TEXT 14.

*It is not from the Elements that man doth live, see, hear, &c. but from the mysteries, or rather from the monarchie; And so all things else. The Elementary thing is but an Inne and a repast. Know also that whatsoever is eternall cometh from the Mysterie, and is the same thing. Doggs die, but their mysterie doth not: Man dyeth, but his mysterie surviveth, and much more his soul whereby he is by so many degrees more excellent then a dog; The same may be said of all things that grow.* Hence is that mi∣stake, that all creatures that ever were shall not appear essentially as they doe now, but mysti∣cally in the last great new mystery. We say not that the mysterie is an essence like that which is immortall,* but that it is perfectly a mysterie. Page  43The Element of fire hath a mystery in it,* from which the other three have their light, lustre, influence, growth, and not from the Element. Those mysteries also may subsist without an Ele∣ment, as an Element may without a mysterie. Observe further, that the Element of aire hath a mysterie in it, by which all the other three,* and it selfe too, are nourished; Not Elementa∣rily of it selfe, but mystically by the Element. The Element of Earth hath in it a mystery of mansion and fixation, by vertue whereof the other continue and increase, that nothing perish. The Element of water hath a mysterie of susten∣tation for all the rest, and preserveth all that is in them from destruction. In this respect there is difference between an Element and a mystery: One is mortall and corruptible from the Ele∣ments; the other is durable in the last great mysterie, wherein all things shall be renewed, but nothing made that was not before.