Biblical Patriarchs,

Duomo Baptistry in Florence

Picture by Matthias Kabel

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Today’s sharing from the Blue House of Via-HYGEIA is an extract from Thomas Bromley’s ‘Journeys of the Children of Israel, as in their names and historical passages, they comprise the Great and Gradual Work of Regeneration.’ London, 1710.

After the mention in our latest post of the ‘kings of Edom’ mentioned in 1 Chronicles 1-3, here English Boehmist and Philadelphian society member Thomas Bromley offers us an impressive Theosophical exegesis of the names of the ten pre-flood Patriarch as they appear earlier in the same text.

We added also Chapter XII of his ‘The Way to the Sabbath of Rest‘- London, 1655-as its subject encompasses its logical continuation.

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Context & Method of the Exegesis

(Excerpt from the Introductory Talk)

‘…For (note: because) such spiritually moral Expositions of Scriptures, that have a real Foundation in the Hebrew Names, and Historical Passages of it, are so far from Prejudicing the Scriptures themselves, or the Souls of those that read them for their true Improvement;  that on the contrary they conduce:

1st, To enlarge our Portion in the use of the Scriptures, to lead us thro’ the Letter, into a Spiritual and more interior Sense;  so that Instead of the Body of the Letter, we possess the Body and Spirit too, and may truly say with Isaac (when he had found the Well Reboboth, i.e. Enlargements) now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the Land;   especially adding constant Obedience, to this Large Fountain of Practical Knowledge.   

2.  This way of Interpretation tends to habituate us to a constant Introversion in reading the Scriptures, and applying them to the inward Heart-work;  which by most is too much neglected;  Who mind Notions, and increase of Knowledge, more than true Improvement in the New-Birth.

3.  It opens to those who have a gift of Prophesie, an usual way of parabolical Teaching, from the History of the Old Testament; which way of Instruction is very proper to influence the Phantasie {Imagination}, fix upon the Memory, and work vigorously upon the Affections: Especially when accompanied with divine Virtue and Power from the living Word;  as our Saviour’s Discourses were, who spake so much in Parables, and sometimes interpreted them.

4.  It tends to impress the Scripture History more firmly upon our Memories, and to make us the more closely mind what we read, when we find such useful Truths, such practical Verities, so much conducing to the Internal Work, every where Interwoven with it.

5.  It conduceth to demonstrate the transcendant excellency of Scripture History, above others, which only contain a literal Sense; whereas this, besides the literal, comprehends a divine Allegory, a Moral or Spiritual Sense, unlocking the distinct Work of Regeneration, and every where turning us inward, to mind that Work, which is of so great Concern in reference to our eternal Hapiness. And by this Sense within a Sense (as by a Wheel in the midst of a Wheel, Ezek.10.v.10) in the signal Contrivance of divine Wisdom, Eph.3.10. is stiled polupoykilos Multiform or Manifold, or as Tremelius more exactly renders it, plena Varietatibus, full of Varieties. Clearly to this purpose writes Gregory in his Morals, L.20.cap.10 Sacra Scriptura omnes Scientias ipso Locutiones suae more transcendit:  Quia uno eodemque Sermone dum narrat gestum, prodit Mysterium. (that is) The Sacred Scripture transcendeth all Sciences in the very Manner of it’s Speaking: Because in one, and the same discourse, whilst it relates an History, it discloseth a Mystery. With this Testimony conspire Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Chrysostom and others of the Ancients.

6.  This way of Interpretation is not only profitable but Spiritually pleasant, affording fresh Scenes of wholesome Contemplation; where otherwise we should least expect them: By which many Scriptures abounding with hard Names, (and thence seeming to most readers a kind of Tedious and rough Wilderness) are changed into pleasant Gardens, and Springs of Water, yielding the most important, and therefore most delightful Varieties of the New-Birth.’

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First Example 

‘The Journeys of the Children of Israel

importing the Great and Gradual Work of Regeneration‘

(Excerpt of from the Introductory Talk)

‘Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel,

Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah.’

‘One Instance of which for all, I will annex out of the 1st of Chron. chap.1. where we find the Names of the 10 Patriarchs in due Order prefixt to the succeeding Genealogies; which 10 Names I shall briefly reflect on, in that natural Order we there find them.

The first is Adam, which signifieth Red, Earthly, an Image representing our natural State in Flesh and Blood, unregenerated as we bear the Image of the Earthly, 1Cor.15.49.

The second Sheth or Seth, that is Set or Settled, as a Foundation: Importing the beginning of Regeneration when the immortal Seed is laid as a foundation of pure Light and Life in us, 1Pet.1.23.

The third is Enosh, that is Sickly, Sorrowful, Miserable, or frail miserable Man;  this Name points at a further Step in the New-Birth, when from the true Light of Life, we discern and feel the Burden of Sin, and how Miserable we are made by it, and therefore as uneasy under it’s remains, cry out with St. Paul, Oh! wretched Man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of Death? Rom.7.24.

The fourth Kenan i.e. Mourning, Lamentation, that which riseth from a deep Sense of the Sinfulness of Sin, in our selves and others. And also from particular Reflections upon the Suffering of Christ, wounded for our Transgressions, on whom the Lord hath made to meet the Iniquity of us all;  to such that prophetick Benediction belongs, Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh, Luke 6.21.

The fifth is Mahalaleel, (i.e.) Illumination of God, or the praising of God; importing that Dispensation of Joy, and Praise for the Light of God’s Countenance:  for the Salvifick Rays of him (who is the true Helel, that bright and Morning Star) which after such deep Mournings for Sin, and the crucified Jesus, usually Irradiates the Soul, and transfuseth it with the Sense of divine Love, most free Grace, and infinite Goodness, so that the Soul under Kenan, the State of Mourning, may comfort itself with a secure expectation of Mahalaleel, the State of divine Light and Praise, ready to succeed, according to that of the Psalmist, Why art thou cast down my Soul, and why art thou disquieted in me?    Hope thou in God, for I shall yet Praise him for the Help (or Salvation) of his Countenance, Ps.42.5.

The sixth is Jered or Jared, i.e. Descending, Ruling; in which there are two things considerable. 1st, Christ’s further descent into us, after his reviving appearance in us; that is, his deeper Ingress into the Heart, to possess it’s Properties, and rule there encreasing his glorious Dominion, in great Sweetness, Meekness, Love, Humility and Righteousness. 2dly, Our humbling our selves in the Sense of his abundant Goodness, and by that attaining to be so far exalted, as to reign with him over Self and Sin: Which is to begin to share with Christ in his Throne, Rev.3.21. And to enjoy that Empire inwardly which in a more external Sense (as to worship) is ascribed to Judah, Hosea 11.12. Judah yet ruled with God, or cum Deo forti. with the strong God, as Tremelius renders it.

The seventh is Enoch, that is, 1. Instructed, or Instructing. 2. Dedication, or Dedicated.

The first Signification implies that Dispensation, when being our selves taught of God, from divine Charity, and the strong Impulses of the Holy Ghost, we take all Opportunities of Instructing others in the Mysteries of the New-Birth: This is the strong Man’s State in Christ;  for not arriving at which, when they had been so long Converted, St. Paul reproves the Hebrews, Chap.5.12. When for the time ye ought to be Teachers, &c.  See Acts 18.26.

The 2d, which is Dedication, imports, that divine Teaching, which is true Instruction, leads to a Dedication of our selves to God.    The Hebrew Root, whence come Enoch, or Chanoch, with Chanucha derived from it, are applied to the Dedication of the Temple and Altar. 2Chron.7.9. Importing that State in Christ, or under the Dispensation of the Son, in which we wholly dedicate, devote and yield up ourselves to God, as living Stones in his spiritual House, 1Pet.2.5. Confessing by the habitual renouncing of our own Wills, that we are not our own but are bought with a Price, and are therefore obliged to glorify God, in Body and Spirit, which are the Lords, 1Cor.6.19,20.

The eighth is Methushelah, the Emission or sending forth of Death. This Name seems to have been prophetically given by Enoch to his Son, in reference to the coming Flood; which brake forth about the time that Methushelah expired. In the internal Work it represents that continued suffering and dying State, which attends the Life of Christ, and our thorough Dedication to it;  which being mightily opposed by Satan and his fiery Darts, the Soul is made very sensible of it, our perceptive Faculties being render’d very quick, by the pure Life and Virtue of Jesus opening in them. And here we come experimentally to Witness, that as many of us were baptized into Christ, were baptized into his Death, Rom.6.3. That is, into a constant dying to our Wills, and a continued suffering with, and for his Life in us: For we which live are always delivered unto Death for Jesus Sake;  that the Life also of Jesus, might be made manifest in our mortal Flesh, 2Cor.4.11.

The ninth is Lamech, that is, Impoverished, Smitten, Smiting, Slaying, which imports two Things. 1. Our arriving thro’ Tribulation, at the deep Poverty of Spirit, when our Souls are stript of all Self-Confidence, having nothing to glory in, but the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that unmerited Grace and Love, by which we are impowered daily to submit to it. 2. Our becoming wholly conformed, at least internally, to the Crucifixion of Jesus, when we seem to be Striken, Smitten of God, as he was reputed, Isa.53.4. yet all this in meer Love, that the Body of Sin being destroyed, and the Veil of Flesh rent, we might ascend into deeper Union with the Deity; as knowing that having been planted together in the likeness of his Death, we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection, Rom.6.5.

The tenth and last is Noah, that is, Rest, or Consolation. This imports the third Dispensation, that of the Spirit, after the Labours of Regeneration and full Conformity to Christ’s Death;  for Lamech said of Noah, Gen.5.29. This same shall comfort us; so saith our Saviour, I will pray the Father, and he shall send you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of Truth, John 14.16,17. Now this Spirit shall comfort us (as it was said of Noah) or make us to rest, (as in the Septuagint) from our Work, and the Toil of our Hands, by making internal and external Obedience easy, by shedding abroad the Love of God in our Hearts;  that noble Principle which is there diffused by the Spirit, Rom.5.5. Which will also comfort us, concerning the Ground which the Lord hath cursed: For if the Spirit of him that raised up Christ from the Dead dwell in us; he that raiseth up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken our mortal Bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in us: [Margin Note: Rom.8.11.] So that Vivification, and Transmutation of the terrestrial Body is ascribed to the Spirit, by which therefore Christ will affect this great Work, expressed in other Terms, Phil.3.21. Who shall change our vile Bodies, and fashion them like to his glorious Body, according to the working (or Internal-working, energian) whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.

Thus we see these Ten Names, which in meer Reading of them cannot be very pleasant to any, or profitable, except to very reflecting Persons; yet affording a delightful and most useful Epitome of the Great Work of Regeneration. The Dispensation of the Father being comprised in the four first, ending in Kenan, Mourning:  As Moses representing the same, left Israel in Abel-Shittim, the Sorrow for Scourges; for the Law is our School- Master unto Christ. Gal.3.24. The next represent the Son’s Dispensation and End in Lamech, i.e. Smiting and Killing, importing our full Conformity to the Death of Christ; that of the Spirit is exhibited in that one Name of Noah;  which being the Crown and Complement of the Work, carried on in the two former Dispensations, (and infallibly following them in all that are made conformable to Christ’s Death) needeth not so distinct a Representation by various Names, as the two former:  For if we have been planted together, in the likeness of Christ’s Death, we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection. And if our Perseverance thro’ the internal Baptism of the Father and Son, be secured, that of the Spirit must succeed by a necessary Connexion. Therefore saith our Saviour, John 14.15. If ye love me keep my Commandments, and I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever. And tho’ this Promise particularly respects the Gift of the holy Ghost, which was in that Age, in an extraordinary manner effused upon Believers, many of which were not prepared, by having passed thro’ the two former Dispensations;  yet it sheweth the Order of the Spirit’s Dispensation, that of effectual unselfish Love:  In that ’tis said, If ye Love me keep my Commandments, and I will pray the Father, &c. Where perseverance under Obedience to the same, that genuine Obedience, that floweth from Love, is made a mean to the then Disciples, of receiving the Blessing of the Comforter; as Perseverance under the Baptism of the Father, and Continuance under the Baptism of Christ’s Suffering, are a necessary Means, and Reparation for the Dispensation or Baptism of the Spirit, our Immersion into the Love of God;  which with it brings Rest, and eternal Consolation;  for in that Dispensation Christ will write upon us the Name of God, and the Name of the City of God, which is the New Jerusalem: That is, He will make us Partakers of the divine Nature, and of the divine Body, which is the Tabernacle of God, called our House which is from Heaven,  2Cor.5.2. With which our Souls being cloathed, and into which fully entered; we shall more securely Sail into the eternal World, that spiritual Land of Peace, than they in Noah’s Ark, thro’ the boisterous Waves, to the Mountains of Ararat, where the Ark rested, Gen.8.4.’

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In Summary

‘For if we have been planted together,

in the likeness of Christ’s Death,

we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection.’

Which gives us this sentence:

‘Man (is) appointed mortal sorrow; (but) the Blessed God shall come down

teaching (that) His death shall bring (the) despairing, rest or comfort.’

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Second Example

‘The Way to the Sabbath of Rest‘:

C H A P.   XII.

1.  The Soul’s Conformity to Christ’s descent into Hell.   2. This Principle of God’s Wrath is spread through the World.   3. Luke 8. 31. Explained.   4. Visibles proceed from Invisibles.  5.  Hell, Why call’d the Heart of the Earth.  6.  Christ having past this way, draws all Men after him.   7.  We may feel the Anguish of Hell, without having past thro’ it as Conquerors.   8.  A Hymn of praise for this Conquest.

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