of the man so it s owne form is the specificall difference or individuall existence which it hath as a reasonable soule in the coÌ„mon nature of man proceeding from the concurrence of all those causes 5. InstrumeÌ„tall And herein that body or rather the corporal seed the perfection of the body especially the pure spirits therein wherewith the soule naturally unites it selfe 1 by reason of sympathy and familiarity which is betweene them becomes an assisting or instrumentall cause Lastly 6. Finall the finall cause is the preservation of mankinde and his owne glory by them according to his first institution Now all this is done in conception soule and body beginning both in the same moment of time Time and neither being before or after other And thus we may conceive how the soule is propagated of the soule after a spirituall manner as the flame of one Lamp lighteth another by promotion or multiplication being blowne by the power of God Simile and sed with the oyle of the animall spirits And that this may not seeme strange Conclusions concerning the soules originall before I come to the proofe of it I desire that these few Conclusions might be considered 1. Of the union of the body and soule First that there is no such diametrall opposition betweene the soule the body but that they may be naturally coupled together Indeed the soule is far from such a grosse visible substance as the body is compounded of yet is it not without some spirituall kind of substance and that not altogether simple Neither doe I think the creatures of God to differ so much in kinde as in degree Besides it is manifest that the soule is of the lowest degree of spirits and not onely capable of but coveting union with corporall natures and so according to the course of nature may as well be propagated with them as united with them Secondly 2. Of the union of the soule with God as any nature is more excellent so it hath a neerer union with that first being wheron it depends is more immediately moved by it Now because all natures doe subsist and are sustained more or lesse immediately by that first being according as their natures are neerer unto it or farther removed from it answerable whereunto the worke thereof is more or lesse immediate in them Hence it followeth that the soule being more excellent and confequently neerer to God than any corporall creature can be as he workes more immediately in them than in others after they are made so by like reason it followeth that he doth so in their first propagation 3. The efficient cause in generation Thirdly there is nothing generated in the world but it hath some externall efficient cause Now this in corporall generations all grant to be the heavens which being of a more excellent nature send downe their influences to inferiour creatures by vertue of which next unto God they continue their kinds But the soule being a spirit is above all corporall creatures and being made by Gods owne immediate hand onely at first it can have no other externall efficient but the same immediate power still So that whereas it is commonly said Sol homo generant hominem it may more truly be said Deut homo generant aniâ—nam Neither is it absurd that man should have two efficients it is rather an honour that God nature should concurre together in his generation 4. The true cause of mortality Fourthly Mortality proceeds not so much from generation as divine malediction For had not â—an sinned it is confessed that â—he body should have beene immortall as well as the soule Alâ—hough therefore the soule were compounded and generated after a corporall manner without any immediate act of GODS power none of which are true yet if would not presently follow that it must needs be mortall 5. The cause of immortalitie Lastly Whatsoever hath the being immediately from God cannot be annihilated but by the same immediate power so that it is the act of his immediate power that is the proper cause of immortalitie and hence it appeareth that though the body which is produced by the power of nature onely may dye and perish yet the soule whose production is not without an immediate act of the Deity can never dye but by the same power omnipotent by which it lived How man is sinfull and the soule immortall Thus then it appeareth that though the soule be propagated in the manner aforesaid yet it is neverthelesse immortall since it is neither made of any corporall matter nor produced onely by the power of nature and God is never the more faulty though wee be sinfull because being wholy in Adam according to the just law of nature so sinning potentially in him he with us and we with him being then actually one the whole nature of mankinde is thereby so corrupted and this pure ordinance of God in producing soules so defiled that corruption passeth in the very conception and we are stained with originall sinne and so are liable to Gods eternall wrath Psal 51.5 Eph. 2.3 Rom. 11.16 Mat. 7.18 Gal. 6.7.8 so soone as we begin to be It being a just and necessary law in nature that as the roote is such are the branches and look what the tree is such must the fruit be CHAP. VI. Scriptures to prove the soules immediate creation answered The methode and reason of it HAving thus declared the manner of the soules creation or rather procreation for the better satisfying of the sober minded and silencing such as shall be wilfully contentious it behooveth me in the next place more fully to explaine prove the same Wherefore after this generall entrance having presumed to determine this so intricate a question that wee may have the freer passage my next indeavour shall be to cleare the same by removing out of the way such obstacles and objections as may seeme to oppose it And the rather because they are such as whereby I shall best explaine my selfe and shew that it may be so and so afterward prove the more clearely that it is so and thereby also take away that prejudice wherewith mens minds are forestalled before I proceed to the proofe of it Objections marshalled Here therefore I must first encounter with a whole army of Arguments that seeme to be set in battaile aray against me and then pitch a new field of reasons to maintaine what I have spoken The arguments that come marching against me seeme to be ranged in two severall battalions the former mainly intending to fight for the immediate creation of the soule the latter altogether against the propagation of the soule Those that most establish the soules immediate creation are of two sorts partly Testimonies of Scripture and partly reasons drawne from them Being thus greatly beset with enemies I have notwithstanding great hope of victory not onely because I have before well
left destitute and if but a part then it will follow that the essence of God is divisible Zanch. de trin Eloh par 2. l. 3. cap. 7. answers the same thus that he receiveth the whole essence and yet the Father hath it all still For saith he spirituall natures whilest they are communicated are neither wholly taken away nor anything at all diminished His words be these Res enim spirituales dum communicantur neque tolluntur penitus neque etiam imminuuntur Neither can it be said that this is proper to God seeing he affirmes it of all spirituall natures indifferently yea what else can be meant by the indivisiblenesse of the soule but that it is of such a nature as cannot be diminished by taking ought from it else how should it differ from corporall natures for even they cannot be diminished if nought be taken from them yet I say not that the soule can be parted at all after the manner of dividing corporall natures but this I say as the essence and forme of every creature is indivisible no lesse than the soule and yet they can out of themselves propagate their like without making their forme or essence divisible so may man produce his like without dividing his form or essence which is his soule For seeing the forme of a beast as it is so is as much indivisible as mans soule and experience proves that they notwithstanding communicate their formes to their issue why also may not parents give soules to their of-spring without dividing their own especially considering man is the most excellent creature who must needs therefore excell in this faculty as well as in others Neither can it be said The soule not full of soules that then his soule must be full of soules no more then that other creatures should therfore have in them many of their own kinds because they beget many for as Scaliger well answers Scal. exer 6. sect 10. there is in that one sufficient power for the generating of many and so much for those objectiōs which are taken from the matter conceived I proceed now to those that concerne the manner of conception CHAPTER XII How the manner of conception can stand with the soules generation TOuching the manner of conception Objectiōs three things especially are and may be objected First it is doubted whether conception be in the act of generation or afterwards Secondly it should seeme by this that the soule is imperfect at the first and grows by degrees with the body Lastly it may be questioned how superfetation and the conception of twinnes can stand with this manner of the soules propagation And if these also can be well cleared there is nothing more materiall worth the questioning 1. Whether conception be in generation First I say it is a question amongst the learned whether conception be at the first union of seeds or no for as some Physitiās write there must be a certaine concoction and preparation of the seede before conception First of all I might answer that the ordinance of God herein is so wonderfull as passeth all mens understandings so as none can say directly how it is either for the soule or for the body it being one of those things which David professeth was too wonderfull for him Psal 139. vers 6. and therefore much more for us And yet if we make no questiō of the conception of the body though we cannot conceive the manner how why should we be more doubtfull and inquisitive about the soule of which we know we are lesse able to conceive 2. That the soule begins with the creature Secondly I answer that though it should be granted that the more grosse and corporall parts of the seede doe as indeed they do require time before they can be throughly mixed knit together to make a perfect conception yet in reason it must needs be that the more spirituall parts and chiefly the soule is conceived in the first instant I meane a small moment of time and that in the beginning at the first meeting and union of the seeds of both sexes And thus it must needs be not only because spirituall natures are more quick and subtill and so move in lesse time than corporall and therefore may doe that in a moment which the other cannot doe but in a longer time whence it is that in eating and drinking wee see the spirits are refreshed and the man strengthened immediately after he hath eaten before ever the meat can be concocted but also experiēce teacheth that in the breeding of all creatures the internall parts are perfect before the externall the more spirituall parts of the body before those that are more grosse and corporall and therefore it followeth by like reason that the spirits in man have their perfection before the body and the soule before the spirits for there is no doubt but nature observes the same order in the beginning that she doth in the continuance of her worke there being one and the same cause of both Againe be it that there is such a concoction in conception as in respect of the body questionlesse there is yet it cannot be denied but the corporall parts are prepared perfected by the other which must needs therefore be first and in the first instant for that which beginneth must of necessitie be in the beginning because all that is done afterward is by vertue of that power wherewith it was informed at first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For that power becoms the first act of the conceived fruit and is the very soule of the creature wherewith if the seede be not informed at the beginning all comes to nothing at the end And hence it is that if all causes doe not fitly concurre together for the forming the seede with the soule at first by whose working it may proceed to perfection afterward the whole worke is frustrated The consideration whereof may teach us what the reason in nature should be that there is more failing in the conception of man than of other creatures Namely because the soule being of a more excellent nature in man requires a more fit proportion and due temper of all meanes before such a heavenly flame can be kindled and the seede informed and united therwith then is necessary for the production of any other creature whatsoever Now this very beginning only is properly conception all that followeth afterward being nothing but a continued perfecting of this beginning by insensible degrees which not nature but reason hath distinguished into conception forming quickning c. to every of which that time is allotted wherein that worke most appeares though natures work be one and the same from the beginning 2. Whether the soule be imperfect at first But here it will he objected that if the soule be in the seede at the first conception it must needs be very weake and imperfect at the first and so growing and increasing with the
Ezek. 18.20 for the son shall not beare the iniquitie of the Father but because by his sin they are made sinfull or rather sinned in him and so for their owne sin are justly subject to the same punishment So that in truth propagatiō is the main if not the onely streame of originall corruption Now if wee receive onely the least parts of our selves that is our body from Adam which cannot be the subject of sin not onely because it wants the soule but because not parts but whole persons sinned in Adam how can this satisfie any reasonable man that it is possible for us to be guilty of Originall sinne if the soule comes immediately from God CHAPTER V. The meane chosen and the question resolved Further satisfaction needfull THis therefore is a most profound question full of wonderfull difficulties this is that intricate Meander and that endlesse Maze wherein St. Augustine wandered all his life long and could finde no issue and to conclude this is that wherein Divines to this day have rather shewed their modesty in not searching than their judgement in determining the truth If not rather too much searing least they should seeke too farre they have thereby failed in finding But how soever it is very commendable to walk soberly herein yet we may not through too much modesty leave a gap open to be trodden downe by the feet of beastly Atheists and therefore notwithstanding it is a Labarinth where it is hard to wade out safely yet we may and must indeavour to give satisfaction in such a needfull question The Authors apologie for this singularitie And here I most humbly crave leave to step a little out of the cōmon path or rather to make the same path straight which as to me it seemeth is a little crooked in this place bearing out against Philosophy on the one hand and Divinitie on the other and if force of reason doe not prove my assertion I will willingly beare the blame that is due which yet I hope cannot be much though I should erre First because it is a most difficult point wherein the greatest Clearkes can scarce tell which way to turne themselves Secondly because the premisses being confessed it can be no fundamentall errour Thirdly being in the meane it must needs be confessed neerer the truth at least them that which hath yet beene maintained by the most wise and godly of the antient Fathers in former ages Fourthly those opinions which I oppose were never maintained as necessary doctrines but onely as probable opinions Lastly I am not peremptory much lesse obstinate but willing to submit to better judgements and propound this onely by way of tryall as one that would gladly be a means to find out the truth How man propagates man That we may therefore saile even between this Scylla Charibdis seeing we see it can neither be meerely propagated by man nor yet immediately created by God my conclusion is that it is partly from both That is to say that the whole man consisting of soule and body doth propagate a creature like himselfe consisting of the same parts by vertue of that efficacious word of God in the beginning increase and multiply and the concurrence of his own immediate power therewith And that therefore God hath set a stedfast law in nature for the generation of mankind both soule and body as well as other creatures But yet partly mediately and partly immediately Mans propagation naturall himselfe having a more peculiar worke in this than in any other For besides this generall providence in conseiving the naturall order that himselfe hath instituted as the nature of the soule is more excellent Gods act in the production of the soule so answerable thereunto the act of his providence is more immediate therein than in any other creature whatsoever And thus the soule may be propagated as well as the body after a manner convenient to either nature God having so much in it as to make it immortall and man so much as to make if sinfull yet not as if there were any separation in their generation Soule and body not to be divided the body of the body onely and the soule of the soule onely for this is but to multiply difficulties without end no man being able to say directly here it is either for the one or the other but the whole of the whole generation being not of parts but of persons For nature it selfe teacheth that neither soule nor body can properly be said to be generated but the creature consisting of soule and body neither is there any thing that seemes to me more absurd than that when God and nature hath thus conjoyned them the Scripture alwayes speaking of the generation of the whole man and nature we see alwayes bringing forth the whole we should notwithstanding make a seperation fetching one part from heaven and another from earth and then vainely tyre our selves to bring both ends together againe How the soule is propagated of the soule Now if the soule and body may not be seperated in this case much lesse should we take upō us to assigne the proper cause of every effect herein and yet because such is the curiositie of mans nature that it will not otherwise rest satisfied if we must needs in reason distinguish what in nature cannot be severed I should thus determine The essentiall causes distinguished That the parents by Gods immediate assistance doe out of their owne spirituall nature informe their issue with a reasonable soule in the instant of conception for the preservation of humane kinde So that I conceive the power of God to be the externall efficient cause 1. Efficient who as he made the first soule immediately of nothing so by reason of the purity of it it can have no other externall efficient cause but his owne immediate power The procreating cause is the parents 2. Procreant who are as instruments in Gods hand to bring forth what how and when he please according to his own eternall decree The materiall cause is the spirituall matter of the parents souls 3. Materiall It will be said the soule is immateriall be it so then I say the soule is made of that matter which is immateriall For though it be not corporeall yet it is spirituall and being a spirit and not a body it is rather an act than a matter Mark this mystery so that according to the course of nature I confesse more is to be ascribed to the efficient cause yea so much that the latter is almost extinguished in the former And hence it is that though the soule be congenerated with the body yet by reason of the pure nature of it God being the efficient it is as neere to a creation as possibly it can be and as it were a meane between creation and propagation 4. Formall Touching the formal cause as it selfe is the forme of the body or rather
of the body instruments of unrighteousnesse and the whole man a slave to the devill and that from our first being even so farre as nature can reach as well potentially as actually ever since Adams sinne which groweth up with us from the wombe and in time if we live brings orth the fruits of unrighteousnesse in our thoughts words and actions by reason whereof we are not onely corrupt but guilty of Gods wrath and lyable to eternall damnation from our first being Now it is called Originall sin Why it is so called first because it was from the beginning even as soone as ever Adam sinned secondly because it is with us from the beginning even in conception as soone as we doe actually begin to be and thirdly because it is the beginning of all actuall sin whatsoever Howbeit in the Scripture it is called by other names Rom. 6.6 as The old man The body of sin Rom. 7.17.23 The sin that dwels in us The law of our members The sin that incloseth us on every side Heb. 12.1 Concupiscence Iam. 1.14 and the like And as we use the word it is sometimes taken more largely for the sin of Adam together with the guilt and corruption following it but usually more strictly for the corruption of nature onely consisting of the privation of goodnesse and inclination to evill before rehearsed These grounds being laid down we may make a full definition of it after this manner Definitie Originalis peccati Originall sin is the depravation of the whole nature of man consisting of the privation of originall righteousnesse and an inclination to all manner of evill derived from Adam to all his posteritie by naturall generation whereby they stand guilty of eternall death in which definition wee may see all the essentiall causes of originall sin the subject or materiall cause is the whole nature of man all men and every part of all men soule body understanding will memory affections senses and severall members of the body as they constitute the person of a man propagated from Adam The formall cause is the depravation of the same whereby every man is deprived of originall righteousnesse and prone to every sin that can be committed The efficient cause the sinning will of Adam the instrumentall cause naturall generation and the end and effect of it guilt and punishment misery and death here eternall damnation hereafter More briefly Originall sinne is by some defined to be the depravation of mans nature consisting of the privation of righteousnesse and inclination to evill contracted from the generation it selfe and derived from Adam to all his posteritie For as sicknesse is not onely a privation of health but also an evill affection of the body arising from the distemper of the humours so originall sin is not onely the want of righteousnesse but also an inclinablenesse to unrighteousnes arising from the sin of Adam and conveyed unto us by naturall propagation In a word it is our potentiall sinning in Adam whereby according to the law of nature we are both corrupt and guilty And so much for the generall nature of originall sinne Creation what it is Now for the second what Creation is we shall not need many words Improperly Creation is taken sundry wayes somtimes for the determination and decree of God to create as where Wisdome saith Ecclu 24. He created me in the beginning before the world that is he decreed to create and reveale me in the Church Sometimes for renovation changing not of the substance but the qualitie of a thing Ps 51.10 So David prayeth Create in me a cleane heart O God Sometimes for the naturall generation of the creatures Thou sendest forth thy Spirit Psal 104.30 and they are created And sometimes it is taken for the restauration of that which is destroyed Isa 65.17 Behold I create new heavens and a new earth But properly taken it either signifieth to make something of nothing or else to give formes to the matter unto which it hath no naturall power of it selfe And for that cause doe require an omnipotent hand to effect if so as creation properly taken belongs to God onely Neverthelesse for the most part it is used in the first sense and therefore creation is commonly defined thus Creatio est productio entis ex non ente or as Aquinas hath it Est productio rei secundum totam substantiam ex nihilo So that in the most proper sense a thing cannot be said to be created unlesse the whole substance be produced by the omnipotent power of God out of nothing and not at all unlesse at least he hath an immediate hand in the forming of it Propagation what it is Lastly For Propagation it is that most excellent and naturall faculty whereby a living creature by feede of generation begets his like for the continuation of the kinde It is a faculty commonly accounted a species of the vegetative faculty but is indeed the naturall perfection of a living creature whether vegetative sensitive or rationall and it is the most excellent and the most naturall faculty being ingrafted into nature with a speciall charge blessing from God in the creation and is therfore most desired and consequently most natural to all creatures that have life Gen. 1.22.28 whereby like begets like univocall which is most properly so called when as a creature brings forth the like to it selfe as a plant comes of a plant and a Lyon of a Lyon and aequivocall generation of unlike as when a plant or living creature is bred of putrefaction as Mice Flies Serpents and the like for the continuation of the kinde for nature aymeth at the highest perfection that can be even to continue all creatures for ever and therefore every creature naturally desires ever to be which because it cannot be effected in the individuals therefore it is done another way namely by propagation for to beget the like is after a sort to be ever And to conclude this is done by the seede of generation which as the faculty it selfe is most excellent so is the matter of it the perfection of mans nature as the seed of a tree the sap whereof hath passed through roote body branch leafe bud and all and so conteines the nature of the whole so is the seede of man the quintessēce of nature which having passed through all the degrees of concoction and conteining the whole kinde of man is reserved by nature in a place convenient for the procreation of another of the same kinde Now because this generation is the affection or rather perfection of the whole compound consisting of matter and forme a man cannot be said to propagate the matter alone but the whole creature so as to speake properly generatiō is not either of the matter or of the forme but of a certaine third thing consisting of matter and forme So that here it followeth that our propagation from Adam is
conclude this so difficult a doctrine which as in the beginning it seemed so hard that no words could sufficiently explaine it so now me thinkes it is so plaine and easie that I feare nothing more than that I have insisted too long in the proofe of that which I thinke no man can or will deny yet considering that such is the curiositie of some in this age that are wittily acute and such also the difficultie and necessitie of understanding this doctrine aright that a mans life were well bestowed in giving full satisfaction therein this short discourse I hope will not seeme over-long to the judicious 1. The originall of the Soule I conclude therefore as before first that the soule is neither immediately created by God of nothing nor yet meerly propagated by man without his immediate power but that he hath instituted a naturall order whereby the whole man begets the whole man both soule and body and as well the one as the other Not the soule the body nor the body the soule neither the soule the soule alone nor the body the body alone yet in this order the soule the soule onely immediately but mediately by the body and the body the body onely immediately but mediately by the soule And thus in man the whole propagation the whole as concerning matter and forme as well as other creatures albeit in the one the immediate power of GOD concurreth as an efficient cause and naturall meanes onely in the other 2. â—he imâ—â—ortaliâ—â— of the â—â—â—le From this naturall yet divine beginning I also conclude the immortall nature and everlasting continuance of the soule For seeing it is not produced by the power of nature alone nor yet made of any corporall matter but spirituall both for matter manner wherein it excelleth all other creatures though united through Gods institution to the naturall generation it must needs transcend the condition of all corporall creatures as well in the end as in the originall and so can be no lesse than immortall though we goe no higher than the rules of nature 3. Originall sinne Hence also I conclude that all Adams off-spring are infected with that staine of nature which he contracted to himselfe by sin which is propagated from parents to children together with the whole man the subject thereof and that without any fault in God it being our act and not his our sinfull soules proceeding not from him but our sinfull parents and so not being corrupted by him but by our selver in Adam 4. Christs incarnation And lastly hereby also appeareth the puritie of Christs incarnation who though he were true man like unto us and made of the same substance both for soule and body yet was not propagated after the common manner of men to avoide that infection of sin which wee receive in propagation Reasons to beleeve without reason Now if any cannot conceive through the subtle conceit they have of it how the soule should minister any matter to the producing of another which I confesse is hardest yet considering that most of the most learned ancient Fathers and Schoolmen in former times have allowed aêreall bodyes even to the Angels themselves it cannot be thought absurd that I ascribe such a spirituall composition to soules as hath such a neere resemblance unto corporall matter and forme as may well stand both with this manner of propagation and the divine nature of the soule And if thus much be not granted it cannot appeare in nature neither how it can be united with the body the one being in my conceit as hard to conceive as the other But seeing I see the one is I beleeve the other may be And further I adde that that though this did seeme to disagree with reason yet wee ought rather to beleeve it than the other which we plainly see doe disagree with Religion But to conclude seeing wee see the reason why wee cannot see the reason let us not be so vainely curious to enquire of that which we know certainly we cannot certainly know let us content our selves a while not heathenishly to reason but Christianly to beleeve and shortly after this life Phil. 3.15 all these things shall be revealed unto us FINIS A Compendious Table of matters concernable in this TREATISE THE possibilitie of knowing the Souls originall 2 Cautions in searching it 6 What knowledg men have of spirits 14 Soules knowledge of it selfe 15 How the soule knowes inferior natures how superior 17 Angels know not our thoughts 21 How farre may be knowne of the soule 23 Twenty-one opinions of the soules originall 25 A censure of the opinions and the choice made 35 Of Originall sinne 39 How man propagates man 46 Gods act in the soules production what 47 How the soule is propagated of the soule 49 Soule and body be at once propagated 50 Soules double union 52 Causes of immortalitie 55 How man is sinfull and yet immortall 56 Texts of Scripture answered and explained 60 Reasons from the Scripture answered 75 From the creation of Adams soule 75 From the creation of Christs soule 85 Of propagation of spirits 91 How the soule is immateriall 93 Its incorruption 95 Its selfe-subsistence 97 It cannot be hurt by the body 99 It worketh inorganically 100 Whether losse of seede be losse of soules 100 How one soule proceeds from two ibid. Whether parents loose part of their soules 101 Of imperfect conceptions 104 Of the soules seed how generated 111 Spirits may be communicated and not diminished 121 That the soule is perfect in conception 230 Of Eves Creation 144 Testimonies of Scripture to prove the soules propagation what 181 The nature of Originall sinne 186 In it is nothing positive 188 Body cannot corrupt the soule 130 Originall sin it propagable 241 The whole man is received from Adam 158 Christs humanitie taken from the Virgin 259 Christs soule and body conceived together and how 263 How Christ was free from sin 279 Why the truth of propagation of soule hid so long time 284 Naturall reasons to prove propagation 285 Man can father no more than he begets 292 No father without giving the form 293 The faculty of propagation seated in the soule 306 The soules work in the Embrio 308 Rarenesse of conception 312 Of unnaturall copulations 317 Soules infused in adultery 318 Objections removed and cleared 324 Conclusion of all 331 FINIS