick Act, or formall Principle, with his infinity of dilatations, or emanations, are in the hands and volunty of the Creator; who for that cause is said to operate by his Wisdome all in all, as is already declared. And therefore the Schoole distinction, de operatione mediata, & immediata; principali seu primaria, & minus principali seu secundaria, with many other such like evasions, forged out by the Ethnick Philosophers (being necessary instruments of the Prince of this world, forasmuch as they by their worldly discipline, do distract even Christians themselves, from Truth and Unity, by a multiplicity of confused distinctions) ought to be quite abolished, being that the only act and Catholick agent in all things is immediatly from God, and is all one in essence with God, and is essentially in all things: For the text saith that God hath poured out his Spirit on all his works, and the incorruptible Spirit of God is in a[…]l things, and the heavens and earth are full of it. Again, this Spirit is the most active and mobil of all things) which being so, what (I beseech you) should hinder it to work immediatly and absolutely in all things? Being that it is the immediate vertue and vivifying emanation from God, and consequently there can be no difference between the immediate act of God and the act of this Spirit, which must needs be immediate in the creature, because, as it is present in it, so also it is most mobil and all-sufficient in it selfe to operate. Now therefore seeing it is evident, that this Spirit is God, and that the essence divine is indivisible, it must needs follow, that where it acteth immediatly, there God also must act and operate immediatly, and therefore all distinctions framed out after the inventions of men being laid aside, these words of the Apostle and Solomon, God worketh all in all, doth generally hold over all, and every particular, and consequently we ought to acknowledg no subalternate acting or efficient cause in this world, but onely one identity or divine essence, and that is he who worketh all in all, and vivifieth, informeth, and animateth, immediatly, all things alone, without any assistance, as Scripture tells us in divers places, Ego IEHOVAH (saith the Text) faciens omnia solus, & nullus mecum, I am IEHOVAH, who work all things alone, and have none to help or aid me. Ego Sapientiaci[…]cumivi rotundita[…]em coelorum sola: I wisdome compassed the heaven alone, &c. For this cause St. Paul saith, in excluding all other essentiall acts or operations out of this world, saving onely this which is from God. Dii sunt qui dicuntur in coelo & in terra, nos tamen agnoscimus unum Deum Patrem, a quo omnia; & unum Dom[…] num Jesum Christum per quem omn[…]a: Though there are which are termed Gods in heaven and earth, yet we acknow[…]edg but one God the Father, of whom are all things; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things. As if he had said, however the world speaketh of the actions of the Angels, Stars, Elements, Winds, Meteors, Waters, Animals, Vegetables or Mineralls, we do not acknowledg them to act essentially and by themselves, but by the Spirit of God, who onely acteth and operateth in the creatures, and by the creatures what he pleaseth, To conclude, of this spirituall Corner-stone, or sacred Wisdome and Vertue of God, as is said before, the Scripture speaketh thus, Christus implet omnia: Christ filleth all things. In ipso condita sunt universa in coelis & in terra, visibilia & invisib[…]lia, omnia in ipso & per ipsum sunt creata, Ipse est ante omnes, & omnia in ipso constant, Ipse in omnibus primatum tenens, nam in […]pso omnis plenitudo divinitatis inhabitat: In principio terram fundavit, & opera manuum ejus sunt coeli: Nam ipse est verbum: De aqua, & per aquam, mediante hoc verbo coe[…]i e[…]ant prius & terra creata: Denique est splen[…]or g[…]oriae, & figura substantiae Dei portans omnia verbo virtutis suae: In Christ all things in heaven and earth are mad[…], as well visible as invisible: By him and in him are all things created. He is before all, and a[…]l consist in him: He holdeth the Principal[…]ty in a[…]l things; for in him all the p[…]enit[…]de of divinity dwe[…]leth: In the beginning he established the earth, and the heavens were the works of his hands, for he is the word: But the heavens were made first, and the earth of the w[…]ters, and by the waters, by the activity of the Word. To conclude, this divine Spirit is the splendor of Gods glory, and the figure of his s[…]bstance, which beareth up, and susta[…]neth all th[…]ngs by the word of his vertue. By which it appeareth, that it is this Spirit of Wisdome which operateth, wo[…]keth, guideth, informeth, vi[…]teth, maintaineth, sustaineth, feedeth and illuminateth all thing[…] with life and being. And again, by his absence darkneth, dep[…]iveth, and causeth death and […]orruption to all things in this world, as shall be delivered more at large in the sixt Chapter of the Book which followeth.

CHAP. V. Of Plen[…]tude and Vacuity, and what true fulness and voidness or inanity is.

NOw that we have in few lines discussed, and set down the nature both of the two constituting or compo[…]ing Principles, and also of the privative, and decomposing nature, It is necessary for us to know the property and sense of P[…]enitude and Vacuiy, according unto the true Wisdome or Christian Philosophy. And first, I will speak a word or two of that Vacuity or Emptiness, which is so detestable and odious in the works which the Creator hath made: As well the Fathers of the Philosophers, as such as have been expert in Theology, have termed it by the name of Nihil or Nothing: Moses doth call it a deformed darkness, or a dark abysse. Hermes, a fearfull or horrible shadow, void of shape or form. The Cabalists, a potentiall being, which is as yet nothing in act. Plato maketh it a thing scarcely credible, and therefore hardly to be imagined, and likneth it to a mere dream, which when a man is awake, proveth nothing. St. Augustin saith, Cum aliquid informe concip[…]o, prius nihil intelligo quam intelligebam, quemadmodum n[…]hil videndo videntur teneb[…]ae, nihil audiendo auditur silentium: When I conceive any deformed thing, I do first understand nothing else, then I understood before, as, when I behold nothing Darkness is seen, when I heare nothing S[…]lence is heard. Whereby it appeareth that he compareth this Nothing unto darknesse and silence, Job therefore saith: Aquilonem Deus extendit super mane & vacuum, & suspendit terram super Nihilum: God did extend the North upon Inanity and Vacuity, and he hanged the Earth upon Nothing. And again, elsewhere, Revelat fundamenta[…]e tenebris, & educit in lucem umbram L[…]thalem: God revealeth the Foundations out of Darknesse, and maketh the deadly shadow to appear into Light. By all which, he argueth that Vacuity, Inanity, Nothing, and Darkness, are one and the same thing: to wit, Vanity, Inanity, or Voidness, because that all fulness and plenitude is from God in his actuall property. But God did not as yet shine forth unto the world, and therefore as the first deformed matter of the world was void and destitute of all inacting grace, and formall goodness, it was said to be Vain, Empty, and Darkness: For this reason Moses said, before the act of Creation, Terra erat inanis & vacua: The earth was void and empty, because it was not as yet indued with the beames of Light, Life, and Form. Tenebrae fuerunt super faciem Abyssi: Darkness was upon the face of the Abysse, before the all-informing, and creating Spirit of the Lord was caried on the waters: but after the Spirits apparition, it is said that God calleth that which appeared dry out of the water, Earth; and God saw that it was good, and it produced the tender herbs, and seeds of every kind, &c. Wherefore the Earth that was before the revelation of Gods Spirit inane and void, is now become full of divine Light, and multiplying Grace. Whereupon it was no more void and empty, that is to say, destitute of essentiall being, but became fertill and fruitfull, being now replenished with divine fire, and the incorruptible Spirit of God, according unto that of Solomon, Spiritus Disciplinae sanctus implet orbem terrarum: The spirit of Wisdome filleth the Earth. And again, Incorruptibilis Spiritus inest omni rei: The incorruptible Spirit of God is in every thing. Per hanc lucem (saith St. John) mundus est factus: By this light the world was made. And the Apostle, Christus implet omnia: Christ filleth all things. Whereby we may perceive, that all plenitude is from the divine Act, as contrariwise Vacuity is, when that formall life is absent from the waters, and this is the reason that Vacuum or Inane is held so horrible a thing in Nature: Forasmuch as the utter absence of the eternall emanation, is intolerable to the creature, because that every thing desireth fervently to be informed, and that by a naturall appetite, and affection, and therefore it is abominable unto each naturall thing, to be utterly deprived of being: For this reason it followeth, that unless God had filled all things in this world with his Spirit, Vacuity and empty deformity would have possessed the world, but because he by his presence did create all things of Nought, through the illuminating presence of his ematating Spirit, and by this his Spirituall Word he doth maintain, and sustain them all. Therefore it followeth, that there is nothing in this world which is Inane, in vain, or void and empty. This is maintained by this assertion of the Wiseman mentioned before: Manus Omnipotentis (saith he) mundum ex informi materia creavit: The hand of the Almighty created the world of a matter without form: that is of an inane and void matter, and consequently of Nothing or Nihil: Forasmuch as it had no denomination, being it is form that giveth the name and essence. By this therefore it may appear, how vain the Vacuum or Vacuity of the Peripatetick is, in regard of that which by the true Wiseman, is held Inane and Vacuum: For they esteem their Vacuum to be a mere imaginary place in the aire, not filled by any bodily existence, no not by aire it self. But although it be apt to receive some watery existence, namely aire, water, or earth in it. And so they dream of an imaginary Chimera, which in verity is of it self absolute Nothing, being that it is impossible that any place should be formed in the Universe, which can be after that manner void, and consequently not worth the dreaming after. But our Vacuum and Inane, is a potentiall matter, or earth, or Abysse without form, namely that which is only in potentia ad actum; In puissance to be reduced into Act, by the presence of Divine Light. It is no marvail though Aristotle did not think of this kind of Inanity, and Plenitude, being that in one place he saith, Ex nihilo nihil fit: Of nothing nothing is made, and in another place he affirmeth Light to be an Accident, and therefore it appeared not unto his sense, that such an accident could take away Inanity or Vacuity, and fill all things essentially by his presence: But I will combate our Christian Peripateticks at their own weapons, who hold it for a Maxim, that accidentis esse sit inesse. I will therefore assail them with this Syllogism. If Light be an Accident, then the existence of it is to adhere, or to be in some Subject; but the existence of true Light is to exist without any adhesion unto matter or Subject, therefore it is no accident. The Major is proved by Aristotle's own Axiom: which is, Accidentis esse est inesse, aut adhaerere subjecto alicui: The existence of an Accident is to be in, or to adhere unto, some materiall Subject, or else it cannot be. The Minor is maintained by the words of Moses: Light was created the first day before any creature, and therefore it had not any precedent actuall matter or Subject, to be in or adhere unto: Besides it is beyond imagination that God should create Accidents before any Essentiall or Substantiall creature. Again, God who is the Fountain of Light, is said to be Light in whom is no darkness. And again, the word is defined in another place to be Light, and the Spirit of Wisdome is said to be the bright splendor and shining forth of the Almighty: And therefore it was most absurd in Aristotle, yea and in some of his disciples, as Damascen, and others, to con[…]lude that eternall light to be an accident, which did emane from the essentiall fountain of light, to vivifie and illuminate the whole water. Wherefore it is evident, that the true mystery of plenitude and vacuity, was utterly unknown unto the sect of the Peripateticks, because they were altogether ignorant of the true wisdom, which did (as the Apostle James saith) descend from the Father of light; and this doth evidently appear, when he will have the essentiall light, and formall act and splendor of all things, to be an Accidentall quality.