in living creatures but by division and that that same could happen but two wayes viz. either by dividing the matter from the forme or by dividing the matter within it selfe they inferred thence that since both these wayes were incompatible with the soule shee was not capable of a reall change and consequently not of death which of all others is the greatest not the first because that shee is immateriall nor the second because she is a pure forme and that all formes are by their being so incapable of division of increase or diminution according unto these two Maxims among them forma non suscipit majus minus and this other in indivisibili non fit mutatio Upon the same grounds also they inferred that all the resolutions or judgments and all those Sciences and Arts whether speculative or practicke which are in the soule during this life shall remaine also in her after her seperation from the body these being things which depend onely on her and which are in a kind part of her selfe so as without them she would lose something of the perfection of her being And to conclude because they saw nothing among all the workes of Nature which did not at some time or other unlesse t' were hindred by exteriour causes attaine unto a fulnesse and maturity wherby it was enabled to reach that end for which it was ordained and found the reasonable soule alone which hath for the object of her understanding the truth of all naturall causes and their effects was not able at any time during this life wherein shee is united with the body to comprehend the utmost truth may bee discovered in any art or science whatsoever they thence inferred that shee was to enjoy a being after the dissolution of the body wherein she might at freedom exercise the power of reasoning wherwith shee is endued and not onely retaine those sciences shee hath acquired heere but also bee able to conceive all other truth and knowledge whatsoever which may bee deduced out of them by that concatenation and dependance which the verity of one proposition hath upon that of another I have delivered these speculations of the Philosophers with this brevity without setting downe the many arguments used by them for proofe of their assertions and answer of the objections have beene framed in opposition to them wherewith whole volumes might bee filled because they have beene since the most part of them confirmed unto us by the tenets of Christian Religion the truth whereof being revealed by God himselfe is not to bee disputed by mankind and I have taken this short view of the condition of our soules onely to this intent that in the sequell of the ensuing Discourse wee may upon these grounds bee able the better to discover how farr the ordinary working of naturall causes doth cooperate with the Divine justice in the reward of vertuous and the punishment of vitious persons For the clear understanding whereof wee must know that all living creatures whatsoever except man being destitute of reason suffer themselves without repugnance to bee directed by the rules of Nature That is the ordinary power used by God in governing the world which doth sweetly guide them to the performance of those actions and the obtaining of that end whereunto they are ordained But man whose portion is a reasonable soule assumes the conduct of himselfe and blinded by selfe love or overweaning pride forsakes the generall end of other things which is the honour and glory of their Maker to pursue his owne particular good and follow the inordinate affections of his owne corrupted Nature the true cause of which mistake is this that followes Those who have curiously searched into the composition of man observe that he may be considered in a triple capacity according unto every one of which hee hath a severall good that hee proposeth unto himselfe and endeavoureth to attaine unto during this life The first is that of a living creature composed of a materiall body and a forme that doth communicate unto it life and motion The second as he is indued with a reasonable soule capable of Discourse and knowledge participating thereby of the Nature of intellectuall spirits which plaseth him in a ranke above all the materiall creatures of this inferior world And the third as hee is the workemanship of God created by him out of nothing after his owne likenesse that hee might serve him with obedience and perseverance during his temporall being and be the witnesse and pertaker of his glory in Eternity The chiefest good of man according to the first are riches and corporeall pleasures called by the Apostle Concupiscentia carnis oculorum Concupiscence of the flesh and eyes According to the second the vanity of humane knowledge accompanied with the forgetfulnesse of God or the ambitious desire of obtaining Power Honour and command called by the same Apostle superbia vitae pride of life those who consider him according to the third capacity esteeme their chiefest good to consist in the uniting of their wills with God and in procuring the advancement of his glorious Name Now the vast distance there is betweene these ends which men proposâ—… unto themselves causeth the great diversity wee see dayly betweene them in the direction and conduct of their lives each one desiring to obtaine the object of his wishes by actions suitable unto it Those of the first rank abandoning themselves to sensuall lusts forget the dignity of humane Nature and abase themselves into the ranke of beasts Those of the second denying to acknowledge him from whom they have received all those advantages wherein they glory imitate the Divels in their pride ungratitude and rebellion against their maker Those onely of the third ranke entring into the true knowledge of themselves and of the end for which they were created submit their wills unto Almighty God and endeavoring to imitate the Angells in their prompt obedience make themselves during this life fit to enjoy their society after the dissolution of their bodies From the great contrariety of mens judgments resolutions and of the actions and habits that flow from and are acquired by them ariseth the different condition of our soules when they are seperated from our bodies The Corall we see daily growes in the Sea and I have read that being under water it may by reason of its softnesse bee moulded into any shape or figure whatsoever but being once exposed unto the open aire it forthwith hardens and is no more capable of change and alteration the like happeneth unto our soules who while they do continue in this Sea o' th' world are susceptible of the different affections of good and bad according to the severall appearances of things which working on our fancies incline our wills unto the following or forsaking of them but having once finished their voyage heere must alwayes weare the dresse of those affections they have at parting hence and reape their harvest in Eternity
causes from whence they spring so as if the one give her selfe over to the weake passions of griefe and lamentation this other falling from the height of her ambitious pretences must needs abandon her selfe unto despairer to rage and fury shee hath beene so far blinded during this life by the opinion of her owne wisdome and sufficiency or dazeled with the false lustre of her dignities and Power that she refused to stoop to the Divinity and acknowledge him the onely giver of them she hath therefore proposed her selfe unto her selfe as the maine end of all her actions and having thus established a chiefe good opposite unto that of all the other Creatures and setled in her selfe the notions and affections thereof shee hath beene seperated from the bodie When comming to discover the true Nature and cause of things shee findes that whatsoever hath a being depends on God as the first cause and are willingly subordinate unto him as the end for which they were created that her selfe is like a Prodigie in Nature whom all the other Creatures exprobrate with this her vile ungratitude Treason and Rebellion against their Maker what can shee doe having thus proudly contemned her God being her selfe forsaken and detested by all other things but seeke out a retirement in her selfe where her proud thoughts despoyled of that false greatnesse they had fancied feed her continually with envy rancour and dispite against her fellow Creatures and the Deity Her case in my opinion hath some resemblance with that of Baiazet King of the Turkes hee who was overcome and taken Prisoner by the great Tamerlane this proud Prince saw himselfe master of the better part of Asia and having swallowed in his ambitious thoughts the Monarchy of the whole World had besieged the Grecian Emperour in his Emperiall City which hee was upon the point of taking but in the midst of all his flattering prosperities he was invaded by this Tamerlane who having defeated him in a great battle caused him to bee shut up within an iron cage in which being inclosed he exposed him unto the mockery of all his Army and used him as a footstoole to tread upon whensoever he had occasion to get on horsebacke what were the thoughts of this proud Tyrant who haveing lately had the disposall of a World of men and being regarded by them as a Deity was suddenly become the scorne of Boies and Lackies and having formerly fancied to himselfe the Empire of the World was forced to serve another as his footstoole All his past greatnesse Power and Prosperities had now no other subsistance but in his Memory where they were alwayes present not to give ease to his afflictions but to encrease the anguish and the trouble of them by inspiring him with thoughts of rage and fury against God and men by whom his expectations had beene so foulely disappointed Such we may fancy to our selves are the ravings of this poore soule though with this difference that Bajazet was able to avoid the trouble of them by dashing out his braines against the iorn barres of that his Prison whereas this soule can never quit her selfe from being persecuted by those stings of conscience she carries with her as her torturers for all Eternity Alas how imperfect is that apprehension wee have of the acts which a soule exerciseth after her seperation from the bodie by comparing them unto those wee are capable of during this life hee that should estimate the motion of the primum mobile according unto what hee sees performed heere by a snaile would not fall shorter in his conception of the Rapid swiftness wherewith that Sphear is whirled about this Globe of Earth then wee shall doe in ours if wee resemble the affections of joy and griefe which wee have heere during the union with our materiall bodies to those a soule hath when shee is severed from it whether we shall consider her huge activity when she is purely an immateriall substance in comparison of what shee hath when shee is clogged with flesh and bloud or the perfection of her operations when she beholds clearly the things themselves in their owne Natures without helpe of those Ideas or imperfect represent aions of them in our fancies which wee are forced to use during this life or lastly the exemption from time and place by which our actions heere are all restrained but can have no commerce at all with her who is above the reach of time because of her Eternall being nor can bee circumscribed in place as having neither quantity nor matter The affections of joy and griefe as they-reside in the intellectuall appetite of man are but impulses of our wills upon our other faculties which carry us on to the enjoying of the one or shunning the other with more or lesse violence according to the measure of the impression wee receive touching the good or evill of them the force whereof depends upon the active motion of the soule and therein that of one seperated hugely surpasseth what shee hath heere while shee is mingled with the masse of our terrestriall bodies powder whereof wee have the dayly use when it remaines united in the Masse whereof it is composed is easily restrained by the weake closure of a Tunne or Barrell but if it once take fire will cause an Earthquake and shake the frame of Nature if it bee hindred in its course towards the region of fire which is the proper center whereunto it tends The soul hath some resemblance unto this her passions or impulses during her union with the bodie are weake and feeble but being once devided from it shee then hath an activity surpassing that of fire which makes her passions or impulses become so strong and violent that they bear no proportion at all with those which we have heere and enjoy nothing common with them but their appellation Their force is also very much encreased by the cleare sight she hath of things in their own Natures without the helpe of any Species drawne from the things or the conversion of her selfe unto the Phantasmes from whence ariseth the certainty of knowledge incompatible with doubt or with opinion which are the greatest enemies to action since no man ever vehemently covets or feares a thing of whose Nature hee is uncertain And lastly they are beyond measure heightened by the exemption from time and place which shee enjoyes during her state of seperation whereby shee comprehends after a sort all time and place within her selfe A little time and a small place are capable onely of little alterations wee are not sensible of the falling of one drop of water whereas in time it hath the force to pierce the hardest Marble and the Sunes beames which being divided into sundry places have scarce the Power to warme us doe when they are united by a glasse become a fire that burnes and scorceth What shall wee say then of a passion which hath Eternity and an infinity of place for bounds of its
ceasing turnes we have of day and night proceed from the perpetuall motion of all the Heavens carried about by the great violence of the primum mobile or from the motion of the Earth on its owne Axis exposing all the severall partes of it successively to be inlightened by the Sunne Whether the Planets are fixed each of them in a severall Spheare whose motion doth direct their courses or which some think they can demonstrate of the Sunne moove all of them except the moone upon their severall Axes like the Earth How far their different influences and aspects governe all sublunary bodies causing the birthes and periods of States and Monarchies and the perticular happinesse and miseries of private men But above all shee is intirely satisfied with seeing how the infalibillity of Gods prescience infringeth not the liberty of mans free will How nothing heere below happens by chance but that his providence disposing sweetly all those things which he hath wrought permits the miseries of good and prosperities of wicked men for the advantage of his service by exercising and instructing of the one and by reclaiming of the other and how in fine by the inscrutable Meanders of his judgements hee ordereth so that all the villany and wickednesse is practised heere cooperates unto the good of his Elect and the increase of his owne glory In these imployments she might with joy spend an infinity of time were shee not taken off by others of much more delight and consequence For shee no sooner leaves times region and comes uppon the confines of Eternity but shee s attended by a troope of Angels appointed to convoy her unto the glorious Court of her Creator and shee receives by them an invitation is sent unto her by God himselfe like unto that wee read of in the Canticles I am hiems transiit imber abiit recessit sunge amica mea veni My friend the winter of thy chilling cares and feares is past the showers of all thy teares are now blowne over arise therefore and mount up unto the ever blessed dwelling of Eternity Who can expresse those extasies of joy this summons causeth or fancy to himselfe the least Idea of those pleasing raptures wherewith she is possessed when she beholds the beauties of the imperiall Heaven which now stands open to receive her Those holy Saints and pious men who have endeavoured to inflame us with the love of vertue by hope of the reward to come accommodating their expressions to our conceits describe it to us like a spacious Citty built all of Gold and precious stones whose gates are each of them composed of one entire Pearle whose walles are made not for defence but ornament because her enemies are all destroyed and shee established in security above the reach of time or fortune whose houses are of Jasper and of Porphyrie inlaid with Rubies Diamonds and Carbuncles where Gold and pollished Marble are not imployed but for the meanest uses Every of whose inhabitants is a great King and hath Dominion over all the workes of Nature a beauty that out shines the Sun in greatest height of all his glory an activity surpassing that of lightning accompanied with youth and health which never shall decay for all Eternity Within the circuit of those walles they represent unto us a large field beautified with all the choise variety of flowers that can bee thought on whose fragrant smell sends forth a most delicious perfume to the senses in middest whereof passeth a purling streame of living waters which who so tasts shall never thirst for all Eternity where a continuall spring preserves all plants in the full freshnesse of their prime and verdure where an Eternall day suffers not the least Eclips of night or darkenesse there all the blessed dwellers in this Heavenly Country doe entertaine each other in perfect love and concord with fulness of all joyes and pleasures whose compleate happinesse can never be disturbed by the unwelcome presence of an enemy or the sad parting of a friend What a meere nothing are all the flattering shadowes of content we graspe at during life being compared to those of this Celestiall mansion which I have heere described yet these are the outside onely of their joyes not to bee prised at all if once compared to that wherin consists the Essence of their perfect bliss and happinesse Gold Marble precious stones faire fields coole springs the company of Saints and Angells Soveraigne power beauty activity youth health impassibility and immortallity it selfe can never satisfie the immateriall soule without the vision of her Lord and maker this is the center whereunto shee sendes the object of her powers and faculties this being once obtained brings with it full repose and quietnesse which all created things can never doe And this is heere communicated freely to her whereby her understanding is fully satisfied with the cleare knowledge of all thinges by sight of him who is both the first cause and truth it selfe Her will finds also heere what ever object it desireth in the secure possession of all good thinges which are united in his Nature who is good it selfe Who can describe the infinite advantages prerogatives and dignities that doe accompany this blessed vision words are too feeble to expresse and humane hearts though nere so large are too too narrow to conceive them Let us conclude that as that man who doth pertake of wisedome is truly wise and who hath courage becommeth valiant even so this blessed soule being ingulf'd in contemplation of the diety by the strict union which that causeth of all her faculties to him is in some sort a God enjoying all perfections by participation which God himselfe hath by propriety The Conclusion Reader having finished these two first heads of this Discourse to wit a description of what Eternity is and what our condition will be when we shall come to be pertakers of it there remained in the last place that I should according to my promise have set downe such rules for the conduct of our lives whilest wee are heere as might being observed render us perfectly happy when we should come to be inhabitants in that our country These rules I meaned should have comprised within them all the vertues which may bee well reduced into two heads that is to say those which have for their object the Divinity it selfe and those that serve for the well ordering and disposing of our actions The principall ones of the first kinde are those wee call the Theologicall vertues Faith Hope and Charity whereof the first breeds in us a perfect resignation of our understandings unto God by assenting with humillity and constancy without doubt or hesitation unto those truths which hee hath pleased to reveale to us for the salvation of our soules the second makes us with patience and perseverance continue in the way of vertue expecting to bee made pertakers of all those blessings hee hath promised to his servants and the third causeth an entire