Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	body_n	live_v	soul_n	18,183	5	5.6210	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34395	The principles of the most ancient and modern philosophy concerning God, Christ and the creatures ... being a little treatise published since the author's death, translated out of the English into Latin, with annotations taken from the ancient philosophy of the Hebrews, and now again made English / by J.C., Medicinæ Professor.	Conway, Anne, 1631-1679.; Crull, J. (Jodocus), d. 1713?	1692 (1692)	Wing C5989; ESTC R8533	67,596	178

and Inclination which before in the Humane Body it had not it necessarily follows that the Body which this Vital Spirit forms will be Brutal and not Humane for the Brutal Spirit cannot produce and form any other Figure Because its Plastick Faculty is governed of its Imagination which it doth most strongly imagine to its self or conceive its own proper Image which therefore the External Body is necessarily forced to assume § 8. HEREIN the Justice of God marvellously appears whilst he assigns to every Kind and Degree of Transgression its due and proper Punishment neither doth he sentence every Sin and Transgression to Hell-Fire and the Punishment due unto Devils for Christ hath taught the contrary in that Parable where he sheweth the Third Degree only is Doom'd to Infernal Punishment viz. if one say to his Brother Thou Fool What can be here objected against the Justice of God If it be said it doth too much lessen and disparage the Dignity and Nobility of Humane Nature to suppose the same with respect to Body and Soul convertible into the Nature of a Brute To this I Answer according to the common Maxim Corruptio optimi fit pessima The best Things by Corruption become the worst For seeing Man by his voluntary Transgression hath so exceedingly polluted and brought down his own Nature which was so Noble into a far worse State and Condition that the same could wax as vile and base in Spirit as the most unclean Beast or Animal so that he is become as subject to Earthly Concupiscences and Desires as any Beast yea is become worse than any Beast What Injustice will this be if God should also compel him to bear that Image outwardly in his Body into the which he hath inwardly transformed himself Or which thinkest thou is the worst Degeneration to bear the Image of a Beast in Spirit or in Body Certainly every one will say to be like a Beast in Spirit is far the greatest Degeneration and there is not one who is indued with true Nobility of Mind who will not confess that to be like a Beast inwardly is worse than to be like the same outwardly for to be one with him in Spirit is far worse than to be one with him in External Form and Figure of Body But if any one shall say this Punishment is too little for such a Man who hath lived all his Days a Brutish Life if after Death he shall only return to the State or Condition of some Beast let such know that the most just Creator and Maker of all Things is wiser than he and knows best what Punishment is due unto every particular Sin who hath also so most justly and wisely disposed all Things that no Man that lives carnally and after the manner of Beasts can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and so also the Doctrine of Christ expresly informs us that all Sins are not to be punished with the pains of Hell And that where the Treasure is there is the Heart also and the Spirit of Man Also if a Man is joyn'd or united with any Things that then he becomes unum quid or one with the same and that he that cleaves to the Lord is one with him in Spirit and he that cleaves to a Harlot is one Flesh with her Why then doth not he that cleaves to a Beast by the same reason become one with a Beast And so in all other cases For to whom any one yields himself in obedience the same is his Master so far as he obeys him as the Scripture saith Moreover also it is said With what measure soever ye mete the same shall be meted unto you As if it should have said All Kinds and Degrees of Sin have their proper Punishments and all these Punishments tend to the Creatures Advantage so that Grace prevails over Judgment and Judgment is turned into Victory to the Salvation and Restoration of the Creature For seeing the Grace of God is extended over all his Works Why should we think God a more severe and rigid Master to his Creatures than indeed he is Seeing this doth wonderfully obscure and darken the Glory of the Divine Attributes neither doth it beget a Love towards God and an Admiration of his Goodness and Justice in the Hearts of Men as it ought to be but the plain contrary § 9. FOR that common Notion of the Justice of God that every Sin how small soever it be shall be punished with Hell Fire and that without all end begets in Men an horrible Idea or Conception concerning God to wit as though he were a cruel Tyrant towards all his Creatures rather than a Gracious Father But if the lovely Image of God was more known unto Men such as indeed he is and manifesteth himself in all his Dispensations to his Creatures and if our Souls could inwardly feel and tast him viz. as he is Charity and Goodness it self and as he inwardly reveals himself by the Light and Spirit of Christ Jesus our Lord in the Hearts of Men then indeed and not till then would Men come to Love God above all things and acknowledge him to be beyond all the most Lovely Just and Merciful who may not punish all Sinners with an equal Punishment § 10. AND moreover also Why did he drown the old World with Water and hath purposed to destroy this with Fire Such as was that of Sodom but that he would show that for diverskinds of Sin divers sorts of Punishment are to be inflicted And that the old World was indeed wicked but that which is to be destroyed with fire is worse which for that reason will have the greater Judgment But the different nature of these transgressions for which those different punishments are prepared seem to consist in this that the sins of the old World were more brutish and carnal as the word of God doth seem to point out when he saith My Spirit shall not always strive with Man because he is become Flesh that is he is become perfectly Brutish or Bestial by obeying the desires of the Flesh So that unless this Generation had been cut off all Mankind except Noah and his Family in the succeeding Generation would have become Bestial which Evil God would prevent by drowning them with the Waters that by this Punishment they might be reduced from the Brutish Nature to the Nature of Men But the Sins of this World which like Sodom is to be destroyed with Fire se●●● their own Nature to be more like the Sins of Devils than any thing else viz. by reason of Craft Deceit Malice Hostility and Cruelty and therefore their proper Punishment is Fire which also is the Original Principle of those Noble Spirits so greatly degenerated and so they ought deservedly by the same to be restored and regenerated For what is Fire but a certain kind of imperfect Aethereal Substance shut up in combustible Bodies as we observe the same still to mount upwards and by reason of

Nature more near unto them and yet because he is more excellent than all other Productions which we call Creatures and that too in his own Nature Hence it is he is deservedly called the First Begotten of all Creatures and the Son of God rather than a Creature of God and his Production is rather a Generation or Emanation from God than Creation if the Word be taken in a strict sence although according to the larger sence and use of this Word he may be said to be created or formed as the Scripture somewhere speaketh of him But if the thing it self be duly understood 't is needless to contend about Words Yet nevertheless a Man's Son is rather said to be begotten of him than made or created by him Of an House or a Ship built or made by a Man we do not say it is his Son but his Work because his Son is the Living Image and Similitude of himself which cannot be said of an House or a Ship So this first Production of God ad extra or to without is more fitly and properly term'd his Son than a Creature because this is the Living Image of himself and is greater and more excellent than all Creatures Now it follows that the Son himself must be immediately present in all these that he may bless and benefit them And seeing he is that true Medium between God and the Creatures he must needs exist within them that so by his Operation he may stir them up to a Union with him And seeing he is the most excellent Production of God made ad extra or to without and the most perfect and express Image of him he must needs be like unto God in all his Attributes which without contradiction may be said to be communicated to him and so by consequence he must necessarily be Omnipresent Besides if he were not present in all Creatures there would wholly remain a Chasma or wide Gap between God and the Creatures where he was not which is absurd § 5. MOREOVER as he is Partaker of the Immutability of God and the Mutability of Creatures and so a Medium between that which is altogether unchangeable and that which is altogether changeable as partaking of both so also he may be said to be a Partaker of Eternity which is proper to God and Time which is proper to Creatures and albeit it be said in the precedent Chapters that nothing interceded between Eternity and Time or between the Creatures and the Will of God which created them Time and Creatures are there to be taken in a larger sence viz. with respect to all the Productions of God made ad extra So that this Middle Being is as well there comprehended as the rest Neither can we conceive this Middle Being to be before Creatures in Time but only in the order of Nature so that indeed nothing of Time strictly taken hapned between the Creatures and the All-Creating Power and Will of God that created them § 6. BUT if by Time according to the common signification of the Word we understand a succedaneous increase or decrease of Things according to which they grow and increase unto a certain pitch or period and then again fail from it until they die or are changed into another State or Condition of Life in this sence it may be positively affirmed that neither this Middle Being or any Creature perfectly united with the same are subject to Time or the Laws thereof for the Laws of Time reach but unto a certain Period or Age and when that Period is compleated then those things which are subject to Time decay and are consumed and so die and are changed into quite another Species of Things according to that old Saying of the Poet. Tempus edax rerum tuque invidiosa vetustas Omnia destruis Which may be thus Englished Thus spiteful Age and Time that eats up Things All Things consumes and to Destruction brings And for this Reason Time is divided into Four Parts according to the Age of a Man living in this World which is Infancy Youth Manhood and Old Age even until Death so that all things which are bounded with Time are subject unto Death and Corruption or are changed into another Species of things as we see Water changed into Stones Stones into Earth and Earth into Trees and Trees into Animals or Living Creatures But in this most excellent Middle Being is neither Decay or Corruption nor to speak properly hath Death any place in him He is a most powerful and effectual Balsam which can preserve all things from Death and Corruption which are joined to him or united with him so that here all things are perpetually new springing up fresh and green here is perpetual Youth without Old Age and here is the Perfection of Old Age to wit great increase of Wisdom and Experience without any imperfection of Age. But when Christ came in the Flesh and in that Body which he bare with him from Heaven for every created Spirit hath a certain Vehicle either Terrestrial Aereal or Aethereal as this was He took upon him somewhat of our Nature and by consequence the Nature of all Things because the Nature of Man hath in it the Nature of all Creatures whence also he is called the Microcosm which Nature having assumed in Flesh and Blood he sanctified that by that he might sanctifie all Things and so was as that little Leaven that changed the whole Lump He descended then within Time and for a certain space or period of his own accord subjected himself to the Laws of Time so as to endure great Torments even Death it self but Death did not long detain him for the Third Day he rose again and this was the end of all his Sufferings even of his Death and Burial viz. that he might Heal Cure and Redeem his Creatures from Death and Corruption which came upon them by the Fall and so at length hereby put an end to Times and elevate the Creatures above Times to himself where he abideth who is the same yesterday today henceforth and for ever without Decay Death or Corruption In like manner in his Spiritual and Internal Appearance in Man whereby he purposeth to Save Heal and Redeem the Soul he doth as it were after a certain manner subject himself to a kind of Death and Passion and so for a certain space submits himself to the Laws of Time that he might elevate the Souls of Men above Time and Corruptibility to himself wherein they receive Blessing and grow from one degree of Goodness and Vertue unto another in insinitum § 7. BY the same Reason those who are come unto a perfect Union with Christ are mounted up into a Region or Sphere of perfect Tranquility where nothing is seen or perceived to move or compel for although there exist the most swift and vehement Motions yet nevertheless because the same do so uniformly so equally and harmoniously move without the least contrariety or disorder they

gross but some parts become grosser and grosser and the other Corporeal Parts of this Spirit which are its immediate Vehicle and wherewith it is most intimately united retain a certain Tenuity or Subtilty without which the Spirit could not be so moveable and active as otherwise it would and with these subtiler and more tenuious Parts of the Body the principal Spirit together with its ministring Spirits so many of them as it can possibly gather together departs out of those thicker Parts of the Body which it leaves as so many cadaverous Bodies which are no longer fit to serve the said Spirits in those Operations which they exercise in their present State And we may observe this departure of the subtiler and stronger Spirits out of the harder and grosser parts of the Body into the more soft and tenu●ous in a certain Spirituous Liquor which is congealed with great cold where the stronger Spirits forsaking the harder Parts which are outward and chiefly exposed to the cold do gather themselves into the middle Part of the Body which is always subtile and thin so that one only drop of that Liquor which is not congealed but remaineth still liquid in the innermost Part of the congealed Body hath in it the augmented force of all those Parts which are congealed so that here is a two fold grossness and hardness of Bodies the one palpable and visible to our External Senses the other invisible and impalpable which nevertheless is as gross as the other yea often grosser and harder which may be truly perceived by the Internal Senses although the External Senses may be insensible thereof for the invisible and impalpable grossness or hardness is that which is proper to those Bodies which are so small that our External Senses cannot perceive them when nevertheless they are really exceeding hard yea harder than any Flint or Metal which we can handle with our Hands And out of these hard and small Bodies visible Waters are for the most part composed although they appear to us very soft fluid and tenuious by reason of the great Plenty of certain other subtile Bodies which continually agitate and move the said hard Particles so that Water seems to our gross Senses to be one thing Homogeneal Simple and Uniform although it consisteth of many Heterogeneous and Dissimilar or differing Parts more than many other Bodies and many of these Parts are exceeding hard and stony whence proceeds Gravel bubbling sorth and all other little Sands and Stones which have their Original and Birth from the Waters springing from the bottom of the Earth and when those little Stones or stony Particles of Water grow into visible Sand and Stones the same after some time do again lose this hardness and become more soft and tenuious than when they belonged to the Waters for Stones do rot and are converted into soft Earth and out of this proceed Animals so also Stones putrifying do often become Water again but this Water is of another Species than the former for one is petrefying the other mollifying as it is observed that from one Mountain in Helvetia two Kinds of Water flow one whereof being drunken breeds the Stone and the other is a proper remedy against it so that one Water is changed into a Stone and the other Water proceeds from that Stone whilst it is in Corruption and so it alters and loseth its former hardness And so from what hath been said may the better be understood how the Heart and Spirit of a Wicked Man may be said to be hard and stony because indeed his Spirit hath in it a real hardness such as is found in those little stony Particles of certain Waters when on the contrary the Spirits of good Men are soft and tender which internal softness and hardness of Spirits we may also really feel and every Good Man doth as sensibly perceive the same as the external hardness of gross Bodies is discerned by the outward touch but such who are dead in their Sins have not this sense of the hardness or softness of Good or Evil Spirits and therefore they call these only Metaphorical Speeches when indeed the Things are really so in a proper sence and that without any Figure § 2. THE Second Reason that created Spirits are convertible into Bodies and Bodies into Spirits I shall deduce from a serious and due consideration of the Divine Attributes from which as from a Treasury of Instructions may be manifested the Truth of all Things For seeing God is infinitely Good and communicates his Goodness infinite ways to his Creatures so that there is no Creature which doth not receive something of his Goodness and that very largely And seeing the Goodness of God is a living Goodness which hath Life Power Love and Knowledge in it which he communicates to his Creatures How can it be that any dead Thing should proceed from him or be created by him such as is mere Body or Matter according to their Hypothesis who affirm that the same is wholly inconvertible to any degree of Life or Knowledge It is truly said of one that God made not Death and it is as true that he made no dead Thing For how can a dead Thing depend of him who is infinitely Life and Charity Or how can any Creature receive so vile and diminutive an Essence from him who is so infinitely Liberal and Good that should partake nothing of Life or Knowledge nor ever be able to aspire to it no not in the least degree Hath not God created all his Creatures for this end that in him they might be Blessed and enjoy his Divine Goodness in their several States and Conditions But how can this be without Life or sense Or how can any Thing that wanteth Life enjoy Divine Goodness But we shall urge this Argument a little farther The Divine Attributes are commonly and rightly distinguished into communicable and incommunicable the incommunicable are that God is a Being subsisting by himself Independent Unchangeable absolutely Infinite and most Perfect The communicable are that he is a Spirit Life and Light that he is Good Holy Just Wise c. But now there are none of these communicable Attributes which are not living yea Life it self And because every Creature hath a Communication with God in some of his Attributes now I demand In what Attribute dead Matter hath it or a Body that is uncapable of Life and Sense for ever If it be said It agrees with God in Entity or that it is an Essence I Answer In God there is no dead Being whereof he is or can be Partaker Whence therefore shall this have its dead Essence Moreover the Entity or Being of a Thing is not properly an Attribute thereof but an Attribute is properly tale quid or something that is predicated or affirmed of that Being Now what Attributes or Perfections can be attributed to dead Matter which do analogically Answer to those which are in God If we diligently enquire thereinto we

and Body and although they are thus united yet they still remain different in Nature one from another and so cannot be changed one into another To this I Answer if every Body even the least hath in it the Spirits of all Animals and other Things even as matter is said to have in it all Forms Now I demand Whether a Body hath actually all those Spirits in it or potentially only If actually How is it possible that so many Spirits essentially distinct from Body can actually exist in their distinct Essences in so small a Body even in the least that can be conceived unless it be by intrinseck Presence which is not communicable to any Creature as is already proved For if all kinds of Spirits are in any even the least Body How comes it to pass that such an Animal is produced of this Body and not another Yea how comes it to pass that all kind of Animals are not immediately produced out of one and the same Body which experience denies for we see that Nature keeps her order in all her Operations whence one Animal is formed of another and one Species proceeds from another as well when it ascends to a farther Perfection as when it descends to a viler State and Condition But if they say all Spirits are contained in any Body not actually in their distinct Essences but only potentially as they term it then it must be granted that the Body and all those Spirits are one and the same thing that is that a Body may be turned into them as when we say Wood is potentially Fire that is can be turned into Fire Water is potentially Air that is may be changed into Air. Moreover if Spirits and Bodies are so inseparably united that no Body can be without a Spirit yea not without many Spirits this is certainly a great Argument that they are of one Original Nature and Substance otherwise we could not conceive why in so various and wonderful dissolutions and separation of Things they should not at length be separted one from another as we see the subtiler Things may be separated from the grosser But whence is it that when a Body is at length corrupted out of this Corruption another Species of Things is generated So out of Earth and Water corrupted proceed Animals yea Stones if they putrefie or rot pass into Animals So Dung or other putrefied Matter generates Animals all which have Spirits But how doth Corruption or Dissolution of Body tend to a new Generation and that indeed of Animals If it be said the Spirits of those Animals are as it were loosed from their Bonds and set at Liberty by this dissolution and that then they can form or fashion to themselves a new Body out of the aforesaid Matter by virtue of their Plastick Faculty Unto this I reply How did the Primitive Body so hold it Captive Was it because it was so hard and thick If so it will be manifest that those Spirits are nothing else but subtile Bodies because hardness and density of Body could imprison them that they could not pass out for if a Spirit could as easily penetrate the hardest Body as the softest and most fluid it could as easily pass out of the one as the other nor would there be need of Death and Corruption to a new Life or Generation therefore this kind of Captivity of Spirits in some kind of hard Bodies and their deliverance therefrom when the Bodies become soft affords us a manifest Argument that Spirit and Body are originally of one Nature and Substance and that a Body is nothing but a fixed and condensed Spirit and a Spirit nothing but a subtile and volatile Body And here is to be noted that in all hard Bodies as in Stones whether common or precious and so also in Metals Herbs Trees and Animals yea in all Humane Bodies there don't only exist many Spirits which are as it were imprisoned in those gross Bodies and united with them and therefore cannot flow forth or fly out into other Bodies until they have passed Death or Dissolution but also many other very subtile Spirits which continually flow from them and which by reason of their subtilty the hardness of the Body in which they lay hid cannot detain and these Spirits are the more subtile Productions or the Sutures of the grosser Spirits detained in the Body for although these are detained therein yet they are not idle in their Prison but their Bodies are as it were Shops for them to work out those subtiler Spirits which afterwards flow out in colours sounds odours tastes and divers other Powers and Vertues whence the gross Body and the Spirits therein contained are as it were the Mother of those subtiler Spirits who take the place of Children for Nature still works to a farther perfection of subtilty and spirituality even as this is the most natural Property of all Motion and Operation For all Motion wears and divides and so renders a Thing subtile and spiritual Even thus in Man's Body the Meat and Drink is first changed into Chyle then into Blood afterwards into Spirits which are nothing else but Blood brought to perfection and these Spirits whether good or bad still advance to a greater subtilty or spirituality and by those Spirits which come from the Blood we see hear smell taste feel and think yea meditate love hate and do all things whatsoever we do and from hence also cometh the Seed by which Humane Kind is propagated and hence especially proceeds the Voice and Speech of Man which is full of Spirits form'd in the Heart either Good or Evil as Christ hath taught That out of the Plenty of the Heart the Mouth speaketh and that a Good Man out of the Good Treasure of his Heart bringeth forth Good Things c. Also that which goeth into a Man doth not defile him but that which proceeds out of him for in like manner as they proceed from him so shall they again return into him § 6. AND these are the proper Angels or Ministring Spirits of a Man although there are other Angels also as well Good as Evil which come unto Men Of which Angels Christ speaketh where he speaketh of those little Ones that believe on him Their Angels saith he always behold the Face of my Heavenly Father Which are the Angels of those Believers who become as it were like little Infants § 7. MY sixth and last Argument I shall deduce from certain Texts of Scripture as well of the Old as New Testament which do prove in plain and express Words that all Things have Life and do really live in some degree or measure Acts 17. 27. It is said He giveth Life to all Things Again 1 Tim. 6. 13. of God it is said That he quickens all Things And Luk. 20. 38. he is not called The God of the Dead but of the Living which though principally meant of Men yet it is generally to be understood of all other Creatures viz.