is to expect assistance in case he is weakned by his enemies 13. Whether the soul expiring out of the body is to be an Angel or for ever to abide without office What the office of a separated soul is 14. How long she is to continue in office The consummation and description of the change of the world The resurrection proved by reason The description of the second Paradise concluded by reason 15. To what objects the faculties of men when possest of the second Paradise will extend That they shall remember and know one another That they shall eat and drink that they shall not generate that the same person who redeemed man from his misery shall reign over him in Paradise I. ARt thou not stupified or hast thou not lost thy reason through a confirmed Atheism then what hath been hitherto delivered may take place in thee and gain thee a full insight into thy past present and future state On the one hand you know your misery and pravity by comparing the course of your life with that rule which is imprinted in your heart On the other hand you may fadom your own strength and since that is decayed and weakned you may spie God ready to assist and succour you in this contention and strife against your enemies labouring all to pull him down But how to procure God's aid and succour 't is that which I am about to advise you in In the first place consider whose enemy thou art and ever hast been and what associates thou art adjoyned unto under whose banner it is thou fightest to what end or what victory it is you expect II. As to the first thou art God's enemy and hast been so from the minute thou wast conceived in The associates among whose company and number thou hast ranged and listed thy self are Infidels Atheists Wretches and Devils The Banner under which thou marchest and fightest is Satans or the Prince of Devils The end and victory which thou fightest for were it possible is to throw God out of his Throne Now bethink thy self art thou not a fool that fightest against the mighty one who is able to destroy thee in a moment Art thou not blinded to fight with such associates Were that mote but removed out of thy eye thou wouldst soon be astonisht at their wickednesse and detest their company The Banner is as a vail cast before thy eyes to keep thee ignorant of the Devils aim and craft which tends to lead thee into utter destruction The Design whereunto thou hast subscribed is the greatest piece of rebellion and treachery Now then is it not time for thee to flie and make thy escape Yet a moment and God soundeth his alarm and so ye are all laid in the ground and cast into an everlasting dungeon But whither canst thou flie but God will pursue thee Thou canst not cast thy self immediately upon God for his justice doth judge thy crime high treason and therefore unpardonable so that thou art condemned to execution First satisfie God's justice and then submit But how may you enquire Certainly O man if thou art to satisfie God's justice and to appease his wrath then thou art lost and cast away for ever and yet since man hath sinned man must surely expect God's wrath Now the means for thy escape is to cast thy self upon God's mercy which is infinite and therefore of an equal weight to balance his justice and believe assuredly that God's mercy will move his infinite-wisdome to find out some way or other whereby to satisfie his justice 'T is true we have all sinned in one man to wit the first man but if God doth send one righteous man into the world who through his perfect obedience to the Law doth intirely recover God's favour through his sufferings doth satisfie God's justice through his death acquit us from the guilt and punishment of and for the first or original sinne and he afterwards rise again from the dead as a Conquerour of Death and sinne this one man's satisfaction and obedience is sufficient to blot out all men's guilt and merit God's favour and acceptance for all men because as the sinne of one first man is the original cause of all our sinnes and as his sin is imputed to us so the satisfaction of one second man provided he be of the same stock that we are of is enough to satisfie for the sinne of that one first man and consequently also for the sinnes which we have committed through the participation of that first sinne and his plenar obedience if it be imputed to us as the first sinne was is sufficient to compleat and perfect all our imperfect good actions and to make them theologically good But some may reply That it is repugnant to man's nature if he be of the same stock that we are of to undergo death and rise again or to be born without sinne which is requisite for otherwise how can he be throughly righteous You have great reason to doubt of this for it is a mystery which doth exceed man's capacity and is impossible for a natural man to dive into or ever come to any particular knowledg of it unlesse immediatly revealed by inspiration to some men from whom it should descend to us Neverthelesse this very thing is possible with God and therefore we ought not to doubt of it in the least but according to that divine saying of Solon De Deo non est inquirendum sed credendum We are not to enquire of God but to believe in him and particularly in his mercy and wisdom This is the great mystery ground and summe of our salvation III. But the main Question that may be moved here is Whether this implicit faith may be termed justifying that is Whether man in believing inclusively in God's mercy and goodnesse as including that God is most wise and therefore can order or appoint a means for his restoration and redemption and that he is mercifull and therefore will order and appoint those means of salvation to such who earnestly desire it and believe in him Mark I said also Goodnesse for that is necessary to be believed into because although that through God's mercy we are redeemed and restored to our primitive perfection yet it is through his goodnesse or grace as Divines usually expresse it that we abide with him to all eternity To this may be answered that it is not improbable for since it would be impious to affirm that all children are damned because they have not an actual faith we may safely suppose that God being infinitely mercifull will save them as farre as they have an inclinative faith or a disposition to it an actual faith cannot be required because of their immaturity If then children are saved through their inclinative faith certainly this fore-mentioned actual faith doth counterpoize that of children Besides man in believing according to the state of this Question doth his uttermost and that from a good principle to a good
Union might be more properly termed a Principle than Privation p. 8. 2. The Principles of a Material Being stated by Pythagoras rejected p. 9. 3. That to treat of Matter and Form is more proper to Metaphysicks 10. 4. That the Materia Prima of Aristotle is a Non Ens. ib. 5. That the Chaos had a Form p. 11. 6. The Authors Materia Prima p. 12. 7. That it doth not appertain to Physicks to explain the nature of the first Matter ib. 8. What the first Form of all natural Beings is ib. 13. CHAP. IV. Of the Nature and Essence of the Elements 1. The nearest Definition of a Natural Being p. 15. 2. The Definition of an Element That all Physical Definitions ought to be sensible The proof of the Existence of the Elements and of their Number p. 16. 3. An Exposition of the Definition of an Element It s Etymology and Honomony p. 17. 4. What Distinction the Author makes between Principle Cause and Element p 18. 5. What a Natural Cause is That the Elements are no single real Beings That they are treated of separately and singly Ratione only ib. 6. That there are but three Natural Causes Their Necessity proved in particular ib. CHAP. V. Of New Philosophy and the Authors of it 1. Helmontius his arrogance and vainglory How and wherein he rejected the Peripatetick Philosophy His own Principles p. 19 20. 2. The Life and Death of the said Helmontius p. 21. 3. A Confutation of all his Physical Principles in particular p. 22. 4. Some few Arguments against Renè des Cartes his Principles in general p. 23 24 25. CHAP. VI. Of the Material Principle of Natural Beings 1. The Causes of the Elements p. 26. 2. That the Elements are really compounded natural beings ib. 3. That Matter and Quantity are really identificated ib. 4. What Quantity is What its Ratio formalis is p. 27. 5. That in rebus quantis there is a maximum and a minimum Definitum p. 28. 6. Experimental Instances proving that there are actual Minima's and that all natural beings do consist out of them p. 29. 7. The pursuit of the preceding Instances inferring a Continuum to be constituted out of actual Indivisibles Some Geometrical Objections answered p. 30. CHAP. VII Of the Natural Matter and Form of the Elements 1. That the Elements are constituted out of minima's That they were at first created a maximum divisible into minima's p. 31. 2. That supposing there were a materia prima Aristotelica yet it is absurd to essert her to have a Potentia Essentialis or Appetitus Formae p. 32. 3. That the Natural Form is not educed è Potentia Materiae ib. 4. That the Actus of Local Motion is the Form of the Elements ib. 5. The manner of knowing the first constitution of the Elements That there was a Chaos p. 33. 6. That there was conferred a distinct form upon every Element Whether a Form is a Substance 'T is proved that it is not ib. 34. CHAP. VIII Of the absolute and Respective Form of Earth Water Ayr and Fire 1. What Form it is the Author allots to Earth That driness is not the first quality of Earth p. 35. 2. The respective form of Earth 36. 3. That Coldness is not the first quality of Water That water is not moyst naturally neither doth it moysten What it is to moysten Why water acuated with spirits of Vitriol Sulphur or of Salt-peter doth moysten and abate thirst more than when it is single ib. 4. The form of Water What Gravity is and what Levity What Density is The form of water proved Why water disperseth it self into drops Why Sea-men cannot make Land upon the Cap-head when they may upon the Top-Mast-head Why the Stars do appear sooner to those in the East-Seas than to others in the west p. 37. 5. That water is thick but not dense Whence it is that water is smooth Why Ayr makes a bubble upon the water when it breaks forth That the least Atome of Ayr cannot break through the water without raising a bubble Why the same doth not happen to Earth p. 38. 6. That Moysture is not the first quality of Ayr neither doth the Ayr naturally moysten any body but to the contrary dryeth it p. 39. 7. The form of Ayr. What Tenuity is Why Feathers Cobwebs and other light Bodies do expand themselves when thrown through the Ayr. Why Grease Oyl Wax c. do make Splatches when poured upon the ground Why Gunpowder Smoak Breathes of living Creatures Vapours Exhalations Dust c. do diffuse themselves in that manner Whence it is that the least breath moves and shakes the Ayr. The relative form of ayr Why spirits of wine mix easier and sooner with water than one water with another p. 40 41. 8. The first quality of Fire What Rarity is Whence it is that a Torch or Candle spreads its Beams circularly as appears at a distance That Fire is rough the cause of it Fire's Relative nature A comparing of all the first qualities of the Elements one to the other p. 42 43. CHAP. IX Of the beginning of the World 1. Whence the world had its beginning What the Chaos is That the Chaos had a form A Scripture Objection answered That the Spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters did informate the Chaos p. 44. 2. That the Chaos consisted of the four Elements is proved by Scripture The Etymology of Heaven What Moses meant by Waters above the Waters The Derivation of the Firmament That the Ayr is comprehended under the Notion of waters in Gen. p. 45. 3. That the Elements were exactly mixt in the Chaos That all the Elements consist of an equal number of Minima's p 46. 4. That none but God alone can be rationally thought to be the Efficient of the Chaos How this Action is expressed in Scripture p 47. 5. What Creation is Thom. Aq. his Definition of Creation disproved Austins Observations of the Creation p. 48. 6. That God is the Authour of the Creation proved by the Testimonies of Scripture of Holy men and of Philosophers p. 49. 7. An Explanation of the Definition of Creation Whether Creation is an emanent or transient Action Creation is either mediate or immediate Scotus his Errour upon this point The difference between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherein mediate Creation differs from Generation p. 50 51. 8. Of the place magnitude tangible qualities colour temperament time figure extent in figure duration quantity and number of the Chaos p. 52 53 54. CHAP. X. Of the first Division of the Chaos 1. Why the Chaos was broken p. 55. 2. That the Chaos could never have wrought its own change through it self The Efficient of its mutation p. 56. 3. The several Changes which the Chaos underwent through its Disruption The manner of the said Disruption ib. 4. How Light was first produced out of the Chaos What a Flame is p. 58. 5. A perfect description
usefulnesse and convenience Pleasant Good is which is coveted for its pleasure and delight which it affordeth These two are not to be desired for their own sake but for their covenience and pleasure which do accompany them This Division is erroneous upon a double account 1. Because Good doth not formally include in its formal concept any delight usefulnesse or honesty but onely a perfectionation 2. The dividing members cannot be equally attributed to all the kinds of good and therefore the distribution is illegitimate IV. Good according to the subject wherein it is inherent or according the appetite through which it is coveted is either Natural Sensible or Moral Natural Good is which is coveted from a natural Being The appetite through which natural Beings do covet Good is commonly called a natural Propensity or Inclination Sensible Good is which is coveted by living creatures Their appetite is called a sensitive appetite Moral Good is which is coveted by man His appetite is otherwise known by the word Will. Before I conclude this Chapter I must intreat you to remember and take notice of the several acceptions and distinct significations of Natural Supernatural Counter-natural Preter-natural of Good Moral Good and Theologick Good For you are to interpret their significations variously otherwise you will much mistake my meaning CHAP. VI. Of the greatest and highest Good 1. A further illustration of the greatest Good 2. That the highest Good is the neerest end of Natural Theology 3. What the Summum Bonum is otherwise called That the greatest Good is our last end 4. The inexpressible Joy which the soul obtains in possessing the greatest Good 5. Two great benefits which the soul receiveth from the Summum Bonum I. IT was necessary for you first to know what Good was in General before you could conceive what the highest Good is So then having laid down the Doctrine of Good in short it now remains to open to you what the greatest Good is The greatest Good is that which doth make us most perfect and that is God alone I prove it There is nothing can perfectionate usmost but God alone Wherefore he is the onely Summum Bonum II. The highest Good is the neerest end of Natural Theology I prove it That which we do immediately and neerest incline unto and covet is the neerest end But we do immediately and neerest covet and incline unto the Summum Bonum Wherefore the Summum Bonum is the neerest end I confirm the Minor We do immediately covet that which doth perfectionate us because it is out of necessity The necessity appears in this in that we must live to God for without him we cannot live or exist and consequently we cannot be perfectionated without him Now that which is most necessary must precede that which is lesse necessary for it is possible for us to live without happinesse and only to enjoy our being if God had so pleased And therefore happinesse is not absolutely necessary but is superadded to this our appetite meerly from Gods bounty We ought first to bend and incline to God because he is our Summum Bonum and doth perfectionate us and not only because he doth make us happy In this bending to God we answer to our end and are true beings The same is also witnessed by Scripture Prov. 16. God hath made all things for himself III. Summum Bonum is otherwise called our last End because it is that in which all our good Actions seem to terminate I prove that the greatest Good and happiness is our last End All Trades and Professions tend to make provision for mans life This provision as meat and drink c. serveth to keep the Body in repair that so it may continue a convenient mansion for the Soul and serve her through its organs The prime organs are the inward and outward Senses which are subservient to the Soul in advertising her of all things which may be prejudicial to man and in pleasing her by conveying the objects of all external beings to her and commending them to her Contemplation which doth chiefly consist in the discovery of the causes of all things The Soul being now brought and seated in the midst of her speculations doth not come to any rest or satisfaction there but still maketh way and passeth through them untill she arrives to the last object and its last end which is the farthest she can dyve This last object is God because he is the last end of our contemplations for beyond him we cannot conceive or think any thing It is also certain that all beings have their end and are terminated by it This doth infer that the actions of man must also have their end The principal actions of man are them of the Soul to wit his understanding The understanding is not terminated by any material substance for it can think and understand beyond it neither are created immaterial substances objects beyond which the Soul of man cannot imagine for it doth imagine know and understand God but beyond God it can imagine nothing All Beings have their causes them causes have other causes these other causes at last must owe their being to one first Cause otherwise causes would be infinite which is repugnant Wherefore we cannot think beyond the first Cause IV. The Soul having sublimed her self into a most sublime thought of God there she resteth and admireth his great power in giving a Being to all sublunary and superlunary things She admireth his wisdome and providence in preserving them all She is astonisht at his infinite love towards mankind in Breathing his Essence out of his own brest The joy and acquiessence which the Soul findeth in the contemplation of this last End and first Cause is so great and unexpressible that there is nothing in this vast World to resemble it unto but to it self Thus I have demonstrated how all the Actions of man tend to one last End and Summum Bonum V. From the Greatest Good we receive two benefits First it makes us most perfect and most happy Secondly it terminates our faculties for in all other Things we can find no rest but in the Summum Bonum only All other things can give us no rest because they are ordained for a further end and subject to changes and alterations every moment but the Summum Bonum is the same for ever and ever As for the happiness which doth redound from the possession of the Summum Bonum it is a Joy and contentment beyond expression None is capable of conceiving what it is except they who are the possessors of it The joy is such that if a man hapneth to it and is confirmed in it he can never desert it a moments want of it would seem to be the greatest misery CHAP. VII Of the false Summum Bonum 1. The Summum Bonum of the Epicureans unfolded and rejected 2. That Wealth is a greater torment than a Summum Bonum The Riches of Seneca That we ought to
perfect being where was then the materia prima of Aristotle which is said to be without any Form and nothing but a pura potentia You cannot reply that the Chaos was produced out of a Materia prima for if I grant that then materia prima is a non ens nothing because the Text mentions that God created Heaven and Earth out of nothing The Objection which may be offered against us from Gen. 2. And the Earth was without form is not matterial for by form here is meant an ulterior forma and not a Prima Forma IX The Fâ—â—m which did informate the Chaos was that whereby it was that which it was namely a Confusion of the Elements This confused form or forma confusionis being expelled there immediately succeeded a less confused or more distinct form arising from a partial solution and separation of the Elements I term it distinct because it was distinct from that first confusion and a more distinct form because the Elements were yet more separated untied loosened and distinct But as for a most distinct form whereby every Element should exist separately one from the other and every Element have a form of it self whereby it is that which now it is namely Earth a weighty dense and massie substance Fire a penetrable rare and diffusive essence c. Before I sound into the depth of this Mystery give me leave to expose to your view the admirable manner of this divine Artifice First God created a Chaos or a confused mixture of the Elements in like manner to a Potter who having several sorts of Earth mixes them all together into one exact mixture afterwards he again diducts or draweth its parts from one another and each part again after that he draweth more and more from one another until at last it acquires that form which he doth ultimately intend in it So that the more he draweth it asunder the more compleat form it receives through each several and further Diduction So God draweth the Chaos more and more asunder and every drawing diduction expansion or opening giveth it another and a perfecter form After the same manner is the production of the Foetus in the Mothers Womb perfected where there is first a Chaos or exact Confusion of Genitures then again its parts are more and more diducted which finisheth it with a perfect Form I shall therefore delineate each part of the Creation accomplisht by Gods several and distinct as to us diduction which was performed by Gods Command upon an obediential Subject of Let there be The effect resulting through vertue of this Command was immediately answered by And it was so The Perfection and excellency of it by And God saw that it was good There are two forms observable in the Elements one absolute which is whence the particular force power and vertue of each Element derives This is essential to every Element There is also a respective form which doth naturally derive from the first and is whereby every Element doth essentially encline to the other for its Existence and Conservation for without each other their absolute form could not subsist which flowes from their truth and goodness Neither did they ever exist singly but were at the same time created together These two forms are really and essentially one but modally distinct from each other What Finiteness Unity Durability or Place are the Elements capable of single The earth through its Gravity would be incited to an infinite motion so would also fire and consequently neither could possess any place or be of any duration but the Earth and Water being occurred by Fire and Ayr their Gravities are ballanced by the Lightness of these latter and so become withal to be terminated and to be placed but of this elsewhere CHAP. IV. Of the Nature and Essence of the Elements 1. The nearest Definition of a Natural being 2. The Definition of an Element That all Physical Definitions ought to be sensible The proof of the Existence of the Elements and of their Number 3. An Exposition of the Definition of an Element It s Etymology and Homonymy 4. What Distinction the Author makes between Principle Cause and Element 5. What a Natural Cause is That the Elements are no single real beings That they are treated of separately and singly Ratione only 6. That there are but three Natural Causes Their Necessity proved in Particular 1. I Have hitherto given you the remote Definition of a natural being and now I state one somwhat nearer to our Senses and such as is through it self perceptible by sense A Natural being is an Essence constituted out and through the Elements or thus A natural being is that which is constituted out and by natural Causes but none are natural causes but Elements only wherefore the former Definition being the nearer and proved by the latter somwhat more remote We shall rather commend it as being perceptible by sense for none can deny but that the Elements are the sole natural causes Shew me by any of your senses what natural being there existeth in the world but what is Elementary Possibly this Definition may disrelish you as being different from Aristotle's Let me tell you that most part of the Perepatetick Definitions in Physicks are too remote from our senses which causeth a difficulty of apprehending them and proves a doubtful way for to lead us into Errour II. An Element is an internal natural Cause out and through which a natural being is essentially constituted In Metaph. we have defined a natural being to be internally consistent of Matter and Form which are also called Natural Causes in general but remotely because we cannot apprehend Matter and Form unless by a nearer thing representing both to our senses as through the Elements we know what Matter and Form is were it not that our sight perswaded us that a being was produced out of the Elements we should be ignorant what Matter were and so the like of the Form Here you may take notice of the difference between a Metaphysical Definition and a Physical one the latter being immediately perceptible through our Senses and abstracted from sensibles the former being proper to reason and the mind which doth mediately abstract its notions from these according to that Trite Saying Nihilest in intellectu quin prius fuerit in sensibus the understanding knoweth nothing but what it hath first perceived by the senses Now I will make clear to you that all natural beings do proxime immediately owe their essence to the four Elements Herbs spring forth out or from the Earth but not where there is no Water for there it proves sandy or barren unfit to protrude any vegetable 2. Although earth is sufficiently moistened by attenuated water yet unless the Sun can or doth through its Beams cast a fire to it or by the same fire raise and excite that fire which is latent in the earth it remaineth nevertheless barren Lastly Ayr is comprehended by water attenuated that
rational Soules emanate out of nothing because they do not emanate out of matter and yet they are not created but naturally produced 'T is true although they emanate out of nothing yet they emanate from something to wit from their immaterial Essence and therefore they are not to be judged to be created It is also possible for a thing to be created from nothing anihilo sui and yet out of something so are all beings created that are created by a mediate creation Wherefore my Definition hath an immediate creation to its definitum Now if you would define creation as it doth in a large extent comprehend also a mediate creation 't is only to substitute in the room of and from nothing or from nothing thus creation is a production of a being out of or from nothing or from and out of neither Austin Lib. 11. de Civitate Dei c. 21. commends a threefold Observation upon the Creation 1. Who is the Efficient of it and that is God 2. Whereby or through what he proceeded to Creation through that he said Let there be and all things were 3. For what reason because he is good We read something not unlike to this in Diog. Laert. Lib. 7. The Stoicks saith he state two Principles of things an Agent and a Patient Through an Agent they understood Matter and through a Patient the Word of God which did adorn that Matter That God is the Author of the Creation besides the reason fore-given the Testimonies of the Sacred Bible of holy men and of Philosophers do confirm it to us Psal. 102. 25. 147. 9. Mal. 2. 10. Es. 45. 6 7. Job 9. 8. Jer. 10. 12. 51. 15. Job 26. 13. John 1. 3. Col. 1. 16. Rom. 13. 36. Rev. 4. 11. Heb. 1. 2. That creation is the production of a being out and from nothing the Scripture doth also reveal to us Gen. 1. Prov. 8. 24. Psal. 33. 9. John 1. 3. Rom. 4. 17. Heb. 11. 3. Austin Lib. 1. De Gen. contra Manich. Although all things are formed out of that unform matter notwithstanding is this same matter made out of nothing Lactan. Lib. 2. Cap. 9. Let none ask out of what matter God made so great and wonderful works for he hath made all things out of nothing Neither are we to give hearing to Poets who say that there was a Chaos in the beginning that is a confusion of things and of the Elements and that afterwards God did divide all that Mass and having separated every thing from the confused heap and described them in order he did build the world and also adorn it 'T is more credible that matter was rather created by God which God can do all things then that the world was not made by God because without a mind reason counsel nothing can be made Here our Author reasons against the Eternity of the Chaos as the Poets feigned to themselves whose Song was That the Chaos being an immense rude and voyd mole did fluctuate without any form from all eternity and that God in time did confer a form and shape upon it and brought it to what it is Yet nevertheless he states a finite Chaos under the name of matter created by God out of nothing Hemingins teacheth us That creation is the primar production or formation of things whereby God the Eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ together with the Holy Spirit did produce and form Heaven and Earth and the things therein contained both visible and invisible out of nothing to the end that he might be acknowledged and worshipped Hermes Trismegistus Lib. 1. Pimandr That ancient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 declares himself seemingly more by inspired words then acquired ones The mind saith he of the Divine power did in the beginning change his shape and suddenly disclosed all things and I saw all things changed into a light most unspeakably sweet and pleasant And in another place Serm. 3. Pimandr The infinite shadow was in the deep and the water and thin spirit were in the Chaos and the holy splendor did flourish which did deduct the Elements from under the sand and moist nature and the weighty lay drowned in darkness under the moist Sand. The same divine Mercurius Lib. de Piet. Phil. renders himself thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first is God the second the world the third man the world for man and man for God Another Philosopher speaks with no less Zeal and Eloquence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is an old saying and revealed by the ancients unto all men that all things were constituted out of God and through God and that no nature can be enough accomplisht to salvation were it committed to its own tuition without Gods help Thales being sometimes demanded what of all things was the most beautiful he answered the World for it is the work of God which nothing can exceed in beauty Plato in Tim. attested Gods Love to be the cause of the making of the world and of the rise of all beings Clemens Alex. said that the Creation of the world was Gods Hand-writing whose Leaves were three Heaven Earth and the Sea VII The Genus of the Definition is Production which is either supernatural or natural A supernatural Production is called Creation A Natural one is termed Generation Observe that supernatural and natural are remote differences of Creation and Generation wherefore I did not appose the foremost of them to our Definition because I substituted its differentia proxima Whether Production by others called Efficiency is an emanant or transient action is controversial Thomas as you have read terms it an emanation On the other side why should it not be conceived to be a transient action since it doth terminare ad extra But then again why so For all transient actions do presuppose the pre-existence of their Object which here was not Wherefore to avoid all scruples I conclude it if actively understood to be apprehended per modum actus emanantis if passively per modum actus transeuntis Creation is either so called strictly and then it imports only an immediate creation according to which sense you have it already defined or largely and then it is divisible into immediate or mediate Creation An immediate Creation is the same with Creation in a strict sense whereby a being is produced out of nothing neither out of a pre-existent or co-existent matter but a nihilo termini i. e. formae vel materiae sive e nihilo privativo vel e nihilo negativo Wherefore I say that this immediate Creation is no mutation because mutation presupposeth pre-existent matter But it may be you will side with Dun◠who for to maintain it to be a mutation did impiously assert the thing which was to be created res creanda to have had its essence pre-existent in the divine mind so that creation must be the mutation of an Essence not existing into an Essence existing In the first place Scripture doth plainly
contradict him 2. He did mistake the nature of Essence and Existence as further apppears out of my Metaphysicks 3. It infers an absurd Definition of Creation to wit that it is the mutation of a being a non esse accidentali ad esse accidentale consequently an accident only is produced de novo and not a Substance 4. That the essences of things are eternal a great absurdity I grant they are from all eternity that is from an eternal being 5. Did God contain the essences of things in himself it followes that he also contained their matter in himself a great Blasphemy A mediate Creation is the production of a being a nihilo termini vel formae sed ex aliquo materiae a nihilo formae supple ultima This kind of Creation is expressed by two different words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or making is whereby God created a being ex aliquo materiae sed a nihilo formae ulterioris In this sense did God create the Fishes and Fowl 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or an artificial formation is whereby God formed man also a nihilo formae ulterioris Mediate Creation differs from Generation through that thereby a form is introduced in an instant hereby successively by a preceding alteration 2. Thereby a being is constituted a nihilo formae ulterioris hereby ab aliquo formae ultimae tanquam a termino a quo That is effected by the immediate causality of God this by a mediate one VIII The Chaos being so equally mixed and balanced abided in one place The place which did contain it was not corporeal because it would have been needless since its own balance did sufficiently preserve it in its own internal place It s magnitude was equal to the present magnitude of the world For although through its expansion and opening the fire and ayt were heaved up yet they were heaved up no further then the weighty Elements descended so that what space was left by the one was taken up by the other but had there been a vacuum left by any of their egressions then indeed it must have possessed a larger place As for the tangible quality which it had it must needs have been soft because it being temperated ad pondus could acquire no other then a temperate one and such is soft Colour it had none ex accidenti because there was no light to discern it nevertheless that doth not hinder but that it had a fundamental colour in it self which must have been red that being the only colour issuing out of a temperamentum ad pondus Tast is also detracted from it ex accidenti but in it self it must have been sweet for the same reason We cannot edscribe any smell to it per se because being close shut or not yet opened none can grant that it could have affected any supposed smell since it could not have emitted any Exhalations from it That it had a finite time Scripture testifieth Gen. 1. 1. In the beginning c. but the beginning is a distinction and Note of finite time Ergo. Reason proves no less That which was finite in all its other modes could not be capable of one single infinite mode But such was the Chaos and such is the world now Ergo. Whose parts are subject to a beginning and ending its whole must also have been subject to the same But our daily experience confirms to us that all things are subjected to a beginning and ending Ergo. It s figure is round we know from the form of the Elements Besides rotundity is a figure of the greatest equallest and perfectest extension but such is most sutable to the greatest equallest and perfectest body Ergo. The Chaos was also finite in its globosity and extent of parts I prove it The compleated world being finite in its globosity and extent of parts doth necessarily infer the finiteness of the Chaos in the same particular because the compleated world was framed out of it Now that the world is terminated in magnitude the circumvolutation of the Aplane and the Planets in a finite time to wit in 24 hours doth certainly demonstrate for were the world infinite in magnitude they must then also require an infinite time to rowl round about it the contrary of which is doubted by none Here that trite Axiom may be objected qualis causa taelis effectus Such as the cause is such also is its Effect But God is an infinite cause ergo his effect namely the world must also be infinite I answer That this Maxim holds only in univocis and naturalibus but not in their opposites 2. It is a Character of Gods infiniteness that he can act finitely and infinitely for could he act only infinitely then might he be supposed to act necessarily which is a note of finiteness and limitation in a cause 3. The action whereby he effected this finite work is infinite as I have observed before wherefore in this he acteth both finitely and infinitely And since I am about answering Objections it will not be amiss to insert some objected by Bodinus in Theatr. Nat. and Cajetan against the pre-existence of the Chaos before the compleated world 1. Eccles. 18. 1. Where God is said to have created all things at once Ergo there was no pre-existent Chaos I answer that Creation here doth imply an immediate creation through which God created the matter of all things at once 2. They resume the words of Austin asserting that to God there is nothing before or after another no past or future time but that all things are like as it were in one moment filling that which hath a most perfect being Wherefore say they Moses did distinguish the Creation into several sections and divisions to accomodate things created in an instant to our capacity I answer That had Moses writ that God had created all things in a moment we could have understood him as plainly as he hath writ otherwise for we know that Scripture containes many harder sayings then this would have been So that it is a great levity in them to retort the genuine sense of sacred words to their oblique brow As for that of Austin it hinders not but that all things past present and future are as in an instant to God and yet to us may be past present and future The Chaos is not only finite in duration and continuated quantity but also in discrete as they term it quantity or number It s quantity is the least and the greatest it is the least in discrete quantity for there was but one Chaos 2. But the greatest in continued quantity The proof of these depends reciprocally from one another The Chaos is but one because it is the greatest were there then more then one Chaos but two three or more or infinite it could not be the greatest but part of the greatest and so the whole must be greater then the part on the other side it is the greatest because
above the water continuing wood In Thrace it is said there is a Lake whose water proves mortal to any that do drink of it or do bath therein Many of the Troglodites have forfeited their reason for venturing to taste of the water of a pernicious Lake in that Country The Lake Clitorius effects sobriety in men and excites them to a hatred against Wine and Drunkenness The Lake Gerasa in the Country of the Gadarens whereinto the Herd of Swine animated with those dispossessed devils of whom we read in Luk. 8. 33. violently ran down is at present so venomous that it causes the hair and nails of all those to come off that have at any time drank of it The Lake Laumond in Scotland imbracing thirty Islands breeds fish without finnes and is cast sometimes into a most raging tempest although there be little or no wind stirring One of those Islands is said to fluctuate up and down in her The Lakes of Chirchen in China is said to change Iron into Copper Scotland is noted for a Lake whereof the one half yieldeth to be hardned by the frost the other maintaining her fluidity the whole Winter So likewise in Norway although Saturn is felt to be very furious there yet many Lakes lye open all the Winter The like is observable in a Lake near New Castle which in some part refuseth concretion although in the coldest weather There is a Lake near Nidrossa whose waters atop are extreamly cold but the mud near the bottom is constantly boyling hot insomuch that if you tye an Egg to a string and let it sink down to the bottom you may soon draw it up ready boyled Not far from Jensu a City in China is a Lake which is very cold in the Summer and scalding hot in the Winter The same is said of the Lake Jen near Chinchen in the same Country The waters of the Lake Anien at first feel extream cold but after a little while they begin to feel warm they also generate stones out of any matter received from without The Lake of Vadimon shews it self sometimes suddenly very turbulent without giving any manifest token of the cause of it The same is said of the Lake of Geneve or Lausanne Italy is dignified with one of the most famous Lakes in the world called Benaco its plaisance is supplied by a sight of Olive trees growing upon its borders and beautified about the sides with gardens planted with Citron and Pomgranate trees fertilized with rare fish having its water so bright and clear that you may plainly see the bottom through it except in the middle where it is almost not to be fathomed but notwithstanding so fair a complexion in good weather yet appears much more humourous in foul in such a manner that it doth then cast it self into raging high waves whereby it proves no less dangerous and dreadful than a tempestuous sea The Lake Larius by the Hetrusces styled the Prince of Lakes is much swelled in its belly through the swallowing up of the River Abda alias Abdua tumbling down from the Rhetian Alpes through the Valley Voltilena Boaring with a swift stream through the said standing water which gives it passage without the least commotion of its body neither permits it self to be mingled with those rapid and most limpid streams The said River persisting in its Velocity breaks out again near Leuk a Village In like manner doth the River Rhene stream through the Lake Acronius and the River Danow through part of the Surian Sea Hispaniola is watered with a great Lake named by the Inhabitants Haneygaban into which many great Rivers are disburdened and to the admiration of many is nothing engrossed although visibly venting no part of what it hath imbibed The same is observed of the Caspian sea receiving the copious evacuations of the Rivers Volga Janick Abiamu Chesel and many others Lucerna a Town in Switzerland is situated near to a Lake whereinto a stone or piece of wood being cast doth set it into so vehement a commotion that it fluctuates upwards in roaring waves and surmounting its borders happens somtimes to cause an inundation of the next adjacent fields wherefore for the prevention of such inconveniencies it is decreed by the Magistrate that none shall offer to cast any thing into it upon a severe penalty The Inhabitants impure the foresaid exestuation to the pernicious infection which the Lake received from the pestilent Carcass of that hellish Judge Pontius Pilate who after his banishment was thought to have drowned himself therein whence it is that they vulgarly call it Pilat's Pool There is a Lake not unlike to this upon the Mount Tidalu near Chaoking in China whereinto if one throws a stone or any other heavy thing he will immediately hear a roaring noise like thunder and soon after the sky about it grows gloomy and casts down rain In Carniola near the chief City Laubach every year about the Autumn there appears a Pool between some mountains about a league and half in compass and abounding with fish none apprehending whence this quantity of moisture should derive and towards the Spring it begins to dry up after which the ground is copiously fertilized and is haunted with a number of Deer IV. A Fountain or Spring is a pereunal eruption of water out of the Earth The differences of these is no less various than of Lakes to wit in quantity quality motion and situation Furthermore some are artificial others natural We shall only instance the admirable properties of some of the latter Aristotle writes of a Fountain in Thrace whereunto another in Arcadia named Styx as also one in Sarmatia and that of Armenia Lydia and Sicilia are like in vertue which casteth the drinkers of it into a mortal Syncope breeding fish working the same effect upon those that eat them The waters of the Founts of Valentia in Spain Wolchenstein Trecha the Kingdom of Crobus upon the Alpes Berosus and of Manglo in China are all deleterious corrosive and extreamly venomous Boeotia spouts out two springs whereof the one called Lethe effects forgetfulness the other cures it The water of the Fountain in the Island Cea as Pliny relates being drank dulleth a mans understanding and makes him sottish The Fountain of Susa in Persia loosens the teeth and causeth them to fall out Pliny speaks also of another in Germany on the other side of the Rhene effecting the same A draught of the water of Lyncistis filleth a mans brain and makes him drunk The Fountain of Arania a part of Arcadia makes one loath Wine Isidorus and Solinus write of two Fountains whereof the one procures fruitfulness in women the other barrenness The Garamants make mention of a Fountain among them called the fountain of the Sun whose extream coldness in the day renders it importable and in the night is so excessive hot that it proves scalding Aristotle relates of the Fountain Elusine which naturally being quiet and clear is affected with the noise of