apple whether it be melted or whether it be congealed there is nothing that will be lost from that substance which was our flesh whether it should be turned and attenuated into the consistence of Air or of Aether 8. If the Soul did praeexist at first in an Aerial vehicle it follows that after death also the like must be given unto it lest it be forced to make a leap But such a vehicle would be altogether incommodious to departing pious Souls because the Air is the habitation of Devils and full of Tempests Answer There are divers degrees in the Air nor is there any need that pious Souls should be after death shut up within the Atmosphere of the earth where these inconveniencies are but there may be found much higher places in the Air where is greater quiet 9. If the Hypothesis of Praeexistency is true it follows that a man may die oftener than once for if when a man departeth out of this life his vital aptitude to an earthly body be not yet expired it will be necessary that he should return unto such a like body untill a vital aptitude to an Aerial body shall awaken in him and upon this account he ought to die oftener than once which is absurd as Heb. 9.27 Job 16.22 2 Sam. 12.23 Answer 1. The saying of Heb. 9.29 that it may rightly be understood we must distinguish 1. betwixt the term Man largely taken for the Soul in what state or condition soever it be and more strictly for the Soul united with the body made out of the earth 2. Betwixt universal and particular judgment Paul therefore is thus to be unfolded that whatsoever Soul is united with its earthly vehicle it is appointed to it Once to be dissolved from this vehicle and then it must stand before a particular judgment where the Divine Justice inquireth whether he hath so lived as that he is to return to his former state or condition or not For the universal judgment followeth not upon the deaths of particular men 2. As to what is said in Job 16.22 it is answered that that is particular and speaks only of the Death of Job animadverted in himself that the end of his vital aptitude to a terrestrial vehicle did draw near therefore as an Holy man there was no need for him to fear a return to this earthly tabernacle Now from a particular to an universal the Consequence is never good 3. The argument out of 2 Sam. 12.23 doth in like manner labour under a fallacy called in Logick an argument from what is said limitedly to what is said simply For it was a particular case that the Soul of David's young Son was not so to return into an earthly vehicle so as again to become the Son of David and in the very daies of David should return unto him yet from thence we may not argue universally 10. From this Hypothesis of Praeexistency it follows That the Heavenly glory of the life to come is unconstant and may be lost For if Souls can fall down from their former glory what hinders but that they also can fall from that which is to come Answer The promises in the Holy Scriptures do hinder in which an incorruptible Crown is promised to the faithful for a special reward 1 Cor. 9.25 and that which never will fade away 1 Pet. 5.4 Whence it is that Paul testifies that we shall rise again in incorruption 1 Cor. 15.42.52 And this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal immortality vers 53. that Death may be swallowed up in victory vers 54.55 together with Sin the sting thereof Hosea 13.14 11. From this Hypothesis it follows that divers Souls may enter into one body because they are said to want the use of reason and sense nor actually to have any but a plastick faculty which cannot discern whether any other Soul is entred in already or not Answer We must distingish betwixt a formative entrance and that which is not formative the first is when the vital centre of the Soul obtaineth its place in that point of matter in which the spirit of the Universe hath already determined the primary seat of the soul Although therefore a thousand Souls should enter together into one material body yet only one amongst them all could obtain the formative ingress viz. such a one as whose vital point should possess or occupy the primary point of the matter which seeing it is indivisible cannot be obtained by more than one nor can it possibly be said that more or many can together possess one and the same point or be homocentrick for should it be so that would come to pass either of purpose or by chance the first cannot be because the use of Reason and Sense is absent nor can the other be because the matter of the vehicles which are not to be laid aside without a reason or cause doth hinder in which notwithstanding that this homocentricity be allowed penetration of dimensions cannot be avoided 12. From this Hypothesis it will follow that the other Planets also are to be inhabited by men Because that some of them being nearer to that place of happiness from whence these Souls are fallen down are greater than this earthly Globe Answer The consequence is denyed because that there will be a want of seminal matter duely prepared For God placed Adam in this Globe of Earth as the first preparer of such matter out of the bounds of which men from thenceforth will not be CHAP. VIII Containing the Arguments of the adverse part which they take from holy Scripture 1. THe first place is out of Genesis 1. vers 28. thus Whoever by the power of Gods command Increase and multiply do multiply themselves according to their kind they no less propagate themselves as in respect of Soul as well as of body because to the constitution of the species or kind of things animate there as much belongeth a Soul as a body But men by vertue of Gods command do multiply themselves according to their species or kind Therefore c. and by consequence Souls do not praeexist Answer We allow the whole Argument but deny the consequence to the conclusion For men can propagate themselves also as to Soul though the Soul be not taken from out of their substance for a man whilst he generateth prepareth nothing but matter convenient to the introducing of a Soul and so he is a cause without which the effect cannot be produced by reason of the introduction of Souls just as he who prepares matter or fewel for the fire is the cause without which the fire cannot be introduced and thus also he multiplieth fires which notwithstanding come from without thus also magnetical bodies or Loadstones can by rubbing only multiply themselves if viz. they be rubbed upon Iron although the subtile matter which combineth therewith cometh from without 2. These things being thus premised in a humane manner we answer to the minor proposition by denying it for
riveted into the very nature it self of these men Whence now ariseth this Intellectual Congruity with some Opinions and an Antipathy and Incompatibility with others unless their Souls did praeexist and came down into this state or condition thus prepossessed with a certain kind of affection to these or the other principles and with an inbred hatred to the contrary The same may be observed also about those things unto which many incline as being very prone to some certain exercises and peculiar operations of which determinations singularly tending to many specialties there can be rendred no sufficient reason unless it be this that the Souls of these people had formerly appeared and acted on another Theater before they came down into this where they were addicted to some certain kind of actions which was very analogous or agreeable to this very sort which they are observed to affect here in which if they had been more than ordinarily delighted and were exercised any long while they then acquired a habit and its probable that they retained in themselves always some certain reliques concerning them and some glimmerings and fragments as it were and when the Reason and the other faculties of these Souls came to Maturity who can deny but that these might be excited afresh again to choose them and to love them a new and by a new recovery as it were to call them back again into use 12. Whatsoever Opinion floweth forth from the very Nature it self of Duration that is a true Opinion This is such c. The minor is proved because whatever is capable of infinite duration from a respect of what 's to come the same is also capable of infinite duration in respect of what is past and that in its own Nature which in it self containeth nothing which is repugnant to this its former duration but such is the Soul Therefore c. CHAP. III. Containing Arguments drawn from Authority and indeed chiefly that of Scripture AUthority is either Sacred or humane and that is such either simply as are the Scriptures or else according to a certain respect and consideration as is that of the Fathers That of the Philosophers is humane The Arguments derived from the Authority of Scripture are either to prove the Praeexistency of all Souls or of the Soul of the Messiah only The former shall be produced in this Chapter 1. In Deut. 29.14 15. Neither with you only do I make this Covenant and this Oath But with all who stand here with us this day before the Lord our God and also with all that are not here with us this day From whence the Jews do thus argue Those with whom God hath made a Covenant they are not meer non-entities because a Covenant doth require two real relatives But God hath made a Covenant with Israelites who were not yet born Therefore they who were not yet born were not meer non-entities and then by consequence their souls either lurked in the Souls of their Parents which above is proved to be absurd or else they already did praexist 2. Isaiah 57.16 For I will not contend for ever neither will I be always wroth For the Spirit should fail before me and the Souls which I have made From whence the Jews fetch this Argument If God himself testifieth that he made Souls for Posterity with which he will not contend then those Souls before that time came in which the Spirit ought to hide or cover men did already praeexist But from the Text the first is true Therefore also is the latter true 3. Jeremiah 1.5 Before I had formed thee in the Belly I knew thee or rather I implanted knowledge into thee and before thou camest forth out of the Womb I sanctified thee and ordained thee a Prophet unto the Nations Whence say the Jews Whomsoever God so knew as that he implanted knowledge into him and sanctified him and ordained him for a Prophet he must needs be in being But God did bestow all this upon one before he was formed in the Womb Therefore one did exist before he was formed in the Womb and if it was thus with one what hinders that it may not be so with all because duration is one and the same to all created Spirits 4. Ecclesiast 4.2 3. Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive Yea better is he than both they which hath not yet been who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the Sun Whence is this Argument compare this with Matth. 26.24 To whom is given but the least Drachm of happiness to him it cannot be denyed that he is in being But to him that is not yet born such happiness is given Therefore c. 5. Job 38.21 Knowest thou because thou wast then born and the number of thy days is great Or else by way of questioning thus Didst thou know or not that then thou shouldest be born and the number of thy many days From either sense floweth out a Praeexistency to the Soul of Job in as much as he is concluded to be present at the beginnings of things 6. Wisd 8.19 20. For I was a witty child and had a good Spirit Yea rather being good I came into a body undefiled Now he who cometh into a body being already good certainly the making of his Soul began not with that of his body 7. John 9.2 3. And his Disciples asked him saying Master who did sin this man or his Parents that he was born blind Jesus answered neither hath this man sinned nor his Parents but that c. whence is this argument Whatever opinion when the most fair occasion was given Christ did not refute nor reproved it as erroeous in that opinion is contained no unsoundness nor danger nor errour But this of the Praeexistency is such an opinion Therefore c. 8. Those who in Scripture are said to be lost they were sometime not lost For every thing which is said to be lost thereby presupposes that it was sometime in his power and possession who after that lost it for that which was never in possession can never be said to be lost But all men in Scripture are said to be lost Therefore all men were sometime not lost And consequently were in the power and possession of the supream Lord The minor is proved by Psalm 119.176 Jeremiah 50.6 Ezek. 34.16 Luk. 15.9 24. chap. 19.10 Matthew 15.24 18.11 9. Whoever are said to be erred and strayed like lost sheep they are to be presupposed to have been in the flock But in Scripture men are said to erre and stray from the flock like lost sheep 1 Pet. 2.25 Joh. 11.52 Therefore they were in the flock once and by consequence did praeexist 10. Whoever are stransters and Foreigners in the Earth They had their rise from elsewhere than in the Earth and have their Countrey elsewhere But in Holy Writ men are said to be strangers in the Earth Therefore
may Be re-install'd in her kindly Sacred Throne Which she had left as exil'd wandring down 7. St. Augustine also speaks favourably of this opinion in his 1. Book of Free-will Whether the Soul lived another kind of life before her conjunction to this body is a great question and a great secret Also in the 3. Book when he came to speak of the Praeexistency of Souls he saith thus If we think of God that he is any other than he is our intention driveth us not into beatitude but into vanity but if we think of the Creature any thing otherwise than he is so long as we do not hold that opinion for that that is known and commanded there is no danger And in the discussion of that fourfold question Whether viz. the Soul be propagated or created Whether or no it was sent from God from some secret receptacle where it praeexisted or that it fell down hither by or of its own proper motion he saith thus Either that same question is not as yet by the Catholick Writers of Divine Books because of its obscurity and perplexity brought and illustrated as it deserves or else if it be already performed their Letters have not as yet arrived at my hands 8. St. Basil also c. And 9. Gregory Nazianzen who that they were not adversaries to this opinion appears from hence that out of Origen's Writings they collected a very remarkable Treatise on which they put the title of Origen's Philocalia in which are found places not a few which partly implicitly partly explicitly affirm the Praeexistency of Souls 10. John of Hierusalem 11. Phil astrius 12. Boethius may be added to the rest CHAP. VI. Containing Arguments derived from the Authority of the Philosophers THe Testimony of the Antients is indeed found to exceed all others let us turn our eyes which way soever we please 1. In Aegypt the most Antient Nurse of occult sciences we have Trismegistus assenting thereunto as is apparent out of his Fragments 2. As also the Gymnosophists with whom the Brachmans of India and the Persian and Chaldean Wisemen had to do as is manifest from the Magical or Chaldean Oracles upon which Pletho and Psellus wrote Commentaries 3. To these add the abstruse Philosophy of the Jews which they call the Cabbala whose Author was Moses the chiefest of all the Philosophers who ever were Whence Manasseh Ben Israel concerning the Creation Prob. 15. s 5. out of Gemara Hagigae citeth the following words In the Empyrean Heaven are Mansions of life and peace and of the Souls of the Just and of Spirits and also of those Souls which are to come into the world And out of Bereschith Rabba alledgeth that testimony that the Jewish Doctors do expound that place of Psalm 139.5 After and before thou formedst me concerning the Creation of Adam that is of men which was done first on the first day and then on the sixth day 4. Hither also doth especially belong Philoâ— the Jew in whom nothing is more familiarly treated on than this opinion that the Quotations are needless We may add 5. Zoroaster 6. Pythagoras 7. Epicharmus 8. Empedocles 9. Cebes of Thebes 10. Euripides 11. Plato 12. Euclid 13. Virgil. 14. M. T. Cicero 15. Plotin 16. Jamblichus 17. Proclus 18. Porphyrius 19. Psellus and a many others And amongst the Moderns 20. Marsilius Ficinus 21. Also Johann Fernelius who adjoyneth to himself Hippocrates and Galen viz. in Book 2. c. 4. of his concerning the hidden causes of things 22. Cardan of the immortality of Souls p. 235.239 c. 23. Pomponatius who notwithstanding is little favourable to the immortality of the Soul And lest we should leave out any body we will here also recount 24. even Aristotle himself who in his tract of the Soul l. 1. c. 3. when he speaks of the necessary quality of a body of being to be actuated by a Soul he inveigheth against them who handle this matter so negligently as if it were possible according to the Pythagorick Fables that any Soul might enter into any body for to every Animal blongeth a proper species or kind as also to be of a peculiar form But they who teach otherwise do say the same as if any one should affirm that the Smith's art goes into the pipe which is made for every art must use its own instruments and every Soul it s own Body Where certainly Aristotle doth not inveigh against the Opinion of Transmigration which includes in it self that of Praeexistency but that the Soul of man can enter into the body of a Brute and on the contrary This is that absurdity which Aristotle rejecteth tacitly approving of the other part of the opinion Yea in his tract of the generation of Souls l. 3. c. 11. he speaks out more clearly Out of the Earth and its humidity are generated Plants and other living creatures because in the earth is a moisture and in the moisture a Spirit and in the whole Universe an animal heat so that all things are in a manner full of Souls Also in l. 2. c. 3. where he especially handleth the Question of the Praeexistency of sensitive and rational Souls whether viz. both of them may be said to praeeist or the Rational only he thus concludes It remains then that the Rational Soul only doth enter from without as that which alone is divine and with whose operation that of the body hath nothing in common In which words he expresly followeth the Opinion of his Master Plato Part II. Being Confutatory CHAP. VII Containing objections from the adverse part and answers to them 1. BUt here some argue to the contrary thus If the Soul should be united to the body for a punishment then that union would not be natural nor would be a good thing and a perfection of nature but rather something that is evil as is all punishment which would be most absurd The Answer 1. As for instance it is injoyned also to man for a punishment that in the sweat of his brows he should eat his bread that a woman shall bring forth in pain that the earth shall bring forth Briars and thorns and yet notwithstanding neither the sweat nor the pain of Child-bearing nor the bryars and thorns in respect of the earth do cease to be natural yea this very gross and inglorious body it self instead of that glorious one in the state of innocency is given to a man for a punishment and yet is a thing natural 2. It is therefore a Fallacy taken from what is said with limitation to what is said simply For simply the Soul is not united to the body for a punishment but restrictively and this union according to the 9. Thesis of this Hypothesis is not granted to the Soul only for a punishment but also for an advantage that viz. an occasion for the Soul to return unto its former state and condition should not be wanting unto it 2. In every thing that is first which is natural and
in Holy Writ is no such addition that man was to multiply according to his species or kind but it is nakedly put thus increase and multiply which are indifferent phrases without all determination of the principal efficient cause 2. From Gen. 5. vers 3. If Adam begat a Son according to his own image likeness it follows then that his Son was also begotten by him as to his Soul But the first is true therefore also is the latter so Answer We deny the antecedent because likeness may be understood to be external by reason of the body to the corruption of which the Soul was also subjected although it came into it from without 3. From Gen. 46. vers 26. whatsoever went forth from out of the loyns of the Parent that did not praeexist but the Souls of the sons c. Therefore c. Answer In this Saying is a Synecdoche of one part for another where the Soul is taken for the body as the Scripture also speaketh elsewhere as Psal 16.10 He will not leave my soul in the Grave c. 2. In this also may be said to be a metonymy of the form for the thing formed of the Soul for the thing animated 3. If the acception were proper this absurdity follows that the Soul is propagated from the Father only the Mother contributing nothing 4. From Job 14.4 Who can give a clean thing out of that that is unclean whence it followeth that from the impure Soul of the Father must proceed or come forth an impure Soul of the son Answer The particle From doth not always signifie the prinpal efficient cause but often times also the instrumental cause or that cause without which the effect cannot be produced and so is it to be understood in this place 5. From Psal 51. vers 5. Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me Answer The Text speaketh of the iniquity and sin not of the Infant but of the generating Parents but if the sin were to be understood of the infant this is then the sense or meaning Behold my Soul being already in in-iniquity from a preceding fall is received into the Womb of my Mother 6. That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh John 3.6 Answer The word or term to be born importeth no essential dependence on him who begetteth for the Soul even already before its nativity being carnal that is having gained a vital aptitude unto Flesh coming forth from carnal Parents is called Flesh even as impure water derived through impure pipes when it breaks forth is so much the more impure 7. Rom. 5.12 As by one man sin entred into the world and by sin Death so Death is passed unto all men because all have sinned from this it follows that before Adam there was no sin Answer Adam in the Allegorical History of Moses is a figure of all mankind and this very Text doth shew that death is passed unto all men not upon that account that Adam only hath sinned but in as much as every single man hath sinned The Particle One signifies the same as First doth as in Mar. 16.2 Luke 24.1 John 20.1 Acts 20.7 8. Rom. 9.11 it is said that the Children who were not yet born had done neither good nor evil whence it is concluded that Souls before this earthly life had not committed sin Answer Not being as yet born are either such as exist before the union of Soul and Body or such as exist in that union the Text speaks of these latter not of the former because first they are expresly named Children 2. The determinate time in which they had committed neither good nor evil is denoted viz. when the Lord said The Elder shall serve the Younger which he then said when they were already alive and the Infants moved in the Womb and so being not yet born they may be said to have committed neither good nor evil actually although before the union somewhat of a fall had preceded and therefore the predicate is to be limited they had done nothing of good or evil viz. in the state of the earthly union of Body and Soul 9. From 2 Cor. 5.10 They argue thus If in the place where an account is to be rendred of all sins an account is to be rendred of those only which are proper to the body as every one hath done it followeth that without the body there is no sin But the former is true and therefore also the latter Answer The Antecedent is denyed 1. Because in the Text is found no such exclusive particle Only but from the greater part viz. the actual sins is the denomination of the judgment made therefore it may also be that that account must be generally rendred of original sin 2. Granting that an account was not to be given of this sin yet it doth not follow that it was not committed because 1. it would have been obliterated already by the general oblivion in the Soul 2. It should have already suffered punishment for it viz. it s being thrust down into this earthly Dungeon or Prison 10. From Hebr. 7. v. 5.9 10. Who paid Tythes in the loins of his Father He even as to his Soul is in his Father But c. Therefore c. Answer The Antecedent is denyed for this phrase to be in the loins of his Father signifieth nothing else than not to be as yet born and yet to be in a possibility to be born therefore such as is the Nativity such also is the possibility or power of being to be born Now the Nativity doth not admit of the concurrence of the Father otherwise than as an instrumental cause to prepare the matter for the introduction of the Soul Therefore also the possibility or power of being to be born ought thus to be understood 11. From Ecclesiast 12.7 The Spirit returns to God who gave it whence they thus argue As the body is from the Earth so the spirit is from God and at the time of generation dust is given from the Earth Therefore also at that time the Spirit is given from God Answer We must distinguish between a giving which is originary and that which is participative this is meant in this place but not that For as although the body be taken out of the earth yet its matter originally does not then at last begin so although the spirit be given from God at the time of generation viz. by an universal concurrence yet it followeth not that it then at length beginneth 12. From Zach. 12.1 The Lord saith who formeth the Spirit of man in the midst of him if therefore the spirit of man is formed within him it did not praeexist Answer By Spirit in this place is to be understood the animal Spirit as often it is elsewhere Gen. 6.17 ch 7.15 compare the 15. verse importing the same sense almost of Psalm 33. even as also is the determination in the midst of him viz. it denoteth it to be in his bowels whence it is that it so follows not in respect to the Soul FINIS
A DISSERTATION Concerning the Pre-existency of Souls Wherein The state of the Question is briefly unfolded and divers Arguments and Objections on both sides Alledged and Answered AND A free judgment concerning the Summ of the Controversie allowed to every one Being Originally written in the Latine Tongue several years since by the Learned C.P. and now made English by D. F. D. P. upon the recommendation of F. M. H. their Friend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed for J. Wickins at the White Hart and Rob. Kettlewell at the Hand and Scepter over against St. Dunstans Church in Fleetstreet 1684. To his Friend THOMAS MARTYN OF PUTNEY Esq SIR BOth your self and every Reader will readily conclude that I much wanted an opportunity of gratitude to snatch thus at so little a one to make you a Present However let the Zeal and Sincerity of being grateful cover the uncomeliness of disproportion in the Offer The great Eastern Conqueror gave like himself but accepted from Inferiours like themselves And a greater than he declared a poor Mite to exceed the weightier gifts of the Opulent But Sir you are not to be taught how to be generous for you wear a mind too big than to refuse the smallest acknowledgment and it would be an injury especially in me to suspect you cannot stoop thus low I wish I could as well excuse the quality of the thing It is viz. a Paradox and a Translate too and that perhaps done badly enough Can any extenuation bring it nearer to a Nothing But I could wish that were all or the worst of it There is a Nest in the World filled with living things which call themselves Orthodox that have Stings and Anger if these take offence what will become of you its no matter how they use me But I forget Your dexterity is great in this mystery of defence And I am safe if you please to take my part for under your Vmbrage I dare defie all the Wasps in the World therefore good Sir protect Your Friend and Servant wholly c. D. F. THE PRAEEXISTENCY OF SOULS Asserted First By an exposition of the Hypothesis it self Secondly By a confirmation of the Hypothesis which is derived partly from Reason and partly from allegations of Authority and Testimony Thirdly by a refutation of contrary arguments Part I. Being Confirmatory CHAP. I. Propounding the Hypothesis it self THe Hypothesis of the Praeexistency of Souls is chiefly comprehended in the following Positions 1. All humane souls have in the universal Creation flowed out from God 2. A humane Soul is of its own nature a Spirit but of an heterogeneous essence whose parts are a vital Center and Rayes or Beams of a secondary substance in the former is seated the superiour faculty of Reason and Sense in the latter is placed the inferiour plastick or propagating Faculty which is the Throne of a threefold vital aptitude in a threefold vehicle 3. The Soul from the very first moment of its Creation was united vitally with matter yet in a state or condition very glorious 4. Souls becoming sated or glutted with the long enjoyment and use of Aethereal Heavenly felicity and joys which consist in the contemplation and Love of the supream Good began somewhat more closely to consider their material vehicles and becoming delighted with the delicacies thereof did at first in a due proportion and with a legitimate and allowed measure enjoy and use with pleasure unutterable the softer and more curiously sweet emotions of them 5. But after that they falling into an immoderate Love and admiration of them viz. through a too loose desire and unbridled appetite they wholly plunged themselves into the lustful delights of them in this regard leaping over the bounds of true temperance whence afterwards their misery sprang forth and ensued 6. For by reason of this immoderate use of their material vehicles 1. They fell from their primaeval glory into an inferiour and less happy state or condition 2. Their Essence being at first immaculate and undefiled but through the Love and contrectation or use of impure pleasures being miserably infected their Nature became affected or seised with an inxpressible intemperance 3. Their vital aptitude unto their formerly most pure vehicles became diminished 4. Their most flourishing vivid Reason became limited bounded and stupefied and 5. They themselves became manifestly unfit to continue longer in an Aethereal heavenly life whence they were forced out in the very act to relinquish their first habitation 7. Descending therefore downwards they began to make tryal of a more vile matter out of which they would frame to themselves vehicles more agreeable to their now polluted Essences and at length arrived lower into the Atmosphere of this Earthly Globe where still degenerating more and more and being now delighted only with sensual pleasures after some time spent they utterly lost all use of Reason and presently after of sense also so that at length they fell as it were asleep and into a state of silence or rest 8. Then their plastick or propagating Faculty only remained in its Vigour with which the Spirit of Nature eminently conspired who upon every occasion of matter aptly prepared being given admits and puts them into these earthly bodies they being first united with seminal matter and after that becoming inhabitants of a body duely Organized as in their Prison and Grave 9. Now this detrusion or being thrust into these earthly vehicles happens to them upon a double account First that they might be duely punished for such faults as they had committed in the state of Praeexistency and then that notwithstanding they should not want an occasion of returning into that state from whence they were fallen if viz. in a due manner they applied their indeavours thereunto CHAP. II. Containing Reasons which confirm these Positions 1. WHatever Hypothesis concerning the Original of the Soul is more consentaneous to sound Reason than any other is that Hypothesis of all others comes nearest to the Truth But this of the Praeexistency of Souls is such Therefore c. The second proposition of this Argument is thus proved Because there are chiefly but two contrary opinions of this point One of them is theirs who say that the Soul is propagated by natural generation from the Parents The other is theirs who affirm that the Soul is created upon every occasion given for the generation But in the former opinion we meet with a plain contradiction For seeing that the Soul is a Spirit it is of an Essence indivisible that is indiscerpible The other opinion affordeth matters which are unworthily ascribed to the Divine Majesty whilst it makes God the primary efficient cause of and the Author according to the most proper and peculiar manner of speaking of the manifest crimes of Whoredom Adultery Incest yea of Buggery viz. perfecting those impure Congresses with the Creation of new Souls Yea it moreover injureth the very Soul it self which being created by God in all manner of purity
is thrust down into a Dungeon saith this opinion which is the impurest of all by the depravity of which a many of them are so corrupted that at last they are necessarily adjudged to that extreamest of calamities that they all remain infidels or unbelieving Seeing therefore these two opinions are thus absurd what can be more probable than the Praeexistency of Souls 2. If from the beginning of the World the matter of every single man remained undivided which certainly must needs be subjected to many myriads of alterations and modifications before it could arrive to the state of a humane body it is much more probable that every man's soul also did already exist or was in being even from that very Age Term or beginning But the former part of the Argument is true no one Philosopher ever contradicting it Therefore also is the latter part thereof true The connexion of both parts of that proposition is thus proved because it is most eminently probable that to the more Noble substance there also belongeth the more Noble duration But the Soul is nobler than the Body 3. He who through his Wisdom alwayes doth that which is best he without doubt hath in this case also done that which is best But now it is better to be in being sooner than to be later seeing always that it is good to be But the first is true concerning God therefore also is the latter true of him 4. Whoever is supreamly and absolutely and by consequence always good he also is always communicative thereof to another and then indeed by how much he is so to more by so much is it better But the first is true of God Therefore also is the latter and by consequence there were not from the beginning created Souls wanting to whom God might communicate himself 5. If the Goodness of God ought not to be determined to be less than any goodness of men then it follows that the divine goodness would not but now at length create or produce Souls But the first is true and therefore also is the latter The connexion of that argument is proved because good men as much as in them lies never let slip occasion of doing good especially if nothing hinders them how much less then shall the most glorious God do so of and to whom we cannot so much as in thought imagine there can be any impediments 6. He whose Government or Dominion could never be other than most full and compleat to him never could be wanting Subjects as many as possibly could ever be in being But the Universal Dominion of God is unchangeable and never was not most full and compleat Therefore also there never were wanting to him as many Souls as could possibly ever be in being 7. If God gave not such noble Creatures the same duration as he gave to matter it follows that He either could not or would not do it but that is repugnant to his Omnipotency and this to his Justice Therefore he did give it 8. From what Opinion soever those difficulties which are met with in or about humane affairs can most easily be avoided that same is not only the truest but also the most useful opinion but this concerning the Praeexistency of Souls is such Therefore c. The minor proposition is proved because by this opinion it is concluded that the souls of men did once exist in some other State or Condition in which they did in various manners and degrees sin against their Creator and thereupon it became necessary according to his most just judgments that they should endure various calamities and several sad chances or accidents one after another as a punishment inflicted on them for the many exorbitances of their Apostasie By this Key may not only be readily unlocked that mystery why many are so averse to all Religion and Vertue yea also plainly stupid and being as it were corrupted by an invincible kind of sloth as to all things of such a Nature even from their very Cradles but to all vices almost are incorrigibly prone But also why even whole Nations of people for so many ages have lien as it were buried in the most savage barbarity yea and many of them are even yet to this very day detained therein Which strange Scene of things would necessarily much darken the wayes of the Divine providence unless some glimmerings of Light should by and through this Hypothesis break forth upon them 9. That opinion which is not contradicted by any of our faculties is without doubt to be reputed to be true But this of the Praeexistency of Souls is such Therefore c. 10. Whatsoever opinion doth without any difficulty alone explicate the Nature of Original sin that is to be preferred before all others This is such a one Therefore c. The minor proposition is proved Because by this Hypothesis every man is himself concluded to be the Author of his first Original sin nor is there any need that we should have recourse to the sin and punishment of Adam where we certainly meet with a Labyrinh of difficulties For here in this we hunt not after that secret and imperscrutable way or manner how that sin of his is devolved down upon us Nor is the Divine justice brought into danger of being accused as if it should thrust down and shut up immaculate pure Spirits into foul and unclean bodies and that without any fault of theirs in as much as they were those who never had any commerce or any thing to do with the sin of Adam together with all the other Incongruities which belong to the common opinion 11. Whatsoever Opinion doth without all difficulty alone unfold those things which occur about the various inclinations of humane minds That is to be esteemed before others But this of the Praeexistency is such Therefore c. The minor is thus proved The Internal Complexions of men are as various as are their External Constitutions and the Temperaments of their minds are as diverse as those of their bodies so that as there be peculiarities of Tempers in Bodies or Radical temperaments in the Corporeal parts of Bodies so also are there found Mental or Soulish if I may so speak Propensions congenite or connatural to the Souls themselves with which they come as it were sealed and impregnated into this World For it may most easily be observed that some are most highly addicted or prone to such or such Opinions insomuch that at the very first blush as it were they give up their assents unto them yea and afterwards stick close unto them when as on the contrary Others as equally learned and who have no less sharpness of judgment do notwithstanding hesitate in or concerning them yea though they were alike clearly proposed and confirmed with equal evidence so that oftentimes they can by no means be brought to approve of them but rather they most obstinately cry out against them insomuch as this their averseness seems to be implanted and
c. The minor is proved from Psalm 39.12 1 Peter 2.11 CHAP. IV. Containing Arguments drawn from Holy Scripture to prove the Praeexistency of the Soul of the Messiah IF Christ's Soul did praeexist then did all Souls praeexist But the first is true as presently shall be taught from Holy Scripture Therefore c. the major is proved because Christ is in all things like unto us sin excepted Now by and in the Reason of all Souls there is the same manner of duration The minor is proved 1. Because Christ hath long since often appeared to the Patriarchs He often conversed with Moses He delivered the Children of Israel out of Aegypt He accompanied them in the Wilderness and led them into the Land of Canaan c. witness besides innumerable places in the Old Testament that of Paul 1 Cor. 10.4 and that of John 1.11 2. Because he himself testifieth that he had a glory with his Father before the World was made Joh. 17.5 But this was not the Glory of his divine nature because that was in its own nature immutable Therefore it was the glory of his Soul which already did praeexist 3. Moreover He himself testifieth thus I came but from the Father and am come into the World Again I leave the World and return unto the Father As in John 16.28 4. John 3.13 No man ascendeth into Heaven but he who descended from Heaven the Son of Man c. 5. John the Baptist testifieth of him That he came from above John 3.31 6. Again Christ himself saith Joh. 6.32 My Father giveth unto you the true bread from Heaven for he is the true bread of God who descended from Heaven 7. Vers 38. I descended from Heaven 8. The living Father hath sent me This is the bread which descended from Heaven Joh. 6.57.58 compare herewith vers 41. 51. 9. 1. Cor. 15.47 10. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of man c. They are the words of Paul Phil. 2.5 6 7. All which together with the foregoing words can by no means be understood of the Divine Nature of Christ which can neither be varied nor moved from place to place by reason of his divine Excellency and Omnipresence which is essential to him and by consequence they must necessarily be meant of the Soul of Christ which praeexisted long before its earthly body from whence a most certain argument may be framed That the Souls of all other men did praeexist 11. Compare herewith Heb. 1.6 The Father bringeth in the first begotten into the World Which is to be understood according to his humanity 12. 1 John 3.5.8 He who is manifested or appeareth he doth not then begin to be in being CHAP. V. Containing Arguments taken from humane Authority yet are such as in their kind are Sacred 1. LEt the Apostles of our Lord be here produced even when they were not as yet illuminated who were addicted to this opinion and yet were not corrected by our Lord as is manifest 1. in that that they asked him concerning him who was born blind Joh. 9.2 2. In that that they said that some thought that he was John the Baptist others Elias others Jeremias or one of the Prophets as in Matth. 16.14 Which assertion cannot stand unless upon the foundation of Praeexistency nor yet was it corrected by our Lord as without all doubt had it contained in it any thing that was erroneous it would have been by him who was the most holy and the most benign Master or Teacher 3. In that that when our Lord said That he came out from the Father they presently answered Behold now speakest thou plainly and speakest no proverb Joh. 16.29 2. Let Clement of Alexandria come forth next who often in his writings makes mention of this opinion nor ever once redargueth it as erroneous For in his Stromat 1. He thus saith It is manifest that the Barbarians did especially honour their Lawgivers and Lords calling them Gods for they thought together with Plato that some good Souls having left their supercelestial abode did make a descent into this inferiour Orb and having assumed bodies became partakers of all those miseries which are obvious in Generation and became sollicitously careful of mankind to whom they gave Laws and taught Philosophy And then in his 3. Book he saith when he disputeth against the Marcionites and alledges many places out of Plato which do partly directly and partly indirectly include this opinion amongst which is that out of his Phaedo viz. That there is a Secret brought down to us by Tradition that we men are in this life as it were in a Prison So also is that other where he citeth Heraclitus also Pythagoras and Socrates together with Plato That Death is but what we see when up and awake but what we see in sleep is a Dream But most agreeable of all is what he quoteth out of Philolaus the Pythagorean The Ancient Divines and Poets do testifie that the Soul is conjoyned to this earthly body by way of a punishment and that she is all the while she remaineth therein as it were buried But against this he saith nothing In the same Book although he mightily sets himself against Julius Cassian yet he useth these words This Noble wit is of an opinion which accordeth more with the mind of Plato viz. that the Soul which is divine and from above beiâ—â— effeminated with lust doth descend into Generation and Corruption Yea in his Protrept he expresly saith That Christ did again call back into Heaven those who were thrown down upon and to the Earth 3. Let Origen follow next who more openly did propagate this opinion so as there is no need to give any Quotations out of him 4. Moreover Synesius Bishop of Cyrenia who in his 105. Epistle saith expresly In good truth I shall never design to be of the opinion that the Soul in its existence comes after the Body And in his 3â— Hymn As a drop from Heaven I was poureâ— forth on the earth Restore me to my spring whence I flowed in this banisht wandring birth 5. To these joyn Arnobius who in his 1. Book against the Gentiles saith thus Do we not all owe unto God this in the first place That we are That we are called men That being either sent from him or fallen thorough blindness we are detained in the chains of a Body 6. Prudentius appears next who in his Hymn at the funeral Solemnities of the deceased singeth after this manner See now how to the faithful is made plain The bright path of the ample Paradise again And man may freely now approach that grove Which the sly Serpent took from him above There O thou best of Guides I humbly pray Command that thy Servant-maid this Mind
then that which is preternatural but the separation of a Soul and a separate subsistence is preternatural but union is according to nature Therefore this must needs be before that and not on the Contrary Answer The argument is of that sort call'd by Logicians an Ignoratio Elenchi for by this Hypothesis it is no where taught that the Soul before its union with an earthly body is in a separate state simply considered but rather had been in an union with its more pure vehicles viz. the Aethereal and the Aereal and being at length separated from them it descended into this Terrestrial body 3. If God in the beginning had created separate Souls then he created not all things in a perfection agreeable and due to the nature of every one The Reason of the consequence is because the Soul attains to its proper and its connatural perfection in the body and not out of the body Answer This is the same Argument with the last and is so named Also we must distinguish betwixt bodies whereof three are such as to which the Soul hath a natural aptitude An Aethereal body such as is promised to us in sacred Writ an Aereal one and an Earthly one If therefore it be said That the Soul obtaineth her proper perfection in an earthly body only the assertion is denyed but if the Aethereal body be not excluded it is already said that according to this Hypothesis the Soul long since attained to this perfection 4. If Souls do exist before their bodies they are either on the way or in their native Country or in neither but none of these can be affirmed Therefore they do not praeexist Answer Souls are at first in their own Country where they sprang forth but after that in a neutral state or condition when they be fallen down into a state of sin but when they are let into these bodies they enter into the way of returning Therefore the minor proposition of the argument is false If Souls should praeexist without all doubt they could not utterly forget that State or Condition which yet it 's manifest that none of them remember any thing of therefore they did not praeexist Answer It will easily appear that the forgetfulness of their former condition doth evince nothing against the the praeexistency of Souls if we consider those things which either plainly take away or in a wonderful manner impair our memory in that life of all which we shall in this place find the concourse and in a greater degree and from more powerful causes than could ever happen to any man living Now those things which here in this world do plainly deprive us of our memory are most chiefly these 1. If opportunity be wanting of remembring any thing as it happeneth to them who rising from sleep dare swear that they dreamed nothing all that night yet afterwards occasion being given in the day-time they recover into their memories oftentimes a long tract of dreams 2. If we are disused to apply our minds to some things and thus when with great labour we have written some things whilst we were School-boys when we are grown up to be men for the most part we cannot own them for ours but that our names written in them can convince us 3. When some very remarkable change of constitution and temperament happens in our bodies either by some external accident or by some more vehement disease or by Old age Now all these principles of oblivion are more eminently found in the souls descent into this earthly dungeon than ever was possible to be done so long as she inhabited in the same For it 's far beyond all doubt that the difference between that scene of things which the Soul sees out of the body and that which she sees in the body is by far greater than that which is between those things which a man seeth sleeping and those which he sees waking Now the perpetual affairs of this present life bring into the Soul a very remarkable disuse as to the remembring of former things past Moreover their descent it 's probable happened mostly when they were in a state of silence in which perhaps many myriads of Souls lay for many ages but if they might have descended not passing the state of silence there occurs to their memory examples of their former state or condition as it was with Christ in Joh. 17.5 Finally the descent into this earthly body is a greater mutation and much more apt to blot out former impressions on the memory than any one accident or any other disease which yet happening do often destroy in many persons all memory in this life But here again they object and say if a bare mutation of vehicles can introduce into the Soul an utter forgetfulness of all things formerly done it follows that it may also be feared that the like may happen to her after her departure out of this earthly body which is absurd because then memory remaineth wholly firm and Conscience will never cease to be and operate Answer These have a different consideration because between the former state of Souls and the present there interposes a state of silence and of inactivity in which all the superiour faculties viz. of Reason and sense to which memory belongs lie as it were benummed or asleep Now between the present state and the future there interposeth no such thing whence neither can follow an utter abolishing of memory 6. If God hath created Souls with a threefold vital aptitude to a threefold vehicle which is to be the last receptacle of fallen Souls it follows that God created them with a necessity of falling because every vital aptitude and consequently also that aptitude to an earthly vehicle flows from the essence of the Soul and by consequence is necessary Answer There is a distinction between a vital aptitude considered in it self and between its being deduced into act i st and therefore there belonged to her many vehicles it follows that when she hath laid down her earthly vehicle she must again assume another and consequently there needs no Resurrection of the flesh Answer We must distinguish betwixt the meaning of the word Flesh in the state or condition wherein it is now Flesh and in the further and larger acception thereof viz. when it is used for that that was Flesh now according to this latter and not according to the former acceptation is the Resurrection of the flesh to be understood for flesh as flesh shall not rise again because as the Apostle witnesseth 1 Cor. 15.51 We shall all be changed But that which sometime was flesh shall rise again and shall be changed into the nature of that its vehicle which is then competent to every Soul because every mutation of matter is not accidental to it and it is all one to its substance after what manner or shape its particles are formed for it is indifferent to Wax whether it represent the shape of a man or of an