and take also of the Tree of Life and eat and live for ever Now therefore of it self it had a Power to render Man eternal without any other Supernatural Virtue Neither can that Interpretation of a very long time be allowed as we have shown § 3. Secondly Because it cannot be that a Spiritual Quality of the Soul can naturally defend the Body from contrary Rëactions For it should either do this by a formal Resistance as a kind of Cause formal or by an active Resistance as a kind of Cause efficient The first it could not be both because a Spiritual Quality could not inhereâ—in a Corporeal Subject especially since these Authors say it was inherent in the Soul nor by consequence could it inform the Body and resist formally And because the eating of the Tree of Life would have been superfluous for Reparation of what was lost for the natural Qualities of the Body would then have been sufficiently defended by the said Quality of the Soul that they could not be lost Not the second Because if that Supernatural Spiritual Quality performed such an Effect as a Cause Efficient it were able to produce other Qualities in the Body which might formally resist concerning which the same Doubt would return Or certainly they would be supervacaneous seeing they were sufficiently produced by the Tree of Life as we shall hereafter shew § 4. Others distinguish three Causes of our Destruction The first is the different nay and sometimes contrary Temperament of different Parts whereby they mutually act and suffer among themselves as the Brain moist and cold the Heart hot and dry the Flesh hot and moist the Veins Arteries and Bones cold and dry and so of the rest The second is the continual Action of the Native Heat upon the Moisture from which two Damages are considerable One is the Repassion from Food from which Food the Radical Moisture and Members of the Body to be restored do suffer by means whereof a Substance is not repaired which is equal in Perfection to what was wasted The other is the Remission of the Native Heat it self whereby at length it is extinguished The third Cause is from things extrinsick as well altering the Natural Temper as dividing Continuity and finally impeding the Matter whereby the Body should be refreshed as Meat Drink and Air. § 5. And they add that the first Cause must have been avoided in the State of Innocence by a Supernatural Quality of the Soul which we last confuted The second by the Qualities of the Tree of Life when eaten The third three ways First By Humane Providence which in that State would have been most perfect Secondly By Divine Providence which for that State would have been greater and extraordinary Whence it would by extraordinary Concurrence hinder natural Causes offending or would deny its general Concurrence lest they should offend Thirdly By the Protection of Angels § 6. Yet this Opinion also is false And I affirm that for the first Cause the Qualities of the Tree of Life had been sufficient as they were sufficient for the second Wherefore that Supernatural Quality was not only unnecessary but would have been hurtful also First Because as it resisted the Actions of different Parts so it would resist those very Qualities whereof the natural Temperament of the Body is constituted seeing they are of the same kind Secondly Because even from that mutual Action and Passion which is granted among the Parts of the Body the total Temperament doth result which is natural and necessary for the living Creature to perform its Actions wherefore it would be ill impeded by that Supernatural Quality and consequently would be hurtful § 7. And the Remedy which they bring for the third Cause is contradicted First Because the Fruit of Life was able to make good Qualities very sufficient to keep off all the Harms of external Causes therefore the extraordinary Providence of God and every other extrinsick Defence had been superfluous We shall effectually prove the Antecedent hereafter Secondly Because if the Supernatural Providence of God were necessary to what purpose must Man be cast out of Paradise or be deprived of eating the Tree of Life For as that Supernatural Providence had ceased although Man had abode in Paradise and eaten the Fruit of Life yet he had been forthwith subject to Death Which indeed is false For the Sacred Word affirms if he had eaten of the Tree that he should have lived for ever Therefore that Tree was an adequate Cause to secure a Man from Death § 8. Some may reply It is true from the Words of Holy Writ it doth follow that Man should have lived for ever But this eternal Life after Sin would have been contingent from eating the Tree of Life not necessary Wherefore lest Man eating of the Tree of Life should contingently live for ever he was for that Reason driven out by the Lord. But that it was possible that Man might thus contingently live they prove For the Wood would prevent the internal Principles of Death and Humane Providence and the ordinary Protection of God and Angels without the Intervention of another Tutelage might have sufficed to avoid the external Causes of Death as Hunger Suffocation Poyson Falling Beating Hitting against any thing and the Treachery and Mischief of unjust Men. By which means former Men lived near a Thousand Years and by the same means by eating of the Tree might have lived innumerable Thousands being preserved by Reason and Humane Providence from the external Causes of Death § 9. But this Solution is refuted Because if in the State of Innocence wherein Mens Prudence was most perfect their Dwelling in a most pleasant Place the number of wicked Men much less and all the said external offending Causes and Occasions much fewer the extraordinary Providence of God and a greater Guard of Angels was as these Men think necessary that Life might be extended to Eternity or at least to the Time of Translation How in the State of lapsed Nature with much less Humane Providence in so many and so great Concourses of offending Causes amongst so many worst Dispositions of Men could the Life of Man be extended even contingently to infinite Ages of Ages without the particular and Supernatural Providence of God unless by some means else to wit by the Qualities of the Wood Man were secured from Death § 10. Father Molina d supposeth that Mans Body would have been defended from the external Causes of Death by an habitual Supernatural Gift or an habitual Quality extended through the Body which would have defended it from all Corruption For he judgeth Natural Powers can no way be thought of which were able to do this But this Opinion is refuted almost by the same Reasons whereby the former was contradicted First Because in the said Fruit there would have been natural Powers sufficient to defend the Body from external offending Causes as we shall hereafter shew wherefore it is not necessary to
diffused through the Air from the Tree of Life which did render not only Paradise but all the Neighbouring Country most wholesome And there is no need to have Recourse to the Virtues of other Fruits or Plants I answer That probably this might be said nor would it therefore follow that the Air was sufficient to impart eternity of Life because such Vertues diffused in the Air would either be of a different kind from those which rendred Life eternal or if they were of the same kind they had not Intenseness sufficient as those had which the Fruit eaten afforded § 12. Nevertheless I think it more probable they were the Fruits of other Trees First Because if the Tree of Life had those Virtues that were sufficient for Eternal Life it were superfluous to have others that made for the Prolongation of Life And then if we suppose they were the same that were able to render Life Eternal but more remiss it seems that in any Degree whatever they would have made it so For they were of such a Nature and Efficacy that in any Degree whatever they could easily overcome all other natural Agents even the most violent And thence it was we judged before that one Eating of our first Parents was sufficient that these Qualities might be diffused with the Seminal Virtue to their Children their Children's Children and at length to Universal Mankind But of these Opinions every Man may follow that which pleaseth him best a Conimb lib. 2. de Gen. cap. 10. quaest 1. art 3. ad fin b Johan de Barros Decad. 4. lib. 8. c. 9. ad initium c Didac de Couto lib. 1. Decade 5. c. 12. FINIS THE CONTENTS OF the Qualities of the Tree of Life pag. 1 Eight Doubts concerning the Qualities of this Tree ibid. That the Wood of Life was a true Tree and not Metaphorical 3 Whether the Vertue of the Tree of Life to perpetuate Life were Natural 4 The Affirmative part is approved 5 Whether the Vertue of this Tree were such as to keep a Man alive Time without end 6 The Affirmitive part is approved 8 Whether it were sufficient for Immortality to eat only once of the Fruit 16 The Qualities of the Fruit of Life would compensate all Repassion 23 When the Fruit would have produced Qualities to cause Eternity 26 The Fruit of Life would not always have been turned into the Substance of the Person nourished 27 When it would have rendred the Body altogether impatible 27 28 Whether after eating of the Wood there could have been Generation and Propagation of Children 28 Whether by eating of this Fruit a Man would have had the same Qualities in kind which we shall have afâ—er the Resurrection 29 What way the Qualities of the Fruit did defend the Child from Death before and after its Birth 30 It had been sufficient that Adam and Eve had once eaten to have made all their Posterity immortal 30. Even those that had committed actual Sin 31 Whether the Tree of Life were a Cause adequate to the escaping all occasions of Death 33 The Affirmative Part is approved 42 The Remora or Echeneïs stops a Ship 45 Echeneïdes are of divers kinds 46 50 A wonderful History of a Remora's shaking and stopping a Portugueze Ship 47 An easie way is shown how a Remora may without any trouble stop a Ship 94 What and how many were the Qualities of the Tree of Life whereby it caused length of Life and Immortality 51 The Tree of Life was Food and Physick 52 It might be called a Medicinal Aliment or an Alimental Medicine ibid. It would give to the Body so many and so efficacious Qualities as were sufficient to preserve and repair the Natural Constitution p. 53 This Fruit would give to the Body supra-elementary Qualities which were able to produce Elemental ones only in such a Degree as was agreeable to the Natural Temperament 54 These Qualities were of so great Efficacy that they would preserve that Dâ—grâ—e â—ixt against the Activity of any external Agent 55 These Qualities productive of the Elemental ones were a kind of Habit. 56 They are also a kind of those which cure manifest Diseases ibid. It was not sufficient that these Qualities should dispose as a kind of Cause Formal 57 The Tree of Life would also give Qualities which would concur with the Faculties as a kind of Cause Efficient to perform most perfect Actions ibid. Whether one only Quality flowing from the Fruit would suffice to concur with all the Faculties 59 There would have been a particular Quality for each Faculty ibid. The Fruit would defend the Body by these Qualities from Hunger Thirst and want of Air. 60 How this might be done p. 61 A Resistive Quality would have been given by this Fruit to prevent all Diseases in Vnion and Composition ibid. This Resistive Quality would not have been Active but relating to Patible Quality ibid. Whether this Quality belonged to Power or Habit. 67 This Fruit would have communicated Alexipharmack Qualities 62 It is probable that the Wood of Life communicated no Qualities to help the Discerning Powers 66 How the Moisture would have been defended by the Qualities of the Tree of Life that it could not be wasted by the Heat 63 The Qualities of the Tree are distributed into four Ranks 66 Whether the Qualities of this Tree concurring with the Powers were nobler than the Powers themselves 68 All Men that eat the Fruit would have had the same Temperament 69. Yet some would have been Wiser and Iuster than others 70 Why there should have been no Pain when in the Reduction there would a sudden change have been made by the Qualities of the Tree of Life ibid. Whether the Wood of Life had Alexipharmack Qualities 71 It had all Vertues which other Medicines have in healing except those which used without Art do Harm ibid. According to the Opinion which requires the Extraordinary Providence of God to the avoiding external Causes of Death the Tree had not given a Resistive Qualityâ— 72 Whether the Qualities of this Tree would have preserved Women from Pains in Travel ibid. What way they would have preserved Women from Pain 73 After what manner would the Resistance of Qualities defend that Man's Body who eat of the Tree of Life from all external Causes that could hurt it 76 External Causes of Death would not have been hindred by the Qualities of the Wood of Life from approaching the Body 79 Yet they would have been hindred from acting upon the Body ibid. How the Qualities of the Wood defended the Body from Agents producing Elemental Qualities 80 How these Degrees would be preserved fixt by the Qualities of the Wood 81 It is proved that they might be preserved naturally by the Qualities of the Wood p. 82 In what Staâ—e would Men have stood in need of Mâ—at Drink snd Respiration after eating of this Fruit 87 The Qualities of the Wood were able to convert any Matter into the Substance of the
and expose to open View the most curious Workmanship of the greatest Artist which perhaps hath been before or since Himself g g Take of Rosemary four Drachms of Xyloaloes two Drachms a little Musk and Saffron h h By Amber here our Author intends Amber Gryse For he calls it Ambra and not Succinum which is solid Amber Besides Succinum was never reckoned a Spice as Amber is here And though both Ambra and Succinum be great Restorers of the Animal Spirits yet the former is more efficacious i i Amber Gryse a Bituminous Body found floating on the Sea k k See Chap. XIII l l Take of Gold artificially prepared so that it may easily be powdered four Drachms of Coral two Drachms of the Bone of Stag's Heart one Drachm m m Here is meant Gold calcined or Bezoardicum Solare many Processes whereof are in Chymical Authors n n See Chap. XII FINIS ARBOR VITAE OR A Physical Account OF THE TREE of LIFE In the Garden of Eden BY EDWARD MADEIRA ARRAIS M. D. Physician to IOHN the IV. King of Portugal Translated out of the Latine A Piece useful for Divines as well as Physicians LONDON Printed for Tho. Flesher at the Angel and Crown in S t Pauls Church-yard M DC LXXXIII TO THE READER READER THE Author of this following Treatise is Edward Madeira Arrais of Lisbon Doctor in Physick and Physician to John IV. King of Portugal that King who recovered his Crown out of the Hands of Spain and was Father to her present Majesty of Great Britain This his Physician wrote a Book of Occult Qualities wherein he has explained their Nature so fully that he hath almost altered it for they very far cease to be such and hath taken away from Philosophers the Reproach of Occult Qualities being their Subterfuge He writes in a Philosophical and Scholastick Style You will find in him more Sense than Words more Argument than Rhetorick Before this his Work he hath these Words Disputationem construo de Qualitatibus illius Ligni sive Arboris Vitae Paradisi Terreni ad Vitam aeternam aut saltem diuturnissimè prorogandam quarum Qualitatum nullus Authorum in particulari meminit aut verbum ullum protulit de quibus novam ac nunquam antea auditam Philosophiam proferimus I compose a Discourse concerning the Qualities of that Wood or Tree of Life in the Earthly Paradise which either prolonged Life to Eternity or at least a very long Time of which Qualities no Author hath made mention in particular or spoke one Word About which we produce a Philosophy new and never heard of before And he hath made good his Promise For in declaring the Nature of the Tree of Life beside many excellent things in Physick he also shews the Nature of that Spiritual Body wherewithall we shall be raised at the last Day and makes it appear what we shall be when we shall eat of the Tree of Life in the Midst of the Paradise of GOD by Reason as well as Scripture in the Course of Nature without a Miracle And it is such a Piece of Natural Theology or Scriptural Philosophy that you will be forced to acknowledge there is a Religio Medici without either Atheism or Heresie But to expatiate with me no further enter this Learned Paradise and taste the Tree of Life Richard Browne The Preface § 1. EXpositors of Holy Writ have made the Tree of Life very famous by which our first Parents and all their Posterity had been priviledged against Death and might have spun their Thread of Life to Eternity had they obeyed the Divine Precept Moses mentions this Gen. 2. and 3. And though Divines dispute many things about it yet since it is necessary in many things to have Recourse to the Principles of Physick and also to our Doctrine of Occult Qualities seeing such a Propagation of Life could never be obtain'd but by some Occult Virtues as shall be made evident in the process of this Treatise I cannot be thought to put my Sickle into another Man's Harvest if concerning the Qualities of this Wood or Tree I shall at this time discourse what is worthy a Philosophical Man and his Knowledge especially since never any Philosopher yet disputed of it in Particular nay nor spake one Word about it § 2. Eight Doubts therefore may be moved about this Tree or Wood. First Whether it was proper and true Wood or Metaphorical Secondly Whether the Vertue it had to perpetuate Life was Natural or Supernatural Thirdly Whether its Vertue were such as to preserve Life Time without end Fourthly Whether it sufficed to give Life eternal if it were but once taken Fifthly Whether this Wood of Life were a Cause adaequate to the escaping all Occasions of Death Sixthly By what Qualities in particular it performed this Seventhly After what manner the Resistence of those Qualities might defend that Man's Body who eat of the Tree of Life from all external Causes that could hurt it Eighthly Whether the Cause of the very long Life of the first Men were some other Trees of Paradise or the Tree of Life § 3. And although only the Sixth and Seventh which were never disputed upon or so much as hinted at by any one yet do truly fall under our Cognisance Nevertheless that they may the more clearly be decided it is necessary to resolve the other according to the probable Opinions of Divines most of which notwithstanding the Reader may find adorned and amplified from the Philosophy of Physicians especially from this of ours of Occult Qualities DOUBT I. Whether the Wood of Life were a proper and true Tree or only Metaphorical COncerning this first Doubt it is the common Opinion nay even Matter of Faith as Suarez a asserts that the Wood of Life was a corporeal and true Tree which in Paradise yielded Fruit fit for Food as other Trees that were made to grow there This is manifestly proved from Scripture b And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every Tree that is pleasant to the Sight and good for food the Tree of Life also in the midst of the Garden and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Where the Word made to grow refers to this Wood as well as other Trees which were truly such And the contrary Opinion is ascribed to Origen's Error who makes the History of Paradise Metaphorical And because this Point is sufficiently cleared by Sacred Writers I need not stay longer upon it a Suar. l. 3. De Opere sex Dierum c. 15. b Gen. 2. 9. DOUBT II. Whether the Vertue of the Tree of Life to perpetuate Life were Natural or Supernatural § 1. AS to this second Doubt it is the more common Opinion that the Vertue of this Wood to perpetuate Life was not Supernatural but Natural So think Thomas a Cajetan b Gabriel c Rupertus d Hugo de Sancto Victore e Strabus f Durandus and Scotus g and many others § 2. Some would prove this Opinion from
Holy Writ h Lest he put forth his hand and take also of the Tree of Life and eat and live for ever therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden Because if that Vertue as they say were only supernatural that namely they should live that were obedient there had been no need to have turned Adam out of Paradise but as soon as he had sinned God was not bound to keep his Covenant or to make good that Law of conferring Life and Immortality by eating of this Tree § 3. Nevertheless a Man can scarce conclude on this Ground because two ways the Fruit of that Tree might have a supernatural Vertue to prolong Life to Eternity and yet sin might be no impediment of it First If in the aforesaid Tree there were some Supernatural Quality inherent made good by God himself whereby it should prolong Life to Eternity In which Case Sin could not hinder the Activity and Efficacy of that Quality Secondly If God had made a Covenant to give Life Eternal to them that should eat of this Fruit although they should sin § 4. But upon another Ground it may sufficiently be proved that the Virtue of this Tree to give Eternal Life is Natural Namely Because it is not repugnant that in Nature such a Virtue should be found Because the Effect of this Tree of it self is of a natural Order and finite Perfection For it should have preserved Life to Eternity because it would have strengthened all the Faculties of Man's Body restored and preserved its natural Temperament and have kept off all Morbifick Causes as we shall hereafter shew But what may be done by a Power Natural that ought not to be referred to one Supernatural Therefore not this of the Tree of Life a D. Thom. 1 part qu. 97. art 4. b ibique Cajetanus c Gab. in 2 Dist. d Rup l. 3. in Gen. c. 3. e Hug. de Sanct. Vict. in Annot. Gen. cap. 7. Gen. c. 2. f Strab. in Gen. g Durand Scot. in 2 Dist. 19. h Gen. 3. 22 23. DOUBT III. Whether the Virtue of this Tree were such as to keep a Man alive Time without end § 1. THere are two extreme Opinions about this Question The first is theirs who say That by eating of such a Tree a Man would not have been eternal but would only have endured a very long time and he should therefore have been eternal in the State of Innocence because after one or more Eatings before the Virtue of the Tree were spent he should have been translated from the State of Grace to Glory and Immortality as Scotus a thinks § 2. They prove this Opinion First The Virtue of that Tree would have been finite in that it was created Therefore it could not produce an infinite Effect Secondly If that Tree had had a Virtue to preserve Men to Eternity that Virtue would have been useless because no Man in the State of Innocence should have lived for ever in this World but after an appointed Time all Men should have been translated when to wit the Number of the Predestinate was full as these Men hold For at that Time the just should be translated to Glory and the unjust to eternal Punishment Wherefore when this Time were finished the Virtue of the Tree that preserves Men to Eternity would have been superfluous § 3. Thirdly Because the Apple of that Tree taken for Nourishment would have rëacted upon the Body Therefore it could never restore the Radical Moisture and the wasted Substance entire and by consequence could not preserve Life to Eternity § 4. Fourthly Though the Tree of Life might for the most part take away inward Morbifick Causes by restoring intire the natural Heat and Moisture and the decayed Substance so that it should not wax old Yet it could not take away external Causes nor by consequence prevent a Man's being hurt by Wounds or perishing by Hunger or being choak'd for want of Breath Therefore from thence eternal Life could not of necessity follow § 5. Fifthly Because in the State of lapsed Nature at least Man would have been much more obnoxious to morbid Causes whereas in the State of Innocence he lived more temperately without any Trouble and in all Tranquillity all which things after Sin proved deficient But the Tree of Life could not avoid so many Causes of Diseases in the state of lapsed Nature Therefore it could not make Man immortal § 6. Augustine b seems of this Opinion Thomas c holds it Cajetan d Gabriel e Durandus f and others § 7. The other Opinion is That the said Tree had such a Virtue that being tasted by Man it would carry him to perfect Immortality Of this Opinion is Augustine g the Interlineary Gloss h Rupertus i Tostatus k the Author l of the Questions of the Old and New Testament which Author is thought to be Augustine and is quoted under his Name by Thomas m Bonaventure n And the Antient Fathers held it before who affirm that God therefore drove Adam out of Paradise lest he should eat of that Tree and for ever live miserable rather pitying than punishing him For it had been too great a punishment to endure an interminable Evil. § 8. So Irenaeus o Hilarius p Gregory Nazianzen q Hierome r Cyril s Chrysostom t Theodoret u Eucherius w Bede x Strabus y Damascene z Dionysius Carthusianus a◠§ 9. And all these Authors agree in this That the Tree of Life was able of it self to give eternal Life both in the State of Innocence and in the State of lapsed Nature if Men had eaten thereof The difference among them only is That some affirm it was necessary to eat often of it others that once to have eaten was sufficient And then some thought it an adaequate Cause of Immortality others thought it only kept out the internal Causes of Death Which Questions we shall discuss hereafter § 10. This said Opinion is sufficiently proved from these Words of Holy Writ Lest he put forth his Hand and take also of the Tree of Life and live for ever Therefore for that reason was Adam driven out of Paradise lest he should live for ever as he should have lived in the state of Innocence had he eaten of the Tree of Life Therefore the eating of that Tree must have preserved a Man for ever by reason of the Virtue it had to this end and not only for a long Time § 11. Some make answer to this Argument that God spake Ironically But they give not Satisfaction First because this Solution contradicts the Testimony of the aforesaid Fathers Secondly because Adam's ejection out of Paradise and the Angel with the flaming Sword placed to keep the way of the Tree of Life sufficiently declare that God spake not by way of Irony but properly and in good earnest § 12. Secondly others answer the foresaid Argument thus That the Words for ever ought not to be taken for true Eternity but for a very long Time Which Answer
yet doth not please First because that Word in its proper Signification denotes Eternity but the Words of Holy Writ unless some great Inconvenience hinder should ever be taken in their proper and genuine Signification otherwise we should have nothing certain Secondly because the Life which was owing to Man in the state of Innocence was Life Eternal not only a very long Life But the Tree of Life was made by God to make good that Life which was owing to Man in the State of Innocence Therefore not only very long Life but simply eternal Life was to be made good by eating of that Tree § 13. And this is confirmed First because God for that Reason cast Man out of Paradise lest he should enjoy that good which was due to him had he been obedient and persisted in the State of Innocence But that Good due to the State of Innocence whereof he was to be deprived if he were not obedient as God had declared in those words in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye was Life absolutely Eternal not only a very long one Therefore the same Life eternal must be made good by that Tree Secondly it is confirmed because the Punishment threatned Man was the loss of Life absolutely eternal But God executed this Punishment by the Loss of the Tree of Life Therefore this Tree must give Life absolutely eternal otherwise it had not been necessary to deprive Man of the eating of this Tree § 14. Secondly The said Opinion is demonstrated because if that Tree had not continually kept off Old Age at least in its Season repeated it would follow that in the state of Innocence something would have been lost of Nature's Vigour and Men would have fallen from the Flower of their Age to a worse condition which is contrary to the Sacred Text which saith in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye that is thou shalt begin to decline to Death or to decay from the Integrity of Nature as all Authors expound it until thou decayest altogether and dost dye Therefore the Tree of Life did so make good eternal Life that it would not suffer Nature to fall a whit from her Integrity Therefore it would not only have given a long Life but that Apple would not suffer the least Defect in Nature § 15. Bellarmine b b judges either of these Opinions probable and affirms they may be defended without Heresy Yet he is for the latter as I am to be the more eligible § 16. Therefore a Man may answer the first Argument for the opposite Opinion thus That its Cogency is as great in the Beatifick Vision for that it indures Time infinite when nevertheless the immediate Causes of this Duration are the Intellect and Light of Glory which are finite Beings Therefore as it is no Obstacle in the Production of an Effect which will endure Time infinite that these Causes are finite So also there can be no Repugnance that the Qualities of the Tree of Life might produce an Effect durable Time infinite § 17. But you will urge This takes not away the force of the Argument Because an infinite Duration is an infinite Effect therefore it cannot be effected by a finite Cause Yet I deny the Consequence Because it may immediately be effected by a finite Cause when in the mean time it depends on a Cause infinite For the Qualities of the Tree of Life were to be conserved by God immediately to all eternity therefore these very Qualities also would immediately conserve Life to Eternity Instances hereof are spiritual Substances which are conserved to Eternity by the First Cause immediately and they themselves conserve their Effects to Eternity § 18. To the Second I answer From this it would follow that all other Trees were superfluous seeing they would remain after Translation And yet the Fruits of other Trees were not supervacaneous in Paradise although no Man eat of them § 19. To the third it may be answered That this Apple was not only Meat but Medicine also by reason of the Qualities which shall hereafter be explained whereby it either hindred its own Rëaction or made up the Dammage of the Rëaction if there were any whereby all things respecting the Integrity of Nature might be restored and reduced to the most perfect State Whence it might correct by Medicinal Qualities that Dammage which it brought by Rëaction § 20. To the fourth I say That the Qualities of that Wood which shall hereafter be enumerated would have preserved from all Causes which might bring a Preternatural Disposition to the Body so that it could neither be offended by Wounds nor could be sick or dye of Hunger or want of Air which hereafter we shall shew was possible § 21. Others who are unwilling to attribute the perfect Cause of avoiding Death to the Tree of Life reply That those outward Causes must have been avoided by the extraordinary Providence of God But we shall dispute this hereafter Yet grant it were so this doth not hinder but that the Tree of Life might remove the inward Causes of Death for ever § 22. To the fifth the same Answer will serve to wit That Reparation would have been made for all offending Causes though never so violent and numerous by the said Qualities of the Tree as we shall hereafter shew a Scotus in 2 dist 19. q. unica b D. Aug. l. 6. in Genes c. 25. c D. Thom. 1. p. q. 97. a. 4. 2. 2. q. 164. a. 2. ad 6. d Cajet 1. p. q. 97. cit loc e Gabriel in 2 dist 19. f Durandus ibid. g Aug. l. 13. de Civit. Dei c. 20. l. 14. c. 26. l. 1. de Peccat mer. c. 3. l. 8. in Genes c. 5. h Glos. interl in illa verba Ne forte sumat de Ligno Vitae c. i. Rup l. 3. in Genes c. 30. k Tostat super 13. c. Genes q. 175. l Author quaest Vet. Nov. Testam quaest 19. m D. Th. 1. p. q. 97. a. 1. n Bonav 2 sent dist 17. De Ligno Vitae o Iraen l. 3. advers Haeres c. 37. p S. Hil. in comment Psalmi 68. in illa verba Quem tu percussisti c. q S. Greg. Naz. Orat. de Pascha r S. Hieron c. 65. Isaiae s S. Cyrill l. 3. advers Julian circa med t S. Joan. Chrysost. Hom. 18. in Gen. n quem imitatur Theodoretus q. 26. in Genes w Eucherius l. 1. in Genes x Beda supra eadem verba y Strabus ibid. z S. Johan Damascen l. 2. Orthodoxae Fidei c. 11. aa Dionys. Carthus in Genâ— c. 2. bb Bellarm. in Disp Controvers contra Haeret. l. 1. tom 4. cap. 8. DOUBT IV. Whether it were sufficient for Immortality to eat only once of the Fruit § 1. ABout this Doubt also there are two contrary Opinions one whereof is Negative the other Affirmative S t Augustine a is for the Negative part so Thomas b Suarez c Beâ—anus d
of the Tree the Body would have been rendred impassible because it could never be removed from that Perfection it had But in the second sense it had not been impassible as long as it was not arrived at the top of Perfection for it would have been receptive of such a Change § 22. But you will question Whether then Generation and Propagation of Children could have been I answer in the Affirmative And prove it Because if such Qualities ought to be no hindrance to a Child that his Body should come to its Perfection nor to an Old Man that he should be restored to his why should it hinder Generation of Seed in the Vessels and Propagation of Children You will object Therefore to this end and to the growth of a Child's Body and reduction of an Old Man's it was necessary to take again of the Fruit of the Tree or at least of other Food I answer to this Work perhaps so it was necessary or may be the Faculties would have been so strong after the first taking of that Fruit that from the ambient Air Water or from any other Matter one might have repaired the Substance wanting to the growing of a Child or restoring an Old Man or to breeding Seed for Children For this would not then have been impossible to very strong Faculties Because perhaps the Fruit it self would have introduced alimentous Qualities into any Matter although of its own Nature such Matter had them not § 23. But whether Man stated in this Immortality acquired by the Fruit of the Tree should have had those Actions and the same Qualities in kind which we shall have after the Resurrection I dispute not this nor doth it belong to me but let Divines determine it Amongst whom the interlineary Gloss o and Bellarmine p seem to think so § 24. But Whether could Children newly born before they eat the Wood or also before their Birth in the Mothers Womb be subject to Death It seems to be denied Because the Qualities of the Fruit of the Tree of Life which was eaten by the Parents would have been in their Seed also and would have defended their Children from Death both before their Birth and after § 25. You will infer It had sufficed therefore that the Tree of Life had been once taken by Adam and Eve for all that should be born of them to have been made immortal And this Opinion seems to be confirmed first by an Argument taken from the necessary Efficient Cause for these Qualities would have been incorrupâ—ible and ever have remained so in the Matter and with the Seed and its Virtue would have been propagated into all the Individuals of Humane Kind and would have produced other like Qualities in a kind of Cause Univocal Therefore there was no necessity for Adam's Successors to taste the Tree of Life that they might live for ever § 26. Secondly By an Argument taken from the Final Cause For if by taking of the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge which was but once eaten of our First Parents the Punishment of Death inevitable was inflicted upon them and their Descendents also that equality of Justice might be observed by once taking of the Fruit of the Tree of Life Life eternal for a Reward of Obedience ought not only to be given to our Parents themselves but to Universal Mankind But if this doth not please any Man one may say that some Qualities of the Tree derived to the Child would have preserved it from perishing till the Birth and after the Birth also for some Time would have been communicated in the Mothers Milk and afterwards had it been necessary he might also have eaten of the Fruit of Life it self § 27. But whether should they that had committed actual Sin according to the Opinion which admits that have been subject to Death afterwards although before they had eaten of the Tree It seems to be denied First Because even Adam after Sin should have been made free from Death had he eaten the Fruit of Life And seeing the Qualities of the Fruit would have been derived to his Children both Just and Unjust would by them have been defended from Death Secondly Because the Punishment of Death was only imposed if our first Parents violated that only Precept a D. Augustinus l. 3. de Civitat Dei c. 20. l. 11. Genes ad lit cap. 4. l. 1. de peccat mer. c. 3. b D. Thom. 1. part q. 97. art 4. colligitur ex 2. 2. quaest 164. art 2. ad 6. eámque habent communiter Scholastici sequuntur Suarius c L. 3. de opere sex dierum cap. 15. d Becanus tract de immortalitate cap. 4. e Benedictus Pereire lib. 3. in Genes disp de arbore Vitae quaest 3. f Aristoteles lib. 3. metaph cap. 4. text 15. g Rupertus lib. 3. in Genes cap. 30. h Theodoretus quaest 16. in Gen. i Thomas 1. part q. 100. art 2. k Chrysostomus hom 18. l Patres Conimbricenses 2. de generat cap. 3. quaest 2. articul 2. assert 2. lib. 7. phys cap. 1. quaest 1. art 2. m Petrus Garcia Fen. 1. 4. tract 1. cap. 4. disp 2. quaest 5. pagina 269. col 2. n Thom. 1. p. quaest 97. art 2. § Respondeo o Gloss. interl in illa verba Ne forte sumat p Bellarm. lib. 1. tom 4. contr 1. c. 18. DOUBT V. Whether the Tree of Life were a Cause adequate to the escaping all Occasions of Death § 1. NOW of those Authors who deny to the Tree of Life the Virtue of extending Life absolutely to Eternity though it should be eaten at repeated Turns when yet they are compelled to affirm that in the State of Innocence Men would have been free from Death Some do assert following Scotus a that this Tree by restoring the Native Heat and Radical Moisture he spake according to the Old and Nugatory Opinion that admits of a Radical Moisture diverse from the Living Parts either as Nourishment or Medicine or both ways would have preserved Life for a very long Time and they add that before the Virtue of the Tree were spent Men without the intervention of Death should have been translated to a State of Immortality Wherefore according to this Opinion the Tree of Life would not have been an adequate Cause of Immortality Which Opinion of Scotus notwithstanding stands refuted from what hath been already said § 2. But others with Cajetane b admit of a certain Supernatural and Spiritual Quality in the Soul whereby the Body could resist the Rëaction of the Tree of Life and of other Meats and that for this Cause Men in the State of Innocence would have been eternal which Quality since in the State of Lapsed Nature it was wanting although Man had eaten of the Tree of Life he would not have been altogether eternal but would only have lived for a longer Time But this Opinion is confuted first from the Words of Holy Writ c lest â—e put forth his hand
have recourse to Supernatural Causes Secondly Because that Supernatural Quality would either have resisted all external offending Causes by a Formal Resistance or by an Active Not by a Formal Both because one and the same Quality in kind could not formally be opposed to almost infinite especially contrary Causes as to Heat and to Cold And because it would also resist the Elemental Qualities of the Body necessary to its natural Constitution seeing they are of the same kind with the Qualities produced of external Causes § 11. Not by an Active Because first even the Qualities of the Tree could have done this Secondly Because either this Activity would have produced other Supernatural Qualities and the same Doubt would have been concerning them or Natural to which either even Natural Causes would have sufficed or also they would have been overcome of external Causes as the Natural Qualities of the Body Therefore this Supernatural Quality of Father Molina is not to be admitted Thirdly Because Molina admits Men may be altered by Rain Wind Heat and other things but with Delight Therefore this Supernatural Quality would not have rendred Men incapable of receiving Elemental Qualities Therefore they might be burnt by the Fire and consequently dye § 12. Perhaps some Man may answer in Defence of Molina that by this Quality the Activity of Agents upon the Body would not have been hindred but only the Union of Soul and Body would have been maintained But on the contrary how can Heat in the highest Degree with Dryness in the Height be granted but the Form of Fire must be introduced in Man's Body and the Rational be separated without the greatest Miracle Which must not be admitted § 13. Let therefore the Conclusion be That the Fruit of the Tree of Life by its Qualities was an adaequate Cause of Immortality so that Man by taking of it would necessarily have lived for ever both in the State of Innocence and in the State of lapsed Nature the Case being granted that in this State he did eat of the Tree S t Augustine seems of this Opinion e where he saith But Men therefore tasted of the Tree of Life lest from any hand Death should creep upon them or being spent with Old Age when certain spaces of Time were run over they should dye as if other things were for Aliment this for a Sacrament So that the Tree of Life in the Corporal Paradise may be construed to be like the Wisdom of God in the Spiritual that is in the Intelligible whereof it is written in the third of Proverbs She is a Tree of Life to them that lay hold upon her § 14. Where we must accurately observe that from any hand and that or for Death might creep on from any hand unless the Fruit of Life had preserved the Body from it And the Particle or denotes a Disjunction lest to wit Man should perish by Old Age or by any other Occasion whatever Wherefore according to S t Augustine's Mind it would have been an adaequate Cause of Immortality Which he manifestly confirms by the Example of the Wisdom of God in the Spiritual Paradise And is gathered more manifestly from these Words f There was Meat that he should not hunger Drink that he should not thirst the Tree of Life lest Old Age should destroy him no Disease within no Blow without was feared Behold how according to S t Augustine this Tree would have defended a Man from all internal and external Causes of Death Therefore according to his Opinion it was an adaequate Cause of Immortality § 15. The Interlineal Gloss on these Words Lest he take also of the Tree of Life c. insinuates the same Opinion while it affirms that when the Number of the Elect was compleat they should have tasted of the Tree of Life and so have passed to the Blessed State That namely by it the Body should have been rendred immortal which Immortality would have been attained by rendring the Body free from all Harms which could be brought from any Causes internal or external And it is plainly gathered from Rupertus g inasmuch as he affirms that it had been sufficient once to have taken of the Tree for Man to have lived for ever and from Chrysostome h and Theodoret i whereas they affirm this Tree was created for a Reward of Obedience But this Reward was that a Man should be free from Death so that he could be killed by no Cause internal or external Therefore this Tree ought to defend a Man from all Cause of Death otherwise it did not make good the Reward of Obedience promised by God It is gathered also from other Fathers above-quoted Irenaeus Gregory Nazianzen Eucherius Cyrill Hierome and others in that they affirm this Tree could make Life to be Eternal for if Man remained subject to Hunger Sword Precipice Fire Water and other things he were not eternal And so thinks Bellarmine k. § 16. Now the same Conclusion is already sufficiently proved by Reason especially by this Argument Because such Natural Qualities are possible as might defend a Man from all Causes of Death both internal and external And we shall enumerate those Qualities in the following Section and declare the manner how they perform it § 17. It is further confirmed that the said Qualities are possible by divers Examples of admirable Virtues that are in things natural For if there be indeed any such Fish as that called Echenëis or Remora which is able to retard and hinder the most violent Motion of a Ship by a Natural Quality which it impresseth on the Ship Why might not the Fruit of Life have another Natural Quality whereby Mans Body might be defended from the like Impulse and Moon and might be rendred free from all Strokes If a Salamander cast into the Fire do by Natural Qualities resist the burning Fire for a great space of Time Why should another Natural Quality be impossible which might much more resist the Action of the Fire And so resist that its Resistance might overcome the Activity of the Fire for the Activity of the Fire is not intended to Infinity § 18. If Fire naturally have a most active Quality why shall not another Natural Quality equally or more resistent be possible Are there not other Natural Virtues equally admirable Doth not the Ostriche's Stomach digest Iron Aqua fortis dissolve Gold Iron and other Metals Vineger dissolve Stones and Steel Doth not the Fish called Torpedo render the Fishes that swim over it immoveable and stupefy the Fishers Arm with its Virtue diffused along his Spear Why therefore in like manner might there not be found other Natural Virtues in the Fruit of Life resisting the external causes of Death I pass by other admirable things which manifestly appear from our Tract and other Mens Observations § 19. Nor can it be said it is false and the Echenëis hath no such Virtue for Experience confirms it and very grave Authors attest it as S. Ambrose l S.
nay but Pleasure as Galen testifieth f. Whereâ—ore if sometimes from such Reduction Pain do happen as when the Hands chilled with Snow are suddenly exposed to the Fire this is by Accident because to wit some Parts are preternaturally altered whilst the Heat in others is reduced to its natural Perfection or because from the Application of Heat the Cold in others is suddenly intended by Antiperistasis I answer secondly That Pain is a depraved Action of the Touch And seeing the Sense it self as other Powers would have been helped to perform perfect Actions there could never have been a Depravation of Touch which Pain is § 29. But whether according to the Opinion which denies the Fruit to be an adequate Cause of Immortality it had been necessary that Alexipharmack Qualities should be contributed by the Wood to Mans Body whereby it might be preserved from Poysons It seems to be affirmed because it cannot be believed these Vertues were wanting to the most perfect Medicament when many other ordinary Medicaments have efficacious Virtues against Poysons nay we must think all other Supra-elementary Virtues for curing Diseases must have been found in it which are found in other ordinary Medicines Those notwithstanding excepted which used without Art do hurt such as are Purgative Virtues which given unseasonably and to a Healthy Man bring no small Harm § 30. I say seventhly According to the same Opinion which affirms the Tree of Life was not an adequate Cause of Immortality but that the Supra-ordinary Providence of God was necessary to avoid the Harms of External Causes according to this Opinion I say it is not necessary to grant a Resistive Quality in the Tree nor it may be other Qualities which might preserve the Elemental ones of the Body in a necessary fixt Degree at least not so efficacious as wholly to resist all external altering Causes It is proved because the Supra-ordinary Providence of God had been sufficient § 31. But since from the Sacred Text it appears that Women in the State of Obedience should have been free from the Pains of Birth it seems worth our Enquiry Whether also the Qualities of the Tree of Life would have prevented the Pains of Birth in Women It seems to be more probably answered in the Affirmative First Because seeing the Wood would have averted all internal Causes of Death or also the external besides according to different Opinions and since it would have cured all preternatural Affections it must of necessity have been able to prevent and take away the Pains of Birth nor is there need of any greater Reason why it should take away these than others § 32. Secondly Because there are Medicines found naturally which by means of Supra-elementary occult Qualities do wonderfully allay the Pains of several Parts and preserve a Man from them as a Wolf's Liver against the Pain of the Liver as Galen g testifies and that famous Stone which may deservedly be called Nephritick brought from the West Indies vulgarly called de la hijada as Monardes h testifies which tied to the Arm both takes away Nephritick Pains and preserves a Man from them as also doth a certain Wood of the same Name which I have sometime seen described by the same Author Therefore it is credible that in this Wood which had admirable Virtues for all Preternatural Affections these also were not wanting which might preserve from Pains of Birth especially seeing it makes for the Conservation of Life as a Reward of Obedience to which purpose in the primary intention it was created § 33. But what way did it perform this Work It may be doubted For the Cause of the Pains of Birth is the breaking of those Bonds that tye the Child to the Womb which being a violent and sudden Solution of Continuity it necessarily causeth Pain Wherefore that the Tree of Life may prevent these Pains it is necessary that it either stupefy the Sense in those Parts as Narcotick Medicines do or so mollify and dispose the Ligaments whereby the Child is knit to the Womb as Anodyne Medicines do that without violence they might be separated from the Parts of the Womb or that it regulate the Faculties of the Womb after such a manner that they work that Separation by little and little without Trouble For only a violent Passion which is preternatural when it is done much together and speedily causeth Pain but what is done by little and little escapes Sense as Galen i expresseth it Another Way may also concur viz. Because in that State the Wood of Life would join with and assist the Powers that they might perform most perfect Actions Therefore it would concur with the Touch that it might feel most perfectly wherefore a depraved Sensation could not be in which Pain might formally consist although the Object or Cause of Pain were present § 34. But you will object Either this Wood would have taken away the Pains of Birth in the State of Innocence or in the State of Lapsed Nature Not in the first because it appears from the Sacred Text that in it Woman would have had no Pains in Birth Not in the Second because from the Sacred Text also it appears that they must necessarily suffer Pains for a Punishment of Sin Therefore it would take away Pains in no State I answer that both in the State of Innocence and in the State of Lapsed Nature this Wood would have been good against the Pains of Birth if it had been eaten In the State of Innocence because by it Women would have been preserved from Pains and by means of it would have obtained what was owing to that State And in the State of Lapsed Nature because therefore God cast Woman with Adam out of Paradise lest she should enjoy the Good due to Innocence and the Reward promised for Obedience and by consequence Eternal Life and lest she should obtain Immunity from the Pains of Birth by Eating of this Wood. a Suar. in Met. disp 42. sect 4. n. 8. b Vasq. tom 1 2. ad q. 21. disp 78. c. 3. n. 21. c Auth. quaest vet nov Testam q. 19. d Gal. 7. meth cap. 13. lit C. e D. Thom. 1. p. q. 96. art 3. f Gal. lib. 1. de causis sympt cap. 6. g 8. local cap. 8. F. h Monardes 1. p. c. propr i Gal. 1. de causis sympt cap. 6. DOUBT VII After what manner would the Resistance of Qualities defend that Mans Body who eat of the Tree of Life from all External Causes that could hurt it § 1. ALthough the present Doubt be already resolved together with the foregoing Yet since all these things are new which we have alledged for the Preservation of Man from Death by the Qualities of the Wood of Life and that those are more hard to be known which should naturally defend him from the extrinsick Causes of Death and seeing they are not sufficiently declared as the Difficulty of the thing requires I accounted it very necessary more
amply to explain them to the end the strength of those things which may be objected to the Contrary may more easily be broken and the Truth may be more open and clear § 2. External Causes therefore that bring Diseases and Death which must have been resisted by the Qualities of this Fruit are of two kinds For some are altering others are locally moving or impressing an Impulse It is proved for among Philosophers Accidental Mutation is only twofold that is one to Quality another to Place I pass by Mutation as to Quantity because since Quantity is never produced de novo as the more probable Opinion saith this is not a true Mutation § 3. And of the Altering Causes some move to the Manifest Elemental Qualities and others to the Occult. The first are all those things which can produce Elemental Qualities first or second and by this means vitiate and overthrow the Temper of the Body from whence various Diseases and Death do follow The second are especially all Poysons which introducing Occult Poysonous Qualities into the Body waste Mens Strength and take away Life § 4. And the Causes moving locally are also of a twofold Difference For either they move the Humors of the Body as Medicines Purging provoking Urine Sweat and Womens Courses which by reason of their unseasonable or superfluous or other preternatural Motions can also cause Diseases and Death Or they impress such an impulse upon the Members of the Body that they dissolve natural Continuity or change the Situation of the Parts whereon do follow Diseases in Conformation viz. in Magnitude Figure and Site and consequently Death it self which the Fruit of Life was obliged to avoid averting all these Causes § 5. But beside these Causes which produce positive Effects others also may be considered which produce other if I may so call them privative Effects and consequently bring Death For seeing the Body of a Living Creature that it may live doth stand in need of certain Matters whereby the lost Substance may be repaired such as are Meat Drink and Air what things soever can deprive it of these Matters without doubt will cause Death that is things causing Hunger Thirst Want of Air or Suffocation § 6. These Causes being declared which coming from without can bring Diseases and Death now it follows that we explain according to the Opinion that affirms the Wood of Life was an adequate Cause of Immortality what way it could hinder them Which thing indeed since it seems altogether difficult or rather impossible this Opinion is exploded by many who have recourse to the Supra-ordinary Providence of God But for its Defence § 7. It is to be observed first That the Virtues of the Tree of Life would not so keep off external offending Causes that most of them could not approach the Body nor that the Body should abide beyond the Sphere of their Activity for Example They would not hinder the Fire to approach Mans Body nor a Mad Dog to touch it nor any other Poyson to be swallowed down As neither would they hinder the Defect of Meat Drink or Air For it is manifest it was not in the Power of the Wood to do this Yet the Virtues of the Wood would hinder that the aforesaid Causes could not produce their positive Effects upon the Body to wit that the Sun or Fire should not heat the Body or the Sword or a Stone should not dissolve Continuity by their Blow or otherwise move the Parts of the Body contrary to their Nature and so of other things And in like manner the said Virtues would preserve a Man that he should not perish by Privation of Meat Drink or Air. I said that most of them should not approach the Body for we shall afterwards prove that it was possible for Virtue to be extended from the said Wood to a certain Space without the Body of Man in which it might hinder those things which moved to Hurt from moving farther or reaching to the Body § 8. It is to be observed secondly The Wood of Life would defend Man's Body from external Causes producing Elemental first or second Qualities by those occult Qualities which would produce other Elemental ones proportionate and natural to the Body in a certain Degree so fixt that they could be remitted by no other even the most violent external or internal Cause as we said before in the last Doubt And as by these the Body would have been preserved from the mutual immoderate Rëaction of the Parts among themselves and from the Rëaction of the Aliment so also the Body ought to be defended from the Action of external Causes It is effectually proved Because these would have sufficed to resist all Alterative Agents both internal and external § 9. But you will object Two Degrees of Cold for Example which are necessary and proportionate to the Health of the Body of Man cannot naturally resist eight Degrees of Heat of Fire applied next to it seeing the Action would necessarily follow the stronger Side Therefore it is impossible according to Nature that the Temper of the Body should endure in these two fixt Degrees after the application of the Fire but that it should be removed from them and part be burned And it is confirmed Because between equal contrary Agents nay between unequal ones there is mutual Repassion as Experience shews and it is the common Doctrine of Philosophers Therefore the inferior Agent ought to re-suffer from the stronger that which resists with only two Degrees of Cold from the Action of the Superior acting at the Rate of eight Degrees of Heat § 10. I answer By distinguishing the Antecedent Two Degrees of Cold considered in themselves according to their formal Resistence and Activity are not able to resist eight Degrees of Heat so I grant the Antecedent But considered according to the Activity of their Cause producing them I deny it For their Efficient Cause that is the Quality of the Wood produceth them with that Efficacy and hath such Influence on their Production that they cannot be remitted by any other the most violent Agent Which Answer is according to the Doctrine of Suarez a as afterwards we shall declare For this Resistence is not considered as Active on the part of the Activity of the Degrees of Cold themselves or as Passive on the part of their Formality so much as for the Efficacy and Activity wherewith they are produced by their Cause And for this Reason the Rest of the Qualities of the Temperament do resist being preserved by the Qualities of this Wood that they can never be remitted by their Contraries Which I prove effectually If God by himself alone that is by his actual Concurrence will produce these two Degrees of Cold and preserve them although eight Degrees of Fire were applied yet they could not be remitted if God did not desist from his Concurrence for the reason why they are corrupted when a hot Agent comes is because God in presence of
cannot produce Motion on the Ship Therefore after the same manner may a Quality be afforded by the Wood of Life which being present no external Motive Cause is able to effect Motion on the said Body Nay perhaps that Quality might be diffused for some Space without the Body of Man who eat the Wood by virtue whereof Darts cast or Bullets shot from Guns coming to the Sphere of that Quality would presently lose Motion and not come at the Body Because the Motive Force impressed on the Dart or Bullet could not effect Motion because of the indisposing Quality diffused without the Body by the Virtue of the Wood. § 27. It is proved thirdly Because as before we have already said all Natural Agents although they have most violent Powers are yet of a finite Virtue Therefore there is no Inconvenience that a Resistence may be which surpasseth their Power Seeing therefore such a Resistence is possible whereby the Wood of Life might defend Man's Body from Death and that the Sacred Text doth clearly intimate that it was an adequate Cause of Immortality unless some Supernatural Help should intervene why shall we dare to deny it Why shall we seek other Interpretations for the Sacred Text Medium's therefore should rather be enquired whereby the Wood of Life mâ—ght be an adequate Cause of Immortality Which if they be found as now by us through God's Blessing they are found it will be superfluous to have recourse to Miracles § 28. You will object If such a Quality were which indisposed any thing to Motion if such a thing could not be moved by one Cause neither also could it be moved by another Cause of equal Strength since all Local Motion is of the same kind Therefore there can be no Quality indisposing to Local Motion I answer The said Qualities are not Indispositions on the part of the Patient to receive Motion for if it were so that thing which could not be moved by one Agent could be moved by none for its Incapacity of Motion But they are Indispositions only on the part of the Agent namely of the Motive Quality that it cannot produce Motion And for this Cause the Virtue of the Magnet can produce Motion in Iron not in other Bodies because it finds in it Dispositions necessary on the part of the Agent which being present it can operate not in other things And for the same Reason Amber moves Straws not Iron nor Stones Agarick purgeth Phlegm and not other Humors and so we may say of the rest § 29. It is to be observed sixthly to give better Satisfaction to the Point That Philosophers reckon of a double positive Resistence beside another Negative one Active another Formal Negative Resistence is the utter Incapacity of the Subject to receive any Form such as is in the Heavens supposing them incorruptible as to receiving Qualities altering to Corruption Active Resistence is the very Action of the Agent as by it a Term is produced which formally resisteth or by it the Force of another Agent is broken which is resisted and it is called by d Suarez Radical Resistence because by it another Agent is prevented that it doth not act and that its Virtue is diminished And seeing it is not immediately diminished but by the Form produced of such an Action therefore it is called Radical Resistence and as it proceeds from an Agent it is Active but as it produceth an Effect immmediately resisting it is Active Resistence § 30. Passive Resistence or actual is an Accidental Form whereby the Subject is rendred incapable of receiving another which is resisted or whereby the Subject is indisposed to another and this Resistence consists saith the same Author e in a certain formal Incompossibility or Repugnance from whence it comes that the Action of a contrary or any way repugnant Agent is either altogether hindred or retarded or remitted And Active Qualities as Heat and Cold may as well have this Resistence as the not Active as White and Black From whence it follows that one Quality can violently resist actively but not at all formally as Heat or on the contrary that another may violently resist formally not at all actively as Dryness § 31. But seeing Formal Resistence consists in a Formal Incompossibility or Repugnance and two contrary Qualities in the same intense Degree for example Heat and Cold in the eighth Degree are equally incompossible in the same Subject it is hard to assign a Cause whence it comes that one can more resist than another Yet Suarez f brings three Causes for which it may happen The first is a greater and firmer Union to the Subject as it happens in things artificial that some are more hardly parted asunder because other things cleave to them in form of a stronger Glew The second is a greater Inequality in some Condition requisite to do or suffer as Density in the Patient by Reason whereof more Parts are united to resist the Action of the Agent The third is a greater or the greatest Activity whereby the quality flows from or is otherwise produced of its Cause which way for example it may be said that the Moisture of Water resists more than that of Air because it is produced or flows more efficaciously from the Form of Water than from that of Air. Also two or three of these Causes may be conjoyned by reason whereof the Resistance may be greater and besides the Active and Formal Resistance may be joyned and therefore the Resistance may yet be more vehement § 32. From whence it is easily gathered that the Elemental Qualities produced in Mans Body by the Supra-elemental would both actively and formally resist other Contraries which are produced by ordinary intrinsick or extrinsick Agents Fire for example or Snow And it is evident that this Formal Resistance would have been much greater than the Formal Resistance of extrinsick active Qualities for the third Cause alleged by Suarez namely for the exceeding Efficacy whereby they are produced of the Qualities of the Wood of Life Which in the same manner may be said of the Alexipharmack Qualities which resist Poysonous ones § 33. Therefore the Supra-elemental Qualities as they most efficaciously produce the Elemental they resist actively radically and mediately But the Elemental now produced resist formally and immediately other their Elemental Contraries and can by no means be overcome of them Because they are either perpetually produced in Specie by the Qualities of the Wood which among all Natural Agents are the most efficacious in acting Or because by their continual and most efficacious Influx they persist in the same as we said before But whether their Union or their Inherence to their Subject be greater it doth not appear because it appears not whence it should proceed § 34. It is gathered from this Doctrine besides that the Quality which resists dividing things imparted to the Body by the Wood of Life doth sufficiently resist them passively or formally only First because as Hardness
were many dead Bodies out of which a Pestilential Vapour came even to the Land of the a Greeks Whereupon so great a Mortality raged among the Grecians that in those who did escape there remained a Forgetfulness both of their own and their Childrens Names Which Galen affirms according to Avicenna in his third Canon in the Chapter Of Signs gathered from the Operations of Animals An hurt of the operation of the Soul sometimes happens also From a thick and troubled Air And this is the Cause that the Eastern People are more acute and subtil than other Men because of the Want of Vapours For they have a most subtil and pure Air. As is also manifest in our own People For at a time when it is clear they have their Acuteness of Mind more prompt and their Wit more quick in searching out of Matters than when it is cloudy For a troubled Air dejects the Soul makes it sad and blends the Humours But there is a difference between a Gross and a Troubled Air. A Gross Air is that which is something thick in Substance A Troubled Air is that which is mixt with the Parts of another thick Substance Which thing is apparent from the small Stars which do appear and shine a little but withal they twinkle and tremble The Reason is because there are many Exhalations and plentiful Vapours and but few Winds stirring So saith Avicenna in his first Book Of the Operation of Aerial Qualities This Impediment likewise happens through Neglect of cleansing the Body inwardly and outwardly For outward Nastiness will obstruct and stop up the Pores and will hinder Nature from casting out new Excrements Sometimes also this Hurt ariseth from Diseases Because it is impossible that a Sickly Man should have his Sense sound For in our first Discourse of its Disposition it is said That Sense is not perfect nor the Understanding rational except in time of Health nor will there be any Soundness of the Rational Soul but by the Soundness of the Vital and Animal Power as Aristotle saith in his Book Of the Secrets of Secrets So that there is no Way to know and understand any thing aright but by the Force of a clear Intellect There is no Force and Power of a sharp Intellect but by Health There is no Health but by an AEquality of Complexion There is no AEquality of Complexion but by a right tempered Harmony of Humours And therefore GOD most High hath delivered and revealed to the Prophets his Servants and to some other Men whom he hath illuminated with the Spirit of Divine Wisdom a Way for the Temper and Conservation of the Humours NOTE on CHAP. V. a Our Author here intends the great Plague of Athens curiously described by Lucretius Lib. 6. A Plague thus rais'd laid learned Athens wast Thrô every Street thrô all the Town it past Blasting both Man and Beast w th poysonous wind Death fled before and Ruin stalk'd behind From AEgypt's burning Sands the Fever came More hot than those that rais'd the deadly Flame The Wind that bore the Fate went slowly on And as it went was heard to sigh and groan At last the raging Plague did Athens seise The Plague and Death attending the Disease Then Men did dye by heaps by heaps did fall And the whole City made one Funerall First fierce unusual heats did seise the Head The glowing Eyes with bloodshot Beams lookt red Like Blazing Stars approaching Fate foreshow'd The Mouth and Jaws were fill'd with clotted Blood The Throat with Ulcers the Tongue could speak no more But overflow'd and drown'd in putrid gore Grew useless rough scarce could make a moan And scarce enjoy'd the wretched power to groan Next through the Jaws the Plague did reach the Brest And there the Heart the Seat of Life possest Then Life began to fail strange Stinks did come From every putrid Breast as from a Tomb A sad Presage that Death prepar'd the Room The Body weak the Mind did sadly wait And fear'd but could not fly approaching Fate To these fierce Pains were join'd continual Care And sad Complainings Groans and deep Despair Tormenting vexing Sobs and deadly Sighs Which rais'd Convulsions brake the Vital Ties Of Mind and Limbs and so the Patient dies But touch the Limbs the Warmth appear'd not great It seem'd but little more than natural heat The Body red with Ulcers swoln with Pains As when the Sacred Fire spreads o'r the Veins But all within was Fire fierce Flames did burn No Cloths could be endur'd no Garments worn But all as if the Plague that fir'd their Blood Destroy'd all Vertue Modesty and Good Lay naked wishing still for cooling Air Or ran to Springs and hop'd to find it there And some leap'd into Wells in vain the Heat◠Or still encreas'd or still remain'd as great In vain they drank for when the Water came To th' burning Breast it hiss'd before the Flame◠And thrô each mouth did Streams of Vapors rise Like Clouds and darkned all the ambient Skies◠The pains continual and the Body dead And senseless all before the Soul was fled Physicians came and saw and shook their Head No sleep the pain'd and wearied Mens delight The fiery Eyes like Stars wak'd all the Night Besides a Thousand Symptoms more did wait And told sad News of coming hasty Fate Distracted Mind and Sad and Furious Eyes Short Breath or constant deep and hollow Sighs And buzzing Ears and much and frothy Sweat Spread o'r the Neck and Spittle thin with heat But salt and yellow and the Jaws being rough Could hardly be thrown up by violent Cough The Nerves contracted Strength in Hands did fail And Cold crept from the Feet and spread o'r all And when Death came at last it chang'd the Nose And made it sharp and prest the Nostrils close Hollow'd the Temples forc'd the Eye-balls in And chill'd and hardned all and stretcht the Skin They lay not long but soon did Life resign The Warning was but short Eight Days or Nine If any liv'd and ' scap'd the fatal Day And if their Loosness purg'd the Plague away Or Ulcers drain'd yet they would soon decay Their Weakness kill'd them or their poyson'd Blood And Strength with horrid Pains through Nostrils flow'd But those that felt no Flux the Strong Disease Did oft descend and wretched Members seise And there it rag'd with cruel Pains and Smart Too weak to kill the Whole it took a Part Some lost their Eyes and some prolong'd their Breath By loss of Hands So strong the Fear of Death The Minds of some did dark Oblivion blot And they their Actions and themselves forgot CHAP. VI. Of the hurt of the inner Senses and the Brain SINCE I have already explained almost all the Causes of Age and Old Age as also the Hurts of the exterior Senses now we must treat of those kind of Hurts wherewith the a Senses residing in the Brain are affected Which come to pass for two Causes and are known
For though as Food it might make something towards prolonging of Life seeing it would nourish better than other things and would less alter the Body into a contrary Nature Yet it would not on this account avail to extend it much and less to prolong it to Eternity But as Physick it would especially and chiefly conduce to this end Now by what Qualities And by what way This is the most difficult to resolve § 4. It is to be observed thirdly That those Accidents which preserve our Body in perfect Health some of them are manifest some occult The manifest are three Temperament Composition and Vnity of Parts Which because they are perceived by the Senses are called manifest The occult according to the common Opinion that admits Powers are the Faculties of the Body which by Philosophers are called Powers that is the Faculty Vital Animal and Natural There are also occult Qualities belonging to the Alimentous which are introduced into the Aliment by the common Work-houses and by the Parts to be nourished although no Man hath yet found them out and therefore they may on that account also be called Alimentous There are besides Alexipharmack Qualities also newly found by us which in another Treatise we have proved to be connaturally in the Body of every living Creature that it may defend it self from Poyson § 5. Which things observed I say first Divers Qualities are communicated by the Tree of Life whereby all things which concern the Natural Constitution of the Body if they be destroyed may be restored if perfect may be preserved either to a certain and determinate Time or to Eternity according to the diversity of Opinions about this Matter This Conclusion is mâ—nifest because unless the Natural Constitution of the Body be preserved Health and Life cannot naturally continue Therefore it is necessary that so many and so great Vertues must be given from the Wood as were sufficient to repair and preserve all things concerning the Natural Constitution § 6. I say Secondly Supra-elementary Qualities must be contributed to the Body by the Tree of Life which might produce Elemental ones in that degree only which was agreeable to the Natural Temperament to wit that these Qualities of the Tree might concur as a kind of Cause efficient with the Form or with the Vertues of the Form according to the Opinion which grants Virtual Qualities productive of the Elemental towards the Production of Elemental Qualities just to such a convenient Degree This Conclusion is proved because it is necessary the Natural Temper should be preserved that the Body may continue in Health But such a Temper will be well preserved if there be a fixt and efficacious Cause which may help the intrinsick Agent in the Production of those degrees of each Quality which makes up the Temperament Therefore it is necessary that those Vertues be produced in the Body by the said Tree which may suffice to concur with the intrinsick Agent productive of such Qualities But these Vertues must needs be Qualities of a Superior Order Therefore such must be produced in the Body by the Tree of Life § 7. I say thirdly These Qualities must also be of such Efficacy that they may preserve that Degree fixt against all the Activity of an external Contrary even the most violent such as are Fire or Snow according to the Opinion which affirms the Wood to be an adaequate Cause of Immortality so that these Qualities of the Wood of Life being present Fire cannot act upon the Body nor produce further Degrees of Heat beyond those which are convenient for the Body For the contrary Degrees of Cold would be so preserved by the Quality of the Wood as a kind of Cause Efficient that they could not be diminished by the Fire And so it may be said of other Elemental Qualities It is manifestly proved Because unless the Qualities of the Wood had so great Efficacy they were not able to resist very violent external Agents But they might resist if they produced those fixt Degrees upon the Body connatural to it so that it might persist in Health § 8. But to what kind of Quality would these belong I answer They would be a kind of Habit For according to the Opinion which affirms that Elemental Qualities do not flow from the Soul but are produced of other occult Qualities superaded of a higher order which are called Virtual Qualities they would belong to Habit The Reason is because these Virtual Qualities are Powers seeing they are ordain'd only for Operation But the Qualities of the Wood do essentially suppose these Powers and do help them efficiently in the production of the Elemental ones Wherefore they are necessarily Habits as are the Habits of Sciences and some Supernatural Qualities as the Habit of Faith and Light of Glory which Divines commonly affirm do belong to Habit because they essentially suppose Power as Suarez a Vasquez b and others commonly hold But according to the Opinion that denies Powers to the Soul they are also to be accounted Habits and to concur with the Soul as Habits of Sciences and others And these Qualities will prove a kind of those which cure manifest Diseases of which we have spoken in another Book § 9. Both Conclusions are confirmed Because a living Body could no other way be made durable to Eternity nor for any Time but its Temperament would decline something from its Integrity unless it were preserved the foresaid way Therefore c. Nor doth it appear that the Qualities of the Wood would dispose the Body as a kind of Cause Formal whereby it would have been made free from all natural Causes of Death internal and external because a help by this kind of Cause would not have been sufficient that by its means an intrinsick Agent could resist the most violent Causes § 10. I say fourthly It is also convenient according to the same Opinion that the Tree of Life should make good other Qualities even Active ones which might concurr with the Faculties Animal Vital and Natural as a kind of Cause Efficient that they might perform very strong Actions when there should be a necessity It is proved as to the Animal Faculty because to avoid some Diseases of Composition and Solution of Unity as Dislocations and Wounds and to resist some external Causes which bring those Diseases an ordinary strength of Actions of the Animal Faculty is not sufficient even where there is the best Temperament Therefore it is necessary that this Faculty be helped by other Qualities which may concurr with it to render the Actions so strong that they may be sufficient to avoid all Natural Causes whatever especially those which might hurt by Local Motion § 11. And as to the Pulsatil Faculty there is the same Reason for it must perform a Motion against the Resistance of every external Cause whatever As to what concerns the Natural it is proved For it is necessary that the Attractive and Expulsive Faculty perform most