A Cabbalistical DIALOGUE IN ANSWER To the Opinion of a Learned Doctor in Philosophy and Theology, THAT THE WORLD WAS MADE OF NOTHING.

As it is Contained in the Second Part of the Cabbala Denudata & Apparatus in Lib. Sohar, p. 308. &c. Printed in Latin at Sultsbach, Anno 1677. To which is subjoyned A Rabbinical and Paraphrastical Exposition of Genesis 1. written in High-Dutch by the Author of the foregoing Dialogue, first done into Latin, but now made English.

LONDON, Printed for Benjamin Clark in George-Yard in Lombard-street, Bookseller, MDCLXXXII.


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A Cabbalistical Dialogue in Answer to the Opi∣nion of a Learned Doctor in Philosophy and Theology, That the World was made of Nothing. To which is Subjoined a Rabbini∣cal and Paraphrastical Exposition of the First Chapter of Genesis.
Compiler.
THE Marts and Fairs drawing near, I cannot possibly enquire of thee concerning all those things which I once was determined to enquire of: Only tell me briefly for the present; Are these the Fundamentals of thy Cabbala, which are proposed in the Aeto-paedo-melissaean Dream?

Cabbal
No, no; But what answer shall I give to one that is •n hast; unless thou dost allow me to defer until another time those things, which are more amply to be added to those three Treatises, called, A further Disquisition, the Exposition of the Mercava, and the Cabbalisti∣cal Catechism?

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Compil.
Be it so. This is all I ask in the first place, Whether dost thou deny all Creation, pro∣perly so called? Or what is Creation, ac∣cording to thy Hypothesis or doctrinal Suppo∣sition?

Cabb.
I will answer Paradox•s with Paradoxes; and becau•e I perceive thou examinest all things so strictly in the Ballance of Reason, which for the most part is stark blind in these more sublime matters; I shall answer proble∣matically, so as ye may be able to judge, whether our Cabbalistical ter••s do not also admit of another interpretation, according to the dictate of reason, than such a one as may be said to labour under an absurdity. But as for our Hypothesis it self, I shall more freely expatiate on that another time. Now there∣fore to answer thy question, I know one, who is of our number, who defineth Creation, properly so call'd, to be the effection of an infi∣nite efficient, whereby a separable Being is con∣stituted, or made. This definition of Active Creation, may also be easily applied to Passive Creation; or to that which is Relative, that is, to that respect which the Creator hath to the
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Creature, or on the contrary: As also to that Creation which is mediate, whether it be so in regard of the Efficient, or in regard of the Effect. And what absurdity is there in all this?

Compil.
But why, in this definition, dost thou omit that, which we call the formal reason of Creati∣on, viz. that it is done out of Nothing?

Cabb
Because the Particle [Ex] out of does only denote or properly belong to matter; nor can it Properly belong to Spirit; which yet is the most proper Subject of Creation, pro∣perly so called: and of this [Spirit] it can no wise be said, that it is, or is not [Ex] out of another, but only that it is [ab] or from another: just as we say, not that an Idaea or conception is made out of the Soul, or out of the Mind, but from the Soul, or from the Mind: or that the beams or rays of a Created Spirit are made out of its Centre (unless peradventure with regard to place) but from the Centre: or that the Hands, or other for∣mal Members of an Angel, when he appears, are made out of the Angel, but are made from him.

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Compil.
But thus thou seemest to shut out matter from Creation.

Cabb.
No, but only from such a Creation as is im∣mediate. For these are our Positions.

1. That the Creator first brings into being a spiritual Nature.
2. And that either arbitrarily [when he pleas•d;] or continually, as he continually un∣derstands, generates, &c.
3. That some of these Spirits, for some certain cause or reason, are slipt down from the state of knowing, of Pe∣netrating, or of moving into a state of im∣penetration.
4. That these Monades or single Beings being now become spiritless or dull, did cling or come together after various man∣ners.
5. That this coalition or clinging toge∣ther, so long as is remains such, is called mat∣ter.
6. That, out of this matter•, all things material do consist, which yet shall in time return again to a more loosned and free state. No contradiction is involved in all these. Hence the Creator may also be said to be the efficient cause of all things materiated or made material, although not immediately.
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Comp.
After this rate, the Creature would be co-eternal, and co-existent with God.

Cabb.
No otherwise, than as the beam or light is said to be co-existent with the Sun; a Con∣ception, Idaea, or thought with the mind; a Mode, Manner, or Accident of a Being is co∣exisient with its Being; a thing depen∣dent with that on which it dependeth; the effect with its positive actual efficient cause; and a many such like. For thus may Ʋnity be alwaies better conceived to be in God, be∣cause thus he will alwaies have Pluralities as his oppo•ites▪ In like manner will his Good∣ness be better thus conceived by reason of his incessant communication to his Creatures Also that he is the supream Act, because he will al∣waies actuate other B•ings▪ Also that he is the Beginning and the Cause, because he will alwaies influence his Creatures as their cause. Also that he is the Subject, because he will al∣waies have Adjuncts▪ Also that he is the Measure, because he will alwaies commensu∣rate others. Also that he is Priority, because he will alwaies have all else to be Posterior to, or after, him. Also that he is the Substance,
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because he will alwaies bear up all things. Also that he is the Crown, because he will en∣compass or comprehend all others. And so of all the Rest of his Names and Numbers, and therefore also belongeth to him the No•i∣on of a Kingdom, because he will alwaies have Subjects.

Comp.
Why thus it will follow that God did Create by intrinsecal necessity.

Cabb.
There will be no absurdity in that, if Crea∣tion be understood to be immediate in regard of its Subject: and therefore to be only of a spiritual nature, which in a certain respect is immanent, or working within its own self, just as motion is from Fire, Cogitation or thinking from the Soul, Volition or Willing proceeding from God: whence also Creation is very little different from Conservation, ac∣cording to the Sentiments of our People But in that Creation that is Mediate or Transient, or working ad extia without himself, he acteth freely, so that, for Example, he, one day, creates out of the Chaos or confused mass, the Heavens; another day, the Earth; ano∣ther the Stars.

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Compiler.
But how, I pray, after this manner, will the Effect be posterior to, or after its cause?

Cabbal.
In the order of Nature, though not in the order of Time.

Compil.
But at this rate, Spiritual Natures will dif∣fer little from the very Creator himself; and because it is supposed that matter is from their Stupefaction or Dispiritedness, it will follow that the Divine Essence is, as it were, a kind of bodily Spirit.

Cabb.
In the first place indeed, some of the An∣cients seem to have asserted, That the Soul is a Particle of the Divine Air, or Breath, and that men are called the Off-spring of God, (Acts 17.28.) Yet is this warily and wise∣ly to be understood: that the Air or Breath of God doth at least differ from God himself, as the thing principiated or principled differs from its principle: now for things to agree generically or in kind, doth not infer or allow that they are the same in Essence, or do agree essentially. Whence none do assert the Di∣vine Essence to be Bodily-spiritual, but those
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who deny all nature of Spirits; tho' per∣haps it may be more truly said that there is that in God, (if may so say) which may be called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or an affect, or moving (as it were) sufferingly to Create, rather than in Spiits an 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or an affect or moving sufferingly to become Matter▪ However from this Hypothesis, or doctrinal suppositi∣on, the Nature of God is established to be much more Spiritual, than from the Vulgar Hypothesis; because by this Vulgar one, Matter, as such, is not allowed to be so much as a Substance, but to be only a certain ex∣trinsecal and accidental Modification of a Spi∣ritual Substance, from which God is most vast∣ly distant; insomuch, as he is the most wise and chief Mover of all things.

Comp.
But however the Material World will be thus, after a sort, determined to be a Spirit.

Cabb.
Matter, as such, is not a Spirit; by on∣ly that very Substance it self, which appear∣eth under the form of Matter, viz. in its blindness or darkness, to wit, in that its dull rest, and privation of its former happiness, that was in sometimes past a Spirit, and as
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yet is fundamentally and radically such, and will sometime hereafter be such again formal∣ly, as it is said (Rom. 8.19, 20, 21, 22, 23. Eph 1.10.1 Cor. 15, 28.) Examples here∣of may be a Man Living, and a Man Dead; a thin Vapour, and Ice, &c.

Comp.
Dost thou therefore conclude positively, that out of nothing, nothing can be Created?

Cabb.
Indeed having positively determined that Matter is made by a Coalition of Clinging to∣gether of Spiritual degenerate dull Monades or single Beings, and that this Coalition is called Creation, I should not speak accurately if I should say that Matter is made out of No∣thing. But I should assert that a Spirit is pro∣duced neither out of nothing, nor out of some∣thing; because the very Particle Ex (out of) respects a material cause, which is by no means admitted to be in Spirits. But the Inferences with which the first Axiom is load∣ed, do not touch my Hypothesis. But these Absurdities, and Incongruities do flow from the vulgar Opinion, viz. that Matter is Created by God out of nothing, viz. 1. That from a Being supreamly perfect, supreamly
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intelligent, supreamly free, having motion in and by it self in the highest degree, supreamly penetrating, supreamly immutable, supream∣ly positive, supreamly living, &c. should be produced a Being most absolutely imperfect, in the highest degree void of all Science, Understanding and Knowledge; under the highest necessity and force imaginable, bound in the highest degree to the Laws of Passive Motion, and by consequence destitute alto∣gether of all liberty and willing, wanting in it self in the utmost degree all motion, and subjected only to the motions and impressions of others, and therefore of and in it self in the highest degree quiet and immovable, wanting in it self all penetration as well active as passive; most highly mutable, most highly privative, and despoiled of all hap∣piness, and the possession of all real good, and therefore most highly dull, sluggish and dead, and by consequence enjoying nothing at all of those things which are contained in the cause; whence also many have said that nature is plainly contrary unto God: where∣as an efficient cause as it cannot produce any thing that is altogether like unto it self: so neither can it produce any thing altogether
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unlike unto it self. 2. And yet this Sub∣ject so vile and void, which is by us deserved∣ly said to occupy the least part of the Uni∣verse, is, notwithstanding in this vulgar Hy∣pothesis, concluded to be co-extended, yea, co-existing, and co-ordinate with God, and therefore is lifted up into so high an estimati∣on, that all the doctrine in the whole Pagan Philosophy is exhausted or drawn from this Sub∣ject alone: which also is established the mea∣sure of all Theorems, Maxims, and Conclusi∣ons concerning Spirits, or concerning God; (which they call a Demonstration a poste∣riori, that is, from effects, or posterior Consi∣derations) whence it becomes an accursed Ma∣terialism, and consequently Atheism. 3. As, To be, and not to be, done imply a con∣tradiction, so••t is a consequent of this con∣tradiction, out of Not-being, to be; if we should speak accurately, and according to the Laws of the Essential Descriptions of Causes. 4. After the same manner, God must be said to have Created Death, Sin, Shadows or Darkness, Monsters, Evils, &c. which are privations, as Matter is the privation of spiritual nature, inasmuch as in whose definiti∣on, not one only positive term ought truly and
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rightly to be made an ingredient; because neither is discerpibility or divisibleness, or se∣parableness to be allowed to it in the abstract, and as considered in an Atome or indivisible Being. 5. The Creation of matter out of no∣thing, doth directly and perfectly oppose, or is repugnant to the Wisdom of God: inasmuch as in the case thus stated, when he might have done that which was best, as for Example, he might have made every Creature a Spirit, yet some and so many he would make to be no Spirit, and not the best. 6. It is contrary to His Good∣ness, because he would Create something with∣out any Communication at all of most of His good things. 7. It is contrary to His Beauty; because Matter is quite opposite directly con∣trary to and distant from the first Fair One. Yea. 8. Hereby would be a progress or pas∣sage from one extream to another immediate∣ly Whence, 9. it would be absurd, for the avoiding of uncertain absurdities, which flow not necessarily for an Hypothesis, to admit of many more other absurdities, which are highly hurtful to the nature of the Soul and Kingdom of the Messiah, and are such as plunge the Mind so into material dirty Gulphs, that by reason of the utter blotting out of
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its Spiritual nature in it, it at length plainly becomes a material thing as it were, which God forbid!

Compil.
Dost thou therefore assert that matter can∣not be Created?

Cabb.
Not immediately; But after that a Spirit is immediately Created, it doth for certain as∣signable Causes, and which are elsewhere to be remembered, descend into that state of Death, that it admitteth of the Qualities and name of matter, being now a natural Monade or single Being, and a very Atome: then out of these a further mediate Creation may be made and done, even as out of a Dead Sinner, a New Creature is made by and through the Mes∣siah. Therefore as to the Third, Fourth and Fifth Axiomes, I answer, that matter as such, or as it is considered formally, doth not only not exist by and of it self, but in truth doth not so much as exist positively, but privatively on∣ly, just as doth a shaddow, or rest, &c. And whatever is, is a Spirit, whether it be only fundamentally so as a dead man is a man, or whether it be also formally and real∣ly so, as is a Soul, an Angel, God.

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Comp.
What therefore dost thou Reply to the rest?

Cabb
The rest fall of themselves. For every Spirit is not the Divine Essence (which by the Sixth and Seventh Axiomes seems to be insinu∣ated) in a numerical Identity, but only in a specifical, or a generical Identity. Hence is expresly concluded by us, that there is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a Systeme of separate Beings, which comprehendeth the Briathick, the Jezirathick and Asiathick, Isa. 43.7. And these in as much as they are products; (for they exclude not the concurrent Divinity also) do not exist of and by themselves, but from the Author of Emanations, who only existeth of and by himself, according to the Eighth Axiome. But that the Divine Essence can be divided (as the Ninth Axiome would have it) that we admit not of, but most highly adore the Ʋnity which is in it. Just, as for Exam∣ple, when in some most Limpid and clear Fountain, there secretly lurk some earthly and stony Particles, and these at length do cling and grow together, and are separated from the Water, no man asserts and saies that
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the Fountain is divided into small Pebles, but that the Pebles are separated from it; so in truth the Creator produced first of all infi∣nite Myriads of Spirits united to him, and with him, in the supream degree of most hap∣py perfection (in which the Messiah did still abide) so that God might be all in all: But then, by reason of the various degrees of the exercise of their proper Free-will, there comes to be a secretion or separation made amongst these, and that of as many degrees, as there are degrees of Knowledge, even unto the very last extremity, which is the privation thereof; and therefore this death must again, some time hereafter, be swallowed up, Isa. 25.8. Now altho' (according to the Tenth Axiome) single Particles cannot be infinite, yet a Spi∣rit considered in it self, is, to us, indefinite, and its amplitude, or extension is such and so great, as the degree of its Knowledge and Ʋnion doth admit. The Divine Essence it self therefore it not constringed, but that which was Analogous to it, viz. a Created Spirit: and these Particles out of which the material World consisteth, cannot be said to be of the Divine Essence, but of that Nature which was Effected, Constituted, Produced,
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Made, Created, and brought outwards from the Divine Essence. And this constriction may be called a Sleep, according to the Thir∣teenth Axiome, or a Death, &c. And the awakening, (of which mention is made in the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth Axiomes, which is by us termed a Secretion, or Sepa∣ration of Sparkes) hath so many degrees of Ascent, as can be assigned of Descent; the extremities of which are, however, no other than the last contraposition or opposition to God in the state of Death; and a supream Ʋnion (though not an Ʋnity) with God, and that indeed so, that (not the primary power of Creating, which is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to pro∣duce Spirits, but) the Secondary, which is to form or make (not out of a Negative Nothing, but out of a pre-existing rude Sub∣ject, or a privative Nothing, concerning which see 2 Macc. 7.28.) as for Example, by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the Vehicles of Angels, &c. by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 it can communicate thereunto the gros∣ser Natures, which we deny not concerning the Messiah, from Isa. 65.17, 18. But in the Commentaries upon the Twelfthe Axiome, the derivation of the Soul from the material World is unduly imputed unto us: because
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every Spirit is not sunk down to this low de∣gree, but many of them did stop at some of the intermediate degrees, amongst which also were Souls. Nor do we to these Par∣ticles ascribe pains (as the Comment on the Thirteenth Axiome insinuates) because we say, that they want even a sensual Know∣ledge: yet some such like thing, and what is Analogous thereunto, even the Scrip∣tures do ascribe unto them, Rom. 8.12. The rest I pass by, and do appeal to them of your own number, who refute the vulgar Philo∣sophy, if they be duly and soundly understood.

Compil.
I am afraid that by making too much hast, thou hast brought forth Blind Whelps.

Cabb.
These Doctrines I propose Accademical∣ly, and for Experiment sake; nor do I require assent to them from any whatever. However, I shall in due time explain more fully the Cabbalistical Hypothesis, in its own proper Terms.

Comp.
At least, let the Glory of all our Writings be ascribed unto our God, and to His Christ.

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A PARAPHRASTICAL EXPOSITION Of the First Chapter of GENESIS, WRITTEN In High-Duth by the Author of the fore∣going Dialogue; first done into Latin, but now made English.
Verse 1. IN or by the Beginning of the Creatures [or Creation] of God, as in Rev. 3.14. Col. 1.15, 16. John 1.3.1 Cor 8.6. Eph. 3 9. Heb. 1.2. viz. by the Soul of the Messiah, which was already conjoyned with the Divi∣nity: God or Elohim [or the dijudicating, or judging Divinity, with which the Soul of the Messiah had conjoyned it self, and re∣mained
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together therewith in an insepara∣ble conjunction] Created or manifested, or presented Celestial Beings, or the Heaven, viz. Spirits who remained in a sta e of moti∣on, as Job 38.7. Col. 1.16. to which sort or kind, Souls also are referred, or do be∣long: Also Terrestrial Beings, or the Earth, viz. those Spirits who laid down or put off the State of motion, and are vulgarly called Matter, as Rom. 8.20. now these two sorts or kinds of Spirits, even before this formati∣on and preparation, did all flow forth from God.

Vers. 2 And this Terrestrial Being, or the Earth, viz. Matter, was a plainly unmoved Mass, inasmuch as it was gross thick Matter, and partly was capable of motion, but alto∣gether without form and void. And Dark∣ness, that is, Spirits, who had departed from the Union of the Light, Luke 22.53 2 Cor. 6.14, 15. Eph. 6.12. Col 1.13.2 Pet 2.4. Jude vers. 6. were extended upon and in the parts of the Abyss, or upon the face of the Deep, Gen. 1.2. that is, they were present in, and adherent to those places which were most re∣mote from the manifestation of the Original, Luke 8.31. Rev. 20.3. But the Spirit of God
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or Elohim indeed, or of the dijudicating or judging Divinity, that is, the good Spirit moved it self, and distributed its motion, or moved upon or in the parts, or face of the Wa∣ters, which encompassed round, or all over the Abyss or Deep.

Vers. 3. And Elohim or God, or the dijudi∣cating or judging Divinity, said, (that is, suf∣fered the Word or Soul of the Messiah to ope∣rate, or Work, John 1.1, 2, &c) Let the Light appear (or let there be Light) that is, let the Spirit of Nature give a most strong motion to the most subtil Matter, and the Light did appear (or there was Light) from this impressed motion, viz. that which the Son of God, by the Soul of the Messiah brought into the Spirit of Nature, and into this most thin, fine Matter.

Vers. 4. And Elohim or God, or the dijudi∣cating or judging Divinity, saw the Idaea (or measure, or Notion) of the Light, viz not only beheld the extension it self of the most subtil matter, but also that the most Noble of the Spirits and Souls began to cloath them∣selves with this Light, which was good, not on∣ly because it was fit to make such Vestments, but for other holy uses and services also. And
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Elohim or the dijudicating or judging Divini∣ty, or God made a separation, or divided be∣tween the Light, together with the Spirits and Souls invested therewith, and between or from the Darkness, or Spirits of darkness

Verse 5. And Elohim, or the dijudicating or judging Divinity, or God, called the Light, together with the Spirits and Souls invested therewith, the Idaea or measure of the Day, as in Rom. 13.12, 13. 1 Thes. 5.5, 8. 2 Pet. 1.19. and the Darkness, viz. of such Spirits who dwelt and liv'd in the darkness, and in the Abyss he called the Idaea or measure of the Night, 1 Thes. 5.1. And it was the Even∣ing, that is, a certain Essence mixed with more gross thick Matter, and which was next un∣to darkness whilst, viz. the gloomy dark Spi∣rits do also mix themselves with some sort of such matter; and it was Morning, that is, there were also such Natures which only did incline to the Idaea or measure of the day, to which also the Matter of the second Element is to be referred: and this was the first Day, that is, the first Class, Order, or sort of Creatures.

Verse 6. And Elohim, or the dijudicating Divinity or God said (see more about it at v. 3.)
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Let there arise up a thin and extended Es∣sence or let there be a Firmament) of the Air and of Heaven, in the midst of, or between the Waters, that the middle Spirits may have wherewith to invest themselves, and let it make a separation, or divide between the in∣feriour Waters, and between or from the su∣periour Waters, which are sometimes found in Clouds above, and other times under the form of Vapours.

Verse 7. And Elohim or God, or the dijudi∣cating divinity made or spread abroad out of the Matter of the third kind or sort (for as the word [Create] [or to be Created] be∣longs to Spirits, so the term of [making or of being made] belongs to Matter) a thin and extended Essence of Heaven, and of the Air or the Firmament, viz. not only of the grosser Aerial Atoms, which may be compres∣sed and extended like a sheet of Paper (or a Bow; but also of the Aethereal Globules con∣tained in the Cells or Pores of those Atoms, as also the most subtil Matter which is found in their Pores, together with Salt-watry Va∣pours: And this he made the dictinction, or divided between the waters which were beneath the extension, or under the Firmament (and
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which afterwards were distributed into Seas and Ri∣vers, which were above or on the surface of the Earth, and very much also within the very Bowels thereof) and between, or from those waters placed above the extension, or which were above the Firmament, out of which afterwards did arise Clouds, and other Aereal Meteors, and it remained so or it was so.

V.8. And Elohim, or the dijudicating divinity, or God called the extension, or the Firmament, or Air, Heaven, which name is elsewhere commonly used for the Air, as Gen 1.20, 26, 28. Gen. 2.19, 20 Gen. 7.11. Gen. 8.2. and by it properly is understood the† Atmosphere, which en∣compasseth round the Globe of the Earth: and it was the Evening; by which is meant a middle Nature betwixt Air and Water, coming near to the likeness of Wa∣ter: and it was the Morning, that is a middle nature of a most subtil Essence, which was the Second Day, or the second Class, Order or sort of Creatures.

Verse 9. And Elohim, or the dijudicating and com∣bining divinity, or God said, Let the waters which are under the Heaven (or the Air) be gathered together (for at that time, they as yet quite covered over all the whole Earth) by the means of certain deeply hollowed Gulphs, and of highly exalted Mountains, congregate themselves into one place, tho' in divers distinct Regions, or Countries, and let the dry Land
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appear, that from thence a third sort or kind of Spirits may get their vestments, & dwelling places, & it was so.

Ver. 10. And Elohim or the dijudicating divinity, or God called the dry-land, Earth, according to its divers Scituations, such also as are Continents, Isthme, Islands, and Peninsules or almost Islands: and the ga∣thering together of the waters, called be Seas, such as also are standing Pools according to all their divers sorts; as are Oceans, Creeks, Arms of the Sea, and Lakes or standing Waters: and Elohim, or the diju∣cating Divinity, or God saw, or judged that it was good, to transplant into it divers living Souls.

Vers 11. And Elohim, or the dijudicating Divinity, or God said, Let the Earth bring forth divers Plants, or grass, which commonly proceed to a further growth, and in which, even as in all Plants, the inferiour Souls or Psyches (vulgarly termed vegetable) do obtain their springing forth and their encrease: to which Class, Order, or sort also are referred all Mettals in their under-ground places, which, according to the Chaldeans, are nothing else but Portal; or Entries of Vegetables; and the Herb yielding seed, and the Fruit tree yielding Fruit after his kind, whose seed is in it self upon the Earth, and it was so.

Vers. 12. And the Earth brought forth various Plants, or grass (and Vegetables) both within and without its Bowels, or Womb, and Herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in its self after his kind; And Elohim, or the dijudicating di∣vinity,
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or God saw that it was good, viz. for to be a va∣riety of food for the Creatures which were to come afterwards.

Vers. 13. And the Evening was, that is, there existed divers sorts or kinds of intermediate inanimate bodys Terrestrial, and Metallick; And the Morning was, that is, various intermediate kinds of Beings, which de∣clined towards Sense, such as are the Zoophytes, or half Herbs, half Animals, viz. the third day, or the third Classis, Order, or sort of Creatures.

Vers. 14. And Elohim, or the dijudicating Divinity, or God said, now at last after the production of Vege∣tables, lest that men prone to Idolatry, should ascribe the Creation of them to the Stars; Let Lights arise out of, or let there be Lights in that thin Essence, or in the fir∣mament of the Heaven, the most subtil Matter being thickned or thrust close together into a constant place, which afterwards may cast forth their beams to a great distance, to make distinction, or to divide between the day, in which shineth one only sort of light, and which is proper only to lucid natures: and between or from the Night, in which the greater Light is absent, and the dark Natures are strengthened; and let them be for Signs concerning divers natural accidents, such as are Droughts, Frosts, and various seasons; and for cer∣tain times or seasons of the year, of Festival Days, and of Months, and for Days and Years.

Vers. 15. And let them be for burning Torches, (or Lights) in that same thin Essence, or in the firmament
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of Heaven to give light upon the Earth, and it was so.

Vers. 16. And Elohim, or the dijudicating divinity, or God made two great Lights, so called and vulgarly esteemed, which, viz. to men in this Earth seem grea∣ter than the others, and have greater operation in their round motions: and one of them the greater light, with his greater circumvolution to rule the day, and the other lesser light, with his lesser compass, rowling it self about the Earth to rule the night, as well in respect of its light it self, as of its influence upon moist humours, he made the stars also, which afterwards partly disappeared, & were transmuted into Comets & Planets, or wandring Stars.

Vers. 17. And Elohim, or the dijudicating divinity, or God set them into that same thin Essence, or Firmament of the Heavens, to give light upon the Earth.

Vers. 18. And to rule over the day, and over the night, and to constitute a difference between, or to divide the light from the darkness, which are found no where more than in the shaddows of the grosser bodies. And Elohim, or the dijudicating divinity, or God saw that for this end and purpose it was good

Vers. 19 And the evening was, that is, these were mid∣dle natures to which belong both fiery. Meteors, and Aereal Spheres: and the morning was, that is, these are those middle Natures, to which are referred blazing Stars and the lesser Planets; this was the fourth days, or the fourth Class, Order or sort of Creatures.

Vers. 20. And Elohim, or the dijudicating-Divinity, or God said, let the waters bring forth by Troops, or
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abundantly divers Animals moving themselves, or the moving Creature, as are those of the water-kind, those that live both on Land and in the water, those that creep, and those that have wings, in whom there is a Psyche, or a living Soul, or that hath life, together with an intermediate Soul or Spirit: and the Fowls that may fly (about) above the Earth, in the midst of that thin Essence, or in the open Firmament of Heaven.

Vers. 21. And Elohim, or the dijudicating Divinity, or God Created, that is, transplaced Souls into the seve∣ral Terrestrial Animals following, viz. divers of the greater Serpents, such as are Dragons, great Whales, Monsters, the larger Snakes, Crocodile, Sea-Buffalloes, and all Psyches, or inferiour Souls of living Creatures creeping with feet or every living Creature, that moveth, which the waters brought forth by Troops, or abundant∣ly after their kind, and every winged Fowl after his kind, and God saw that it was good, for divers sorts of food, viz. for Man and Beast.

Vers. 22. And Elohim, or the dijudicating Divini∣ty, or God blessed them, and gave unto them an influ∣ential capacity, that those of them, which were created in pairs, were able to propagate and enlarge their kind, and he said [the World or Soul of the Messiah co-operating] couple together, be fruitful and mul∣tiply, and fill the waters in the Seas, and let Fowl multiply in the Earth.

Vers. 23. And it was the Evening, these were those in∣termediate Natures, which tend unto the nature of
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Fishes: and it was the morning, these were the mid∣dle Natures which became flying Creatures, and this was the fifth day, or the fifth Class, Order, or sort of Creatures.

Vers. 24 And Elohim, or the dijudicating divini∣ty, or God said, let the Earth bring forth various Psyches or the living Creature after his kind, viz Cattle and Flocks, and Worms, or creeping things, and wild Beasts, or beast of the Eath after his kind: and it was so, or so done.

Vers. 25 And Elohim, or the dijudicating divini∣ty, or God made divers wild Beasts, or the Beast of the Earth after his kind, and divers Herds of Cattel after his kind, and divers Worms cre•ping with feet on the Earth, or every thing that creepeth upon the Earth after his kind: and Elohim, or the dijudicating divinity, or God saw that it was good, and that every thing had its uses.

Verse 26. And Elohim, or God said to the Soul of the Messiah, Let us make Man-kind, that is, let us transplace the superiour human Soul into a certain Matter destinated for it, in our Image, after our like∣ness, that as there is a communion betwixt us, or our selves, so also betwixt them and this same subtil Mat∣ter let somewhat arise, or spring forth, our of which afterwards may follow like effects; and let them, viz. these Souls which are called Men, have dominion over the Fish of the Sea, and over the Fowl of the Air, or of Heaven, and over the Cattel, or Flocks, and over all the
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Earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the Earth, or over all wild Beasts, and over all Worms which creep with feet upon the Earth.

Vers 27. And so Elohim, or the dijudicating divini∣ty, or God Created, and changed the state of the Soul that from thence might be made man-kind in his own Image, in the Image of God or Elohim, or the dijudi∣cating divinity created he him, or it, Male in the fore∣part, and Female in the hinder-part, created he them, viz. all and every one of the Souls which do at pre∣sent exist in the whole Universality of Mankind, he transplaced into a certain subtil Matter, and co-ordain∣ed, or put them into an order under the person of Adam the Protoplast, or the first Parent, as a Regi∣ment of Souldiers, under their Colonel, or General.

Vers. 28 And Elohim, or the dijudicating divinity, or God blessed them, and gave unto them the faculty or capacity of turning their faces to one another: and Elohim, or God said unto them, apply your selves that you may be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the Earth, or fill the Terrestrial, or the material Being in all the parts thereof; and subdue it to your selves, that your bodys may take thence their nourishment, and have Dominion over the Fish of the Sea, and over the Fowl of the Heaven, or of the Air, and over eve∣ry living thing that moveth, or creepeth with feet up∣on the Earth.

Vers 29. And Elohim, or God said, I have given you every Herb, in their Superiour and Inferiour
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qualities, bearing, seed which is upon the face of all the Earth, and〈◊〉 Trees, of every Tree which beareth Fruit, or in the which is the Fruit of a Tree yielding seed, or his seed, all these shall be for food, or to you 〈◊〉 shall be for Meat, to repair the decaies of you bodies.

Verse 30. And to every Beast of the Earth, or wild Beast, and to every Fowl of the Air, or of Heaven, and to every thing that creepeth, or that goeth with feet upon the Earth, wherein there is life, or a living Psych•… or Soul, I have given every green Herb, or all Plants and Herbs, fon Meat, and it was so.

Verse 31. And Elohim, or God saw all, or every thing that he had made in the matter, and behold it was very and supereminently; (Deut 6.5.) good. And the Evening was, that is, the middle Natures descending down to the brute Animals: and the morning was, that is, there were al∣so middle Natures which were exalted above humane condition; and this was the sixth day, or the sixth Class, Order; or sort of Creatures.

Chap. II.
Verse 1. THus the Heavens and the Earth were (together with the Air) brought to perfection, and finished, and all the Host (or Troops) of them, viz. in the Heavens multitudes of Thrones and of Angels; and in the Earth, multitudes of well ordered sublu∣nary Creatures.

Verse 2. And Elohim, or the dijudicating Divinity, or God on the se∣venth day ended his Work which he had made; and he rested, or ceased from further creating, on the seventh day from all his Work which he had made.

Verse 3. And Elohim, or God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it: even as, and for which cause the seventh number is said to be holy and pure, because that amongst the first numbers none is formed out of it, nor is it formed out of any of them, as if it did hint that the happiness of the Creatures did consist only in it, not being mixed with any other Creatures, they were at quiet in God: Because that in it (in that day) he rested from all his Work; which Elohim, or God had created therein all kinds of Spirits and Souls, so that from thence he had made something in a material representation, manifestation, or appearance, by and thorough which, other Spirits were presented it this or the other matter, &c.

FINIS.