condescend to argu this point with the Arminian Remonstrants but resolved rather to break off then begin it At Dort Synod the President warned the Remonstrants to debat the point of Election but not touch the harsh string of Reprobation yet both are parts of Predestination the wel or il stating wherof doth much concern Gods glory and good of Religion Nor can one be rightly handled without the other specialy sith al uprores then rose about Reprobation which doctrin was deeply chalenged of error and bound to be cleered Nor was it to be discussed among the simpler sort who might haply stumble at it but by profound learned Men who as threshing Oxen were to beat out the Corn and bolt out truth couched in the bare letter of Scripture Vives saith Tru Religion is not gilded but gold it self which being scraped shews the brighter let 's not then fear lest our Faith when 't is said open appeer filthy but let fals fucacious Religions be afraid of this The Jew is loth to argu his Law with Christians and Mahometans are forbid to disput the Alcoran becaus their Doctrins are brittle as glass broken with every touch But a Christian fears no examination nay provokes his Adversary to combat thus he Truth seeks no corners as error doth but dares abide the sifting So saith our Saviour Every one that John 3. 20 21. doth evil hates the light lest his deeds be reproved But he that doth truth coms to the light that his deeds may be made manifest to be wrough in God S. Paul describes an Heretic to be a Self-condemner Titus 3. 11. as rufusing trial He is deemed as a silly Sciolist who is loth to be opposed and thos Opinions fals which would walk in a mist or dwel in silence 3. The obloquy of it for 't is odious to Papists who revile 3 Reason our Religion in this point opprobrious to Lutherans who for this causcal us damned Calvinists protesting they wil rather return to the Papacy then admit the Sacramentary or Predestinary pestilence as Sir Edwin Sandys reports who saith the Greecs deeply disgust it deeming it very injurious to Gods goodnes and directly opposit to his very Nature The Jews also detest it that God of his pure pleasure should affect the extrem misery of his chief Creatures to shew the severity of his Justice in tormenting them or that the calamity and casting away of most part should redound more to his glory then the felicity of them al by his Mercy thus he Yea Hemingius leaving his Lutheran side joined with Calvinists in the Sacraments and som other points but would never subscribe to this Mousieur Moulin saith If God Reprobats Men sans consideration of sin or ordained them to sin yet 't is a wise Mans part to concele rather then utter such things becaus being vented or defended they giv great scandal and fil Mens heads with scruples beside the advantage which our Adversaries take to defame tru Religion such be the fruits of holding this absolut Decree 4. It hath affinity with the exploded error of Stoics and Manichees 4 Reason though differing from both For Stoics held al actions and events fatal either by the Heavenly Bodies impositions or dispositions of Natural causes that one thing must necessarily folow another and be as they are though God would hav som things otherwise The Manichees maintain al Mens actions to be determined the Good by a good God who created al things Good and the Evil by an Evil who is Author of al evil Now the Asserters of absolut Decree defend either that al actions Natural Moral Good Evil and al events are simply necessary or els that al Mens ends are unalterable by any power in their Wils which in effect is the same For in vain is freedom in actions and means if the end be decreed and determined sith al actions are for the ends sake to attain it by them and involv the means which forego that end as if a Man be predecreed to damnation he must needs sin els he cannot be damned In thes three Opinions two things may be noted 1. The substance or formality which is an indeclinablenes of Mens actions and ends wherin al consort that insuperable nenecessity predominats Hence Melancthon charged the Church of Geneva with Stoical error caling absolut Decree the Tables of Destiny 2. The circumstance or ground wherin they differ For Stoics draw this necessity from the Stars or first matter Manichees from two first Principles eternal and coeternal but Calvinists from Gods peremptory Decree The two first in som respects hav the better of this last for 't is safer to deriv necessity of evil from an evil God or Natures cours then from a good Gods decree The first was condemned by the best Philosophers the next by al the Fathers specialy for the main matter becaus it made al things and events necessary plucking up the roots of virtu planting vice and leaving no place for reward or punishment What then shal be said of the last who realy maintain the same 5. It dishonours God charging deeply with Mens eternal damnation as prime principal caus therof by his voluntary disposition 5. Reason antecedent to al deserts in them which they cannot possibly decline by reason of his absolut irrevocable Decree This is contrary 1. to Scripture which makes God al mercy and Man sole caus of his own ruin See Hose 13. 9. Lament 3 33. Ezek. 33. 11. Wis 1. 12 13. and elswher 2. It repugns Gods Nature who is merciful gracious long-suffering abundant in goodnes See Ps 86. 5. Joel 2. 16. Jonah 4. 22. Micah 7. 18. 3. 'T is advers to sound reason which cannot but impeach such a Decree of extrem cruelty far from the Father of mercy For what natural Parent can resolv to beget Children and after birth living a while with him to hang up by the toung tear off their flesh with scourges pul it from the bones with burning pinsers or put them to other hideous tortures only to shew his power and authority over them Yet wors by infinit degrees is imagined of God if he should of free pleasure ordain so many myriads of Men made after his own Image to everlasting fire only to shew his soveraign dominion over them Abram held it high injustice in Gen. 18. 25. God to destroy the righteous with the wicked even temporaly and expostulats with an Absit far be that from thee O Lord. How deeply then would he detest any thought that he wil destroy millions upon his own absolut decree eternaly Far be it from our God 6. It chargeth God with al sorts of sins committed since the 6. Reason Creation as sole Author or Abettor being a necessary product of his absolut Decree yet David saith he delights not in wickednes 〈◊〉 ◠So S. James Let none say he is tempted of God for he tempts James 1. 13 14. no man to evil but every one
then every efflux shift and abortiv is a Man But what maner of Man wil such a shapeless sensless substance be at the general Resurrection when every one shal resum his identic numerical Body Ergo the generation of Souls is subject to sundry absurdities in Nature and common Reason Answ Such as hold Infusion at time of conception as Traductists inferences violently inforce are liable to the same difficulties so are they that set it at quickning for if it miscarries the day after which a few hours distance makes no difference what maner of Man wil that be cannot God perfect the one so wel as the other doo not al bodies turn to dust doo not Divines say al shal rise in such stature as at Christs age Why not then the first coagulation so wel as an inform infirm Embryon cannot omnipotence extend a Body into any dimensions so wel as amend al imperfections Thes are arcan mysteries known only to him that knows al and can doo al in al But Insusiasts are equaly engaged to answer it sith the power to prepare a Body for the Souls union is defeated or destroyed and by consequence so many Souls lost which by divine preordination should be created and infused but it crosseth not Traduction and men must be wise to sobriety not searching into Gods secrets Arg. 'T is improbable that impure material seed should be the conduit to convey a power of producing so pure a substance or divine Spirit Ergo c. Answ No more then that the Body a meer putrid mass should be the seat or subject of the Soul it self which is a divine immortal immaterial essence Arg. Spirits doo not multiply or beget one another nor can Angels propagat or generat becaus Spirits but Mans Soul is a Spirit so scripturaly stiled Ergo c. Answ Simple Spirits cannot propagat and Angels are individuals subsisting alone but human Souls organized and united to Bodies wherin they exist being so ordained to preserv the race of Mankind Som distinguish that Compounds generat and principal parts only propagat but this is a vain evasion no veritable satisfaction for propagation properly pertains to Kinds generation to Individuals and both to Compounds nor are the terms convertible in the abstract for every generation is not propagation but in the concret or subject what ever is generated is propagat and reciprocaly To apply it neither Soul nor Body is truly said to beget or be begot but the whol Man who begets and is begot completly but the parts incompletly Arg. Marsilius Ficinus prescribes three sorts of production 1. The making of Mans Soul from nothing into being caled Creation 2. The mutation of a lifeless Body into an Animal by the Soul hight Formation 3. The change of an Embryo into the whol Compound clyped Generation The object or Terminus of Creation is immortality of Formation a Soul not considered simply but as in a Body of Generation an Animal consisting of both Now saith he in every Generation is a decision of somthing from the Begetter which a Soul hath not becaus it admits no division nor decision Ergo it cannot generat Answ The Traductists exclud the fiâ—st branch except with reference to Adams Soul soly yet grant immortality to be the Terminus in production of al. The other two they apply to Compounds only wherein the Soul sends no material seed or substance by decision as the Body doth but only a procreativ virtu with the spirit of seed to produce the like spiritual substance the maner wherof is inscrutable as is also original sin for Man is Natures miracle and Epitomâ— of al Creatures yet differs from al having an immortal spirit in a corruptible casknet and his generation wonderful Arg. Beasts Souls dy becaus bred of seed or with it Ergo if Mens Souls be ingendred in the same sort by or with the conveience of seed they must likewise perish Answ This is non causa pro causa for Beasts souls dy not soly becaus bred of seed but specialy becaus formed at first intirely of the common corruptible Chaos But God made mans Body of dust wherto it must return but infused or inspâ—red a Soul which is immortal or eviternal like Angels partaking the same divine origin Arg. If the Soul proceds from both Parents Souls then either two grow into one or their Souls are extracted and they remain Soulless or part of their Souls passeth and so are divisible But al thes are gross enormites and neither possible Ergo Traduction is no way tolerable Answ Al thes inferences are impertinent for both Parents concur to beget the Body too yet two grow not together nor are they impaired but God ordained in cours of Nature that both Sexes shal cooperat in generation so from their Bodies flows a material seed with a corporific virtu to beget a Body and from their Souls proceds an animific power with the seeds spirit to produce a Soul both which conjoining is cald Prolific in regard of the Compound yet neither are the Parents Souls nor any part of them no more then their Bodies extracted or exhausted but only an energy issuing from them to generat a new Arg. The Soul exerciseth her essential operations to Wil and Understand without help of bodily organs as appears being separat Ergo it needs no Parents seed to its production for as every thing works so is its essence and contrarily as Aristotle avers who concluds mans Soul not to depend of the body L 2. de gen Anim. c. 3. becaus it works within it Answ The Soul while it is in the Body useth its organs in hir chief operations of Wil and Intellect though when separat she needs them not nor is Parents seed the efficient of producing to depend theroâ— but only the instrum ut to carry virtu of producing a new Soul with the seed which impeacheth not the exerciâ—e of hir chief operations without organs in the Body nor is ther any sap or solidity 〈◊〉 this Argument against Traduction any way however wrested Arg. The Soul dies not with the Body Ergo 't is not generated with it For ther is the same reason of generation and corruption sith the Souls presence is the caus of life as the Suns is of light and absence of death as his is of darknes so if the Bodies procreation caus the Souls production its death must be hir perdition Answ This is pithier then a former viz. whatever is generated shal be corrupted But the Bodies generation doth not caus the Souls production sith 't is generated with it not by it and though it giv the Body life as the essential Form yet dies not with it as not proceding from it but from the Parents Souls Arg. Aristotle asserts That the Mind or Intellect alone coms from without and is of divine origin Ergo not generated by Parents as Bodies be Answ 'T is thought thos words Sola mens foris adveâ—it were foisted into the Text without any coherence
Humanity becaus when the Body is prepared God hath decreed to infuse a Rational Soul This is soon said gratis but by what warrant or wher doth it appear that God so decreed Repl. Flesh animat is Mans whol Nature not inanimat Ergo the Flesh which he assumed had a Rational Soul at first conception Sol. Som say that Flesh was potentialy animat to be indowed with a Soul in du time Others which hold Soul-creation at conception grant it was actualy animat But as she is caled Mother of God in regard of the Hypostatic union though he had only his Humanity from hir So Parents may be said to beget the whol Man in relation to the union which God hath decreed in du time though they beget only the bodily part apt and apparated to entertain the Soul which sufficeth for denomination Repl. The reason reacheâ—h not right sith Men are Parents to Children becaus the whol Nature is derived from them as Christs Humanity was from the Virgin but she is stiled Deiparent not in respect of his Deity which depends not on hir but for the said hypostatic union of both Natures in one Person having his humanity intirely from hir Ergo the Godhead shal be better tied to his whol Manhood by Traduction of both parts then barely to cloth him with inanimat Flesh Beside she is caled Mother of God for the hypostatic union actualy in being but Parents are said to beget a whol Man in regard of the union to com Sol. He had his whol Humanity from hir in maner foreshewed For when the Body is accomplished and accommoded the Soul shal be necessarily instilled or infused in du time which is al that can be answered in this point of the whol Humanity derived from Parents Ob. The Womans seed shal break the Serpents head but Christ fulfilled this promiss and prophecy chiefly in Soul which descended into Hel to lead Captivity captiv and bind the strong Man in his own Kingdom as his body triumphed over Death in his dominion the Grave by his tridual Resurrection for how is he the Womans seed unless he had his whol Humanity from hir Or how can the Body break the Serpents head Or how could this victory be atchieved if his Soul had not descended Ergo he assumed his Soul also from the Woman by the Holy Ghosts cooperation Sol. Divers Divines deny Christs descent into Hel in Soul but that may rest in debat sith it concerns not the production sav only to shew that by it he brok the Serpents head Touching the promiss and prophecy it was performed principaly by his Soul or rather person and that derived potentialy or preparativly from the Woman in manner foretold but primitivly and actualy from God the Creator or Infuser Ob. To bind up sundry bunches of sour Grapes in one bundle If the Soul be created pure how can it be defiled in an instant by inanimat flesh not capable of sin Or why doth God cast his own workmanship into a stinking Prison purposly to be polluted Or how can a spiritual substance be stained by a material mass specialy sith sin inheres soly in the Soul which is primarily guilty by willing or consenting and the Body only in obeying the one activly as efficient the other passivly as Instrument Upon this ground of the Soul created pure and in capacity to be polluted by lifeless flesh Pelagius built his branded Teneâ— That Children are born free from original sin And S. Austin seeking to crush this Cockatrice in the Eg like such as bow or bend a stick back to bring it right broched another error That al dying unbaptized are infallibly damned or deprived of Beatific vision being liable to the lack or loss of Heavenly happines though not to the pain of Hellish torments whence be is stiled durus Infantum Pater Lastly our Protoparents personal sin becam like sap derived from the root participatly ours not by imputation as Zanchy contests but by tru inhesion infecting the whol Nature which hereditary corruption or conâ—agion is contracted linealy from Parents loins Ergo the Soul as seat source and subject is ex Traduce Sol. This Gordian knot many hav essaied few extricated or cut it asunder like Alexander who shadow it with a vele of windy words but no real resolution Som say the seed is stained ex traduce which like levan sours the whol lump and the Soul supervening receivs stain from it as new Must put into a musty cask which the best Divines disclaim For ther can be no proper physical action of material upon immaterial and the Soul shal be polluted passivly only which sufficeth not to make it guilty unless it be a voluntary Agent yea the similitud halts for ther the Vessel taints the Wine here the Soul was first soiled and principal efficient ther both be material here the chiefest spiritual nor can inanimat flesh be capable of sin before it hath a Soul Zanchy and others hold That as Christs righteousnes so Adams guiltines is ours imputativly only but Natures corruption insuing a just punishment by divine Decree Out alas this sin is a lepry cleaving clos to the flesh and consequently corrupting our whol Nature or els could not beget and bring forth such a serpentin spawn of actual sins Peter Moulin professeth plainly that the Soul is not vitiated by the Body for to incarcerat an innocent Creature his own operature in a plaguy Bridewel purposly to be infected repugns Gods Justice and Goodness but sin being a spiritual vice of the Wil first seizeth the Soul before the Body becoms accessary as Adam first sinned in Wil and Consent yer he stretched his hand to touch or cast so sin passeth from the Soul to the Body not contrarily For the maner of spreading He saith God creats the Soul spotless but destitut of supernatural light which Man lost by his fal hence flows or folows perversnes of Wil purblindnes of Mind and proclivnes to al evil even from inordinat self lov not guided by metaphysical illumination and the temper of Body doth much incens or increas this contagion according to every complexion yet are not humors the causes but incentivs to sin nor doo impress or imprint on the Soul but only incline it therto Quot homines tot sensus so many men so many minds but al driven to sundry shifts how sin can be propagated without traduction of the Soul which being granted wil soon satisfy al scruples Repl. This last devise being newest takes best but is scars soundest for sin is an effect of natural corruption which is more then a defect of supernatural illumination and a positiv depravation of Wil far beyond deprivation of Grace Man indeed lost metaphysical light by his fal yet if our Souls be created spotless they must at first infusion be sinless so al the doubts rest intire how they can so suddenly contract this hereditary pollution diffused over our whol Nature unless the Soul bring that stain with it for
or discussed not boldly decided or determined Spiritus an jugiter genitus sit five creatus Quim Deus infudit lis violenta manet Whether Mans Soul which God breath'd and created Be stil infus'd or bred 't is much debated In dubio lis est an Mens ex Traduce nata Aliter Sit cujusque Hominis sive creata magis 'T is doubt whether ech Mans Soul be generated From Parents Souls or rather by God created Particula in nobis divinae Spiritus aurae Alias Quaeriter an genitus sive creatus inest The Soul 's in us a Part by God inspired Whether begot or creat 't is inquired Nescit Homo an sua mens generetur sive creetur Secus Se tamen ostentat noscere cuncta miser Poor Man knows not if's Soul be bred or moulded Yet boasts that he hath al things els unfolded Appendix Additionalis An additional Appendix THe ensuing Theory is taken mostly from Mr. Henry Woolnots Treatis intituled The tru original of Mans Soul which is brifly extracted God hath a duple voice one speaking in Scriptures which is his written word of Grace another in the Preamble Creatures which is his wrought Word of Nature For as Natural Works are his ordinary power and miraculous extraordinary so Nature is his ordinary Voice and divine Oracles extraordinary What God spake in his Word he hath wrought in the World whos Words and Works agree for secret things belong to him but reveled to us and our Children Wher he hath no toung to speak we may not hav an ear to hear nor heart to inquire but as Creatures we must submit to our Creator and as Christians beleev wher reason cannot reach Now to the Question The Rational Soul whether produced immediatly from Thesis God or mediatly by Man is of immortal Nature yet stained with our first Parents first sin by propagation but how can we know how 't is made before it be in being sith we cannot conceiv what it is being made For though we know 't is a spiritual substance realy subsisting in a Body yet what maner of metaphysical matter 't is made of none knows No marvel then if we be ignorant of the origin which is harder to explore For 't is spiritual and such are difficiler to discern or disquire then corporals subject to sens specialy sith ours is an incomplet Spirit or part of a Creature Man being composed of a mortal Body and immortal Soul the one indued with senses to receiv al corporeal Images the other furnished with a faculty of Reason which from thos Images draws discurses and consequents wherby it gets knowledg of causes and effects wherof Sens is incapable Hence it happens that when we discurs of spiritual Natures which transcend Sens we are put out of our usual way and wander as half lost in incertainty without any exact knowledg to content the Mind Whatever excellences be in inferior Natures are much more perfectly in superiors as thos of other Animals more eminent in Man chiefly in his Soul thos of his Soul more conspicuous in Angels and al perfections of al most trascendent in God So the knowledg of inferior Natures is comprehended in superior but not contrarily Nor can any sav God who hath no superior know it self purely or properly but only by reflexion as the Ey which sees al things cannot behold it self sav in a Glass Nor can we know our own Soul but as 't is shewed in a myrrhour of the Works and as by it we know other things so by them we hav a glimps of it To omit several Opinions of Pagan Philosophers and Christian Opinions Heretics The orthodox jointly agree that Mans Soul is either immediatly created by God or mediatly generated by Man both which are bipartit In point of Creation Hilary with others hold it to be formed without the Body and then infused But the general Tenet is that 't is created and infused in the Body which runs most current So for propagation Som suppose it a corporeal substance and begot in bodily maner which is generaly exploded Others hold it spiritual so produced like light from light which was the mind of most Western Doctors but S. Austin and Eucherius stood in suspens between both inclining chiefly to Creation The case is very dubious and difficil For how can Spiritual substances beget one another If it be daily created of nothing how can it stand with Gods rest from farther creating or his setled cours of al things to multiply their Kinds 't is a silly shâ—ft to say That he rests from creating new Kinds and Compounds but not from Individuals or principal Parts for the words imply no such limitation nor any place els in Scripture so 't is spoken gratis without warrant and a bare begging of the Question or meer fiction for they grant it tru in al things els except only this their own exception which they obtrud without reason when Moses makes it general of al Gods Works A greater obstacle occurs how it can stand with original sins propagation This made the Pelagians and Anabaptists who hold Soul-creation to deny ther is any such sin sav by imitation yea divers Divines seeing the absurdities arising therhence assert Traduction This makes the cheif Patrons of Creation stagger who decline it as a curious Question sith they cannot giv sufficient satisfaction exhorting to Faith beyond Reason and forbid farther disquisition for if the Soul flow immediatly from God how is it defiled being created sinless the Body cannot doo it being drawn into sin by it Nor can this contagion com from the union sith that is Gods Work who wil not put a Soul in it self simply good and his own workmanship into an unclean Vessel purposly to make it guilty of death and damnation for anothers fault shal not the judg of the World doo right 't is a poor position that 't is created in infusing and infused in creating which is al one as to say 't is made in marring and marred in making Nor is it safe to say God so willed or decreed sith it cannot be proved and being unjust is justly disproved It stands not with his Justice that Adams sin should be imputed to us or reputed ours sav as 't is our own by sinning potentialy in him as the root nor is it ours by imputation sav only in respect to propagation but inhesion for if we were simply sinless as a new created Soul is his sin cannot justly hurt us God may punish al for Adams sin yet not soly for it sith he saith The Son shal not bear the Fathers iniquity Ezek. 18. 2â— but becaus by his sin they becam sinful or rather sinned in him they are justly punished for their own sin so propagation is the sole source of original corruption Now if we receiv the worst part only from Adam which is not the subject of sin sith not the parts but whol Person sinned How can a Man
be guilty of sin if his Soul com immediatly from God sav only by propagation Or how can Adam be our Father if the whol Man descends not from him One cannot be a proper Father of the whol unless he beget both parts for to supply meer matter which is elementar makes not a Father sith the Form only denominats which if he doth not generat he can no more be a Father then to Fleas and Lice which are bred of his Body Nay if Fatherhood consists chiefly in giving the Form God is rather the tru Father from whom the principal part proceds then Parents which beget the baser The Soul is Mans essential part without which he is no Man How then can he procreat a Creature like himself if he produce not the Soul specialy sith al agree that he propagats such an accident as sin which inheres in the Soul as its sole subject Can he propagat an unnatural accident Sin which cannot be without the Soul and not a natural essence the Soul without which can be no Sin The faculty of propagation pertains to the Soul so wel as Body yea hath its chif seat in the Soul soly for the Body is as a Pen in the Writers hand but the Soul principal Scribe or Secretary sith then such as the caus is such is the effect the Soul must produce a Soul and whol Man a whol Man not an inform lump which without a Soul is neither Man nor Beast but the Soul stil accompanies the Seed at first conception and gradualy builds the Body fitly framing al the organs from the first rudiments to ful perfection Nor can such effects be doon Exerâ— 6. 55. 5. but by a Soul as subtle Scaliger provs He allegeth many mo Arguments against Infusion and answers al advers Reasons but becaus they are already produced on both parts 't is nausity to serv forth twise sod Coleworts but having refuted Infusiasts and rejected Traductists he vents his own novel Invention His Grounds are thes 1. God created three sorts of spiritual A new opinion Natures 1. Angels so sublime as they cannot join with Bodies 2. Beasts Souls so material as they cannot be separat from Bodies 3. Mens Souls in a mean which can both liv without Bodies after death like Angels and unite with Bodies in this life like Beasts Souls So he ordained That Angels shal neither increas nor decreas Sensitiv Souls both increas and decreas But Rational increas or multiply not decreas or perish Hence he infers that Angels are crated immediatly by God only Beasts Souls procreated mediatly one from another But Mens Souls partly produced by Gods immediat power and partly by mediat propagation or such a production as coms neerest to creation 2. Mans Soul is indued with power to use bodily organs in attaining knowledg of al sensible things yea our knowledg of God ariseth ordinarily from Sens ordered by Reason which is a mean between Beasts sens and Angels Intelligence Therfore God united the Soul with a Body which it naturaly desires being incomplet without it nor knows ought ordinarily but by it As then al ordinary faculties and works are doon mediatly by corporal Natures so is their origin or Of-spring or els could not hav such sympathy with a Body Yet as the Nature and Works therof are som way extraordinary without abov al Elementar Natures so God proportioaly hath a supernatural extraordinary work in producing it different from al others 3. Elementar Natures cannot be produced without a more excellent external efficient then themselfs viz. the Sun and celical bodies by their light motion and influence for so al sublunars depend on them for being beside the matter wherof they are particularly compounded and peculiar Forms but the Soul having a Spiritual kind of composition nobler then the rest from Parents by seed requires a spiritual extern efficient beside it self which must needs be God the Father of Spirits sith Stars being bodies cannot produce Mans Soul to which they are far inferior 4. Human conception often fails and is not so frequent as in other Creatures which argues it is not of Nature alone but by Gods more special power and providence then in other generations If then he acts more in Mans conception why shal not the Soul be produced then without a duple task of creating and infusing at quickning When Rachel rashly cried Giv me Children els â— dy Jacob wisely answered Am â— in Gods stead so 't is said of Ruth The Lord gav hir conception who only opens and shuts the Womb but 't is no wher said he creats Souls For he sets a constant cours with his conserving blessing concurring that like shal produce their like 5. As God eternaly decreed of Man both who shal com into the World how many and when so he works in his conception more then in al others which must needs be as immediat efficient of his Soul wherby he blesseth or blasteth conception ordering it by a special providence according to his decree contrarily sundry inconveniences arise from creation that som Children are fully formed which dying before the Soul is infused cannot com to Judgment that God may be glorified and so his work shal be frustrated 6. 'T is evident in promiscuous copulations of Men or Women with Beasts that Gods efficient power is joined with the Souls propagation sith such bestial births are not indued with Reason nor shal com to Judgment though their sensitiv Entelechy is sharper and subtler then other Animals as Apes and Baboons are supposed to spring primitivly from such unnatural mixtions or conjunctions Nor is the Soul immediatly created by God sans natural means sith Children begot in Incest or Adultery hav it which God shal seem to approv or further when he might hinder it being not bound to infuse Souls This Reason may be retorted sith he is not bound to assist at such coitions being a most free Agent and not a Natural so he cannot be an external efficient as the Sun is in other generations 7. Sith Nature by divine Ordinance produceth daily out of dead Elementar matter admirable powers of Seing Hearing Phantasy Memory belonging to brute Beasts the maner wherof our Reason cannot conceiv how much more can the God of Nature produce out of Mans more excellent Nature others like to it though we cannot comprehend the manner how Nor is corporal Seed which is of far purer temper and subtler Spirits then in other Animals an unfit Instrument to propagat a Rational Soul specialy sith the Spirits in Seed are of sublime Nature which hav neer affinity with the Soul 8. God hath set a natural order That a whol Man shal beget the whol both Body and Soul yet not one the other nor Soul a Soul alone or Body a Body but the Soul a Soul immediatly by the Body and Body a Body by the Soul but both jointly a whol Man for they are Individualy united and their operations concur so Man propagats like other
Animals but by Gods immediat power in maner aforsaid 9. The Soul being not produced simply by Natures power nor made of meer corporal matter transcends the common condition of al corporeal Creatures and is in it self immortal having God the extern efficient to produce it 10. The Soul being propagated from Parents is polluted with Natures stain contracted from Adams sin which is derived from Parents to Children with the whol Man as the adequat subject of it yet God in no fault sith our Souls are not corrupted by him but from our Parents and our selfs If any cannot conceiv how one Soul produceth another which is the hardest knot let him consider how it can be united to a Body and organized with it which wil allay the difficulty For if Angels hav aereal bodies as many Antients deem or at least are not pure Spirits compared to God muâ—h more may Mens Souls hav such a spiritual composure as meerly resembles Matter and form in Bodies which may wel accord with the maner of propagation prespecified and no way repugn the Souls divine essence If this way oppugn Reason yet 't is safer then that which repugns Religion By this Card our Author sailing betwixt Scilla and Charybdis Conclusion discovered Pachinus a middle Promontory in Sicil as Columbus did Cuba viz. that as the Sun is external efficient in the general generation of al Sublunars beside their internal particular principles so is God in the special production of every Mans Soul beside the peculiar Parents Souls working virtualy in the seed as his pretended premisses prov Which he farther confirms thus 1. Ther is no diametral Conformation difference between Soul and Body but they may be naturaly coupled together For though the Soul be not visible yet hath it a spiritual substance not simply pure but the lowest degree of Spirits prone to unite with corporeal natures and so may be propagated with them as united to them 2. Every Nature the more excellent 't is hath a neerer union with the first Being on which it depends and is more immediatly moved by it whence it folows that the Soul being more excellent and neerer to God then any corporal Creature in which he works more immediatly then others after they are made so he doth in the first production of it 3. Nothing is generated but hath som extern efficient Caus which in Coporeals is the Celical bodies whence 't is said the Sun and Man be get a Man as the Sun and Lion a Lion But the Soul being a Spirit and made at first by God can hav no other extern efficient sav the same immediat power So it may more truly be said God and Man generat the Soul God as efficient and Parents as his procreant instruments to produce what how and when he pleaseth according to his eternal Decree Nor is it absurd that Man hath two extern efficients but rather an honor that God and Nature concur to his generation 4. Mortality proceds not from natural generation but divine malediction for had not Man sinned his Body should be eviternal so wel as Soul Ergo if it were compounded and generated in a corporal way which is not so yet it folows not to make it mortal 5. Whatever hath being immediatly from God cannot be annihilated but by his immediat power which is the tru caus of immortality Hence the Body being produced soly by Natures power doth dy or perish yet the Soul produced by immediat act of the Deity can never dy but by the same power which gav it life Thus it appears that though the Soul be produced as aforesaid yet is it immortal sith 't is neither made of corporal matter nor generated in meer natural maner Nor is God faulty though we be sinful sith being wholy in Adam and actualy one with him our whol Nature is so defiled and Gods pure ordinance in producing Souls depraved that a total corruption passeth in the very conception and we stained with original sin at our very first being To cleer the Case he frames som objections against this middle way 1. Ob. If the Soul be resolved into a first principle of Adams Soul whence al are derived as Mixtils are into Elements it must needs be mortal as al such are Ergo 't is not so derived or els 't is mortal Sol. The comparison is unlike for Mixtils are compact of Elements into which they resolv but Mens Souls not compounded of Adams no nor Bodies nor one of another but of the same nature and so simple as his Nor doth it folow if the Soul be compounded like Elements it must inevitably be mortal for death and corruption coms not from composition or propagation but meerly from malediction for sin the wages wherof is death 2. Ob. If God cooperats with Man in producing Souls he no less rests from his works then in jugial creating them of nothing for the thing is the same and terms little differing Ergo this novity of a middle way to make God the external efficient is very vanity and of no validity Sol. Here is no creation of nothing but production of a thing from former principles Nor doth it repugn Gods creatifie rest to concur in other works of providence government and the Souls spiritual acts nor in assisting its production as an extern efficient which tends only to preserv Mankind specialy sith it hath no mediat maner in ordinary cours of nature sav only Gods immediat concurrence in extraordinary maner 3. Ob. If Man cannot generat his like without Gods special extraordinary help he is in this behalf inferior to Beasts as Traductists urge against Creation Ergo c. Sol. Not so for Beasts beget also by the Heavens help as exterior efficients If then Mans Soul for excellence hath a far sublimer supercelical efficient And he acts so much in generation of his like as other Creatures doo in theirs 't is rather a dignity abov al then any disparagement at al. So this exception holds against jugial creation wherin Man no whit concurs which may seem a derogation but not against natural propagation 4. Ob. If God be immediat extern efficient of our sin-polluted Souls by natural propagation he is Author or accessary to sin rather then by creation Ergo c. Sol. Nothing less for he is only external efficient of the Soul not of sin which coms from corrupt Parents who supply the internal matter of the whol Man wherin sin consists sith generation is not of Parts but Persons it being his just ordinance in nature That as the Tree is so shal the fruit be Sith then he made Man perfectly good at first to beget Children perfect like himself who prevaricated and polluted al his Progeny or Posterity God performs his part stil to confer his efficient power in the perpetual production of Mankind And as he first infused his Soul so he stil concurs in producing it though not in the same sort yet sin is meerly accidental in respect of
given suddenly without means but to fail in Faith and the rest requisit to salvation after means afforded is sin sith men used not such diligence as they should the difference in measure of Gifts coms from the Giver but the different using from Man as the Lord gav one Servant fiv talents Mat 25. 15. another two another one but they imploied it diversly which was from themselfs and were regarded or rewarded accordingly Ob. If Man makes the difference in receiving or using Grace then God doth no more for the Elect then Reprobats nor hav Saints more caus to be thankful then the wicked but one may glory against othâ—rs that he did more then they al which Scripture â—onâ—emns Ergo it proceds from God Sol. If it be granted which is not so that God doth no more in the Grace of Vocation for the Elect then Reprobats yet in Predestination hâ—doth incomparably more becaus foreknowing the different success of his Caling and ends of the Caled he decreed to confirm it unto som which would be saving to them and leav the rest to that which would not be saving through their disobedience when it was in his power to alter it So in the preparation and execution of his gracious Caling his election and lov to them appeers singular who hav infinit caus of gratitud abov Reprobats â—et hav they reason to thank God for preparing that Caling wherby they might be saved so wel as others being to blame their own refusal only Nor was God bound to alter their Caling as seing the event would prov evil by their own fauâ—t for then none had perished Here is much inequality in Lov and favour but stil a liberty left of Mans Wil under Grace that of two equaly caled one may obey and not another or unequaly obey when both being often Caled one obeis sooner then the other For ther is infinit variety in most yet God indifferent to al and damns none but by their own default Touching thankfulnes Grace is not therfore Grace becaus given to one and denied to another but becaus 't is given to the unworthy for it were not lesss but greater if extended to al so that my thanks are du to God becaus he had mercy on me unworthy not becaus he shews more mercy to me then others Nor are my thanks the less becaus many mo partake with me in the benefits but should rather be greater if millions mo were partakers then be Salvianus saith men ow a general debt for Christs passion and al Mankind sans exception bound therto yet none ows the less becaus others ow the like For though the debt be general yet 't is special too and every particular equaly ingaged sith as Christ suffered for al so he did for ech and bestowed himself on al as he did on every one wholy for al and wholy for ech individual In which regard as al ow themselfs wholy to him for it so doth every one wholy sav that ech ows more then al Mankind becaus he reaps so much benefit as al Men. This is a good rule but beware of the Pharisees comparativ form of thanks too rife now adais Lord I thank thee I am not as other Men. Indeed as som put the Case of Mankind like a cru of Rebels of whom the King pardons such as he lists and executs the rest thos pardoned ow more thanks But the Scripture states it thus God mercifully proclaims a general Gospel pardon to al Rebels on condition that he which submits and yeelds his Sword taking a Ticket of his pardon shal go safe but such as refuse or stand out shal be destroied Such as submit magnify his Mercy and griev for their Felows obstinacy justifying the execution doon on them Thos that in the first way amplify Gods Grace for sparing som simply prejudice his Truth proclaimed to al But such as advance his Grace for sparing al on fair facil feasible conditions exhibited in the Gospel set his Favor forth Mercy and Truth much more It may more literaly be laid thus If a King having al his Subjects in his power and pleasure to destroy for Rebellion shal publicly proclaim pardon to al that wil submit to his Son on such conditions as they shal be able by his gracious assistance and acceptance to perform knowing that som wil tractably obey but the rest persist obstinat or obdurat in their Crimes he then is bound by promiss or Covenant to pardon the penitent but resolvs to punish the rest according to their deserts Here both his Mercy and Justice is equaly or eminently extended to al without respect of persons but the difference consists in the new obedience of one sort and old obstinacy of the other yet doth not the Caus depend on the effect as som fondly object or cavil but the Monarch according to his merciful Proclamation freely pardons the penitent and justly destrois the impenitent As to glorying that one doth more then another Let him that glorieth glory in the Lord or not glory for Gods Gifts are duple 1. Immediat from himself soly as Toungs Miracles Prophecying of which Paul speaks What hast thou which thou hast not received and if thou hast received why boastest thou 2. Mediat which proced from Gods Grace and Mans Wil jointly as Faith Repentance Obedience being both Gods gifts wrought by Grace therfore no glorying but in the Lord as S. Paul saith and duties owing by us upon peril of 1 Cor. 15. 10. Phil. 4. 13. 1 Cor. 9. 16. salvation which proced from the Wil helped by Grace and in that regard no glorying as S. Paul saith though I preach the Gospel I hav not to glory for necessity is laid on me and wo is me if I doo not So wo to al which beleev not in Christ To receiv as a Gift not only excluds glory but includs duty for in doing al which is commanded we doo but our duty being unprofitable servants Christ saith doth the Master thank his servant Luk. 17. 9. becaus he did what was bid I trow not Yet we may glory with S. Paul in the testimony of a good conscience as Samuel 2 Cor. 1. 12. 1 Sam. 12. 13 Neh. 5. 15. cald witnes of his integrity and Nehemiah recorded his own sincerity Howbeit whatever our natural parts be or labor and industry beyond others or how prosperously soever it succeds who is so void of piety as not to ascribe it to the fountain of al good God builds the hous more then al Laborers keeps the City abov al Warders givs more increas then al Planters or Waterers yet Builders Warders Planters Waterers hav al subordinat Offices which being neglected the Hous is unbuilded City unguarded and Plant unmanured Becaus God doth most in converting and Man nothing in comparison but al by him the Saints may rejoyce and say not unto us Lord not to us but to thy name giv the glory Yet not unto us implies somthing to be doon by us
Thes Texts tend al to the Registry of Gods simple Prescience and Providence which tho they be no causes of any effects yet are certain in the events and cannot be frultrat but make nothing for absolut Decree of a prefixd period to our dais Dr. Charlton debats this point acutly and accuratly part wherof shal be decurted God the giver of life sole moderator but not Author of death for al natural motion proceds from one first mover God whence S. Paul saith In him we live mov Acts 17. 28. and hav our being The term Life is taken either for the period of every Mans dais caused by a sensible decay or dissolution of al ligaments which chain the Soul to the Body or by an extinction of his vital flame upon consumption of the Radical fuel when no preternatural causes interven to anticipat the dissipation of that elementar temper on which Lifes subsistence necessarily depends or els for the end of every Mans Life in general by what means or whensoever be it by diseases or violent accidents without respect to the gradual decay and consequent cessation of natural temperament in old age From the first acception arise 2. Questions 1. Whether this term of Life circumscribed by a natural deflux of the Body which is a kind of mature facil faling away of Natures ligaments like ripe Apples be definitly fixd by divine Ordinance to leav every in dividual in his own moderation without prescribing or procuring that this decay of temperature should hav more or less duration then what may naturaly occur from the more or less durability therof 2. If Life be thus fixd by Gods decree not to prolong it beyond the point of its natural durability whether he can without altering his own established cours of Nature being moved by Mens praiers or pitty as he added 15 yeers to Ezekiahs dais correct thos depravities procured by excess sicknes or other extraneous means and so hinder the dissolution therof That is whether if God hath predetermined that none shal exced the term to which the durability of his individual temper or strength of constitution may probably extend his special Providence doth not permit that the temperament may be vitiated impaired or ruined by putrefactiv destructiv preternatural causes obvenient and so not hold out to that point of time which otherwise by its primigeneous nativ condition it might hav reached unto For the secund acception of Life in general by what means of dissolution soever sicknes surfeit shipwrack suffocation famin war wounds or other-wais this question occurs whether the immature pâ—â—eâ—natural period therof be so precisely prefixd that no Human prudence or providence can prevent or prolong it nor fortuitous accidents accelerat or prevert it In brief whether the Catastrophe of ech Mans life be prefined in the Book of Fate or Divine Decree Life is said to be fixd in a duple sens 1. In respect of som absolut Decree antegredient to Gods Presâ—ience of al secund instrumental causes so that Man cannot possibly prorogue it beyond or fal short of that fatal term 2. In respect of som conditionat Hypothetic Decree whos alteration or accomplishment is superseded by the electiv liberty of mans Wil either as guided by supernatural light of divine Grace to pursu the real tru good or seduced by delusion of its own sensual judgment to wander in the devious tracts of error and so chus seeming fals Good Now it skils not whether this conditionat Decree be grounded on certain prenotion of al concomitant circumstances and corollary relations concerning Mans election of adhering to good and evil Objects and his consequent virtuous or vicious cours of life Or whether it be made without any such infallible prenotion or volition yet with a positiv deliberat sentence certainly to be executed in du time when the right use or abuse of Freewil shal be fulfilled Hence arise 3. Opinions 1. Som hold the term of every 1 Opinion very Mans life with al causes and clauses conducing to be flatly fatal or immovable by Gods irresistible Wil and Decree according to the vulgar saying his time is com this is a Stoical devise used as a spur to excite magnanimous spirits against dangers of death that every Mans destiny is writ with invisible indeleble characters in his forhead which al Mahometans maintain doctrinaly and many Christians ignorantly But 't is in it self impious if not blasphemous to confine Confut. Gods chief attribut of infinit Omnipotence within the definit lists laws or limits of secund causes and it derogats from the liberty of Mans wil leaving nothing in his power to elect or eschew nor to act or shun For if Fatal necessity be defended al our actions shal be but so many accomplishments of ineluctable Destiny and results of Counsil the decrees of Fate so al human pruâ—ence is palpable folly 〈◊〉 study of Wisdom painful vanity and al Laws meer tyranny siâ—h thâ—y injoyn only what must hâ—vâ—in doon otherwise or restrain what would els be checked by coercing fatality Thus shal al praâ—ers be fruitless vows hopelâ—ss exhortations to good needless dâ—hortations from evil frivolous and acts of piety or devotion superfluous with a â—â—yriod of other incongruâ—ties appendent if absolut fatality be admitted which is inconsistent to the rules o. Reason and Râ—ligion 2. Others assert a fixed fatality of every Mans life 2 Opin a posteriori not to be extended beyond the natural condition of each particular constitution but not a priori sith it may be contracted or abbreviated as 't is commonly but simply said one may shorten tho not exced his time appointed by divine Dâ—cree Certes God made no such absolut decrees for the length Confut. of any Mans life but leavs every Man free to be his own Carver in al temporal mundan affairs 3. Divers defend that Mans life may be lengthned or 3 Opin shortned more or less of what it usually is in most Men by the right use or abuse of means according to Gods prenotion or Hypothetic determination leaving the means to every mans Freewil This is perpendicularly proved by many plain places and Confirmat pregnant instances extant in holy Writ but none that hav any color for a fixed fatal period Salomon saith The Prov. 10. 27. fear of the Lord prolongeth dais but the wickeds yeers shal be shortned For God promiseth long life to them that honor their Parents and generaly to al such as shal keep his Commandements Yea he said to Salomon If thou wilt 1 Kings 3. 14. walk in my wais as thy Faâ—her David did I wil lengthen thy dâ—is And David definitly saith Bloody and deceitful Men shal Ps 55. 23. Ps 102. 24. Ps 6. 4 5. Ps 30 Ps 8â— not liv out half their dais Again Take me not away in the midst of my dais The like he praied in sicknes That God would not cut off the thâ—ed of his Isâ— and givs thanks for preserving him from death
but Inst l. 2. c. 4 § 3 are forced by his bridle to doo as he wil hav them That God not only hardens Men by leaving it to themselfs but by appointing their Counsils ordering their deliberations stirring up their Wils and confirming their purposes by the Minister of his wrath Satan to destroy them That he prepared Sâ—hon King of Ammorits by hardning his heart becaus he intended his ruin Inst l 14 c. 18. §. 1 2. That the distinction of a permissiv decree is a fiction of the flesh and they play the fools that use it as a subterfuge to shift off this seeming absurdity His contemporar Collegue Mr. Beza and al his rigid Sectators stiled Supralapsarians agree in al Points Visne Deum ex placito Reprobos addicere paenae Durus hic est Sermo quis â—olerare potest Wilt make God punish Reprobats of 's pleasure This is an hard speech who can it endure Ob. He objects That to permit Mans Fal and to Wil or In Gen. c. 3. Decree it is al one in effect becaus what he could hinder if he would must com to pass by his Wil in not hindring it sith he had power to prevent it Ergo he willed it This al his Disciples vouch as irrefragable verity Sol. By their leavs this folows not for though the Proverb be tru in Men Qui non vetat cum possit jubet yet in this case it holds not with God but crosseth his chief desigâ— or Decree to make Man a free Creature ad utrumlibet to stand or fal which could not be if he had limited the liberty of his Wil and not permitted him to chuse either way So they say to foresee what wil com to pass and to decree it is al one which is untru The Decree of Reprobation both in the privativ act of preterition and positiv of punishment depends on Gods simple Prescience which anteverts al Decrees concerning the Worlds Creation or disposal of Man both for matters of this life and a better who had absolut Free-wil in al his actions being not barred or blocked up by any absolut antecedent Decree of pure pleasure as thos rigid Rhadamants pretend The Supralapsarians present Man to God in the Decree of Reprobation abov or beyond Adams fal as if without any respect of foreseen sin original or actual in the Creature he decreed to glorify his Soveraignty in the eternal rejection and damnation of most Mankind as the end by their wilful disobedience and final impenitence as the means The Sublapsarians to shun som inconveniences incident to that assertion fal a litle lower and exhibit Man as guilty of original sin for which God freely decreed the greatest number of Men to eternal pardition only to shew his Power and Justice The difference is smal not sufficient to caus a breach betwixt them as they confess nor is any reason to jar about circumstances when they accord in substance For both conspire that Gods moving caus of Reprobation is Gods Wil and not Mans wickednes So their final impenitence is utterly inavoidable by Gods absolut antecedent irrespectiv Decree which both sides hold This prefractory position is oppugned by many Reasons 1 Reason 1. Becaus 't is a novity which hath no footing in antiquity for the upper way was never taught by any no not the stoutest asserters against Pelagians nor the lower til S. Austins time but al concurred that Men might possibly be saved which in event were damned and to hav repented who died impenitent sith no Decree of God lais any necessity of perishing on Adam or his Posterity Hence Prosper S. Austins Scholar saith that almost al Antients consent how God decreed al Mens ends according to his foresight of their actions Minutius Faelix presents Pagans upbraiding Christians that they held al events inevitable framing an unjust God who punished their indeclinable destinies and not Mens voluntary iniquities for as others ascribe it to Fate so you to God He answers That Christians Fate is Gods Decree grounded on his Prescience which determins retributions according to Mens foreseen actions S. Jerem a stif Anti-Pelagian saith the same that al depends on Gods Foreknowledg for whom he knows wil be righteous he lovs before he coms out of the womb and hates the contrary For his lov and hatred riseth from foresight of future things els he loveth al things and hates nothing what he hath made yea he saith God chuseth whom he seeth to be good The result is That God makes no Decree to damn or sav but what is built on foreknowledg of Mens actions S. Austin and Prosper held chief Patrons of absolut Decree the Postlapsarians way let fal words to this effect viz. That Apostats ly not under a necessity of perishing becaus they were not predestinat but were not predestinat becaus God foresaw they would prevaricat that becaus God foreknew they would perish by their own Free-wil therfore he did not predestinatly sever them from the Sons of perdition That God withdraws not from any Man ability to yeeld obedience becaus he is not predestinat but did not predestinat upon prescience of his faling from obedience So Fulgentius saith Thos whom God foresaw would dy in sin he decreed should liv in endless punishment The Council of Arles against Pelagians denounceth thes Held A. C 490 Anathema's Cursed be he that shal say a Man which perisheth might not hav bin saved Or that a Vessel of dishonor may not rise to honor The Valentine Synod saith The Wicked perish not becaus they could not but becaus they would not be good and by their own fault remain in the mass of perdition Again That Gods power predestinats any to evil so as he cannot be good we doo not only not beleev so great an evil but with al detestation denounce such accursed So did the Arausican Council Thes are only Human testimonies which are no rules of Faith yet gray Antiquity and grav Assemblies must be more approved then green Novity or corner Conventicles specialy sith Calvin and Beza acknowledg that the common Opinion of conditional respectiv Decree had many great A. betters in al Ages who aspers Origen as the Author 2. It shuns the test or touchstone of trial which is a shrewd 2 Reason suspition of falsity for in the Disput at Momplegart between Beza and Jacobus Andreas with their Associats having argued the points about Christs Body the Lords Supper Beza flatly refused to touch Reprobation lest the Ignorant should take scandal being unacquainted with such high mysteries At closing up of which Colloquy Frederic Earl of Wirtenberg earnestly exhorted his Lutherans to declare the Calvinians for Brethren by giving hands one to another but they denied it saying Thâ—y would pray God to open their Eys and doo them any offiâ—e of charity but not giv them the right hand of Fraternity being found guilâ—y of gross enormous errors naming this as chief At Hague Conference the Contra-Remonstrants would not
himself to the Gentils Rom. 1. 20. by the Creatures that they might be without excuse So Simon saith of Christ that he is appointed for the faling and Luke 2. 〈◊〉 rising again of many in Isarel S. Paul saith I preach Christ 1 Cor. 1. 23. 2 Cor. 2. 16. to the Jews a stumbling block Again To them that perish we are the savour of death to death Thes places in general point out the end which is oft effected by them not what is primarily or principaly intended in them sith they may occasionaly produce such effects in som Men by their voluntary rebellion contrary to the Doners intention Phisitions minister medicins for the Patients good which somtime by misguidance turn to his hurt so Gods blessings intended for Mens eternal welfare tend to their perdition by il imploying them So the event doth not vary the intent sith no sinful event is properly under Gods decree but under his prescience or permission at most Now by this Tenet of absolut Reprobation al gifts both of Nature and Grace hav another end for either God intends them not to such tho they enjoy them being mix'd with the elect to whom only they are directed or if he doth 't is only to puff them up abov the common rank of Men to make their L. 3. Inst c 24. §. 13. ruin greater So saith Calvin God sends his Word to Reprobats that they may be made more deaf sets up a light to make them blinder and affords a remedy that they may not be healed Beza saith Let it not seem absurd that God offers Grace to som Reprobats not to this end that they should be saved but that they may be less excusable and more punishable Maccovius saith God knocks at Reprobats hearts who neither can nor wil open not that he may enter but partly to upbraid their impotence and partly to increas their damnation nor can any other conclusion rise or result from this doctrin for how can God intend the gifts of Grace for their salvation whom he hath irrevocably decreed to damnation Hence it infers that God meerly deludes miserable Men whom he cals to salvation in his Sons name by preaching the Word yet intends their perdition and that Ministers are fals Witnesses who preach salvation to many conditionaly whos damnation is decreed absolutly If a state closly contriv that no Dutch shal be Denisens yet publicly proclaim to giv them high privileges on condition to becom free doo they not conterfet or cosen the poor people to make them su or seek in vain Semblably may not Reprobats rightly plead Lord wilt thou punish us for not beleeving in thy Son being caled by preaching to beleev when thou hast decreed to leav us in Adams sin without al power to beleev How canst thou justly charge us with sin or increas our torment for not beleeving in him whom thou resolved st from eternity we should never beleev in Certes that Ministry givs Men a fair excuse which is given only to leav them without excuse as the Patrons of absolut Decree proclaim For the Sacraments signify nothing seal up nothing and confer nothing to such as are not saved but are meer blanks or empty Ordinances yet not by their fault but by Gods irresistible Wil nor are al other gifts tho never so glorious of any avail to promot their salvation in Gods absolut intention nor given out of lov but meer hatred that they may use them il and prepare to themselfs a greater damnation For he that receivs most of him shal most be required so they be but as snares to intrap Mens Souls like baits on barbed hooks to beguil Fishes sith they are lifted up therby that with the load of their goodly indowments they may sink the deeper into Hel. So they hav no caus to lov the Doner but hate him rather sith such favors are like a griping Usurers bounty or Jaels courtesy to Sisera 4. 'T is prejudicial to Piety and Promoter of prophanes 4 Reason cutting off the very sinews of Religion for it takes away al hope to attain happines by godlines and fear to sustain any hurt by wickednes sith al is ordered by absolut Decree Hope is the sole spur to stir Men on to virtu and fear the chief bar to withdraw them from vice For our Saviour in hope of Heb. 12 2. Mat. 10 32. the joy set before him endured al shame of the Cross who by it hardned his Disciples to suffer for his sake By this the godly in al ages hav bin excited to wel dooing See Acts 24 15. Phil. 3. 26 Colos 1 9 Titus 2. 12 13. Heb. 11. per totum Al noble Heroic acts hav sprung from the hope of eternal glory He that eareth and thresheth must doo it in hope saith S. Paul 1. Cor. 9. 10. For hope saith Aquinas conduceth to action as appeers in Souldiers Mariners and al Professions The hope of Heaven then is chief incentiv to piety and fear of Hel a main bar to impiety yea fear promots a good action accidentaly becaus Men fearing the evil of mischief or misery annexed to the evil of sin think they are never safe til they attain a contrary state by doing wel Now by an absolut Decree Hope and Fear are bereaved for hope is properly versed about some good to be attained by industry not which must be of necessity and the object of fear is an evil that may be avoided but by this Decree Heaven and Hel are no possible objects but necessary for the elect shal infallibly enjoy the one and Reprobats impossibly escape the other sith Men hav no power to alter their eternal state being prefined by eternal Decree Al Gods decrees are immutable irreversible and irresistible so that al Mens indevors are in vain to alter or avoid them See Isai 46. 11. Ps 115. 3. Rom. 9. 19. 'T is absolutly decreed the Devils shal be damned so it were folly in them by praier or tears to alter it Mans Soul is simply decreed to be immortal and 't is vain for any to attemp the abolition 'T is ordained that The Sun shal rule the day and Moon the night what power then can divert their cours so if no power be left in Man to attain eternal life or avoid death but he must needs take what is destined or designed he strivs in vain either way For if the Decree be absolut the Minister preacheth and People hear in vain Not one Soul can be saved by either of their means which is decreed to Hel nor one damned designed to Heaven 'T is frivolous and fruitless folly to be studious or sollicitous in what cannot be altered amended or avoided as Christ said to his Disciples why take ye thought about such Luk. 12. 25 26. things 'T is a misery to toil about impossibles as Sisyphus is said to rol up a stone to the top of an high hil in Hel which instantly fals down again If this
the Church is subject to the State in Temporals but in Spiritual things of the Soul and service of God Christ intrusts none sav thos to whom he commits the Keis of his hous wherin simple Laics may not meddle Rustica Ruricolae tractent fabrilia Fabri Let Clowns to Ploughing bend And Smiths their forging tend Thos then that deny any of thes things must renounce al History Authority and Antiquity but Men are so wedged to their Tenets that they wil seek al shifts which their wits can invent contrary to common sens as the sequel shal shew Som Objections occur Ob. S. Paul saith That the Elders which rule wel are worthy 1 Tim. 5. 17. of duple honor specialy if they labor in the Word and Doctrin Ergo ther be two sorts of Elders som meer Rulers who meddle not with the Word som Preachers or Dispensers therof Sol. Cujus contrarium verum est for how can thes labor in the Word and Doctrin if they be Lay Elders 't is a fallacious inference to dis-join what the Holy Ghost conjoins for he speaks only of spiritual Elders which were both Rulers and Teachers no Laics nor can such labor in the Word surely S. Paul knew no such and St. Peter in general exhorts al Elders 1 Pet. 5. 1â— being also an Elder to feed the Flock which no Laic can doo nor is any so impudent or ignorant to aver that he or any of the Elders were Laics only he a superior and the rest inferiors yet al of one rank but no Lay Elders extant or couchant in the new Testament for Church and Common-wealth are two distinct Oeconomies having several Officers avant then al invasion into ech others Jurisdiction Indeed they had divers Rom. 12. 5. Eph. 4. 11. Gifts or Graces of Prophecying speaking Toungs Ministring Teaching Exhorting Commucating Ruling som to be Apostles som Prophets som Evangelists som Pastors som Doctors but no meer Laics such were Chimaera's or Catamountains 1 Câ—â— 12. 28. The Gifts of the spirit to edification are the word of wisdom knowledg faith healing miracles prophecy discerning of spirits interpretation of toungs But this provs not Ruling Elders to differ from Bishops nor any to be Laics but flatly disprovs it St. Paul warns the Elders to be wary of grievous Wolfs â—ct◠〈◊〉 29. which wil not spare the Flock so his Elders that ruled wel were spiritual Overseers and to labor in the Word by converting som and confirming others is the main office of Presbyters ab origine For the Office of Presbyters is both to teach and govern of Prelats to govern and teach but no Laics to doo either in the Church Gods Word hath not a word tending that way nor mentions any Ministerial Orders or Officers sav Bishops Presbyters and Deacons But Evangelists had only a mission or Commission to preach no Ordination distinct from Presbyters and Deacons If any Laics ever Ruled in primitiv times what becam of them that no Records remain of their names nor nois or notice of their suppression sure the Laiety was far too potent and politic to be discarded or degraded by the Clergy Is it probable or possible that the whol Church would or could conspire to smother or strangle in the birth such a sacred Institution of our Lord Jesus and his holy Apostles Or would Laics so tamely take it Nay is it credible or conceivable that al antient Fathers Ecclesiastic writers Oecumenic Conncils should so impiously combine to extirp or extermin its entity and memory that no one witnes appeers in any History unless by som who partialy and preposterously wrest obscure word and bring their meaning with them as they serv sacred Scriptures wherof they wil be sole Interpreters If any one can name any one such he shal carry the caus Let Christians consult with common sens upon thes things yeâ— they credulously resign up their Reason to every Sectist Bishops in thos dais did nothing without Presbyters advise or assent but by degrees assumed and arrogated al rule to themselfs as haply Presbyters would if they had prevailed of which usurpation St. Jerom and other Godly Men complained pressing them to communicat many matters with Presbyters as Moses did to the Sanedrim but of Lay Elders like the Sanedrim ne gry quidem in al the Scripture or Antiquity which is irrefragable indeniable verity The Apostles used no Laics service but ordeined Deacons even to serv Tables much less would they make them Partners â—n Church government Ob. Som say Presbyters alone may ordein becaus St. Paul 1 Tim. 4 14. exhorts Timothy not to neglect the gift in him which he had by Prophecy with laying on hands of the Presbytery Ergo the Elders of themselfs ordeined him Sol. Speak seriously and sincerely Doth any beleev this to be tru or only wish it were so Certes S. Paul ordeined him 1 Tim. 1. 6. Deacon Presbyter and Bishop though assisted by Elders as heself avers which words no way prov that they can or did ordein alone without an Apostle or Bâ—shop in chief Hence som render them Neglect not the gift of Eldership or Episcopat given by my Imposition of hands which carries so fair a color as the former gloss but however construed they prov not that Elders ever ordeined him of themselfs without St. Paulâ— Repl. 'T is urged That every Presbyter is a Father so wel as Prelats for St. Paul saith Rebuke not an Elder but exhort 1 Tim 5. 〈◊〉 him as a Father and the yonger Men as Brethren Ergo Presbyters are Fathers and ordein young Novices as Sons or Brethren Sol. Is not this to wrest wrench or wiredraw Scripture on the rack and tainter hooks to a wrong sens every poor blind ey can see that the Apostle apertly denots Elders in yeers even Laics not in Orders for the next words are the elder Women as Mothâ—rs and younger as Sisters which cannot be meant of spiritual Elders unles they wil make old Presbyteresâ—es and young Diaconesses Nor if they be formaly caled Fathers for gravity doth it folow that they may ordein Sons But St. Paul descends afterwards to Ecclesiastic Elders advising him to receiv no accusation against such under two or three veâ—s 19. 20. 21. witnesses with a strict charge to doo nothing partialy in preferring one before another nor to lay hands suddenly on any al which argu his eminent Episcopal authority over al the Elders wherof were many at Ephesus yet could they not lay hands on any without him what can be cleerer He that hath ears let him listen what the spirit speaks To the Angel or Bishop of Ephesus Rev. 2. 2 3 I know thy works labor and patience how thou triedst them which say they are Apostles and are not but hast found them lyers and for my names sake hast labored and not fainted Thes are no functions for every Elder to try fall Prophets or censure them but only for the chief Angel wherof was only
Balthasaer being stil pure silver So our Ministry is Ezâ—a 7. 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 Ministe iâ—m holy and divine if refined from superstition as al other Ordinances are though derived through corrupt chanels of the Romish Church Hence our Reformers did not dig new Wels of Ministerial Ordination as Papists falsly aspers which Mr. Mason refuts but purified the puddle water according to Apostolic Institution not requiring more of any ordeined in the Church of Rome then to renounce their superstitious errors Which doon they were admitted to exercise the Ministry received both truly as to the substance and duly to succession without reordination For though that Sword had contracted Rev. 2. 12. rust yet was it the same with two edges which cam out of Jesus Christs mouth nor may it be broken or cast off becaus rusty but cleered clensed furbished from dulnes or bluntnes Ministers may stil continu Gods Laborers though Loiterers Mat. 26 40. as Christ owned his Disciples when they could not wake or watch one hour in his heavy horrid agony Our Antiministerial Antagonists hav less color to argu it Antichristian from Papal usurpation then ther is Reason Scripture and Experience beside common consent of al Reformed Churches to prov it Authentic For if envy teen and avarice did not blind their bloodshot eys they might cleerly see som mighty works wrought on Mens Souls by the Ministry without which thos cavilling calumniators had not bin so much Christian as they boast to be nor so able to contend with specious shews of Piety against the learned Ministry with whos Heifers they plough having nothing but what they received from them and are most ingrat wretches to their pristin Teachers We know that many Churches beside Reformed Gallican Popes Primacy began A 604. Venetian Grecian Russian Asian African deny the Popes universal Primacy of power being bought by proud Boniface 3. of proditorious Phocas the Parricid abov 1000 yeers ago who by Divine Right had no Jurisdiction farther then his own Dioces or Patriarchat limited by general Councils wher four other Patriarchs of Jerusalem Antioch Alexandria Constantinople had equal authority assigned in their several Precincts or Provinces as al know This Antichristian arrogation which gav first hint of revolt to Henry 8. our Bishops and Ministers stil abhorred so much as their Adversaries doo the Genevan Presbytery But it may be feared lest their preposterous zele or prepensed malice may prov the Popes best Engin if they can so far prevail to cashire al learned laborious duly ordeined Ministers which God forbid For then our Church wil becom a falow unfenced Feild fit for Papal subtlety which he wil Plough with an Ox and Ass coâ—yoked politic Jesuits with fanatic Donatists Seminary Priests with gifted Brethren Friers mendicant with Prophets predicant who condog or comply in consortship under divers disguises as is wel known So that no wise Men judg otherwise of this conjuncture but that Jacobs hand is in the py and Ahitophel assistant in counsil with Absolon whos sly plots and practises against tru Ministry good Lord confound Reformations may bend so far on one hand til they meet on the other forsaking that rectitud of the mean in which the truth and honor of Religion consists Antichrist which som fear in name and in others more then in the thing or themselfs is at both ends of extrems of Prophanes defect and confusion on one side and excess of superstition on the other Every Man may suspect Antichrist in his own bosom sith the Kingdom of Christ and Antichrist is specialy within us but 't is better for the Church to retain what is Christs though in common with Antichrist then passionatly to cast off al under color of detesting him sith Men may fal into sacrilege which is too frequent while they seem to abhor Idols 'T is the same evil Spirit which rents the Church by Schisms and that which casts into the fire of persecution and water of superstition But as the Spirit of Idolatry may be cast out for a fit so he may soon return with seven Devils wors then himself Papal darknes and Mat. 12. 4â— Human eclipsings are no warrant to extinguish the light of tru Ministry set up by Christ Nor can Men pleasure Satan more then to put out the Churches Candles instead of snuffing them but som hate our Ministry not for lighting their Lamps at the Popes Taper but for out-shining their dimnes for 't is madnes to cut their Fathers throats becaus they were once sick or descended from diseased Parents if they are becom in sound perfect health Vulgar Spirits are uncouth Reformers who beat down or break in pieces with Axes and Hammers having no Chissels or finer tools to clens and polish as som pul down Crosses to set up Weather-coeks and batter Church windows becaus painted in time of Popery Mans usurpation cannot prejudice Gods dominion nor Human traditions or additions vacat divine Commands nor Antichrists superstitions cancel Christs Institutions nor the heady intrusion of som on Churches rights caus Christians to remov the antient Land-marks of tru Ministry du order and good Government fixed by Christ 'T is much more madnes to abolish the use of holy things then to lerat som abuses with it but right reforming is a staid sober restauration of antient venerable sorms which is never wel handled unless Men hav honest hearts good heads pure hands and cleer eys to discern direct and dispose it but when al meet they wil seriously sincerely and succesfully doo the work of Christ and his Church Christians hav no caus in Reason or Religion to reject our reformed Ministry for any succession from relation to or communion with the Roman Church or Clergy no more then the Objectors hav to pul out their eys becaus Papists see with theirs or destroy themselfs becaus issued from Popish Parents or Progenitors For we may so wel refuse al Leagues Treaties or common Commerce with them as al Rites of Christianity and even that as lawful Ministry or holy succession originaly derived from Christ and his Apostles So far of Ministry in general now of Episcopacy Ob. Som at first brunt oppose that our Ministry being conveied Epictâ—pacy by the hands of Bishops who are not of Christs planting and now supplanted by power the whol order as slips or branches of one stem or stock must needs fal or fail together with the trunck of the Tree Ergo both to be annulled Sol. Lo how thes Antiministerials cudgel Presbyters with the same staf which som of them put into Vulgar hands to beat their Reverend Fathers and banish Episcopat but what ever thos rigid Reformists secret or sinister intentions were surely they wanted the Serpents wisdom to sav the main Head whence life motion and direction descends to al parts wherby the lesser hurts or bruises might easily be recured For the envious and ambitious zele of such Antiprelatical Spirits aspiring to step up into their steads
reveled in his holy Word 7. Their clashing contradiction is a plenary confutaâ—son for som say no mixtils or Animats shal subsist but only Câ—lical bodies and two Elements yet can shew no caus or colour why they rather then the rest or how the world shal be more glorious being as a bare house unfurnished and unhabited sith variety makes it Mundus or comly som that al creatures shal be restored so wel as men yet know not how to stow them as two were of ech kind in the Aâ—c in the world unles they fain it of infinit capacity som that such only shal be reserved as are extant at last day that is good luck and bad as al the world is now ruled for why they rather then the rest sith al shal be incinerated so wel as thos already corrupted som that none now or then existent are capable of restitution or resurrection but new shal be formed of rare kinds like thos in the Lunar world to serv the Saints in a new material world to com Touching this Earth som say it shal be refined like gold in the fire and bettered or beautified tenfold for the Saints mutual commerce som that it shal be a mansion for such as neither deserv Heaven for their good deeds nor Hel for hainous crimes som that it shal be the habitation of unbaptized Infants which they hold better then Saint Austins dark dungeon Thes are al carnal conceipts or ungrounded unwarranted Phantasms sith the kingdom of Heaven is stiled the Seat of blessed Spirits wher they shal reside as in their proper place of perpetual possession not as an Inn to lodg in for a space and at last leav it for ever nor shal they hav a City hous and country Grange to remov from Heaven to Earth at pleasures as som sottishly surmise but shal enjoy a Heavenly habitation and beatific Vision for their eternal inheritance which wil be no boot to change for an Earthly mansion though they should enjoy Christs personal presence to boot which they also hav stil in Heaven Most Greec Fathers with many Latin assert annihilation Authorities Hilari saith this Heaven caled Firmament shal pass away and not be but that invisible wherin God dwels abides for ever Clement fains his Master Saint Peter to tel Simon Magus that ther be two Heavens one superior increat eternal wher blessed Spirits inhabit another inferior visible studded with stars which at last day shal be abolished Saint Jerom saith thos two Fathers Opinion was most approved as cohering with Saint Pauls saying The things seen are temporal but thos not seen 2 Cor. 4. 18. eternal meaning that al Visibles shal perish to nothing but invisibles abide for ever in infinity Dr. Hakewil cites sundry late L. 6 Apol. sub â—â—nem Protestant Professors as Patrons of annillation viz. Luther Melancthon Bucer Beroaldus Bartolinus Vorstius Junius Rivet Hunnius Tilenus Cassanius Meisnerus Polanus Martinius Brentius Wollebius Gerard Arnobius Frantzius and others whos pregnant testimonies to that purpose he produceth worthy of exact perusal which to recit or capitulat consorts not with my affected brevity who must hasten to answer the Ronovators and Substitutors Arguments Ob. Saint Peter saith The Heavens must contain Christ til the Acts 3. 19 21. times of refreshing and restitution of al things which God hath spoken by al his holy Prophets Ergo al shal be restored Sol. The Syriac Interpreter renders it til the end of al times or worlds consummation but the times of restitution or refreshing signify the complement of our Redemption for as Calvin comments becaus our restitution or redemption is yet imperfect while we grone under the bond of bondage we shal be restored to liberty at last day when 't is perfected but speaks nothing of the Worlds renovation after 't is burnt nor can it be wiredrawn or wrested to any such construction if rightly sensed Ob. David saith God laid the Earths foundations that it Ps 104. 5. shâ—uld not be removed for ever So Salomon One generation passeth and another coms but the Earth abides for ever Ergo Eccles 1. 4. shal not be annilled Sol. Thes places are stifly urgd against the Earths diurnal motion with more color then to oppugn abolition yet truly against neither for the intention is that by Natures cours it is laid to remain for ever without decay or diminution in the whol like other elements had not God decreed to dissolv it but the parts of them al are subject to jugial alteration and corruption the word for ever is so long as Time or the World lasts so caled in comparison of mans mortal condition as circumcision is stiled perpetual Repl. The Lord saith Lo I creat new Heavens and Earth Isai 6â—â—7 Rev. 21. 1. for the former shal not be remembred So Saint John cals them new for the first passed away and ther was no more Sea so Saint Peter The Heavens shal pass away with a nois and Elements 2 Pet 3 10. 13. melt with heat but we look for new Heavens and Earth Ergo being burnt they shal be refined and renovated or new created and substituted but not al utterly abolished or annulled Sol. See how partial Sectists are it was pressed last that the Earth abides for ever now that it shal be renewed or a new surrogated but truth lies in the kernel of genuin sens not in the shel of words surely they are not meant literaly of material Heavens and Earth or if they be it tends rather to annillation then restitution oâ— substitution for Isai saith The former shal com in mind no more Saint John They passed away and there was no more Sea Saint Peter The Heavens shal pass away with a nois and Elements melt with heat how then renewed such as constru to perish pass away be no more c. of the worlds instauration or melioration and not of annihilation must answer wher in Grammar 't is so taken for in Philosophy and Theology renovation diametraly differs from destruction Beza applies Isais alleged words to the Churches State or Christs kingdom which also alluds to the Saints condition in Heavenly Jerusalem as Saint Johns immediat ensuing words import I saw the holy City new Jerusalem Rev 21. 2. coming from God prepared as a Bride trimmed for her husband which intimats their continual cohabitation or hir eternal Mansion with God hir Bridegroom So Saint John and Peter by new Heavens intend the Saints glory in new Jerusalem with God or the Lamb and not any material new Heavens as al authentic Authors expound Rep. Isaiah saith The Moons light shal be as the Sun and Isai 30. 26. Suns sevenfold as of seven dais Ergo at last day al things shal be perfected in far greater glory not totaly abolished to be no more Sol. The Prophet speaks Mysticaly and Metaphoricaly as oft elswher of the Church under Christ which he cals a new Heaven and Earth as the new Heavens
or thin For Mans Soul they say 't is created by pouring in and poured in by creating what 's that For the caus of Sens they make an ubiquity of Species or shews of objects which appeering to the Ey make sight to the Ear hearing to the Palat tast to the Nostril smelling and to the rest of the Body feeling For the caus of willing to doo any act they make the faculty or wil it self doo somtime one thing somtime another making the Power caus of the act as if on should assign Mens ability to doo any things the very â—aus of good or evil acts Yet oftimes they put their own ignorance to be caus of natural events or effects but disguised in other words as when they make Fortune a caus of contingents wherof they know no caus or when they ascribe effects to occult qualities not known to them nor as they sâ—rmise to any els or to Sympathy Antiphaty Antiperistasis specifical properties which neither signify the agent producing nor operation produced being only Clokes to cover ignorance Their Moral and Politic Philosophy hath the like or greater Politics absonances for if any doo injury or injustice contrary to Law they say God is prime Caus of the Action but not of the injustice or deviation this is vain Philosophy as to say that one makes a right and crooked line but another the incongruity or inconformity This distinction was devised to defend the doctrin of Free wil not subject to Gods wil. Why not to vindicat God from being Author of sin notwithstanding Quaere his absolut irrespectiv Decree to Reprobat men who must needs sin Aristotle defines Good and Evil by mens appetit which may seem tru sith every one is ruled by his own list or lore but in a Common-wealth the measure is fals wher not mens privat appetits but public Law of the State is sole Rule yet their doctrin soly practised wher every one doth what seems good in his own eys To make lawful mariage unchast or impure as they doo who deny it to the Clergy under color of continual chast continence to attend at the Altar and administer the holy Eucharist is vain Philosophy wherby they make mariage a moral vice and themselfs by abstaining spiritual like the Angels in Heaven From Aristotles Civil Polity they cal al Common-wealths sav the popular such as then Athens was Tyranny and al Kings Tyrans so they termed thirty Legislators set up by the Lacedemonians who subdued Athens thirty Tyrans and Democraty liberty yet Tyran truly taken signifies simply a Monarch but when that Government grew odious in all Greece it was branded with the Popular hatred of Tyranny and when Kings were expeld from Rome they did the like So when the same men are displeased with Democraty or Aristocraty they nickname the first Anarchy the last Oligarchy or Tyranny of a few Hence riseth another error of Aristotle that Laws not men should govern as if men wil be ruled by words or paper and not by men which hav power by the Sword to punish or put them to death giving life to the Laws this is a pestilent pernitious error wherby they seduce men so oft as they like not their Governors to rais war against them which the Clergy cherisheth Another error in Civil Philosophy which they never learned of Pagans is to extend the Law the Rule only of actions to mens very thoughts and Consciences by examination or inquisition of what they hold tho they conform in Words and Actions Herby they are forced to answer the truth of their thoughts or an untruth for fear of punishment Another error not drawn from Heathens is that a privat Man without the CoÌ„mon-wealths authority may interpret the Law by his own Spirit but are not Scriptures wher they are a Law made a Law by the CoÌ„monwealths authority and consequently a part of the Civil Law So they which impropriat Preaching to one certain Order of Men wher the State leavs it free commit the like error for if the State forbids me not to Preach none els can If I be among Judians or Infidels shal I being not in Orders think it sin to Preach Christ Jesus or expound Scriptures In such cases of necessity say they wher is no Ministry it may be doon without mission as wherever a dispensation is du for necessity ther needs none when no Law forbids it Ergo to deny thes functions to whom the civil Soveraign denies them not is to take away lawful liberty The Schoolmens writings are mostly insignificant terms or trains of strange barbarous words otherwise used then in common Latin language which would pose Cicero Varro or any Grammarian of antient Rome For let any try whether he can translat them into any modern Toung which if he cannot how can that be intelligible in Latin which is not so in other languages Howbeit this insignificance of speech is no fals Philosophy but both a quality to hide the truth and make Men think they hav it being skild in School-notions and so desist from farther serch of it in others He saith elswher what kind of felicity God ordains for them that devoutly serv him one shal no sooner know then enjoy being Quaere jois now so incomprehensible as the School-mens words beatific Vision unintelligible but doth not that signify to enjoy the perpetual presence of the divine Trinity as Men delight in ech others company face to face Which if Christ must reign on a new finit Earth with his Saints for ever none ever shal doo For beatific Vision is to see the blessed Trinity face 4 Caus to face in his eternal mansion The last caus of spiritual Darknes is to mix uncertain Traditions and untru Histories like the golden legion of fals fictious miracles in Saints lifes of Ghosts Goblins and Apparitions alleged by Romish Doctors to varnish their Doctrins of Hel Purgatory Exoâ—cisms and such like Which tho som pious Fathers Pope Gregory 1. St. Bernard c. broched yet they were Men and might take it on trust from others as Beda also did but if any speak it of their own knowledg 't is no confirmation of such vanity but a detection of their fraud fallacy or frailty The suppression of tru Philosophy by Men that hav no authority nor sufficient study may be joind with the introduction of falsâ— for our late Navigators and al learned Men acknowledg Antipodes as it appeers daily more that yeers and dais are determined by the Earths motions yet such as only supposed it heretofore were punishd by Ecclesiastic power What reason had they Is it becaus 't is contrary to tru Religion That cannot be if the opinions be truâ— let the truth be first disquired by competent Judges or refuted by such as pretend to know the contrary Is it becaus they disturb Government or Religion established Let the Teachers be silenced or punished by civil Rulers who can chastise disobedience in thos that teach
substance is bred of accidents nor can a Principle be made of any former Entity sith that is the Principle and Form an accident being framed of accidents 3. Thes accidents are either the matters passiv power or illimited quantity or previous dispositions to receiv a Form but the two former cannot possibly be sith they are not generativ and the later may concur in the agent to produce a Forms existence but cannot conduce to the constitution of its essence being meer Accidents 4. Forms are not generated of nothing for that 's Creation non vacat exiguis rebus adesse Jovi To salv this scruple they devise divers disguised distinctions 1. That Forms are in the matter potentialy not actualy this is a contradiction they are yet are not but may be 2. That they are in their causes not realy but eductivly this is an Antiphrase for their causes are in the matter by which they also may be herafter 3. That they are in it habitualy as Science is in a Scholar asleep this is preposterous sith Science is actualy in a sleeping Scholar tho he doth not exercise nor is habitual inexistence opposit to actual but Forms til eduction are not actualy in the matter as the form of Air is not in water til it be turned into it nor the form of Gold in Earth til it becom Gold so thes evasions are very asystats 5. Souls are not Spiritual except Man 's much less inanimat forms for what sober Man wil say â—av in a Chymical sens that ther is any substantial Spirit in a Stone Herb or Beast 6. Every divisible substance is material and corporeal for division folows quantity as an inseparable companion of matter but form is divisible and no spiritual indivisible substance 7. No immaterial substance is corruptible but al forms vanish and perish 8. Every immaterial substance is nobler then any material but if â—orms be immaterial 't is contrary in them sith the base mater of a dumb Flea is permanent and can not be destroied but the Soul of a Roial Lion vanisheth to vapor being no spiritual substance It rests then that 't is an accident or Temperament of qualities but no substance as abundantly foreshâ—wed This is farther proved by three Parallels 1. Accidents are generated corrupted and new produced so are al forms 2. Accidents are diffused through the whol Subject and penetrat the least particles of matter so doo forms 3. Accidents depend on the matter for being and producing nor can subsist without their Subject nor depart from one to another so 't is with al forms except Mans Souls Now the chief contrary objections shal be answered Ob. Every substantial compound consists of matter and form but al natural Bodies are substantial compounds Ergo c. Sol. Composition is duple 1. Of matter and accidents as al corporeal compounds 2. Of substance and substance as Man only who hath a material mortal Body and a spiritual immortal Soul but al els only matter indowed with several accidents Ob. Whatever actuats specificats and givs existence to matter is a substance but the form doth al this Ergo c. Sol. To actuat is either to giv the matter actual being that it shal be a substance or to endu it with effectual qualities in the first sens 't is fals that a form actuats the matter sith 't is a substance subsisting of it self together with the form and is more actuated by the form then it by the matter but in the last sens 't is tru that a form actuats the matter or makes it activ Yet it folows not that 't is a substance sith al action and acting power may proced from the qualities of an efficient caus but the matter being indifferent to al forms by receiving several sorts of qualities exists in such or such a species As a lump of Wax is formed into sundry shapes and exists in form of a Creature by taking a new figure which is an accident so the matter subsists of it self tho not separat from a form but exists with the form not by it yea that alone exists of it sith forms according to Aristotelians depend on it both for essence and existence Ob. That from which the matter receivs al activity and operations is a substance but so doth matter from form Ergo c. Sol. Philosophers seeing matter dul or unable to action and deeming accidents too weak to giv it devised another nature to be fountain of action which they cal form but they are deceived in so deeming sith accidents wil suffice to make any natural Body activ without help of another substance As light being sole form of al lucid Bodies Sun Stars Fire Carbuncle illumins al opacous obscure Bodies So heat of fire an intens quality is its form cold in water Earth Ice and Winter air hath the same effects to quench fire and condensat things yet their forms differ nor doo depend one on another to work thos effects So the siccity of fire and Earth dries up water having distinct forms The like may be said of the humidity in water and air which works the same effects under different forms In semblable sort water and earth by their gravity descend as fire and air by levity ascend yet not by diffâ—ring forms but by divers accidents only Ob. That which essentialy distinguisheth one kind from another is a substance so doth the form Ergo c. Sol. Every essential distinction is not made by a substance for accidents virtu and heat differ essentialy so doo substances in their definitions by accidents For in every Definition is a Genus as the common matter wherin al agree and a difference consisting of accidents to distinguish that matter As fire is a simple Body most hot and light water a simple Body coldest and heavy Here the differences consist of accidents yet are essential and internal for as accidents are first causes of operations so are they of essential distinctions in natural Bodies and included in their definitions without any substantial forms which plainly provs that accidents or temperaments of qualities are forms Ob. A form hath no degree of more or less nor is varied but accidents and their temperaments may be varied and receiv degrees Ergo they cannot be essential forms Sol. The Major Peripatetic proposition is fals for al forms of simple Bodies Mixt and Animat receiv intension and remission of degrees as when Earth turns to Water it requires divers preparations or predispositions before it becom water doth then the form of Earth al that while remain firm or unchanged If not then 't is more or less varied So al Elements concur in mixtion and continu in mixtils doo their qualities remain or forms or rather both as appeers at dissolution when they return to Elements yet not in intens vigor as formerly but remitted or reduced to harmonical symmetry Zabarel saith forms may be varied with change of kind not els as forms of Elements are so changed not otherwise
certain Philosophia prima on which al other ought to depend consisting chiefly in right limiting the fignifications of most universal names or appellations to avoid ambiguity or equivocation in reasoning Such are caled Definitions as of Body Time Place Matter Form Essence Subject Substance Accident Act Power Finit Infinit Quantity Quality Motion Action Passion c. necessary to explane a mans conceptions concerning the Nature and Generation of Bodies which Theory is termed Metaphysics Thes mixd with Scripture to make School Divinity teach that ther be certain Essences abstract or separat from Bodies caled substantial Forms for interpreting which Jargon take these solid grounds 1. The univers or Mass of al created things is corporal or an aggregat Body having the Dimensions length bredth depth of maâ—nitud so is every part of it a Body with like dimensions but what is not Body is no part of it and consequently Nothing or No wher becaus the univers is al in al. Yet it follows not that Spirits are Nothing or No wher sith they hav dimensions though commonly caled incorporeal 2. Of Words som are the names of things conceived as of al Bodies in the World som names of Ideas Images and Imaginations of things which we see or remember as Definition Affirmation Negation Syllogism Interrogation Promiss Covenant and other forms of Speech som names of names or several sorts of speech as Universal Plural Singular som to shew the dependance or repugnance of one name to another as when 't is said a Man is a Body being but several names of the same thing Man by coupling them together with the word is in Latin est which signify their consequence and may be expresd by placing two names in order without est or is if it were the custom But what then wil becom of thos terms Entity Essence Essential derived from it with many mo depending on them as commonly applied so they are no names of things but signs which notify how we conceiv the consequence of one Name or Attribut to another as when we say a Man is a living Body we mean not that the Man is one thing a living Body another and Is or Being a third but that Man and living Body is one thing becaus the consequence is tru being signified by the word Is so to be a Body walk speak see and lik Infinitivs which signify just the same are the names of just Nothing 3. This doctrin of separated Essences built on Aristotles vain Philosophy frights men with empty names as Birds are scared from Corn with a bare doublet hat and crooked stick from obeying the Laws of their Country for hence 't is inferred that a Mans Soul or Lâ—f can walk after death and is seen among Graves that the figure color and tast of bread hath being ther wher they say is no Bread but Christs Body that Faith Wisdom and other spiritual Virtues are somtime poured into a Man somtime blown from Heaven which beleefs lessen Subjects dependance on Soveraign power for who wil obey his Country Laws if he expects obedience to be blown into him or who wil not obey a Pâ—irst that can make God rather then his Soveraign or God or who that fears Ghosts wil not honor such as can make holy water to chase them away This Error of separated Essences draws on divers other absurdities for if thos forms be real they must hav som place but becaus they hold them incorporeal they doo not but only invisible sans dimension and Place must be filled with corporals they are driven to devise a ridiculous distinction that they are in place Definitive non circumscriptive when circumscription is the defining or determining of a thing to its place and so both terms of their distinction are the same Touching Mans Essence Soul they say 't is al in the whol and al in every part who wil swalow such gudgeons or beleev thes gulleries Yet they must who beleev the real existence of a Soul or Spirit separat from the Body If it be asked how a Soul can be tormented with fire being incorporeal They only say it cannot be known how fire can burn Souls Sith motion is change of place proper only to Bodies they are troubled to resolv how a Soul can go hence to Heaven Hel or Purgatory without a Body Or Mens Ghosts with Cloths can walk by night Haply 't is definitive non circumscriptive or spiritualy not corporaly and temporaly Are not inanimats compounds consisting of two constiâ—ntiv Quaere parts matter and form which last distinguisheth one kind from another as a Stone from Iron And are not animats so differenced by their several specifical Souls as a Man Mous Marygold If it be said they differ in external shape of Body which is sufficient how doo we differ from Mairmen in shape not at al sav only in rational Souls which they hav not nor any use of Reason more then brute Beasts Much more may be alledged 4. For eternity they wil not hav it an endless succession of time for then they can render no reason how Gods Wil or Decrees to com should not be before his Prescience of the same as an efficient caus before the effect or Agent before the action but a standing stil of the present caled in Schools Nunc stans which they nor any els understand more then they can Hic stans for an infinit immensity of place or the like Wheras we hold a Body having many parts to hav many places for them they teach that by Gods Almighty power one may be in many places or many in one at once as if it were a magnifying of Divine power to say that which is is not or that which has bin hath not bin Such incongruities with many mo Men fal into who disputing Philosophicaly of divine nature in stead of admiring or adoring it heap absurdities one upon another Of Physics or natural Philosophy they render no secundary Physics subordinat causes of events but empty words if ye ask why som Bodies sink down to Earth and others ascend They say from Aristotle 't is through heavines if ye ask what heavines is they say an endevor tending to the Earths Center or to be below is not this like a Horsin a Mâ—â— to say Bodies ascend or descend becaus they doo They say 't is becaus the Center is a resting place for al heavy things wher they desire to be as if stupid inanimats can discern the place they aim at or desire rest like animals or a peece of Glass were less safe in a window then faling to ground If yâ— ask why the same Body without adding or subtracting seems somtime greater somtime lesser They say it only seems so being ratified or condensed as if ther can be matter which hath not a determined quantity and one Body greater then another or as tho a Body were made without any quantity and more or less of it put in afterward to appeer more or less dens