CHAPTER II.

OF THE CREATION.

Chaos, of all the Origin, gave Birth

First to her Offspring the wide bosom'd Earth,
The Seat secure of all the Gods, who now

Possess Olympus ever cloath'd with Snow;

Th' Abodes of Hell from the same Fountain rise,
A gloomy Land that subterranean lys;
And hence does Love his ancient Lineage trace,
Excelling fair of all th' immortal Race,
At his Approach all Care is chas'd away,
Nor can the wisest Pow'r resist his Sway,
Nor Man, nor God, his mighty Force restrains,
Alike in ev'ry Breast the Godhead reigns:

Earth first an Equal to herself in Fame
Brought forth, that covers all, the starry Frame,
The spacious Heav'n, of Gods the safe Domain
Who live in endless Bliss, exempt from Pain;
From her the lofty Hills, and ev'ry Grove,
Where Nymphs inhabit, Goddesses, and rove :
Without the mutual Joys of Love she bore
The barren Sea whose whit'ning Billows roar.

Chaos, of all the Origin, gave birth.

CHAOS signifies the first condition, or that immediately following upon the conflagration of the old world, in which all the different forms of matter were existing in a state of minute division and mixture, without order, constituting a vast volume of vaporous fluidity. Then, by the creation of the laws of the attraction of gravitation, and cohesion, the diffused matter was collected, accumulated, and condensed, in such a manner as was required for

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Theog. 190.

the earth's perfect formation. Thus, it appears, the earth came into existence.

The seat secure of all the Gods, who now
Possess Olympus ever cloath'd with Snow.

By the gods is here meant the primeval creatures, and the originally created conditions of the earth, who, not now being in existence as creatures sent forth by the earth, are still represented as living in the substance of the earth out of which they were created, or as still being in life as constituting a part of the earth's living body. The Egyptian philosophy represents all things, forms, and conditions, as being perpetually in existence either in the heavens, on the surface of the earth, or in its interior, and death as merely the passage from one state of existence to that of another, as from the earth to the vegetable state, from the vegetable, to that of the animal condition, and from the animal state back to the life of the mother earth, which alone is in herself immortal, the immortality of the others being maintained by their issuing from, and returning to, its one source. Hence the stony snowtopped summit of Olympus was represented as the abode of the gods, they having returned to their subterranean state of existence, or having again become part of the earth's substance.

Th' Abodes of Hell from the same Fountain rise,
A gloomy Land that subterranean lys.

By the abodes of hell is signified all the interior of the earth, all beneath the earth's surface; the inhabitants of those abodes being all the creatures, that is, all the previously existing beings, things,

and conditions, which, by abandoning the forms in which they were created from the earth, had become extinct, or returned to constitute a part of the earth's body; and which creatures were figuratively imagined to exist in the interior of the earth, or to people the tartarean regions. An example of this is seen in Homer's hymn to Vulcan :

Praise Vulcan now, my muse; whom fame gives the prize
For debth and facture, of all forge devise ;
Who with the sky-ey'd Pallas first did give
Men rules of buildings, that before did live

In caves, and dens, and hills, like savage beasts.

It must be observed that Homer here alludes to the age before savage beasts came into existence, when they lived in caves, and dens, and hills, like the buildings, that is, in the substance of the earth, from which they were subsequently called forth. Thus again, for example, we observe that Tantalus and Sisyphus, who were only personifications of physical conditions, after that those conditions were banished from the earth, were still represented as existing in Tartarus.

And hence does Love his ancient Lineage trace.

This has allusion to that change, by which, in consequence of the introduction of death into the world, man was given the power of re-creating his own species; he having been originally sent forth by a process which could not operate under the conditions which had come into existence when that alteration was made; so that it then became necessary either to annihilate that condition, or thus to provide against its destructive operation. Love

here signifies that affection which exists between the sexes, and also the love which man entertains towards the artificial world, or the things and possessions of the fallen world.

Alike in ev'ry Breast the Godhead reigns.

The godhead signifies the substantial part of the head or first creature, that is, the earth; and the reigning of the godhead in every breast, means that the bodies of all persons are polluted and their dispositions perverted, more or less, by the reception and entrance of matter, as food or otherwise, direct from the earth, and without vegetable purification: it also has allusion to the use, or employment, of mineral matter in any way whatsoever, as tending to the production of the before-mentioned effect. It is thus by the use of mineral matter not presented to man by nature, that is, not presented by the agency of the vegetable, that love is of subterranean origin. Death, or the condition necessary for the existence of love, having thus been brought about by the use of subterranean matter.

Earth first an Equal to herself in Fame,

Brought forth, that covers all, the starry Frame.

The earth was at first equalled only by herself in fame; but subsequently, in her productions, she surpassed the fame which then properly belonged to herself. We cannot explain how the earth first brought forth the starry frame, which signifies the atmosphere, without first showing the manner in which the destruction of the earth takes place; because by the destruction of the earth its resurrec

II. ESD

tion is accomplished; as is shown by this conversation between Esdras and the angel Uriel: “Then answered I, and said, what shall be the parting v1.7. asunder of the times? or when shall be the end of the first, and the beginning of it that followeth? And he said unto me, From Abraham unto Isaac, when Jacob and Esau were born of him, Jacob's hand held from the beginning the heel of Esau. For Esau is the end of the world, and Jacob is the beginning of it that followeth. The hand of man is betwixt the heel and the hand: other question, Esdras, ask thou me not." Here we observe a curious allegorical representation of the revolutions of the earth. Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau, represents the old world; the word Rebekah signifying the accomplishment of a war; the war of the elements being accomplished by the old earth, or world, here called Rebekah. Esau means the working man, and represents the vassal world, in which art prevails. Jacob is the natural man, and is put for that condition of the world in which nature unopposed by art prevails. The old world by its conflagration is compelled to deliver up Esau, that is, by the fiery war, the condition caused by art is compelled to give place to that of nature. Thus in the twenty-first chapter of Genesis, Esau is described as having been born red all over; the redness of Esau being representative of the fiery end of the old world, which condition must be brought forth, before that of Jacob, which is the beginning of the new world, can come into existence; therefore does the hand of Jacob touch the heel of Esau: the conflagrant end of the old earth being the beginning of