Miâ—tion and Temperature of the Elementary Spirits and Qualitys which is so Subordinate and Subâ—ervient to the Sensitive Spirit and that they are all Consubstantiated together in and with the Matter in the Sensitive Compositum And lastly a Proper Sensitive Body thus Prepared is a fourth Matter or Body of the Intellective Spirit of Man and the Body of Adam into which God first Inspired his Human Spirit was such and more then a Statue of Clay as is commonly supposed And this Spirit of Man thus Inspired is of another and farr Different Kind from all the former which were not Inspired into but Educed out of the Inferior Bodys therof nor is it so Consubstantiated with them as Material Spirits becaus it is Immaterial and a Perfect Substance in itself which needeth no such Consubstantiation but like an Angelical Spirit can also live and Operate Separately Nor yet doth it only Possess a Body as an Angel may but hath a Natural Union and Composition with it and doth Naturaly Inspirit or Inform it that is Live and Operate in it as in a fitâ— Domicil and Officine in this Conjunct State and Predominate and Govern it as a Master in a Ship All which I shall more particularly declare heerafter having now generaly treated therof only to discover and describe this Scale of Nature as God did first Erect it aâ—d as it still stanâ—eth whose Basis is the Matter and whose Acme the Intellective Spirit wherin Man also is Coordinate with the Immaterial and Separate Spirits of Angels And so all Created Nature is not only Localy but Politicaly United that is all Coordinate except Angelical and Human Spirits may be properly Mist but Subordinate except Angels only Composited together but not Confounded either by Transpeciation of one Species into another or Production of one out of another as some have supposed nor by Midle Natures or Participles as they call them partaking of the Natures of several Classes which is more Monstrous and Anomalous then the Generation of Mules and the like which are only of one and the same Classis though of two Confused Species therin but every one is in itself either Spirit or not Spirit as all Elementary and other Material Spirits Vegetative or Not Vegetative as Moss and the like Sensitive or not Sensitive as all Plantanimals Intellective or not Intellective as Idiots Lunatiks or other Human Monsters though there be such Compositions and Subordinations Classes and Hosts of them all and of one unto and with another as I have declared and as Moses hath concluded this History of the Creation Thus the Heavens and Earth were Finished and all the Hosts of them VI. And yet some who will not so understand it seem to deny any such Scale and Order of Nature and any such Oeconomy and Polity therof becaus they also deny those very Natural Principles Powers and Virtues which God hath Immediately Created and Imprinted therin since they can Educe no such things from the rude Matter nor indeed doth any such Wisdom or Will appear to be Actively in any Inferior Natures which are neither Sensitive or Intellective nor yet doth it proceed from the Sensitive and Intellective Facultys in the Superior Natures nor is it in the Universal Nature of them all and therefore they laugh at all such Expressions as that Nature intendeth the Best Affecteth Union Abhorreth Vacuity and the like and I suppose no man so void of of Sens and Intellect as to conceiv it capable therof but when we see and must acknowledg such Analogous Effects therin we must ascribe them to some Analogous Causalitys and express them by such Analogous Expressions which is all that is Intended thereby that is that God hath so Ordered Compaginated and as the Apostle saith Catartisâ—d Nature that it doth Naturaly Caus the same Effects and indeed more Powerful and Political then our Intellective and all the Sensitive Spirits therin can Caus and Produce And that God doth not so Caus these wonderful Effects Immediately by himself as he doth Supernaturaly Conserv all things which he hath Created Upholding them by the same Word of his Power but Mediately by Natural Principles Powers and Virtues which he who is Infinitely Powerful and Wise so Immediately first Created and Imprinted in Nature and thus sett it in Order in the Six Days whereby it doth and shall so continue in itself untill the last Dissolution therof to Caus and Produce such Effects which certeinly as none can deny them Realy to be such so unles he ascribe them unto the Immediate Power and Wisdom of God himself and so only to such a Continued Creation without any other Natural Causation wheras he saith he Rested from all these Works which he had thus made and set in Order in the Six Days he must acknowledg them to be also Natural and Created Causalitys then Produced and Actuated which indeed were the very Works of all the Six Days becaus ever since there are manifestly such Effects and therefore there must necessarily be some Causes therof either Supernatural or Natural for such Order Oeconomy and Polity can not be reasonably supposed to be Casual becaus it is not only most Regular but also most Constant which yet Epicurus who was more Rational and true to his own Principles did affirm but must be either as some others affirm by such Immediate Divine Causation which doth render all Philosophy which is the Study of Nature and Natural Causes and Effects Vain and Impertinent Or otherwise it must be by such Natural Principles Powers and Virtues as we have as I have declared and proved to have been so Created and Instituted and this indeed is that which we call Nâ—ture Subsisting in all the Particular Natures which do Particularly so Concurr and Cooperate therin not theâ—â—â—â— any such Active Wisdom or Will in themselvs but by theâ—◠〈◊〉 Natural Principles Powers and Virtues which God who Creaâ—â—d and Imprinted them severaly and Particularly did also so Coordinate and Direct Relatively and Maturely one toward another as that they should so Concurr and Cooperate to the Universal Good Safety and Beauty of one another and of them all and consequently of this Universal Nature As an Artist who makes a Clock or Watch or the like so frames the Wheels and Parts therof and so setts them together and so applys the Weight or Springe therunto that they shall all Cooperate and Complete the Engine for that Use and the Production of that Effect which he had Designed and as Art which is the Nature of Man doth thus work by Artificial and External Application of Natural and Internal Principles Powers and Virtues so doth Nature which is the Art of God Act and Effect the like and more Curious Engines whoâ— by them Naturaly and Internaly whereby not only the Weight or Springe but also the very Plastical Figuration Gravity Motion and mutual Application is so Caused and Produced though without any such Artificial Wisedom or Will in any Automatous Compositum
Governed thereby Yet also as they are such proper Inferior Spirits Subordinate unto it and Conjunct with it in the same Compositum so there is as I said and shall now shew a very notable Combination between them which may plainly appear by many Extraordinary Effects and such as may strangely vary and alter them thus as I have formerly observed Mirth helps Digestion and is as it were the Nurs of Nutrition wheras the Sorrow of the World worketh Death and these Sensitive Affections not only caus several Motions of the Bloud and Alterations therin but also in the very Systole and Diastole and Palpitations of the Heart and which is yet more Notable in the very Generation of another Individuum and not only the Motive Power of the Appetite but also the Imagination itself doth strangely Operate heerin as we commonly say Conceit may do much that is concerning any thing which is Internal either in our Mind or Body yea in the very Foetus while it is in the Womb and Nourished by the Parent and is yet as it were some part of the Compositum therof especialy while it is more Young and Tender and more capable of such Impressions but chiefly in the very Act of Generation which Iacob knew or was Supernaturaly taught and assisted by the Angel who appeared to him for as it grows more Perfect in itself and is neerer to Exclusion it becomes more Separate from the Parent and another Compositum in itself and more firm and strong and so less capable of Impressions by another and thus I conceiv that the Imagination or Appetite of the Father doth not Operate upon the Foetus in the Womb of the Mother nor of an Hen upon an Egg Excluded whiles she Incubates and is hatching it But the most wonderfull thing is how the proper Vegetative Spirit of any Sensitive Animal by the Command or Intimation of the Sensitive Imagination and Appetite so Fansying and Affecting some other Vegetative thing should Actuate and produce in the Foetus not only Signatures therof but also somewhat of the same Vegetative Nature as I have been very credibly informed of a Person whom I well knew and have often seen the Mole on his Chin which was said to have been caused by a Cherry thrown at his Mother while she was Pregnant of him in a Frolike among Ladys who were then eating Cherries that every year in the Season when Cherry trees begin to budd the Mole began to budd as I may say and so ripen more and at last putt forth some little Tufts and be very angry and troublesome and then again as the Season of Cherâ—ys departed to decreas likewise and be less sensible whereby it did plainly discover something of the Cerasine Nature Inoculated as it were into the Body of a Man Wherof I know no other account to be given but only this Combination and Cooperation of the Sensitive and Vegetative Spirit and though as I have shewed there is no Universal Spirit or Anima Mundi from which such particular Spirits may be derived and produced in any Bodys whatsoever yet it is truly enough said Omnia Animarum sunt plena if it be rightly understood that is as in the first Chaos the Spirits were latent in their proper Elements out of which they were produced in the Six Days so still there are Aethereal and Aereal Spirits in Aether and Air out of which Comets and the like Aethereal or Aereal Meteors may be produced and so the Terraqueous Globe or the Cortex therof is Pregnant not only with the Elementary Spirits of Water and Earth but also of Vegetative and Sensitive Spirits which while they are therin as in their Chaos are dispersed and diffused and so Confounded as in a Coagulum Inane and Inform that is without any Oeconomy or Inviduality which is afterward Actuated and acquired by Successive Generation still producing them according to the Archetypes or Protoplasta of Original Generation Instituted in their first Improper Creations as I have often mentioned and though they cannot always attein their Regular Perfections according to the Law of Nature yet there may be several Degrees therof to which they may arrive and so their productions be more or less Anomalous or Monstrous by reason of many Obstructions and Defects wherof the greatest is the general Curs of Nature for the Sin of Man so that now indeed both he and all this Spectable World which was given unto him and all things therin have some Monstrosity in them and there is now none of them exactly Perfect according to the first Instituted Law of Nature but all are Heterocliticaly Redundant or Deficient and though we take less notice of others yet some are so mishapen that we Eminently term them Monsters and others such Imperfect Inceptions that we hardly discern any thing of the Specifike Nature therin and such I conceiv this Cerasine Meteor as I may so term it in the Body of Man to be whos 's Cerasine Spirit though the Compositum therof was Corrupted by Eating and Conversion into the Nutriment of the Mother and consequently of the Child in the Womb yet was latent in the new Compositum Generated by that Corruption and that by the Imperium and Impression of the Mothers Imagination and Appetite working on her proper Vegetative Spirit and that on its own Nutriment the Cerasine Spirit was Equivocaly and very Rudely and Imperfectly produced For thus as I have said the Vegetative Spirit doth Actuate and produce Elementary Mistion Qualitys and Species as Subordinate and Subservient to itself though Classicaly different and so it may also Imperfectly produce another Vegetative Spirit which is of the same Classis with itself as well as one Spirit of the same Classis may be Mist with another and thus I conceiv that as there apparently is an Individual Oeconomy in every particular Compositum so also a Specifical and Classical Polity Subordination and Combination of several Natures especialy in the same Compositum and that thus the Sensitive Spirit by its own Specifike Facultys doth Command and Govern its own proper Vegetative Spirit which also by its own Specifike Powers doth Serv and Obey it and likewise Order and Govern the proper Elementary Mistion that it requireth which accordingly doth Serv and Obey it Naturaly with all Suavity and Facility And thus as the Imagination doth more Spiritualy and Sensitively Irradiate the Species whereby it doth Perceptively Contemplate them so the Appetite doth also Sensitively enliven the Spirits whereby it doth Spontaneously Guide and Govern them without any Violence or Reluctance unless their happen some Dâ—stemper and Disorder among them and I suppose that as there are these Confederacys and Combinations between Spirits according to the Scale of Nature and Oeconomy therof so also there is a Subordinate Approximation though no Participation Communication or Confusion of their different Natures and that the proper Vegetative Spirit of any Sensitive Animal is farr more Excellent and Spiritual then of
is a double Negation which as I have said is only the Affirmation of it self So God cannot Contradict Himself either in Essence as not to be God or not to be Infinite which is the same or in Operation as to make the same Thing to Be and Not be Absolutely for then he should undo what he doth And so God cannot make Absolute Nothing or Notbeing to Be for then it should Be and Not be Absolutely which is an Absolute Contradiction Neither can he Convert Absolute Nothing into Somthing or Extract Somthing out of Absolute Nothing for then it should not be Absolute Nothing out of which there is Nothing which may be so Converted Extracted or Made in any kind or maner whatsoever II. So that if to Create were any of these Operations as the Objection doth import then it should be confessedly Impossible And I suppose some such Misapprehension hath been the ground of that Error Wheras Creation rightly understood is only a Causing Finite Being to be from Absolute Notbeing as the Negative Term from which it doth Commence and not of which or out of which it is Made in any kind or maner whatsoever Now becaus Absolute Nothing or Notbeing is only a Negative Term or pure Negation it can neither resist Creation nor contribute any thing to or toward it becaus it is Absolute Nothing III. And becaus Absolute Nothing cannot resist in the least therefore Creation is Infinitely Possible to Infinite Power because there is Nothing to resist it And also becaus whatsoever is Possible to Infinite Power is Infinitely Possible to it and not Partialy or Gradualy becaus Infinite hath no Parts or Degrees Nor doth the Creation of Finite Being Contradict or Alter Augment or Diminish Infinite Being or Notfinite Not being And so the present Finite Being which is Created as we have already shewed doth not Contradict Alter Augment or Dâ—minish either of them which are Eternaly the same in themselvs IIII. But because Absolute Notbeing cannot contribute any thing to or toward Creation therefore it is Impossible to any Finite Power for Absolute Nothing doth afford no Matter Principle Preparation Inclination Capacity or any Somthing whatsoever wherupon or whereby Finite Power may begin to work and where there is no Begining there cannot Possibly be any Progress or Perfection therof by any Finite Power but only by Infinite Power which can Create Being and the very Begining therof from Absolute Notbeing Also all Finite Power it self before it was Created was absolutely Null and so had no Power in it Self to Create it self or any other Being from Absolute Notbeing Nor could God himself Delegate this Infinite Power to Angels or Daemons or any Rabbinical or Platonical Subcreators which must be either Totaly or Partialy not Totaly for then God should ceas to have or be Infinite Power in Himself and consequently to be God which is an Infinite Contradiction nor Partialy for Infinite hath no Parts Certeinly no Angel nor Man the chief of Natural Operators did ever arrogate unto himself a Creating Power Nor have we any Instances of Creation in the whole History of Nature among all those Monstrous Relations which the Writers therof have inserted Nor hath any Poetical Fansy ever Invented or Imagined a Metamorphosis of Being from Notbeing Much less hath any Philosophy ascribed this Creating Power to Nature her self but rather denieth a Creation and yet to solv it is forced to substitute an Impossible Eternity of Finite Nature and certein Fictitious Powers Eminences and Equivocal Causalitys which I shall also examin heerafter V. As Creation is a Causing to be from Notbeing so Annihilation is a Causing Not to be from Being which is most Possible to the Infinite Creator becaus it is only the withdrawing his own Infinite Power whereby he doth continualy Caus the Creature to Be but Impossible to any Finite Power becaus it cannot resist the Infinite Creating Power which doth so continualy Cause the Creature to Be. And as there can be no Annihilation by any Finite Power So we never read of any by Infinite Power Nor probably will God ever Annihilate any thing which he hath Immediately Created for he doth nothing in vain but continueth and reserveth all things which he hath made by Proper Creation for his own Everlasting Glory VI. Thus to Caus to Be or Continue to Be from Absolute Notbeing is Proper Creation But there are also Improper Creations which do not produce or preserv any Being from Absolute Notbeing but only alter the Created Being in such a Supernatural maner as is beyond all Natural Generation or any other Natural Power of the Creature which being Finite and no more then it is as it cannot Create without Infinite Power which it hath not so neither can it Act any thing beyond that Finite Power which it hath And thus though it is the Opinion of Divines that God Originaly Created nothing after the Begining except Souls of Men or Angels if they were not Originaly Created in and with their Heaven by Proper Creation Yet God is said to Create in all the Six days and expressly in the Fifth day to Create great Whales though it be also said that the Waters Produced them aswell as others by Improper Creation which was his Immediate Ordination of the whole Frame and Cours of Nature and Original Generation of them all which the several Creatures in their First Chaos before their Active Qualitys and Mist Forms were Produced and all other previous and requisite Matters Powers and Instruments were prepared and adapted by God could not perform in or by themselvs nor Generate others untill they were so fitted and instructed and the Divine Blessing of Multiplication added therunto as I shall shew heerafter and therefore all those Works of the Six Days which did Succeed the Original and Proper Creation in the Begining were Improper Creations So also all Positive Miracles which are Preternatuâ—al or beside the Natural Course and Order are Improper Creations VII Proper Annihilation is a Causing any Being not to be Absolutely and improper Annihilation only a Preternatural Alteration therof And as God in Positive Miracles doth work beyond Natural Power so in other Privative Miracles he doth obstruct and suspend it As in causing Iron to swim by suspending the Gravity therof or fire not to burn by Suspending the Heat therof and the like SECTION IIII. The Heaven and the Earth c. EXPLICATION The whole Body of the World consisting of Several Heterogeneous Members Heaven and Earth which were Created together in the Begining ILLUSTRATION I. Of Heaven and Earth 2. Of Heaven 3. Of Earth 4. Philosophical Consyderations of Entity and the Differences therof 5. Of Substances and Accidents 6. Of Matter and Forms 7. Of Common and Proper Accidents I. WE have heer a brief Description and Map of the World and of the whole Globe of the Matter therof from the utmost Circumference to the inmost Center which was all Created in the Begining for
noâ— yet Inwardly for it hangs upon nothing besides itself on which it might so Press and it doth not Press upon itself the whole Body and all the Parts therof being in their Proper Place as I have said And heer again I must clear one Vulgar and common Error which may be the caus of the contrary Apprehension that is That the Earth and consequently the whole Globe of the World doth Press upon the Center every way as upon a Foundation that bears it up or as two Bodys of equal Spiritual Strength or Potentia Pressing one against another with all their Power by such mutual Encounter and Resistance do forcible fix and setle each other Immovably in some midle Point between them wheras though there be such particular Combats between Contrary Qualitys and the like Opponents in Nature and so there are also particular Dislocations of Members in the Body therof yet generaly the whole Structure of the Body of the World and so of the Atmosphere is so Composed that there is no such Pressure which Properly is not Nature but Violence and the Descent of Heavy Bodys every way to the Center is only as to a Point or Term which they do not desire to pass and therefore do not Press beyond it and becaus Violence doth not long continue there is therefore an Innate Principle of Motion in Bodys to reduce them to their Proper Place whereby they may obtein that Rest which Nature Intendeth and Abhorreth all such Pressure Pain or Burden And heerin the Pondus of Matter and Potentiae of Spirits do manifestly Differ for wheras generaly the Powers of Spirits Act to the utmost Incessantly and without any Rest becaus they are Qualitys of Active Principles and so the Heavenly Bodys Move Indesinently the Weight of Matter which is a Passive Principle affecteth Rest and only tendeth unto it and when and where it obteineth it then and there it Resteth and the Actual Weight and Motion therof is thereby again reduced to Potentiality as I have said And I can not conceiv any Reason nor frame any Notion in mine own Mind why or how the Body of the World should Press rather or more Inwardly then it doth Outwardly which is not at all And if we could suppose any such Pressure it must be either every way which would accordingly Press and Squeez or only downward and then every one of the Terricolae should be Pressed Downward with a Proportionable Pyramid of the whole Body of the World so Inverted as I have shewed and according to Mathematical Rule inlarging itself from his Head or Back or Hand on which it doth so superpend as the Cone to the Utmost Circumference of the Superaether as the Basis for it is all Matter and there is no Consistent Body Intervening to prevent that Pressure and so if one part of that Pyramid Press all must Press and if we compute the Inestimable Burden therof it will be found Insupportable and at the Atmosphere also to be so Comprest in itself as would render it no Atmosphere or fit place of Breathing But let us descend farther and consyder the midle Point of the Earth and Center of the whole World certeinly no Poet can Imagin such an Atlas or Hercules as might so bear the whole Burden of the whole Body of the World being farr greater then of the Heavens only which they feigned them to bear up though indeed the Imaginary Pressure therof be the greater Fiction And I appeal to the common Experience of all men who with their own Hands can feel no such Pressure of the Atmosphere wheras it should Press the Area of the Hand Proportionably as much as 29 Inches of Mercury and of every Diver who can testifie the Nonpressure of the Deepest Water lying upon him and whosoever will not accept these for Experiments but seek to evade them I know not how he doth plainly thereby Invalidate the Testimony of all Experiment and render it as Sceptical as some would make both Reason and Faith since none can be more Sensible and Notorious then this which is by feeling the Fundamental and least Fallible Sens But I shall plainly clear by a whole Galaxy of Experiments which I shall therefore collect into this one Sâ—atike Rule That in any Body Internaly Consistent in itself or made Externaly to Consist together the more Rare Parts therof being duly placed above the more Dens do not Actualy Weigh or Press the more Dens Parts below them nor the Equidens Parts one another Perpendicularly Whereby it shall plainly appear how a Particular Body so disposed is a Module of the Universal Body of the World in this particular respect Thus in the highest Column of Timber or Stone or Coloss of Brass or Pyramid of Brick Perpendicularly Erected as they ought to be no one Part therof doth Press another supposing them all to be Equidens or only so farr Proportionably as they are not so Equidens for otherwise all must Press the very lowest and thinest Physical Area therof and then let all the Incumbent Weight be computed and compared with that Area and the Strength therof and I suppose the Impossibility of such a vast Weight and Pressure to be born by by such a slender Fulciment will easily be granted when we see a whole Brick to be broken and battered only by a Cart-wheel going over it Again let us consyder other Bodys sometimes Actualy Fluid and sometimes Consistent as a Firkin or any larger Cask of Butter Tallow or the like if it be uncased and the Upper and Lateral Parts of the Cask taken off from the Mass of Butter or Tallow yet it shall stand as firm as it did before though there is at least an half hundred Weight Incumbent upon the Area therof Wheras if you lay an Equal Plate of Lead or any more Dens Body of the same Weight upon a thicker Area of the Butter or Tallow it will not be able to bear it but be squeezed Outward becaus the Equidensity and Equiconsistency of all the Parts of its own Body make them all to be at Rest but the greater Density of the Lead doth Press them and so if the Cylinder of Butter or Tallow were much higher yet the upper Parts would not Press the neather until the Weight therof did overcome the Consistence as the Lead doth by its Unequal Density And if the Butter and Tallow were Melted and Fluid in the Cask and then should be uncased as before they would Press and flow every way but yet while they are conteined Externaly within the Cask no Part therof doth Weigh or Press another So in a Cistern of Water while it hath no Vent no one Part of the Water doth Weigh or Press another nor would Oil or the like upon the Water Press it But though the Parts in these and the like Cases do not Weigh or Press one another yet the Whole Body whether Internaly or Externaly Consistent doth Weigh and Press the next Body beneath it not
itself in a Glass and the first and Fundamental of all or any of these Praenotions is that I am or Scio quod Sum whereby the Intellective Soul is Conscious of its own Being Immanently in itself or so as the Understanding understands Willingly and the Will wills Understandingly and therefore the most Innate and First Oâ—ject therof is its own Self and though it is true that it needeth the Instrumentality of Imagination to produce this as well as any other Notion and that it cannot know that it is but by an Intellection which is an Operation yet it so knows that it is Conjunctly in and with that very Intellection as well as it knows that it Operates as I have shewed and as in order of Nature Esse is before Operari so the Intellective Spirit must also in Nature first know that it is before it can know that it Operates though it so knows both in and with the same Operation in Time nor is this the Knowledg of what it is Reflexively which it Consyders afterward by another Operation but only the Conscience of its own Being or that it is generaly which needeth no Argument or Ergo to itself as Cogitas or Dubitas ergo Es is used by the Father to convince another who was an obstinate Sceptike and would deny his own Conscience which none could manifest to himself but only himself But as this is the First Notion so the Second is the Knowledg of the Operation or Scio quod Scio or that I am an Intelligent Being and so are more Remotely and Consequentialy the other Operations of the Intellective Soul and Facultys or Powers therof such as are comprehended in one word Rationality which yet doth not properly express them all as these Praenotions and Faith and the rest and which it ought to Include as well as Reason and though it might be so conceived Inclusive of them all yet it is only of such Proper Facultys which are Accidents and not of the very Specifical Difference of the Soul which is Substantial and such as we know not and therefore cannot know the Substance therof any more then we do the Substance of any other Spirits or of Matter itself that is only by their Proper Accidents Now as I thus know that I am and that I am a Knowing Being by a most Simple Apprehension which is only of this Simple Enunciation Ego Scio for so by the Egoity as they term it I know that I am and that I am my self and none other and by the Scio I know that I am Knowing so becaus I know that I am not the first caus of my self but a Finite Creature who had a Begining of my Being I know Rationaly by Immediate Deduction from it that there is an Infinite first Caus of my Being that is God and becaus I know that I am such an Intelligence whereby I can thus know God my Creator whom therefore I know to be also my Preserver and Governor I know my Soul to be an Immortal Being made for God himself and his own Glory who is Eternal and will Eternaly recompence me according to my prepared Capacity of Mercy or Misery and though these be indeed Ratiocinations by way of Argument and not such Simple Enunciations as the other yet becaus they are such Intimate Immediate and Cogent Consequences we also call them Common Notions as they both indeed appear to be such in all Nations and all Ages of the World and by the Vote of all Mankind and all Civil Societys therof and are both of them so Complicated that he who denys one will also deâ—y the other and he who denys either must presume himself to be wiser then Solomon yea then all men besides himself and from these and the like Notions we may Consequentialy deduce others and so one from another Syllogisticaly which we call Reason but we call only the first and Immediate Deductions or Ratiocinations Common Notions becaus they are so obvious and evident to any Man who hath Common Reason wheras others which are not so Immediate and therefore not so readily to be apprehended by every Mâ—n whose Reason is not so Subtile and Firm as to pursue a whole Chain of Inductions and Ratiocinations we do not therefore call Common Notions becaus they are not so commonly known or apprehended by all though all right Retiocinations be indeed particularly as true in themselvs as right Reason is generaly And this I conceiv to be Reason and thus God as it is said having sett the World in the Heart of Man that is an Intellectual World of Knowledg of all things Intelligible and of their Natural Causalitys and Effects Analogys Combinations not only Singulars and Particulars but also Universals both Abstracted or Metaphysical and Concrete or Homophysical which is that general Notion or Knowledg that I before mentioned to be Implanted in his Intellective Faculty he is thereby thus Instructed to Reason and Discours from Causes to Effects or from Effects to Causes and according to Natural Analogy and the like and to make Propositions of Singulars and Particulars by some Universal Propositions to which they are to be reduced and the like Again as the Understanding of Man is an Intelligent Faculty so Created by God in and with his Soul and hath such First and Common Notions Imprinted in it by him Originaly and generaly so God can more specialy by Dâ—vine Revelation and Illumination write in it as I may so say any other Notions which the Soul accordingly apprehending as true and evident as well as any others wherof it hath any such Innate Knowledg it doth therefore Believ them without any Ratiocination and this kind of Knowledg is called Faith wherof there is also a Natural Capacity in the Soul for God doth not so make a Stone Tree or Brute to Believ but only Men or Angels And though these be several ways of Knowledg yet it is all one and the same Knowledg which is Acquired thereby generaly though of several Kinds and the same Object may be known by all or any of these ways of Knowledg as I know Intuitively that I am by a most Immediate Conscience of mine own Being and yet I can also prove it to my self by my Operations or any of them and so I have proved that the World had a Begining and yet as the Apostle saith By Faith also we understand it But Sensitives have only a Module of the Sensible World in their Souls which they being Perceptive and Living Animals may also know in a Sensible maner as I have shewed and so it is possible by such Signatures as I have said to make them understand Sensible things as Horses Dogs Baboons Elephants are taught by Signs to do many strange feats which seem very wonderfull as indeed they are the hights of all Bestial Docility but yet as they are not Intelligences themselvs so neither can they apprehend any Intelligible things as you cannot by any such Signes make
Accidents nor can he Realy transmute himself or be converted into any other Inferior Nature whatsoever and much less can Matter which is the lowest and basest of all others convert itself or be coverted into any Superior Nature Certeinly that which they so affirm to be in Potentia must be either Ens or Non-ens while it is so in Potentia and if it be Nonens then Non est in Potentia as I have shewed of Vacuity and if it be Ens then as I have said it is also an Entity Created by God in its Potentiality or Chaos and so produced by Natural Generation into Actuality as if Vacuity could be any Ens then it must also be Created by God or Concreated with the World and should not be before nor beyond nor any where out of the Created World and Body of the Matter therof as others have vainly supposed of such an Imaginary Space Nor is their Forma Misti or Compositi any other thing then the Result of the very Mistion and Composition of those Primitive and Simple Entities according to their own Natural Coordinations and Subordinations in the Scale of Nature which God hath so erected and ordered that they have in themselvs all the Natural Principles therof and an Aptitude and Appetite to be so Mist and Composited in all Successive Generation according to that Law of Original Generation and therefore Forms are no such things as are formed or ordered by I know not what Cholchodea or come I know not whence aliunde extrinsecus into the prepared Bodys but as I have shewed there are also other Substances or Substantial Activitys besides the Body of Matter Created by God in and with the Matter that do Consubstantiate Inform or Inspirit it and fabricate and fit it for themselves and also mingle and compose themselvs in and with it into one Mistum or Compositum according to the Order and Oeconomy of Nature by their own Internal Principles and Powers which God hath also Created in them Which Substantial Activitys or Active Substances I therefore call Spirits as the Scripture also doth so call not only Substantial put also Accidental Aâ—tivitys as the Spirit of Wisedom Jealousie Meekness and the like and they may well admit it who say Omnia Animarum sunt plena and particularly that there is a Vegetative Soul which yet as the Scripture doth not so express I can not admitt for Soul is more special and proper to Living Animals but Spirit though Eminently it signifies the chief of Spirits that is the Intellective and so Soul and Spirit are sometimes distinguished yet more generaly it signifies any Substantial or Accidental Activity whatsoever and is so commonly used by Chymists Physicians and others as I also use it in a more Spiritual sens And though I dispute not about Terms yet certeinly such a Proper and Improper Creation of the Primitive and Simple Entitys both of Matter which is a Passive and Receptive Substance and of the Accidents and Affections therof and of all those other Substantial Activitys or Active Substances which I call Spirits and of all their Accidents and Affections Created in the first general Chaos and the Original Generation or Production of them by Mistions Compositions Actuations and Perfections in the Six several Days and accordingly all Successive Generation by Production out of any particular Chaos of the same Entitys or Essences which are so Generated or Produced are such Real Veritys that I am perswaded no Philosopher whatsoever can Realy satisfie himself or others concerning the first Principles and Origines of all things and all the Alterations by Generation and Corruption by any such supposed Potentia Materiae Eminencâ—s and Equivocal Causations Transpeciations and Conversions or the like which are only Terms and Notions and no Realitys in Nature nor can ever confute or disprove this Divine History of Creation either in the general System therof or in any of the particulars which Moses proceedeth afterward to declare And thus wheras the Antients generaly conceived the Aether and Aethereal Bodys to be Superelementary and Sacred he sheweth us plainly how Aether is one of the Fower Elements and so was first prepared in the first Day wherin Light which is a principal Quality therof is said to be so produced for the Substantial Spirit of Fire or Aeâ—her was Created before whereby it is denominated one of the Heavens and afterward termed Expansum as well as the Air nor doth he affirm it to be solid or firm but such a Fluid Expansum as Aâ—r also is and plainly implieth that it was moved with the Light in it about the Inferior Orb whereby God made Day and Night before the Earth or Water or Air were so made or fitted or that there was any Motion therof or therin And the Air which is Naturaly an Expansum cannot be Naturaly a Compressum whereby in its own Element or Atmosphere it should Naturaly seek to expand itself more and thereby Elasticaly press as some would have it Also both Aether and Air are called Heavens as one is the Fountain and Immediate Medium of Aethereal Light and the other the Vehicle and Immediate Medium of Sight and so I suppose that Air doth Refract or Reflect very little nor are either Objects in the Air nor Starrs in the Aether thereby seen Intersected and Inverted as through a Convex Lens in the Air nor so much magnified and distended as Divers see Objects in the Fundus of Water Again in this Second Days Work Moses declareth Vapors in the Air to be only Waters above and thereby intimateth the Special Instrumentality therof in Nature for so indeed Vapor is almost as Chymical an Instrument as Fire Nor yet doth he affirm these Waters to be above all the three Heavens or any of them as some suppose but only in or upon or all over that Heaven wherof he treateth in this Second Days Work or more Criticaly as it is Originaly from above and certeinly we cannot suppose any Water to descend from above but only that whiâ—h first ascended from beneath Nor is this ascent of Vapors the necessary and only caus of Winds wherof we have no mention in the Creation and if any Wind then were it was probably some very tender and gentle breath but greater Winds and Storms which are effects of the Curs are also caused by grosser Vapors which whether moist or dry are not Formaly the very Wind for that as such is only Aer motus but may be the Efficient Causes therof as any other Impuls or Ventilation of Blasts or Ventiducts and generaly moist Vapors Caus more Rain and dry more Wind as appears by Herricans in more hot Countrys And in the Third Days Works he shews how wonderfully God formed and prepared the Oâ—cumene or Hâ—bitable Globe by causing the Waters to Subside in all the Chanells of Seas and Rivers which he cut out for them and by raising the mighty Mountains which may be therefore rightly termed the Mountains