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.
to the Rarity § 22. You will object secondly The Faculty Pulsatil and Generative of Spirits would have been idle Because we suppose the necessary Spirits once generated would have lasted for ever And in like manner the Natural Faculties would have been idle seeing we suppose Nutrition would be no further necessary when the Body had arrived at full Perfection Therefore those Qualities would not be necessary which might concur with such Faculties according to the Opinion which affirms it had been sufficient to have eaten the Fruit only once I say they were necessary for the Reduction of a Child's Body and an Old Man's or one any other way decayed or imperfect to the most perfect Constitution and therefore they were to be added But after the Perfection of the Body they were not necessary but would have continued as other things would which also were not further necessary as the common Workhouses of Aliment and Excrements and the Faculty expulsive of them and other things § 23. You will object thirdly To Duration of Life there is no need that the Animal Faculty be any stronger than what sufficeth to perform Respiration as Galen d holdeth Therefore to this at least there should no helping Quality be added which might concur with it It is answered If there were a preternatural Affection before the eating of the Wood which ought to be expelled by the Motion of the Animal Faculty as by Coughing or whereto the Animal Faculty ought to concur with the Natural as Pissing Strength must necessarily be added to the Faculty that by the said Qualities it might perform a stronger Motion And in like manner as before we have already said in the third Conclusion Strength of the Animal Faculty was necessary for the Motive that it might more readily resist external Causes But as for the Discerning Powers which belong to the Animal Faculty seeing they conduce little to Duration and would sufficiently operate with the best Temperament Composition and Unity of Parts it seems more probable that other Qualities are not necessary which should be produced by the Wood. § 24. You will object fourthly We said in the fourth Conclusion that by the Tree a Virtue was made good concurring with the Animal Faculty to the avoiding those Causes which by local Motion might divide Continuity Therefore the resistive Quality is superfluous The Consequence is denied because that Virtue concurring with the Faculties is necessary for their better being to the end namely that Man might more perfectly be defended from the most violent Causes § 25. In Summ therefore The Qualities of the Tree of Life might be distributed into four Classes for some produced Elemental Qualities others Alexipharmack Qualities others concurred actively with the Faculties of the Body to Connatural Actions and others were Resistive And these last if a Quality actively resisting be not admitted would belong to Patible Quality The first would belong to Habit for if they were Natural Powers they might produce their Effects where and when they were not necessary and not according to the Exigence of the Body And those which concur with the Faculties in their Actions belong to Habit the first Species of Quality Seeing they necessarily and essentially suppose Powers to their Operation and are Qualities of difficult Expulsion which two things are required to Habit according to common Opinion But of the Alexipharmack those which resist Poysons as a kind of Cause Formal belong rather to Patible Quality What as a Cause Efficient if they concur with the Motive Power or with another rather belong to Habit for the last said Reason And they will belong to the same Species whatever should concur with another Active Power But we must take notice of the Resistive Qualities if any there be actively resisting Division of Parts that these if they concur by themselves only are Powers if with the Natural Powers producing Union they are Habits § 26. But Whether were all the foresaid Qualities actively concurring with the Powers more noble than the Powers themselves It seems to be more probably affirmed that they were more noble as to the manner of Operation Because they elevate the Powers a Supra-ordinary Way although within the Bounds of Nature to more noble Actions and at least more intense stronger and quicker than is consistent with their Nature as it operates ordinarily So that the said Actions may especially be attributed to the Tree of Life as to what concerneth this Manner of Operation You will object The Habits also of Powers acquired by Acts do render the Actions more intense stronger and quicker And yet they are not more noble than the Powers Therefore c. The Consequence is denied and there is a disparity of Reason for the Actions of Habits are such that they are attributed especially to the Powers But the Actions of the Powers wherewith the Qualities of the Wood of Life concur are so strong intense and quick and are so efficaciously performed by the Qualities that they may rather be attributed to them than to the Powers and the Powers are more the Instruments of these Qualities in respect of their Actions than the principal Causes § 27. But some one may enquire Whether all Men would have been of the same Temperament I say according to our Opinion that affirms the Wood of Life would have been sufficient for eternal Life and that to this there would have been necessary Supra-elementary Qualities made good by the Wood which would have actively produced Elemental ones in a certain fixt Degree we must consequently say That all Men would have been of the same Temperament after Eating of the Wood. It is effectually proved for the Cause of the Elemental Qualities in all Men would have been of the same Reason and Proportion to wit the more noble Qualities productive of the Elemental in the same proportionate and fixt Degree Therefore the same Temperament in Specie would have been in all Men when they had come to Perfection and that most perfect From whence also it follows that all Men eating the Fruit would have had equal Strength equal Actions of the Senses as well internal as external an equal Strength of Understanding with dependency upon Phantasms For the disposition of the Phantasy would also have been equal When nevertheless it is agreed that some would have been wiser and iuster than others as Thomas e observes Because they would have acted by Free Will whence some would have more applyed their Mind to learn this or that Whereupon it would have followed that some would have been better Proficients in Knowledge others in Justice c. § 28. But you may deservedly enquire Why in Reduction of an Old Man to Youth or of a Sick Man to Health or of an intemperate Body to a temperate there would not have been Disease or Pain seeing sudden Mutations even terminated to a better State do cause this I answer first That a quick Mutation to a natural or better state brings not Pain
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
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
For though as Food it might make something towards prolonging of Life seeing it would nourish better than other things and would less alter the Body into a contrary Nature Yet it would not on this account avail to extend it much and less to prolong it to Eternity But as Physick it would especially and chiefly conduce to this end Now by what Qualities And by what way This is the most difficult to resolve § 4. It is to be observed thirdly That those Accidents which preserve our Body in perfect Health some of them are manifest some occult The manifest are three Temperament Composition and Vnity of Parts Which because they are perceived by the Senses are called manifest The occult according to the common Opinion that admits Powers are the Faculties of the Body which by Philosophers are called Powers that is the Faculty Vital Animal and Natural There are also occult Qualities belonging to the Alimentous which are introduced into the Aliment by the common Work-houses and by the Parts to be nourished although no Man hath yet found them out and therefore they may on that account also be called Alimentous There are besides Alexipharmack Qualities also newly found by us which in another Treatise we have proved to be connaturally in the Body of every living Creature that it may defend it self from Poyson § 5. Which things observed I say first Divers Qualities are communicated by the Tree of Life whereby all things which concern the Natural Constitution of the Body if they be destroyed may be restored if perfect may be preserved either to a certain and determinate Time or to Eternity according to the diversity of Opinions about this Matter This Conclusion is mâ—nifest because unless the Natural Constitution of the Body be preserved Health and Life cannot naturally continue Therefore it is necessary that so many and so great Vertues must be given from the Wood as were sufficient to repair and preserve all things concerning the Natural Constitution § 6. I say Secondly Supra-elementary Qualities must be contributed to the Body by the Tree of Life which might produce Elemental ones in that degree only which was agreeable to the Natural Temperament to wit that these Qualities of the Tree might concur as a kind of Cause efficient with the Form or with the Vertues of the Form according to the Opinion which grants Virtual Qualities productive of the Elemental towards the Production of Elemental Qualities just to such a convenient Degree This Conclusion is proved because it is necessary the Natural Temper should be preserved that the Body may continue in Health But such a Temper will be well preserved if there be a fixt and efficacious Cause which may help the intrinsick Agent in the Production of those degrees of each Quality which makes up the Temperament Therefore it is necessary that those Vertues be produced in the Body by the said Tree which may suffice to concur with the intrinsick Agent productive of such Qualities But these Vertues must needs be Qualities of a Superior Order Therefore such must be produced in the Body by the Tree of Life § 7. I say thirdly These Qualities must also be of such Efficacy that they may preserve that Degree fixt against all the Activity of an external Contrary even the most violent such as are Fire or Snow according to the Opinion which affirms the Wood to be an adaequate Cause of Immortality so that these Qualities of the Wood of Life being present Fire cannot act upon the Body nor produce further Degrees of Heat beyond those which are convenient for the Body For the contrary Degrees of Cold would be so preserved by the Quality of the Wood as a kind of Cause Efficient that they could not be diminished by the Fire And so it may be said of other Elemental Qualities It is manifestly proved Because unless the Qualities of the Wood had so great Efficacy they were not able to resist very violent external Agents But they might resist if they produced those fixt Degrees upon the Body connatural to it so that it might persist in Health § 8. But to what kind of Quality would these belong I answer They would be a kind of Habit For according to the Opinion which affirms that Elemental Qualities do not flow from the Soul but are produced of other occult Qualities superaded of a higher order which are called Virtual Qualities they would belong to Habit The Reason is because these Virtual Qualities are Powers seeing they are ordain'd only for Operation But the Qualities of the Wood do essentially suppose these Powers and do help them efficiently in the production of the Elemental ones Wherefore they are necessarily Habits as are the Habits of Sciences and some Supernatural Qualities as the Habit of Faith and Light of Glory which Divines commonly affirm do belong to Habit because they essentially suppose Power as Suarez a Vasquez b and others commonly hold But according to the Opinion that denies Powers to the Soul they are also to be accounted Habits and to concur with the Soul as Habits of Sciences and others And these Qualities will prove a kind of those which cure manifest Diseases of which we have spoken in another Book § 9. Both Conclusions are confirmed Because a living Body could no other way be made durable to Eternity nor for any Time but its Temperament would decline something from its Integrity unless it were preserved the foresaid way Therefore c. Nor doth it appear that the Qualities of the Wood would dispose the Body as a kind of Cause Formal whereby it would have been made free from all natural Causes of Death internal and external because a help by this kind of Cause would not have been sufficient that by its means an intrinsick Agent could resist the most violent Causes § 10. I say fourthly It is also convenient according to the same Opinion that the Tree of Life should make good other Qualities even Active ones which might concurr with the Faculties Animal Vital and Natural as a kind of Cause Efficient that they might perform very strong Actions when there should be a necessity It is proved as to the Animal Faculty because to avoid some Diseases of Composition and Solution of Unity as Dislocations and Wounds and to resist some external Causes which bring those Diseases an ordinary strength of Actions of the Animal Faculty is not sufficient even where there is the best Temperament Therefore it is necessary that this Faculty be helped by other Qualities which may concurr with it to render the Actions so strong that they may be sufficient to avoid all Natural Causes whatever especially those which might hurt by Local Motion § 11. And as to the Pulsatil Faculty there is the same Reason for it must perform a Motion against the Resistance of every external Cause whatever As to what concerns the Natural it is proved For it is necessary that the Attractive and Expulsive Faculty perform most
perfect Actions although there be an impeding Cause The Digestive also if it have a help will operate more perfectly And it is confirmed because these Qualities are not only possible but some such like there are indeed efficiently concurring with the Powers to the Curing and Preventing manifest Diseases Therefore it is necessary that the Wood of Life should have them most efficacious § 12. You will object Therefore the Qualities productive of Elemental ones would have been superfluous which we spoke of in the last Conclusion The Sequel is denied for they also would have been necessary to preserve the Natural and most perfect Temperament of Body And although by this means the Body of Man might resist all morbose Causes acting by Alteration it might better and more readily resist together with these Qualities actively helping the Powers § 13. But whether would one only Quality flowing from the Fruit suffice to concurr with all the Faculties I answer negatively but every lowest Species of Faculty ought to have its particular Quality distinct in Specie It is manifestly proved Because every Faculty hath its particular and determinate Effect Therefore it wants a particular and determinate Concause which hath Virtue for such an Effect Secondly Because Powers are distinguished in Specie by their Acts and Objects Therefore those Qualities which participate with the Powers are the same was distinguished Thirdly because the Habit of one Power or an Effect determinate to a certain Species cannot concurr with another Power nor to another Species of Act Nor therefore in like manner can these Qualities which are as Habits in respect of the Powers § 14. Therefore for the Animal Faculty there would have been given one Quality for Motion and divers other for the Senses and for every one as well internal as external if discerning Powers may seem necessary either to long or eternal Life its own Quality would have been allotted For the Vital Faculty there would have been given one for the Motion of the Heart and Arteries another for Generation of Spirits whilst there was any necessity for Motion or Generation of Spirits For according to this Opinion which affirms that eternal Life was given by the Wood when the Body was reduced to the best Constitution all things would have been kept in the same Tenor so that neither any reparation of Spirits nor of Substance would have been further necessary § 15. Wherefore by the Qualities of the Tree of Life the Health of the Body would have been defended from Hunger Thirst and want of Air lest namely Man should perish for want of Meat Drink or Air which will more appear hereafter In like manner there would have been given a particular Quality by the Fruit for every Species of Natural Faculty that is for Attraction Retention Coction and Expulsion that to wit they might operate most perfectly while their operation was necessary And after the same manner there would have been another for Generation § 16. You will object The Fruit of this Tree was of one Species only Therefore it could not produce so many Species of Qualities The Consequence is denied Because the same Rheubarb performs divers Actions by Qualities different in Specie for it evacuates Choler strengthens the Liver opens Obstructions binds lax Parts produceth Heat causeth Driness And so we experience divers Virtues in many other Medicines § 17. I say fifthly Besides the said Qualities according to the same Opinion there was another necessary which should have been made good by the Tree of Life And that is a Resistive Faculty which might preserve the Union and due Composition of Parts namely their Figure Cavity Number and also their Magnitude It is evidently proved Because in defect thereof Man would become obnoxious to Diseases and Death which would follow from Division of Continuity and from vitiated Composition This Quality indeed would not have been Active but relating to Patible Quality as Hardness in a Stone For informing the Parts of the Body it would have rendred them incapable of any Division or Compression which could have been made by an external Cause Wherefore by reason of this Quality Man could not dye by a Precipice or a Blow And it is confirmed for as the Author of the Questions of the Old and New Testament saith c The Wood of Life was so to Man as an inexpugnable Wall Therefore it must necessarily make good this Resistive Quality as a Wall § 18. You will object If such a Quality were granted the Limbs could not be bended It is denied Because it was not hardness but preserving of Union Or rather Whether was there not a Quality actively preserving the Union of Parts It might probably be affirmed And it would have been so strong in Preservation of the Union of Parts by a certain Action intrinsically terminated upon the very Union that the Union could be dissolved by no finite natural Cause Yet much more probably I think there was no such active Quality seeing the Resisting informing one was sufficient as we said in the last Conclusion § 19. I say sixthly According to this Opinion the Tree of Life would have made good all Alexipharmack Qualities of every kind whereby the Body would have been made free from all that are Poysonous This Conclusion also is manifest For in defect of these Qualities Man might have perished seeing those that are implanted in the Body cannot sufficiently resist strong Poysons Nor can it be doubted that this Quality was possible seeing it is found naturally in almost innumerable Medicines Therefore no Wonder if it were granted to this Fruit naturally with so great Efficacy that it overcame all Poysonous ones § 20. You will object against what we have said Heat would necessarily act upon Moisture seeing it is a Natural Cause acting necessarily Therefore it would necessarily rarefy it turn it into Vapors and consume it Therefore Reparation and Nutrition was necessary Therefore Man would necessarily be obnoxious to Death by Hunger and it was needful for Man to eat the Wood again and again I deny the Antecedent Because the Moisture would have been preserved two ways First by the Occult Quality of the Wood which we spoke of producing Moisture in a proportionate fixt Degree Secondly by another Occult Quality of the Wood producing certain fixt Degrees of Cold that the Heat could produce none further § 21. You will urge Therefore the Heat would produce those Qualities at least which are produced of it by Resultancy in the Substance wherein it subsists that is Rarity and Levity if it be a Second Quality from which follows Resolution or Evaporation and consequently the Consumption of such Substance The Sequel is denied Because that Resultance also of Second Qualities would have been hindred by their contrary Qualities which would have been produced by other First Contraries for Example The Resultance of further Rarity would have been hindred by the Degrees of Cold for by them its contrary Density would have been preserved proportional
nay but Pleasure as Galen testifieth f. Whereâ—ore if sometimes from such Reduction Pain do happen as when the Hands chilled with Snow are suddenly exposed to the Fire this is by Accident because to wit some Parts are preternaturally altered whilst the Heat in others is reduced to its natural Perfection or because from the Application of Heat the Cold in others is suddenly intended by Antiperistasis I answer secondly That Pain is a depraved Action of the Touch And seeing the Sense it self as other Powers would have been helped to perform perfect Actions there could never have been a Depravation of Touch which Pain is § 29. But whether according to the Opinion which denies the Fruit to be an adequate Cause of Immortality it had been necessary that Alexipharmack Qualities should be contributed by the Wood to Mans Body whereby it might be preserved from Poysons It seems to be affirmed because it cannot be believed these Vertues were wanting to the most perfect Medicament when many other ordinary Medicaments have efficacious Virtues against Poysons nay we must think all other Supra-elementary Virtues for curing Diseases must have been found in it which are found in other ordinary Medicines Those notwithstanding excepted which used without Art do hurt such as are Purgative Virtues which given unseasonably and to a Healthy Man bring no small Harm § 30. I say seventhly According to the same Opinion which affirms the Tree of Life was not an adequate Cause of Immortality but that the Supra-ordinary Providence of God was necessary to avoid the Harms of External Causes according to this Opinion I say it is not necessary to grant a Resistive Quality in the Tree nor it may be other Qualities which might preserve the Elemental ones of the Body in a necessary fixt Degree at least not so efficacious as wholly to resist all external altering Causes It is proved because the Supra-ordinary Providence of God had been sufficient § 31. But since from the Sacred Text it appears that Women in the State of Obedience should have been free from the Pains of Birth it seems worth our Enquiry Whether also the Qualities of the Tree of Life would have prevented the Pains of Birth in Women It seems to be more probably answered in the Affirmative First Because seeing the Wood would have averted all internal Causes of Death or also the external besides according to different Opinions and since it would have cured all preternatural Affections it must of necessity have been able to prevent and take away the Pains of Birth nor is there need of any greater Reason why it should take away these than others § 32. Secondly Because there are Medicines found naturally which by means of Supra-elementary occult Qualities do wonderfully allay the Pains of several Parts and preserve a Man from them as a Wolf's Liver against the Pain of the Liver as Galen g testifies and that famous Stone which may deservedly be called Nephritick brought from the West Indies vulgarly called de la hijada as Monardes h testifies which tied to the Arm both takes away Nephritick Pains and preserves a Man from them as also doth a certain Wood of the same Name which I have sometime seen described by the same Author Therefore it is credible that in this Wood which had admirable Virtues for all Preternatural Affections these also were not wanting which might preserve from Pains of Birth especially seeing it makes for the Conservation of Life as a Reward of Obedience to which purpose in the primary intention it was created § 33. But what way did it perform this Work It may be doubted For the Cause of the Pains of Birth is the breaking of those Bonds that tye the Child to the Womb which being a violent and sudden Solution of Continuity it necessarily causeth Pain Wherefore that the Tree of Life may prevent these Pains it is necessary that it either stupefy the Sense in those Parts as Narcotick Medicines do or so mollify and dispose the Ligaments whereby the Child is knit to the Womb as Anodyne Medicines do that without violence they might be separated from the Parts of the Womb or that it regulate the Faculties of the Womb after such a manner that they work that Separation by little and little without Trouble For only a violent Passion which is preternatural when it is done much together and speedily causeth Pain but what is done by little and little escapes Sense as Galen i expresseth it Another Way may also concur viz. Because in that State the Wood of Life would join with and assist the Powers that they might perform most perfect Actions Therefore it would concur with the Touch that it might feel most perfectly wherefore a depraved Sensation could not be in which Pain might formally consist although the Object or Cause of Pain were present § 34. But you will object Either this Wood would have taken away the Pains of Birth in the State of Innocence or in the State of Lapsed Nature Not in the first because it appears from the Sacred Text that in it Woman would have had no Pains in Birth Not in the Second because from the Sacred Text also it appears that they must necessarily suffer Pains for a Punishment of Sin Therefore it would take away Pains in no State I answer that both in the State of Innocence and in the State of Lapsed Nature this Wood would have been good against the Pains of Birth if it had been eaten In the State of Innocence because by it Women would have been preserved from Pains and by means of it would have obtained what was owing to that State And in the State of Lapsed Nature because therefore God cast Woman with Adam out of Paradise lest she should enjoy the Good due to Innocence and the Reward promised for Obedience and by consequence Eternal Life and lest she should obtain Immunity from the Pains of Birth by Eating of this Wood. a Suar. in Met. disp 42. sect 4. n. 8. b Vasq. tom 1 2. ad q. 21. disp 78. c. 3. n. 21. c Auth. quaest vet nov Testam q. 19. d Gal. 7. meth cap. 13. lit C. e D. Thom. 1. p. q. 96. art 3. f Gal. lib. 1. de causis sympt cap. 6. g 8. local cap. 8. F. h Monardes 1. p. c. propr i Gal. 1. de causis sympt cap. 6. DOUBT VII After what manner would the Resistance of Qualities defend that Mans Body who eat of the Tree of Life from all External Causes that could hurt it § 1. ALthough the present Doubt be already resolved together with the foregoing Yet since all these things are new which we have alledged for the Preservation of Man from Death by the Qualities of the Wood of Life and that those are more hard to be known which should naturally defend him from the extrinsick Causes of Death and seeing they are not sufficiently declared as the Difficulty of the thing requires I accounted it very necessary more
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
Sleep want of it 33 Snake 117 121 Soil 57 Sparrows 139 151 Spike Celtick 97 Spikenard 146 Spitting 32 Stagg's heart its bone 21 70 76 Strength its infirmity 34 Succinum 155 Sulphur 79 Sun 59 Sweat 61 116 145 T TAst â—7 Tavern-haunters 113 Terra Sigillata 28 Toil of Body and Mind 3 Touching of cold things 79 Treacle 122 Tree of knowledge 111 Trifera 79 85 V VApors 38 Veal 150 Vegetables 56 Venus 78 102 Viper 21 its preparation 114 1â—5 its property 115 116 when and how to be taken 117 118 its number of teeth description conception and birth 120 121 Virgin 99 100 101 109 110 111 Virtue may be separated from its body 17 18 Vnction 61 Vnderstanding when rational 40 Vsefulness of the Treatise 134 W WAshing 79 Water 78 Water-Melons 91 Wax 125 Wheat 78 Wine 54,57,103,104,105,106,107,112 Wiping 79 World its age 1 6 Worts 140 X XYloaloe 145 Y YOuth how preserved 95 how recovered ibid. THE CURE OF Old Age c. CHAP. I. Of the Causes of Old Age. AS the a World waxeth old b Men grow old with it not by reason of the Age of the World but because of the great Increase of living Creatures which infect the very Air that every way encompasseth us and Through our c Negligence in ordering our Lives and That great d Ignorance of the Properties which are in things conducing to Health which might help a disordered way of Living and might supply the defect of due Government From these three things namely Infection Negligence and Ignorance the Natural Heat after the time of Manhood is past begins to diminish and its Diminution and Intemperature doth more and more hasten on Whence the Heat by little and little decreasing the Accidents of Old Age come on which Accidents in the very Flower of Age may be taken away and after that time may be retarded as also may that â—wift Course which hurries a Man from Manhood to Age from Age to Old Age from Old Age to the broken strength of decrepit Age be restrained For the Circle of a Man's Age grows more in one day after Age to Old Age than in three days after Youth to Age and is sooner turned from Old Age to decrepit Age than from Age to Old Age. Which Weakness and Intemperature of Heat is caused two ways by the Decay of Natural Moisture and By the Increase of Extraneous Moisture For the Heat exists in the Native Moisture and is extinguished by external and strange moistness which flows from weakness of Digestion as Avicenna in his first Book in his Chapter Of Complexions affirms Now the Causes of the dissolution of the Internal Moisture and of the External's abounding whence the Innate Heat grows cool are many as I shall here show First of all the Dissolution of the Natural happens from two Causes One whereof is the circumambient Air which dries up the Matter And the Innate Heat which is inward very much helps towards the same For it is the Cause of extinguishing it self by reason it consumes the matter wherein it subsists as the Flame of a Lamp is extinguished when the Oyl exhausted by the Heat is spent The second Cause is the toil proceeding from the Motions of Body and Mind which otherwise are necessary in Life To these accrue Weakness and Defect of Nature which easily sinks under so great Evils as Avicenna witnesseth in his first Book Of Complexions of Ages not resisting those imperfections that invade it Now The Motions of the Mind are called Animal when the Soul especially is exercised The Motions of the Body are when our Bodies are tossed and stirred of necessary Causes ill proportioned External Moisture increaseth two ways either from The use of Meat and other things that breed an unnatural and strange Moisture especially Phlegmatick whereof I shall discourse hereafter or from Bad Concoction whence a feculent and putrid Humour differing from the nature of the Body is propagated For Digestion is the Root of the Generation of unnatural and natural Moisture which when it is good breeds good Moisture when bad a bad one as Avicenna saith in his fourth Canon of his Chapter Of things which hinder grey Hairs For from wholesome Food ill digested an evil Humour doth flow and of poysonous Meats and such as naturally breed a bad Humour iâ— well digested sometime comes a good one But it is to be observed that not only Phlegm is called an extraneous Humour but whatever other Humour is putrid Yet Phlegm is worse than the other external Humours in that it helps to extinguish the Innate Heat two ways either By choaking it or By Cold resisting its Power and Quality so Rasy in his Chapter Of the benefits of Purging Which Phlegm proceeds from faults in Meats negligence of Diet and intemperature of Body so that this sort of external Moisture increasing and the Native Moisture being either changed in Qualities or decayed in Quantity Man grows old either In the accustomed course of Nature by little and little and successively when after the time of Manhood that is after forty or at most fifty Years the Natural Heat begins to diminish Or Through evil Thoughts and anxious Care of Mind wherewith sometimes Men are hurt For Sickness and such like evil Accidents dissolve and dry up the Natural Moisture which is the Fewel of Heat and that being hurt the force and edge of the Heat is made dull The Heat being cooled the Digestive Vertue is weakned and this not performing its Office the crude and inconcocted Meat putrefies on the Stomach Whereupon the external and remote parts of the Body being deprived of their Nourishment do languish wither and dye because they are not nourished So Isaac in his Book Of Fevers in the Chapter Of the Consumption doth teach But it may be queried What this Moisture is and in what place it is seated whereby the Natural Heat is nourished and which is its Fewel Some say that it is in the Hollow of the e Heart and in the Veins and Arteries thereof as Isaac in his Book Of Fevers in the Chapter Of the Hectick But there are Moistures of divers kinds in the Members which are prepared for Nourishing and to moisten the Joints Of which Humours may be that is one which is in the Veins and that another which like Dew is reposed on the Members as Avicenna saith in his fourth Book in the Chapter Of the Hectick Whence perhaps the Wise do understand that all these Moistures are Fewel to the Native Heat But especially that which is in the Heart and its Veins and Arteries which is restored when from Meats and Drinks good Juices are supplyled and is made more excellent by outward Medicines such as Anointings and Bathings NOTES on CHAP. I. a This Year 1682. with the Astrologers is celebrated the Climacterick grand Conjunction of the highest Planets And Divines after St. Peter's Chronology do reckon that the Sabbatical Millenary is not far off nor without great reason
in kind which are reckoned necessary to fence preserve and keep the Body which things when they are observed and taken in Quantity and Quality as they ought and as the Rules of Physicians perswade do become the true Causes of Health and Strength But when they are made use of by any man without Regard had to Quality and Quantity they cause Sickness as may be gathered from Galen's Regiment with Haly's Exposition where he treats Of the Regiment of Health But exactly to find out the true Proportion of these Causes and the true Degree of that Proportion is very hardly or not at all to be done but that there will be some Defect or Excess therein Thus the Sages have prescribed more to be done than can be well put in practice For the Understanding is more subtle in Operation so that the true proportioning of these Causes seems impossible unless in Bodies of a better Nature such as now are rarely found But Medicines obscurely laid down by the Antients and as it were concealed whereof Dioscorides speaks do make up these Defects and Proportions For who can avoid the Air infected with putrid Vapours carried about with the force of the Winds Who will measure out Meat and Drink Who can weigh in a sure Scale or Degree Sleep and Watching Motion and Rest and things that vanish in a moment and the Accidents of the Mind so that they shall neither exceed nor fall short Therefore it was necessary that the Antients should make use of Medicines which might in some measure preserve the Body from Alteration and defend the Health of Man oft-times hurt and afflicted with these things and Causes lest the Body utterly eaten up of Diseases should fall to ruine Now for the benefit of your b Excellency I have gathered some things out of the Books of the Antients whose Vertue and Use may avert those Inconveniences this Defect and Weakness may defend the Temper of the Innate Moisture may hinder the Increase and Flux of Extraneous Moisture and may bring to pass which usually otherwise happeneth that the Heat of Man be not so soon debilitated But the Use of these things and Medicines is of no use nor any thing avails them that neglect the Doctrine of the Regiment of Life For how can it be that he who either is ignorant or negligent of Diet should ever be cured by any pains of the Physician or by any Virtue in Physick Wherefore the Physicians and Wise men of old time were of opinion That Diet without Physick sometimes did good but that Physick without due order of Diet never made a man one jot the better Thence it is reckoned more necessary that those rather should be treated of which cannot be known unless of the Wise and those too of a quick Understanding and such as study hard and take a great deal of pains than those things which are easily known even as a man reads them As for my own part being hindred partly by the Charge partly by Impatience and partly by the Rumours of the Vulgar I was not willing to make Experiment of all things which may easily be tryed by others but have resolved to express those things in obscure and difficult terms which I judge requisite to the Conservation of Health lest they should fall into the hands of the unfaithful One of which things lies hid in the c Bowels of the Earth Another in the d Sea The Third e creeps upon the Earth The Fourth lives in the f Air The Fifth is g likened to the Medicine which comes out of the Mine of the Noble Animal The Sixth comes out of the h long-liv'd Animal The Seventh is that whose Mine is the i Plant of India I have resolved to mention these things obscurely imitating the Precept of the Prince of Philosophers to Alexander who said that He is a Transgressor of the Divine Law who discovers the hidden Secrets of Nature and the Properties of things Because some men desire as much as in them lies to overthrow the Divine Law by those Properties that God has placed in Animals Plants and Stones But some of these things stand in need of Preparation Others of a careful Choice Of Preparation lest with the healthful part Poyson be swallowed down Of Choice lest among the best those things that are worse be given and those that are more hurtful be taken For in whatsoever thing the most High GOD hath put an admirable Vertue and Property therein he hath also placed an Hurt to be as it were the Guard of the thing it self For as he would not have his Secrets known of all lest Men should contemn them so he would not have all Men be Adepti lest they should abuse their Power As is manifest in the Serpent Hellebore and Gold From which no man can fetch any noble or sublime Operation unless he be wise skilful and have of a long time experienced them Besides wheresoever GOD hath placed such as unspeakable Vertue he hath added a certain Similitude that every Man who is of a clear and vivacious Wit and Understanding may conceive its Operation For most things act what they are said to act either by their Form or their Matter or their Essence or their Heat by their Durability and long Keeping or by Corâ—uption For that preserves another thing which is long preserved it self and that corrupts another thing which is quickly corrupted it self and it acts that thing according to whose Similitude it is denominated or like as it is formed And this is a Secret which our l First Parents wholly kept secret and to these our very times still remains secret But we must m observe that in some of the aforesaid things and Medicines the Virtue may be separated from its Body as in all Medicines made of Plants and Animals From some it cannot be separated as from all those things that are of a thick Substance as Metals and what things soever are of the kind of Stones as Coral Jacinths and the like And these are to be subtilly powdered in the last degree and this properly agrees with our Intent that iâ— may come to its proper end of Elongationâ— as Avicenna saith in his second Canon Oâ— the judgment of Medicines that are outâ—wardly applyed But this Powdering cannot be made in Metals except by Burning Which Avicenna affirms in his Chapter Of the Leprosâ— concerning the Preparation of Gold anâ— Silver and in his fifth Canon where Consectio Hyacinthi is shewn But certain other Men have given Ruleâ— how to dissolve Medicines of thick Substance as Aristotle saith according to Isaâ—â— in his Degrees in his Canon Of Perl speaking thus I have seen certain Men dissolvâ— Perl with the Juice and Liquor whereâ—â— Morphews being washed were fully oâ—red and made whole But in Medicines which are mixt to theâ— Plants and Animals a Separation of thâ— Virtue from the Body it self may be madeâ— And their Virtue and Matter will operaâ—â— stronger and better alone than
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
Benedictus Pereira e and consequently all those who affirm that this Tree could not give Immortality § 2. It is proved first Because that Tree prolonged Life in as much as it repaired the Radical Moisture and Substance of the Body that was wasted as perfect as it was and reduced the Body to the best Temper and Constitution if they were lost and greatly strengthened the Native Heat whether it did this materially being converted into the Substance of the thing nourished and as it was Aliment as also by Qualities manifest or occult as a Medicine or by all these ways But all these good Properties in Tract of Time would grow remiss and be extinguished both by the Rëaction of other Meats and also by reason of the injuries of external Causes which in the State of lapsed Nature would frequently have occurred as likewise by the Rëaction of the Tree it self which would necessarily have been even in the State of Innocence Therefore it would have been necessary that at several Intervals the Tree should have been taken again that it might repair again the lapsed Constitution of the Body and that by this means Old Age and Death might be kept off and Life might remain to Eternity § 3. Secondly Because that Tree was corruptible when it was turned into the Substance of the thing nourished Therefore the Substance also that was generated of it would have been corruptible Therefore it was necessary that again and again it should be repaired by taking of that Wood. And it is confirmed § 4. First Because whatever is generated is corrupted But a Body is generated of that Wood for Nutrition is also a certain Generation in respect of the Parts lost Therefore a Body nourished by that Wood would have been corrupted § 5. It is confirmed secondly Because Aristotle f from thence proves against Hesiod and other Poets and Gentile Divines of his Time that the Gods cannot be rendred immortal by taking of Nectar and Ambrosia Because whatever is nourished must of necessity be corruptible and mortal But the Body would have been nourished by the Tree of Life Therefore according to Aristotle's Doctrine it would have necessarily been and remained corruptible and mortal Therefore the Repetition of the eating of the Tree was necessary to prevent Mortality Nor does it avail if you say the Body was made incorruptible by the Qualities received from the Tree I say it doth not avail Because if these Qualities could not make the Wood it self incorruptible how could they make another Body incorruptible § 6. Thirdly If the Wood once taken had rendred the Body impatible it would have followed that if a Child had taken it he could not grow further nor could Old Men grow young again nor sick Men grow well but would have remained in the same State for ever But this is false Therefore the other also The Major is proved because a Body rendred impatible cannot be nourished nor any way altered Therefore the Body would always abide in that state in which the Wood once taken rendred it impatible § 7. Nevertheless there are firmer grounds for the Affirmative Part and the Fathers above-cited in the third Doubt for the Opinion which asserts That this Tree could give Life eternal do hold this such as Irenaeus Hilary Nazianzen Hierome and others there cited of which Opinion the Interlineary Gloss seems to be when it affirms that this Wood was not to be taken but at that Time when the Just were to pass to the State of the Blessed which seems for no other Cause but that they might be made eternal by the Tree Whence that one eating had been sufficicient Rupertus g expresseth this Opinion when he saith In no wise as some do suppose was the Tree necessarily to be frequented as a Pass-port of perpetuating Life But it being once taken the Body would have lived for ever Theodoret h is of the same Opinion § 8. This is effectually proved from the very Text of Holy Writ Lest perhaps he put forth his hand and take also of the Tree of Life and eat and live for ever But if a Man having once taken of the Tree did not remain eternal it would have little mattered that he had taken it once or oftener and had lived for many Years when yet at what time soever he should be cast out and deprived of the eating of that Tree he would have been subject to Death and have suffered the Punishment of Disobedience Therefore it is manifest that once taken it would have sufficed for Eternity § 9. And it is confirmed by observing with Rupert the also and the perhaps For these Words suppose that as Adam took of the Tree of Knowledge and as he took of the Fruits of other Trees so he might also take of the Tree of Life not indeed knowingly but fortuitously lest therefore he once taking by chance of this Tree should be made eternal he was to be cast out before he touched it Therefore once tasted it was sufficient for Eternal Life and not only for living some long Time The Argument is corroborated For why with so great diligence and speed did God drive Man out of Paradise and why did the Angel keep the Way with a Flaming Sword There seems no other Reason unless because perhaps before his Going out or perhaps Returning after his Exit if he had tasted of the Tree he might have been made eternal otherwise there had been no need to use such Care for though he had eaten sometimes before his going out or had after returned to eat being driven out again he had been subject to Death § 10. It is proved secondly Because in the state of Innocence as Thomas i affirms there might have been actual Sins Therefore there would have been some bad Men who might have killed others even the Just by Wounds Poyson or by Hunger and Privation of Air Therefore unless the Just were altogether fenced by once eating of the Tree they might be subject to Death and there might be danger lest the Innocent should be deprived of their due Privilege which ought by no means to be For what easier way could there be to kill a just Man than to hinder him that he could not come to the eating of the Tree of Life or to keep him so long from eating thereof that he should be consumed of Old Age § 11. It is proved thirdly Because that Tree as the Assertors of the contrary Opinion do confess was corruptible Therefore it would sometime fail especially when as seems to be inferred from Holy Writ there was only one Tree nor doth it appear whether others could be propagated or planted of its Seed Therefore although Men should eat thereof yet if the Repetition of it were necessary they could not live for ever § 12. Fourthly Because as S t Chrysostome k saith It pleased the Lord these are his very Words that Man made by Him and living in Paradise should have a certain Meditation of Obedience and
amply to explain them to the end the strength of those things which may be objected to the Contrary may more easily be broken and the Truth may be more open and clear § 2. External Causes therefore that bring Diseases and Death which must have been resisted by the Qualities of this Fruit are of two kinds For some are altering others are locally moving or impressing an Impulse It is proved for among Philosophers Accidental Mutation is only twofold that is one to Quality another to Place I pass by Mutation as to Quantity because since Quantity is never produced de novo as the more probable Opinion saith this is not a true Mutation § 3. And of the Altering Causes some move to the Manifest Elemental Qualities and others to the Occult. The first are all those things which can produce Elemental Qualities first or second and by this means vitiate and overthrow the Temper of the Body from whence various Diseases and Death do follow The second are especially all Poysons which introducing Occult Poysonous Qualities into the Body waste Mens Strength and take away Life § 4. And the Causes moving locally are also of a twofold Difference For either they move the Humors of the Body as Medicines Purging provoking Urine Sweat and Womens Courses which by reason of their unseasonable or superfluous or other preternatural Motions can also cause Diseases and Death Or they impress such an impulse upon the Members of the Body that they dissolve natural Continuity or change the Situation of the Parts whereon do follow Diseases in Conformation viz. in Magnitude Figure and Site and consequently Death it self which the Fruit of Life was obliged to avoid averting all these Causes § 5. But beside these Causes which produce positive Effects others also may be considered which produce other if I may so call them privative Effects and consequently bring Death For seeing the Body of a Living Creature that it may live doth stand in need of certain Matters whereby the lost Substance may be repaired such as are Meat Drink and Air what things soever can deprive it of these Matters without doubt will cause Death that is things causing Hunger Thirst Want of Air or Suffocation § 6. These Causes being declared which coming from without can bring Diseases and Death now it follows that we explain according to the Opinion that affirms the Wood of Life was an adequate Cause of Immortality what way it could hinder them Which thing indeed since it seems altogether difficult or rather impossible this Opinion is exploded by many who have recourse to the Supra-ordinary Providence of God But for its Defence § 7. It is to be observed first That the Virtues of the Tree of Life would not so keep off external offending Causes that most of them could not approach the Body nor that the Body should abide beyond the Sphere of their Activity for Example They would not hinder the Fire to approach Mans Body nor a Mad Dog to touch it nor any other Poyson to be swallowed down As neither would they hinder the Defect of Meat Drink or Air For it is manifest it was not in the Power of the Wood to do this Yet the Virtues of the Wood would hinder that the aforesaid Causes could not produce their positive Effects upon the Body to wit that the Sun or Fire should not heat the Body or the Sword or a Stone should not dissolve Continuity by their Blow or otherwise move the Parts of the Body contrary to their Nature and so of other things And in like manner the said Virtues would preserve a Man that he should not perish by Privation of Meat Drink or Air. I said that most of them should not approach the Body for we shall afterwards prove that it was possible for Virtue to be extended from the said Wood to a certain Space without the Body of Man in which it might hinder those things which moved to Hurt from moving farther or reaching to the Body § 8. It is to be observed secondly The Wood of Life would defend Man's Body from external Causes producing Elemental first or second Qualities by those occult Qualities which would produce other Elemental ones proportionate and natural to the Body in a certain Degree so fixt that they could be remitted by no other even the most violent external or internal Cause as we said before in the last Doubt And as by these the Body would have been preserved from the mutual immoderate Rëaction of the Parts among themselves and from the Rëaction of the Aliment so also the Body ought to be defended from the Action of external Causes It is effectually proved Because these would have sufficed to resist all Alterative Agents both internal and external § 9. But you will object Two Degrees of Cold for Example which are necessary and proportionate to the Health of the Body of Man cannot naturally resist eight Degrees of Heat of Fire applied next to it seeing the Action would necessarily follow the stronger Side Therefore it is impossible according to Nature that the Temper of the Body should endure in these two fixt Degrees after the application of the Fire but that it should be removed from them and part be burned And it is confirmed Because between equal contrary Agents nay between unequal ones there is mutual Repassion as Experience shews and it is the common Doctrine of Philosophers Therefore the inferior Agent ought to re-suffer from the stronger that which resists with only two Degrees of Cold from the Action of the Superior acting at the Rate of eight Degrees of Heat § 10. I answer By distinguishing the Antecedent Two Degrees of Cold considered in themselves according to their formal Resistence and Activity are not able to resist eight Degrees of Heat so I grant the Antecedent But considered according to the Activity of their Cause producing them I deny it For their Efficient Cause that is the Quality of the Wood produceth them with that Efficacy and hath such Influence on their Production that they cannot be remitted by any other the most violent Agent Which Answer is according to the Doctrine of Suarez a as afterwards we shall declare For this Resistence is not considered as Active on the part of the Activity of the Degrees of Cold themselves or as Passive on the part of their Formality so much as for the Efficacy and Activity wherewith they are produced by their Cause And for this Reason the Rest of the Qualities of the Temperament do resist being preserved by the Qualities of this Wood that they can never be remitted by their Contraries Which I prove effectually If God by himself alone that is by his actual Concurrence will produce these two Degrees of Cold and preserve them although eight Degrees of Fire were applied yet they could not be remitted if God did not desist from his Concurrence for the reason why they are corrupted when a hot Agent comes is because God in presence of