like Purgatory was invented they be purged from this corporall contagion then they shall returne againe to heaveÌ„ from whence they came For thus doth Sathan seeke to obscure the truth with lies when he cannot put out all light of nature Not much unlike this and as it is like derived from it was the opinion of Origen 9. Origen who though he thought as the Scriptures teach that God created the soule of nothing and not of any caelestiall substance yet he saith that all soules were created together at the beginning of the world as Angels were and because they sinned in departing from God they are since put into divers bodies to be as it were their Jayles and fetters to imprison clog them more or lesse according to the diversitie of their sinnes And that for this cause the world was made that so these evill spirits might be bridled No lesse 10. â—â—thagoâ—â—â—â—s if not much more strange was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or transmigration of soules which the Pythagoreans imagined viz. that they passed at death out of one mans body into another yea into fowles fishes plants without any difference exercising their power in them so far as in those natures could be manifested and that accordingly as they had lived in one body more or lesse vitiously so they were received at death into a worse or better body And it seemes the Jewes themselves were somewhat infected with this opinion by the Romans for they thought that Christ was John Baptist risen againe Mat. 14.2 16.13 14. or Eliah or Jarâ—â—â—ah Mar. 6.14 or some other of the old Prophets Luk. 9.7 8 11. Certaine Platonists or Pythagoreans Yea there have not beene wanting some heretickes of old who following the opinion of the Platonists have affirmed the soule to be of such a nature as it can never be quiet untill such time as it hath finished all manner of works whatsoever can be done in the world of what nature soever whether good or bad by passing out of one body into another through all sorts of creatures And untill then say they it can never be throughly purged or be at rest 12. Certaine Tertullianists Yet more some have maintained that at death those soules that live well are turned into Angels and those that have lived wickedly become devills as the Tertullianists c. And hence it is that we reade of conjurers who have killed men and children that they might have their soules as their imps and familiar spirits to command after their deaths and such an one it is said Simon Magus was 13. Every man 3 soules Neither is there more diversitie about the nature than the number of soules for some are of opinion that every man hath three soules a vegetative soule with plants a sensitive soule with beasts and a reasonable soule like unto the Angels although indeed they are but three faculties or sundry operations of one and the same soule in us 14. 2 Soules Other againe thinke there can be no lesse than two soules at the least one sensuall the other rationall the one mortall the other immortall the one propagated by the Parents and the other created by God And this Occam would prove from the diversity and contrariety of appetites and desires in one and the same man which he thinks cannot be in one and the same individuall nature 15. Maniches Some others yet more grossely have affirmed that every man hath indeed two soules the one made of the substance of God and the other of the substance of the devils These were the Maniches who held two beginnings a good God and an evill God 16. Averrois Contrary to these and yet no lesse unreasonable is the opinion of that great Philosopher Averrois that there is one onely soule of all men that ever were or shall be in the world Diversities of opinioÌ„s amongst Christians But leaving these Heathens and heretickes with their heathenish and hereticall conceits as not worthy the confuting let us heare the verdict of the learned Christians since Christ who all with one coÌ„sent affirme that the soules of men are either immediately created by God 1. Creation or else mediately propagated by man 2. Propagation yet herein also there is no small diversitie for in either of these there are two opinions each differing from other 17. Created out of the body Of those that maintaine the soule to be immediately created by God some think it is created without the body of nothing and then infused into it by God after the forming of the body of this mind was Hillary c. 18. Created within the body Others againe thinke it to be created within the body of the conceived fruit which hath first vegetative life then sensitive and lastly the reasonable soule is created therein and united therewith by the immediate power of God onely Both these have been countenanced by many of the best learned especially the latter which is most commonly received as the truth at this day 19. Propagated corporally Notwithstanding others contend that although God at first created Adams soule of nothing yet ever since they have beene naturally propagated from the parents together with the body so that as wee have our bodies from Adams body so our soule from Adams soule but so as it is immortall notwithstanding But of these some conceiting it to be a corporeall substance thought also that it was generated after a corporall manner which was worthily condemned by Austin and others 20. Propagated spiritually But those that held it to be a spirituall substance held also that it was propagated spiritually the soule of the soule as it were light of light And this heretofore was upholden by many of the most learned men amongst the Antients yea as St. Hierome witnesseth most of the Doctors of the Westerne Churches were of that minde So that it seemeth this opinion was as commonly received among them there as the other now amongst us Lastly 21. there were some that wavered between these two opinions not knowing which to take and of this minde was St. Augustine and Eucherius August Epist 157. who durst neither condemne those that thought it was spiritually propagated from the Parents nor yet those that held it to be immediately created by God Lib. 2. Cap. 56. The one professing in one of his Epistles that he could not finde any certainty of the soules Originall throughout the Canonicall Scriptures in which doubt he also continued to his death as appeareth plainly in his Retractations CHAP. IV. The state of the question propounded with the chiefe difficulties on both sides The censure and choise HEreby it appeareth sufficiently both how much difficultie is in this question of the soules originall and how imperfect our knowledge is therein But since all the rest are most absurd erronious and some blasphemous and two onely as most probable claime
opinion of Origen was justly hissed out long agoe So that though no soule is produced by the body yet no soule is produced without it Secondly it is not to be thought that any soule is produced by the body otherwise then by an assisting cause or causa sine qua non whether wee consider the body generating or generated but this I say that the soule is not brought forth without the seede of the parents and yet not by that as it is corporall onely but as there is soule-seede or rather spirituall power in it And thus the soule shall be no lesse able to subsist by it selfe although it be not propagated without the body then a childe shall not be able to live after the death of his parents by whom it was brought forth into the world and as it is not generated so neither can it be corrupted by the body Lastly it cannot be said properly that the soule doth subsist by it selfe alone so long as it is united to the body for according to the course of nature it cannot doe so but after the death of the body for as much as it is not made of mortall seede nor produced meerely by the power of nature and therefore cannot die it cannot doe otherwise but must but must of necessitie subsist by it selfe alone without the body 6. It cannot be hurt by the body Of the same kinde is that objection that as the body cannot corrupt or hurt the soule so much lesse can the soule be propagated by the body For if it be absurd to say the soule is infected with sin by the body because that which is corporeall cannot worke upon that which is incorporeall much more absurd is it that the soule should be generated by the body But this also falleth beside without hurting for though the soule cannot be generated of or by the body which I also confidently affirme yet this is no impediment why it cannot be produced out of the soule by the efficient power of God to which the Body also may be an instrumentall cause in this as well as it is in all other ordinary actions of the soule 7. It worketh in-organically Lastly it is objected that seeing the proper actions of the soule as to understand and will are performed without any help of the body so also is the originall being of it for such as the operation of any thing is such is the essence and contrarily as Philosophy teacheth But first it may be doubted whether any action of the soule be performed without any helpe at all from the body so long as the union lasteth Secondly for as much as the soule ordinarily doth neither understand nor will without the assistance of the animall spirits it followes according to the former rule that by the course of nature neither is the originall without some operation of the body And whereas it is said the mind it selfe must be free from all matters that it may be the better able to discerne the same as the eye judgeth of colours this may proceed not so much from the vacuity of matter as the equall respect it hath to all matter For being the perfection of this mundane frame it hath the Idea of all natures in it as the eye doth represent all colours But as the agent is more noble than the patient though proportioned to it so is the soule above all matter and yet agreeing with it Answerable whereunto the originall according to the former rule must needs be more transcendent than the coÌ„mon course of generation Lastly all those arguments are more forcible to prove that the soule cannot be united with the body and being manifestly false in that they have small probabilitie of truth in this CHAPTER IX Whether the losse of seed be the losse of soules Objection from propagation it selfe BUt the most forcible arguments and which are indeed accounted impossible to be overcome are those which are taken from the course of nature in propagation it selfe whether we consider the matter or manner of it the matter conceived or the manner of conception As first because many soules must be lost because much seede is Secondly because the soule must come from two soules Thirdly the parents must loose part of their soules Lastly touching the manner of conception if may well be questioned how this doctrine can stand with the time of conception In one the same wombe the imperfect beginning and the varietie of conceptions in the same wombe All which seeme to take away all power from man for having any part in the propagation of the soule and these being the chiefe difficulties if they may be well cleared I doubt not but this doctrine will easily be received 1. Obj. About the losse of soules First therefore to begin with the first which concernes the losse of seede which although it may seeme difficult at the first yet I trust may receive a reasonable answer for the adversaries of this doctrine doe thus reason against it If the soule be propagated by the seede what shall become of so much seede as is lost either in sleepe or by such dishonest means Gen. 38.9 as Er and Oâ—an practised or which being received into the wombe never commeth to conception What say they shall so many soules be lost or shall they be choaked in the wombe or shall they remaine alone without bodyes seeing it is certaine they are not to be accounted amongst the number of men In a word because it cannot be denyed but much seede passeth from man which never commeth to perfection no not to conception hence they conclude that if the soule passeth in the seede then many soules perish and so the soule shall not be immortall How the soule is in the seede yet not lost with it But these conceive not rightly yea too basely and bruitishly of the soules generation imagining that which no man sound in his wits will goe about to maintaine For by that which hath been said it appeareth that the soule never passeth in the seede but at the instant of conception and from thenceforth a new soule remaineth in the conceived fruit Neither can it be properly said that it passeth then for as the soule is in the body and yet not conteined of it so it is alwayes in the seede though not comprehended by it and whensoever the seede proves not effectuall the soule remaines as it was what ever becomes of the seede for the soule is never procreated but in conception when both seedes meete in a due proportion and become one and when the efficient power of God concurring with all other naturall causes doe out of the substance of the generating soules produce another together with a body capable of that divine forme Some resemblance whereof wee may see in the lighting of a Lamp or Candle Simile for as fire is the most spirituall of all corporall substances so by it wee may have the clearest
of the body instruments of unrighteousnesse and the whole man a slave to the devill and that from our first being even so farre as nature can reach as well potentially as actually ever since Adams sinne which groweth up with us from the wombe and in time if we live brings orth the fruits of unrighteousnesse in our thoughts words and actions by reason whereof we are not onely corrupt but guilty of Gods wrath and lyable to eternall damnation from our first being Now it is called Originall sin Why it is so called first because it was from the beginning even as soone as ever Adam sinned secondly because it is with us from the beginning even in conception as soone as we doe actually begin to be and thirdly because it is the beginning of all actuall sin whatsoever Howbeit in the Scripture it is called by other names Rom. 6.6 as The old man The body of sin Rom. 7.17.23 The sin that dwels in us The law of our members The sin that incloseth us on every side Heb. 12.1 Concupiscence Iam. 1.14 and the like And as we use the word it is sometimes taken more largely for the sin of Adam together with the guilt and corruption following it but usually more strictly for the corruption of nature onely consisting of the privation of goodnesse and inclination to evill before rehearsed These grounds being laid down we may make a full definition of it after this manner Definitie Originalis peccati Originall sin is the depravation of the whole nature of man consisting of the privation of originall righteousnesse and an inclination to all manner of evill derived from Adam to all his posteritie by naturall generation whereby they stand guilty of eternall death in which definition wee may see all the essentiall causes of originall sin the subject or materiall cause is the whole nature of man all men and every part of all men soule body understanding will memory affections senses and severall members of the body as they constitute the person of a man propagated from Adam The formall cause is the depravation of the same whereby every man is deprived of originall righteousnesse and prone to every sin that can be committed The efficient cause the sinning will of Adam the instrumentall cause naturall generation and the end and effect of it guilt and punishment misery and death here eternall damnation hereafter More briefly Originall sinne is by some defined to be the depravation of mans nature consisting of the privation of righteousnesse and inclination to evill contracted from the generation it selfe and derived from Adam to all his posteritie For as sicknesse is not onely a privation of health but also an evill affection of the body arising from the distemper of the humours so originall sin is not onely the want of righteousnesse but also an inclinablenesse to unrighteousnes arising from the sin of Adam and conveyed unto us by naturall propagation In a word it is our potentiall sinning in Adam whereby according to the law of nature we are both corrupt and guilty And so much for the generall nature of originall sinne Creation what it is Now for the second what Creation is we shall not need many words Improperly Creation is taken sundry wayes somtimes for the determination and decree of God to create as where Wisdome saith Ecclu 24. He created me in the beginning before the world that is he decreed to create and reveale me in the Church Sometimes for renovation changing not of the substance but the qualitie of a thing Ps 51.10 So David prayeth Create in me a cleane heart O God Sometimes for the naturall generation of the creatures Thou sendest forth thy Spirit Psal 104.30 and they are created And sometimes it is taken for the restauration of that which is destroyed Isa 65.17 Behold I create new heavens and a new earth But properly taken it either signifieth to make something of nothing or else to give formes to the matter unto which it hath no naturall power of it selfe And for that cause doe require an omnipotent hand to effect if so as creation properly taken belongs to God onely Neverthelesse for the most part it is used in the first sense and therefore creation is commonly defined thus Creatio est productio entis ex non ente or as Aquinas hath it Est productio rei secundum totam substantiam ex nihilo So that in the most proper sense a thing cannot be said to be created unlesse the whole substance be produced by the omnipotent power of God out of nothing and not at all unlesse at least he hath an immediate hand in the forming of it Propagation what it is Lastly For Propagation it is that most excellent and naturall faculty whereby a living creature by feede of generation begets his like for the continuation of the kinde It is a faculty commonly accounted a species of the vegetative faculty but is indeed the naturall perfection of a living creature whether vegetative sensitive or rationall and it is the most excellent and the most naturall faculty being ingrafted into nature with a speciall charge blessing from God in the creation and is therfore most desired and consequently most natural to all creatures that have life Gen. 1.22.28 whereby like begets like univocall which is most properly so called when as a creature brings forth the like to it selfe as a plant comes of a plant and a Lyon of a Lyon and aequivocall generation of unlike as when a plant or living creature is bred of putrefaction as Mice Flies Serpents and the like for the continuation of the kinde for nature aymeth at the highest perfection that can be even to continue all creatures for ever and therefore every creature naturally desires ever to be which because it cannot be effected in the individuals therefore it is done another way namely by propagation for to beget the like is after a sort to be ever And to conclude this is done by the seede of generation which as the faculty it selfe is most excellent so is the matter of it the perfection of mans nature as the seed of a tree the sap whereof hath passed through roote body branch leafe bud and all and so conteines the nature of the whole so is the seede of man the quintessēce of nature which having passed through all the degrees of concoction and conteining the whole kinde of man is reserved by nature in a place convenient for the procreation of another of the same kinde Now because this generation is the affection or rather perfection of the whole compound consisting of matter and forme a man cannot be said to propagate the matter alone but the whole creature so as to speake properly generatiō is not either of the matter or of the forme but of a certaine third thing consisting of matter and forme So that here it followeth that our propagation from Adam is
conclude this so difficult a doctrine which as in the beginning it seemed so hard that no words could sufficiently explaine it so now me thinkes it is so plaine and easie that I feare nothing more than that I have insisted too long in the proofe of that which I thinke no man can or will deny yet considering that such is the curiositie of some in this age that are wittily acute and such also the difficultie and necessitie of understanding this doctrine aright that a mans life were well bestowed in giving full satisfaction therein this short discourse I hope will not seeme over-long to the judicious 1. The originall of the Soule I conclude therefore as before first that the soule is neither immediately created by God of nothing nor yet meerly propagated by man without his immediate power but that he hath instituted a naturall order whereby the whole man begets the whole man both soule and body and as well the one as the other Not the soule the body nor the body the soule neither the soule the soule alone nor the body the body alone yet in this order the soule the soule onely immediately but mediately by the body and the body the body onely immediately but mediately by the soule And thus in man the whole propagation the whole as concerning matter and forme as well as other creatures albeit in the one the immediate power of GOD concurreth as an efficient cause and naturall meanes onely in the other 2. â—he imâ—â—ortaliâ—â— of the â—â—â—le From this naturall yet divine beginning I also conclude the immortall nature and everlasting continuance of the soule For seeing it is not produced by the power of nature alone nor yet made of any corporall matter but spirituall both for matter manner wherein it excelleth all other creatures though united through Gods institution to the naturall generation it must needs transcend the condition of all corporall creatures as well in the end as in the originall and so can be no lesse than immortall though we goe no higher than the rules of nature 3. Originall sinne Hence also I conclude that all Adams off-spring are infected with that staine of nature which he contracted to himselfe by sin which is propagated from parents to children together with the whole man the subject thereof and that without any fault in God it being our act and not his our sinfull soules proceeding not from him but our sinfull parents and so not being corrupted by him but by our selver in Adam 4. Christs incarnation And lastly hereby also appeareth the puritie of Christs incarnation who though he were true man like unto us and made of the same substance both for soule and body yet was not propagated after the common manner of men to avoide that infection of sin which wee receive in propagation Reasons to beleeve without reason Now if any cannot conceive through the subtle conceit they have of it how the soule should minister any matter to the producing of another which I confesse is hardest yet considering that most of the most learned ancient Fathers and Schoolmen in former times have allowed aêreall bodyes even to the Angels themselves it cannot be thought absurd that I ascribe such a spirituall composition to soules as hath such a neere resemblance unto corporall matter and forme as may well stand both with this manner of propagation and the divine nature of the soule And if thus much be not granted it cannot appeare in nature neither how it can be united with the body the one being in my conceit as hard to conceive as the other But seeing I see the one is I beleeve the other may be And further I adde that that though this did seeme to disagree with reason yet wee ought rather to beleeve it than the other which we plainly see doe disagree with Religion But to conclude seeing wee see the reason why wee cannot see the reason let us not be so vainely curious to enquire of that which we know certainly we cannot certainly know let us content our selves a while not heathenishly to reason but Christianly to beleeve and shortly after this life Phil. 3.15 all these things shall be revealed unto us FINIS A Compendious Table of matters concernable in this TREATISE THE possibilitie of knowing the Souls originall 2 Cautions in searching it 6 What knowledg men have of spirits 14 Soules knowledge of it selfe 15 How the soule knowes inferior natures how superior 17 Angels know not our thoughts 21 How farre may be knowne of the soule 23 Twenty-one opinions of the soules originall 25 A censure of the opinions and the choice made 35 Of Originall sinne 39 How man propagates man 46 Gods act in the soules production what 47 How the soule is propagated of the soule 49 Soule and body be at once propagated 50 Soules double union 52 Causes of immortalitie 55 How man is sinfull and yet immortall 56 Texts of Scripture answered and explained 60 Reasons from the Scripture answered 75 From the creation of Adams soule 75 From the creation of Christs soule 85 Of propagation of spirits 91 How the soule is immateriall 93 Its incorruption 95 Its selfe-subsistence 97 It cannot be hurt by the body 99 It worketh inorganically 100 Whether losse of seede be losse of soules 100 How one soule proceeds from two ibid. Whether parents loose part of their soules 101 Of imperfect conceptions 104 Of the soules seed how generated 111 Spirits may be communicated and not diminished 121 That the soule is perfect in conception 230 Of Eves Creation 144 Testimonies of Scripture to prove the soules propagation what 181 The nature of Originall sinne 186 In it is nothing positive 188 Body cannot corrupt the soule 130 Originall sin it propagable 241 The whole man is received from Adam 158 Christs humanitie taken from the Virgin 259 Christs soule and body conceived together and how 263 How Christ was free from sin 279 Why the truth of propagation of soule hid so long time 284 Naturall reasons to prove propagation 285 Man can father no more than he begets 292 No father without giving the form 293 The faculty of propagation seated in the soule 306 The soules work in the Embrio 308 Rarenesse of conception 312 Of unnaturall copulations 317 Soules infused in adultery 318 Objections removed and cleared 324 Conclusion of all 331 FINIS
Ezek. 18.20 for the son shall not beare the iniquitie of the Father but because by his sin they are made sinfull or rather sinned in him and so for their owne sin are justly subject to the same punishment So that in truth propagatiō is the main if not the onely streame of originall corruption Now if wee receive onely the least parts of our selves that is our body from Adam which cannot be the subject of sin not onely because it wants the soule but because not parts but whole persons sinned in Adam how can this satisfie any reasonable man that it is possible for us to be guilty of Originall sinne if the soule comes immediately from God CHAPTER V. The meane chosen and the question resolved Further satisfaction needfull THis therefore is a most profound question full of wonderfull difficulties this is that intricate Meander and that endlesse Maze wherein St. Augustine wandered all his life long and could finde no issue and to conclude this is that wherein Divines to this day have rather shewed their modesty in not searching than their judgement in determining the truth If not rather too much searing least they should seeke too farre they have thereby failed in finding But how soever it is very commendable to walk soberly herein yet we may not through too much modesty leave a gap open to be trodden downe by the feet of beastly Atheists and therefore notwithstanding it is a Labarinth where it is hard to wade out safely yet we may and must indeavour to give satisfaction in such a needfull question The Authors apologie for this singularitie And here I most humbly crave leave to step a little out of the cōmon path or rather to make the same path straight which as to me it seemeth is a little crooked in this place bearing out against Philosophy on the one hand and Divinitie on the other and if force of reason doe not prove my assertion I will willingly beare the blame that is due which yet I hope cannot be much though I should erre First because it is a most difficult point wherein the greatest Clearkes can scarce tell which way to turne themselves Secondly because the premisses being confessed it can be no fundamentall errour Thirdly being in the meane it must needs be confessed neerer the truth at least them that which hath yet beene maintained by the most wise and godly of the antient Fathers in former ages Fourthly those opinions which I oppose were never maintained as necessary doctrines but onely as probable opinions Lastly I am not peremptory much lesse obstinate but willing to submit to better judgements and propound this onely by way of tryall as one that would gladly be a means to find out the truth How man propagates man That we may therefore saile even between this Scylla Charibdis seeing we see it can neither be meerely propagated by man nor yet immediately created by God my conclusion is that it is partly from both That is to say that the whole man consisting of soule and body doth propagate a creature like himselfe consisting of the same parts by vertue of that efficacious word of God in the beginning increase and multiply and the concurrence of his own immediate power therewith And that therefore God hath set a stedfast law in nature for the generation of mankind both soule and body as well as other creatures But yet partly mediately and partly immediately Mans propagation naturall himselfe having a more peculiar worke in this than in any other For besides this generall providence in conseiving the naturall order that himselfe hath instituted as the nature of the soule is more excellent Gods act in the production of the soule so answerable thereunto the act of his providence is more immediate therein than in any other creature whatsoever And thus the soule may be propagated as well as the body after a manner convenient to either nature God having so much in it as to make it immortall and man so much as to make if sinfull yet not as if there were any separation in their generation Soule and body not to be divided the body of the body onely and the soule of the soule onely for this is but to multiply difficulties without end no man being able to say directly here it is either for the one or the other but the whole of the whole generation being not of parts but of persons For nature it selfe teacheth that neither soule nor body can properly be said to be generated but the creature consisting of soule and body neither is there any thing that seemes to me more absurd than that when God and nature hath thus conjoyned them the Scripture alwayes speaking of the generation of the whole man and nature we see alwayes bringing forth the whole we should notwithstanding make a seperation fetching one part from heaven and another from earth and then vainely tyre our selves to bring both ends together againe How the soule is propagated of the soule Now if the soule and body may not be seperated in this case much lesse should we take upō us to assigne the proper cause of every effect herein and yet because such is the curiositie of mans nature that it will not otherwise rest satisfied if we must needs in reason distinguish what in nature cannot be severed I should thus determine The essentiall causes distinguished That the parents by Gods immediate assistance doe out of their owne spirituall nature informe their issue with a reasonable soule in the instant of conception for the preservation of humane kinde So that I conceive the power of God to be the externall efficient cause 1. Efficient who as he made the first soule immediately of nothing so by reason of the purity of it it can have no other externall efficient cause but his owne immediate power The procreating cause is the parents 2. Procreant who are as instruments in Gods hand to bring forth what how and when he please according to his own eternall decree The materiall cause is the spirituall matter of the parents souls 3. Materiall It will be said the soule is immateriall be it so then I say the soule is made of that matter which is immateriall For though it be not corporeall yet it is spirituall and being a spirit and not a body it is rather an act than a matter Mark this mystery so that according to the course of nature I confesse more is to be ascribed to the efficient cause yea so much that the latter is almost extinguished in the former And hence it is that though the soule be congenerated with the body yet by reason of the pure nature of it God being the efficient it is as neere to a creation as possibly it can be and as it were a meane between creation and propagation 4. Formall Touching the formal cause as it selfe is the forme of the body or rather
of the man so it s owne form is the specificall difference or individuall existence which it hath as a reasonable soule in the coÌ„mon nature of man proceeding from the concurrence of all those causes 5. InstrumeÌ„tall And herein that body or rather the corporal seed the perfection of the body especially the pure spirits therein wherewith the soule naturally unites it selfe 1 by reason of sympathy and familiarity which is betweene them becomes an assisting or instrumentall cause Lastly 6. Finall the finall cause is the preservation of mankinde and his owne glory by them according to his first institution Now all this is done in conception soule and body beginning both in the same moment of time Time and neither being before or after other And thus we may conceive how the soule is propagated of the soule after a spirituall manner as the flame of one Lamp lighteth another by promotion or multiplication being blowne by the power of God Simile and sed with the oyle of the animall spirits And that this may not seeme strange Conclusions concerning the soules originall before I come to the proofe of it I desire that these few Conclusions might be considered 1. Of the union of the body and soule First that there is no such diametrall opposition betweene the soule the body but that they may be naturally coupled together Indeed the soule is far from such a grosse visible substance as the body is compounded of yet is it not without some spirituall kind of substance and that not altogether simple Neither doe I think the creatures of God to differ so much in kinde as in degree Besides it is manifest that the soule is of the lowest degree of spirits and not onely capable of but coveting union with corporall natures and so according to the course of nature may as well be propagated with them as united with them Secondly 2. Of the union of the soule with God as any nature is more excellent so it hath a neerer union with that first being wheron it depends is more immediately moved by it Now because all natures doe subsist and are sustained more or lesse immediately by that first being according as their natures are neerer unto it or farther removed from it answerable whereunto the worke thereof is more or lesse immediate in them Hence it followeth that the soule being more excellent and confequently neerer to God than any corporall creature can be as he workes more immediately in them than in others after they are made so by like reason it followeth that he doth so in their first propagation 3. The efficient cause in generation Thirdly there is nothing generated in the world but it hath some externall efficient cause Now this in corporall generations all grant to be the heavens which being of a more excellent nature send downe their influences to inferiour creatures by vertue of which next unto God they continue their kinds But the soule being a spirit is above all corporall creatures and being made by Gods owne immediate hand onely at first it can have no other externall efficient but the same immediate power still So that whereas it is commonly said Sol homo generant hominem it may more truly be said Deut homo generant aniâ—nam Neither is it absurd that man should have two efficients it is rather an honour that God nature should concurre together in his generation 4. The true cause of mortality Fourthly Mortality proceeds not so much from generation as divine malediction For had not â—an sinned it is confessed that â—he body should have beene immortall as well as the soule Alâ—hough therefore the soule were compounded and generated after a corporall manner without any immediate act of GODS power none of which are true yet if would not presently follow that it must needs be mortall 5. The cause of immortalitie Lastly Whatsoever hath the being immediately from God cannot be annihilated but by the same immediate power so that it is the act of his immediate power that is the proper cause of immortalitie and hence it appeareth that though the body which is produced by the power of nature onely may dye and perish yet the soule whose production is not without an immediate act of the Deity can never dye but by the same power omnipotent by which it lived How man is sinfull and the soule immortall Thus then it appeareth that though the soule be propagated in the manner aforesaid yet it is neverthelesse immortall since it is neither made of any corporall matter nor produced onely by the power of nature and God is never the more faulty though wee be sinfull because being wholy in Adam according to the just law of nature so sinning potentially in him he with us and we with him being then actually one the whole nature of mankinde is thereby so corrupted and this pure ordinance of God in producing soules so defiled that corruption passeth in the very conception and we are stained with originall sinne and so are liable to Gods eternall wrath Psal 51.5 Eph. 2.3 Rom. 11.16 Mat. 7.18 Gal. 6.7.8 so soone as we begin to be It being a just and necessary law in nature that as the roote is such are the branches and look what the tree is such must the fruit be CHAP. VI. Scriptures to prove the soules immediate creation answered The methode and reason of it HAving thus declared the manner of the soules creation or rather procreation for the better satisfying of the sober minded and silencing such as shall be wilfully contentious it behooveth me in the next place more fully to explaine prove the same Wherefore after this generall entrance having presumed to determine this so intricate a question that wee may have the freer passage my next indeavour shall be to cleare the same by removing out of the way such obstacles and objections as may seeme to oppose it And the rather because they are such as whereby I shall best explaine my selfe and shew that it may be so and so afterward prove the more clearely that it is so and thereby also take away that prejudice wherewith mens minds are forestalled before I proceed to the proofe of it Objections marshalled Here therefore I must first encounter with a whole army of Arguments that seeme to be set in battaile aray against me and then pitch a new field of reasons to maintaine what I have spoken The arguments that come marching against me seeme to be ranged in two severall battalions the former mainly intending to fight for the immediate creation of the soule the latter altogether against the propagation of the soule Those that most establish the soules immediate creation are of two sorts partly Testimonies of Scripture and partly reasons drawne from them Being thus greatly beset with enemies I have notwithstanding great hope of victory not onely because I have before well
of a part onely unlesse a woman may be a womā without a soule as some silly ones have foolishly imagined Fourthly Gen. 2.22 Zan. de operibus par 3. li. 1. c. 1 Gen. 2.23 those that hold the contrary opinion yet graunt that God did not onely take out the bare bone only out of Adams side but some flesh together with it which made Adam to say this is not onely bone of my bone but flesh of my flesh And it seemeth an unlikely thing that being done instantly by the almighty power of GOD he should take out a dry and dead bone onely and not the life spirit soule that was in it after the manner of the soules being in such a substance together with it Now it he tooke it thus whole together as it was the soule not being shut out of any part of the body how easie is it to conceive how God might miraculously in the first creation seperate the whole matter of her person from Adam onely and so of that bone as of a living body produce a new creature in a short time which now in longer time usc to be seperated from both sexes and so perfected by degrees in naturall generation yea why may not this originall affinitie between the two sexes give strength to the course of nature in producing more by uniting them againe in generation Fifthly This is the more probable because herein we have a clear type of Christs incarnatiō whose whole humanity as we shall herafter see was also miraculously made of the substance of the virgin onely as Eves onely of Adam a man of a woman onely as a woman of a man only both being insensible of it and as is probable both asleep◠when it was done Lastly when she was brought to Adam he confessed that shee was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh that is of the same humane nature that he himselfe was both for soule and body and also taken out or him Neither needed he to say soule or my soule for flesh is usually put for the whole person as where even in the same book it is said All flesh had corrupted their wayes Gen. 6.12 which notwithstanding is chiefly in regard of the soule And least any should doubt of it he presently addes Shee shall he callea woman because shee was taken out of man where he plainly affirmes that her whole person was taken out of man and for that cause was named woman which cannot possibly be understood of the body onely I will therefore hereunto subjoyne the forgoing words of our Saviour Let no man seperate what God hath joyned together Mat. 19.6 and conclude that her whole person as well soule as body was taken out of man So that in this also that of the Apostle is true God hath made all of one blood even Adams Act. 17.26 Wherefore from this reason I also conclude the contrary that seeing in all probabilities Adams soule was of such a nature as thereon could be made another and ours are of the same nature that his was it is not absurd but very likely that others may be made of ours also The third and last reason of any weight is 3. that Christs soule was created of nothing and he is like unto us in all things sinne onely excepted ergo c. But first if it be necessary 1. From the creation of Christs soule that wee should be like unto him in all things except sin then it would follow that we should be conceived by the Holy Ghost as he was for that was without sinne especially if he might have been conceived without sin without that worke as by this doctrine it seemes he might as afterward wee shall see 2. Secondly it is not yet proved that Christs soule was immediately created of nothing yea it may be denied by the same reason for then wee should not be alike to him in all things except sin If it be said that if Christs soule had beene traduced by ordinary generation it must needs have beene sinfull I graunt it and therefore I say it was that his conception was extraordinary and supernaturall for it being impossible in nature for a Virgin to conceive without man therefore this was brought to passe by the miraculous power of the Holy Ghost who seperated a part of the Virgin for that purpose and supplied what was wanting in nature by supernaturall power which is signified in that it is said Shee was overshadowed by the holy Ghost But although he was not conceived after the manner that other men are that so he might be without sinne yet it followeth not from hence but his whole humanitie both soule and body might be made of the same matter that other mens are so as he be not corrupted with sinne Which how it may be we shall heare in the proper place where this also shall be brought as an Argument to prove the contrary so weake are objections against the truth Lastly Though it should be granted that Christs soule was immediately created by God as the first Adams was because it could not be propagated after the manner of mankinde without sinne yet it would not follow that all ours are therefore so as they collect Nay the contrary plainly appeareth for for the same cause that his must be created immediately to be without sinne ours must be mediately that they may be sinfull and tor the same cause he cannot be propagated without sinne we cannot be sinfull unlesse propagated And thus much for the Scripture and reasons drawne from them to prove the immediate creation of soules Whereby all men may see upon what weake grounds this opinion is fatherred upon the Scriptures And now I am to encounter with the other troope of Arguments taken from the impossibilitie of the soules propagation CHAP. VIII Whether propagation can stand with the spirituall nature of the Soule Objection ordered From the probabilitie of the Creation proceed wee now unto the impossibility of the propagation of the soule And indeed the reasons oppugning the soules propagation are very many and forcible and such as doe sufficiently prove that man cannot of himselfe alone without some more special work of God propagate his like as beasts doe theirs 1. From the nature of the soule The reasons that wee may not be confounded with the number of them are either such as do more specially respect the nature of the soule not without some respect to propagation or else such as doe more specially respect the nature of propagatiō not without some respect to the soule But before I come to the particulars the generall answer to all may be this 2. From the nature of propagation That all naturall reasons are taken from corporall generations and so doe onely prove that soules cannot be propagated as bodies are which is not denyed For neither doth the body propagate the soule neither yet is it propagated after a bodily manner but the whol
man generates the whole man after a manner convenient to either nature 1. The soule supernaturall The first objection is that the soule is supernaturall and nature cannot produce any thing above nature But first it cannot be properly said that the soule is supernaturall It is indeed above elementary natures and therefore I also deny that it can be propagated of or by the body alone Againe I say not that the whole man can beget his like according to that common manner whereby other creatures are generated but by the supernaturall power of GOD assisting him And so though it were supernaturall yet it is not against nature that it should be propagated seeing as it is supernaturall so it is supernaturally propagated 2. Spirits cannot propagate Secondly It is objected that the soule is a simple spirit like unto Angels and therefore as one Angell cannot beget another so neither can soules First I answer 1. that we might with as good reason reason thus soules are like unto Angels and Angels cannot be united with bodies therefore soules cannot 2. Homo generat nec materiam nec formam sed totū compositum Secondly I doe not say that one soule doth beget another but one man another For generation is not of matter or forme onely but of the whole compound consisting of matter and forme Thirdly though soules are of a simple spirituall substance as are Angels in respect of elementary yet even Angels themselves and much more mens soules are not without a spirituall kinde of composition For to be simply simple is proper onely to the nature of God Fourthly Mens soules are of a farre more inferiour nature and so are more compounded than the nature of Angels and very fit it was that they should be so that they might be the more sutable to corporall natures with whom it pleased the Creator to unite them Lastly We see it is the will of God that soules should be produced with bodyes one after another in a naturall order to the worlds end and therefore hath conferred his efficient power for the effecting thereof from the beginning none of all which can be affirmed of Angels And now let reasō or any reasonable man judge whether it will follow that because one Angell neither doth nor can beget another therfore man cannot beget man yea God cannot by man produce one soule out of another though after a metaphysicall manner as for the reasons aforesaid we cannot throughly conceive 3. The soule is immateriall Of the same kinde is that objection that the soule is immateriall and the reason stands thus Whatsoever is made must be either of nothing or of some matter pre-existing now the soule is without matter and therfore cannot be propagated but must needs be immediately created of nothing But I deny the soule is altogether immateriall for although it hath no elementary matter yet it hath spirituall matter For all created spirits being compounded of act and potency have a kinde of similitude with corporall natures both in regard of matter and forme yea even Angels themselves But by a kinde of transcendency their matter is as our forme and their forme as the forme of our forme which because we want fitter words may indifferently be called spirituall matter and forme which doe best of all agree with the inferior nature of the soule And if it be said The spirituall matter of the soule it can have no such spirituall all matter because then it must be of such a nature as may receive contrary formes as we see in the generation of all other creatures by reason whereof the soule shall be made corruptible I answer first that though it be so in elementary generations yet it followeth not in spirituall compositions seeing their matter is of an higher kind Secondly Though nature cannot produce one soule put of another but by a corruptible course yet it followeth not but the God of nature may Thirdly as the soule to speake properly consists rather of power than any parts so the propagation is rather by promotion then than any decision Fourthly as the soule hath its essence more in the power and faculty than in the matter of it so more is to be ascribed to the efficient than to the materiall cause more to God than to man and yet that according to the course of nature too Lastly as man is the perfection of the creatures so his is the perfection of generation It is no strange thing therefore but very fitting that there should be somewhat in it transcending the common course as namely that one immortall nature should be derived from another by such a kind of generatiō as is very neere a creation by vertue of that first ordination and continual assistance of the father of spirits on whom the soule hath so neere a dependence 4. The soule corruptible Againe it is objected that the soule is incorruptible and it is a rule in nature Generatio unius est corruptio alterius the generation of one is the corruption of another Now if in every generation there must be a corruption seeing the soule cannot be corrupted it cannot be generated neither But first if this corruption should be graunted in the generation of the soule it is onely in termino a quo which cannot hinder the immortalitie of the soule that is propagated neither doth it belong to the soule that doth propagate for the generaration is of the soule generated not of the soule generating Againe what manner of corruption is that which is here meant A perishing indeed but such an one is rather a perfecting For in generation the seed is not corrupted by putrefaction but by perfection that is it ceaseth to be that which before it was and is made that which it was not because the potentiall being is turned into actuall being seed into a creature so that the thing is the same that it was before though not after the same manner that before it was and thus I graunt there is a corruption in the soules generation namely it ceaseth to be in power onely when it is in act and why then there is not something in man that is not the soule but rather the seminary of the soule as the seede is of the body wee shall heare afterwards 5. It can subsist by it selfe Another argument is taken from the power that the soule hath to subsist by it selfe without the body after this manner if the soule cannot be produced without the body then can it not live without the body and if the bodies generation be the cause of producing it the bodies corruption must also cause the death of it but the soule can live without the body and cannot be corrupted by it and therefore is not generated neither with nor by the body These things thus hudled up together are partly true and partly false for first there is not nor ever was there a soul produced without a body that
left destitute and if but a part then it will follow that the essence of God is divisible Zanch. de trin Eloh par 2. l. 3. cap. 7. answers the same thus that he receiveth the whole essence and yet the Father hath it all still For saith he spirituall natures whilest they are communicated are neither wholly taken away nor anything at all diminished His words be these Res enim spirituales dum communicantur neque tolluntur penitus neque etiam imminuuntur Neither can it be said that this is proper to God seeing he affirmes it of all spirituall natures indifferently yea what else can be meant by the indivisiblenesse of the soule but that it is of such a nature as cannot be diminished by taking ought from it else how should it differ from corporall natures for even they cannot be diminished if nought be taken from them yet I say not that the soule can be parted at all after the manner of dividing corporall natures but this I say as the essence and forme of every creature is indivisible no lesse than the soule and yet they can out of themselves propagate their like without making their forme or essence divisible so may man produce his like without dividing his form or essence which is his soule For seeing the forme of a beast as it is so is as much indivisible as mans soule and experience proves that they notwithstanding communicate their formes to their issue why also may not parents give soules to their of-spring without dividing their own especially considering man is the most excellent creature who must needs therefore excell in this faculty as well as in others Neither can it be said The soule not full of soules that then his soule must be full of soules no more then that other creatures should therfore have in them many of their own kinds because they beget many for as Scaliger well answers Scal. exer 6. sect 10. there is in that one sufficient power for the generating of many and so much for those objectiōs which are taken from the matter conceived I proceed now to those that concerne the manner of conception CHAPTER XII How the manner of conception can stand with the soules generation TOuching the manner of conception Objectiōs three things especially are and may be objected First it is doubted whether conception be in the act of generation or afterwards Secondly it should seeme by this that the soule is imperfect at the first and grows by degrees with the body Lastly it may be questioned how superfetation and the conception of twinnes can stand with this manner of the soules propagation And if these also can be well cleared there is nothing more materiall worth the questioning 1. Whether conception be in generation First I say it is a question amongst the learned whether conception be at the first union of seeds or no for as some Physitiās write there must be a certaine concoction and preparation of the seede before conception First of all I might answer that the ordinance of God herein is so wonderfull as passeth all mens understandings so as none can say directly how it is either for the soule or for the body it being one of those things which David professeth was too wonderfull for him Psal 139. vers 6. and therefore much more for us And yet if we make no questiō of the conception of the body though we cannot conceive the manner how why should we be more doubtfull and inquisitive about the soule of which we know we are lesse able to conceive 2. That the soule begins with the creature Secondly I answer that though it should be granted that the more grosse and corporall parts of the seede doe as indeed they do require time before they can be throughly mixed knit together to make a perfect conception yet in reason it must needs be that the more spirituall parts and chiefly the soule is conceived in the first instant I meane a small moment of time and that in the beginning at the first meeting and union of the seeds of both sexes And thus it must needs be not only because spirituall natures are more quick and subtill and so move in lesse time than corporall and therefore may doe that in a moment which the other cannot doe but in a longer time whence it is that in eating and drinking wee see the spirits are refreshed and the man strengthened immediately after he hath eaten before ever the meat can be concocted but also experiēce teacheth that in the breeding of all creatures the internall parts are perfect before the externall the more spirituall parts of the body before those that are more grosse and corporall and therefore it followeth by like reason that the spirits in man have their perfection before the body and the soule before the spirits for there is no doubt but nature observes the same order in the beginning that she doth in the continuance of her worke there being one and the same cause of both Againe be it that there is such a concoction in conception as in respect of the body questionlesse there is yet it cannot be denied but the corporall parts are prepared perfected by the other which must needs therefore be first and in the first instant for that which beginneth must of necessitie be in the beginning because all that is done afterward is by vertue of that power wherewith it was informed at first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For that power becoms the first act of the conceived fruit and is the very soule of the creature wherewith if the seede be not informed at the beginning all comes to nothing at the end And hence it is that if all causes doe not fitly concurre together for the forming the seede with the soule at first by whose working it may proceed to perfection afterward the whole worke is frustrated The consideration whereof may teach us what the reason in nature should be that there is more failing in the conception of man than of other creatures Namely because the soule being of a more excellent nature in man requires a more fit proportion and due temper of all meanes before such a heavenly flame can be kindled and the seede informed and united therwith then is necessary for the production of any other creature whatsoever Now this very beginning only is properly conception all that followeth afterward being nothing but a continued perfecting of this beginning by insensible degrees which not nature but reason hath distinguished into conception forming quickning c. to every of which that time is allotted wherein that worke most appeares though natures work be one and the same from the beginning 2. Whether the soule be imperfect at first But here it will he objected that if the soule be in the seede at the first conception it must needs be very weake and imperfect at the first and so growing and increasing with the
which necessarily serves to make up the perfect person of a sinner and so much so is sinfull and must and shall be punished in it selfe or Christ Sixthly There is no law given to substances but to creatures not to parts but persons neither can any other be accused condemned or convicted of sin Now where no law is Rom 4.15 there is no transgression saith the Apostle not simple parts therefore but onely persons can be sinfull Seventhly It is manifest it could have no actuall sin and originall sin is not of that nature as was before shewed that it cannot come to us neither by the soule nor body nor union of both if it be created and by propagation onely if it be propagated for which cause Christ onely was freed from the ordinary course of propagation Lastly If meere substances be sinfull it cannot be shifted but Christ was infected with originall sin for his substance was in Adam in as much as he was his sonne and so by this doctrine must needs be sinfull This doctrine not so well cleared of old But this seemes to be graunted by Divines and therefore they say that the holy Ghost did in the same moment that it was assumed cleanse that masse whereof his body was made from sin and so it was sanctified from the first conception in the Virgins wombe Whereof we give this reason that it became not the eternall sonne of God personally to assume unto himselfe a nature stained defiled and polluted with sin And farther they say that indeed Mary was a sinner but the masse of flesh which was taken out of her substance was at the same instant sanctified by the operation of the holy Ghost So that it is graunted that the substāce wherof Christs humanitie was made was sinfull before it was assumed This point not being so well cleared hath much troubled the Church in former ages being assailed with divers dangerous errours why else did the Marcionites and Manichees hold that Christ had an incorporeall or heavenly body which was not takē from the Virgin but only passed through her and what else caused Apollinarius to hold that Christ had no humane soule but only a body which was insould with the deity but to free him from sin 2. If it had been sinfull it could never have been sanctified That we may therefore fully cleare this truth from all such phantasticall opinions I deny that it can be truly and properly said that Christs humanitie was ever sinfull And not onely for the former reasons but because if it had beene sinfull it could never have beene sanctifièd the Sonne of God could never have beene incarnate nor any man ever saved For who should have purged away that sin the holy Ghost nay there is one onely Mediatour between God and man the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 and it is through his blood that wee have redemption Eph. 1.7 even the forgivenesse of sinnes Col. 1.14.20 and it is the blood of his crosse that reconcileth all things 1 Pet. 1.2 And againe Heb. 9.22 it is the sprinkling of the blood of Christ that giveth power to the purging away of sin and therefore also it is said that without shedding of blood there is no remission So that the bloud of Christ onely cleanseth from sin Yea but the holy Ghost also sanctifies It is true Obj. Mat. 3.11 Ioh. 3.5 Rom. 8.14 the holy Ghost doth now sanctifie the elect purg out sin infuse grace but all by vertue of Christs redemption For if he had not first I meane in the order of nature takē away the guilt by his bloud no man could have been sanctified by the Spirit Now this he could not doe by his own humanitie for it was impossible that he shuld purge sin by that blood which he had not therfore if it had been necessary that Christ should have takē away the guilt corruption of his own nature which could not be but by the same nature taken before he tooke it it had been impossible that ever Christ could have bin incarnate Yea but God is omnipotent True Obj. 2. but his omnipotency cannot work cōtradictions such is this we must take heed therefore how we hold this lest at unawares we shut out Christ from being a Saviour and our selves and all other from salvation by him Now then if his substance was never sinfull the worke of the holy Ghost herein was not to cleanse it from sin but to seperate that which was not sinfull in it selfe from a sinfull creature that so being free it might be assured by the divine nature subsist in the person of the same CHAPTER XXIV How Christs Incarnation was free from corruption How Christ was free from sin THis ground being laid wee have a faire way opened for the freeing of our Saviour Christ from sin in every respect although his soule and body came from Adam as well as ours which we shall more fully conceive by shewing how it was 1. How free and why it was so 1. His person free For the first seeing neither the substance of soule or body can be sinfull as it is substance but as both together are a person for as much as Christs soule body is no person but as it is united with the divine nature he namely his person never was and so never could sin in Adam And thus is his person free If then it be said that though his person was not His humanitie free nor could sin in Adam yet seeing his humanitie was in him and came from him else he were not true man that must needs sin in him It cannot possibly be neither 1. From imputation For as is said his humanitie without the divinitie never was a person and not being a person but substance only 2. By propagation he is thereby exempted from the common condition of men and originall sin could not justly be imputed unto him 3. His substance in the Virgin free Neither could it be propagated because he was conceived after an extraordinary manner without man and thus is his humanitie free also If it be further said that though he be not sinfull as Christ nor yet as having the meer substance of man yet he must needs be sinfull as his substance was belonging to the person of corrupt Adam in whom it was and afterwards to the sinfull Virgin that cannot be neither For though it were sinfull as a part of their persons yet as it was so it was none of his Christ never assumed the person of the Virgin for one person cānot be another though sin were not but he tooke her nature or substance only which because it was good in it selfe though sinfull as hers the holy Ghost did seperate it by an unusuall course from belonging to her person and so being by it selfe it was sinlesse and then it was instantly assumed by the eternall Word and so made the
end and use of it is in all things naturally to worke mediately by the body For the soule is not such a strange nature dwelling in the body miraculously as some imagine but lovingly united by a sweet union and fit concordance in nature And therefore without question as the nature use end and all ordinary faculties and workes are naturally and mediately by these corporall natures so also is the originall and could not otherwise have such union and sympathy with the body But yet as the nature and workes also are some wayes extraordinary without and above all elementary natures so proportionably thereunto God hath an extraordinary and supernaturall worke in producing of it 5. The faculty of propagation seated in the soule Another reason that the soule is propagated may be because the faculty of propagation belongs as well to the soule as the body yea hath originally the chiefe seate in the soule onely For the body alone is but a dead instrument as the pen in the hand of the writer and therefore must needs be in the soule which is the first principle and principall cause of all actions unlesse wee should graunt more soules than one and disturbe yea destroy the uniforme government of nature by placing divers commanders in one body Now if the soule hath a part yea the chiefest power in propagation it were most absurd to say that all is spent in the producing of I know not what brutish thing which is neither nan not beast And seeing according to the rule of reason such as the cause is such also is the effect how can it be but the soule must produce a soule and coÌ„sequently the whole man the whole man 6. The soule present in conception Adde hereunto that the soule doth accompany the seede and perfecteth the body from the very first conception which not onely the ancient Philosophers acknowledge as most agreeable to nature and reason whence it is that nothing is more coÌ„mon with Aristotle Arist deâ— gen anim l. 1. cap. 3. than that the power of the soule is in the seed making its owne house fitly framing the bodily organs and bringing them to the highest perfection that the first constitution of the matter is capable of but even amongst our modern Philosophers and Divines it is acknowledged for such effects cannot be done without a soule as the most acute Scaliger abundantly proveth Scal. Exerc 6. Sect. 5. And if the soule informes the seede at the very instant of perfection when there are as yet no organs is it not more probable that it is mediately propagated with the seede than immediately created by GOD Yes doubtlesse Neither need any doubt how the rationall soule can 〈◊〉 the seede without organs know that the chiefe yea the only immediate organs of the soule are the spirits and these are as well in the seede as in the most perfect body The souls worke in the Embrio Although therefore there are as yet no eyes or eares for the soule to heare or see with yet there is worke enough for it to heate and coole moysten and dry and thereby to seperate and conjoine to thicken and thinne to extend and contract to make rough and smooth to harden and soften these and such other are the workes of the soule whereby it doth ordaine place number and forme the seede For though they be the prime and secondary qualities of the elements yet in such a naturall body all are doâ—â— by the power of the soule and none of all can be done without it 7. God the efficient cause Lastly It appeareth that not nature but God is the efficient cause of the soules procreation because even elementary bodies cannot be produced without a more excellent efficient than themselves For wee see that all naturall things yea every plant that growes out of the earth besides the materiall cause the elements whereof it is compounded and the seede whence it receiveth the forme hath also an externall efficient cause which certainly is the influence of the celestiall Orbes who by causing motion gives it the first hint and power of growing And seeing the soule hath such similitude with these corporall natures that though they have not matter and forme as they have yet having a spirituall kinde of composition which for likenesse justly meriteth the name therefore as the spirituall matter and forme thereof is propagated from the parents by the seede so it must also have a spirituall externall efficient cause more excellent than it selfe which can be no other but the immediate power of God the father of spirits For as all naturall bodyes have an efficient cause correspondent to their natures which in course of nature cannot be good immediately with whose nature they have so small affinitie yea so great contrarietie but these heavenly powers with whom they have such sympathy being of the same corporall nature though of a more excellent temper so the efficient cause of our soules must needs be agreeable to their natures which cannot be the Starres which are far inferior but God who is also a spirit and of a more excellent nature than our spirits even as the Sunne is more glorious than these earthly substances betweene whom there is such sympathy that even as plants welke and fade without the force of their efficients that heavenly lampe the Sunne and the rest of those celestiall orbes but grow and flourish with them so how a soule seperated from God and one united unto his and injoying the beames of his grace is either miserable or happy we know in part but cannot perfectly comprehend CHAP. XXVIII Reasons from other considerations Rarenesse of humane conceptioÌ„ BEsides these arguments taken from the ordinary course of generation and the nature of the soule divers other probable reasons may be produced As first the often failing and indeed rarenesse of humane conception in comparison of other creatures as common experience teacheth Now if the soule be created after the perfecting of the body then the first conception and breeding beeing by the power of nature onely why shoud there not bee as much frequency and certainty in the propagation of mankind as of other creatures This rarenesse of humane conception doth intimate unto us that it is not by the power of nature alone that man is conceived in the wombe but that there is some more speciall worke of God in it than in the generation of other creatures And if it cannot be denyed but God hath such a speciall worke in the conception of man why should we not thinke that the soule hath its beginning then also rather than with reverence be it spoken to put God to a double labour and to set him twice on worke in every man generation 2. God shuld be tyed to nature And this may farther appeare not only by testimony of Scripture which makes conception to be a speciall worke of God and never mentioneth any extraordinary power in the
thus I have finished my taske in proving this manner of the soules propagation both by divine and naturall reason CHAP. XXIX An answer to some objections against this manner of propagation BUt now me-thinkes I heare some call me backe saying I contradict my selfe in that I say and that even this meane way hath its extremities Having therefore shewed that the soule of man can neither be immediately created by God not yet meerely propagated by man and proved this middle way betweene both both by Scripture and naturall reasons I will now in the last place that there may remaine no just scruple to cavill at briefly answer some few Objections which I conceive may be made more directly even against this meane manner of the soules procreation and so conclude The Objections are these foure Objections First That the soule shall not be immortall if it may be resolved into a former principle namely Adams soule from whence all came Secondly God shall hereby still worke immediately in the creation of soules and so shall not yet have ended his worke and rest from his labours Thirdly Man shall still be inferior to beasts in that he cannot beget his like alone but must have more helpe from God than they Lastly God shall still be touched with sin in being the immediate efficient of our sinfull soules All which may be as easily answered as objected 1 Obj. That the soule must be mortall if it proceed from another For the first first although it is true that all mixt bodyes may be againe resolved into their former principles the elements whereof they are compounded and out of which they arise yet this is no impeachment to the soules immortalitie For the comparison is unequall and the causes nothing like unlesse wee should say that all bodyes must returne into Adams also whence they came as well as soules Secondly Mixt bodyes are not the simple elements but compounded of them where as our soules are of the same nature and no lesse simple than his was Thirdly If it were compounded yea even of the elements yet it would not presently follow that it must needs be mortall because corruption and death comes not onely nor so much from propagation or composition as from divine malediction for death is the wages of sinne without which even Adams body should have beene immortall as well as his soule Lastly To this objection I will oppose an infallible conclusion viz. that nothing can returne to nothing but by the same meanes whereby it receives the first being And hence it is that all creatures that are produced out of the elements by the power of nature doe by nature resolve into them againe but because mens soules cannot be propagated from their parents but by the immediate power of GOD concurring hence it necessarily followeth that neither can they be againe dissolved or annihilated but by the same omnipotent power This therefore doth invincibly prove so farre is it from disproving proving the soules immortalitie 2 Obj. That God still works in creating Soules For the second that God shall not yet rest from his labour but be still set aworke in the creation of soules I answer first here is no creation of any new kind of creature which they of the contrary part would have us to take for a sufficient answer Secondly Which is more here is no new substance created of nothing but onely produced out of former matter Thirdly It nothing oppugnes Gods resting to worke immediately in some things as by his holy Spirit in the hearts of Gods Elect Ioh. 5.17 in such things the Father worketh hitherto and the Sonne likewise Lastly This worke is no part of creation properly but of preservation which is ordinarily either mediate or immediate Mediate so all elementary creatures and individuall natures are preserved by God but by the meanes of nature or rather naturall meanes but now nature it selfe or as I may say the very nature or Symmetry of nature is preserved by his owne immediate power there being no nature above nature but onely his to preserve it And by the same immediate power it must needs be that the production of soule is conserved the excellency of whose nature is such as can have no naturall or mediate efficient cause and therefore of necessitie it must be his immediate providence onely and that even by course of nature 3 Obj. That ma◠shall still be inferiour to other creatures To the third objection that if mans generatiō requires more helpe from God than other creatures his nature shall therein be still inferiour to theirs I answer That no creature can propagate the like alone no more than he and that he doth as much in the generation of his like as any other creatures doe in theirs For it is well knowne that in generation besides the matter and forme which proceeds from the generators it is necessary that there should bee an efficient power comming from an externall cause which all grant to be the influence of the celestiall Orbes whence is that common Proverb amongst Philosophers Sol homo generant hominem now seeing man gives the matter and forme of the whole man soule and body though in regard of his soule he hath a more excellent efficient than they or rather the same efficient after a more excellent manner that is immediately this is so farre from disparaging that it exalteth mans nature above all other creatures in the world Neverthelesse if man did not give both matter and forme this were indeed justly objected and he should be herein according to the order of nature inferiour to all others as we heard before 4. Obj. That God shall still be touched with sin Lastly The last objection that God shall be touched with sinne in being the immediate efficient of our sinfull soules is easily answered for God is simply the efficient cause of the soule and not of sin but that comes from our corrupt parents who supply the matter of the whole man corrupt and sinfull like themselves It being Gods just ordinance in nature Rom. 11.16 that as the tree is so should the fruit be And thus sin is meerly accidentall in respect of God who as he made man at the first perfect so also this ordinance of generation whereby he should have begotten children perfect like himselfe but he by his fall corrupting himselfe hath likewise corrupted all his posteritie albeit God still performes his part as perfectly as ever in conferring of his efficient power for the producing of them Thus then we see how the generation of men which should have been perfect is become sinfull through out faults and not Gods and why then God did not make man new againe or stop sin there but continue his first institution might be sufficiently cleared but is not in this place to be disputed CHAP. XXX The Conclusion recapitulating the summe of the premisses Use of this Tractate IT is now time to
to know how the soule is made before it is when we cannot conceive what it is after it is made For albeit we know it is a spirituall substance truly subsisting yet what manner or metaphysicall matter it is impossible for any man to conceive Nor seeing we doubt not but that we have soules though we know them not and are no whit troubled that we doe noâ— know them why should we doubt or thinke iâ— strange because we cannot 〈…〉 their originall which 〈◊〉 â—â—â—s be harder than the â—â—â—er Reasons why the Sâ—â—les originall cannot perfectly be known 〈…〉 ignorance should more trouble than the know 〈◊〉 â—ill 〈◊〉 is good if reason 〈…〉 saâ—â—â—ed with reason I 〈◊〉 make 〈◊〉 appeare tha◠〈◊〉 â—ot onely reasonable so to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—mpossible it should be othâ—â—wise For first there is no perfect knowledge to be had of any thing in this life Whatsoever hath any being hath sâ—â—h a secret deâ—â—â—dance on God the first â—â—ing as no man is able to câ—â—â—â—end And if it be so in those things w◠〈◊〉 best known unâ—â—◠〈◊〉 mâ—â—h more must it â—â—â—â—â—s 〈◊〉 in those things whiâ—â—◠〈◊〉 â—â—â—ye least knowledge of Secondly the soule is a spirit and spirits are ever more difficult to judge of than corporall substances not being subject to sense as anon we shall see Thirdly the soule is an incompleat spirit being but part of a creature And therefore more difficult to be knowne for as is the thing knowne such is our knowledge of the thing if that be imperfect our knowledge is imperfect also and therefore by like reason the soule being an incompleate spirit we can have but an incompleate knowledge of it Fourthly this question concernes the existence of the soule Now the existence of any thing is harder to know then â—he essence and consequently â—hose questions that concern the â—xistence are more difficult then â—hose that concerne the essence And therefore if it be impossible â—or us in this life perfectly to know the essence of the soule it must needs be so much the more impossible to know the originall What knowledg men have of spirits And to make yet this more plaine to every mans apprehension let us a little compare the faculty of knowing with the nature of the things to be knowne For as the consideration of the faculties of spirits doe not a little helpe to finde out their natures so by the nature of the soule we shall better judge of this faculty of understanding And first touching the whole man we know that man is a mixt creature consisting of two natures soule and body which are sweetly united to make up one compleat creature The body indued with senses to receive the images of all corporall things and the soule furnished with a faculty of reason which appreheÌ„ding those images doth discourse and draw consequents from them according to its own ingenerate principle of reason whereby it gets Knowledge of causes and effects which sense cannot attaine unto This being the onely naturall way of mans knowledge Hence it commeth to passe that when we come to discourse of spirituall natures the knowledge of which lyes not through the senses but is gotten onely by the rationall power or force of reason that is in man We are put out of our naturall accustomed way and so being halfe lost wee wander in uncertainties without any perfect knowledg or such as might content the nature of man And this I take to be one reason why we are so dim-sighted in spirituâ—ll things The soules knowledg of it selfe Againe to come more closeâ—y to the nature of the soule we know that whatsoever excelâ—encies are in inferiour natures are much more and much more perfectly in those that are superiour Whence it is that the perfections of other creatures are much more perfectly in man and chiefly in the soule of man And those vertues which are in mens soules are after a more excellent manner in Angels and all perfection most perfectly of all in God Now as their natures are so also are their faculties and therefore in like manner the knowledge of inferiour natures is comprehended by the superiour but never the superiour by the inferiour I meane properly and naturally For because the soule knowes by certaine spirituall Ideas or abstracted species which being grossely taken from the senses are perfected by degrees as they come neerer the soule hence it is that the knowledg of things according to the manner of out knowledge is a more intellectuall apprehension of them and so of an higher nature than the things themselves that are knowne Whence it appeareth that it is impossible for the soule to know it selfe properly or perfectly yea of so well as it can inferiour natures If it be said if the soule be thus ignorant of it selfe how then doe men know Angels both men and Angels God being superior natures First Although the soule cannot know it selfe 1. Reflexion according to that proper and naturall way of knowledg whereby it knoweth other things yet it knoweth it selfe by reflexion that is by beholding its owne image in the effects as it were in a glasse but this knowledge is but a shadow in comparison Secondly I answer the soule knoweth Angels 2. Comparison and both men and Angels God two wayes First by the inferiour secondly by the superiour it selfe By the inferiour so by consequents of reason drawne from sensible things we conceive something of spirits both our owne soules and Angels and by the image of God in his creatures we conceive something of him also But especially we know the superiour by the superiour it selfe 3. Infusion And so both men and Angels know God by union with him that is by the working of his holy Spirit abiding in us of which nature is that immediate vision of God which the Angels injoy in heaven and the Saints somewhat taste of on earth To know that which knowes impossible By this which hath been said it appeareth that properly to know that by which it knows is impossible for any creature because to know that is to be above it selfe and to have that which it hath not This therefore is proper to God alone whose essence and knowledge is both one and all other natures by the superiour comprehend the inferiour As for example we see in the senses for as the sense is so is the understanding the eye sees but it cannot see that it sees Beasts know but they know not that they know they know by sense those things that ate inferiour and subject to sense but how they know that is by sense cogitative the highest perfection of their nature they know not For that is to be comprehended by a higher perfection that is by reason and thereby indeed men know how they know but how they know that even themselvs doe not know otherwise then by the effects and by way of reflexion but the thing it selfe that is the essence of
the soule the soule it selfe cannot properly know Every nature as it is more excellent proves it selfe and the inferiour Yet we must know that we know our soules better then beasts doe themselves and no doubt Angels themselves better than we doe our selves and God who is above all knoweth himselfe absolutely and perfectly Why God knows all because his nature is of that height that essence and knowledge in him are all one Thus we see the reason why GOD onely can perfectly contemplate himselfe every other creature as it comes nearer to his nature can thereby contemplate it selfe and those which are inferiour And hence it is that man who is a creature cansisting of soule and body Why man knows not all secrets of nature can by his soule coÌ„template elementary natures but for as much as his soule is also united to a body which is part of himselfe he cannot perfectly know the secrets of nature even in these corporall things Whence no doubt it is that a man may find His reason non-pâ—ust in so many workes of nature But the Angels being altogether of aspirituall nature may have perfect knowledge of these inferiour natures I meane as they are in themselves not as they are virtually in God for so he onely knowes them perfectly and yet they cannot perfectly contemplate themselves Why Angels caÌ„not know our thoughts no nor our soules neither because they also are spirituall like them And hence also it may well be that Angels cannot know mens thoughts as is manifest in the Scripture Much lesse then can man have any perfect knowledge of his soule Why man not knowing his soul much lesse the originall and much lesse the Originall No although he were not joyned to a body unlesse he had another spirituall nature above the soule yea above Angels by which hee might looke downe upon it and so discerne all those difficulties which now he cannot comprehend Even as by these soules we can looke downe upon inferiour creatures and judge of elementary creatures in the world For as love so knowledge doth descend and therefore if we had such superiour soules yet then we should find as much difficulty in them also Here therefore it is to be notedâ— that no nature excepting Gods can know it selfe perfectly so neither properly but as it were by way of reflexion For even as the eye though it beholdeth all other things yet it cannot see it selfe unlesse in a glasse so we cannot know our owne soules but as it shewed it selfe in the workes as in a mirroâ—â— so that as by it wee know other things so by other things we come to the knowledg of it which must needs be an imperfect shaddow and indeed not so much as a shaddow of perfection And herein it beareth the image of God in a speciall manner who cannot be known properly but only by his creatures rather what he is not then what he is So that as it is proper to him alone who is the perfection of all natures to know all things so he only can properly and perfectly know both them and himselfe How far the soules Originall may be knowne Some perhaps will say if it be a thing that cannot be knowne then it is in vaine to enquire after it I answer that though the knowledge of the soule be very difficult especially the originall of it and though it be impossible to know it perfectly and so properly as we know other things for the reasons abovesaid yet there is a competency and such as may give reasonable satisfaction to our nature to be attained and therewith we ought to rest contented For though we can see no reason yet if we see reason why we should see no reason reason it is we should be content without reason CHAP. III. Diversitie of opinions about the nature and the originall of the soule Strange conceits about the soule THE truth of this ignorance will farther appeare and also farther the point in hand if wee shall consider the many strange opinions that have been in the world concerning the anture and originall of it 1. Aristotles opinion First Aristotle that Prince of Philosophers who being ignorant of the Creation held that the world was eternall did also maintaine that soules have been from eternity but yet propagated from parents to children the soule being in the seed potentially though not actually but whether it were mortall or immortall as himselfe was not certaine so his writings are very doubtfull yet rather concluding that it was howbeit the first creation of nothing is denied flatly by him and all his followers Somewhat more tollerable than this because it hath some resemblance of truth is the fable of the Poets that Prometheus 2. Poets made the first man of the slime of the earth and being beloved of the gods and sometimes taken up to heaven he there saw the caelestiall Orbes to live and move by fire whereupon he made bold to steale some of the heavenly fire to enlive his body and so informed it with a living soule whence it seemes came that opinion that soules were made of caelestiall fire Others againe held that Angels made all mens soules of spirit and fire 3. That Angels made them of this mind was Seleucus and long before him all Carpâ—crates was of opinion that they made the whole world Also so Menander and others 4. Of his own substance Others say God made them of his owne substance as Priscillianus Serveâ—â—us and their followers 5. Of the soule of the world But as touching the matter most of the other Philosophers were of opinioÌ„ that soules were bred of the soule of the world which they imagine to be a caelestiall substance or quint-essence of which they say the starres are made and so are incorruptible and immortall even as the body is corruptible and mortall being compounded of the elements 6. Hypocrat Notwithstanding Hippocrates thought that the soule was ingendred of the heat or vitall spirits or els of the harmony of the whole body or to speake plainly it was he could not tell what 7. Galen That famous Physitian Galen also held it to be either an aeriall body more then the elements or els not corporall and yet carried by the animall spirits as by a chariot 8. Plato Plato and his followers maintaine that all soules were at first bred in heaven of the divine nature and dwelt here being indued with excellent sciences and vertues but afterwards descending from thence into mens bodies as into stinking prisons they are corrupted and forget all their former knowledge and when afterward by study and instruction those caelestiall sparkes are againe kindled in them they doe onely recall or call to mind those things which they knew before in heaven And farther they affirme that if by vertuous living good workes or some other kinde of purgation after they are seperated from their bodies for which cause it is
but spirituall and carnall castigation is here opposed But be it that God is here in a peculiar right called the Father of soules it must not be in a sense of our own devising whereof there is no example nor warrant in the Scripture but as they teach us which is that he created mans soule after a peculiar manner not of former matter as the body and all other creatures but immediately of nothing when he breathed into him the breath of life Lastly I grant that God hath a more peculiar worke in the production of every mans soule than in any other thing throughout the whole order of nature and yet according to the course of nature too And this is the utmost that can be urged from this or any of the former places these being the most and best that ever I could finde brought for the immediate creation of the soule none of which doe infringe but rather confirme this mediate manner which I have propounded CHAP. VII Reasons from the Scripture for the soules immediate Creation answered From the Creation of Adams soule THe reasons drawn from the Scripture to prove the immediate creation of the soule are these first because Adams soule was created of nothing and in the creation of his God hath declared the manner of the creating of ours since it is unlike the originall of his soule and ours should be unlike when as wee are both of one kinde And seeing our Saviour Christ speaking of Manage calleth men back to the first institution saying it was not so from the beginning there is the same reason why we should learne the originall of our soules also from the beginning But notwithstanding this there is no more necessitie nor indeed probability that our soules should be created of nothing because his was then that our bodyes should be still made of the slime of the earth because his was For every one knoweth there is one consideration in the first creatiō or things and another in the producing of them afterwards according to their kindes by ordinary generation And if this difference should alter the kinde then it should doe so in all other living creatures as well for though in part they were made of that first matter yet were they in part also created by the immediate power of God as well as Adam But seeing it cannot vary the kind in them it cannot by the course of nature doe so in us neither Nay it seemes in the text there is more reason it should be thus for man rather than for any other creature For it is said God breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives Gen. 2.7 the plurality of which word may in reason be better expounded of the many lives that were potentially in him than of the divers faculties and operations which yet are but one life and proceed from one soule onely And the rather because the words Spiraculum vitarum might we ll be rendred the Spirit of Soules As who should say that spirituall nature which was the fountaine of all those soules which have beene produced ever since and which is to be noted this is never affirmed of any creature in Scripture but such as being made male and female had power given them to propagate more of the same kinde Gen. 7 15. 6.17 so that it may seeme to be principally spoken for this cause and therefore to be belonging to man above all the rest and chiefly in respect of the soule which being made after such an immediate manner in man is therefore of a farre different and more excellent nature than the soules of bruites but yet propagated as well as they From the creation of Eves soule A second reason is drawne forcibly from the creation of Eve for because Moses expresseth the difference that was between the creation of her body and his the one being made of the dust the other of a rib but speaketh not of aw difference in the creation of their soules therefore say some it is very probable that both were created alike of nothing otherwise Moses would never have omitted it especially considering it was his principall intent to declare the originall of all things But this also is easily answered Answer For first if it be a good argument that Moses would not have omitted it if it had beene otherwise created than Adams was then it is much more forcible to prove that shee had no soule at all For if that which was taken out of Adam made the body onely then it is confessed he speakes nothing of the creation of her soule but leaves us to guesse that it might be as Adams was or rather that shee had none at all otherwise Moses would never have omitted it Secondly it is the thing in question whether Moses expresseth the different creation of their bodyes onely and not of their whole persons rather according to the expresse words in the text Thirdly if it should be granted that her soule was immediately created of nothing it were nothing to the purpose for this is still in the frist creation of mankinde and therefore no fit rule to measure the manner of mans propagation afterward Lastly it is at least to prove one unknowne thing by another there being no lesse doubt of the manner of the creation of her soule than of ours But for my part seeing in things doubtfull that which hath most reason is to be received as most reasonable I should rather thinke her whole person both soule and body to have beene made of Adams substance than otherwise and that for these reasons 1. Because Moses speaketh nothing of any more immediate creation of Soules but of the first He saith not that God breathed into her nostrils the breath of lives as into Adams there is not the least word or title that can seeme to signifie any such matter and what reason can be given that he who omitteth not the circumstance of the manner of closing up Adams side againe should overslip that miraculous worke of God in creating another new soule if he had done so Neither is it sufficient to say it was in vaine to repeate it for it is no where affirmed and if it were not needfull why should it still be doubtfull and men left onely to guesse at it Secondly Not only doth Moses not speake of any new created soule infused into her but if only her body was made of that which was taken from Adam as is said then for ought Moses speakes of it it may be questioned whither shee had any soule or no which must needs be very absurd especially considering it wa◠his chiefe purpose to declare unto us the true beginning of every thing at the first I doe not impute such an over-sight to the holy penman of God Thirdly so far is Moses from teaching that that he plainly affirmes the contrary saying that of that rib he made a woman not a body speaking of her whole person and not
resemblance in this case the soule of man may well be compared to a spirituall flame united to the body by the spirits as the flame of the Lamp by the oyle now as in the lighting of a Lamp every touch of fire doth not kindle it but as after blowing and fit applying of fire thereunto it sometimes flameth with a touch so the soule is not kindled at every conjunction of seedes but onely then when as I said before it is blowne by the efficient power of God which meeting with all other naturall causes out of the matter of these flames applied this new heavenly flame the soule is produced And as in that elementary inflammation the Lamp is not turned into the flame but inflamed by another so the corporall seede is not turned into the soule but informed with a soule by others Which soule being a spirituall flame not nourished by any elementary matter as the other is nor kindled without that everlasting breath whence it first came it can never after be extinguished as the other may And hence it commeth to passe not onely that soules perish not when any seede is lost but also that in case mans seede be mingled with other creatures as if sometimes happeneth such unkindly conceptiōs are never informed with reasonable soules not onely for that there is a want in the concurrence of all naturall causes but because God doth not conferre his efficient power but where and when he pleaseth To conclude therefore it appeareth that soules are neither lost nor choaked in the wombe nor yet constrained to live alone without bodyes when the seede proves not effectuall for then there is no soule produced I will not say but there may be fire but in that case I dare say there is no such flame kindled CHAPTER X. How one soule can proceede from two soules THe former objection being taken away 2. Obj. That the soule must be mingled of the parents soule we are to proceed to the second which is that if the soule be traduced from the parents it must needs be as well from the mothers soule as the father and if from both then either there must be two soules or else two soules must be mingled together and so grow into one both which are no lesse than impossible to which although it seemes unanswerable these things which shall be spoken being throughly considered I trust will give sufficient satisfaction For first why might wee not for the same cause say that there must be two bodyes also one from the father and another from the mother and if it be said that one partakes of both how comes it to passe then that it is sometimes like the father onely sometimes onely like the mother yea oftentimes a son like the mother and a daughter like the father In all other things most contrary to that part from whence the sex is received And if it must be confessed that the worke of nature herein is above reason what wonder if it be so in the soule also yea why should it not be so in that much rather than in this and if the former draw us onely to an admiration but not to a negation of if because the thing is apparent why should not the latter doe so also seeing in nature it is no lesse manifest then the former both being brought forth together as wee see To come a little neerer the matter One creature cannot be made of two souls I would first of all demand how it commeth to passe that among all living creatures of two divers seeds that is to say of the male and female is notwithstanding generated but one creature of the one kinde Since as Philosophers truely teach the species of things cannot be mingled no more than soules Vide Scal. de subti exer 268. and the essence of every thing is indivisible and two formes cannot be made one Now seeing the seede of any creature conteines in it both matter and forme thereof and is the same in potentiâ as they speake differing from the creature it selfe onely so much as power differeth from act that is ability to be or doe from being or being done how therefore can it possibly be that one creature can be produced from two seedes in univocall generations seeing also that vegetative nature have therefore but one seede These reasons made Aristotle deny that females had any seede at all being onely as the ground wherein seede is sowen Now if this be true the point is cleare without any farther opening for then the soule proceeding from the soule of the father onely there shall not need be two soules nor one mingled of two How the soule is from both as both are one But this is denied therefore some further answer is to be sought out For though the sex proceed not from the sex yet they say if this were true neither by the course of nature could ever be propagation by both Be it so yet I say that as two seeds produce but one creature because the seeds of male and female though they be two in number are but one kind else there must be two bodyes also so it is cōcerning the soule more plainly I say The seede of both but one seede that as the seede of either apart cannot properly be called seed-seed because neither of them alone conteines the matter and forme of the creature and is not Animal in potentiâ but at the instant of conception when both seedes are so mingled that therein is conteined the power of producing the like then onely it is rightly called seede and before onely because it may be thus for that is to be actually seede to have this potency in it so as the seede is properly but one in all sensitive creatures aswell as in vegetative in that sense that theirs is so in like manner I say that the spirituall seede of the soule if by way of resemblance I may so call it is not in the severall seede of either sex for there is no such materiall or locall division but rather in both when but one For in generation wee may not conceive one act to be made of two but two in act doe make one The mystery of which union lyes in this that the nature is one and the sexes two which againe united in one produce a third For by the spirituall seede of the parents soules What the soules seed is how generated I doe not meane any seperated matter as the bodies is but far otherwise namely that potentiall vertue in the parents soules which in conjunction uniting their forces together out of their owne matter doe enforme their seede with their nature that is a soule apprehended and united by the spirits therein It being the ordinance of God that mans nature should be distinguished into two sexes that by the more forcible union of both the whole kinde might be preserved And because the soule is rather facultie than matter
The production of soules the seed must needs be rather power than sperme Now the reason why parents doe coÌ„municate a soule to their issue Gen. 2.24 is because in this conjunction two are made one flesh not onely carnally but the very soules doe so cleave together that if it were possible they would lose their proper formes and become one which though being tyed by nature or rather Gods seperation which yet is not farre removed they cannot effect yet by the fitnesse of other causes concurring and the infinite power and wisdome of God so ordaining and assisting another soule and creature like the former is produced Things brecoing without seede The like whereof we may see in aequivocall generations where when one thing is changing into another even in the very change a third most commonly is ingendred And so here it is to be thought that in the interchanging of soules if I may so say even in a small moment of time Why conception so called this is performed as it were by conceit or fancy and therefore is worthily called conception or conceiving Whence is that of Athanasius Atha lib. de var. qu. 16. who saith even as fire is begotten by the strinking together of the stone and the steele so is the soule by the parents By all which it plainly appeareth that although the soule be received both from the father and the mother and indifferently from both yet it followeth not therupon that there must be two soules neither yet that two soules should thereby be mingled in one no more than the seeds of both which are not two seeds mingled or two forms made one which is impossible but onely one and that no lesse simple spirituall and immortall than either of the former CHAP. XI How the soule can be propagable and yet indivisible BY that which hath beene said 3. Obj. Parents soules divided there is a way opened also for the clearing of that other difficulty concerning the indivisible nature of the soule which they say cannot possibly stand with the course of generation For if the soule be propagated from the patents it must needs be that either the whole soule of the father is traduced and so the father shall be left soule-lesse or else some part and portion of the soule and so the soule shall be divisible and the like may be said of the mothers soule 1. â—ow a â—art is the â—hole as well as the fathers For the answering of this objection it must be considered that the substance matter of the soule is not like these corporall natures and so though this would follow in those yet not in that It is commonly said of Philosophers to which Divines also consent that the soule is tota in toto tota in qualibet parte wholly in the whole body and wholly in every part So that the soule cannot be divided into parts but if we will needs consider of a part that part is the whole and yet the whole not divided and therefore when one soule is propagated of another it is all one whether we say it be of the whole or of a part for even that part is the whole and yet according to the received doctrine the whole not divided nor any whit diminished 2. No parts but powers Others deale somewhat more subtilly herein as that learned both Philosopher and Divine Keckerman who in his Physickes treating on this subject saith that the soule is not united to the body by any physicall or corporall touching and thereupon concludeth thus Et quia anima non unitur corpori per contactum ideo etiam non concluditur extremitatibus corporis Keck Syn. l. 4. cap. 6. sicut aqua concluditur extremitatibus vasis quia non concluditur extremitatibus corporis ideo etiam non extenditur ad extensionem corporis per consequens frustra a quaeritur an sit in totô corpore tota an in singulis part ibus tota Because the soule is not united to the body by touching therefore also it is not included within the bounds of the body as water is in a vessell and because it is not so included within the bounds of the body therefore also it is not stretched out to the utmost limits of the body and consequently it is a vaine quaere whether the whole soule be in the whole body or whole in every part Now if this indeed be the truth as indeed it commeth neerer to the pure nature of the soule it is no whit lesse to the present purpose seeing it followeth accordingly that the soule is in the seede and yet not conteined of it and so the propagatioÌ„ thereof is rather a powerfull operation than any locall division For seeing all confesse that the essence of the soule properly considered consists not in parts but in powers it must needs be confessed likewise that proportionably thereunto that the propagation of the soule is not by decision whereby one part is seperated from another but by promotion whereby the same power is effected in another which it hath in it selfe and this is the manner of propagation which as I said is coÌ„venient to the nature of the soule The rather is this to be received as agreeable to nature and reason because if it be well observed we shall finde that the very nature and essence of soules consist chiefly in their faculties as corporall natures in their elementary composition and God himselfe in vertues his nature being as well as being most knowne in goodnesse justice mercy c. which perfections as they are too high to be essentiall to any created nature so are they all that one essentiall vertue which is in God or rather which is God himselfe Now seeing the soules nature consists especially in the divine faculty of it this doctrine may best be cleared by considering the faculties thereof Whereby it may appear even as when I give another my understanding or make him know that which I know my knowledge is still the same and nothing diminished so when these intellectuall natures I meane one soule produceth another the soule is still the same and indivisible I know to communicate the notion is one thing the faculty another notwithstanding herein the similitude holdeth that even as the notion communicated to another is neverthelesse perfect in his minde that imparts it so even the faculty it selfe which in respect of corporall natures is as a reall notion when it is propagated to another is neverthelesse perfect in him from whom it proceedeth And that it is thus the property 4. Spirituall natures may be communicated cannot be diminished of spirituall natures to loose nothing themselves in communicating their essence to others may farther appeare by the testimony of that learned divine Zanchy who in confuting the heretickes objection against the divinitie ot our Saviour Christ reasoning after this manner that if he receive the whole essence of the Father the Father shall be
of the soules of the parents or of his own essence they being neither bodies nor Angels but the latter is impossible and therefore it must needs be the former Againe the Prophet saith not without him as if it were first made and then infused but within him So that in saying the Lord formeth the spirit of man within him he doth evidently declare 1. Of matter that there is some matter within man whereof the Lord formeth the soule than which what in so few words can so fitly and fully expresse the manner of the soules propagation being formed in conception of the spirituall matter of the parents soules by the power and vertue of the seede in generation And yet not meerely by the power of nature for in the last place it is to be observed that he saith the Lord formeth it For he indeed is the externall efficient the nature of the soule being of that height that without an immediate act of his providence it cannot be produced Whence it is that in the production of the soule though it be not a creation it is as neere to a creation as can be and though it be by propagation yet it is not meerly by propagation but some way above it and so it is in a manner a kinde of meane betweene creation and propagation For according to these words of the Prophet the soule is formed of the spirituall matter of the parents soules within the conceived fruit not without the omnipotent power of God So that by all these testimonies it appeareth I thinke sufficiently that this doctrine went currant in the time of Adam Abraham Moses David and the Prophets and I beleeve never was once questioned in those first ages of the world CHAP. XIV Testimonies out of the new Testament proving the soules propagation THis doctrine is no lesse if not much more clearely revealed and fully confirmed in the new Testament also 1. S. Paul For first the Apostle Saint Paul saith as plainly as can be that all men in their whole persons both were in Adam and sinned in him Death saith he passed by one man upon all men in whom all sinned Where he maketh no such division of soule and body one from one place and another from another as men have now invented but he saith plainly the whole man Rom. 5.12 yea all men who consist of soules I am sure as well as bodyes were in Adam yea and sinned in him too which is absurd to say and impossible to be without soules What would we yea what can we have more plainly spoken Is it not then high presumption to say no worse of it for men thus to sever what God hath joyned together without apparent warrant from his word how much more then in this for which it is confessed there is no warrant there at all And yet least any man should be mistaken as thinking the whole man may well enough be said to be in Adam though not in other of our parents by I know not what imaginary imputation because he was the stocke of all mankinde or rather of the bodyes of all mankinde the holy Ghost I say foreseeing our aptnesse to erre to take away all exception saith the very same concerning other Fathers also The Author to the Heb. Heb. 7.1 as that Levi together with all his sonnes was yet in the loynes of his Father grandfather yea and great grand-father Abraham when Melchisedeck men him and which is more paid tithes in him So that by the testimony of the Apostle Vâ—rs â— Abrakam is to be reckoned in the number of those that did propagate the whole man soule and body together and for that cause paid tithes for his posteritie while they were yet in his loynes And if Isaaâ— Jacob and the whole tribe of Levi were once in the loynes of Abraham we need not doubt but we were all in like manner once wholly in Adam and consequently are now wholly propagated from him 2. The Angell Gabrell Againe that we may not deny it unlesse we will deny Christ and our owne salvation The Scriptures teach that Jesus Christ as concerning his humanitie was the sonne of the virgin Mary and so of David his Father for so said the Angell Gabrell being sent unto her Luk 1.31 32. Thou shalt conceive in thy wombe and bring forth a sonne and againe the Lord shall give unto him the throne of his father David Neither is it sufficient to say his body came from them for the Apostle plainly affirmeth Rom. 1.3 that he was made of the seed of David according to the flesh Where flesh is figuratively put for his whole humanity both soule and body as themselves confesse Per syâ—ocdochâ—n Neither can it be denyed for it is there opposed to his Divinitie as the words immediately following doe manifestly declare and all Interpreters acknowledge Whence it necessarily followeth that the soul of our Saviour was the seede of David even the fruit of his loynes as well as his body 3. S. Peter Act. 2.30 as St. Peter witnesseth for since the holy Ghost affirmeth it why should we feare to do it yea why should we not feare to doe otherwise Is it not safer to follow such a guide than to run a way by our selves for which we have no warrant And seeing as the Apostle elsewhere affirmeth Heb. 4.15 He was made like unto us in all things except sinne why should wee make any doubt but it is so with us also as it was with him Especially considering the whole currant and full streame of the Scriptures run this way even from the beginning And not onely concerning him as where it is said Gen. 3.15 22.18 the Seede of the Woman shall breake the Serpents head and in thy seede shall all the nations of the earth be blessed Gen. 5.10.11 as we heard before but also all other places speaking of his or our generation comprehends both soule and body under the name of seede 1 Chron. 1 2 3 c. Mat. 1. Luk. 2. Mat. 19.6 without any exception making the soule no lesse the seede of man than the body and the body no more than the soule and neither of them more or lesse propagation than the other and this throughout the whole Scripture without any the least word to the contrary And therefore I say againe let no man dare to seperate what God hath so joyned together 4. Our Saviour himselfe Lastly Unlesse we will make God the Author of sin and consequently deny God that made us we must confesse the truth of this doctrine proved from those words of our Saviour where speaking both of the naturall and the new birth of man he saith Ioh. 3.6 That which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the spirit is spirit Whence I reason thus If the soule were immediately created by God it should not be flesh that is corrupt and