Appendix. 4rg 



degree of labour and fkill to be appreciated only by an 

 examination of the original authors, has colleftcd together 

 a fet of propofitions which may fairly be regarded as 

 charafteriftic of the opinions of the theofophic philofophers, 

 fo far as the obfcure jargon of their principal writers will 

 afford a glimpfe of meaning. This comparatively lucid 

 expofition of ideas that in Fludd and Behmen* particu- 

 larly, efcape all common refearch, will not perhaps be 

 unacceptable to the fociety. The notions then, common 

 to all the theofophifts are as follow. 



1. All beings derive their origin from the divine eflence, 

 and are emanations from that infinite fource ; and hence 

 every thing exhibits the Deity himfelf expanded to our 

 view, and manifefted in his creatures by different modes 

 and flages of evolution. 



2. Hence by a fimilar order and feries of revolutions, 

 all things thus originally evolved will return to their firft 

 fpurce. 



3. This is eminently true of the human foul, or that 

 immortal fpirit which dwells in the mortal body — this fpark, 

 derived from theboundlefs mafs of infinite light and united 

 to man, ftill retains fome marks and properties of its 

 origin, and will again return to that eternal center of 

 Deity from whence it firft proceeded — knowing therefore its 

 origin, and the fpring from whence it firft flowed, it (hould 

 ftrive to reafcend ; that with a pure and continual defire 



• Behmen in particular lias had many followers in England, the 

 famous Mr. William Law left a magnificent pofthumous edition of 

 Behmen's works j a Mr. Taylor abridged them alfo for the ufe of Engliflj 

 readers in a view of the Tuetonic philofophy, and all Behmen's writings 

 have been tranflated into Englifh, befides Law's edition : neither do the 

 modern Swedenborgians rejeil him. Godfrey Arnold in his Hift. et 

 Apolog. Theologiae MyAIcae ed. Francofurc. p. 597. fays that Behmen's 

 Treatife on the three Principles was tranflated into Englifh ann. 1648, 

 at the expence of Charles I, and with the ftrong approbation of Dr. H. 

 More. Brucker's View of Behmen's Doftrine is taken from the two or 

 three firft pages of that woi k, 



earneftly 



