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
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
him who is neither Author nor accessary but 't is propagated in generation by the first Mans fal or fault through the loins of perpetual posterity one from another It rests to present som gleanings gathered from the said Corollary Treatis which tends to this Theory 1. Creation is a metaphysical production of a Thing out of Nothing immediatly by God so the first Chaos caled Heaven and Earth was made of meer nothing and the rest mediatly out of it but Adams Body of Earth mediatly and his Soul immediatly of nothing by a middle way of Production 2. Propagation is a Natural act or faculty wherby a living Creature begets his like for continuance of the Kind this is the proper perfection of every Animal Vegetant Sentient Intelligent being the most excellent faculty ingrafted in Nature by Gods special charge and blessing of Increas and multiply which is duple 1. Equivocal when Plants or Animals are bred of putrefaction as Weeds Magots Eeles c. 2. Univocal when ech Animat brings its like as Wheat Wheat Whale a Whale Eagle an Eagle Lion a Lion Man a Man This is doon by the seed of generation which contains the whol Nature to continu the Species for ever wheras Individuals are al mortal or momentany So Mans seed Natures quintessence containing the whol Kind is lodged in a place fit for propagation of another conspecifical which generation being Mans perfection he cannot be said propagat either part but the whol or a third consisting both of Form and Matter Hence our propagation from Adam is a deduction of the whol Man according to Natures cours in turning our potential being into act which derivs his Nature to us but if the Soul be fetch'd from Heaven and Body from Earth how shal both ends be brought together or what shal this mix'd action be caled Simple Creation it cannot be nor pure propagation but a Mungrel like a Mule For Creation and Propagation differ divesly 1. One is Gods work by himself of meer nothing wrought by his sole Word and Wil the other Natures of som preexistent matter according to ech Creatures kind by Gods ordinance setled in Nature 2. That is doon in an instant by an infinit essence which requires no time this by previous preparations or gradual perfections which take time tho the very conception is acted in a moment 3. One is performed without any motion or mutation but in the other the same matter is changed or varied into several forms 4. In the first things are not made of one substance with the Creator but in the last both hav the same substance 5. In Creation privation preceds the habit power act and darknes light but in Propagation contrary habit foregoes privation as sight blindnes act power and light darknes The Reasons that Mans Soul cannot be propagated by cours of Creation are thes 1. It impugns Gods Justice to put a 1. Reason pure innocent essence into a condition to be instantly damned for anothers sin which it must be if an Embryo dies before born and baptised To this 't is said the new Soul is guilty by union which is a greater aspersion on divine Justice but no salvo for if it be in no fault why shal it be guilty and punished for Adams fal If it be replied That God so eternaly Decreed this farther aggravats nor doth it appear that he so Decreed which to aver without warrant is most hainous for if he Decreed as Supralapsarians harshly hold that al should sin and suffer death in Adam 't is requisit to be by just means which if it may be doon by Traduction rather then Creation yea by that way and not this then is that to be counted Gods Decree Can Justice it self deal unjustly surely in equity is no iniquity God promiseth and proclameth that a faultless Child shal not suffer Ezek. 18. 20. for his Fathers guilt why then shal a good Soul be so deeply punished for anothers sin to whom it is scars kin sith Adam that sinned was no simple Soul but a Man 2. If the Soul be immediatly created pure it cannot be polluted by a Body which of it self is not the subject of sin nor can defile a spiritual substance being the first mover of al acts in the Body and it should rather sanctify that then be stained by it So it may better be defended that we hav original righteousnes becaus the Soul coms from God then original sin becaus the Body coms from Adam If it should be granted that the Soul is polluted by yeelding to bodily lusts yet this is actual sin not original corruption Nor can it com from a pure created Soul To this 't is said That at the instant of Creation God bereavs al supernatural gifts for Adams laps which though it put not evil into the Soul yet original sin necessarily flows or folows This seems uncouth that God shal at once doo and undoo or make and mar so soon as 't is made or giv goodness and take it away instantly Nay if it be created in infusing 't is void of supernatural gifts and so cannot be deprived of what it never had But if it be created without thos gifts which to us are supernatural he creats it evil as al Men are without such nor can a Soul be good without them If then God makes it so that it must needs be evil he makes it evil sith he makes it that it cannot be good Yet if al the premisses be conceded 't is never the neer to salv original sin sith this is not to sin in Adam but to becom sinful for him So it results that the Soul if created good cannot possibly contract Adams sin nor can al Mens wits or wiles cleerly shew how a Soul created pure can be polluted and al shifts hitherto devised are silly Cobweb Lawns pervious to every ey The last refuge that it coms neither by Soul nor Body but by union of both sith by it we becom Sons of Adam and so his sin made ours is Mr. Calvins curious conceipt but scars satisfactory For it is a spiritual Lepry which hereditarily infects the whol Man with al parts and powers If then the Soul at first union be pure and Body polluted the Child shal be half holy and half sinful Or if both be clean at first how can union make both or either unclean for when two good are conjoined both becom better Hence som say Adams sin is only imputed not inherent and so we only reputed corrupt Indeed Christs righteousnes is realy ours by imputation and a voluntary institution as a Covenant of Grace differs from ordinary Justice in cours of Nature sith 't is free to shew mercy without caus but not to punish without du desert Nor can this sin be justly imputed to al unles the whol Man be propagated for 't is a real infection of the whol Nature both Body and Soul 3. As by Gods Ordinance original sin passeth from one to al
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
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
Mankind so by propagation al Mankind proceds out of one and as that sin overspreads the whol Man so both parts being infected must needs be propagated Again as this sin is seated specialy in the Soul so 't is chiefly propagated according to Natures cours Hence three points rest to be proved 1. That original sin passeth only by propagation as Scriptures universaly testify By one man death passed upon al becaus al sinned in him and 't is imputed to his Posterity becaus al were in him as the Root or Stock and al descend out of him so his sin becoms ours both by imputation and propagation but by the first becaus of the last For 't is not anothers sin imputed which is not ours but that made ours by propagation actualy which before was only potentialy This is cleer by the Antithesis between the first and secund Adam as in one al dy so in Christ shal al be made aliv The one being Root of Mankind in whom al are by Nature the other Head of the Elect in whom they are al by Grace Such then are deceived as deem Adams sin only imputed like Christs righteousnes sith this last is the Creators voluntary Institution and work of meer Mercy but the first a necessary operation of the Creature and work of Justice So the Antithesis holds tru thus As in Christ we fulfilled the Law suffered death and attained salvation being members of his Body by Grace So in Adam we eat the forbiden fruit becam Satans bondslaves and were in state of damnation being al members of his Body by Nature So Christ derivs his righteousnes to his Children by spiritual regeneration as Adam did his sin to al Men by natural generation Ergo as Christs righteousnes is not imputed but by means of regeneration wherby we becom members of his Body So Adams sin cannot be imputed but by generation wherby we descend from him as his members If Adams sin be simply imputed becaus we are Men as he was who received or lost for himself and al Mankind then must it be imputed to Christ as Man so wel as to us which is not so for our sinning in him and being sinfully propagated from him makes us liable which Christ was not becaus sanctified in the womb by the holy Ghost at first conception but al els derived from him and his sin to us through one anothers loins 2. Original sin cannot be propagated unles the whol Man and both Parts be which necessarily flows from the premisses for except the whol Man descends from him the whol cannot be infected sith neither Soul nor Body alone is the subject of sin but the Person Or if the whol be not the subject 't is not properly sinful The Law likewise is given to the whol and the Person punished or rewarded 3. The whol Man cannot be propagated unles the Soul be sith the whol consists of its parts To say the Soul coms from Adam quoad existentiam unionem non quoad essentiam is sly Sophistry not real or rational for then Man contributs but the worst part not the whol nor half Nor is it tru that Adam is caus of the union but rather God if he creats the Soul Nor if the Soul be infused can any tel how long time after conception during which space the Woman works alone But if the whol Man be said properly to proced from Adam becaus the body doth much more may it be verified to com from God becaus the Soul doth so the union rather to be ascribed to God as the noblest suprem Agent then to Man the baser and inferior If then the whol Man and both parts be not propagated it results that we were in Adam wherin we are not viz. the Person that we sinned in him without that without which he could not sin viz. the Soul That the whol Man was in Adam yet never cam from him That we lost in him which we never had of him viz. original righteousnes That he shal stil be ful of Souls which he never had That the whol person proceds from him yet not that which makes the whol 4. Christs Soul was not created but his whol Humanity taken from the Virgin for his birth life death are curiosly and circumstantialy recorded by the Evangelists but no Soul creation which they would not omit being so pregnant a proof that he was without sin if it was created pure Nor is any Souls creation since Adams specified in Scripture Christ is caled the seed of the Woman and Davids seed according to the flesh which imports the whol Humanity as opposed to his Deity but if his Soul was created the imputation of Adams sin to al Men must be likewise lâ—able to him as Man Ad hereto That the Soul and Body as 't is in al others were conceived at once for the divine Nature being immediatly united to the Soul and by it to the Body the Soul must be produced in the moment of conception with the Body or els the Deity was first united to a brute Body which is brutish to imagin The truth is his Soul being united with the Body into one Nature at first conception becam one Person with the eternal Word by a miraculous working of the holy Ghost who purified the Womb that the Birth becam exempt from sin So his whol Humanity Soul and Body was deduced from Adam and separated from the Virgin by the holy Ghost But a Soul cannot be produced by Natures ordinary cours no more then a Body without concurrence of both Sexes Souls yet being performed by supernatural power 't is a tru Soul and so is the Body both which joined in one Person make a perfect Man as Eve was a very Woman though taken out of Man and Christ tru Man taken only out of Woman For in Mans quadruple production â—â— a duple concordance Adam made immediatly by God without Man or Woman Eve mediatly out of Man without Woman Christ immediatly out of Woman without Man but al els mediatly by both 'T is said the holy Ghost sanctified part of the Virgins substance assumed by the Godhead to make Christs Person which terms are tru if wel understood For by part of hir substance is meant the whol Nature or both parts not Body only whereof his Humanity was framed By sanctifying is not meant clensing that portion from sin but consecrating it to that holy purpos indowing it with gifts fit for so divine union yet was it free from sin or rather never sinful by reason of this union For al substances were created exceeding good and depend immediatly on God Nor is sin essential to Mans Nature but accidental cleaving to the person by Adams fal and not properly in the substance of Human Nature Nor are evil actions or affections stiled simply sinful but the Man sith sin consists not in any pravity of matter but in the corrupt Wil or intent of the dooer Nor is ther any Law to punish parts or substances
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
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
obey God rather then Men. Brav Men by their own report but doo not al Sects say the same like the Pharisee who praied O God I thank thee 1 am not as other Men Now hear Luke 18 11. their Eulogies of the Disciplin T is the only band of unity bane of Heresy punisher of sin cherisher of righteousnes pure perfect and ful of goodnes ordeined for Gods honor the Peoples health and al Nations happines The most beautiful order of Government substantial form of Christs Regiment and best Gold to build Gods Church which wil make hir a chast Spous bright as the morning fair as the Moon cleer as the Sun and terrible as an Army with Banners The establishing of this Presbytery is the ful placing of Christ in his Kingdom and Scepter wherby he ruleth among Men caled by St. Paul The ground pillar of truth It is the blade of a shaken sword in the Cherubins hand to keep the Tree of Life and chief Throne of al excellence wherin God sits The Temporal Empire is a subaltern under-Court to decide Causes by dictat direction or mandat of the Ecclesiastic Consistory which is Keeper or Overseer of the Civil The Spiritual Jurisdiction so far excels the secular in degree or dignity as ouâ— Soul surpasseth the Body or Heavenly blessings transcend Earthly benefits Such Ministers as prefer Civil Magistrats to Ecclesiastic flatter them lucre and belly fare but the Presbyterial Consistory is Christs Tribunal from which is no appeal wherto the mightiest Monarchs are liable being al Sheep equaly subject to their Shepherds 'T is the safest Shield for a State to prevent Sedition and Rebellion to cut off contention and Law-suits to draw divers from other Trades to study Divinity restoring Men from blindnes to sight darknes to light prophanenes to purity and piety Then wil be unity in the Church when can ye tel if al Sects stil swarm so Papists quail Anabaptists wail and Atheists fail but the People shal find perfection of Justice the Nobility be righted and the Commons comforted then wil God cloth our Priests with salvation and satisfy the Poor with Bâ—ead His Saints shal shout for joy and al ends of the Earth fear him Sir Thomas Mores Vtopia is a meer Anarchy compared to this peerless Polity of Presbyterial parity But their somtime best beloved Brethren Brown Barow Greenwood vilify them and deprav that Disciplin ten times more then thes boasters magnify both whos derogations detractations and defamations for modesty sake shal be superseded to shun scandal slander and scurrility Two Questions were of old debated by Divines chosen on Upshot both sides 1. Whether the word Bishop was ever used in any Church for every Pastor and Presbyter or for one only who ruled both Priests and People within his precincts 2. Whether the name Elder was ever taken in the new Testament or by the Fathers for meer Laics or Ministers only the resolution of both which shal be referred to the premisses which every Man having perused may easily decide or determin to avoid prolixity and Tautology Presbytery is of divine right as instituted by Christ in caling Summarâ— and sending seventy Disciples to preach and confirmed by the Apostles in Ordeining Elders every wher so is Episcopat of equal right on the same score of Christs chusing twelv Apostles and their substituting Bishops to succed in Government but Presbyterial Polity without Prelats by a motly mixture of Ministerial and Laical Elders is a meer novity devised for a shift by Mr. Calvin in case of necessity when the Genevans had expelled their Soveraign Bishop and were destitut of Ecclesiastic Disciplin This is irrefragable verity in point of fact maugre al contradiction Thes three foregoing Theses are transacted too tediously but in the first Traduction of every particular Soul from Parents in the secund Gods Prescience of simple Intelligence which in Order of Nature preceds al Decrees in the third a joint Government of the Head with the Body which is monstrous to sever them wil salv al scruples that can be objected or imagined which no other way can possibly promiss or perform Quale sit a Mundi genesi per secula Cleri Continuum regimen praevia scripta probant What Church-rule from the Worlds birth stil hath bin Through al times may by previous proofs be seen Antistes Caput est Cleri sed Presbyteratus Seâ—uâ— Corpus Episcopii Jâ—s utriusque patet A Bishop is Clergies Head but Presbytry Both's right is cleer Body of Episcopy Historia haec recitat qua recta Ecclesia forma Praesidibusque quibus tempus in omne fuit How through al times the Church was governed And by what Rulers in Story is rehersed Spirituale fuit Regimen pro more Monarchae Aliteâ— Sic Deus instituit Christus idemque tulit Church Goverment was set in Kingly frame So God ordain'd and Christ upheld the same Saera Dei Coetus Politia est condito ab Orbe Aliâ—â— Vsque ad Apostolicos rite redacta dies Gods Churches Regiment from the Worlds Creation Is rightly drawn down to th'Apostles station Presbyteris in Clero ascitus Episcopus omni 〈◊〉 Semper Apostolico jâ—re supremus erat Bishops in al Clergies were set Superior To Priests by Apostolic right stil Inferior Schismatisi suncti rite Haereticique vocantur 〈◊〉 Qui male Praelatis opposuere suis Al that oppos'd their Prelats wrongfully Are Schismatics and Heretics cal'd justly THESIS IIII. Praedictiones de Messia Predictions of Messias THer be manifold manifest Prophecies in the old Testament of the Messiah or Saviour of the World stiled by Jacob Shiloh of whos coming in the â—â—â—sh the Prophets foretold which was fulfilled in the fulnes of time Wherupon the Jews ever since expect his glorious reign on Earth like a King in great extern pomp as Mahometans vainly look for their Pseudoprophets return and Millenars apply it to Christs secund coming with his Martyrs and many eminent Saints raised from death which shal reign with him here victoriously 1000. yeers at whos first approch the Jews shal be converted and acknowledg him their tru Messias Al which predictions concerning Messiah to com were accomplished in and by Christ at his first coming to suffer for the sins of Mankind nor is any els to be expected til his last coming to general Judgment as shal evidently appeer by comparing thirty two Prophecies with St. Matthews Parallels in the Table subscribed Isai 7. 14. Mat. 1. 23. Mich. 5. 2. Mat. 2. 6. Isai 11. 1. Mat. 2. 15. Jer. 31. 15. Mat. 2. 18. Judg. 13. 5. Mat. 2. 23. Isai 40. 3. Mat. 3. 2. Isai 9. 1. Mat. 4. 15. Levit. 14. 4. Mat. 8. 4. Isai 53. 4. Mat. 8. 17. Isai 61. 1. Mat. 11. 4. Isai 42. 1. Mat. 12. 17. Jonah 1. 17. Mat. 12. 40. Isai 6. 9. Mat. 13. 14. Psal 78. 2. Mat. 13. 35. Isai 35. 5. Mat. 15. 30. Isai 62. 11. Mat. 21. 5. Zech. 9. 9. Mat.
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
fit matter wil serv as sundry Plants propagat sans Seed and som Animals of putrefaction 28. Summarily the Souls vegetant in Plants and sentient Summary in Animals whether general wherby they becom Plants and Animals or special specifical which distinguish them into Kinds are only the nobler Temperament of more activ qualities in a subtler matter whether propagated of Seed or other wais ingendered but no substances This needs no other proofs then thos already alleged to refute the Substantiality of Forms but why Man 's Soul should be a substance rather then Beasts many of which are so intelligible and docible as most of simple People witnes the dancing Hors cald Asinago no satisfactory reason can be rendred in nature sav only som dark places of Scripture The result of al is that no substance ever dies or perishes for matter is invariable and al Forms of Inanimats together with the Vegetant and Sentient Souls meer mortal accidents or temperaments only Mans Soul is a substance or Spirit infused or inspired at first by God which is immortal and livs of it self for ever Thes are his Principles of new Philosophy touching the origin of Forms and Souls which let every one relish as his palat affects Now to answer Objections Ob. If the Soul be only a Temperament every natural Body that hath a tempered Crasis shal be Animat but 't is not so Ergo a Soul is no Temperament Sol. This Argument consists of meer affirmativs in the secund Figure and therfore is a filthy Paralogism but every Temperament of Inanimats is not fit for a Soul Ob. A Temperament is changed according to age place and diet but a Soul is not so changed Ergo 'tis no Temperament Sol. Forms are changed or varied gradualy as foreshewed but in the argument is a duple error 1. That it doth not distinguish betwen a total essential and partil gradual change of Temperament for in the total is not only a mutation but corruption of the Soul and makes nothing to purpose in the partil is a change more or less which doth not vary or alter the kind as a tender young Plant being removed from its natural Soil to a Forren grows better or wors without changing the kind yet the unity of Form remains with an alteration in the degrees of perfection 2. That a transition from other Animals to Man is improper for if his Bodily temper change yet the Soul being a distinct substance varies not but in al els Soul and Temperament are one Ob. If the Soul be a Temperament ther be in Animats so many Souls as Tempers one of the rind and wood in Trees another of Flesh and bones in Animals but in every Animat is one only Soul Ergo 'tis no Temperaments Sol. The Peripatetics place two Souls at least in every Animat and three in Animals but divers forms in Inanimats essentialy distinct so according to them 't is no absurdity to grant plurality of Souls yet is ther no plurality of substances but diversity of Temperament Ob. If the Soul be but a Temperament of humors and spirits it could not bridle the Bodies passions or perturbations but it doth and is not led by them Ergo c. Sol. This is tru in Mans Soul which somtimes bridles or moderats passions and somtimes yeelds to them but in no other Animats whos Soul not only folows but is Temperament it self Ob. That can be no Accident or Temperament from which the noblest faculties and functions of imagining remembring and perceiving or judgin â—ensitiv objects proced but Beasts Souls hav such operations remblable to Mans Ergo they are not Accidents Sol. Al such operations are meerly Organical in a material subject and depend on it the Organ is a pure cleer activ Animal spirit sited in the Brain as the seat of Sensation which Spirit is not only the Organ but first Principle therof For in al Animal Spirits two things are found viz. matter and mixture of lifely qualities matter is the first Subject and Organ of Sens qualities the first caus or origin and in both commixd consist al the faculties of apprehension imagination and memory which Brutes hav Thes Spirits are the sole Instruments of al Sensation but no substance useth or ruleth them being the first caus of Sens That which they cal Soul must be either material or immaterial if material 't is either purer then the Spirits which cannot be sith they are purest or viler and impurer but 't is absurd to grant that to the baser which is denied to the best if immaterial let them answer al arguments alleged against Forms Ob. 'T is abov or beyond the power of purest matter indued or invested with most exquisit qualities to judg remember desire shun c. but Brutes Souls doo al this Ergo c. Sol. 'T is not nor is it more strange that such effects should proced from the Temperament of Brutes Brains then doo other admirable properties as in the Magnet and many mo simples from Inanimats Temperament which is weaker then Animals Thes are magnalia Dei Gods wonderful works which Men must admire not inquire Lastly he treats of Mans Souls origin which was first in intention Upshot and sole scope of this Subject or Speculation touching whos essence that 't is a rational immortal substance or spirit none but Atheists or Sadduces wil doubt but of the origin is much dispute Som deem they were al created eternaly and reserved in blessed Seats or Stars til they be incorporated into Bodies Som that they be created by Angels Som that they be generated by the Soul of the World and made of Celical Substance Som that they consist of Elements Som that they are framed of Gods own substance Som that they be produced by the Heavens as an extern Efficient Som that they propagat successivly one from another Som that they are continualy created and infused in the Body by God like Adams first Soul which is the common Tenet Thes two last Opinions rejecting al the rest as futilous and frivilous he debats more freely and fully which he that lists may contemplat but being before abundantly agitated in the first Thesis shal be suppressed or superseded Touching the Vegetativ and Sensitiv Souls 't is probable they Censure are a meer Temperament of qualities or life it self nor doth Scripture them to be substances but they vanish or perish with the Bodies like forms of Inanimats and new ingendred or educed from the power of matter by the efficient Caus For God made al Creatures in their kinds intire Bodies at once both Plants and Animals but Created Man in his own Image thâ— Body first of Dust or Earth from the previous preexistent Chaos like other Creatures into which he breathed the Spiracle or Spirit of Life even a Rational Soul being far more divine and immortal then the rest as al Orthodox writers agree Hence 't is said Man becam a living Soul meaning that his Soul should liv for ever as he had doon in Body too had he not eaten the forbidden fruit contrary to Gods command upon pain of temporal and eternal death yet afterward in mercy he ordained a remedy that the Womans Seed even Christ our blessed Saviour should bruis the Serpents head by dying for the sins of al such as shal penitently beleev in him Peroratio ad Theologos A Conclusion to Divines Haec quicunque legent Medici Theoremata sacra Censuras rigidas parcite ferre precor Who shal a Phisitions sacred Theses read I pray spare to giv Censures ful of dread Nunc opus exigitur Laus Patri debita summo Christo incarnato Spirituique sacro The work 's now doon to God the Father du prais To Christ incarnat and th' holy Ghost alwais ALLEUIA
created none til afterward to rule in their rooms For S. Paul caling the Elders of Ephesus to Miletum bid them Take Act. 20. 17. heed to themselfs and the Flock wherof the Holy Ghost made them Overseers naming no particular Prelat sav himself as Head over them Hence grew thes Schisms saying I am of Paul 1 Cor. 1. 12. 〈◊〉 of Apollos c. becaus no ruling Elders were then setled as S. Ambros aptly observs The reason why he yet set no Superintendents is becaus he self took care or rule of al Churches whence Tertullian terms Corinth Ephesus Philippi Thessalâ—nica and the rest of that rank Apostolic Churches becaus he presided over them But in process of time as occasion served they ordeined Episcopal Supervisers to supply their steads for 2 Cor. 11. 28. Paul being caled by the Spirit to attend the West parts passing Acts 19. 21. through Macedonia and Achaia toward Jerusalem and so to Rome never to see the East again sent Titus to Corinth and going by Sea put in at Cret to preach the Gospel wher meeting 2 Cor. 8. 6. 16. Ep scopat â—â—â—cted Titus back from Corinth he left him ther to ordein Elders in every City while he went to Epirus and Illyricum before he cam to Rome About that time he besought Timothy to abide at Ephesus who attended him first into Macedon but at his return resided there He was indeed an Evangelist yet a Bishop too as Philip who converted Samaria was a Deacon and Evangelist yet asterward Bishop of Tralleis in Thracia Som cavil That Saint Paul trusted Titus and Timothy with a temporar Commission only becaus he employed them elswher but the rules prescribed for continued government to al Bishops cleerly convince that filly shift For his Instructions how Elders and Deacons Titus 1. 5. should be qualified plainly purport them to be Superiors to thos whom they shal so ordein and rule Thus S. Paul leaving two of his Disciples in two principal places to plant Presbyteries and propagat Churches gav a patern or platform to al who acted accordingly For S. John reputed longevest of the S John ordeined Bishops Apostles wrot long after to the Angels or Bishops of the seven Asian Churches most of which are named by Apostolic Men in Ecclesiastic Histories Such saith Clemens Alexandrinus and Eusebius S. John constituted Bishops in divers Cities after his return from Patmos Exile planted whol Churches and ordeined Presbyteries in several places as Paul and Timothy used to doo The like did other Apostles before their deaths in divers Dioceses as Dorotheus Demochares Eusebius Petrus de Natalibus Volateranus and many mo contest For Gaius and after him Onesimus sucâ—eded Timothy at Ephesus Apelles and after him Polycarpus becam Bishops of Smyrna Lucius of Laodicâ—a Clemens first of Sardis which are four of the said seven Churches and after of Rome as Ignatius Tertullian Irenaeus and other Fathers positivly aver To whos authentic affirmation more Faith is du then to thousand Novelists negativs wholy possessed with prejudicacy philauty and partiality The next Apostolic See is Antioch wher Beleevers were first 2 Antioch caled Christians which Church Peter and Paul jointly founded as Ignatius attests For two Christian Congregations coexisted ther one of the Circumcision wherof Peter took charge another of converted Gentils which Paul by mutual agreement supervised who being employed elswher committed the charge of both being concorporat in one to Evodius Antecessor of Ignatius Thes two are also accompted Cofounders of Rome 3 Rome Church by Irenaeus but writers differ much about their successors Som set Linus and Cletus or Anacletus next after them and som Clemens which dissent in circumstance cannot frustrat or falsify their consent and harmony in substance as partialists infer Haply ther being two Congregations as at Antioch of Jews and Gentils Clemens Peters Disciple succeded him in the first and Linus Pauls Deacon in the last til both uniting in one devolved on the Surviver Clemens as Mr. Thorndike probably conjects by comparing semblable cases However ther was afterward a constant succession of Bishops most part Martyrs til Constantins dais as al Antients agree But none are so absurd to say they were al bare Presbyters as if thos great Cities had one only Minister to Officiat In the Apostles dais before S. John died Denys Areopagit S. Pauls Convert becam Bishop of Athens as Denys Bishop of Corinth avers Lastly S. Marc was made Bishop of Alexandria in Egipt 4 Alexandria haply by S. Peter whos Disciple he was as S. Jerom saith That from Mare to Heracla and Dionysius in his dais mark wel Epest ad Evag. the words the Presbyters stil chos one in higher degree and dignity to be Bishop It was long after yer Corinth had any which caused such Schisms or strifes among the Elders yet many Apostolic Men Titus at Cret Timothy at Ephesus Clemens at Rome Denys at Athens presided in Neighbor Sees who in time placed Bishops at Corinth and other Cities which is a pregnant pedigree of Episcopal History for the first Century of Christ Afterward when question aros which Churches should hav Bishops which not It was regulated by the greatnes of Cities or multitud of Presbyters requisit to such charges and by slow degrees setled through the world Hence Sardinia Can 6. Synod ordered That no smal Towns shal hav Bishops wher a few Priests may serv but only Populous places that deserv one or antiently had one And the Chalcedon Council provided That Can. 17. when the Emperor established a City annexing the Territories adjacent or appendent it should hav a Bishop which made Itaely so ful of Bishops becaus so Cityful Now as Presbyters assisted the Apostles who caled them felow-Elders though not equals So they assisted Bishops in sacred matters specialy of Ordination as Ignatius informs So saith Cyprian He did nothing of himself without Counsil of his Clergy and consent of the People And S. Ambros That nothing was doon in the Church without the Elders advise Hence Bishops and Elders are oft caled by the same names yet of distinct degrees becaus both concurred in functions being stiled Priests Sacerdotes in respect of divine service Elders in regard of age or gravity and Presidents or Prelats in relation to their rule Thus their Phaesbytert Antistices titles were oft confounded but Orders and Offices stil distinguished which no brass-brow can gainsay S. Ambros renders a reason why S. Paul instructing Timothy passeth from Bishops to Deacons becaus every Bishop is a Presbiter and Deacon not convertibly but he chief over both Many maintain That Presbyteries primarily consisted part of Clerics part of Laics as the Jews Sanedrim had som Priests and Levits som Elders of the People but 't is fals for that was a mix'd Judicature of spiritual and secular persons like our old high Commission Court becaus al causes of Church and Common-wealth passed under their censure wheras
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
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