Section II, Book 1, chapter 4: God, the soul of the world, and the spirits of all things (part 1 of 3)

CHAP. IV. Wherein it is evidently proved, as well by the ancien[…] Ethnick Philosophers, as by the authority of Holy Scriptures, that there is a soul of the world: Herein also is expressed what this catholick Soul is, and whereof it is composed or made.

I Purpose in the first rank of my discourse, touching the soul of the world, to expresse what the opinions as well of the ancient Cabalists and mysticall Rabbi's, as Ethnick Philosophers are, concerning this Subject, so much condemned by some self-conceited and little skillfull persons, in so profound a mystery, and so highly prised and esteemed by others, who have with the Lyncean eye-sight of their understanding, dived and penetrated into the secret bowells of Nature, & with due reverence contemplated her Centrall and eternall Agent. And afterwards my meaning is, to set down the concordance which is observed betwixt them and Holy-Writ. The Cabalist's tenent is, that the great Angell whom they term Mitattron, (which by interpretation is Donum Dei, the gift of God) is that very same catholick Spirit, which doth animate the whole world, and thereupon Rabbi Moses doth averre it to be Intellectus a ens, or the generall intellectuall agent, from which all particular forms do flow. And they say, that from this universall angelicall Spirit, all singular vertues as well animall, as vitall and naturall, do proceed, which also they call Angells, whereof there are an infinite number in respect of our capacity. And the Philosopher Democritus, Orpheus, with divers of the Pythagoreans, do not much differ from this opinion of these Rabbi's, but in variety of name onely: for they imagine that all things are full of gods, and therefore they offered divine Honours, Praiers, and Sacrifices unto them in the creatures, and did worship each of them with a divers fashion of ceremony. But they had evermore that regard unto JEHOVA, the eternall Unity and Father of all things, that they referred all these gods unto one Jupiter. This point nevertheless being ill understood by the ignorant, was an especiall cause of Idolatry, being that hereupon, the simple fell unto the worshipping of the creature, in stead of the Divinity which was in the creature. And for this reason, Solomon: Vani sunt homines omnes naturà in quibus est ignorantia Dei, & qui ex iis quae spectantur bonis, eum qui est, intellig ere non potuerunt, neque ex operibus consideratis, ipsum opificem agnoverunt: All men are naturally vain, in whom is the want of the knowledg of God, and cannot conceive him that truly is, by such good creatures as they sensibly do discern, nor yet have scanned and discovered the Workman by the consideration of his works. In like manner the Platonists did call the generall vertue, which did engender and preserve all things the Animam mundi, or the soul of the world. And to this their opinions, the Arabick Astrologians do seem to adhere: forasmuch as they did maintain, that every particular thing in the world hath his distinct and peculiar soul from this vivifying Spirit. To this opinion also Mercurius Trismegistus, Theophrastus, Avicenna, Algazel, and as well all the Stoicks and Peripateticks, do seem wholly to consent or agree. Again, Zoroaster and Heraclitus, the Ephesian, conclude that the soul of the world is that catholick invisible fire, of which and by the action whereof, all things are generated and brought forth from puissance unto act. Virgil, that excellent Latine Poet, calleth it that mentall Spirit, which is infused through every joint and member of the world, whereby the whole Mass of it, namely the heaven and the earth, or spirit and body, are after an abstruse manner agitated and moved: His words are these;

Spiritus intus alit totamque infusa per ar[…]us
Mens agitat molem, &c.

A Spirit (saith he) doth nourish within, and being infused over all the joints or members of the world, it doth move the whole substance of the same. Marcus Man[…]ius, as also Boetius and Augurel, being later Poets, are of Virgil's opinion. For Manlius saith;

Hoc opus immensi constructum corpore mundi
Vis animae divina regit.

The divine power of the […]oul doth govern this work, which is erected in the body of the vast world. And Boetius

Tu triplicis mediam naturae, cuncta moventem,
Connectis animam.

Thou dost frame or tye together a mean soul of a triple nature, which mov[…]th all things. And Augurel saith;

Nonnulli quicquid diffunditur undique coeli,
Aëraque & terras & lati marmoris aequor,
Intus agi referunt animà quà vivere mundi
Cuncta putant, ipsumque hàe mundum ducere vitam.
Ast animae quoniam nil non est corporis expers,
Mundus at & mundi partes quoque corpore constant;
Spiritus hic intermedius fit, quem neque corpus
Aut animum dicunt sed eum qui solus utroque
Participans in idem simul haec ex[…]rema red[…]cat.

Some say, that whatsoever filleth the Heaven, the Aire, the Earth, and wide Seas, is stirred up by a soul, through the vertue whereof all things in the world do live; and also that the world it self doth exist by it. But because there is not any bodily substance that is viod of a soul, and that the world and every part thereof doth consist of a body, therefore there is an intermediate spirit betwixt this soul and body, which they neither call a soul or a body, but a mean substance, participating of them both, to reduce both extreams together into one. The wiser sort of Alchymists, do make the Soul a certain infinite nature, or power in all things, which doth procreate like things of their like: for this nature doth engender all things, yea, and multiplieth, and nourisheth, or sustaineth them: and they also style it, the Ligament, or bond of the elements, since by it they are fastned together with the Symphoniacal accords of peaceable harmony, although of themselves, that is in regard of their matter, they are dissonant. Also it is termed the true virtue, that mingleth and proportionateth every thing in this sublunary world, allotting unto each specifick creature a convenient and well agreeing form, that thereby one thing might be distinguished and made to vary from another: and, in conclusion, the mysticall Rabbies do averre, that this occult fire is that Spirit of the Lord, or fiery love, which when it moved upon the waters, did impart unto them, a certain harmonious and hidden fiery vertue, without whose lovely assistance and favorable heat, nothing could be generated of them, or multiplied in them.

Thus you may discern the manifold opinions, as well of Christian as Heathen Philosophers touching this Anima mundi, or soul of the world, which will appear to vary little or nothing at all from the tenent of Holy Scripture in sense, but in words onely; Neither are these their opinions so hainous or abominable, as some more superstitiously zealous than truly understanding Christians of this our Age will make them, if they will scan the matter wisely and with moderation: for then they shall really perceive, that it doth concurre with the Bible of Truth: And to confirm what I now say; my purpose is in the first place, to expresse unto each learned and well minded Reader, the harmony of the Scriptures touching this point, and then I will compare every one of the foresaid opinions, with the sense and grounds of the said harmony, that each wise man may thereby the better conjecture and guesse at the truth of the business, before he shall rashly enter into the censuring of that deep and profound mystery, which concerneth the Divine action in naturall effects.

I told you, in my precedent discourse, that the Eternall Unity, which is the God of gods, and Beginning of beginnings, did cause by a double property in one essence, two divers principles to issue out of himself, whereof the one was potentiall, and no way as yet inacted by the brightnesse of his emanation, and in that respect is termed Darkness, privation, Nolunty, opposit to Light, and a friend unto death and rest: The other was actuall, and nothing else but a pure catholick form and brightness, which is tearmed Light, Position, Volunty, and in nature opposit to Darknesse, and a friend unto life and action, or motion. And then I signified unto you, that by the bright appearance of Eternity, or the Eternall Spirit of Wisdom, (which I termed with the Scriptures, the radiant emanation, or effluxion from the Almighty, which is all one with him in essence) the deformed waters were inacted and made manifest, out of this dark Principle or Chaos, that is, reduced from Potentia Divina, or the Divine Puissance, without form, in which they abode, into Actum Divinum, the Divine Act: and because all the humid and passive catholick nature, of which both the heavens and the earth were framed, did issue from this Mass of watery matter, which the Poets call Pana, or the second birth of Chaos, we must imagine it to be that spirituall matter of the world, which was made fertill and multiplicable, by reason of that hidden active and formall Light or invisible fire, which this increated emanation imparted unto it, immediatly before the creation of the heavens and the earth. Whereupon the holy Text hath it: Spiritus Domini serebatur super aquas: The Spirit of the Lord moved or was carried upon the waters. And as St. A[…]gustin addeth to it, igneum illis vigorem imp[…]r[…]ie[…]s: Bestow[…]ng upon th[…]m a fiery vigor or formall and act[…]ve vertue, Now as we see that Man, which is called the little-world, is composed of soul and body, (whereof the soul is his heaven or spirituall part, or, as we may say, the superiour and higher waters, and the body with the humours thereof, as it were the lower waters, is the earth and g[…]osser humou[…]s) and each of these two are informed, united, and vivified by the Spirit of life, which God inspired into it, even so we may observe, that the heaven or spirituall humid nature of the great world, is animated by the eternall emanation or spirit of the supernaturall wisdom of God, to give life and figure unto the world. And forasmu[…]h as it is ea[…]ie to discern, that the macro cosmicall heavens are of two sorts, namely composed of upper spirituall waters, which are called Ae[…]her, or heavenly; and of the lower spirituall waters, which are called Aer, or elementary, no otherwise than in the lesser world or man, the receptacle of the heavenly spirit is known to be Aer, so that Physitians distinguish by reason of this difference between the vitall or aetheriall spirits, and the naturall or elementary body: So we ought to consider, that this materiall humid spirit of the heavens, in both worlds, which are the subtlety of the waters, are in themselves dead, but in respect of the super-celestiall emanation into them, which informeth and vivifieth them, they live, move, and are thinner or thicker, according unto that more or less formall grace, which the all-informing Spirit doth allot them; for the more the sacred Spirit of life doth abound, or really act, in this or that region of the universall aire, the more that sphear is thin, subtle, active, worthy, and noble. Doth not Scripture seem to verifie, that Deus sapientia sua aptet pondus aeri, & appendat aquas in mensura, fecerit terram in fortitudine sua & preparaverit orbem in sapientia sua & prudentia sua extenderit coelos, appenderit aquilonem super inane & suspenderit terram super nihilum. In coelorum structura & cum Deus stabiliret fund[…]menta terrae, ipsa aderat cuncta componens. And again Wisdom saith, Ex ore altissimi prodii primogenita ante omnem creaturam, in initio ante seculum creata sum, usque ad futurum seculum non desinam, & habitatione sancta coram ipsum ministravi.In coelis […]eci ut oriretur lumeninde ficiens, & sicut nebula tex[…] omnem terram. In altissimis habitavi, & thronus meus in columna nubis, coeli gyrum circuivi sola, profundum abyssi penetravi in fluctibus maris ambulavi & in omni terra s[…]eti. Feci Arcturum & Orionem, converti in mane tenebras, diem in noctem mutavi, vocavi aquas maris, effudi eas super terrae faciem. Coelos den que, mediante Spiritu meo, ornavit Deus; converti coelum in gyro in locum suum uno die: omnia q; numero, pond[…]re, & me[…]sura disposuit & temperavit. God by his wisdom giveth proportion of weight unto the aire, hangeth the waters in measure; He made the earth in his strength, prepared the world in his wisdome, and extended the heavens by his prudency. He hanged the North upon emptinesse and in[…]nity, and ballanced the earth upon nothing. For she was present at the building of the heaven[…], and it was […]he that did compasse and fashion out all things. When God did establish the foundations of the earth, she was present, and composed all things. And in another pla[…]e, this Spirit of wisdom saith, I came out of the mouth of the most high, being first-born or brought forth before any creature. I was created in the beginning before all ages, neither shall my beeing cease in the latter age of the world: and I do administer before him in his holy habitation. I caused a never failing light to rise in the heavens, and I covered the earth after the manner of a mist. I dwelled in the highest places, and my throne was in a c[…]owdy pillar. I alone did compasse round about the heavens, and did penetrate into the profund[…] of the abysse; and I walked in the waves of the seas, and I stood upon every earth. I made the North, or pole-star, and Orion, and I turned the darknesse into day, and the day unto night. I called the waters of the seas, and poured them out upon the face of the earth. I turned the heavens about unto his place in one daies space. To conclude, God adorned the heavens by my spirit, and did proportionate and temper all things in number, weight, and measure, &c. By which testimonyes it is most apparent, that all changes, alterations, actions, ornaments of beauty, motions, numbers, weights, measures, and consequently all diversities that are made, in the generall homogeniall mass of the waters, are effected by this vivifying emanation of the benigne and bright spirit of the eternall Unity, whose root is the Word; for in verity, according unto St. Paul, it is onely this Spirit that doth operate all in all. And therefore I must needs conclude with the kingly Prophet, and say, Opera Dei mirabilia & ampla sunt; quae omnia fecisti in sapientia: The works of God are marvellous and ample, which thou hast effected in thy wisdom. And again, Verbo Domini firmati sunt coeli & Spiritu oris ejus omnis virtus eorum. By the word of the Lord the heavens were fashioned and fastned, and by the Spirit of his mouth each vertue thereof. Which words do seem to infer, not onely the materiall substance of the world, which is intimated by that word Heavens, but also the inacting form, that is, the vivifying beginning of all things, which hath no beginning, and this is signified by the Word, and his off-spring, the Spirit from the which the waters first received their beeing; and then of these catholick waters were the heavens, the earth, and elements made, in number, weight, and measure, that is to say, were effected by a subdivision, through the spagerick act of the self-same word or spirit: And therefore St. Peter hath it, Coeli erunt priùs & terra de aquis & per aquas consistentes verbo Dei: The heavens and the earth were of old of waters, and by waters, consisting by the word of God. As who should say, after the Spirit of the Lord had issued out of the dark abyss, (for it is said, Verbum erat in principio, The Word was in the beginning) and had given act and form, and consequently a name unto the waters, (for it was said, that the Spirit of the Lord was carried upon the waters) the same Spirit did operate to reveal explicitely and particularly, that which the Chaos did at the first contain in it self complicitely and confusedly, and that in a generality; wherefore when it had revealed the universall matter of all things, which was water, it did by little and little anatomise it, and open the secret closets thereof, to shew forth and make manifest that which from all eternity lay hid in it, and was without form or beeing, and therefore esteemed rightly for Nothing. And first, the substance of the world was made of it in generall, as it appeareth by this Text, Manus omnipotentis mundunt ex informi materia effecit. The hand of the Omnipotent did make the world of a matter without form or shape. And as St. Jerom interpreteth it, Ex materia invisa, Of an unseen or invisible thing. Then that watry and humid substance was divided into the heaven and earth, in distinguishing the waters from the waters by the same Spirit, which is the ministring hand of the Almighty; for the Text hath it, In habitatione sancta coram ipso ministravi, I did administer before him in the holy habitacle. And again, Sapientia apud ipsum fuit cuncta componens, Wisdom was she that composed all things with God. And this was the second daies work. Then the lower waters were divided into elements, namely, earth, water, aire, &c. and that was the third daies separation, as Moses doth methodically demonstrate. All which, Hermes expresseth thus, (as is said before) Ex luminis voce verbum factum prodit, verum hoc naturae humidae astans, eam fovebat. Ex humidae autem naturae visceribus sincerus ac levis ignis protenus evolans alta petit, aer quoque levis spiritûs parens in mediam regionem inter aquam & ignem sortiebatur; terra verò, & aqua sic invicem commixta jacebant, ut terrae facies obruta nusquam pateret. The word which was made did issue out of the Light's voice, and this Word being present and assistant unto the humid nature, did foster and preserve it. Then the light fire, proceeding out of the bowells of the humid nature, soared or mounted aloft. The thin air a[…]s[…], which is the father of the spirit, did elect the middle region which is between the fire and the water, for his abode. The earth and water did lie so intermingled together, that the face of the earth was no where overflowed or drowned by the waters. Whereby it is evidently proved, that this thin spirituall water, or humid nature, in it self is no more than mans spirit, without the vivifying act of life; for as in the soul of every creature that liveth, there are two things chiefly to be required, namely, an Agent and a Patient; so where the one of these are wanting, there can be no created soul: for if that the world's life was onely the essentiall breath of God, without the vehicle of the created humid spirit, which is the matter of heaven; then that life would be simple identity, and of one and the same property, and consequently there would be neither variety of action, neither any contraction or dilatation of systole and diastole in things, and therefore no action or passion in the soul; for without a passive nature there can be no action, and also without an active nature there can be no passion. Now matter which proceedeth from water is the subject of all passion, as here, mother Chaos was the female or passive, unto the action of Demogorgon, or God. Also act or form, which proceedeth from light, is the subject of all action, as its father Eternity, or the bright emanation of the spirit of wisdom from the fountain of light, was the male or agent. From hence therefore it is an easie thing to gather, first, what the soul of the world is, and therefore of what parts it doth consist; for we must consider, that as every creature hath his interior and exterior, so also we must exquisitely search after an internall and an externall, in the soul, being it is a creature; and again, that it is a creature, it is most certain, because it is not Identity, but Alterity; for if it were Identity, it would be the divine unity or essence, and consequently it would not be created. Now that it is Alteritas it is plain, because it is compounded of two, after the consistence of Angells, forasmuch as his internall is a vivifying flame, issuing or proceeding from the eternall emanation of life; and his externall is an aeviall spirit, which is created, inacted, and animated by this eternall emanation from God. And forasmuch as the nature of that most essentiall and never-dying fire, is said to be all, and in every part of the world, (and therefore Scriptures say, Christus adimplet omnia, Christ filleth all things. Christus est omnia in omnibus, Christ is all, and in all. Dei Spiritus est in coelo, in inferno, in extremis maris, in nocte & in tenebris, &c. The Spirit of God is in heaven, in hell, in the extreamest parts of the seas, in the night, and in darkness. Sapientiam effudit Deus super omnia opera sua, God hath powred out the spirit of wisdom upon all his works.Spiritus Dei incorruptibilis inest omni rei, The incorruptible Spirit of God is in every […]hing. Coelum est ei sedes, terra autem scabellum pedum ejus; The heaven is his seat, and the earth is his footstool. Spiritus sapientiae implet orbem, The spirit of wisdom filleth all the world, &c. Forasmuch (I say) as it is in every particle of this humid spirit, the which by his presence is now full of dignity, that before was vile and deformed; it is certain, that it maketh this catholick spirit to live. And therefore this angelicall spirit thus composed of alterity, or of two, is called Anima mundi, because it is that catholick or generall spirit, divinely animated from the beginning, which doth vivifie afterwards each particular creature of the world, proceeding from the generality to the speciality, and from the speciality unto the individuality. So that the mighty question, so often revolved by the Peripatetick Philosophers, and so slenderly by them resolved, may hereby be fully determined, and enucleated, if it please the wise and impartiall Reader rightly to consider things, as indeed they do stand; for by this, it is easie to express and distinguish mentem divinam, or the divine emanation, from anima, or the soul; and again, the anima from spiritus, or the spirit; being that it is evident, that the mentall radication, is the eternall and formall emanation, which is given or sent out by the Creator in her positive property, to create the world, and consequently the earthly body and heavenly spirit thereof, of nothing, or non-actuall existence. The spirit is that inward created spirit of the world, or subtle substance of the waters, or humid nature, simply considered in its self, which is animated and illuminated by that Archetypicall emanation; and the soul, or anima, is that union, which is made between this humid created spirit, and the increated formall emanation, which doth inform or create. So that by this we may discern, first, what the forma informans, or natura naturans, is; then what the forma informata, or the natura naturata is. The forma formans, or natura naturans is God, or the divine emanation, which created all things; the forma informata, or natura naturata is the created light, or the spirit informed or illuminated, by the presence of the bright increased Spirit; and the increated Spirit clothed with, or enduing that created spirit, is said to be vestitus, or amictus lumine quasi vestimento, cloathed with light, that is, with an illuminated spirit, as with a garment. We shall find also in Exodus, that in the same Chapter, the spirituall creature in which the divine Spirit acteth and resideth, is tearmed an Angell, in regard of his externall spirit in composition; but again, in the same Chapter it is tearmed JEHOVA, in regard of the eternall form that acteth in it. Also the Angell is said to go before the Israelites in a pillar of clowd by day, and a pillar of fire by night. And again it is said in the same history, that JEHOVA went before them in the said order. And the wise man said, Fuit sapientia iis tegumentum interdiu, & lux stellaris noctu, Wisdom was a cover to them in the day time, and a starry-light in the night. And the reason of all this is expressed elsewhere thus, Noli exacerbare eum, quia non feret defectionem vestram, quoniam nomen meum est in eo; Do not anger this my angel; for he will not endure your defections, because my name is in him, &c. Where, by his name he signifieth his word, which is God; as if he had said, I do essentially animate him, and I am within him, &c. That the soul of the world, or Mens divina in mundo, simply taken, is the divine mentall emanation absolutely in it self, being distinguished from the created spirit, this Text in Scriptures doth warrant: Animam & Spiritum dividit & discernit sermo Dei vivus: The Word of God doth devide the soul and the spirit, &c. Where, by the word is ment the mentall beam; by the Spirit, the humid nature that existeth by the presence of the mentall beam, which God by his Word can withdraw unto himself, or emit according unto his will and pleasure. Whereupon David said: Deo recipiente Spiritum suum à creatu[…]is, e[…]spi a[…]t, […]mi[…] erte spiritum recreantur bono. God receiving or withdrawing his Spirit from […] they exspire, but sending out his Spirit they are recreated with life and goodness. A[…]d […]ow I will prove all this out of such definitions or descriptions, which as well the Fa[…]he[…]s of the Church as the Philosophers, both Christian and Gentile, have made upon the soul in generall, both as it hath a relation unto a body, and also as it is in its simple and separated estate: Damascene seemeth to define it thus: Anima est sub[…]tantia spiritualis a divinis fontibus emana[…]s, simplex, indissolubilis, immo[…]al[…]s, libe[…]a, incorporea, & indivisibilis; quantitate, figura, pondere, & colore carens. The s[…]l is a spirituall s[…]bstance, flowing from the divine fountains, simple, ind[…]ssolvable, immortall, free, incorporeal[…], indivisible; wanting quantity, figure, waight, and colour. Unto this also Bernard seemeth to consent. And Augustin defineth it thus: Est mens div[…]na omnia intelligens omnibusque se assimilans: It is a divine Spirit, that understandeth all things, and doth c[…]nform it self unto the shape or l[…]kenes[…] of all things. And for this reason, certain Philosophers say, that it is made after the likeness of the Spirit of Wisdome, which is known to be the Image of God: For it beareth the likeness of every thing in it self. Wherefore it is defined by them, to be the similitude of all things. And verily it hath in it self this power, to apprehend, and find out all things. Again, it is like unto all things, being that it is one in all. There are some of the […]viner sort of Mysticall Philosophers, that seem to conclude mans soul more fully in this definition; Anima est lux quaedam divina ad imaginem Verbi, causae causarum, primi exemplaris, creata; s[…]bstantia Dei, sigilioque figurata, cu[…]us character est verbum ae[…]num: The soul is a certain divine Light, created after the Image of the Word, the ca[…]se of caus[…]s, and the first exempla[…] or image, &c. Another defines it thus: Est res incorporea omni decore adornata, Sanctae Trinitati […]ssimi[…]ata, […] nae gloriae coaquata: It is an incorporeall thing, wh[…]ch is adorned with all virtue, likned to or resemb[…]ng the Holy Trinity, and co[…]equated unto eternall glory. Some do describe it thus: Est Spiritus intellectualis semper vivens, semper in m[…]t[…], & s[…]cundum sui operis effic[…]m variis nuncupatur nominibus. Dicitur vita dum vegetat, spiritus dum contemplatur, sensus dum sentit, animus dum sapit, mens dum intelligit, ratio dum d[…]scernit, mem ria dum recordatur, dum vuli voluntas; at isla omnia non sunt n[…]si una essentia se[…] proprietate diversa: It is an intellectuall Spirit alwaies living, alwaies in motion, and in respect of its divers operations in the body, it hath divers appellations assigned unto it: For it is called life, in regard of its v[…] vificative and vegetative property. It is called a Spirit, as it is conversant about contemplation, and, is a spirituall substance: and breatheth in the body; it is called sense, as it is imploied about the Act of sensation; it is termed Animus, when it operateth in Knowledg and Wisdome; and it is named Mens, in regard of its Divine Understanding: and Memory, as it doth remember; again, as it is affected to will any thing, it is called Voluntas: and all these names decipher but onely one Anima or Soul in essence, but divers and sundry properties or faculties, &c. And these later descriptions are assigned unto this vivifying Spirit, as it is conversant with the body. Now if we shall duly examine all these delineations, of the essence and properties of this Anima, as well in her freedom from the body, as when it is included in it; we shall find it not to vary one jot from the tenor of my precedent assertion. For first, we shall observe it to be in its essentiall virtue, the off-spring of the eternall emanation, which came immediatly from God, for the inacting of all things, and then that it hath for its substantiall Vehicle, the thin subtile created spirit of the world, which maketh it alteritatem, or a composition of two, namely of the bright emanation from the eternall Fountain, and therefore in the foresaid definitions, it is tearmed in regard of this its interior, in the first, a Spirituall Substance, flowing from the divine Fountain: in the second mens divina; in the third, the Image of similitude of the divine Wisdome; in the fourth, a divine Light, after the Image of the Word, the substance of God whose character is the Word; in the fifth, the similitude of the Holy Trinity, coaequated unto the divine Glory. Secondly, it participates of the mundane spirit, and therefore it is by the sixth and seventh tearmed (in regard of its substance) a spirit that breatheth in the body, and it is the Vehicle of the formall act, which is in truth the divine mentall beam: being considered in it self, as the substantiall and materiall spirit, in its simple nature, it is that which participateth with the created spirit of the world. The union of these two, is called anima, so that anima includeth mentem and spiritum, or the divine and created nature in one, which filleth all, and animateth and vivifieth all things, according to the assertion of such Gentile and Ethnick Philosophers, as I have cited before, which I will prove no way to dissent or vary from the testimony of the holy Text. And to make this the plainer, I will compare them in order. And first, I will begin my relation, with the Cabalists great Angell, whom they call Mitaitron: which by interpretation, is Donum Dei, the Gift of God, which (as they say) is the catholick intellectuall Agent, from the which all peculiar forms do descend. The Apostle saith, that the Lord doth vivifie all things. And Solomon saith, that the Spirit of Wisdom is the tree of life and the fountai[…], or beginning of life: and if this Spirit be the fountain of life, then the Son of Syrach: effudit Deus illam supra omnia opera sua, & supra omnem carnem secundum datum suum: God poured it out upon all his works, and upon all flesh in his measure. And this was that catholick angelicall Spirit, which God sent out as a Spirituall Messenger from himself, and out of himself, in the form of an emanation, to move upon the waters, and to inform and vivify them, and give life and being, not onely to the great world, but also to every particular thereof, and the emanation was this Word of God, by whom all things were made, and vivified, forasmuch as in it was life: I mean that Christ which filleth all things, who is all in all, as the Apostle saith, who in the beginning made the earth, and the heavens were the work of his hands; and after his creation of all things, he doth (as St. Paul telleth us) portare omnia verbo virtutis suae: bear up, suffer and sustain all things, by the vivifying virtue of this Word. Which also David confirmeth in this: Verbo Domini firmati sunt coeli, & Spiritu ab ore ejus omnis virtus eorum: By the Word of the Lord the heavens were framed and setled, and by the breath of his mouth, all the virtues thereof, namely, the life, preservation, and being. The Apostle therefore seemeth to conclude thus: Deus non aliquo indigens dat vitam & inspirationem & omnia: God needing not the assistance of any, giveth life and breath, and all things unto every creature. But each Philosopher cannot but acknowledg, that Anima is nothing else, but that which doth animate or vivifie a body or spirit: why then should not the catholick divine Spirit which filleth all, and operateth all, and in all, be tearmed the fountain of the worlds life; by which it liveth, moveth, and hath its being, and consequently the essentiall life, and Centrall or mental soul of the world, moving the created humid spirit thereof, no otherwise, then the spirit which God breathed into Adam, did move and operate, in and by the Organ of the created aire? What shall the eternall and vivifying Spirit of Wisdome, which is said to fill all, and to be in every thing, which hath the nature of the universall catholick and first created Angell: (For Ecclesiasticus hath it: prior omnium creata est Sapientia: Wisdom was created before all things,) shall it (being that it is as it were the catholick soul of the world, or life of all things; forasmuch as it is the emanation of the brightnesse of the Omnipotent, and the splendor of the eternall Light, and the pure mirror of the Majesty of God, and the Image of his goodnesse, being one, simple, subtil, permanent in it self, and the most piercing or movable of all things. All which are the properties assigned by St. Dionys, unto an Angell, and by the learned Fathers before mentioned, unto a separated soul:) shall it (I say) be in all things, and fill the heavenly spirit of each world, I mean of the great world, and the little one, called Man? and shall it not operate and act the vivifying and multiplying effect of his nature, but be idle, and vacant in the creature? Did God send forth his operative Spirit to be still, and not to act? Yea verily, the Father operates in it by his Vo[…]unty, and he effecteth the Volunty of his Father in the creatu[…]es spirit, which it possesseth, animateth, and guideth, which way it pleaseth. And for this reason Judith saith: Deo serviat omnis creatura, quia dixisti, & facta sunt; misisti spiritum tuum, & creatae sunt. So that the great world may say, and confesse, as well as man, that it was made after the Image of the Archetype or God, and that in him it liveth, moveth, and existeth. According to that of the Apostle unto man, which is the little world. Thus you see that the Cabalist's Mitatiron or Donum Dei, whom they make the catholick intellectuall Agent, is nothing else but that universall Spirit of Wisdome which God sent out from this Throne (or as the Text hath it) even out of his own mouth, as the greatest gift and token of his benignity unto each world, and the members thereof: to reduce them from deformity, and non-existence, into act and formall being, and to endue them with lively feature, and to tender life, and being unto them explicitly, which before was but complicitly included, and comprehended, in the dark and gloomy shadow of death, I mean out of the deformed Chaos, into a beautifull shape; out of deadly sleep and dark rest, into a lively action, and motion; out of obscurity into Light: And this therefore was tearmed rightly in the eies of wise men Mitattron or Donum Dei catholicum, which reduceth the universall Nothing into an universall Something.