avoidably have put him upon a necessity of speaking some things, which
would manifestly have reproach'd his own manner of living, and
contradicted those Principles which he himself had elsewhere laid down;
in which he encourages Men to heap up Riches, and proposes several ways
and means in order to the acquiring them.

We have in this Discourse (as necessity required) disgress'd something
from the main Design of what you desir'd; it appears from what has been
already said, that you must either mean, 1. That I should describe to
you, what they see and taste, who are so happy as to enjoy the
_UNION_,(which is impossible to be described as it really is; and when
any one goes about to express it, either by Speech or Writing, he quite
alters the thing, and sinks into the speculative way. For when you once
come to cloath it with Letters and Words, it comes nearer to the
corporeal World, and does by no means remain in the same State that it
was in before; and the Significations of these Words, which are used in
the explaining it, are quite alter'd; so that it occasions a great many
real Mistakes to some, and makes others believe, that they are mistaken,
when indeed they are not; and the reason of this is, because it is a
thing of infinite Extent, comprehending all things in it self, but not
comprehended by any.) 2. Or else the meaning of your Request must be
this, that I should shew you after what manner they proceed, who give
themselves to Contemplation. And this (my good Friend) is a thing which
is capable of being express'd both by Speech, and Writing; but 'tis as
scarce as old Gold, especially in this part of the World where we live;
for 'tis so rare, that there's hardly one of a thousand gets so much as
a smattering of it; and of those few, scarce any, have communicated any
thing of what they knew in that kind, but only by obscure Hints, and
_Innuendo_'s. Indeed the _Hanifitick_ Sect[11], and the Mahometan
Religion, doe forbid Men to dive too far into this matter. Nor would I
have you think that the Philosophy which we find in the Books of
_Aristotle_, and _Alpharabius_[12], and in _Avicenna_'s Book, which he
calls _Alshepha,_ does answer the end which you aim at, nor have any of
the _Spanish_ Philosophers[13] writ fully and satisfactorily about it.
Because those Scholars which were bred in _Spain_, before the Knowledge
of Logick and Philosophy was broach'd amongst them, spent their whole
Lives in Mathematicks, in which it