Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	body_n	reason_n	see_v	1,402	5	3.3292	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

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

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

of him nor can be changed into him nor he into them He is also in a true and proper sence a Creator of all Things who doth not only give them their Form and Figure but also Being Life Body and whatsoever else of Good they have See Kabbal denud Tom. 1. Part 2. Pag. 30. 332. § 4. SEEING then that in him there is no Time nor any Mutability hence it is that in him there can exist no new Knowledge or Will but his Knowledge and Will are Eternal and without or above time See Philosoph Kabbalistic Dissertatio 3. Ch. 1. in Kabbal denudat Tom. 1. Part. 3. ibid. Ch. 6. § 5. LIKEWISE in God there can exist no Passion which to speak properly comes from his Creatures For every Passion is something Temporal and hath its Beginning and end with Time § 6. IN God is an Idea which is the Image of himself or a Word existing within him which in Substance or Essence is one and the same with him by which he knows not only himself but all other things and according to which yea by which Idea or Word all things were made and created § 7. BY the like Reason in God is a Spirit or Will which proceeds from him and yet as to Substance or Essence is something one with him by which Creatures receive their Being and Activity For Creatures have their Being and Existence simply and alone from him because God would have them to be whose Will is according to Knowledge most infinite And thus Wisdom and Will in God are not a certain Substance or Being distinct from him but only distinct Manners or Properties of one and the same Substance and seeing this is that which some of the Wisest and most Judicious Christians understand by the Word Trinity If now we should neglect that Phrase of Three distinct Persons which is a Stone of Offence to Jews as well as Turks and other People and indeed in it self hath no sound Reason nor can be any where found in Scripture yet all would easily agree in this point For they cannot deny that God hath Wisdom and an Essential Idea and such a Word in himself by which he knows all things and when they grant he giveth all Things their Being they will be necessarily forced to acknowledge that there is a Will in him by which he can accomplish and bring that into Act which was hid in the Idea that is can produce it and from thence make a distinct Essential Substance and this alone is to create viz. the Essence of a Creature Nevertheless the Idea alone doth not give being to the Creature but the Will join'd with the Idea as when a Master-Builder conceives in his Mind the Idea of an House he doth not build that House by the Idea alone but the Will is joined with the Idea and co-operates therewith Annotations on this first Chapter THE Ancient Hypothesis of the Hebrews as to what pertains to the latter Contents of this Chapter is this 1. Seeing God was of all the most exceeding great and infinite Light and yet the chiefest Good For this Reason he would make Creatures to whom he might communicate himself But these could in no wise bear the exceeding greatness of his Light And hereunto belong those Scripture sayings God dwelleth in an inapproachable Light No Man hath seen God at any Time c. 2. He diminished therefore for the sake of his Creatures the highest Degree of his most intense Light that there might be room for his Creatures from whence Place immediately arose as it were a certain Circular Vacuity or Space of Worlds 3. This Vacuum was not a mere Privation or Non ens but a certain real Position of Light diminutively which was the Soul of the Messias called by the Hebrews Adam Kadmon which filled all that whole Space 4. This Soul of the Messias was united with that whole Light of the Divinity which remained within that Vacuum in a more mild degree that could be born and with it made up one Subject 5. This Messias called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Word or First Begotten Son of God having made a new Diminution of his Light for the benefit of his Creatures framed or made within himself the whole Series or Orders of all Creatures 6. To whom he might farther communicate the Light or Rays of his Divine Nature as the Objects of Contemplation and Love which were the unitive Acts of the Creator and Creatures in which Union the Happiness of the Creatures did consist 7. Here therefore occurs the Trinity of Divine Representation And the first Conception is that God is infinite to be considered without and above Production Secondly God is the same as in the Messias Thirdly That God is the same as when with the Messias in the Creatures fitted by the least degree of Light to the perception of his Creatures Hitherto belongs that Scripture saying No ●lan hath seen God at any time the Son who is in the Bosom of the Father hath revealed him to us 8. But it is common with the Hebrews to use the Term of Persons yet so as that by it they do not mean a singular Suppositum but a Conception only or kind of Representation or Method of Consideration See Adumbratio Kabbal Christian Chap. 23. CHAP. II. § 1. Although Creatures are not Co-eternal with God yet they had infinite Times from the Beginning § 2. So that no Number of Years no not the greatest that any created Intellect can conceive can reach to their Beginning § 3. Creatures were in one sence from Eternity and in another sence not from Eternity § 4. Infinity of Times is proved from the infinite Goodness of God § 5. It is an Essential Attribute of God to be a Creator § 6. What Time is and how the same cannot be in God § 1. FORASMUCH as all Creatures are and do exist simply or alone from him because God willed them to be whose Will is infinitely powerful and whose Commandment without any Instrument or Instrumental Cause is the only Efficient to give Being unto his Creatures Hence it necessarily follows seeing the Will of God is Eternal or from Eternity that Creation must immediately follow the said Will without any Interposition of Time And though it cannot be said that Creatures considered in themselves are Co-eternal with God because after this rate Eternity and Time would be confounded together yet nevertheless the Creatures and that Will which created then are so mutually present and so immediately happen one after another that nothing can be said to come in between even as if two Circles should immediately touch each other Neither can we assign any other Beginning to Creatures but God himself and his Eternal Will which is according to his Eternal Idea or Wisdom Hence it follows by Natural Consequence that Times from the Creation are Infinite and without all Number which no created Intellect can conceive How then can this be Finite or Measured which had no

him all the Individuals of Men and a Horse is a Species comprehending every individual Horse Now if one Man cannot be changed into another much less can this Man be changed into another Individual of a differing Species For Example If Alexander cannot be changed into Darius he cannot be changed into his own Horse Bucephalus § 4. IN order to know how far the Mutations of Things can reach we must examine how many Species of Things there be which as to Substance or Essence are distinct one from another and if we diligently inquire thereinto we shall find only Three as before was said viz. God Christ and the Creatures and that these Three in respect of Essence are really distinct one from another is already proved but there can be no Reason alledged to prove that there is any Fourth kind of Being distinct from the other Three yea a Fourth kind of Being seems wholly superfluous And because all the Phaenomena in the whole Universe may be sufficiently resolved into these Three before-mentioned as into their proper and original Causes there is no necessity to acknowledge any other according to this Rule Which if rightly understood it is most true and certain Beings are not to be multiplied without necessity for seeing the Three before-mentioned remove all the Specifical Differences in Substance which possibly can be conceived in our Minds and so by these alone is that vast and infinite possibility of Things filled up How then can there be room or place found for a Fourth Fifth Sixth or Seventh Being And that it is performed by these Three is already before demonstrated to wit that whatsoever can be in any wise called a Being the same is either wholly unchangeable and such is God the Supreme Being or is wholly changeable viz. to good or evil and such is the creature or lowest being or that which is partly unchangeable viz. in respect of Evil or partly changeable to wit in respect of Good by which is understood Christ the Son of God that Middle Being between God and the Creatures into what Classis or Rank therefore shall we bring a certain Fourth Fifth Sixth or Seventh Being c. which is neither wholly changeable nor wholly unchangeable nor partly changeable nor partly unchangeable Besides he that supposeth a certain Fourth Being essentially or substantially distinct from the three before-mentioned overthrows that most excellent Order we find in the universality of Things to wit that there is not only one Medium between God and the Creatures but two three four five six or as many as can be supposed between first and latter Moreover it is very consentaneous to sound Reason and so also to the Order of Things that as God is but One neither hath he two three or more distinct Substances in him and Christ but one Christ neither hath in him more distinct Substances inasmuch as he is the Heavenly Man and very First Adam so likewise the Creature or whole Creation is but one only Substance or Essence in Specie although it comprehends many Individuals placed in their subordinate Species and indeed in Manner but not in Substance or Essence distinct one from another And so that which Paul speaketh concerning Man may in like manner be understood of all Creatures who in their Original State were a certian Species of Man so called for their Excellencies as hereafter shall be shown to wit that God made all Nations or Armies of Creatures out of one Blood And certainly here the reason of both is the same for as God made all Nations out of one Blood to the end they might love each other and stand in a mutual Sympathy and help each other so hath he implanted a certain Universal Sympathy and mutual Love in Creatures as being all Members of one Body and as I may so say Brethren having one common Father to wit God in Christ or the Word made Flesh and so also one Mother viz. that Substance or Essence alone out of which they proceeded and whereof they are real Parts and Members and albeit Sin hath in a wonderful Manner impaired this Love and Sympathy yet it hath not destroyed it § 5. THOSE Three distinct Beings before-mentioned being granted and no more which are wholly inconvertible the one into the other we shall tread in a secure path in the mid-way of Truth leaving those grand Errors and Consusions about Entity both on the Right Hand and the Left For First there are some who teach that there is but one Being of all Things whereof the Creatures are real and proper Parts and these confound God and the Creatures together as though both were but one single Essence so that Sin and Devils would be nothing else but Parts or at least Modifications of that Divine Being from whence do arise very dangerous Consequences Although I would not have it mis-interpreted to those who are unwarily faln into this Opinion yet I would warn the Reader that he may the better consider whereunto such Principles tend and avoid their absurdity There are others again who allow only two Species of Things viz. God the Supreme Being wholly unchangeable and the Creature the lowest Being wholly changeable but these do not duly consider that excellent Order by us above described which is apparent in all Things because else peradventure they would have taken notice that besides these Two Extreams there is a certain Medium which is partaker of both and this is Jesus that Christ whom not only the wiser sort of the Jews but also some among the Gentiles so called have acknowledged viz. maintaining that there is such a Medium which they called by divers Names as Logos the Son of God the First Begotten of God Mind Wisdom Heavenly Adam c. So that some also do call him the Eternal Medium Which Things if duly considered may not a little conduce to the propagation and furthering of the true Faith and Christian Religion among the Jews as well as Turks and other Infidel Nations that is to say if it appears we are able to prove that there is a Mediator between God and Man yea between God and all Creatures by as solid Reasons as those are which prove God to be a Creator And so they that believe on that may be said truly to believe on Christ Jesus though they should not as yet have known or been convicted that he came in the Flesh For if they yield to the former they will undoubtedly be forced if ingenious whether they will or no to grant the latter Others there are who do as it were infinitely multiply the Specifical Beings of Things in their distinct Essences and Essential Attributes which wholly subverts that excellent Order of Things and greatly obscures and darkens the Glory of the Divine Attributes so that it cannot shine forth in its due Splendor and Brightness in the Creatures For so every Creature is so exceeding straitly bounded and strictly included and imprisoned within the narrow limits of