Essence or yet of the Operations of these Angels and Spirits Intellectual as a Doctrine less useful and necessary for Mans salvation than of the Nature of Man or God yet so much hath it imparted to her Disciples as may evidence by necessary consequence the truth of this Metaphysical Science of Natures Angelical the Fathers and Doctors of the Church having little varied in judgement from the Curiousest Naturalist and Philosopher in this point all concurring in this particular the School of Christ and School of Nature teaching one and the same thing without any grand Variation and dissenting The Creation of Angels though holy-Churches-creed is no where plainly pointed out in holy Writ otherwise than in the first daies Creation under that General notion of Heaven and Earth which may contain the whole host of Heaven so those words Genesis 1.1 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth are by most understood viz. by Heaven not onely it but all things therein contained as Angels and the like whose proper seat is Heaven which may seem to be thus also explicated by St. Paul Col. 1.16 For by him are all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth Visible and Invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions Principalities or Powers viz. four of the Orders of Angels further also by God himself in the 38 Chapter of Job saying where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth when the morning Stars sang together and the Sons of God shouted for joy that is to say the holy Angels who were created together with Heaven and Earth even in the beginning or morning of that first day as some have hence gathered Of all created substances some were created Visible Material Corporeal others were created Invisible Incorporeal Spiritual of their own Nature that the Angels are such created Invisible Incorporeal and Spiritual substances may be gathered out of the word of God David and Paul Prophet and Appostle both terming them Spirits and if Spirits then Invisible by Mortal eye and then Incorporeal at least as unto Humane or other natural body of their own Nature for so our Saviour hath resolved it saying a Spirit hath not flesh and bone as I have And the Schoolmen have decreed and concluded that Angels are meerly Spiritual and Incorporeal substances and no bodies or Corporeal Natures and with them agree the Fathers not a few though Origen and after him Saint Jerome would seem to maintain that Angels as oft as they sinned and fell away were thrust into bodies and there remained as a punishment unto them which opinion is exploded by all both Antient and Modern as savouring of Platonism more than Christianity Yet may we not deny but that Angels have been in bodily shapes and so seen and appeared unto our Fathers of old wherefore we must either grant unto them real bodies or that they did delude and deceive the Patriarches with Phantasms and meer Apparations which is not to be conceived of the holy Angels and therefore St. Bernard put a kind of necessity in it that Angels should have bodies otherwise how could they be ministring Spirits sent out to minister unto them who shall be Heirs of Salvation to men who yet live in the body how shall they perform this Ministerial Function of discoursing of walking and talking of eating and drinking and the like without a body all which notwithstanding Angels have done as sacred Writ accordeth But it may be objected if we do grant unto them true real Visible bodies then must we also grant them all motions and mutations incident to such Bodies to wit of Generation Corruption Augmentation Diminution Altricion alteration then such as may be borne fed and nourished may die may suffer and the like as other corporeall Creatures doe how then are they meerly Spirituall and of an Incorporeall nature To which may be answered First 1 Negatively negatively True humane bodies Angels have not humane nature no spirituall substance ever assumed except the Son of God the second Person in the ever blessed Trinity of whom it is said He took not upon him the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham and by whom it is verified A spirit hath no flesh and bone so no humane or fleshly Bodies are ascribed to Angels 2 Affirmatively Secondly affirmatively True reall bodies they have not newly generate created or begotten but assumed of Air and other Elements so condensate consolidate and contract together as that it may be seen felt touched c. Beyond the very nature of Air such a Body as is not essentiall but accidentall taken up for a time as we do put on our Cloathes and may be dissolved again at pleasure as soon as their Ministery is accomplish'd now such a Body is not subject to those Mutations of Generation Corruption and the like nor may it be said to die to suffer to feel o feed or the like as a humane Body may Thus is the nature of Angels Spirituall not carnall Incorporeall not corporeall and surpasseth the humane Nature in Understanding freedom of Will and externall Operations First in Understanding in regard of that Intuitive Vision they have of God per lumen Gloriae besidâ—s those superexcellent naturall Endowments Intellectual of seeing God per lumen naturae alwayes beholding his Face Vid. Hockers Eccles pol. 1. Sect. 4. fol. 53. as the Text expresseth they are so acquainted with the Mind and Will of God that Irrepercussa mentis acie divinorum judiciorum abyssum intuentur as St. Bernard hath it in comparison of which knowledge Angelicall all ours is but as that of Babes and Sucklings Out of whose Mouth notwithstanding God hath perfected his praise See Mr. Hooker his first book of Eccles pol. Sect. 6. fol. 56. or ordained strength as the Psalmist hath it here on Earth till such time as we grow up to perfect Man-hood to the measure of the fulness of the stature of Christ where shall be given to us little ones an equality of knowledge with the Angels to be like unto them who alwayes behold the Face of their Heavenly Father As touching their Freedom of Will and Power of working the Angelical far surpasseth the Humane Nature Bellarmine puts these differences betwixt them First in the Power and Rule over Bodies The humane Soul can onely move his own Body at his pleasure it cannot move others after the same sort Again the humane Soul moves its own Body upon the Earth in a slow motion step by step it hath not power to bear it upon the Water or elevate it above the Air or carry it whither it pleaseth but the Angels by the Power and Freedom of Will by the meer force of their spirit can lift up mighty Bodies and carry them whither they please Thus did an Angel take up Habacuc and in a short space brought him to Babylon with a Dinner for Daniel and carried him back again into the Land of Palestine Again
accidens but the first act of the body not Artificial nor Mathematical but of a Natural body nor of every Natural but that Natural body which is Organical and consists of many parts and members and this body Natural and Organical having life not actu sed potentia this is the Definition given by Aristotle in his book De anima where he also defines the soul to be that beginning by which we have life sense Lib. 2. ca. 1. Another Definition of the soul Lib. 2. c. 2. and understanding chiefly the which as it is a full and perfect definition of the Rational soul so take it disjunctively in it several parts and it will agree with the soul of Plants and of Beasts for the Soul of Plants is principium quo primò vivunt the soul of Beasts quo primò vivunt ac sentiunt the soul of Men quo vivunt sentiunt ac intelligunt primò the Soul is the beginning of life and Vegetation chiefly for when the soul is gone out of the body it ceaseth to live or grow any longer the soul is the beginning of Sense chiefly for the soul being absent the body is altogether insensible and the soul is the beginning of Understanding chiefly for the carcass or cadaver is voyd of understanding when the soul is departed out of the body And it is sayd chiefly because though the body Natural and Organical may be said to be the beginning of life sense and reason yet that is but Organically and Secondarily the Soul is the begining chiefly and primarily TotuÌ„ composituÌ„ dicatur principium ut quod cum sit illud quod agat forma vero principium ut quo cum agat beneficio formae instrumenta denique per quod cum per ipsa operetur Sennert These are the Definitions given by Aristotle the former being drawn from those things which are notiora secundum naturam though nobis ignotiora the latter from those things which are secundum nos notiora though secundum naturam ignotiora and those are the Effects and Faculties of the soul which are called the second act of the soul not the first act and are the companions associates of the soul neither of which do we reject but make use of both since in the subsequent Chapters we shall consider the soul not onely as it is principium corporis animalis tanquam forma or the act and perfection of a Natural Organical body which is according to the former Definition but as it is principium operationum tanquam eftrix as it is considered in the latter so making of two one Definition thus The Soul is the act the perfection and beginning of a Natural Organical body endued with life sense and understanding And now having traced thee O my soul from thy original the place and person à quo to the place and person ad quem from Heaven to Earth from God to Man and find thee clothed in humane nature I shall not raise a consideration from that close conjunction and mysterious union which is betwixt the soul and body flesh and spirit that being formerly couched in the first Chapter of this Book but finding thee seated in humane nature intombed and imprisoned in a body of flesh consider O my soul into what a body thou art come the body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Plato is quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the soul's prison and sepulcher a dungeon foul and noysom in materiâ primâ even in its first and best matter of which it is made slime and mud red earth and clay For God made man saith the Text of the dust of the ground And again Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return And again Behold I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord which am but dust and ashes And this first matter if we look into its original it was of meer nothing not of any other praeexistent matter for then it would not be materia prima It's true in the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth but as true not out of another Heaven and Earth but of meer nothing and thus much of the first matter of this body of flesh But if we look into the second matter this body of sinful flesh contracted by the fall of our first Parents what is it but sanguis menstruus worse than a menstruous cloth or polluted rag which is a thing so vile and filthy as cannot be expressed the eyes refusing to b hold and the hands to touch it and the mind abhorring to think of it into to such a dungeon art thou cast O my soul fettered and fast bound in the chains of carnal lusts and concupiscence having thy Understanding darkned and thy Will and reason captivated and scarce the essence and definition of a soul remaining in thee thy act being turned into power nay rather impotency and weakness thy perfection into much imperfection thy beginning of life into a beginning of death and misery There was a time when the soul of man enjoyed more immunities and though a prisoner as it were in the body yet as Joseph who was made ruler and overseer of the whole house and had the command of all in the prison and whatsoever was done there that did he The soul was not a captive to the flesh so long as man continued in his innocency but contrariwise had the care and command of all the body was subject to the soul the flesh unto the spirit the inhaerent justice in which man was created subjected the inferior and Sensual parts to the superior Intellectual faculty without the least predominancy at any time so long as the superior continued in obedience and subjection to God the body was obedient to the command of the soul but after that the soul had rebelled against God the body took occasion to rebel against the soul so that to this day there hath bin a continual civil war within us the law of our members warring against the law of our mind and bringing us captive to the law of sin which is in our members this is the miserable estate of mankind by nature that in the deep sense thereof we may all cry with Saint Paul O wretched creature that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death But stand thou still O my soul and see the salvation of our God seest thou thy self in the state of nature dead in trespasses and sinnes an heathen an alien from the Commonwealth of Israel without hope without God in the world There is a law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made thee free from the law of sin and death this Christianity teacheth to this Christian Religion not Heaâ—henish superstition leadeth There is a state of Grace which is Christian as well as a state of Nature corrupt and hea henish Rom. 6.14 they that are under this law sin hath power on but they that are under Grace sin shall have no power over Vnto this state
thoughts or envious malitious thoughts or they be thoughts of gluttony and excess or thoughts of lust and carnal concupiscence or the like Let the mind and Memory be replenished with such pious Meditations and holy Contemplations the thoughts of the World will find no admittance Intus existens prohibet alienum where the strong man armed keeps the house the enemy dares not enter and whilst the soul is armed with the commemoration of Gods blessing it will not open the door to the temptations of Satan or lust of the Flesh but say with Joseph Behold my Master hath committed all into my hands and there is none greater in this house than I neither hath he kept any thing from me but thee Gen. 39.8 9. how then shall I doe this great wickedness and sin against God Praise then the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits which forgiveth all thy sin and healeth all thine infirmities call to mind the loving kindness of the Lord and have them in everlasting remembrance exercise thy Memory with such heavenly meditations as may build thee up unto eternal life for this will be thy companion for ever whether in weal or in wo it dieth not with the body but is immortal as thou thy self the rest of the faculties may sleep for a while with the body but this survives to perpetuity This is that Intellectual Memory or Recordation which none but reasonable creatures enjoy which is not diminished by the bodies death but infinitely inlarged when all the thoughts words and deeds done in the flesh shall immediately in a wonderfull manner come into remembrance the secrets of all hearts shall then be disclosed and all such thoughts words and actions which in life time were slipt out of mind shall come again into fresh remembrance with a Conscience Chap. 8. Book 1. a Book which that day shall be opened a Book of Mans life upon Earth an account of Mans workes where they that have done well shall go into life everlasting but they that have done evill into everlasting fire Which Recordation or Intellectual memory if the Saints in Heaven whose bodies yet sleep in the grave had not how should they sing misericordias domini in aeternum the loving kindness of the Lord for ever as the Prophet David hath it which Psalm and Song saith St. Augustine made for the glory of the mercies of Christ by whose blood wee are redeemed the Saints do joyfully sing in Heaven Of which Memorative facul y more shall be said hereafter CHAP. VIII Of the Appetitive faculty and the Motive to a place WEE have done with those Sensitive faculties External and Internal which have power of Judgement Knowledge and Discerning we come now to those which have not this power in themselves but are guided by the Counsell and advice of others being moved by the Object good or evill according as Phantasie or Reason presents it the Phantasie imagineth it good the Appetite is streight moved to desire it This faculty is twofold viz. Appetitive and Motive to a place The Locall Motive Faculty is a power of the Soul moving the living creature from place to place to follow that which the Appetite coveteth as good or to shunne what it lottheth as hurtful so that this Motive faculty is but an effect of the Appetitive and necessarily follows it as the Effect doth the Cause for where the Appetitive facultie is to desire good or shun evill there must needs be this Motive also from place to place otherwise the Appetitive should be given us in vain had we not this Motive faculty to seek after that wee desire as good and pleasant and to avoid what wee conceive to be hurtful unto us Aristotle I grant adds another cause of this Motion besides Appetite to wit Intellect and under Intellect he comprehends Sense to wit Phantasie for what ever is desired or shunned is under the notion of good or evill so desired or lothed now this knowledge must either be from Reason or Phantasie for there is no knowledge but is either Sensitive or Intellectual therefore must Intellect which includes Phantasie be another cause of Motion Vide Suarez de metaphys disp 35. Sect. 5. part 15. fol. 172. neither do I intend to exclude Phantasie and Reason from being a cause for when I mention Appetite onely as the cause I do it partly because Appetite is the chief Phantasie and Intellect are but subordinate causes and partly because I take Appetite here in the largest sense as comprehending Phantasie and Reason for Appetite in general is both Sensitive and Intellectual as shall be said hereafter so this Motive faculty being but an effect of Appetite we shall be the briefer in it and insist more largely upon the cause the knowledge wherof will necessarily conduce to the knowledge of the effect Appetite is a natural desire of the Soule by which the living creature for the cause of preservation is moved either to desire that which Sense judgeth as good or to loth that which it apprehendeth evill and hurtfull so that Appetite is a necessary concomitant of Sense and follows her close for where there is Sense there is sorrow and pleasure and where these are there must be Appetite There is a twofold Operation of Sense one whereby it perceives its Object as the eye beholds colour which is the first and simple Operation of Sense the other whereby upon the preception and apprehension of the Object the Sense is affected with sorrow or pleasure this is the second and in a sort a mixt Operation in as much as with the Object is joyned sorrow or pleasure and to these are joyned Appetite and flight for things pleasant we desire after and things grievous we flie from but this last Operation belongs to Common Sense not to any of the External to perceive good under the notion of good or evill under the notion of evill and accordingly to be affected therewith is the Operation of the Internal not External Senses therefore it is this Common Sense to which the Appetite is so nearly related that Aristotle saith they differ not re nor yet in subjecto but onely ratione not re for they have no distinct being but one and the same essence nor yet subjecto they have one and the same subject for the seat of Appetite is where the Internal Sense is seated to wit in the brain this is to be understood of that Appetite which is called Sensitive and is common to man and brutes But there are three kinds of Appetite according to Arist Appetite is divided into Lust Anger and Will Lust is in that faculty which is called Concupiscible Anger in that which is called Irascible and Will in that is called Intellectual Lust and Anger follow the judgement of Sense for what Sense judgeth pleasant and good Lust desireth and what Sense judgeth grievous the Irascible faculty rejecteth and these are in brutes as well as in man but Will followeth
the judgment of Reason for so saith the rule in Philosophy voluntas sequitur dictamenintellectus desiring and following that which Reason Judgeth good and desirable now this Appetitive faculty is proper to Man and is not to be found in any other creature so there are but two kinds of Appetite in brutes yet three in Man Or there is a twofold Appetite in Man and but one in Beasts it is Aristotle still who divides Appetite into Sensitive and Intellectual the Apetite in Beasts is altogether sensual the Appetite in Man is sometimes governed by Sense sometimes by Reason and therefore he distinguisheth that in Man into Concupiscence and Will it is called Concupiscence when the Appetite follows the judgement of Sense and not of Reason It is called Will when it followes the judgement of Reason and not of Sense so there are two causes of the Motive faculty in Man viz. Appetite and Reason Appetite to wit Sensitive is the onely cause of Locall motion in Irrational creatures but in Rational creatures both Reason and Appetite not joyntly as if there were not this motion without the concurrence of both but severally and a part either of them hath this principle of Motion and sometimes we are Moved by Appetite sometimes by Reason one while by Lust another while by Will by Appetite when Lust and concupiscence which is the Sensitive Appetite overcomes the Will by Reason when the Will which is the Intellectual Appetite and followes the judgement and command of the Intellect overcomes the Concupiscence for these are contrary the one to the other and so are their motions and therfore there is a continual War in man twixt these two faculties sometimes the one sometimes the other gets the victory sometimes Concupisence is the superior and overcomes the Will as in an incontinent Man it falls out who doth contrary to that which his own Understanding bids him do according to that of the Poet video meliora proboque Deteriora sequor sometimes the Will overcometh the Concupiscible facultie and that is when we do contrary to that which our Sensitive Appetite bids us do because our Understanding commands and our consciences tell us wee ought not to do it and so we chose to obey it rather than our Sense Hereupon Arist observes three motions in Man one whereby Will and Lust fight one with another the second motion is that which proceedeth from the victory of the Will the third proceedeth from the victory of Lust now the Reason of this combate and contrary motion is this the one follows the judgement of Sense the other the judgement of Reason and Uuderstanding Now Sense and Reason are for the most part of contrary Judgements Sense judgeth of things as they appear good or evill at present without any consideration of time to come it hath not cognizance of things future but Reason hath knowledge of future times and therefore judgeth of things not onely as they are at present but as they may be hereafter hence it comes to pass that Lust which onely followes the judgement of Sense desires a thing as good because it is so at present regardless of the evill it bringeth afterwards but Will following Reason which looketh forward at things to come flies from that present good because of that greater evill that doth follow it as for example a sick man is a thirst he coveteth drink for drink is pleasant and good to the thirsty as food to the hungry and sleep and rest to them that are weary but this drink will prove hurtful to him afterwards this the Sensitive Appetite knoweth not be-because it hath no knowledge of time to come but Reason knoweth this therefore Sense moves him to drink but Reason bids him forbear thus comes there these two contrarie Motions and Appetites in Man one in respect of Sense and of the time present another in respect of Reason and of the time future Again Appetite and VVill do differ in their Object for though Good be the Object of both yet the Object of appetite is good sub ratione jucundi a Delectable good onely the Object of Will is good sub ratione honesti it choseth things Honest as well as things pleasant it preferres the good of honesty before the good of pleasure the Object of Appetite is a good present particular corporeal Hooker Eccles pol. lib. 1. Sect. 7. fol. 58. fetched from the Objects of this Earth the dureless pleasures of this stage-play-VVorld by the eye of Sense the Object of VVill is good absent general and Spiritual fetcht from the highest Heavens by the eye of Faith and Reason to behold our chiefest good even God himself Again they differ in the Maner of operation the one works Necessarily the other Freely the Appetite follows the judgement of Sense and cannot but chose the good it presenteth VVill followes the judgement of Reason yet freely not necessarily it is a Voluntary Agent and free not tied by any necessity to any determinate act the fire works necessarily and cannot but burn so do Sensitive creatures otherwise it is of Man in respect of his VVill which is not necessarily moved to any one simple action but freely may do or not do may VVill or not VVill at his pleasure for voluntas est libera libereque movetur ad bonum is the current opinion of Philosophers antient and modern In this Intellectual Appetite Will which accompanies Reason art thou a resemblance of thy Maker O my Soul Man was made like unto God in freedom of Will and clearness of Understanding in these for for his Naturals and he was made like unto God in Righteousness and Holiness in these for his supernatural endowments which supernaturals though he totally forfeited and lost by his fall Original sin coming in the room of Original Justice as Privation doth the Habit yet did not Man lose his Will and Understanding by the fall wounded indeed he was not depraved in not deprived of his naturals his Understanding became more darkned and his Will more servile but some light the Understanding retained some freedom the Will enjoyed after the fall The Reason and Will of Man remained intire since the fall as to their nature and essence though not as to their Operations the Operations of right Reason may be impedited many waies either through the imperiousness of evill affections and carnal lusts which have got the rule or through evill habits and customes it hath acquired and the like but yet Reason and Understanding in Man as to its essence is perfect as well since as before the fall homo est animal rationale is the definition of every man as truly now as then Man is a reasonable creature And as Mans Understanding is not taken away by his fall no more is his Will which is alwaies a concomitant of Reason the essence of the Will is as intire as the essence of Reason and the essence of Will is freedom take away freedom and the Will is destroyed
Man cannot fight with his enemies in Mind and Will onely but stands in need of Hands Weapons and the like but an Angel by the sole power of his Spirit and Will without either Hands or Armes can both fight against and also overcome a whole Host of Armed-men so an Angel in one night slew of the Assyrians one hundred eighty and five thousand Again Man by the Art of Painting and Engraving may make such an Image of Man so lively represented that it may seem to live and breath yet not without great paines and labour but an Angel without any paines without Hands without Instruments can even in an instant as it were so frame a Body of Elements that it shall be taken for a true humane Body of very wise Men such a Body as can Walk Speak Eat Drink yea may be touched handled and washed Thus Abraham prepared Meat for Angels and washed their Feet as th' Apostle hath it entertaning Angels unawares supposing they had been Men the same which happened to his Nephew Lot when he received two Angels into his house for Men as strangers and Travellers so the Angel Raphael for many dayes together dwelt and was conversant with Tobia the yonger Walking Talking and Eating and Drinking as if he were truly Man and yet when he was to leave him said I seemed to Eat and Drink with you but I use invisible Meat and Drink and so vanisht suddainly out of their sight a great power certainly and an admirable so quickly to make a Body as shall not be discerned to differ from a humane and living Body in any thing and the same again to dissolve in a trice as oft as it pleaseth him Again the Soul of Man is so closely conjoyn'd to the Body that without it the Soul cannot move from place to place but God hath not so tied a Body to Angelical natures but without a Body they may most swiftly pass from Heaven to earth from earth to Heaven again or whither also they please Thus as the Angelical Nature is next unto God in Dignity so doth it resemble Gods Omnipresence in Subtilty and Agility God is every where by the infinity of of his being and needs no local motion since he is every where Angels also do pass in so easie and swift a motion from place to place and have their Presence in all places as in a sort they may be said to be ubiquitary The number of these Angels are uncertain not revealed in the Word of God but without doubt so many as cannot well be comprised in the Art of Enumeration millions of millions ministring unto God and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him whereupon Dionysius and with him Aquinas do conclude that the number of Angels are more than are the number of all corporeall substances whatsoever and although their number be so infinite yet they do every one differ amongst themselves not onely in individuall number but also in specificall form Yet for all this number almost infinite they are reduced into nine Ranks and Orders under some of which every of them are comprehended The first and highest Order is that of the Seraphims secondly Cherubins thirdly Thrones fourthly Dominions fifthly Principalities sixthly Powers seventhly Vertues eightly Archangels and the ninth and last Angels of all which Names we read in the holy Scriptures by which their severall Offices Degrees and Orders are dignified and distinguisht Chap. 4. Book 2. Wherefore else serve these different Names if they signified nothing but sure there is a difference twixt Angels and Archangels in degree then why not twixt the rest quid ergo sibi vult gradualis distinctio haec saith St. Bernard upon the same subject But Dionysius makes but three Orders of all putting three in every Order so making a ternary of Trinities alluding to the Sacred Trinity viz. Three Superior three middle and three inferior Orders The highest Orders are the Seraphim Cherubin and Thrones The midlemost Orders are the Dominions Principalities and Powers The lowermost are the Vertues Archangel and Angel but of this enough is said CHAP. IV. Of the Knowledge we have of God and his Attributes THat which may be known of God by the strength of naturall reason is drawn from the Works of his Creation for as the Cause is known by the Effects so is the Creator by the Creature the Physical Science of Causes and Effects here below brings us to a Metaphysical Knowledge of the cause of all causes even God above whose Deity may be seen in every place omnia sunt deâ—rum plena was the saying of Thales Milesius an antient Philosopher thus cited by Aristotle Lib. 1. De anima and thus said the Poets of old Jovis omnia plena paersentem que refert quaelibet herba deuÌ„ not the meanest of the Creatures but manifest a God-head The Philosophers therefore excepting the Epicureans who held that this great spacious universe was nothing else but Theatrum caeco atomorum confluxu genitum searching out the causes of things and finding a concatenation of them in an orderly dependance one upon another Simplicius Philoponus Ammonius Averrores aliique multi viri illustres neque numero pauciores nec autoritate inferiores iis qui de sipere maluerint mundum à deo ut causa efficiente pendere affirmant Scaliger and a necessary conjunction of every of them with their Effects ne daretur progressus in infinitum vel circulus committendus an absurdity in Nature which otherwise they would run into were forced to acknowledge one Supreme cause of all things which was God Plato Aristotle Galen and others from hence do prove that there is a God The quod sit is thus proved the quid sit may from thence also be concluded for when we look upon the Fabrick of Heaven and Earth wee may see the Greatness and Power of God when we behold the Governance and Guidance of all in so great a Beauty Order and Distinction of all things we may judge of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God when we consider the commodity profit and Use of all things we may experience the goodness and Love of God and so we may come to know God in his Predicates and Attributes viz. that he is Ens Actus Substantia Vivens Aeternus Justus Sapiens c. Yea under such conceptions and notions as are only proper and essential to God not agreeing with any other may God be apprehended by us in this Metaphysical Science viz. that he is Ens infinitum simpliciter that he is Actus purus causa prima primus motor immobilis c. And so we come to the knowledge of God quodsit and quid sit both that he is and what he is Yet is not this knowledge comprehensive of him these Motions of Gods Essentiall Attributes though Proper to him and Communicative to none beside are not quidditative an infinite Essence cannot so be comprehended within the Sphaer of a Finite
Operation of God Begetting and Breathing And these Operations ad intra viz. generandi spirandi in such an Ineffable Incomprehensible manner argues an omnipotency Divine and Power infinite in all the branches of Infinity but unwilling I am to wade too far into this Mysterious point this bottomless Ocean of Gods Internal Workings but rather to view it a far off as it is dispersed into Smaller and Shallower Rivulets and treat of Gods Power in his Works ad extra All things were made of God and without him nothing from the highest Angel to the meanest Worm from the highest Heavens to the profoundest Abysse this Work of Creation is Wonderful and argues an infinite perfection of Power whether we respect the Magnitude Multitude or Variety of things created the Magnitude is seen in the greatness of the Earth who hath measured the bredth of the Earth and the depth of its Abysse saith Ecclesiasticus So great it is that a great part of it lies yet undiscovered yet this Vast Earth being compared to Heaven is but as a point or prick for so have Astrologers observed wherein so many thousand Stars do shine the least whereof is bigger than the Earth the Multitude of things is seen if wee consider but the Sand of the Sea and drops of rain the Multitude of Minerals lie buried in the Earth the several sorts of Grass Herbs Fruits Plants upon the Earth the number of Men Stars and Angels besides the innumerable sorts forms and Individuals of living creatures going creeping swiming flying and the variety of things in this Multiplicity even in every Individual of every kind is wonderful Man from Man differing in shape and feature and one Star differing from another in glory yet all this great Universe with the Infinite number variety of things therein contained to be made of nothing of no preexistent matter yea and in nothing all this in an instant in the twinckling of an eye to be created and as speedily and easily to be dissolved argues an Almighty and omnipotent God Nor are his works less wonderful in that Mysterious but Fundamental point of our belief the Resurrection of the body after so many Revolutions of daies and years being turned to dust and ashes this dust dispersed into the four quarters of the World or turned into other bodies being eaten up of wild Beasts or devoured by men such as Cannibals who feed on mans flesh yet these same bodies Millions of Millions however dispersed or transformed in the twinkling of an eye at the sound of the Trumpet to arise the self-same Soul to be reunited to the self-same body the same Individual Form to reinform the same Numerical matter argues an Omnipotent hand and Almighty Power which God both can and will bring to pass so doth the Catholick Church profess Nor is Gods Almighty Power manifested onely in these created beings which have or shall have a being in Nature real Existencies do not Adaequate Gods Omnipotency but it extends to all kind of beings whatsoever to all Negative and Privative beings as Darkness Blindness and the like quae inhaerent entibus realibus without which they subsist not and so have a being in Nature Formally yet not a Positive but Privative being to all Imaginable beings meer entia rationis which have no being in Nature in any sense but only in the Intellect to all possible things entia possibilia though never Future all things whatsoever are absolutely simply and generally possible to be done In his Book of Gods omâ—â—potency saith Doctor Preston under which those things which never shall come into real being those things which may be but never shall be Contingents possible though never Future are comprehended those things which are impossible with Man are notwithstanding possible with God so saith our Saviour for with God nothing is impossible so said the Angel non erit impossibile a pud deum ullum verbum so is the Original where by verbum significatur id quod mente concipi potest ut factibile saith a Schoolman all that is imaginably possible to be done Non potest facere praeterita ut non fuerint necres dum est ut non fit Suar. Disp 30. and implies not a Contradiction falls with the Omnipotency of God and though God cannot do contradictions though somthing there is that is impossible for God to do as to lie to deny himself to call back yesterday that is to say things that are past that they should not be nor any thing that is whilst it is make it otherwise than it is he cannot make truth fashood and the like yet this is not through a weakness and defect of his Power Lib. 6. Episto 39. for so hath Saint Ambrose resolved it istud impossibile non infirmitatis est sed virtutis ac majestatis it argues the greater perfection of Power even as Infallibity is not the imperfection but perfection of Knowledge and to have no freedom to sin is not an imperfection but perfection of freedom of Will 3. Gods Eternity Gods Eternity and Immortality also is clearly set forth in holy Writ so Saint Paul to the King Eternal Immortal and onely wise God c. But thou wilt happily reply O my Soul that this Attribute appertaineth to thee and therefore not appropriate to God alone who art also of an Immortal Invisible Immaterial Nature as hath been elsewhere proved a simple Essence void of Composition or such matter which is subject to Dissolution Death and Destruction and true it is Patet hic quomodo avum differat à tempore aeternitate à tempore quidem ratione finis quaem tempus habet avum non habet ab aternitate ratione principii quod avum habet aepernitas vero non habet yet know thou a difference twixt Eternity simply so called and that which is improperly so called or betwixt Duration Increate and that which is Create or inter aevum aeternitatem age eternity there was a time when thou wast not and when thou wast thou camest to that being by the pleasure and will of God who can as easily when it pleaseth him reduce thee to nothing again though thou hadst no principles of corruption in thee but God was from everlasting Immortal and remains Immortal to perpetuity and this of Necessity and Intrinscical Nature for it is impossible for him who is the cause of all causes life and being it self and the Fountain both of being and life by any means whatsoever to come to nothing but as he was from Eternity so to continue to Eternity For this Attribute of Gods Eternity is a duration Increate which implies a Negation of all such Created Durations and Permanencies as consist of a continual Succession and flux of time for in Gods duration is no Succession so hath Boetius defined it interminabilis vitae tota simul perfecta possessio where by tota simul is excluded all Succession which
though it have a Totality of being yet is not altogether or all at once there is no such differences of time past and time future in Eternity all is present with God no time past or any time to come but all in the present tense my Father worketh hitherto and I work and again this day have I begotten thee though it was from Eternity before all times years and daies for Eternity with God is no more than this instant with us wherefore although our Souls may in a sense be called Eternal Immortal c. yet it is said of God by way of Eminency which is not appropriate to any other who onely hath Immortality c. And though God be Eternal both in Essence and in his Operations yet we Etsi enim aeternitati dies annos attribuimus id tamen facimus nostri melioris intellectus causâ Sennertus who are compact of Succession and are not perfect all at once neither in being nor in working but stand in need of time coming to supply what was Wanting in time past cannot speak nor think of Gods Eternal being and workings as they are in themselves but according to our capacity comparing time with time so conceipting a real or at least an Imaginable Succession of time so we say God was because we conceive him Coexisting with time past God is because Existing with time present and is to come because of his being with all times and beyond all times to come whereas in God is neither was no will be nor flux of time but all present yea Eternally present both God in his being and in his Operations God is from Eterntiy and all the Acts and Operations of God are from Eternity And though God is said and truly so to have done many things in time as to have created Man in the beginning of time so have sent his Son in the fulness of time c. which implies a Succession and no simple duration of God as to his Operations yet are these works ad extra which are manifested to us in time no breach of true Eternity though they admit of Succession and Variation Gods Eternal workings in time manifested to us hinder not Gods Internal workings before all time the World and every thing therein were from Eternity as unto God to whom all things are present and were Eternally so though manifested to us by the creation which is ad extra to be in the beginning of time Gods immutability 4. Which brings us to another Attribute of God whereby he is pleased to make himself known unto us to wit his Immutability I am God saith he of himself and change not yesterday and to day and the same for ever with whom is no Variation nor shadow of change neither Substantial nor Accidental no Substantial for God is a necessary being and impossible for him to be otherwise than he is therefore cannot admit of any Substantial change nor yet any Local change since God by the Infinity of presence and Immensity is in every where and there is no place where God is not so cannot be said to move or change from place to place nor yet is he changable in his Acts and qualities those mutations which may seem to happen in respect of his Divine workings ad extra when God makes any thing which was not formerly made argues no more Mutability in God than the makeing them in time argues a Temporal Succession and no simple Eternity in God as hath been said before for this Mutation à non esse ad esse is not in God but in the Creature not in the Agent but Patient for an Action Transient and External as this is makes a Mutation or change in the Creature but not in God and though there are no External workings or Actions Transient but flow ab intra from Immanent Actions of God yet argue they no Mutation in God since as they proceed from some Immanent Act of God so are they Eternal and Immutable in him Again some Acts of Gods are necessary as those whereby he loves himself some are free as those whereby he loves the Creatures those things which God knows and Wills necessarily those he knows loves Immutably of such Acts of God there can be no dispute but they may stand with Gods Immutability but how the free Acts of God as his freedom of loving or not loving his Creatures can stand with Divine Immutability is the grand question which here we will omit to resolve intending briefly to assoil this doubt in the Metaphysical part of the Subsequent Chapter Gods Immensity or Infinity of presence 5. Immensity is another Attribute whereby God is made known unto us in the Scriptures Great is our God above all Gods who made Heaven and Earth and filleth Heaven and Earth and yet Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens is not able to contain him God is every where present yet is contained no where but is above all and in all and through all as the Apostle speaks in every place God is present not Virtually onely but Really and Substantially the very Essence of God is diffused into all parts of the World as the Soul is in the body Indivisible and wholly not onely in an Indivisible point but a Divisible and Expatiated Circumference for if we grant this manner of real presence to Inferior and Imperfecter Substances as to the Soul of Man we may not deny it to more Noble and Superior Natures as to Angels much less to the Divine Nature to be whole in the whole and whole in every part of the whole in all places real or Imaginary whole for where God is not there is nothing and where there is nothing he is in himself For suppose we more Worlds and more Heavens yea imagine we infinite numbers of them more all which fall within the compass of Gods infinite Power there could not be any Imaginable place throughout them all which Gods presence did not fill for if his Power extend to the making his presence will extend to the filling of all otherwise God would be less Infinite in being than in working existendo quam agendo which is impossible since all the Attributes of God are Infinite and in infinitis non datur magis minus this serves to shew the Immensity of Gods Essence the Infinity of his presence which is not limited to any place Real nor Immaginary space is incapable of Termes can neither be Circumscribed nor defined in the Predicament of ubi for as the Spirit of God witnesseth There is no end of his greatness magnitudinis ejus non est numerus so the Latine renders it so all the Fathers Unanimously teach Nazianzen Athanasius Hilary Damascen Hieron Ambrose and lastly St. Bernard de consideratione lib. 5. speaks of the length and bredth the height and depth which is in God who is incomprehensible since no place can contain him and yet there is no place but where he is nusquam
the dayes of their Pilgrimage upon Earth the flesh lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh she who was earst Rebellious is now Obse quious to the Dictates of the Soul now is she wholly subject to the will of her Lord yielding obeysance and obedience with admirable Agility and Celerity of motion now not the least Ponderosity of a Massie substance or Natural body to foreslow her motion appears any more but the Perpensility of a Caelestial and Spiritual body mounted as it were on the wings and Plumes of a Cherub to expedite the Souls Injunctions such Homage and obedience the Body paies unto its Soul that as St Augustine saith ubi volet spiritus ibi protinus erit corpus nec volet aliquid spiritus quod nec spiritum nec corpus possit decere 1. Hereupon is the body enfranchised of sundry Praerogatives and Immunities which are altogether inconsistent with it in its Natural condition whilst it was Elementary its Natural motion tended downward according to the Nature of the Predominant Element the ascendent motion of a Physical body is Excentrique and Irregular which motion is Concentrique and Consonant to a body glorified solo voluntatis impetu c. at the beck and command of the glorious Soul is the body mounted from Earth to Heaven whose Nature it is to be wholly subject to that glorified Spirit from whose Redundancie the body likewise receives its Glorification 2. The Humane body in the state of Nature in a slow Progress marcheth forward step by step and that not without some Earth or other solid body to tread or go on whereupon the Earth is made a cause of our walking Causa fine qua non but in the state of Glory most swiftly and as it were in an instant it moves from place to place from one part of Heaven to another absque adminiculo without the benefit of Earth or other Element to impress the least Vestigias or footsteps of his treadings 3. In the terrene estate the body is Opaque and Luskie Dark and Purblind Beautified onely by the Additaments of External colour but the Spiritual body is Diaphanous transparent transplendent not like those lesser lights which onely appear in the night but like the Sun at noon day in the Firmament of Heaven Matthew 13.43 Then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father The CoÌ„fulgurations of bodies glorifi'd are like the bright shining of the Sun or compare we them to our Saviours glorious Body after his Exaltation which no doubt exceeds all the glory can be expressed or conceived when this transfiguration upon the Mount was so glorious That his face did shine as the Sun Matthew 17.2 and his Raiment was white as the light yet such is the condition and state of these bodies which are fashioned like unto his glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Phillip 3.21 Yet doth not this transcendent Glory superadded to the Humane body alter the Nature and Essence of the same the same Humanity is retained as well after as before the Resurrection the same body that is laid in the dust the self same body ariseth and ascends into glory that body is resumed in the Resurrection which was assumed in the Conception onely one to a Mortal the other to an Immortal life alterius gloriae sed ejusdem naturae the glory is different but the bodie 's the same The glorified bodies of Saints and the glorious body of our ever blessed Saviour in Heaven all of them of one Nature and Substance made up of Flesh and Blood and Bone Nerves Sinewes Arteries and what else conduceth to the perfection of a Humane body To deny this is to run into the Heresie of Eutiches condemned in the several Councils of Constantinople and Chalcedon who affirmed that the body of Christ was not of the same Nature with ours and that ours also after the Resurrection were not Palpable or Visible but more subtle and slender than VVind or Air. But as we have said the same body that is laid in the dust the same ariseth and puts on Immortality and glory a body of flesh is sown in dishonor but the same body of flesh is raised in glory Consonant hereto are the words of Job Job 19.25 26 27. I know that thy Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day day upon the Earth And though after my skinne wormes destroy this body yet in my Flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and my eyes shall behold and not another though my Reines be consumed within me thus we read and thus is our Creed so is preached and so is believed for the Resurrection of the flesh is an Article of our Faith a Fundamental point of that Religion the Church Catholick professeth and that our Saviours body is of the same Substance is another Fundamental Athanasius is plain perfect God and perfect Man Of a Reasonable Soul and Humane Flesh subsisting yea Palpable flesh and Visible even after his Resurrection our Saviours words are full for it behold saith he my hands and my feet that it is I my self handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have And therefore those words of the Apostle flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God are to be understood of sinful lusts and corruptions of the flesh 1 Cor. 15.10 and not of the flesh and blood it self dismantled of these And as the substance of a Humane body continues intire so hath she her faculties and qualities perfect though not all for in as much as the body is purged of sin and corruption those qualities which argue corruption and infirmity must needs be perished also absit labes silicet corruptionis assit effigies assit motio absit fatigatio assit vescendi potestas absit esuriendi necessitas c. Soft soft O my Soul dash not thy self on the Rock of Contention be not prolix in Polemick discourses and points Controversal since thou art devoted to thy calmer Theoremes and Diviner Speculations The case standing thus that none have admittance to those glorious Mansions in the new Jerusalem the City of God but bodies purged from their filthy lusts and sinful corrâ—ption bodies morigerous submisse and pliant to Soul and Spirit see then and lament the wretched estate of us Mortals upon Earth An evil it is under the sun an error proceeding from the ruler folly set in great dignity and the rich set in low place servants on horseback and Princes walking as servants upon the Earth Eccles 10.5 6 7. whose lives and conversations Diametrically oppose the glorified Saints in Heaven Apame was but Concubine to the great and mighty King Darius yet was she seen sitting on his right hand and taking the Crown from off his head did set it upon her own she also stroke the King with her
left hand Semblable to which is the rule and Dominion which Impetuous and Implacable flesh usurpeth and excerciseth over the Souls of Mortal men in their Pilgrimage here below leading them Captive to the Law of sin and death This is that miserable Bondage under which the Sons of men in this Vale of â—ars do groan from which Bondage of Corruption and body of sin they wait with earnest expectation to be delivered into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God And not onely they but our selves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the redemption of our bodies not that we should be found naked and our bobodies unclothed but clothed upon that Mortality might be swallowed up of life It is not a change of our bodies but of our Raiment and Vestments which we do look for a Crown of glory for a Crown of thornes the Robes of Righteousness for the Raggs of Sin This change must be inâ—hoate here though compleated hereafter the Foundation must be layed on Earth in Grace but finished in Heaven in Glory the Garments of the Old man laid aside and the Garments of the New man put on the lusts of the flesh mortified the fruits of the Spirit quickned Ephe. 4.22 23 24. We must put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceiptful lusts and be renewed in the Spirit of our mind and we must put on that new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness that we may henceforth serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter For if we live after the flesh wee shall die but if we through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body we shall live Woe is me that I am constrained to live in Mesech to have my habitation in the tents of Kedar my Soul hath long dwelt with them that are Enemies to peace they are daily fighting and troubling it the Body with all its sinful lusts rebel against my Soul and when I labour for Peace they make them ready for Battel they will not have her rule over them whom thou O Lord hast made the Monarch and sole Empress of this little World but attempt by continual Insurrections and Intestine Wars to introduce an Arbitrary Power over an Athenian and Popular Government For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that he would grant me according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned in the inward Man in the spirit of my mind by the might and Power of his Spirit who raised up Jesus from the dead that as he died for my sin and rose again for my justification so I may die to sin and live unto righteousness and being buried with Christ into death by Baptism may walk in newness of life that being planted together in the likeness of his death I may be also in the likness of his Resurrection kowing this that my old man is Crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth I should not sin And though I live and walk in the flesh yet that I may not war after but against the flesh the weapons of my warfare being Spiritual and mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds to the casting down of Imaginations and every high thing that exalts it self against the Knowledge of God and bringing into Captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience of the flesh against the Law of my mind which is onely subject to the Law of God Help me O God so to keep under my body and bring it into subjection that I my self be no a castaway Thy will O Heavenly Father be done on Earth as it is in Heaven and as thou hast praepared an Heaven and fitted the body with all Obsequiousness to serve and the Soul to rule and command with all just Authority and moderation all this in the Resurrection of the body at the last day when Soul and Body meet again in a glorified estate to Possess the Heavenly Mansions so fit and and prepare them here that whilst they are in this Earthly Tabernacle all Schism being abandoned all Rebellion Anathemaâ—ized the heel may not kick against the body or the foot tread upon the head but however it fareth in the body Politick there may be such an orderly subjection in the body Natural that my flesh may be subject not Predominant to my Spirit my Body unto my Soul and both Soul and Body subject unto thee O my God do thou thus set my foot over the threshold of thy Heaven Chap. 2. Book 3. put thou my Soul into this happy condition of an inchoate blessedness so shall I cheerfully spend the remaindâ—r of my daies in a joyful expectation of the full Consummation of my glory Amen Bish Hall his Susurium cum Deo CHAP. II. Of the Organs of the body and the Exercise of the Sensitive faculties of the Soul by them in the state of glory AS the appearance of the Bride newly come from her Chamber in the daies of her Espousals on the Solemnity of her brideale and other Nuptial Rites bedecked and adorned with all the Ornaments both of body and mind that may render her gratious and Amiable in the eyes of her Betrothed or like the Kings Daughter all glorious within and without in clothing of wrought Gold brought into the Kings Palace attended on among the Honorable VVomen by a Train of Virgins that be her fellows Even such is the inward grace and outward Magnificence Pomp and State of the body in the morning of her Resurrection and Ascension from the Chamber of death to be Espoused again to the Soul in an everlast-VVedlock the Bill of Divorcement being cancelled and Nullified by an Act of perpetual Oblivion Her Soporiferous bed of rottenness she thenceforth lotheth and outrunneth leaving behind her load of inward Corruption all waywardness of mind and frowardness of disposition and her Troops of Natural Imperfection Deafness Dumbness Blindless Lameness c. such Sons of sorrow and servants of sin and perdition presume not to approach the marriage Chamber all other her Companions in the flesh that were faithful and serviceable to her and instrumental to the Soul in the Acts of grace are still her attendants and are admitted into the Royal Palace and invested with the Robes of Glory and Immortality as a badge and livery of the glorified Soul whose Servants and Ministers they are Those Organical parts of the body in which the Soul was exercised and without which it could not Operate in which respect the Soul as to such faculties and Operations might be termed Mortal are revived with the body and useful to the Soul in their several Stations I do not I dare not here affirm that all the parts of
the body do still remain Organicall after this life so as the Soul may exercise all the Powers of her triple life Vegetative Sensitive and Intellectual as she did in her Natural and Physical state according to those several Organs in which the Faculties were resient and peculiarly seated Nourishment Growth and Generation the proper Effects of the Vegetative life accomplish their ends in this life whereunto when they have obtained those Operations cease and the Organs rest from that labour and imployment but since the Senses are Operative in a glorified body for it 's not deprived of Sense I have no reason to think the Soul hath utterly rejected her manner of Operation by bodily Organs declining those old Servants as useless and inconsistent to such a glorified state Eyes Eares Nose Mouth Palat Hands Feet and all to be quite emancipated freed from the service of the glorified body and Soul in their works of that kind but to believe the Senses External and Senses Internal are Organical in Heaven as they were on Earth and subservient to the Soul in their several stations places of residence as Eye Ear Nose Palate Nerves Brain by which the Soul doth exercise its several faculties of Seeing Hearing Smelling Tasting Touching and the rest The eye the Noblest of the External Corporeal Organs offers it self first to our consideration which is not obscurely proved by holy Writ to be usefull and serviceable to those in the state of glory for this the damned in Hell do so far enjoy though to their torment and woe to see Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven and they themselves thrust out But the Saints to their endless joy and comfort have the use of their eyes and sight to see and behold the Splendor and Beauty of their own bodies being changed from vile to glorious after the fashion of Christs most glorious body which exceedeth the brightness of the Sun as the Apostle witnesseth Acts 26.13 What delight and pleasure must it needs be unto the Saints in Heaven to see every part of their body Hands Feet and all issuing forth such raies and beams of light sufficient to dispel all mists and darkness from them without further assistance of Sun Moon Stars or other Luminaries Nor is this Optick faculty of the Eye limited to it own body so as not to be of use to discern other Objects for all the Saints and Servants of God whose bodies are likewise glorified yea and the glorious body of Christ himself Christ the head with all his members are all of them Visible Objects of this Sense I know saith holy Job That my Redeemer lyveth and that he shall stand at the latter day vpon the Earth whom I shall see for my self and my eyes shall behold and not another It is not enough for the eye to behold its own glorifi'd Body shining as the Sun but it beholdeth an infinite number of Suns together no Parelia nor yet in their Eclipss but the glorious company of the Apostles the goodly fellowship of the Prophets the noble Army of Martyrs and the holy Church throughout all the World whose bodies do not onely send forth a glorious shine but every member part and Organ of those bodies are bespangled with the like raies of glory and splendor to the admiration of the beholder Who doubts saith Bishop Hall that these eyes shall see the glorious manhood of our blessed Saviour advanced above all the Powers of Heaven and if one body why not more if our elder brother why no more of our Spiritual Fraternity Certum est Bellar. in praefatione ad librum de aeterna felicitate beatos homines omnes ab omnibus videri sciri inter se familiariter versari ut amicos proximos saith another Doctor so then there is a Communion of Saints in Heaven as well as on Earth a society of bodies Visible one to another Besides the Vision of new Jerusalem apperteins to the glorious Saints to them it is given to see Jerusalem built up with Saphires and Emeruads and pretious Stones the Walls Towers and Battlements with pure Gold the Streets thereof paved with Beril Carbuncle and stones of Ophir and the Citizens thereof singing Hallelujah and saying Praised be God who hath exalted it for ever which was the Prophecie of Tobias and of Isaaih which also Saint John in his Revelation saw together with a new Heaven and a new Earth to wit the Holy City the new Jerusalem descending from God out of Heaven having the glory of God and her light was like unto a stone most pretious even like a Jasper stone clear as Christal it had no need of the of Sun nor the Moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof and the Nations of them that are saved do walk in the light of it Yea we our selves together with the whole Creation do with earnest expectation wait for a Renovation and Melioration of the state of all things at the coming of the day of God wherein the Heavens that now are being on fire shall be dissolved and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat and wee shall as it is promised see new Heavens and new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness as the Apostle Peter hath it 2 Peter 3. Chapter and verse 10. What neither the eye here can see nor the ear can hear nor the heart of Man conceive in their Natural state shall all be Object and Visible to the eye in the state of glory so saith St. Bernard Erit quando iam non dicetur Audi filia vide inclina aurem tuam sed leva potius oculos tuos contemplare quid plane ea modo quae interim quidem etsi non videre adhuc audire tamen credere potes verum etiam quod sicut non videt oculus sic nec auris aâ—divit nec in cor hominis ascendit quod praeparavit deus diligentibus se nimirum tant a capiet oculus resurrectionis quanta nec auaitus nec animus nunc captat these eyes shall behold them and not anothers therefore in another place he addeth nec novos tibi instaurandos pates sed tuos utique restaurandos not that they shall be of another Nature but of another glorie The Ear also is exercised with Variety of sounds and voices both Articulate and Inarticulate the Organs of speech are as intire and perfect yea more in Heaven than on Earth we may not conceive a deficiency in any part there are Guttur Lingua Palatum Quatuor dentes duo labra simul For the bodies of the glorified Saints are true real and lively bodies and perfect in every member even as our blessed Saviour after his Resurrection was manifested to be both by his Conversation and Confabulation with his Apostles and Disciples speaking of many things perteining to the Kingdom of God and by his hearing and answering of questions and further
As for the Sense of Touching there is no difference amongst Divines nor indeed can be any doubt but that it hath its Operations in this blissful state since the gloried bodies may be felt and touched as all other true and lively bodies may and as our blessed Saviours was after his Resurrection as well Palpable as Visible not miraculously but according to its own Nature handle me saith he and see for a Spirit hath no flesh and blood as you see me have Thus much of the Senses Corporeal External and those parts of the body which are Instrumental and serviceable in the state of glory to the Humane Nature as they were to her in her Natural condition onely with these exceptions and limitations 1. From hence is banisht all sensual lusts and carnal Concupisence the Eye hath no lascivious looks the Ear 's infected with no blasphemous breath or impious sound nor this Sense deflowred with any adulterous touch here is no lust or desire of generation no respect of blood they neither marry nor are given in marriage this grosser acquaintance and pleasure is for the Paradise of Turks not the Heaven of Christians here is as no mariage save betwixt the Lamb and his Spouse the Church so no Matrimonial affections 2. Banish we likewise from hence all Impatibility of Sense sensus non fallitur nec laeditur circa proprium objectum no vehemencie of Object can destroy the Sense in their Natural estate their objects many times confound and wound them too great a light may make a man blind too great a sound may make him deaf we may not long gaze upon the Sun without blemish to our eyes otherwaies here for the Senses are blessed and glorious and so made Impassible and Immortal he who strengthens the Eyes of the Soul with such a measure of light and glory that they may see God face to face and yet not be dasled and confounded with his glory doth also so confirm and strengthen the Eyes of the body that without any hurt or damage to themselves they may behold not one but infinite Suns and Illuminated bodies though in themselves never so glorious 3. All Acts of Necessity are hence excluded the Soul doth not exercise her Sensitive Faculties Necessarily but freely and rules with the body and bodily Organs when she pleaseth and when she pleaseth the Soul rules alone For she hath other waies of Operation out of the body more Excellent and Noble the Senses are Secundary means for acquiring Knowledge not the Primary only subservient and at command of the Soul In the Natural estate the Sensitive Knowledge precedes the Intellectual nihil est in intellectu quod non prius fuit in sense and without Sense there is no intelligence Not so in the Resurrection the Soul knoweth all things as fully and infallibly by Intuitive Vision and Inate Forms at once unico intuitu by one single aspect as by those various multiplyed Forms imprinted from sensible Objects under so many several notions and conceptions the Understanding stands not need of an Eye or an Ear or other bodily Organ to evidence the truth of what it apprehendeth it is not subject to Sense but Sense to it not the Soul to the Body but the Body to the Soul for the Nature of a glorified body is to be Spiritual that is subject to the Spirit not that it hath no flesh and bones but that it is so subject to the Spirit that at the beck and command thereof without any pains and difficultie it moves most swiftly Ascending Descending Coming Going and through every place penetrating as if it were not a body but a Spirit Ad hoc autem quod sit omnino corpus subjectum spiritui requiritur quod omnis actio corporis subdatur spiritus volunâ—ati saith Aquinas and therefore it is in the Power of the Soul to see or hear or the like to use or not to use these bodily Organs when and as often as she pleaseth without which in her Natural condition she could not Operate or reduce all her Faculties into Act. This is the state of that Church that part of Christs Body triumphant whose Organs and Senses are Spiritualiz'd to whom that part of Christs Church militant here doth hold resemblance the like Analogy and proportion bearing every Member one to another they on Earth to those in Heaven as every one beareth to Christ the H ad as the Spiritual Body in Heaven is Organiz'd so is the Organical Body on Earth Spiritualiz'd and hath five Spiritual Senses Senses refreshed with Spiritual Objects This I can assure thee O my Soul being a Member of that Mystical Body whereof Christ is the Head thou art entitled to yea and refreshed with such Sensitive Objects as the Saints in Heaven are refreshed and delighted with Objects for thy Eye thy Ear thy Nose thy Palat thy Hand as Form Sound Odor Sapor Spissitude but these made Spiritual and are so to be received I speak of Christ in the Eucharist who is made the Object of every Sense that the excellencie of the Knowledge of Christ may more fully be evidenced to us from him of whose fulness we all receive Christ is Visible to the Eye Audible to the Ear Sweet and fragrant to the Smel Savory to the Tast to the Nose Palat Hand sensible he is meat to the hungry and drink to the thirstie Angels food and mans repast Christ in the Sacrament is the Object of our Eyes and as real y present here as in Heaven and is as really exhibited to us who spiritually discern him though under other Forms hic ibi veritas sed hic palliata ibi manifesta he is palliated here but unveiled in Heaven here we see him darkly through the instrument of Faith for we walk by Faith and not by sight his real presence is believed our Corporal Eyes do not behold him otherwaies than veiled under those outward signes of bread and wine the eys of our Body seeth the signes the Eye of our Faith the thing signified aliud latet aliud patet what we see is Bread and Wine what we believe is the Body and Blood of Christ what our Souls cannot reach with Corporal Eyes it may discern by an Eye of Faith Faith is a director of the Soul or prospective to the Eyes to bring to their sight such things as are not discernable without in this Vale of tears through the prospect of Faith is Christ Visible to us though the Saints in Heaven have a cleaâ—er Viâ—ion of him seeing him face to face 〈◊〉 as they are seen This is but a glimpse of that beatifical Vision the glorified bodies have of Christ here per aenigma there facie revelata here veiled there revealed unde preciosior dicitur faciei visio quam speculi frequens imaginatio non enim pari omnino jucunditate sumitur cortex sacramenti medulla frumenti fides species memoria praesentia aeternitas tempus speculum vultus
imago Dei forma servi My Soul is athirst after Christ my Saviour O when shall I come and appear before him Grant holy Jesu I may so behold thee though veiled here that when this earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved when it shall turn to the Lord and be clothed upon with our horse of immortality and glory which is from heaven the veil which to this day is upon my heart may be taken away and I may with open face behold the glory of my Lord being changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Amen Christ in the blessed Eucharist is the object of our Ears speaking unto our hearts both in secret whisperings and in shriller notes and holds a familiar conference with us he is an audible Voice and a speaking Word the sound whereof is gone to the ends of the world that Word which in the beginning was with God and was God but was made Flesh and dwelt among us God made Man the Son of God the Son of Man unicus patris filius hominis verbum quippe caro factum this Word incarnate is that Bread of God which cometh down from Heaven and giveth life unto the World This Word is not onely audible to the Ear but penetrable to the Heart piercing like a two-edged sword to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the marrow and the joynts Those reverend thoughts and meditations we have of Christ especially in this Sacrament are nothing else but so many words of his spoken to our Soules though all our cogitations are not Christs locutions nor all his communications our meditations cum enim mala in corde versamus nostra cogitatio est si bona Dei sermo est illa cor nostrum dicit haec audit our good thoughts are Christs words our evill thoughts are our own words The fool hath sayd in his heart there is no God there 's our own words The Lord speaketh peace unto his people those are Christ's one is spoke from the heart the other is to the heart Our own words again are twofold or have two wayes of proceeding one from Natures corruption another from Satans suggestion but of all these bitter fruits and sinfull effects proceeding from within us it is a hard matter to assign a proper cause and author to demonstrate which are the works of the Devill and which be the fruites of the Flesh we are not able so exactly to distinguish inter morbum mentis morsum serpentis inter malum innatum malum seminatum inter partum cordis seminarium hostis only we may know they both are evill and proceed from evill both in the heart though not both from the heart this I know most assuredly though which to ascribe to my heart which to Satan I know not But for my good thoughts since all our sufficiency is from God I doe undoubtedly believe they are the very words of that very Word verba verbi Dei written in my heart by the finger of his blessed Spirit This is that Word which is not sonans onely but penetrans non loquax sed efficax non obstrepens auribus sed blandiens affectibus Happy art thou O my Soul if when thy God calleth thou answerest with Samuel Speak Lord for thy servant heareth or with holy David repliest I will hear what the Lord my God will say unto me Christ is the object of our Sense of Olfaction sâ—nding forth most sweet perfumes he is sweet in his Name Christ Jesus Christ i. e. Annâ—inted so much the name imports Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth he is sweet in his name Iesus a Saviour there is no other name given under heaven whereby we shall be saved neither is there any malady of Mind any disease of the Soul which this precious balm and ointment cannot cure Erit tibi sapor odor in medicinam salubrem morbos si qui fuerint repellentem venturosque caventem He is sweet and pleasant to God the Fath r he is his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased and the smell of his Son is like the smell of a field whom the Lord hath blessed he is that Lamb slain from the foundaâ—ions of the world whose bâ—dy and blood being offered as an Holocaust unto God the Father smelleth a sweet smelling sacrifise unto him and from whom issueth unto his Spouse the Church to every particular Member and to every worthy Communicant partaking of his Body and Blood such streams of precious ointment and oyl of the Holy Ghost runing down not onely to the beard of Aaron that is as St Bernard expounds it to the Apostles and Ministers of Christ but unto the very skirts of his clothing that is to the meanest of his Members in infima membra Ecclesiae quae est tanquam Christi vestimentum that even these vile bodies and soules being offered an oblation smell also a sweet-smelling sacrifise to God through Christ holy and acceptable we are anointed with oyl of gladness but Christ with holy oyl and oyl of gladness above all his fellows It falls first upon Christ the Head so runs down to his beard so descends to the skirts of his garments the meanest member in hi Church the smell of Christs garment is like the smel of Lebanon but the smel of his ointments super omnia aromata is better than all spices Christ is the object of our Spiritual Tast and that food of Saints and Angels in Heaven of which it hath pleased God to give a tast to his Saints on earth feeding them with the bread of Heaven the food of life which comes from Heaven that Heavenly Manna and food of Angels the Prophet speaks of more pleasant and sweet to the tast than honney or the honney-comb But that we might eat Angels food Christ was Incarnate the Word was made Flesh so all are partakers of Christ the Saints on Earth as well as Saints and Angels in Heaven onely with this difference Comedunt Angeli verbum de Deo natum comedunt homines verbum faenum factum pane suo vivunt Angeli in caelis beati sunt faeno suo vivunt homines in terris sancti sunt Yet doth not every man tast of the food that partakes of the outward Elements the Natural man hath no sense or tast no fruit and benefit of this Sacrament because it is spiritually discerned it is food eternal not temporal spiritual not corporal for supernatural nourishment unto Eternal life not for physical and natural which accomplisheth its ends in this life pereat hic physicale nutrimentum cibis iste non ventris sed mentis we feed on him in our heart by Faith and Thanksgiving My Body is nourished with the outward Elements of Bread and Wine my Soul is 2nourished with the inward Graces the Body and Blood of Christ not with the Bread of Affliction the corn arising from the earth but
with Consolatory bread and Angels food that true Bread descending from Heaven nor with the Wine of the Grapes of Gomorrha but of the true Vine Christ Iesus the Lamb the Head and Husband of the Church which at the heavenly Mariage shall be drunk new in the kingdome of Heaven There we drink not of this Wine made of water as at the Mariage in Cana but ex botro illo magno terrae promissionis qui interim in vecte portatur dum secundùm carnem novimus ChristuÌ„ hunc crucifixum which we drink at the Lords table in types signs here which are mortal and perishing but in Heaven at that great Supper of the Lord really and truly immortal and incorruptible enduring to eternal life For in Heaven is no labouring for the meat which perisheth the Saints glorified use not corruptible food their food is spiritual and immortal fitting and suitable to that state of glory and their tast is accordingly no carnal rellish no earthly savour nil quippe in his carnale sapit nil seculare nil vanum sed spiritus veritatis caelestis sapientia est cujus in utraque suavitas praelibatur He that cometh to the Lords Supper in his old garments hath not this spiritual relish nor shall he be thought worthy to be partaker of that great Banquet the Supper of the Lamb in Heaven or tast of that food as wel those that come here unworthily as those that refuse to come though invited shall all be excluded hereafter so saith the Lord of the Feast I say unto you none of those men who were called shall tast of my supper And to the unworthy person it is sayd also Friend how camest thou hither not having thy Wedding-garment take him c. And lastly Christ is the object of our sense of Touching we receive him into our hands we take him into our mouthes we feed on him in our hearts we dwell in him and he in us so to every sense is Christ spiritually sensible tangible by the hand as visible to the eye prae manibus as he is prae oculis CHAP. III. Of the Knowledge of the Soul by Intuitive Intellection or Beatifical Vision Chap. 3. Book 3. HItherto of the knowledge fetcht from External objects by the means of outward senses the Internall are not without their use viz. Phantasie and Memory but of these sufficient hath been said already Nor yet shall we further treat of that Internall intellectuall knowledge which the humane soul in its Glorified estate hath of all Material Immaterial created substances viz. of Angels and abstracted Forms other inferior creatures which are represented to its knowledge per speciem by an innate form and similitude chiefly and primarily in their universal natures secundarily in their individuals in one single aspect and intuition which manner of knowledge is natural and essential to Spirits and Essences intellectual for this hath also been elswhere handled But here we shall principally insist upon that Science of the Soul or rather Sapience which consists in the sole intuitive Intellection or Beatifical Vision of the divine Essence and Nature of God himself which is not per aenigma as in this life but facie revelata not in his back parts onely but the infinite Essence and Majesty the very quiddity and being of the great Iehovah as he is in himself so St. Iohn expresseth it fully and clearly manifested And the divine Sapience which comes by this Intuition or Intuitive Intellection surpasseth all other manner of knowledge whatsoever this is not natural to any created Angelical Intellect comes not by any strength of nature created by God into any finite being nor can it stand with natural reason how a finite capacity for so are all created intelligences should perfectly and distinctly clarè perspicuè cognitione perfecta non confusa apprehend see and know an infinite Essence as intensively Infinite this is supra captum humanum and exceeds all natural power Yet above reason is beleeved for so is the Faith of holy Church that the blessed Saints and Angels in Heaven do clearly and fully see and know God do behold him as he is in himself The Mind and Intellect glorified sees the Will enjoyes God its chiefest and most desirable good more fully and more certainly than any man here enjoyes any temporal estate In this Intuitive Vision and Fruition of God is Mans eternal felicity his beatitude his summum bonum seated here comes in the fulness of the Promises here 's the consummation of our Hopes this is the final intrinsical end of Mans Creation to see God clearly and to enjoy him fully our Beatitude consists in this and is the same beatitude wherewith God himself is blessed God is most blessed and therefore most blessed because he alwayes beholds himself as he is and eternally enjoys himself he hath made us partakers in hope of the same chiefest good to be like him in the same felicity together with all the glorious Saints and Angels so saith the Apostle We shall be like him for we shall see him as he is There were certain Hereticks Armenians and others but condemned of old by several Decrees and Councils who held it imposible for any created Intellect by any power whatsoever clearly to see God and therefore they held further the Beatitude which is promised by God and waited for by us to consist non in familiari illo quem speramus divine naturae intuitu sed cujusdam creati fulgoris ab ea manantis And indeed in the eye of Reason it is impossible unto Nature altogether repugnant that any created Intellect by any strength of it own should perfectly know the infinite Godhead but what is impossible with men is notwithstanding possible with God Multa fieâ—i possunt virtute divina quae naturae creatae viribus fieri non possunt saith Suarez nam etsi Deus à nullo intellectu creato clarè cognosci potest viribus naturae videri tamen clarè perspicuè poâ—est ab iis quorum mentes divina bonitas supra naturae modum illustraverit ad quandam divinae naturâ—e participationem evexerit saith Fonseca This is done by a supernatural power fide tenemus quod ratione improbamus Though all power is not excluded from the nature of created Intellection for an Obediential power is founded in the nature of the Reasonable Soul even unto acts of divine and supernatural quality to those supernatural habits of Faith Hope Charity c. not Acquisite by any intrinsical power of it own but infused by God drawn out of the power of the Soul eductione supernaturali ad quam non requiritur ex parte subjecti potentia naturalis receptiva sed obedientialis sufficit which obediential power is founded in the nature of the Soul Suarez tom 1 disp 15. sect 2.9 and in that respect is natural and essential to it In which sense Aquinas is to be understood saying * 1.2 q. 113.