to Sathan and Witchcraft I will say nothing of their Apostasies Idolatries Whoredomes Blasphemies Cruelties Simonie Tyrannie c. 1. You have no Genius to disputes in Religion neither had Mahomet to disputes in his Alchoran it were well if there were no occasion of dispute but without it I see not how against our learned adversaries wee should maintaine the truth If there had been no dispute against Arius Nestorius Eutychus Macedonius and other Hereticks how should the truth have been vindicated Not to dispute against an Heâ—etick is not to fight against an enemy Shall wee suffer the one to poyson our â—oules and the other to kill our bodies without resistance 2. In Divinity you love to keep the road so did not Eliah in his time nor Christ and his Apostles in theirs If the road be infested with theeves holes or precipices you were better ride about the broad way is not still the best way 3. You follow the great Wheele of the Church by which you move but this Wheele â—s sometime out of order Had you been a member of the Hebrew Church when that worshipped the Calfe I perceive you would have moved with her and danced â—o her pipe Was it not better to follow the private dictats of Christ and his Apoâ—tles then to move with the great Wheele of â—he Iewish Church When the whole world groaned and wondered that shee was made Arian was it not safer to steere ones course after the private pole of Athanasius his spirit then to move with the great Wheele of the Arian Church Had you lived in that time when the Woman who had the Eagles wings was forced to flye unto the wildernesse being pursued by a floud out of the Dragons mouth had you I say then lived would not you rather have followed her then stay at home and worship Christs Image with the same adoration of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nay worship the Crosse with the same that Christ himselfe is worshipped You cannot be ignorant how disordered the motion was of the great Wheele of the Iewish Church in the dayes of Elijah Manasses and Hosea Christ tells us that when hee comes againe hee will scarce find faith upon the earth how then will the Churches great Wheele move Your greener studies you say were polluted with the Arabians heresie that mens soules perished with their bodies but should be raised againe This opinion you thinke Philosophy hath not throughly disproved and you dare not challenge the prerogrative of immortality to your soule because of the unworthinesse or merits of your unworthy nature First Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diu your vessell retaines yet the sent of that liquor with which at first it was seasoned Secondly if you have forgot reade over againe Plato and you shall find that Philosophy can throughly prove the soules immortality reade also Aristotle Will you have reasons out of Philosophy take these 1. The soule is of an heavenly and quintessentiall nature not of an elementary 2. The soule is a simple substance not compounded of any principles therefore can be resolved unto none Now if it were compounded it could not be actus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and principium 3. As the soule hath neither matter nor forme in it so neither are there in it any contrarieties now all generation and corruption are by contraries This is the reason why Philosophy denieth any generation or corruption in the Heavens because they are void of contrarieties 4. It is a Maxime in Philosophy Quod secundum se alicui convenit est ab eo inseparabile therefore life is inseparable from the soule because it lives by it selfe not by another as the body doth or by accident as the souls of beasts do 5. Mens soules have subsistence by themselves not by their composita as accidents and the formes of beasts have which is the cause of their decay 6. The soule hath a naturall desire to immortality which if it should not enjoy that desire were given to it from God in vaine At Deus Natura nihil faciunt frustra 7. If the soule perish it must be resolved to nothing for it cannot be resolved unto any principles as not being made of them if some thing can be resolved unto nothing then some thing was made of nothing but Philosophy denies this therefore it must needs deny that or the corruption of the soule and consequently it holds the soules immortality I could alledge many testimonies of Heathens to prove how they beleeved the immortality of the soule but that I study brevity Thirdly let not the merits of our unworthy nature deterre us from challenging the soules immortality for the evill Angels have merited worse then we â—nd yet they cease not for that to be imâ—ortall Though by sin we have lost oriâ—inall righteousnesse or supernaturall â—race yet wee have not lost the essentiall â—roperties of our natures and indeed wicâ—ed men would be glad that their soules were as mortall as their bodies for they â—now that the merits of their unworthy natures deserve torments rather then sleep or rest therefore this your Arabian opinion is not grounded upon Philosophy but rather upon Pope Iohn the 20. his heresie for which hee was condemned by the Divines of Paris Your second errour was that of Origens That God would after some time release the damned soules from torture S. Austin shewes how pernicious this opinion of Origens is for it opens a gap to all profanenesse it destroyes Gods justice which cannot be satisfied without eternity of paine being the person offended is eternall and the will of the sinner in offending is eternall if hee could live eternally Voluisseâ—t reprobi sâ— potuissent sine fine vivere ut possent sine fine peccare I take these are the words of Gregory the Great Besides this opinion iâ— quite repugnant to the Scripture which tells us of a worme that never dies of a firâ— that 's never quenched of the divell beast and false prophet which shall be tormented for ever night and day Againe if the wicked shall have an end of their torments why may you not as well thinke that the Saints shall have an end of their joyes But it 's good to be wise with sobriety and not to make God more mercifull then the Scripture makes him it 's sufâ—â—cient that God hath freed some of Adams race from eternall fire whereas hee might have damned all his mercy is to be regulated by his owne wisdome not by our conceipts If melancholy natures are apt to despaire when they thinke of eternall fire let them be comforted with the hopes of eternall blisse therefore as Austin of Origen so may I say of all his followers Tanto errant perversiùs quanto videntur de Deo sentire clementiùs Your third errour whereunto you were enclined from some charitable inducements was prayer for the dead If the dead for whom â—ou prayed were in heaven your prayers
Medicus Medicatus OR THE PHYSICIANS RELIGION CURED BY A LENITIVE OR GENTLE POTION With some ANIMADVERSIONS upon Sir Kenelme Digbie's OBSERVATIONS on Religio Medici By ALEXANDER ROSS LONDON Printed by Iames Young and are to be sold by Charles Green at the Signe of the Gun in Ivie-lane Anno Dom. 1645. TO MY VVORTHY AND EVER HONOURED FRIEND Mr. EDWARD BENLOWES ESQUIRE SIR TO satisfie your desire I have endeavoured so farre as the shortnesse of time the distractions of my mind and the want of Bookes would give mee leave in this place of exile to open the mysteries of this Treatise so much cried up by those whose eyes pierce no deeper then the superficies and their judgements then the out-sides of things Expect not here from mee Rhetoricall flourishes I study matter not words Good wine needs no bush Truth is so amiable of her selfe that shee cares not for curious dressing Where is most painting there is least beauty The Gentleman who at last acknowledgeth himselfe to be the Authour of this Booke tells us that many things in it are not to be called unto the rigid test of reason being delivered Rhetorically but as I suspect that friendship which is set out in too many Verball Complements so doe I that Religion which is trimmed up with too many Tropicall pigments and Rhetoricall dresses If the gold be pure why feares it the Touch-stone The Physician will trie the Apothecaries drugges ere hee make use of them for his Patients bodie and shall wee not trie the ingredients of that Religion which is accounted the physick of our soules I have no leasure nor mind here to expatiate my selfe a sparkle of the publike flame hath taken hold on my estate my avocations are divers my Bookes farre from mee and I am here Omnibus exhaustus pene casibus omnium egenus Therefore accept these sudden and extemporary Animadversions so earnestly desired by you as a testimony of his service and love to you who will alwaies be found Your servant to command Dum res aetas Sororum Fila trium patiuntur atra A. R. The Contents of the chiefe things briefly handled here in this Booke are these 1 IF the Papists and we are of one faith 2. If it be lawfull to joyne with them in prayers in their Churches 3. If Crosses and Crucifixes are fit meanes to excite devotion 4. If it be fit to weep at a Procession 5. If we owe the Pope good language 6. If we may dispute of Religion 7. If the Church at all times is to be followed 8. Of the soules immortality 9. Of Origen's opinion concerning the damned 10. Of prayer for the dead 11. Of seeing Christ corporally 12. If the soule can be called mans Angell or Gods body 13. Of Gods wisedome and knowledge 14. How Nature is to be defined 15. If Monsters are beautifull 16. If one may pray before a game at Tables 17. Of judiciall Astrologie 18. Of the brasen Serpent 19. Of Eliah's miracle of fire Of the sire of Sodome Of Manna 20. If there be Atheists 21. If man hath a right side 22. How America was peopled 23. If Methusalem was longest lived 24. If Judas hanged himselfe Of Babels Tower Of Peters Angell 25. If miracles be ceased 26. If we may say that God cannot doe some things 27. If he denieth Spirits who denieth Witches 28. If the Angels know our thoughts 29. If the light be a spirituall substance or may be an Angell 30. If the Heavens bee an immateriall world 31. If Gods presence be the habitation of Angels 32. How they are ministring spirits to us 33. If creation bee founded on contrarieties 34. If the soule be ex traduce 35. Of Monsters 36. If the body be the soules instrument 37. If the seat of Reason can be found in the braine 38. If there be in death any thing that may daunt us 39. If the soule sleeps in the body after death 40. If there shall be any judiciall proceeding in the last day 41. If there shall be any signes of Christs coming 42. If Antichrist be yet knowne 43. If the naturall forme of a plant lost can be recovered 44. If beyond the tenth Sphere there is a place of blisse 45. Of Hell-fire and how it workes on the soule 46. Of the locall place of Hell 47. The soules of worthy Heathens where 48. Of the Châ—rches in Asia and Africa 49. If wee can bee confident of our salvation The CONTENTS of the second Part. 1 OF Physiognomie and Palmestry 2. If friends should be loved before parents 3. If one should love his friend as hee doth his God 4. If originall sin is not washed away in baptisme 5. Of Pride 6. If we should sue after knowledge 7. If the act of coition be foolish 8. Evill company to be avoided 9. If the soule was before the elements The CONTENTS of the ANIMADVERSIONS 1 IF the condition of the soule cannot bee changed without changing the essence 2. How the light is actus perspicui 3. If the first matter hath an actuall existence 4. If matter forme essence c. be but notions 5. Iudiciall Astrologie impious and repugnant to Divinity 6. If the Angels know all at their creation 7. If the light be a solid substance 8. If the soule depends on the body 9. If terrene soules appeare after death 10. Departed soules carry not with them affections to the objects left behind 11. If slaine bodies bleed at the sight of the murtherer 12. How God is the cause of annihilation and how the creature is capable of it 13. If our dust and ashes shall be all gatheâ—ed together in the last day 14. If the same identicall bodies shall rise â—gaine 15. If the forme or the matter gives nuâ—ericall individuation 16. If the matter without forme hath actuâ—ll being 17. If identity belong to the matter 18. If the body of a childe and of a man be â—he same 19. Of some Similies by which identicall â—esurrection seems to be weakned 20. If grace be a quality and how wee are â—ustified by grace I Have perused these Animadverâ—â—ons entitled Medicus Medicatus anâ— those likewise of Sir Kenelme Digbieâ— themselves also animadverted on bâ— the same Authour and finding then learned sound and solid I alloâ— them to bee printed and published that many others may receive thâ— same satisfaction content and delight in reading of them which professe my selfe to have enjoyed iâ— their perusall Iohn Downameâ— Medicus Medicatus THough the Authour desires that his Rhetorick may not be brought to the test of reason yet we must be bold to let him know that our reason is not given to us in vaine shall we suffer our selves to be wilfully blind-folded shall we shut our eyes that wee may not see the traps and snares â—aid in our waies he would have us sleep securely that the envious man may sowe tares among the good corne latet anguis in herba all is not gold that glisters it were strange stupidity in
â—ere needlesse for there is fulnesse of joy â—nd pleasures for evermore but if these â—ead were in hell your prayers were fruitâ—esse for from thence is no redemption â—econdly if you enclined to pray for the â—ead you did necessarily encline to the â—pinion of Purgatory for that depends on â—his and so you were injurious to the â—loud of Christ which hath purged us from â—ll sinne to the merit and satisfaction of Christ to the grace of God and justifying Faith Thirdly you had no ground in Scripture or any warrant from the ancient Church in her purer times to pray for â—he dead there was indeed a commemoâ—ation of their names and a meeting of Christians at the place where the Martyrs â—uffered but there was no praying either â—o them or for them but onely a desire â—hat other Christians might be like them â—nd their names were rehearsed that they â—ight not be obliterated by silence and â—hat posterity might know they were in â—lisse and that thanks mighâ— be given to God for them that the living might shew their charity to them and might be excited to an holy emulation of their vertues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad acuendam charitatem in illos quos imitari possumus et in illum quo adjuvante possumus This then was the better way to be remembred by posterity and not by praying to them as afterward when superstition crept by degrees into the Church You have a piece of Rhetorick ill becoming a Christian physician You blesse your selfe and are thankfull that you never saw Christ nor his Disciples Was it because he or they by curing all diseases freely would have hindered your practice I am sure Saint Luke a physician was not of your mind who was an inseparable companion of Saint Paul Did not many Kings and Prophets desire to see that which you slight and could not see it It was one of Austins wishes to see Christ in the flesh Old Simeon was so over-joyed with that sight that hee desires to depart in peace with a song in his mouth The three Wisemen were never so wise as in undertaking so long a journey to see Christ. It seemes you would not have taken the paines with Zacheus to climb up a Sycomore tree to see Christ but hee lost nothing by it for hee that desired to see Christ was seen by him and rewarded with salvation The â—oore Hemoroisse got more good by one touch of Christs garment then by all the physick she had received from those of your profession You would not be one of Christs patients in that nature as you say for feare your faith should be thrust upon you 'T is well you are of so strong a faith that you need no such helps but presume not too much with Peter to walk on the sea without Christs help you 'l sink I will pray with the blind man I beleeve Lord help my unbeliefe You had as leive we tell you that the soule is mans Angell or the body of God as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the first acâ— and perfection of the body It seemes here by your owne confession you love to humour your fancie for otherwise you cannot deny the soule to be the first act and perfection of the body whereas no man can conceive that the soule should be an Angell except you will follow Origens opinion that soules and Angels are of the same species which is absurd seeing the one are made to subsist without bodies so are not the other the one are intellective the other rationall substances The Schooles will tell you that the Angels differ specifically one from another how then can they and the soules of men differ only numerically But this will not relish with you who loves allegoricall descriptions better then metaphysicall definitions But tell us how you conceive the soule to be Gods body Hath God a body seeing hee is free from all composition both of essence and existence of nature and personalty of gender and difference in whom can be no corporiety because no matter without which a body can no more be then a dreame without sleep or bread without meat saith Scaliger Now if any matter were in God then there must be in him a passive possibility and quantity also and distinction of parts all which essentially follow the matter Besides God and our soules must make but one compound and so God and the creature is but one â—ompounded substance And whereas the â—ompound is posterior to the parts comâ—ounding it must follow that God must 〈◊〉 after our soules and must be subject to â—â—me cause for every compound hath a â—â—use of its composition What a strange â—od doth your allegoricall description deâ—ypher to us Were you not better admit 〈◊〉 metaphysicall definition of the soule to â—it actus primus corporis naturalis organici â—â—tentiâ vitam habentis then such a wild â—â—ncie that anima est corpus Dei You were 〈◊〉 good speak out in plaine termes with â—lato and tell us that the world is a great â—â—imal whereof God is the soule You say that God is wise because he knowâ—â—h all things and he knowes all things because 〈◊〉 made them all But I say that God â—â—oweth all things because he is wise for 〈◊〉 wisdome is not like ours ours is got 〈◊〉 knowledge and long experience so is 〈◊〉 Gods whose wisdome and knowledge 〈◊〉 co-eternall but in priority of order â—is wisdome precedes his knowledge We â—now first the effects of things and conâ—usions by discourse and then come to the knowledge of the principles which we 〈◊〉 wisdome but God knowes the principleâ— and causes of things simplici intuitu anâ— immediatly being all in himselfe the effects and conclusions hee knowes in theâ—â— causes and principles Secondly Goâ— knowes not all things because hee madâ— them all but hee made them because 〈◊〉 knew them for hee knew them before 〈◊〉 made them he knew them from eternity he made them in time and with time Againe is there nothing that God knoweâ— but what he made Hee knowes himselfe hee knowes those notions of our mind which we call entia rationis he knows nonâ—entities and he knowes evill and yet thesâ— he never made nor will make You define not nature with the Schooles thâ— principle of motion and rest but a straight anâ— regular line c. Indeed this is not to define but to overthrow a good definition the end of which is to bring us to thâ— knowledge of the things defined therefore Aristotle in his Topicks will have us to avoid Metaphors which cast a mist upoâ— the thing defined every Metaphor beinâ— â—ore obscure then proper words But I â—ee you delight in such fancies for you â—efine light to be the shadow of God I â—hink Empedocles his definition would â—lease you well who defines the sea to be â—he sweat of the earth and Plato defines the â—oles to be the little feet on
and therefore are not the objects of his omnipotencie but that is only the object which is possibile absolutum So I think it is good manners to say God cannot lie or die because it cannot â—gree with his active power to suffer or to die So he cannot sin because it agreeth not with right reason In a word Deus nequit facere quod nequit fieri I think then it were breach of good manners to say that God could do any thing which were repugnant either to his wisdome goodnesse or power And though his power and will make but one God yet they are different attributes ratione for the will commands and the power puts in execution You say that they who deny witches deny spirits also and are a kind of Atheists A strange kind of Atheisme to deny witches but is there such a strict relation between witches and spirits that hee that denies the one must needs deny the other Sure the existence of spirits depends not upon the witches invocation of or paction with spirits We reade that Zoroastres was the first witch in the world and hee lived after the Floud were there no spirits I pray till then This is as much as if you would say there were no divels among the Gadarens till they entered into their swine You thinke the Angels know a great part of our thoughts because by reflexion they behold the thoughts of one another That the Angels know one another is out of doubt but how they know one anothers thoughts is unknowne to mee This I know that none knowes the thoughts of man but man himself and God that made him it being Gods prerogative to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If they know our thoughts 't is either by revelation from God or by some outward signe and demonstration from our selves for whilest they are immanent and in the Understanding they are only knowne to God because he only hath the command of our Wills from which our thoughts depend The light which wee stile a bare accident you say is a spirituall substance where it subsists alone and may be an Angell Let us see where and when it subsists alone without a subject and then wee will beleeve you that it is a spirituall substance And if your light may be an Angel that must needs be an Angell of light What a skipping Angell will ignis fatuus make The Chandlers and Bakers trades are honouâ—able those can make lights which may in â—ime become Angels these wafers which â—n time become gods This Section consists of divers errours First you call the Heavens the immateriall world so you confound the celestiall world with the intellectuall which only is immateriall and had its being in the divine intellect before it was made Secondly if the Heavens be immateriall they are not movable for matter is the subject of motion Why then doe you call the great Sphere the first movable Thirdly an immateriall world cannot be the habitation of materiall substances where then will the bodies of the Saints after the resurrection have their residence Fourthly if the Heavens have not matter they have not quantity and parts Fifthly nor are they compounded substances of matter and forme but simple as spirits Sixthly though they have not such a matter as the elementary world yet immateriall they are not they have a matter the subject of quantity though not of generation and corruption Your second errour is that you call Gods essence the habitation of Angels and therefore they live every-where where his essence is Divinitie tells us that Angels are in a place definitivè and that they as we all live and move in him as in our efficient protecting and sustaining cause but not as in a place for Angels move out of one place to another and while they are on earth they are not in heaven but if Gods essence be their habitation then they never change place for his essence is every-where and so you make them partakers of Gods proper attribute Ubiquity Your third errour is that God hath not subordinated the creation of Angels to ours but as ministring spirits they are willing to fulfill Gods will in the affaires of man Then belike God made them not to be ministring spirits to the heires of salvation but they are so of their owne accord if so wee are more beholding to them for their comfort protection and instruction of us then to God who made them not for this end but as you say for his owne glory But if you were as good at Divinity as at Physick you will find that Gods glory is not â—ncompatible with their service to us but â—n this is God glorified that they comfort â—nstruct and protect us for this charge hee hath given to his Angels over us and so we are bound to them for their care much more to him for his love in creating them to this end Your fourth errour is that both generation and creation are founded on contrarieties If creation were a transmutation which still presupposeth a subject I would be of your opinion but seeing it is not and hath no subject without which contrarieties cannot be in nature I deny that creation is founded on contrarieties neither is non-entity contrary but the totall privation of being which God gave to the creature You wonder at the multitude of heads that deny traduction having no other argument of their beliefe but Austins words Creando infunditur c. But I wonder as much at you who is not better acquainted with our Divinitie for wee have many reasons to confirm us against traduction besides Saint Austins authority At first that the soule is immateriall therefore hath not quantitie nor parts nor is subject to division as it must be if it be subject to traduction or propagation Secondly the soule existeth in and by it selfe depending from the bodie neither in its being nor operation and by consequence not in its production nec in esse nec in fieri nec in operari Thirdly if the soule were educed out of the power of the matter it were mortall as the soules of beasts are which having their beginning and being from the matter must faile when that failes Fourthly the effect is never nobler then the cause but the soule in regard of understanding doth in excellencie far exceed the body Fifthly a body can no more produce a spirit then an horse can beget a man they being different species Sixthly if the soule were propagated in or by the seed then this were a true enunciation Semen est animal rationale and so the seed should be man Seventhly if the soule of the son be propagated by the soule or of the soule of the parent then we must admit transmutation of soules as we doe of bodies in generation Eighthly we â—ave the Churches authoritie Ninthly â—nd the testimony of Gentiles for Aristotle â—cknowledgeth the Intellect to enter into â—â—e body from without And Apuleius in â—is mysticall
the object gooâ— or bad the one by prosecution the otheâ— by avoiding so that where the heart iâ— not nor the externall senses to conveigâ— the object to the phantasie nor the animalâ— spirits to carry the species of the object from the phantasie to the heart there caâ— be no affection but such is the estate of â—he soule separated it hath no commerce 〈◊〉 all with the body or bodily affections â—nd of this the Poets were not ignorant â—hen they made the departed soules to â—rink Securos latices longa oblivia â—f the river Lethe which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wished for goddesse by â—hose that are in misery 11. He thinkes that when the slaine body â—uddenly bleedeth at the approach of the murâ—erer that this motion of the bloud is caused by â—he soule But this cannot be for the soule when it is in the body cannot make it â—leed when it would if it could we should â—ot need Chirurgions to phlebotomise and â—carifie us much lesse then can it being seâ—arated from the body Secondly in a â—old body the bloud is congealed how â—hall it grow fluid againe without heat or how hot without the animall and vitall spirits and how can they worke without the soule and how can this operate without union to the body If then any such â—leeding be as I beleeve that sometimes â—here hath been and may be so againe I thinke it the effect rather of a miracle tâ— manifest the murtherer then any naturalâ— cause for I have read that a mans armeâ— which was kept two years did at the sighâ— of the murtherer drop with bloud which could not be naturally seeing it could noâ— but be withered and dry after so long time yet I deny not but before the body be cold or the spirits quite gone it may bleed some impressions of revenge and anger being left in the spirits remaining which may move the bloud but the safest way is to attribute such motions of the bloud to the prayers of these soules under the Altar saying Quousque Domine 12. No annihilation can proceed from God it is more impossible that not-being should flow from him then that cold should flow immediately from fire 'T is true that God is not an efficient cause of annihilation for of a non-entity there can be no cause yet we may safely say that hee is the deficient cause for as the creatures had both their creation and have still their conservation by the influx of Gods Almighty power who as the Apostle saith sustaines all things by the word of his power so if he should suspend or withdraw this influx all things must returne to nothing as they were made of nothing There is then in the creature both a passive possibilitie of annihilation and in God an active possibilitie to withdraw his assistance and why should we be afraid to affirm such a power in God Before the world was made there was annihilation and yet God was still the same both before and since without any alteration in him So if the world were annihilated God should lose nothing being in himselfe all things Againe as God suspended his worke of creation the seventh day without any diminution of his power and goodnesse so hee may suspend if hee please the work of conservation which is a continuated production Besides as God created not the world by necessity of his nature but by his free will so by that same freedome of will hee sustaines what hee hath created and not by any necessity and therefore not only corruptible bodies but even spirits and angels have in them a possibility of annihilation if God should withdraw from them his conservative influence Ieremy was not ignorant of his owne and his peoples annihilation if God should correct them in fury Ierem. 10. But though there be a possibility in the creatures if God withdraw his power of annihilation yet wee must not think that this possibility in them flowes from the principles of their owne nature for in materiall substances there is no such possibility seeing the matter is eternall and much lesse can it be in immateriall substances in which there is neither physicall composition nor contrariety As the Sun then is the cause of darknesse and the Pilot the cause of shipwrack the one by withdrawing his light the oâ—her by denying his assistance so may God be the cause of annihilation by suspending or subtracting his influence 13. He thinkes it is a grosse conception to think that every atome of the body or every graine of ashes of the cadaver burned and scattered by the wind should be raked together and made up anew into the same body it was But this is no grosse conceit if he consider the power of the Almighty who can with as great facility re-unite these dispersed atomes as he could at first create them utpote idoneus est reficere qui fecit The Gentiles objected the same unto the Christians as a grosse conceit of theirs as Cyril sheweth to whom Tertullian returnes this answer That it is as easie to collect the dispersed ashes of thy body as to make them of nothing Ubicunque resolutus fueris quaecunque te materia destruxerit hauserit aboleverit in nihil prodegerit reddet te ejus est nihilum ipsum cujus est totum 14. But Sir Kenelme in his subsequent discourse to salve this grosse conception as hee calls it of collecting the dispersed ashes of the burned body tells us that the same body shall rise that fell but it shall be the same in forme onely not in matter which he proves by some reasons First that it is the forme not the matter that gives numericall individuation to the body Secondly that the matter without forme hath no actuall being Thirdly that identity belongeth not to the matter by it selfe Fourthly that the body of a man is not the same it was when it was the body of a childe Fifthly he illustrates this by some Similies As that a ship is still the same though it be all new timbered The Thames is still the same river though the water is not the same this day that flowed heretofore That a glasse full of water taken out of the sea is distinguished from the rest of the water but being returned backe againe becomes the same with the other stocke and the glasse being againe filled with the sea-water though not out of the same place yet it is the same glasse full of water that it was before That if the soule of a newly dead man should be united to another body taken from some hill in America this body is the same identicall body hee lived with before his death This is the summe of Sir Kenelm's Philosophy and Divinity concerning the resurrection In which are these mistakes First the resurrection by this opinion is overthrowne a surrection wee may call it of a body but not the resurrection of the same body This is no new opinion but the
heresie of the Marcionites Basilidians and Valentinians whom Tertullian calls Partianos sententiae Sadducaeorum as acknowledging but halfe a resurrection Resurrectio dici non potest ubi non resurgit quod cecidit saith Gregory Secondly Christ is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to transfigure or transforme our vile bodies in the resurrection but if the same numericall body rise not our resurrection will be a forming of a new body not a transforming of the old Or an assumption of a body rather then a resurrection Or if you please a Pythagoricall transanimation Thirdly the end why man was made or why his body was united to his soule was that both might enjoy God the chief beatitude but man should be frustrated of his end if the same body did not rise that was given him in the creation Fourthly if the essentiall forme of mans body was totally lost as the formes of other creatures are by corruption wee might have some reason to thinke that the body should not rise the same numerically which fell but mans soule which is his essentiall forme remains still the same therefore the body shall returne the same Fifthly though the childe begotten be not numerically the same with the parent begetting because the whole matter of the parent is not transfused into the childe yet in the resurrection the same numericall body shall returne that fell because the whole matter of it remaines Sixthly though the union of the body to the soule in the resurrection be not numerically the same action that was in generation yet the body shall be the same because the entity and unity of the body is not hindered by the multiplication or iteration of accidents such as union is Seventhly our resurrection shall bee conformable to Christs but he raised up the same numericall temple of his body which was destroyed as the same numericall body of Ionas was disgorged which was swallowed by the Whale Eighthly if in artificiall things the introduction of a new forme makes not the matter to be identically different from what it was much lesse can mans body be any other then what it was by introducting the same essentiall forme which was never lost though for a while separated Ninthly it stands with Gods justice and mans comfort that the same body which was the soules companion in tribulation should be also companion with it in glorie that the same body which was to the soule the organ of iniquity should be also the organ of paine and misery the same soules and bodies that run together in the same race let them weare the same crown and reigne together in the same glory Let the Baptist have the same head he lost and Bartholomew the same skin he parted with This was Iob's comfort on the dung-hill that though wormes destroy his body yet hee should see God in his flesh whom I my selfe saith he shall see and mine eyes shall behold and none other for mee though my reines are consumed within me His second mistake is That the forme not the matter gives numericall individuation to the body Is the dead body of an Ethiopian numerically the same with the dead bodie of a Scythian he will not say so then they are different bodies but by what the forme is gone is not then the difference in respect of the matter and accidents which remaine in the carkasse 'T is true that the chiefe cause of individuation is the forme in men yet not as it gives essence for so it makes the specificall union by which all men are one but as it gives existence to the matter which it terminates with quantitie and invests with other accidents which matter and accidents are the secondary cause of individuation but in dead bodies the forme of man being gone there remaines nothing but the form of a carkasse or the form of mixtion which determinating the matter of the carkasse with its accidents makes up the numericall individuation by which one carkasse is distinguished from another His third mistake That the matter without forme hath no actuall being The matter as it is a substance and hath entity as it is the other principle of generation and as it is the cause of motion it must needs have an actuall being or else it can be none of these it must be all one with privation if it have no actuall being 'T is true it hath not that measure of actuall being which it receives from the forme till the union and yet I see not how the matter is at any time without forme seeing it is never without privation which presupposeth a forme in the matter which is to be expelled for introduction of another His fourth mistake That identitie belongs not to the matter by it selfe So he may as well say that entity belongs not to the matter by it selfe for identity followes the entity as unity doth which is in a maner the same that identity he should have said that matter gives not identity to things neither genericall specificall nor numericall for such proceeds from the forme yet there can be neither of these identities without the matter for the conjunction of the forme with the matter makes identity and yet before the forme be united the particular parts of the matter have their particular identities and inclinations to such and such formes as mans seed to the forme of a man not of an horse an egge to the forme of a chick not of a man so after the soule is gone that identity remaines in the matter which was before to wit an inclination to that forme which once it had rather then to any other or rather then any other part of the matter can have to this forme His fifth mistake That the body of a man is not the same it was Philoâ—ophers say that the matter remaines after the forme is gone so that a dead body in respect of its matter is the same it was whilst the soule was in it If then the absence or change of the forme takes not away the identity of the matter much lesse can that identity of the body be gone whilst the soule remains in it They that bring markes and spots in their skins as Seleucus and Augustus did retaine them still untill their skin be consumed which shewes that the body is the same in infancie aâ—d old age If Ulysses had not brought home after his twenty years travell the same body he carried out his Nurse had not knowne him by his foot nor had his dogge fawned on him I know the common opinion is that the body is the same in respect of continuation and because it hath the same essentiall forme otherwise there is a continuall deperdition and reparation of the matter by nutrition and auction but I cannot find that there is any deperdition of the solid parts or any alteration in the heterogeneall but onely in the bloud and spirits or such fluid parts And doubtlesse the primogeneall or radicall humour which wee bring with us wee