Of Natural and Supernatural Things

Because I have at this present undertaken to write of the of the first Tincture, the Root of Metals and Minerals, and to inform you of the Spiritual Essence, how the Metals and Minerals are at first spiritually conceived and born corporally; it will be necessary first of all to utter, and to acquaint you by a speech, that all things consist of two parts, that is, Natural and Supernatural; what is visible, tangible, and hath form or shape, that is natural; but what is intactible, without form, and spiritual, that is supernatural, and must be apprehended and conceived by Faith; such is the Creation, and especially the Eternity of God without end, immensible and incomprehensible; for Nature cannot conceive nor apprehend it by its humane reason: This is supernatural, what Reason cannot apprehend, but must be conceived by Faith, this is a Divine matter, and belongs to Theology, which judgeth Souls. Moreover, there appertains to supernatural things, the Angels of the Lord, having clarified Bodies, doing that by the permission of their Creator, which is impossible for any other Creature to do, their Works being concealed from the Eyes of the World, and so likewise are the Works of the Infernal Spirits and Devils unknown, which they do by the permission of the most High God. But above all the great Works of God are found and acknowledged to be supernatural, not to be scann'd and comprehended by Humane Imaginations; such is in especial the great Grace and Mercy of God which he bestows upon Mankind out of his great Love, which indeed no man can apprehend or know, and other great and wonderful works which he hath manifested divers manner of wayes by Christ our Saviour and Redeemer, for the confirmation of his Omnipotence and Glory: As when he raised Lazarus from the dead, Jairus his Daughter, the Ruler of the Synagogue, and the Widows Son of Naim. He made the Dumb to speak, the Deaf to hear, and the Blind to see, all which are supernatural, and Magnalia Dei; so also was his Conception, Resurrection, Descension, and Ascension into Heaven, too deep and mysterious for Nature; all which is only to be obtained by Faith.

There belongs likewise to supernatural things, the taking of Enoch and Elias into Heaven, the divine rapture of St. Paul in the Spirit into the third Heaven. Moreover, many supernatural things are done by Imagination, Dreams, and Visions; many wonders are done by the Imagination, witness the speckled Sheep by the speckled Rods laid in their watring places. God warned the wise men of the East by an especial Dream not to return again to Herod; likewise their three Persons, their three Gifts, Presents, or Offerings, and the supernatural Star, have all their peculiar and mystical meaning.

Nor was that Dream which hapned to Pilates Wife natural, who unjustly adjudged our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to death. The Vision of the Angels which appeared to the Shepherds at the Birth of Christ, and to the Women at his Sepulchre, who sought his Body where they had laid it, cannot be accounted Natural.

There are many other supernatural things done at several times by the Prophets & Saints; so was the voice of the Ass speaking to Balaam, contrary to the common course of Nature; as also Joseph's Interpretation of Dreams. And so God by his Angels preserves us oftentimes from infinite Evils, and delivers us out of manifold Dangers, impossible for Nature to do.

All this & many others belong to Theology, and to Heaven, whereunto the Soul is to have regard. Now follows the supernatural things of the visible Works of God, as we see them in the Firmament; to wit, the Planets, Stars, and Elements, which are above our Reason, only their Course and Motion is observed by speculation and reckoning, which belongs to Astronomy; it is a visible but incomprehensible Being, performing its operation in a Magnetick way, out of which likewise divers admirable things are found and observed, which are altogether supernatural; understand it thus, that the Heaven operates in the Earth, and the Earth affords a correspondence with the Heavenly. For the Earth hath also its seven Planets, which are operated and bred by the seven Celestial, only by a spiritual Impression or Infusion, even as the Stars operate all Minerals. This is done incomprehensibly and spiritually, and therefore it is to be accounted supernatural, even as two Lovers, their persons are visible, but their Love one to the other is invisible: Humane Bodies are tangible and natural, but Love is invisible, spiritual, intangible and supernatural, comparable to a Magnetick Attraction only; for the invisible Love which is attracted unto it spiritually by the Imagination is, accomplish'd by the desires and fruition. In like manner when the Heaven hath a love to the Earth, and the Earth hath a Love, Inclination, and Affection towards Man, as the great World to the lesser, for the lesser World is taken out of the greater, and when the Earth by the desires of its invisible Imagination doth attract unto itself such a Love of the Heaven, there is thereby an Union of the Superiour and Inferiour, as Man and Wife are accounted one Body together, and after this Union the Earth is impregnated by the Infusion of the Heaven, and begins to conceive and bring forth a Birth sutable to the Infusion, and this Birth after its Conception is digested by the Elements, and brought to a perfect Ripeness and this is reckoned among the supernatural things; how the supernatural Essence performs its operation in the natural.