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
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
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.
it desists from his conserving Concurrence Therefore in like manner they will not be remitted if they be conserved by the same Efficacy of any other second Cause not desisting from its Influence And for this Cause we said these Degrees were fixt § 11. Perhaps some will reply to this Argument That it implies a Contradiction if God will conserve these two Degrees of Cold by his alone Concurrence in the presence of eight Degrees of Heat unless He should produce more Degrees of Cold And therefore it would be necessary to produce some Supernatural Quality which might resist eight Degrees of Heat But on the contrary first it doth not appear wherein the Contradiction consists For an Agent with eight Degrees of Heat could never introduce into the Subject having these two Degrees of Cold but six Degrees of Heat whereby the whole Latitude of eight Degrees would be filled For those two of Cold would be conserved by God Which I prove for the Concurrence of God produceth any thing necessarily Therefore it would produce necessarily those two Degrees of Cold while God continued his Concurrence But Whether were it necessary that God should encrease his Concurrence I answer negatively For if he should encrease it its Term also would be encreased and more Degrees of Cold produced Secondly the foresaid Answer is refuted Because either that Supernatural Quality would resist as a kind of Cause Formal or Efficient Not the first Because Cold would resist more as being contrary wherefore a Supernatural Quality would be superfluous as less resisting Not the second because this would be by producing Cold which also the Concurrence of God would do Therefore such a Quality would no way resist or be necessary § 12. But you will urge against the foresaid Solution of the principal Argument No Cause hath continual Influence but upon an Effect depending on it in Conservation But Cold and also other Elementary Qualities do not depend in their Conservation upon their Efficient Causes Therefore the Qualities of the Wood of Life could not have continual Influence upon them Therefore they could not actively be preserved by them in a fixt Degree I answer first That although the same Degree in Number be not preserved yet the same in Specie is namque uno amisso non deficit alter For when one 's lost another doth not fail Which is sufficient for Incorruption of Temperament and to preserve Health I answer secondly That although some Quality of its own nature be not dependent in Conservation nor standeth in need of the continual Influx of its Cause for its Conservation yet there is no Inconvenience that sometime it receive continual Influx from its Agent as that which is dependent in its Conservation after which manner actual Heat existing in the very Fire seems to receive it Which Influx though it be not necessary to its Being yet it is necessary to its much better Being § 13. It is to be observed thirdly That by the same Qualities of the Wood of Life which would have kept the Natural Temper of the Body in a fixt Degree the Harm also which follows the Want of Meat Drink and Air would have been prevented Wherefore that Man who had tasted the Fruit of Life would never have perished by Hunger Thirst or prohibited Respiration It is proved Because in this Case the Heat would not act upon the Radical Moisture whether that Moisture be Something diverse from the Living Parts as the Old Opinion held or not as now we more commonly think nor would the Parts of the Body mutually act and suffer among themselves beyond the Degrees convenient for them since every of the Natural Elemental Qualities would have been conserved in its proportionate fixt Degree Wherefore there would not be the Dissolution of any Substance necessary for the Body nor therefore would any Reparation on by Meat Drink or Air have been necessary nor consequently would the Defect of these external Matters do Hurt § 14. But you will object first Therefore the Introduction of these Matters at least would do Hurt seeing the Actions are no less Hurt by Addition than by Defect The Sequel is denied For the most efficacious expulsive Virtue helped by other Qualities of the Wood concurring with it self acting most vehemently would either not admit what was Superfluous or would presently expel it This Harm might also be avoided by the Natural Providence of Man who would not take Meat Drink and Air Superfluous § 15. You will object secondly Men in the State of Innocence did eat and ought to have eaten if they had remained in the same State For the Lord said unto them that they might eat of every Tree of Paradise except the forbidden one Therefore the Tree of Life did not excuse Men from Meat therefore they might dye for want of it I answer with a Distinction That before Eating of the Wood of Life Men stood in need of Meat I grant After Eating of that Wood of Life I again distinguish If they were constituted in Perfection of Health and in the best Constitution of Body due to perfect Age I deny that they would have wanted Meat Drink or Air But if they were not constituted in the highest Perfection as Children Old Men and Sick Persons if they had eaten the Wood in the State of Lapsed Nature for in this State the Wood being denied they might grow sick and old and dye that they would have stood in need of Meat and Drink and Breath I grant § 16. You will infer Therefore at least Children Old Men and Sick Persons seeing they suffered a Defect of Substance might though they had eaten of the Tree of Life before notwithstanding perish by Hunger Thirst and Want of Air. The Sequel is denied For they would have only wanted Meat and Drink that they might come to the best Constitution of Body but not that they might be preserved in the same imperfect State Because since we have it proved that the Qualities of the Tree of Life kept the Temper in the same fixt Tenor and hindred the contrary Qualities of the Body from acting mutually among themselves beyond measure the pre-existing Substance could not be further wasted nor consequently Children or Old Men for Want of new Food be consumed § 17. You will urge The Qualities of the Wood were necessary Causes productive of Elemental Qualities Therefore they would necessarily introduce those Degrees which they were able both in a Child and an Old Man Therefore they would necessarily produce in them a Temper agreeable to perfect and flourishing Age Therefore they should be Children and Old Men for their Temper and they should not because they would want due Magnitude through Defect of Aliment if they were deprived of it I answer In such a Case some might have been Children other Old Men as to the Magnitude of Body yet not as to their Temper Which implies no Contradiction § 18. And perhaps it might be answered That the Vertues from the
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
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