Conscious Knowledg and Freedom of Will by a Revelation of the Light of the Object and also by an Illumination of the Sight of the Understanding and not only by a Moral Perswasion but also by a Divine Exaltation of the Will And thus Man being made such an Intelligent Creature had a Natural Capacity of being so Exalted toward God and becaus it was most Congruous that this Capacity should be filled and completed in and with the very Creation of his Soul which was made for this very End and which if it had not atteined God had made it in vain and so it had been made though not Sinfull yet Monstrous and not Perfect and Good therefore it is said expresly that he thus Created Man in his own Image that is this Image of Holines as well as in other respects and as I have shewed how every other Nature is Exalted by a Melior Natura which is Superior unto it in the Scale of Nature as Matter by Elementary Spirits and they by Vegetative and they by Sensitive and the Sensitive Spirit of Man by his Intellective so is his Intellective Spirit also Exalted by the Divine Spirit of God his Creator and as the Animal Spirits in his Body are so many times Refined and Sublimated to that hight as to be fitt Instruments of his Intellective Spirit by the Irradiation therof so is the Understanding and Will of Man thus Sublimated by the Irradiation of the Divine Spirit and as the Understanding and Will of Man when he was first Created did Perfectly Command and Rule his Imagination and Appetite and they did also Perfectly Obey with their own Natural Perception and Spontaneity so was the Soul of Man first Created thus Obedient and Conformable to the Divine Spirit most Knowingly and Willingly with its own Natural Intellection and Volition and thus as it is said God made Man Vpright and in his own Image which was that Aliquid Divinum in him whereby he was so made Deiformis or as Scripture more fully expresseth it Partaker of the Divine Nature by resolving himself into his Creator Intellectively Knowing and Willingly Loving God as God or as he is in himself and as he Loveth himself above all But I do not conceiv that this Life of Grace as it is also called the Life of God is so expressed by Spiraculum Vitarum for this History of Creation intendeth not Accidental but rather Substantial Lives as the Poet termeth them Inde Hoâ—inum Pecudumque genus Vitaeque Volantûm Also as Naturaly the Imagination and Appetiâ—e being in themselvs Perceptive and Spontaneous Facultys might Rebell against the Intellective and they did Actualy so Rebell in the Fall of Man so also though this Original Grace was so farr Supernatural there was still a Natural Capacity in his Intellective Understanding and Will which are in themselvs Naturaly Knowing and Willing Facultys to Rebell against the Divine Spirit who also if he pleaseth is Irresistible becaus he is God and they did Actualy so Rebell in his Fall whereby his Soul did sink down into Self and now hath not nor can it Naturaly have any Knowledg or Love of God above itself as I have shewed And this is that which the Scripture commonly calls Flesh as it is opposed to the Divine Spirit and the Supernatural Work therof in the Soul and so those two are said to be contrary one unto another and not only different so as the Corporeal Flesh of a Sensitive Body is distinguished from the Sensitive Spirit and so is termed the Flesh of Beasts Birds or Fishes nor as the whole Sensitive Compositum is sometimes distinguished from Intelligences as it is said that Horses are Flesh and not Spirit but as the whole Human Compositum both in the Sensitive and Intellective part therof is now Naturaly opposed to the Divine Spirit as I have shewed and so the Apostle saith The Natural Man or the Animal Man Naturaly receiveth not the things that are of God for they are Foolishnes unto him neither can he know them or conceiv and receiv them becaus they are Spiritualy discerned And all this may most plainly appear by the Renovation of this Divine Image by the Spirit of God which is called the New Creature and New Man which is renewed in Knowledg after the Image of him that Created him though I do not suppose it to be by any Proper Creation of any new Faculty or Power in the Soul but by Improper Creation that is by Supernatural Irradiation of the Divine Spirit such as the production of any Accidental Qualitys out of the first Chaos in the Six Days was by the Divine Power and wherof though there was an Entitative Potentiality before Created in and with the Substance and Subsisting and Latent therin yet it could not be produced into Actuality without the Immediate Power of the Divine Spirit as I have shewed and that therefore it is termed a Creation and is not as Natural Generation which is only production out of a second Chaos of Potentiality as I so term it by a Natural Power Transmitted and Delegated to the Specifical Creatures afterward by the Divine Benediction whereby they can so Generate others and so the Apostle also saith with an express reference to the very first of those Works of Improper Creation God who commanded the Light to shine out of Darknes hath shined in our Hearts to give the Light of the Knowledg of the Glory of God wherefore as that Light which first shined out of Eternal Darknes was so produced not by a Proper but Improper Creation as I have shewed and by such Improper Creation and not only by a Natural Generation as the Light of Fire or Candle is now Generated so is Regeneration the Immediate Work of the Divine Spirit not by Proper but Improper Creation and by such a Creation and not by Natural Generation as our Savior saith That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit And this work of the Divine Spirit in the Hearts of Men Regenerate is the Divine Life of the Soul thus being indued with this Divine Grace and so exalted far above not only the Sensitive but also the Naturaly Intellective and the whole Animal Life therof and so is termed the Life of God and this Regeneration of the Soul a Translation from Death to Life which is indeed a most Miraculous Work and though not any Proper Creation of any Substance or Faculty from Absolute Nonentity yet is an Improper Creation of the most excellent of all Created Qualitys as I have shewed And in this respect it is somwhat more that it requires a Conjunct Irradiation of the Divine Spirit continualy as the Diaphanous Air doth of the Light and Heat of the Sun which is wholy Supernatural And in a Spiritual Life or the Union and Communion of the Soul with God even the wisest of Philosophers have rightly placed the true Happiness of Man though they were ignorant
as we Abstract Universals from all Singulars and Particulars whereby we come to the Knowledg of Metaphysical Entity and Bonity so we also Abstract from him all that is Finite and thus know him to be Infinite the Incomprehensible Necessary and Universal Iehovah not only adequate to our utmost Apprehensions but vastly exceeding them and not only exceeding them but Infinitely Different from all that is or can be conceived of him God blessed for ever And this Knowledg of God who is the highest and greatest Object according to the utmost Capacity of a Finite Understanding and the Love of him who is the chief and only true Good is Naturaly in all men Explicitely or Implicitely becaus every Human Soul is capable therof and must acknowledg it as I have shewed which doth so enlarge it that all this World and a World of Worlds which are all Infinitely less then God can never satisfy it so that neither the Understanding nor Will of Man can Terminate in any other thing but only in God and heerby it plainly appears that though the Soul of Man be not Infinite as God only is yet it is most strangely and wonderfully Indefinite becaus nothing less then Infinite God can satisfie it Yet I suppose also that it is not Properly Indefinite as Possibility is which is adequate to Divine Omnipotence and wherof we cannot either in our Understanding or Will go to the utmost Extent Affirmatively yet certeinly Negatively nothing less then Absolute Possibility and Divine Omnipotence wherin it is founded can Terminate the Soul of Man which can invent other and more Worlds like Anaxagoras and wish to conquer and enjoy them like Alexander V. I may not omitt to speak of the Image of God in Man which is so Expresly mentioned and Emphaticaly repeated in the Text though as I said God being Infinite and Infinitely Different from all Finite Nature there is not nor can there be any thing like unto him in any Intuitive or Representative maner whatsoever as the Prophet saith To whom will ye Liken God or what Likenes will ye Compare unto him but only Demonstratively and Doctrinaly whereby an Intellective Spirit may know that there is such an Infinite Being as I have shewed and so the whole World and every Created Being therin doth prove him unto us Argumentatively though nothing can declare him Representatively and therefore God doth justly abhorr all such Representative Idolatry and is to be conceived only by an Intellectual Idea which is the highest and purest and only lawful Idolum of a Deity And thus as the Great World so Man as he is a Microcosm is such a Demonstrative Image of the Creator becaus he is a Collective and Representative Image of the whole Creation and he is so not only in his Intellective Spirit but also in his whole Compositum and therefore God pronounced Murder which is a violent Dâ—ssolution therof to be Capital for in the Image of God Created he Man And though Man in himself by his Intellective Spirit doth Govern and Rule over his Sensitive part and can rectify the Errors therof or restrain the Inordinate Motions therof whereby I have plainly proved it to be another Spirit in itself and distinct from the Sensitive Spirit in Man yet by his whole Compositum he doth Govern and Rule over all Inferior Creatures and therin he is the Image of God as it followeth in the Text and let them have Dominion and so Ovid well expresseth it Finxit ad Effigiem moderantûm cuncta Deorum and thus as I said Man was constituted Lord over the Works of his hands and made Gods Viceroy heer on Earth by a most Lawfull and Natural Sovereignty and accordingly God hath Crowned him with Glory and Honor and Invested him with Roial Power both in his Mind which is more Politike and Prudent and more Ingenious and Mechanical then any Brutes and also in his Body which is of an Erect and Sublime Stature and of a more Excellent Temper and Organism especialy his Hands whereby he can Use and Manage any other Instruments farr otherwise and to more advantage then they and as Man is Animal Politicum so Mankind by Conjunct Wisedom and Power doth Subdue all Wild Beasts and Nations of Brutes But the Intellective Spirit of Man is a more Special Image of God in itself as it is an Intelligence and hath in itself an Idea of Divinity and a Capacity of Loving and Enjoying God wherof all Inferior Natures are Incapable and indeed we may justly admire how a Finite Intellect should be in any maner capable of apprehending Infinite or of having any Communion or Conversation with God who is Infinite and this our very Subordination unto him is farr higher then our Sovereignty over all Inferior Creatures which as they were made to Serv us so also to Demonstrate and declare his Glory shining in them unto us who as Gods Stewards should gather in all the Revenues therof from them and Immediately return it unto himself wheras their Immediate Goodness and Perfection is thus to be Subordinate unto Man who by his more Divine Contemplations and Lawfull Use of them and his Glorifyng of God the Creator thereby doth Sanctify them and by his own Immediate Knowledg Love and Enjoyment of God his Creator is himself as it were Deified and indeed this is the true Spiritual Image of God in the Soul which is the highest Exaltation therof and such a Sublime Mystery as well deserveth a more particular Explication And first we must know that the Knowledge and Love of God as God must be above the Knowledge or Love of our very Self becaus God is Infinitely above us not only in himself but in Relation unto us as he is our Creator and we his Creatures whereby we are made wholy Subordinate unto him and not he unto us wherefore to Know or Love him in order to our Self is no true Knowledg or Love of God as God but Blasphemy and Impiety and yet as I have shewed Self is Naturaly the Begining of all our Knowledg and End of all our Love and no Man Naturaly can Know or Love God otherwise then in order to himself which is to make Self his God or his Chief and Supreme and God only to be Subordinate therunto nor can any Nature whatsoever Naturaly of itself ascend above itself as Water cannot ascend above its Levell otherwise Self should be more then Self which is Impossible Now wheras the Law of God commandeth us to Exalt him above ourselvs and to Love him with all our Valde in such a Transcendent and Supernatural maner we must also conceiv that he doth not command Impossibilitys but that there is a Natural Capacity in our Soul of being thus Exalted above our Natural Self which must be by a Supernatural Power so Exalting us and becaus it is the Exaltation of our Intellective Understanding and Will therefore it must not be only a Passive or Receptive Capacity but with a most
of such Supernatural Irradiation by the Divine Spirit and of Iesus Christ the Redeemer through whom only it is to be obteined Who is indeed The Brightnes of his Fathers Glory and exprâ—ss Image of his Person Infinitely and Incomprehensibly as he is the Essential Natural and most Univocal and Unigenous Son of the Father or the very Iâ—trinsecal Verbum Mentis Divinae who also hath Invested himself with the Human Nature as the Epitome of the Univers and which was therefore made such in order to him as I have shewed and so the Apostle stileth him both together The Image of the Invisible God and Firstborn of every Creature And as I said this very Consultation of the Trinity about the Creation of Man was in order unto Christ as there was afterward another Consultation of God about the Creation of Woman in order unto Man And it is also said Let us make Man in our Image after our Likenes as it is said of Adam that he begatt a Son In his Likenes after his Image both which Expressions are not Supervacaneously Impertinent but as there is a mutual Resemblance between any two Similar things so it is heer Doubly exprest and sometimes only Singly and Indifferently by Image or Likenes Now as there are Combinations between all Created Natures even Angels and Matter as I have shewed so the Image of Holines is the Combination or Communion between the most Spiritual Nature that is the Intellective and God the Creator But the most Admirable and Incomprehensible Combination is the Personal Union of Iesus Christ God Man both Creator and Creature in one Person Also Adam only was first Created Sole before Eve or any oâ—her as he alone was generaly like any other Man a Microcosm and as he was specialy and Personaly the Prototype of Christ who was to be a Man himself though he was the Seed of the Woman and though Woman also as well as Man being partaker of the same Human Nature was generaly made in the Image of God and so it is commonly Interpreted God Created Adam or Man according to his Kind In his own Image yet it is afterward repeated again more specialy and Personaly concerning Adam In the Image of God Created he him and then Male and Female Created he them and thus Christ is called both the Second Man generaly and the Second Adam Personaly and so the Apostle also expresly distinguisheth saying of Man that He is the Image and Glory of God but the Woman is the Glory of the Man and Christ the Head over all things to his Church even as the Man is of the Woman And thus all that was in the First Creation of Adam did prelude to Christ as I have said who is the only true Uncreated and Created Image of God both in his Essence and in his Operations VI. That there is a God and that the Soul of Man is Immortal are two Fundamental Points of Religion as I have shewed and as in my first Discours I proved the first so I shall now in this last prove the other and between these two comprehend all the rest the knowledge wherof is only in order to these great Ends of Man that is the Glory of God and his own Eternal Beatitude But though I have Mathematicaly proved a Begining and Creation of the World and consequently a Creator becaus the Univers which conteins all in one doth afford a Mathematical Medium whereby I might so prove it as I could also prove it Physicaly or Moraly and I rather chose that way of Probation becaus the Divine Wisedom which lays Natural Philosophy as a Foundation of Divinity doth thus offer the Begining as an Evidence of both and becaus some men who pretend most to Evidence require such Mathematical Demonstration which yet may not be exacted nor expected in the Probation of any thing that is not Mathematical as the Soul is not and which though it be Immortal yet is not indeed such in Present Actuality but only in Perpetual Futurity And as I have proved other Physical Theses Physicaly so I shall now prove this which concerns a Moral Creature Moraly according to the Nature of the Subject Matter when I have first explained what I intend by this Term Immortality the very Explication wherof as of any other Terms whereby Truth is presented in her own Naked Simplicity doth by the Aspect and Eradiation therof carry with it a very great Evidence of the Thing Now according to all my former Discourses it is not nor can it be any Question whether all Spirits whatsoever Elementary Vegetative or Sensitive as well as Matter be Immortal in their own Simple Essences Substances and Specifical Natures for they as such are Ingenerable and were Properly Created and therefore cannot be Corrupted and shall not be Annihilated but as their Composita were first Improperly Created or Originaly Generated and so are Successively Generable they are also Corruptible and so undeniably the Intellective Spirit as it is one Substantial Principle of the Human Compositum is also Incorruptible or Immortal Again as it is no Qâ—estion whether all Generable Composita be not also Corruptible so it cannot be denied but the Human Compositum of Body and Soul as it is Generated may also be Corrupted and so the Sensitive Vegetative and Elementary Spirits therof return into their Chaos which we call the Birth and Death of Men and so as the Human Spirit is Created it may also be Annihilated and the like but the true and clear State of the Question is Whether the Intellective Spirit of Man consydered in itself and without any Conjunction or Composition with his Sensitive Vegetative Elementary Spirits and Matter of his Body or any of them be Immortal or Mortal that is whether it can and doth as an Angelical Spirit continue Separate in its own Personal Individuality and Oeconomy after Death or the Dissolution of the Human Compositam which plainly is the Immortality of the Soul or like other Inferior Spirits when the Compositum is dissolved doth thereby and therwith also ceas to be such as it was before in itself Individualy and Oeconomicaly and so having no such Individuality or Oeconomy in itself Separately and without the Compositum but only in and with the whole Compositum is disolved together with it and the Substance therof return into the Dust as its own Element and Chaos wherin it was first Latent and there is Confounded and Coagulated with others out of which again not the same Individual and Oeconomical Spirit but another in a new Compositum may be Generated which is the Corruption or Mortality therof and such new production another Generation Now that the Intellective Soul of Man is not so Mortal or Corruptible but Immortal and Incorruptible is the purport of the whole Scripture becaus as I said it is a Fundamental Point of Religion and whosoever believs Scripture to be the Word of God may not nor can he deny it but he who