It is the constant Opinion of the Hebrewes, That before the Fall of Adam there was a more plentifull and large Communion between Heaven and Earth, God and the Elements, than there is now in our Days. But upon the Transgression of the first Man. Malcuth (say the Cabalists) was cut off from the Ilan, so that a Breach was made between both Worlds, and their Chanel of Influences discontinued. Now Malcuth is the Invisible Archetypall Moone, by which our visible Caelestiall Moone is governed, and impraegnated: And truly it may be that upon this Retreate of the Divine Light from Infe riors, those Spots and Darknes, which we now see, succeeded in the Body of this Planet, and not in her alone, but about the Sun also, as it hath been discovered by the Telescope. Thus (say They) God to punish the Sin of Adam withdrew himself from the Creatures, so that they were not feasted with the same measure of Influences as formerly. For the Archetypall Moone which is placed in the השמים Haschamaim, to receive, and convey downe the

Influx of the six superior Invisible Planets, was (as the Jewes affirme) either separated from the Ilan, or her Breasts were so sealed up that she could not dispense her Milk to Inferiors in that happy and Primitive Abundance. But because I would not dwell long on this point, let us heare the Cabalist himself state it in a clear, and apposit phrase. Initio [Marginal note: Porta Lucis.] Creationis Mundi Divina Cohabitatio erat descendens in Inferiora, & cum esset Divina Cohabitatio inferiùs, reperti sunt Coeli & Terra uniti, & erant Fontes, & Canales activi in perfectione, & trahebantur à Superiore ad Inferius, & inveniebatur Deus complens supernè & Infernè. Venit Adam primus, & peccavit, & diruti sunt Descensus, & confracti sunt Canales, & desiit Aquae-ductus, & cessavit Divina Cohabitatio, & divisa est Societas.

That is: In the Beginning of the Creation of the world God did descend, and cohabitat with Things here below, and when the Divine Habitation was here below, the Heavens and the Earth were found to be united, and the Vital Springs and Chanels were in their perfection, and did flow from the Superior to the Inferior World, and God was found to fill all Things both Above, and Beneath. Adam the first Man came, and sinned, whereupon the Descents from above

were restrained, and their Chanels were broken, and the Water-Course was no more, and the Divine Cohabitation ceased, and the Societie was divided.

Thus far my Rabbi; Now because I have promised Scripture to my Cabalism, I will submit the Tradition. to Moses, and truly that Rabbi also is of my side, for thus I read in Genesis. And to Adam he said, [Marginal note: Cap. 3. v. 17.] Because thou hast eaten of the Tree, whereof I commanded Thee saying, Thou shalt not eate of it: Cursed is the Ground for thy sake, in sorrow shalt thou eate of it all the Dayes of thy Life, Thornes and Thistles shall it bring forth unto Thee, and Thou shalt eate the Herb of the Field. In the sweat of thy face shalt Thou eate Bread, untill thou returne unto the Ground, for out of it wast thou taken, for Dust Thou art, and to Dust shalt thou returne. This is the Curse, and Adam was so sensible of it, that he acquainted his posterity with it. For Lamech prophesying of his Son Noah, hath these words. This same shall comfort us, concerning our [Marginal note: Cap. 5. v. 29.] work, and Toyle of our Hands, because of the Ground, which the Lord hath cursed. And this indeed was accomplished in some sense after the Floud, as the same Scripture tells us. And [Marginal note: Cap. 8. v. 25.] the Lord said in his Heart, I will not Againe curse the Ground any more for Mans sake. Here now we are to consider two Things:

First, The Curse it self, and next the Latitude of it. To manifest the Nature of the Curse, and what it was, you must know, that Good essentially is Light, and Evill is Darknes. The Evill properly is a Corruption that immediatly takes place upon the Removall of that which is Good. Thus God having removed his Candlestick and Light from the Elements, presently the Darknes and Cold of the Matter praevailed, so that the Earth was neerer her first Deformitie, and by Consequence lesse fruitfull and Vitall. Heaven and Hell, that is Light and Darknes, are the two Extremes which Consummat Good and Evill. But there are some mean Blessings which are but, in ordine, or disposing to Heaven, which is their last perfection, and such were these Blessings, which God recalled upon the Transgression of the first Man. Againe there are some Evills, which are but 'Degrees conducing to their last Extremitie, or Hell, and such was this Curse or Evill, which succeeded the Transgression. Thus our Saviour under these Notions of Blessed and Cursed comprehends the Inhabitants of Light and Darknes: Come you Blessed, and Goe you Cursed. In a word then, The Curse was Nothing else but an Act repealed, or a Restraint of those Blessings which God of his meer Goodnes, had formerly communicated to

his Creatures: And thus I conceive there is a very faire and full Harmonie between Moses and the Cabalists. But to omit their Depositions, though great and high, we are not to seek in this point for the Testimonie of an Angel. For the Tutor of Esdras, amongst his other Mysterious Instructions, hath also this Doctrine. [Marginal note: Cap. 7. V. 11, 12, 13.] When Adam transgressed my Statutes, then was that decreed, which now is done. Then were the Entrances of this World made Narrow, full of sorrow, and Travell: They are but few and Evill, full of perils, and very painfull. But the Entrances of the Elder World, were wide and sure, and brought forth Immortal Fruit. Thus much for the Curse it self: Now for the Latitude of it, It is true that it was intended Chiefely for Man, who was the only Cause of it, but Extended to the Elements in Order to him, and for his sake. For if God had excluded him from Eden, and Continued the Earth in her Primitive Glories, he had but turned him out of one Paradise into Another, wherefore he fits the Dungeon to the Slave, and sends a Corruptible Man into a Corruptible World. But in Truth it was not Man, nor the Earth alone that suffered in this Curse, but all other Creatures also; For saith God to the Serpent, Thou art Cursed above all Cattel, and above every Beast of the Field, so that

Cattel and Beasts also were cursed in some measure, but this Serpent above Them all. To this also agrees the Apostle in his Epistle to the [Marginal note: Cap. 8. v. 20.] Romans, where he hath these words. For the Creature was made subject to Vanitie, not willingly, but by Reason of him, who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the Creature it self also, shall be delivered from the Bondage of Corruption, into the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God. Here by the Creature he understands not Man, but the inferior species, which he distinguisheth from the Children of God, though he allows them both the same Liberty. But this is more plaine out of the subsequent Texts, where he makes a clear Difference between Man, and the whole Creation. For we know (saith he) that the whole Creation groaneth, and travaileth together in paine untill now. And not only They, but our selves also, which have the first fruits of the spirit, even we our selves groane within our selves, waiting for the Adoption, to wit, the Redemption of our Body. Here we see the first Fruits of the spirit, referred to Man, and why not some second subordinat fruits of it to the Creatures in General? for as they were cursed in the Fall of Man, for Man's sake, so it seems in his Restitution they shall be also blessed for his sake. But of this enough. Let us now summe up and

consider the several inconveniences our first Parent was Subject to, for they will be of some use with us hereafter. First of all, he was ejected from the presence of God, and exposed to the Malice and Tentations of the Devill. He was altered from Good to Bad, from Incorruptible to Corruptible: In the Day (saith the Scripture) Thou eatest thereof, Thou shalt dye the Death. He was excluded from a glorious Paradyse, and confin'd to a base world, whose sickly infected Elements conspiring with his own Nature, did assist and hasten that Death, which already began to reign in his Body. Heaven did mourn over him, The Earth, and all her Generations about him. He look'd upon himself as a Felon, and a Murtherer, being guilty of that Curse and Corruption, which succeeded in the world because of his fall, as we have sufficiently proved out of the Mosaicall and Cabalisticall Traditions. He was Ignorant, and therefore hopeles of Life aeternal, and for this Temporal present Life, he was not acquainted with the Provisions of it. The Elements of Husbandrie were not as yet known, there was neither House nor Plow, nor any of those manuall Arts, which make up a worldly providence. He was exposed to the Violence of Rains and Winds, Frosts and Snows, and in a word deprived of all Comforts Spiritual,

and Natural. What should I say more? He was a meer stranger in this World, could not distinguish Medicines from Poysons, neither was he skill'd in the ordinarie praeparations of Meate and Drink. He had no Victuals ready to his hands, but the crude unseasoned Herbage of the Earth, so that he must either starve, or feed as Nebuchadnezar did, with the Beasts of the Field. He heard indeed sometimes of a Tree of Life in Eden, but the Vegetables of this world for ought he knew might be so many Trees of Death. I conclude therefore that he had some Instructor to initiat him in the wayes of Life, and to shew him the intricate and narrow paths of that wilderness. For without question his outward Miseries, and his inward Despaire were Motives whereupon God did reveale a certaine Art unto Him, by which he might relieve his present Necessities, and imbrace a firme Hope of a future and glorious Restitution. For God having ordained a second aeternal Adam, did by some mysterious Experience manifest the possibilitie of his comming to the First, Who being now full of Despaire, and overcharged with the Guilt of his own sin was a very fit Patient for so Divine and mercifull a Physician. But omitting our own Reasons, which we might produce to this purpose, let us repayre to the Cabalists, who

indeed are very high in the Point, and thus they deliver themselves. God (say they) having made fast the Doores of his Paradyse, and turn'd out Adam, sometimes the Dearest of his Creatures, did notwithstanding the Present Punishment, retaine his former Affection towards him still. For God is said to love his Creatures not that there is any thing lovely in Them without their Creator, but in that hee desires their perfection: That is to say he would have them Conformable to himself, and fitt to receive his Image or Similitude, which is a spiritual Impress of his Beauty. Now to restore this Similitude in Adam was impossible unlesse God should reassume that to himself which was now fallen from him. So transcendent, and almost incredible a Mercie had God treasur'd up in his secret Will, being resolved to unite the Nature of Man to his Own, and so vindicat him from Death, by taking him into the Deitie, which is the true Fountain and Center of Life. This Will (say the Cabalists) was first revealed to the Angels, and that by God himself in these words; Ecce Adam sicut unus [Marginal note: Gen. cap. 3. ver. 22.] ex Nobis: Behold an Adam like one of us, knowing Good and Euill! This speech they call Orationem occultissimam à Creatore Mundi cum beatis Angelis in suae Divinitatis Penetralibus habitam; A most secret Conference