Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	body_n	motion_n	nature_n	2,722	5	5.9141	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34395	The principles of the most ancient and modern philosophy concerning God, Christ and the creatures ... being a little treatise published since the author's death, translated out of the English into Latin, with annotations taken from the ancient philosophy of the Hebrews, and now again made English / by J.C., Medicinæ Professor.	Conway, Anne, 1631-1679.; Crull, J. (Jodocus), d. 1713?	1692 (1692)	Wing C5989; ESTC R8533	67,596	178

least diminished according to the present dignity or indignity capacity or incapacity thereof CHAP. VIII § 1. That Spirit and Body as they are Creatures differ not essentially is farther proved by three other Reasons And a Fourth is drawn from that intimate Bond or Vnion between Body and Spirit § 2. That would be altogether an unfit comparison to go about to illustrate the manner how the Soul moves the Body by an Example of God moving his Creatures § 3. The Vnion and Sympathy of Soul and Body may be easily demonstrated as also how the Soul moves the Body from the aforesaid Principle that Spirit is Body and Body Spirit § 4. A Fifth Argument is taken from Earth and Water which continually produces Animals of divers Kinds out of putrified or corrupted Matter § 5. How a gross Body may be changed into Spirit and become as it were the Mother of Spirits where an Example is laid down of our Corporal Aliment which by various Transmutations in the Body is changed into Animal Spirits and from these into Subtiler and more Spiritual § 6. Of the good or bad Angels of Men which are properly the Angels of a Man and proceed from him as Branches from the Root § 7. A sixth and last Argument is drawn from certain places of Scripture § 1. TO prove that Spirit and Body differ not essentially but gradually I shall deduce my Fourth Argument from the intiment Band or Union which intercedes between Bodies and Spirits by means whereof the Spirits have Dominion over the Bodies with which they are united that they move them from one place to another and use them as Instruments in their various Operations For if Spirit and Body are so contrary one to another so that a Spirit is only Life or a living and sensible Substance but a Body a certain Mass merely dead a Spirit penetrable and indiscerpible but a Body impenetrable and discerpible which are all contrary Attributes What I pray you is that which doth so join or unite them together Or what are those Links or Chains whereby they have so firm a connexion and that for so long a space of Time Moreover also when the Spirit or Soul is separated from the Body so that it hath no longer Dominion or Power over it to move it as it had before What is the cause of this separation If it be said that the vital agreement the Soul hath to the Body is the cause of the said Union and that the Body being corrupted that vital Agreement ceaseth I Answer We must first enquire in what this vital Agreement doth consist for if they cannot tell us wherein it doth consist they only trisle with empty Words which give a sound but want a signification For certainly in that sence which they take Body and Spirit in there is no Agreement at all between them for a Body is always a dead Thing void of Life and sense no less when the Spirit is in it than when it is gone out of it Hence there is no Agreement at all between them and if there is any Agreement that certainly will remain the same both when the Body is found and when it is corrupted If they deny this because a Spirit requires an organized Body by means whereof it performs its vital Acts of the external Senses moves and transports the Body from place to place which Organical Action ceases when the Body is corrupted Certainly by this the difficulty is never the better solved For why doth the Spirit require such an organized Body ex gr Why doth it require a Corporeal Eye so wonderfully formed and organized that I can see by it Why doth it need a Corporeal Light to see Corporeal Objects Or why is it requisite that the Image of the Object should be sent to it through the Eye that it may see it If the same were entirely nothing but a Spirit and no way Corporeal Why doth it need so many several Corporeal Organs so far different from the Nature of it Furthermore how can a Spirit move its Body or any of its Members if a Spirit as they affirm is of such a Nature that no part of its Body can in the least resist it even as one Body is wont to resist another when 't is moved by it by reason of its Impenetrability For if a Spirit could so easily penetrate all Bodies Wherefore doth it not leave the Body behind it when it is moved from place to place seeing it can so easily pass out without the least resistance For certainly this is the cause of all Motions which we see in the World where one Thing moves another viz. because both are impenetrable in the sence aforesaid For were it not for this Impenetrability one Creature could not move another because this would not oppose that nor at all resist it an Example whereof we have in the Sails of a Ship by which the Wind drives the Ship and that so much the more vehemently by how much the fewer holes vents and passages the same finds in the Sails against which it drives When on the contrary if instead of Sails Nets were expanded through which the Wind would have a freer passage certainly by these the Ship would be but little moved although it blew with great violence Hence we see how this Impenetrability causes resistance and this makes Motion But if there were no Impenetrability as in the case of Body and Spirit then there could be no resistance and by consequence the Spirit could make no motion in the Body § 2. AND if it be objected That God is altogether incorporeal and intrinsecally present in all Bodies and yet doth move Bodies whethersoever he pleaseth and is the First Mover of all Things and yet nothing is impenetrable to him I Answer This Motion by which God moves a Body doth wonderfully differ from that manner by which the Soul moves the Body for the Will of God which gave Being to Bodies gave them Motion also so that Motion it self is of God by whose Will all Motion happens For as a Creature cannot give Being to it self so neither can it move it self for in him we Live Move and have our Being so that Motion and Essence come from the same cause sc God the Creator who remains immoveable in himself neither is he carried from place to place because he is equally present every where and gives Being to Creatures But the case is far different when the Soul moves the Body for the Soul is not the Author of Motion but only determines it to this or that particular Thing And the Soul it self is moved together with the Body from place to place and if the Body be imprisoned or held in Chains it cannot free or deliver it self out of Prison or out of Chains Wherefore it would be a very unfit comparison if one should go about to illustrate that Motion the Soul makes in the Body by an Example of God moving his Creatures yea so great is the

shall find none at all for all his Attributes are living yea Life it self Moreover seeing the Creatures of God so far as they are Creatures ought necessarily in some things to resemble their Creator now I demand in what dead Matter is like unto God If they say again in naked Entity I Answer There is none such in God or his Creatures And so it is a mere non ens or nothing But as touching the other Attributes of Matter viz. Impenetrability Figurability and Mobility certainly none of these have any place in God and so are not of his communicable Attributes but rather Essential Differences or Attributes of Diversity whereby the Creature as such is distinguished from God as also Mutability is of the Number of those differential Attributes whence it cannot be said that Mutability is of the communicable Attributes of God And in like manner Impenetrability Figurability and Mobility do not pertain unto the communicable Attributes of God but to those only in which the Creatures differ from him And seeing dead Matter doth not partake of any of the communicable Attributes of God we must certainly conclude that the same is a mere non ens or nothing a false Fiction or Chimaera and so a thing impossible If they say it hath a Metaphysical Goodness and Truth even as every Being is Good and True Again I demand What is that Goodness and Truth For if it hath no participation with any of the communicable Attributes of God it will be neither Good nor True and so a mere Fiction as before was said Moreover seeing it cannot be said wherein dead Matter doth any way partake of Divine Goodness much less can it be shown how it may be capable always to acquire a greater Perfection ad infinitum which is the Nature of all Creatures viz. to increase and infinitely advance towards a farther Perfection as is before demonstrated But what farther progress in Goodness or Perfection hath a dead Matter Because after it hath suffered Infinite Changes of Motion and Figure it is constrained always to remain dead as before and if Motion and Figure contribute nothing to the receiving of Life then certainly this is made never the better nay is not in the least degree promoted in Goodness For suppose this dead Matter had undergone all Forms and been transmuted into all Kinds of Figures even the most regular and exact What doth this profit this Matter or Body because it wants all Life and Sense So let us suppose the same to have undergone Infinite Kinds of Motion from slowness to swiftness Wherein therefore is it better by the way of its Intrinsecal Melioration For the Argument speaketh of Intrinsecal Melioration which is such a Melioration as the Nature of the Thing it self requireth and which is performed thereby but a mere dead Body or Matter requires no kind of Motion or Figure nor in it self is perfected more by one Motion or Figure than by another for it is alike indifferent to all Motions and Figures whatsoever and by consequence is not perfected or bettered by any of them And then what advantage will it have from all these helps if it always remain a dead and impassible Thing § 3. MY Third Reason is drawn from the great Love and Desire that the Spirits or Souls have towards Bodies and especially towards those with which they are united and in which they have their Habitation But now the Foundation of all Love or Desire whereby one Thing is carried unto another stands in this That either they are of the same Nature and Substance with them or like unto them or both or that one hath its Being from the other whereof we have an Example in all living Creatures which bring forth their young and in like manner also in Men how they love that which is born of them For so also even Wicked Men and Women if they are notextremely perverse and void of Parental Love do Love their Children and cherish them with a Natural Affection the cause whereof certainly is this That their Children are of the same Nature and Substance viz. as though they were Parts of them and if they are like them either in Body Spirit or Manners hereby their Love is the more increased So also we observe that Animals of one Species love one another more than those that are of a different Species whence also Cattle of one Kind feed together Birds of a Kind flock together and Fishes of a Kind swim together and so Men rather converse with Men than with any other Creatures But besides this particular Love there remains yet something of Universal Love in all Creatures one towards another setting aside that great confusion which hath fallen out since by reason of Transgression which certainly must proceed from the same Foundation viz. in regard of their First Substance and Essence they were all one and the same Thing and as it were Parts and Members of one Body Moreover in every Species of Animals we see how the Male and Female Love one another and in all their Propagations which are not Monstrous and contrary to Nature they respect each other and that proceeds not only from the unity of Nature but also by reason of a certain eminent similitude or likeness between them And both these Foundations of Love between a Man and a Woman are expresly mentioned in Genesis but that which Adam spoke concerning his Wife This is Bone of my Bone and Flesh of my Flesh c. pertains unto the Unity of Nature for she was taken out of him and was a part of him and therefore he loved her Moreover also concerning Similitude it is said there was no Help found for him or before his Face as it is in the Hebrew i. e. among all Creatures he saw not his like with whom he would converse until Eve was made for him But there is yet another cause of Love when Beings that love each other are not one Substance but one gave Being to the other and is the proper and real cause thereof And so it is in the case between God and Creatures for he gave to all Being Life and Motion and therefore he loves all Creatures neither can he not love them yea at the same time when he seems to hate and be angry with them this his Anger and what proceeds therefrom viz. Punishments and Judgments turns to their Good because he perceiveth they have need of them So on the contrary the Creatures which have not wholly degenerated and lost all sense of God do love him and this is a certain Divine Law and Instinct which he put in all rational Creatures that they might love him which is the fulfilling of the whole Law But those Creatures which draw most near unto God in similitude or likeness do love him the more and are the more loved of him But if it be thought there is another principal cause of Love to wit Goodness which is the most vehement or powerful