thoughts or envious malitious thoughts or they be thoughts of gluttony and excess or thoughts of lust and carnal concupiscence or the like Let the mind and Memory be replenished with such pious Meditations and holy Contemplations the thoughts of the World will find no admittance Intus existens prohibet alienum where the strong man armed keeps the house the enemy dares not enter and whilst the soul is armed with the commemoration of Gods blessing it will not open the door to the temptations of Satan or lust of the Flesh but say with Joseph Behold my Master hath committed all into my hands and there is none greater in this house than I neither hath he kept any thing from me but thee Gen. 39.8 9. how then shall I doe this great wickedness and sin against God Praise then the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits which forgiveth all thy sin and healeth all thine infirmities call to mind the loving kindness of the Lord and have them in everlasting remembrance exercise thy Memory with such heavenly meditations as may build thee up unto eternal life for this will be thy companion for ever whether in weal or in wo it dieth not with the body but is immortal as thou thy self the rest of the faculties may sleep for a while with the body but this survives to perpetuity This is that Intellectual Memory or Recordation which none but reasonable creatures enjoy which is not diminished by the bodies death but infinitely inlarged when all the thoughts words and deeds done in the flesh shall immediately in a wonderfull manner come into remembrance the secrets of all hearts shall then be disclosed and all such thoughts words and actions which in life time were slipt out of mind shall come again into fresh remembrance with a Conscience Chap. 8. Book 1. a Book which that day shall be opened a Book of Mans life upon Earth an account of Mans workes where they that have done well shall go into life everlasting but they that have done evill into everlasting fire Which Recordation or Intellectual memory if the Saints in Heaven whose bodies yet sleep in the grave had not how should they sing misericordias domini in aeternum the loving kindness of the Lord for ever as the Prophet David hath it which Psalm and Song saith St. Augustine made for the glory of the mercies of Christ by whose blood wee are redeemed the Saints do joyfully sing in Heaven Of which Memorative facul y more shall be said hereafter CHAP. VIII Of the Appetitive faculty and the Motive to a place WEE have done with those Sensitive faculties External and Internal which have power of Judgement Knowledge and Discerning we come now to those which have not this power in themselves but are guided by the Counsell and advice of others being moved by the Object good or evill according as Phantasie or Reason presents it the Phantasie imagineth it good the Appetite is streight moved to desire it This faculty is twofold viz. Appetitive and Motive to a place The Locall Motive Faculty is a power of the Soul moving the living creature from place to place to follow that which the Appetite coveteth as good or to shunne what it lottheth as hurtful so that this Motive faculty is but an effect of the Appetitive and necessarily follows it as the Effect doth the Cause for where the Appetitive facultie is to desire good or shun evill there must needs be this Motive also from place to place otherwise the Appetitive should be given us in vain had we not this Motive faculty to seek after that wee desire as good and pleasant and to avoid what wee conceive to be hurtful unto us Aristotle I grant adds another cause of this Motion besides Appetite to wit Intellect and under Intellect he comprehends Sense to wit Phantasie for what ever is desired or shunned is under the notion of good or evill so desired or lothed now this knowledge must either be from Reason or Phantasie for there is no knowledge but is either Sensitive or Intellectual therefore must Intellect which includes Phantasie be another cause of Motion Vide Suarez de metaphys disp 35. Sect. 5. part 15. fol. 172. neither do I intend to exclude Phantasie and Reason from being a cause for when I mention Appetite onely as the cause I do it partly because Appetite is the chief Phantasie and Intellect are but subordinate causes and partly because I take Appetite here in the largest sense as comprehending Phantasie and Reason for Appetite in general is both Sensitive and Intellectual as shall be said hereafter so this Motive faculty being but an effect of Appetite we shall be the briefer in it and insist more largely upon the cause the knowledge wherof will necessarily conduce to the knowledge of the effect Appetite is a natural desire of the Soule by which the living creature for the cause of preservation is moved either to desire that which Sense judgeth as good or to loth that which it apprehendeth evill and hurtfull so that Appetite is a necessary concomitant of Sense and follows her close for where there is Sense there is sorrow and pleasure and where these are there must be Appetite There is a twofold Operation of Sense one whereby it perceives its Object as the eye beholds colour which is the first and simple Operation of Sense the other whereby upon the preception and apprehension of the Object the Sense is affected with sorrow or pleasure this is the second and in a sort a mixt Operation in as much as with the Object is joyned sorrow or pleasure and to these are joyned Appetite and flight for things pleasant we desire after and things grievous we flie from but this last Operation belongs to Common Sense not to any of the External to perceive good under the notion of good or evill under the notion of evill and accordingly to be affected therewith is the Operation of the Internal not External Senses therefore it is this Common Sense to which the Appetite is so nearly related that Aristotle saith they differ not re nor yet in subjecto but onely ratione not re for they have no distinct being but one and the same essence nor yet subjecto they have one and the same subject for the seat of Appetite is where the Internal Sense is seated to wit in the brain this is to be understood of that Appetite which is called Sensitive and is common to man and brutes But there are three kinds of Appetite according to Arist Appetite is divided into Lust Anger and Will Lust is in that faculty which is called Concupiscible Anger in that which is called Irascible and Will in that is called Intellectual Lust and Anger follow the judgement of Sense for what Sense judgeth pleasant and good Lust desireth and what Sense judgeth grievous the Irascible faculty rejecteth and these are in brutes as well as in man but Will followeth
torquere nor verum rationis judicium impedire so are not evill in themselves and of their own nature but through error in mans judgement from whence the vitiosity passeth upon the Affections Other reasons may be given of the evill and exorbitant Passions which doubtless are stronger or weaker according to the temperature of the four elements in the body of man from whence the complexions have their denomination if the complexion be Sanguine it commonly feeds the Affection of Joy and Mirth and Love and the like if Cholerick expect Anger Hatred Malice c. if Melancholy then Sorrow Fear and Grief and thus according to the temperature of the body are Passions for the most part more or less predominant the more temperate the complexion the more moderate the Passions the better the constitution the purer and nobler the Affections are That all Affections of the Soul are vitious and not onely to be moderated but wholly to be extirpated and expelled from our nature was an error broacht in the School of the Stoicks condemned in Christianity as well as by the Peripatetick Philosophers of old Mr. Hooker It is not in our own power whether we will be stirred with Affections or no It is as possible to prevent them all as to go out of our selves or to give our selves a new nature no more than we can refuse to wink with the eye when a sudden blow is offered at it or refuse to yawn when we see a yawning sleepy fellow though by frequent and habitual Mortification and by continual watchfulnes Dr. Taylors life of Christ 2 part fol. 122. and standing in readiness against all in advertencies we may lessen the inclination and account fewer sudden irreptions saith a devout and judicious Doctor of our English Church Many ought to be corrected few totally to be rejected some Affections there are which are virtuous and godly in themselves some are wicked and diabolicall some are in themselves neither godly nor wicked The good and virtuous are Love Pitty Joy Charity c. the diabolical are Envy Wrath Malice and especially that which your Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a rejoycing at other mens ill hap and misfortune the indifferent Affections are Fear Sorrow Anger and the like which as they are not simply good so are they not morally evill since our blessed Saviour who knew no sin was notwithstanding subject to like Passions of Sorrow Fear Grief and the like such as accrewed to us by the Fall of our first Parents and are infirmities and defects of pure nature effects or fruits of sin and so an evill to wit of punishment as well as other bodily defects as hunger thirst sickness yea and death which come unto us but by the Fall all these our Saviour was subject to in all things being made like unto us sin onely excepted The evill of sin he took not though he took upon him the true nature of man so saith Saint Augustine As Christ took upon him a true humane nature so he took the true defects and evils of that nature but not all he took upon him the defects or evils of punishment but not the defects and evils of sin Such Passions and Infirmities of Fear Grief Anger of Sickness Death and the like as are evils of punishment only Christ was subject to as we are therefore such are not simply sinfull neither can they be simply good since they be effects and fruits of sin Nor was Christ subject to these Passions in the same manner and measure as we Christ onely in the first motions and sudden irresistible alterations those twincklings of the eye as the Philosopher calls them those Propassions as the Schoolmen term them or Passions transient but we not in Propassion onely for a flash and away but in Passion also in Passion permanent to entertain it and retain it many times either without just cause or longer than occasion requires or beyond due measure by which the Affections come to be inordinate the Mind moved perplexed and troubled Reason blinded Judgement perverted and depraved These are the Diseases and Maladies of my Soul far worse than any that can be of my Body whether it be Lethargy Phrensie Apoplexie Epilepsie burning Feaver or the like all which are the most dangerous diseases of the Body for though the outward Senses may be surprised by these and my Body thereby made insensible of pain yet whilst my Soul remains un-distempered my Reason is able to discover and judge of these bodily distempers either by its inflamation or beating of its pulse and arteries or by some extraordinary heat and lassitude but when my Soul is diseased my Reason is also wounded and being sick hath no judgement at all of that which she suffereth for the self same that should judge is diseased being surprised with those unruly Passions which like a tempestuous storm at Sea carrie this little Ship of my Body into the deep without Tacklings Mast or Rudder or any to steer her aright whereby she is exposed to splittings shipwracks and all other misfortunes of the Seas But in the way of more strict Religion it is advised that he that would cure his passions should pray often Dr. Taylors life of Christ par 2. fol. 125. A Remedy against passions in general it is St. Augustines Counsell unto the Bishop Auxilius that like the Apostles in a storm wee should awaken Christ and call to him for aid lest wee ship-wrack in so violent passions and impetuous disturbances Again a continual exercise Vigilancie and Circumspection of thy Reason is a Sovereign Antidote for the Ejection of these poysonsom passions out of thy Soul and therefore one advertisement given by Fundanus in Plutarch against such inordinate passions is not here to be pretermitted Whosoever saith he will live safe and in health ought all their life time to look to themselves and be as it were in continual Physick and not as the Herb Hellebore which we English Neeswort after it hath wrought the cure in a sick mans body is cast up again together with the malady so Reason also should be sent out after the passion it hath cured but ought to remain still in thy mind to keep and preserve the judgement for Reason is to be compared to wholesom and nourishing meates and not to medicines and purgative drugs Of all those several affections and passions incident to the Soul and are either as Lenitives or Corrasives viz. pleasant and wholesome or harsh and noysom to the Soul two onely as principal I shall insist on upon which the rest are founded from whence they spring viz. Love and Ire Anger though simply and as it is in it self considered to wit in its first motions and natural inclination be neither good nor evil yet is made good or evil according to the circumstances of time and adjuncts of manner and measure all anger in all causes and in all degrees is not simply unlawful to be angry when
attributes we know which are not Proper to them but Common with other things as that they are essences entia realia perse existentia substances not accidences that they are Incorporeal Immaterial Intellectual Incorruptible spirits of a finite power and perfection all this hath been found out by the strength of natural Reason heathen Philosophers have taught it and Aristotle writes a whole Book de deo intelligâ—ntiis abstractis wherein he acknowledgeth them to be entia realia for asmuch as he grants them a being in nature Substances for as much as they are per se existentes not inhaering like accidences in any Material or Immaterial entity if then Substance not Material nor Inhaering they must be Incorporeal and Immaterial and if Immaterial then Intellectual as hath been said whence cometh their name Intelligenâ—ae which is attributed to these spiritual essences by the heathen Philosophers and that they are finite in power and perfection their creation is an argument for no created substance is infinite but created they are and all of them though not all alike in a necessary and an Essential order among themselves depending one upon another and all upon one as head which is God whom Aristotle calls intelligentia prima And thus much of the Nature and Essences of Angells and Separated Souls by the light of Nature what they are now of their Operations what they do The power of Angells and Souls abstracted Of the power of Angels Forms abstracted in their unstanding is seen in three things viz. in their Understanding in their Will and in their External Actions and Operations as for the power of their Understanding for as much as wee have proved them to be Intelligences Immaterial and of an Intellectual Nature it must needs follow they have in them the Act and Operation of knowledge and this in a far more eminent manner than any Rational Soul in this life by it Natural strength can attain unto wee shall first speak of the Act and manner of knowing themselves then of their Act and manner of knowing others The faculty of knowing themselves Every created Intellectual spirit hath this power to know it self which is not difficult to demonstrate by Natural Reason since every Intellectual Spirit is of it own nature Intelligible yea of it self actually Intelligible and a proportionate Object to any Understanding much more to it own therefore doth e-Intellectual Spirit actually know it self yea with an Intuitive Quidditative and Comprehensible knowledge know it self and is known by it self And how The manner of knowledge which it hath of it self is not as ours in this life per species impressas by Intelligible Forms imprinted of some outward Object nor as it knows other things per species congenitas innatas but it knows it self per propriam subst antiam by its own substance It needs no Accidental Form to represent it self by but every spiritual substance knows it self by its own substance as an Adaequate and proportionate Intelligible Object closely conjoyned to it own Understanding this is the way of knowing themselves God is known by all Intellectual Spirits after the same manner they know themselves by their own Substance Their power of knowing God and how and God by it as their Cause Principle and Author no other Spiritual or Corporeal substance is known this way save onely God yet is not this knowledge God of a proper Quiditative adn Comprehensive but an Improper Imperfect and confused Science for God cannot properly be known as he is in himself of any creature either by his Substance or proper Form who is Incomprehensible by any finite Power much less perfectly known by the proper substance of any Intellectual creature which is but a very imperfect Analogical representation of the Divine Nature Therefore when it is said God is known by the proper substance of any creature it is not to be understood of such a Quidditative knowledge whereby he is known as he is in himself but a knowledge of God per substantiam tanqnam per effectum as the Cause is known by the Effect and thus the Angelical Natures know God by their substance yet as the Effect of such a Cause which standeth with very good Reason for if here we may attain to the knowledge of God in this life by Effects if the invisible things of him from the creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his Eternal Power and Godhead much more and in a more eminent manner may Angelical Spirits and Separated substances know God by their own Substances as by Effects for as they know their own substances so must they know them to be Effects necessarily and Essentially depending upon God and so by their own Substance as by the noblest Effect made after the Image and likeness of God may they Naturally attain to the knowledge of their Maker Of their knowing others and how But the knowledge which Angels and separated substances have one of another and of other inferior creatures is after another manner not per substantiam but per speciem by Intelligible Forms nor are these Forms imprinted by any outward Object presented to the Senses and so to the Phantasie but are Innate Connatural and ingendred together with their Nature and altogether Intelligible The difference twixt Sensitive Rational and meer intellectual knowledge True it is the Sensitive knowledge is per speciem as well as the Intellectual but perfecter the Intellectual than the Sensitive and the Angelical perfecter than the Humane the Sensitive creatures know nothing but per species and those of Objects singular it knoweth nothing of Universals the Intellectual know per species too but by those he understandeth Universals as well as Singulars all à genere generalissimo ad infimam speciem as for example when we conceive in our mind Substance which is the highest Genus in the Scale of the Predicaments and understand it aright we understand also all its Species under it the whole with all its parts so the Intellectual creatures know per speciem but such as represents some Universal Nature with all its Singulars the Genus with its Species the whole with its parts thus the Intellectual creatures excel the Sensitive in the manner of knowing per speciem And as the Intellectual excel the Sensitive so do they differ in excellencie among themselves the Humane from the Angelical and abstracted Intelligences and these one from another the Separated substances know that at once unico intuitu by one and the same Form which we cannot but by many several Forms running over the Cause with its Effects the Universal Nature with its Singulars with one simple aspect and apprehension which we cannot but under many and divers Conceptions and notions And thus much touching the Operation of the Angelical Intellect Now of their Will and Freedom Where there is Knowledge there is Desire and Appetite where there is no
right line he bended into an Orb or Globe consisting like numbers of Parity and Imparity Indentity and Diversity This reflex line of the Worlds Soul was in respect of its circular motion upon the Axle-tree of the World The reflex line of the Humane Soul was that Operation whereby reflecting upon it self it knew it self And this reflex line of the Soul of the World and of Man had in her Indentity and Diversity The Indentity of the Worlds Soul was in respect of the Eighth Sphaer which the antient Philosophers called the primum mobile for this Sphaer with one uniform motion is moved from East to VVest The Diversity consisted in the motion of the seaven Planets in their several Sphaers So the Soul of Man had its Indentity and Diversity Indentity in respect of its Speculative Intellectual faculty which is divine Diversity in respect of its inferior faculties Furthermore this Circular and Caelestial line of the VVorld he divided into two Circles viz. the Eighth Sphaer which is by him and the Antients called primum mobile and moves from East to VVest and the Sphaer of the Planets which moves in a contrary motion to the Eighth Sphaer viz from VVest to East and these two Sphaers are said to bee conjoyned by two points of the Axle-tree cuting through them viz. two Equinoctial points Again the other Circle viz that which moves from West to East he subdivided into seaven Circles of seaven Planets to all which he resembled the Soul of Man which is one essence and as it were one Caelestial Sphaer and is divided into the Intellectual faculty answering in analogy to the primum mobile or Eighth Sphaer and the Irrational faculty answering in similitude to the Sphaer of the Planets for this faculty is opposite and contrary to the Intellectual and moves contrary to it as the Planets do in a Counter-motion to the Eighth Sphaer and as in the Heavens the second Circle is subdivided into seaven Planets so doth Plato in his Timaeus subdivide the Irrational faculty of the Soul into seaven faculties viz. the particular or External Sense Common Sense Phantasie Memory the Cogitative Concupiscible and Irascible faculty As for example α β. Is the Axle-tree of the World γ δ. The Axle-tree of the Zodiak And thus would Timaeus prove the Soul of Man to know it self by Reflexion or Inspection into it self which though it may be true in a sense yet we are not to imagine such an Inspection or Intuitive Vision of it self in-this life as the Angells and separated Souls have of themselves for this knowledge agreeth not with the state of the Soul as long as it is joyned with this Body being hindred of the free and perfect exercise of those Actions which are Common and Essential to it and the separated Souls whilst in this body of flesh no more than the knowledge which now it ordinarily exerciseth agreeth with the state of the Soul departed and separated from the Body And though idem est intellectus quod intelligitur scientia scibile yet are wee not to conceipt an Indentity of Essence betwixt the Understanding and the Object Understood there is not such a Conformity twixt them in Essence but in Representation The Form and similitude is there the Intellect receives the species of things onely and therefore is it called forma formarum intelligibilium and so there comes an Identity not of Essence but of Proportion and Form Thus the Soul knoweth it self in this life non per essentionā by its own substance but per speciem and without this species the Soul knoweth not it self in this life though it needeth no Intelligible Forms to know its self by after this life but knoweth it self as other separated substances do themselves by their own substance and not by Form Neither is this Intelligible Form innate and ingendred ogether with the Nature and Essence of the Soul as those Forms whereby Angels and Souls departed know one another are as hereafter wee shall shew but Imprinted in the Understanding from some Object Sensible conveid to the Phantasie from the Phantasie by the Operation of the intellectus agens to our Patient Intellect where of Sensible they are made Intelligible Forms so from Sensible Objects are produced Intelligible Forms and without Sense no Intelligence this in the ordinary way and manner of the Souls Operation in this life we have no knowledge no not of Immaterial and Insensible Essences as of God or of our own Souls but is in a sort deduced from Sense for although some things are not sensible in themselves yet they may be sensible in their parts as a Golden Mountain which wee never saw but Phansie or in their similitude and Portraiture as men absent or dead are known by their Pictures or by their opposites as darkness by light coldness by heat or by their efects as God our own Soul and the Vertue and Operation of natural things which are all hidden to Sense but known unto us by their Effects So God and our own Souls are known to us by their Effects and Operations whereby may be inferred that all our knowledge yea our Metaphysical knowledge of abstracted and Immaterial substances do spring from Sense and so the Contemplative Intellect neither immixt nor inseparable from bodily Organs but Organical and depending on Sense contradictory to what hath before been affirmed To which I answer although it may be said that Immaterial and Intelligible Forms are drawn in a sort from Sense yet it is to be noted that Immaterial things do otherwise depend on Sense than things Material do for although our Intellect takes its principles from Sense by which it is brought to the knowledge of God arguing from the Effect to the Cause as Aristotle argues where from the Effect he proves the First mover to be Eternal Immaterial Infinite although I say our Intellect may know God to be insensible and Immaterial even from Sensible and material Effects which is its usual manner and way whereby it attaineth to knowledge here whilst in the body yet it undoubtedly not onely knows those principles and Effects which are subject to Sense and Phantasie but even God himself without any help of Phantasie or Sensible representation Even so although the Soul of Man doth come to the knowledge of it self by the Effects and Operations which it hath found in it self and so of Sensible are produced Intelligible Forms yet is not the Soul dependent of the body either in respect of Organ or Object but these Forms are illustrated and made Intelligible by Vertue of the Agent Intellect and though Phantasie be made Instrumental yet not so necessarily but that this Intellectual faculty may operate without the concurrence of Sensible objects Intelligible Forms may be imprinted in the Understanding though no Phantasm appear and many times through a vehement application of the Understanding to Contemplation the concourse of Phantasie is weakned yea sometimes though rarely altogether hindred as those Holy Men
Knowledge there can be no Appetite we speak not of that Natural propensity which is given to every thing whereby without any previous knowledge they are inclined and are carried Naturally to their good as the Earth Naturally desires the lowermost place the Matter desires the Form and the like which is called appetitus naturalis or pondus naturae but of that which is given to living creatures and drawn out of the Power of the Soul and is called appetitus elicitus even that Act and Operation of Natural Propensity whereby every Soul that is indowed with knowledge according to that knowledge it hath of any thing is drawn to affect and desire it so that desire or Appetite is a Companion of Knowledge and concomitant and according to the measure of knowledge desire attends in an answerable measure Sensitive knowledge is inferior to Intellectual so is the desire that which follows the Sensitive knowledge is called Appetite that which follows the Intellectual is called Will one follows necessarily the other freely VVill then and Freedom of Will belongs to Intellectual creatures Of their Will whether men or Angels voluntas hominis est libera is a Philosophical rule much more truely may it be verified of the Will of Angels which is far perfecter But how far this Freedom extendeth whether unto all the Acts of Angelical Will or that some Acts are necessary and which those are and whether this Freedom be to all honest and good Acts onely or it extend to wicked also or according to the question propounded by Divines whether Angels considered in their condition have posse peccandi a liberty or Power to sin this cannot be so clearly evidenced by Natural Reason Though divers of the antient Philosophers have gone very far in this point as Plato and Socrates and of your Poets not a few who held that moral evil had place in Angels and that they might do wickedly as freely as men wherupon came the distinction amongst them of good and evil Angels and the evil Angels they called Daemones so that from the Effect and delusions of evâ—l Angels they were induced to believe that some Angels were morally evil and therefore to do evilly was not repugnant to the Nature of Angels Of their External Operaâ—ions 1 Negatively Now concerning the External Act and Operation of Angels to wit their Power and strength in working First Negatively with Aristotle against Plato we affirm the Angels can make no substance nor yet any material alteration of bodies neither by Creation nor by Generation not by Creation out of meer nothing nothing to produce something all things to spring from nothing something to be the Effect of nothing nothing the cause of something Natural Reason knoweth nothing of such Causes or Effects nor is it in the Power of any created substance to create any thing it is onely the work of an omnipotent Power Angels cannot do it Philosophers were ignorant of it nor doth it stand with the rules of our Faith and Christian Religion And as Angels have not the power of Creation so neither have they the Vertue of Generation herein other animate creatures exceed Angelical Nature they can beget their like whereby their Species is preserved in the succeding Individuals Angels have not the seed of Generation not to beget their like nor yet to make any Corporeal substance either by Eduction of Form out of the power of the Matter as Sensitive or Vegetative creatures are produced or by substantial Union and Conjunction of Form with matter as Rational creatures are produced neither can they alter any Matter and fit it for the Form without which praevious alteration of some Pre-existent Matter there can be no Generation no Mutation or motion of matter à non esse ad esse or ab esse ad non esse nor yet in Alteration of Quality in the Matter no such Mutation or motion of substance is ascribed to Angels but an Accidental or Local motion of substances that they have Then Affirmative power they have of moving of bodies by Local motion 2. Possitively And power of assuming bodies by Condensating and Solidating of air when they have occasion and laying it aside and resolving it into the same matter when they please a truth in Divinity as well as Philophy Philosophy teacheth that Angels do move Caelestial bodies the Orbs are moved by them Every Orb hath its proper Intelligence and Angel the primum mobile hath its Angel moving him from East to West the rest have theirs and this Local motion of bodies though never so great exceeds not the Angelical Power And though every Angel moveth according to his Will yet is this Motive Angelical power finite and limited it hath its bounds which it cannot pass though he would being bound by Laws of Divine providence he cannot cause a Vacuum for though he may remove one body from its place he cannot prevent another for coming in the room Thus much of Intellectual Agents is demonstrated by the light of Natural Reason some have endeavoured also to shew the number of these Agents and this from the motion of the Heavens affirming that every Heaven or Orb had its proper Intelligence and so from the number of the Sphaers would gather the number of Intellectual Spirits And that there are as many Angels as Sphaers is not difficult to demonstrate But that there are no more Angels than Sphaers or if there be more how many more cannot be shewed by Natural Reason nor are their certain number defined by Divine Revelation but that there are a multitude more than those which move the Orbs may easily be proved by the light of Reason Aquinas brings many for the proving thereof nor were the Heathen Philosophers ignorant hereof as Aristotle Plato Heraclitus and others And thus much of the Knowledge which the Soul of Man hath of Saints and Angels in this life As for that Knowledge we have of Saints and Angels and of our selves in the Separated estate of the Soul it is not inferior to other abstracted Essences neither in the Power of knowing nor Manner of Operation Angels know themselves and all below them or equal to them with an Essential Quidditative and comprehensive knowledge so shall wee not onely by those general predicates and attributes of Immaterial Intellectual Impatible Immixed Immortal and the like but with a full perfect Intuitive and Comprehensive knowledge of our selves our own Nature and Essence being actually Intelligible and an Adaequate Object to our own Understanding Angels know themselves by their own Substance and God by the same so shall wee the Knowledge they have of all others is per species by Intelligible Forms Innate and Aongenite not imprinted in the mind by any External Sensible Object such manner of Knowledge shall ours be in nothing differing in nothing inferior unto the Angels And though sacred Writ hath been more silent and sparing in the Revelation either of the Creation or of the Nature and
Man cannot fight with his enemies in Mind and Will onely but stands in need of Hands Weapons and the like but an Angel by the sole power of his Spirit and Will without either Hands or Armes can both fight against and also overcome a whole Host of Armed-men so an Angel in one night slew of the Assyrians one hundred eighty and five thousand Again Man by the Art of Painting and Engraving may make such an Image of Man so lively represented that it may seem to live and breath yet not without great paines and labour but an Angel without any paines without Hands without Instruments can even in an instant as it were so frame a Body of Elements that it shall be taken for a true humane Body of very wise Men such a Body as can Walk Speak Eat Drink yea may be touched handled and washed Thus Abraham prepared Meat for Angels and washed their Feet as th' Apostle hath it entertaning Angels unawares supposing they had been Men the same which happened to his Nephew Lot when he received two Angels into his house for Men as strangers and Travellers so the Angel Raphael for many dayes together dwelt and was conversant with Tobia the yonger Walking Talking and Eating and Drinking as if he were truly Man and yet when he was to leave him said I seemed to Eat and Drink with you but I use invisible Meat and Drink and so vanisht suddainly out of their sight a great power certainly and an admirable so quickly to make a Body as shall not be discerned to differ from a humane and living Body in any thing and the same again to dissolve in a trice as oft as it pleaseth him Again the Soul of Man is so closely conjoyn'd to the Body that without it the Soul cannot move from place to place but God hath not so tied a Body to Angelical natures but without a Body they may most swiftly pass from Heaven to earth from earth to Heaven again or whither also they please Thus as the Angelical Nature is next unto God in Dignity so doth it resemble Gods Omnipresence in Subtilty and Agility God is every where by the infinity of of his being and needs no local motion since he is every where Angels also do pass in so easie and swift a motion from place to place and have their Presence in all places as in a sort they may be said to be ubiquitary The number of these Angels are uncertain not revealed in the Word of God but without doubt so many as cannot well be comprised in the Art of Enumeration millions of millions ministring unto God and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him whereupon Dionysius and with him Aquinas do conclude that the number of Angels are more than are the number of all corporeall substances whatsoever and although their number be so infinite yet they do every one differ amongst themselves not onely in individuall number but also in specificall form Yet for all this number almost infinite they are reduced into nine Ranks and Orders under some of which every of them are comprehended The first and highest Order is that of the Seraphims secondly Cherubins thirdly Thrones fourthly Dominions fifthly Principalities sixthly Powers seventhly Vertues eightly Archangels and the ninth and last Angels of all which Names we read in the holy Scriptures by which their severall Offices Degrees and Orders are dignified and distinguisht Chap. 4. Book 2. Wherefore else serve these different Names if they signified nothing but sure there is a difference twixt Angels and Archangels in degree then why not twixt the rest quid ergo sibi vult gradualis distinctio haec saith St. Bernard upon the same subject But Dionysius makes but three Orders of all putting three in every Order so making a ternary of Trinities alluding to the Sacred Trinity viz. Three Superior three middle and three inferior Orders The highest Orders are the Seraphim Cherubin and Thrones The midlemost Orders are the Dominions Principalities and Powers The lowermost are the Vertues Archangel and Angel but of this enough is said CHAP. IV. Of the Knowledge we have of God and his Attributes THat which may be known of God by the strength of naturall reason is drawn from the Works of his Creation for as the Cause is known by the Effects so is the Creator by the Creature the Physical Science of Causes and Effects here below brings us to a Metaphysical Knowledge of the cause of all causes even God above whose Deity may be seen in every place omnia sunt deâ—rum plena was the saying of Thales Milesius an antient Philosopher thus cited by Aristotle Lib. 1. De anima and thus said the Poets of old Jovis omnia plena paersentem que refert quaelibet herba deuÌ„ not the meanest of the Creatures but manifest a God-head The Philosophers therefore excepting the Epicureans who held that this great spacious universe was nothing else but Theatrum caeco atomorum confluxu genitum searching out the causes of things and finding a concatenation of them in an orderly dependance one upon another Simplicius Philoponus Ammonius Averrores aliique multi viri illustres neque numero pauciores nec autoritate inferiores iis qui de sipere maluerint mundum à deo ut causa efficiente pendere affirmant Scaliger and a necessary conjunction of every of them with their Effects ne daretur progressus in infinitum vel circulus committendus an absurdity in Nature which otherwise they would run into were forced to acknowledge one Supreme cause of all things which was God Plato Aristotle Galen and others from hence do prove that there is a God The quod sit is thus proved the quid sit may from thence also be concluded for when we look upon the Fabrick of Heaven and Earth wee may see the Greatness and Power of God when we behold the Governance and Guidance of all in so great a Beauty Order and Distinction of all things we may judge of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God when we consider the commodity profit and Use of all things we may experience the goodness and Love of God and so we may come to know God in his Predicates and Attributes viz. that he is Ens Actus Substantia Vivens Aeternus Justus Sapiens c. Yea under such conceptions and notions as are only proper and essential to God not agreeing with any other may God be apprehended by us in this Metaphysical Science viz. that he is Ens infinitum simpliciter that he is Actus purus causa prima primus motor immobilis c. And so we come to the knowledge of God quodsit and quid sit both that he is and what he is Yet is not this knowledge comprehensive of him these Motions of Gods Essentiall Attributes though Proper to him and Communicative to none beside are not quidditative an infinite Essence cannot so be comprehended within the Sphaer of a Finite
may be known by Natural and Metaphysical Reason which by Analogy to things created though there be nothing in God but is of his Essence for quicquid in deo est deus est yet in a peculiar manner we shall here handle as Faculties and Operations and not as those which are of his Essence That in God there is Knowledge is so plain and evident by Natural light that none of the Philosophers who acknowledge a God hath ever denied it Aristotle in his Metaphysicks and Ethicks affirms it proving it further from the Immateriality of God the more Immaterial any thing is the more Intellectual as we have formerly said now God is summè immaterialis therefore is he summè cognoscitivus Again from the Effects and Works of God in this World the order and beauty that is in them manifesteth they were produced both by an Intellectual and free Agent Vnus hic mundus satis superque de monstrat deum esse summè bonum quiá sponte id fecit quod non tenebatur facere summè potenteÌ„ quia potuit ex nihilo facene quod voluit summè sapientem quia tam admirabiliter sapienter omnia fecit which opinion was generally received of all Philosophers after Anaxagoras and Hermotinus Clazomenius who were the first that taught it as Plato and Socrates yea and Aristotle in 1 Metaphys cap. 3. affirm This Knowledge in God according to himself must needs be Infinite for so in the precedent Chapter hath been proved the Knowledge the Object known are Adaequate and Proportionate the one to the other the Object is Infinite such therefore must the Knowledge be and this is called Gods Knowledge Essential Besides there is a Knowledge of God External and this is also Infinite intensivè extensivè as the Schoolmen term it by which is set forth unto us that Infinite perfection which this Knowledge hath even in all the conditions and properties incident to perfect Knowledge for first it is most clear and evident secondly most certain thirdly most infallible with a most perfect and simple aspect beholding every truth as it is in it self and judging of every truth though in themselves not equal according to the measure of Verity that is in every of them some being Increate truths some Create some Mediate others Immediate some Necessary some Contingent truths yet all these Varieties fall within this Infinite Knowledge which seeth every Verity according to the state in which it hath Determination and Certitude and judgeth thereof according to the measure and degree of truth that is in every of them And this resolves the doubt which some have made how a Future Contingent which may or may not be can be foreknown since till it come to pass it is not determined to a being or no being till which there can be no determinate truth in either proposition which was Aristotles argument from whence is concluded that even God himself could not foreknow either part to wit the Affirmative or Negative of such Future Effects as determinately true for what is not true is not knowable for truth is the Object of Knowledge and therefore what is not determinately true cannot be known as determinately true so God hath no certain and infallible Knowledge of such Contingencies future For this doth not hinder but that such Contingencies may be certainly known even before they have any being at least with that Knowledge which according to its all Infinite and Eternal verity comprehends all times and every Object knowable and beholds them as they are in themselves in the self same manner and according to the measure of truth they have in them Neither doth this certain and Infallible Knowledge of Future Contingencies destroy the Nature of a Contingent for God doth infallibly know Contingent Effects under the notion of Contingencie as well as necessary Effects under the notion of necessity without the destruction of either without any change or Alteration of the Object otherwise that Knowledge is grossly deceived that knoweth any thing to be Contingent when by the very Knowledge such Contingent Effects cease to be Contingent and forthwith become Necessary Besides Knowledge is not a Cause but rather a Consequent of a future Event for scientia nil ponit in re it adds no necessity to the being of the thing known though it may add certitude to it self for that 's the perfection of Knowledge the ground of Science is not necessity but certainty And for the Will which is in God by the like argument it may be proved for God is an Intellectual Agent so hath been said and there is no Intellectual Agent but worketh for some end and is also determinate to that work by some Appetite will and desire hereupon the antient Philosophers laid it down for a rule mentem amorem esse causam mundi efficientem according to those Verses quoted by Aristotle 1 Metaphys cap. 4. out of Hesiod and Parmenides to prove this Assertion Aristotle besides every where affirming that God worketh intelligendo volendo God as he is an Intellectual so is he a a free Agent all his Operations ad extra are freely and willingly done not driven on by any necessity of Nature True it is the love wherewith he loves himself is necessary arising from the dignity of the Object and necessity of it God as he is summum so is he necessarium bonum which being the Object of his Will cannot but be willed necessarily ex necessitate naturae himself being the Object of his Will necessitates his Will to love him voluntas divina etiam naturaliter ac necessario vult suum principale objectum saith Suarez But there is not the like necessity in any created Object to compel Gods good-will unto it but so to love it as he may also not love it Though it was the opinion of certain Philosophers of the Sect of the Stoicks who held That all things here below were Ruled and Governed by a certain Fate and though they denied not that the Order of these Secundary Causes proceeded from the good-will of God Yet they Attributed thereunto a necessity altogether Inevitable even in respect of God because they supposed that God did order and work all things ex necessitate naturae * Deum liberè nec ex necessitate naturae agere liberimè hunc mundum produxisse rationi humanae contrarium non est cum enim deus sit ens perfectissimum à nullo dependens nullius indigens sibi ipsi sufficiens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quam vocem pulchrè excogitavit Scal. ex 365. sect 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nullam creaturam dei voluntas necessario appetet nullamque neâ—â—ario producer nec ulla re cogetur ejus potestas sed ipse liberimè vult poâ—uisâ—etque sivolâ—â—sset mundum hunc vel longè ante producere vel post vel planè non Sennertus But clear it is by Natural Reason that as God works knowingly so he Acts