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The Law, the Letters and the Book of Nature · Modern English
Original English
I could now passe from Moses to Christ, from the Old Testament to the New: not that I would interpret there, but request the Sense or the Illuminated. I desire to know what my Saviour means by the Key of Knowledge, which [Marginal note: Luc. cap. 11. ver. 52] the Lawyers (as he tells mee and them too) had taken away. Questionlesse it cannot signifie the Law it self, for that was not taken away being read in the Synagogue every Sabaoth. But to let go this: I am certain, and I could prove it all along from his Birth to his Passion, that the Doctrine of Christ Jesus is not onely agreeable to the Laws of Nature, but is verified and established thereby. When I speak of the Laws of Nature, I mind not her Excessive irregular Appetites and Inclinations, to which shee hath bin subject since her Corruption, for even Galen looked on those obliquities as Diseases, but studied Nature her self, as their Cure. We know by experience that too much of any thing weakens, and destroyes our Nature, but if wee live Temperately, and according to Law, wee are well, because our Course of life accords with Nature. Hence Diet is a prime Rule in Physic, far better indeed than the Pharmacopaea, for those sluttish Recepts doe but oppresse the stomach, being no fit fuell for a Coelestiall fire. Believe it then, these excessive bestiall Appetites proceeded from our Fall, for Nature of her
Modern English
I could now pass from Moses to Christ, from the Old Testament to the New, not to interpret it myself, but to ask the enlightened for its meaning. I desire to know what my Saviour means by the key of knowledge, which the lawyers, as he tells both me and them, had taken away. Surely it cannot mean the Law itself, for that was not removed: it was read in the synagogue every Sabbath. But let that pass. I am certain, and could prove throughout his life from birth to Passion, that Christ Jesus’s doctrine both agrees with Nature’s laws and is verified and established by them. By Nature’s laws I do not mean her excessive, irregular appetites and inclinations, to which she has been subject since her corruption. Even Galen regarded those deviations as diseases and studied Nature herself as their cure. Experience teaches us that too much of anything weakens and destroys our nature. If we live temperately and according to law, we are well, because our way of life accords with Nature. Diet is therefore a principal rule in medicine, far better indeed than the pharmacopoeia: those slovenly prescriptions merely oppress the stomach and provide no suitable fuel for a celestial fire. Believe, then, that these excessive, beastly appetites arose from our Fall, for Nature
Socrates
Reading Magia Adamica · The Law, the Letters and the Book of Nature · Page 59 · Passage A
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Thomas Vaughan’s complete 1650 Magia Adamica publication, with all historical preliminaries and the complete appended Coelum Terrae, original and modern English, fresh translations of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, full poems, eight historical marginal notes, the complete recovered printed corrections, 312 annotations and the complete supplied Diotimos study apparatus.
Historical Text and Translation
Thomas Vaughan (Eugenius Philalethes), Magia Adamica: or The Antiquitie of Magic, with Coelum Terrae. London: T. W. for H. Blunden, 1650. Governing transcription: EEBO-TCP A64768.0001.001. The Getty Research Institute copy supplies surviving first-edition page images; the 1656 issue supplies explicitly disclosed missing or defective material. The complete shared 1650 errata are recovered from the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica copy of The Man-Mouse.
About Diotimos Editions
This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.
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The historical text is public domain; the EEBO-TCP Phase I transcription is released under CC0. The supplied 2026 reading, translations and Diotimos editorial material are published with the site owner’s authorization.
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