Book I. The Temple ^/Wifdome. 145

without any Preparing of mens Minds to receive them 5 he would doubtlefs have bt^n taken for an Impoftor. And he had been formerly fufficiently cried down ; fo that he needed not to have expofcd bimfelf a new, to the Calumny of every black Tonsue, by broaching new Propofitions 5 which he could never tjbink would down vi ith them,unler$ he hadiirft prepared their Pallats to relJifh them. Af- terthe world had once been facisfied in the Proba- bility of this his Doftrine^he then intended to make ^ full difcovery of all thefe Secrets^ in his commen- taries upon the Zo^^r : wherein he had layed toge- therfuch Variety of Occult learning, as himfelf wit- nefleth in divers places of his Printed BookSjasthat uwasnot without reafon that he fo eaxneftly com- mended this moft Excellent Piece to tne Vyorld, inhis Laft Will andTeftament, written with his own hand. But fince I have here made mentioi^ both Q^HehreWy and of -^r/z^zr^Lctters 5 it may very well be doubted, which of the two, this Cdefiiall writing is expieffed in 5 and which of thefe Langiia-^ ges thefe Letters make up. . This doubt therefore I thmk fit to decide, before I go any further.
The Ifmaelites, or Arabians^ who have never waiT-r ted men, that have been very vfcU skilled in all manner of choife learn ing/thou|^h they have falleni fometimes upon Ridiculous fudies alfo;^ bein^ moved with a vaine glorious deiire of concealing this truth ^ nainely that their Language dti^cnded upon the Hebrew 5 have not only altered their Cha- rafters, which were before very like to the Hebrew 5 iiut have aUb adulterated their Names; and the jbetter to cover their knavery, have alfo added cer- tain Letters: which the Hebrew Alphabet never iiiew : as chciyc 5/i*w^ Pp/, 7k[da^ or T/>, &c. In-
JK fomuclii
146 T)&^ Temple ^/Wifdome. Book I.
fomuch that a certain Learned man, that was very tvell skilled in their Language, faics : Foflel, de Vhxn, Char, Arabes^ verfutijimum hominu^ genus^ & plane IfmaeUticum^ id eft ^ adult erinum^pftquam cogmverunty fuas Uturas ortum ducere ah Hehraicii ; fatagerunt not tantiim ahfolutj dijfimiles forma redde^ fed ordimm etiam perturhare^ & nontinum bona m partem mut are fiudurunt. They have had the confidence alfotoaffirme, that their Letters are the firft that ever were 5 and that if there be any Myfteries to be found, either in the fignification^ or Figure of Charafters; we are to look for them no where elfe, but in their I anguage. For which caufc, interpreting their Alphabet, they deduce, from the firft letter, which is ALIPH^ this Verb Conrngere : from the fecond Lettcr.which is BAy this word, I«/rf: from 7 A^ the third Let- ter, Troducere : and fo of the reft: making up a Prayer out of t, wh ch they fay, no other Alphabet js able to (hew. So that it is no marvel, that they are able to produce fo many feveral meanings of ivords, afier this rate of Intf rpretatron *, feeing that, as Kirjiefim faith ; Integra Volumina de fo 'is Nominihus liter arum Alphaheti. Arabici cojifici queunt ; fed hnge ad- hue flura de ordine^figura alijfque accidmtthm cufcribi pofjM. Thefe Nictties have made the /rahiamio lupefftltious in the Pronunciation of their Letters, ias that when the/ n^ett with many Words united together by the means of an Aliph, they will pro- jioLiuce them all in a h^ath, though there (hould Lean hundred oi them, and though they (hould be in danger of expiring in the A£t. Thofe chat arc ' delrous afccr fatisfaftion herein, may have recourfe to the ArahickjGram «.'r,Printed in Kome, Now, as all fuperfticion is attended oiijby acertaine foohfhCre- diilicv 3 fo are thefe men certainly pcrfwaded, that
the
BooiC I. The Temple ^/ V Vifdome. 14
the Heavfeiis being figured with their Lctcersj ("and rtot with the Hebrew j) but the Alphcbec of Heaven, fee the third Book which doth forefhew all th:ngs to come. And this is the leafon, that, Lelides the divifion oftheir letters into Gutturalis, or, fuch a§ arepronounccd in the Throat; intoViiales as the Lattrtes czW thtm^ that are founded in the furtheft part ofthcRoofe of the Mouth; as others are by the palate; by the Gums; by the Lips; by the Teeth, and the Tongue together; and alfo into fome, that are pronounced with a kind of Sibilation ; others, with a certain ftammering; and fome. with a gentle turning of the Tongue, which they call Djalqijetun ; and the Latines lUx^ : into others ageu, that are fhortjlong, radical, or trancal, and fervile : I {^ji that befides all thcfe divifionSj they do vet divide them againe, fthc better to accommodate them to this Cdejlial writing) into Schemfijun^ and KumrijuHy that is to fay, into Solarj and Lunar, which are particularly known, by thofe that obfcrve the Rules of the Zairagia^ it being unlawful for them to devife them. And perhaps it is in Obfervation to this Doftrine, that the Mahometans do never begin to write the firft part of a word, at the end of a line^ and the reft ofit at the beginning of the next line 5 as the Greekes^^nd l^atines ufe to do : but if chefpace be not fufficicnt to hold the whole word, they draw a ftroak from thelaft Letter of the laft word, to the end of the line. Now we affirme, that though thefc Letters are very much altered, and corrupted ; yec may it notwithftanding very ea(il v be difcoYered,by : the Figure of a great number of them^ that they I fcavc been taken from the Hebrew : and even Chil- ..dren may be able to judge of the truth hereof, by r' comparing, but the AraSick H^/?, with the Hebrew ii •' Kz H-?
1 4« 'Ihe Temple g>/Wifdome, BoofcK
He \ the C^^^wich the C^^t^; the K^^wich the T thcZairtj with the Zan-y the Sin^ vm^h the S chin ^ f| tbtlhay with theT^^v the Ainy with the Aghin'r the F/j/Zj with the P^; the Cafh^ with the Ctf^j the Ltinty \,vKh the Lam^d'y the i^au^ with the Va^ &c,, Sorhac confecjueiitlyj if we are to fearch after any Mylieries in thefe Letters, it ought to be, not in^ corrupt Copy^ but rather in theOriginal. - The fame is to be faid of the Sammtane Characters alfo^ which are corrupted! from the Hebrew : and this is fo certaine a truths as that it is a Point of infinite pieverfeners to offer to doubt of it > as 1 have proved clfe-wherc ia the Holy Guide,
The Reafons brought by the EthiopanSy or Egyp^ ti/f^/j in the behalf of kheir Lettersj is not foeaiily aufweredj asthofeof the^r/z-^/^^i^ and Samaritans: for as much as their Letter being only Hieroglyphicf^ expreffing the figure of anOxe^of a Horfc, of a Lion> of a Bear, of an Eagle^ and in a manner of all o-», ther living Creatures j they do (Tay they) reprefenti in the Heavens, whijtfoever isto cometo pafs in thisl world. Andtherieftn-e, if there be any thing to be read there above, by means of the Stars , we muft read it in thefe hieroglyfhicksj and intHis LanguagCi^ and not in any other \ iincethat in Ancient times in flead of Letters, they made u(e of thi^ figures oi living Creatures', as wefi^vc faid in our Preface to this Book. To this iris afiAvetedi> as we have for- nVf rly faid, that thefe. iiviivg-CrtatifT.es have been leprcientedin tlie Heavens, only, by reafon of a cer- tain Corrtfpondency, that the St^rs of 'vhkh theft eonlhllations cbniiit, are obferveti-to have, wit!h thefe living Creatures upon the Earth : -and what o* ther Reafons ofitfoc.ver aregiven^ theyAire neithej yuhi, nor foolilh. Siichas aietlicfe, alicadgedb)
th