the real Merits of a Cause whether I have not very fairly and clearly expounded those places of St. Paul which I have produced upon this head together with all others of a like meaning and signification which it is not necessary accurately to insert so as that no advantage can be reaped from them to the Calvinistical Doctrine The Second Account which I shall give of the origine and progress of this Opinion and of its Continuance among us to this Day shall be taken from those Texts in the Epistles of St. Paul where he describes the Lucta or Contention which is to be found more or less in every man for it is not equal in all between the two principles of the Flesh and Spirit or between the natural tendencies and desires of the humane Soul as it moves from its self by an inward spring or principle of self activity abstracted from all Intanglement or Encumbrance from the Body which are all regulated by the sober and steady deliberations of right reason without any Prejudice Humour Interest or Passion and between those desires which are owing to the union of the intellectual or spiritual principle with matter from whence it comes to pass that our nobler part is perpetually sollicited and frequently overborn by the importunity of sensual Pleasures by yielding too frequently or too grosly to which it follows unavoidably that the natural strength and activity of the mind will be by degrees impaired as Elastical Bodies by moysture lose their Spring or as the Bodies of men or other Animals by want of exercise and too much ease are used to grow Scorbutick resty and unactive but on the contrary by constant breathing activity and motion they acquire new strength and arrive to an Athletical firmitude and vigour as it is also with the Mind which is not more impaired by a tame and cowardly submission to Animal and fleshly desires than it is improved and strengthned by a stout and resolute resistance of them In this continual combat between concupiscence and reason consists that spiritual Warfare which we are obliged to maintain with the World the Flesh and the Devil in the conquest of which Enemies or in our utmost endeavour towards it as being an effect of the natural strength and activity of the Soul shaking off the Cloggs and Encumbrances of the sensual or lower Life which is wholly governed by gross and corporeal Impressions from without the nature of Virtue consists a on the otherside Vice is nothing else but an unnecessary yielding to so mean impulses or it is that decay or infirmity of mind which is the consequence of such a yielding This Combat is excellently described by St. Paul in the Seventh Chapter of his Epistle to the Romans from the 14th verse to the end of that Chapter in these words We know that the Law is Spiritual but I am carnal sold under Sin For that which I do I allow not For what I would that do I not but what I hate that do I. If then I do that which I would not I consent unto the Law that it is good Now then it is no more I that do it but Sin that dwelleth in me For I know that in me that is in my Flesh dwelleth no good thing For to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not For the good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do now if I do that I would not it is no more I that do it but Sin that dwelleth in me I find then a Law that when I would do good evil is present with me For I delight in the Law of God after the inward man But I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my mind and bringing me into Captivity to the Law of Sin which is in my Members O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this Death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord So then with my mind I my self serve the Law of God but with the flesh the Law of Sin Much such a Description as this we have likewise by the same Apostle in his Epistle to the Galathians c. 5. v. 17. The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would Where he also acquaints us what are the distinct works of the Flesh and the Spirit the First consisting mainly in the gratification of sensual Appetites and desires or in an ambitious pursuit after the Pomp and Vanities of this world or in that turbulent and uneven constitution of mind in those either private or publick Mischiefs which are the usual consequences of Lust and Passion as the latter are chiefly discernible by such a calmness and serenity of Mind and Will as does perpetually accompany the Soul of man when it is moved from it self from an inward spring and principle of its own and when its streams are not troubled or turned back with violence upon their Fountain by the tempestuous winds of Passion such a calmness and serenity as makes a man most easie to himself most acceptable to others and most fit to enjoy an intimate Friendship and Communion with God Now the works of the Flesh saith he v. 18 19 20 21 22 23. are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies Envyings Murthers Drunkenness Revellings and such like of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God but the fruit of the Spirit is Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance against such there is no Law And from this distinction of the Flesh and the Spirit men are denominated according to the respective Predominancy of either sometimes Carnal or Natural and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Spiritual men So in the next Chapter v. 1. Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are Spiritual restore such an one in the Spirit of meekness considering thy self lest tho◠also be tempted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye which are Spiritual that is ye who have mortified the Flesh with its affections and Lusts ye who have given your selves up to the guidance and conduct of the inward-man whose Souls are as far as may be retired within themselves freed from the Dominion of Prejudice and Temptation and making no further account of any thing without than it is necessary to the support of Life or serviceable to the noble ends of Happiness and Virtue ye who measure all things by a steady and impartial reason according to their true estimate and value and not as they are falsly and unskilfully represented by the specious flatteries of a deluded fancy and so those things or truths of which
the Prophets had usually the Garbe and deportment of Mad and Frantick Persons Saul being amongst them stript himself stark Naked and lay without his Clothes for an whole Night and a Day together It is the Character which one gave of the young Prophet who was sent by Elisha to Anoint Jehu 2 Kings 9. 11. Wherefore came this mad Fellow to thee and whoever shall read the Stories of Elijah and Elisha and his Servant Gehazi will without much difficulty be induced to believe that the Spirit of Prophecy was usually attended with a sort of Madness insomuch that it was the usual Opinion both in the Jewish and the Heathen Nations that there was somewhat Sacred and Divine in Frantick Persons as it is still among the Turks to this day which was therefore so far from being a disadvantage to the Message of a Prophet that it rather gave new Authority and Recommendation to it But since these extraordinary effusions of the Holy Spirit are now wholly ceased together with the reason of them there being no new Revelation to be expected and there being sufficient reason especially in these parts of the World to render every man inexcusable who does not believe this What folly is it to talk of irresistible Grace when the influences of the Spirit are so Gentle that they cannot be distinguished from the motions of a Man 's own Mind When we can give a reasonable Account of what we do and are not sensible of any Violence from without by which our natural Propensities are forcibly over-ruled though that there may be sometimes and in some particular Cases such an unaccountable and perhaps irresistible bent of our Minds which cannot well be attributed to any other Cause then to the spirit of God is a thing which I will not deny but since the Apostles themselves were not always in the Spirit and under the influences of such an irresistible Grace what Madness is it to affirm it of these Times when there is not the same occasion for it or do not Mens Consciences give the Lie to their Tongues when they talk of an irresistible Spirit in those very actions in which they seem to themselves and others to be the most perfectly free and unrestrained Thus much is sufficient if not too much in answer to the first Advantage which may be taken from the consideration of that Lucta or Contention which there is betwixt the two principles of the Flesh and the Spirit The second possible advantage which may be made is this that the Spiritual principle there mentioned may be pretended to be no part of the humane Nature but that it is only a supernatural influence of Divine Grace from above Rom. 8. 9. But ye are not in the Flesh but in the Spirit if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you and vers 13 14. For if ye live after the Flesh ye shall dye but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the Body ye shall live for as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God But to this it may be answered First That there are plainly in every Man if we will believe the express affirmation of St. Paul himself two distinct principles of Action which he calls the Flesh and Spirit and the latter of them sometimes the inward Man which is a sign that it is a part of our Selves c. 7. v. 22. For I delight in the Law of God after the inward Man and sometimes the Mind v. 23. But I see another Law in my Members Warring against the Law of my Mind Secondly This Spiritual principle in us is that which is properly the Image of God and the resemblance of his Nature betwixt which and the Divine Spirit there is a marvellous Harmony and Agreement For as the Carnal Mind is at Enmity with God Rom. 8. 7. So betwixt the spiritual Mind and him there is a wonderful Concord and Friendship he Cooperates and concurs with it in all its virtuous Endeavours and Undertakings And the Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit as it is v. 16. That we are the Children of God From whence it comes to pass that the that the same Effects are attributed to the Spirit of God and to our Spirit as their Cause because there is a Concurrence of both these for their Production and because the utmost perfection of Holiness is scarce attainable in a single Instance while we carry these fleshly Tabernacles about us and much less in the whole course and tenour of our Lives without the assistance of the Divine Spirit These are the two advantages which may be taken from the consideration of that strife or contention betwixt the two principles which is described by St. Paul which what Service they are like to do to the Predestinarian Cause we have already seen but it is now further to be considered that the very supposition of a Mind or inward Man or immaterial principle of Action for all these are one is at the same time an assertion of humane Freedom and a shaking off those Clogs and Fetters which the Calvinistical Fatality would put upon us For when things come to be examined to the Bottom it will be found that an immaterial Nature and a free Agent are the same Extension is the common attribute of all Substance whatsoever it being impossible to have any conception of any thing which is not somewhere or to have any notion of Place The School distinction betwixt Locus and Ubi being a very idle unintelligible Distinction which is not extended by real Parts and such as are at least by Cogitation separable from one another It being therefore so clear that no Man can possibly conceive otherwise but that all Substance is extended it follows in the next place either that there is but one sort of Substance or that there are several sorts of Extension If the first be granted the consequence of this will be First That matter must be self-moved for that there is such a Substance as Matter will not come into dispute And Secondly That all Matter hath a power of moving it self because what ever is of the essence of Matter must belong in common to all Matter whatsoever And Thirdly That all Matter may be moved with an equal celerity and degree of Motion because the Essences of things are indivisible and therefore if Motion be of the Essence of Matter considered barely as such and be not owing to some other principle from without it must belong equally to all Matter whatsoever And therefore in the Fourth place the reason why all Matter is not equally moved must be that it is indued with a power of exerting or suspending its Activity either pro arbitrio for no reason at all or by the measures of Prudence for the good of the World But if it be absurd ridiculous and contrary to experience to attribute so much Understanding Will or Power to every Stick and Clod to every seemingly
THE MIDDLE WAY BETWIXT Necessity and Freedom THE SECOND PART BEING AN Apologetical Vindication of the Former By JOHN TURNER late Fellow of Christs-College in Cambridge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed for Samnel Sympson Bookseller in Cambridge and are to be sold by him and Fincham Gardiner at the White Horse in Ludgate-street London 1684. Revâ—â—â—â—do admodum Patri ET ILLUSTRI VIRO ERYCIO COMPTONIDAE Splendidissimorum Northamptoniae Comitum Filio Fratri Patruo Nepoti Non minùs propriâ Virtute Sapientiâ ac Doctrinâ quà m Titulis Imaginibus Majorum claro Augustae quae est in Trinobantibus Praesuli Amplissimo Oratorii Impâ—â—â—alis Decano KAROLINAEQUE MAJESTATIS in Concilio sanctiori intimae admissionis Consiliario JOHANNES TURNER Hanc suam tramitis qui nuper medius dicebatur Apologeticam defensionem Idem scriptor jusdem operis continuat or assértor eidem faventissimo Patrono ac Mecoenati humiliter offert cùm perpetuâ gratiarum actione vovet consecratque TO THE READER IT may seem for ought I know preposterous to some to call that which I now publish an Apologetical Vindication for why should I vindicate that which is not accused or make an Apology for that which no man censures But when I consider how strong the current of the best Writers upon the subject I have undertaken hath run against that notion which I have endeavoured to establish I could not think it modest to dissent from so many and so Learned men without giving a more particular account of my self and without endeavouring to explain illustrate and confirm what I had written by a more distinct review of the whole matter and by an addition of new Arguments and Circumstances to strengthen mine opinion which I hope I have done with that clearness of expression and that force of reason that will convince the most obstinate and abundantly satisfy the most doubting mind For my part I declare I have no other concern in it then that I would have the truth to appear the truth which I have always and which I shall always prefer before any private interest or consideration whatsoever as I am indispensably obliged to do by my duty as a man and as a Christian and by my profession as a Divine by which I am under a still more particular and pressing obligation to promote encourage and propagate all those notions whose belief hath a tendency to the happiness of the world and to discountenance and discourage as much as in me lies all that have a tendency to destroy its peace and welfare for I am either very much mistaken in my sentiments of things or there is nothing practically or politically true which it is not very much for the interest of the world that it should be known Indeed if Divinity were nothing but an Art a meer Trick and a Juggle to impose upon the People and to enrich its Professors then it would be true in another sence than that in which it is usually taken artis est celare artem and an oath of secrecy ought to be taken of every man that enters into Orders that he should not betray the Arcana of his Function which it would be impossible for any man to do without bringing ruin and disgrace upon it but since we intend nothing but the good of the world in the first place and do not aim at any private advantage any further then is consistent with that why should we not be frank and open in what we do It is for them to cant and talk mysteries that cannot preach useful sense or speak intelligible English them that uphold a Party by flights of Enthusiasme and certain uncouth absurdities of expression and decry carnal reason for no other cause but only that either they do not understand it or else that they are sensible it is no friend of theirs but Nature and true Religion are always of a mind and this is the great fault of the Calvinistical doctrines that they contradict experience and bid a perpetual defiance to humane faculties and to common sense which if the Scripture it self should always do it would be no Argument that Calvin was in the right but only that they themselves were very much out of the story and were not really the word of God as they pretend to be I mention the Calvinistical doctrines because there is a connexion betwixt the divine obduration and the humane and I call it the humane because the Calvinistical necessity is a necessity of mans making and they have both of them the same effect that is they do things they know not why and they act after such or such a manner because they cannot help it only they differ in the cause that is to say one of these necessities is acted from without and the other from within one is a real necessity of providence and the other pretends to be a necessity of nature It was therefore very suitable and congruous in a discourse of the former to take so fair an occasion to consider the latter likewise and the rather because those very Texts of Scripture which do so plainly evidence and demonstrate the one are produced by those that assert the reprobation for the defence and maintenance of the other with how much disingenuity and how little skill I think I have sufficiently manifested to the world and have so fairly explained the beloved ninth of the Romans about which so much noise hath been made and so much hath been written to so little purpose by the contending Parties Nay I have turned their own Cannon upon themselves I have engaged this very Chapter in the quarrel against them and Jacob and Esau the younger and the Elder Ishmael and Isaac the seed of the Bondwoman and the promised seed however disagreeing and angry with each other have upon this occasion joyned all their Forces and laid a formal Siege to Geneva neither is it at all to be doubted but they will carry the place whether you consider the strength and courage of the Assailants oâ—â—he one side or on the other the weak and defenceless condition of the Town its want of Provision to hold out or Ammunition to defend it self and annoy the confederated leaguer of nature and revelation by which it is so closely begrit That which I now publish was intended as you will see by the beginning and by several passages up and down in it only by way of preface to that other discourse which is already abroad but it grew so long before I was well aware that it was much bigger than the Discourse it self to which it was intended to be prefixt it was therefore beter that it should be published by it self and consequently after the other for it would have been absurd to refer to a Discourse which was not yet in being besides that it will be much better it should come out as it does for this reason that the other having been already perus'd and digested you will
God would teach us to know our end and the number of our days that we might apply our hearts unto wisdom that is that he would teach us to reflect upon the shortness of our lives and the frailty of our natures that we might improve that little time we have here to the best advantage And this I think is a sufficient answer to Beverovicius his Question An terminus vitae sit mobilis without all that laborious canvassing of the business which is to be found in the Epistles of those Learned men who at his request undertook a resolution of that Problem especially Voetius and Salmasius I have nothing further to add unless it be that I would desire the Calvinists to consider seriously with themselves whether they who declaim so loudly against the Church of Rome which I believe as well as they to be an Idolatrous Church are not guilty of Idolatry themselves for they worship an Angry Revengeful and Implacable Being instead of a Merciful and Gracious Nature a Rash and Cruel Deity instead of a Wise and Just which if I understand any thing is to direct their worship to a false Object for certainly the attributes of God are not really distinct from God himself and therefore to worship false Attributes must be of necessity to worship a false God However I am very tender of chargeing them with Idolatry especially since they pretend to hate and detest it so much only I desire them to consider of it and I cannot forbear declaring thus much that I think it is to no purpose to worship the God of the Calvinists who cannot be moved from his Decrees by any Prayers or intreaties and who if he be the Author of any good to us in this life or of any happiness to any of us in that which is to come yet it is not out of any Principle of goodness in his nature but purely out of an Arbitrary determination of his mind and in plain English an unaccountable humour I have referred towards the latter end of these Papers to an Appendix which I designed concerning the Extension of the Divine Substance but I have considered that question very largely in some other Papers wherein I have attempted an explanation of the Doctrine of the Trinity which I intend when I have reviewed to publish Farewell AN Apologetical Preface IN VINDICATION Of the Discourse Entituled The middle way betwixt Necessity and Freedom I Am so well perswaded of the truth of what I have written and of the honesty of my design in writing it that I shall need to make no other Apology for its Publication than that I conceive it might be useful to the world and I hope the event will prove that I was not mistaken The consideration of those Texts of Scripture wherein God is said to have hardened or blinded or deceived men is the subject of the following Discourse as it has been already to very little purpose of many larger Volumes while some are so nice that they will not allow in any of these Phaenomena any more than a divine Permission by leaving men wholly to the conduct and guidance of their own unruly Passions and corrupt Affections and to the blasting influences of degenerate and wicked Spirits And others are so hardy as to ascribe all to the arbitrary will of God founded upon no reason but a boundless Soveraignty and dominion over all things The first of these is so dilute and cold a way of interpreting those places where so much of activity and positive Concurrence seems plainly to be ascribed to God that if such activity can possibly be reconciled to the common notions which we are used to entertain of the divine nature and attributes and to the standing measures of truth goodness and justice It ought by no means to be admitted because such a way of Interpretation when there is no need does instead of doing good do a great deal of mischief in the world by insinuating the Scripture to be more obscure than it is and by that means giving too much encouragement to the wild Interpretations of Enthusiastick or designing men Whereas the Scripture being the universal law of Life the standing rule of faith and practice amongst men that it may be the more effectual to those good purposes for which it was designed it ought to be rendred as plain and intelligible as may be neither ought we ever to recur to a figurative sense so as for example when such or such an action or such or such an effect is ascribed to God in Scripture to say that he only permits that action to be done or that effect to come to pass unless where the literal and first meaning will not do But yet notwithstanding this way of interpretation how weak and insufficient soever it be in its self which I think I have abundantly discovered in the following papers Yet being made use of upon pious reasons to salve the credit of the divine Justice and goodness and to make the revealed will of God more unisone and agreeable to the natural reason of men it is our duty not to decline it without a becoming Reverence and to treat the Authours or abettors of it with all imaginable respect and Honour But as for that other way which resolves all into the arbitrary pleasure of God who is according to these men a very arbitrary Being and damns his Creatures in the other world with as little reason as he hardens them in this it is an opinion so horrid and so impious so derogatory to the honour of God so expresly levell'd against the happiness of men attended on all hands with such dismal consequences of inevitable Ruin and Despair that if it could not be avoided but this must needs be granted to be the natural sense and only true meaning of the Scripture in those places which either one way or other do concern this point I should think it my duty to renounce and abominate that Book wherein such prodigious Doctrines were contained not only so destructive to the interest but so contrary to the common and received notions of mankind of which it is impossible for us to rid our selves and which are themselves on all hands granted to be an unquestionable sort of Revelation Now if an expedient can be found out by which both of the aforementioned inconveniences shall be avoided which may consist with a more natural and easie way of expounding Scripture which will do no violence to the attributes of God or the common sentiments of mankind which shall make Religion to be at once an intelligible and highly reasonable thing and shall at once vindicate it from the scoffs of Atheists who are its professed Enemies and from the reproaches of the Calvinists who are its pretended Friends I hope to discover so wholesome and safe a passage between two dangerous extreams by both of which the Authority of the Scripture suffers by the one from the obscurity or rather downright Inconsistency
the carnal or natural man that is he whose mind is too deeply plunged and immerst in bodily pleasures or desires can have no relish or savour are said to be Spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2. 14. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have no tast or savour with him Neither can he know them because they are Spiritually discerned and then it follows v. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but he that is Spiritual judgeth all things but he himself is judged of no man where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the first place is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he discerneth all things that is puts a true value and estimate upon them but he himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he cannot with Justice be judged or condemned of any And that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the natural man in this place which I have last cited is meant as I have said him whose mind being wholly intent and fixt upon sensual Appetites and gratifications is called off from the true improvement of its intellectual Faculties and Powers will appear not only from the tenour and scope of the Context it self and from its being opposed to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the spiritual man but also from this that it looks like a way of speaking borrowed from the School and Philosophy of Plato for we all know that in the Platonick Triad there were three several Hypostases or Personalities which had a dependance upon and a subordination to one another The First of which was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which I understand the divine substance considered as simply and abstractedly as may be being infinitely perfect and blessed in its self without any relation to any thing without or besides it The Second was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say the mind or understanding of God furnished with an infinite variety of Ideas coextended to the utmost possibility of things and branched out into all the instances that were possible to be given of the divine Wisdom or Power The Third and Last Was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which they meant the Plastick nature or the formative and demiurgick power of God united to a certain subtile or Aetherial matter which it makes use of as its instrument as well perhaps for the first modelling or exemplification of the divine Ideas which matter is capable of infinite Variety of possibe Shapes Modifications and Respects as for the warming enlivening and sustaining that Universe which the divine Power Wisdome and Goodness have created Which three subordinate Hypostases of the Platonick Triad may be and are not unfitly copy'd out by so many several resemblances in the humane nature For First We may consider the mind of man barely as a simple immaterial substance created after the Image of God having nothing of composition or impurity in its Nature Secondly We may consider it as the recipient or subject of several notices and Ideas which it considers by themselves and compares together with a cool and impartial Reason not byassed by Prejudice or led aside by Passion or blinded by Humour Interest or Fancy And Lastly We may consider it as united to a Body and presiding over Animal Spirits which it sends up and down that Body on its Errants and by them performs the office of a plastick Nature usiing them as its Instruments in the formation of the Foetus and assimilation of Food and by which union it is made obnoxious to all the Passions and Impressions of the lower Life and is but too often overpowered and carryed away into Captivity by them Further that this meaning of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate sometimes Natural and otherwhile Sensual in the writings of St. Paul and other of the inspired Writers of the new-Testament whom I shall have occasion to mention by and by is borrowed as I have suggested from the School of Plato will appear yet more plain from these two considerations First That this is not any where the notion of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence the Adjective 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived but on the contrary it is every where taken for the inward man or the pure intellectual and immaterial nature considered as distinct from that body to which it is united So our Saviour himself uses it Mark c. 8. v. 36 37. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole World and loose his own Soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul and 1 Pet. 2. 11. Dearly beloved I beseech you as Strangers and Pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which war against the Soul In both which places and in many others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Soul is taken for the pure immaterial Nature in us as it is distinct from that Matter or Body to which it is united and in whose Happiness or Misery that of the whole Man is unavoidably ingaged and if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were here taken as it is in its derivative 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the sensual or animal Life in men then fleshly lusts could not be said to war against it because they are founded and radicated in this lower nature or in the vital union of a pure and Heavenly Soul with a gross feculent and terrestrial Body It being clear therefore that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in has no such use or acceptation any where to be met with in the new-Testament Writers it must of necessity be that so different an use of its derivative 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must be owing to the use of it in some other Authour Neither must I from hence be supposed to insinuate that there is any thing of turbulency or passibility in the nature of God if that nature be admitted according to the Platonists to be united to an Emanative or subeternal matter for though this be the consequence of the union of an humane Soul with its Body that it suffers from the Reaction of the Matter to which it is united which Reaction is caused partly by Impressions from without and partly from intestine Commotions and Disorders from within yet that subtile Matter which is supposed to be thus vitally united to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or plastick principle of the Universe being created by it and having no motion but what it receives from it it cannot reverberate upon its own Cause without which it has neither being nor power so as to create any disturbance in its nature besides that upon supposition of such a reaction in them both yet the effect will not be the same in a terrestrial and etheriall matter as shall immediately be made appear The Second reason why the signification of this word may
of several passages in the writings of St. Paul wherein the same truth is frequently inculcated and very strongly asserted from p. 374 to 385 The remaining causes of the rise and â—rogress of the Doctrine of Reprobation are very briefly mentioned from p. 385 to 391 The End of the Contents CITATIONS ENGLISHED P. 293. An minus est c. IS the blest Evidence that Heaven affords Of things to come in shining Starry words Less then Beasts Entrails or the noise of Birds For God himself does not his Face conceal But his bright Head and Body does reveal By rouling on in an Eternal round That men know him and that having found His constant presence and Majestick way They may his Laws with awful fear obey P. 294. Hoc opus c. THis immense Body of the Massy frame And all the Members that compose the same A Divine Soul inspires and through each part God with sage Counsel and well tempered Art Dispences Peace and friendship to the rest They help each other when they are opprest And in the midst of strange variety The whole masse loves it self and all the parts agree P. 294 295. Innumerabiles quaestiones sunt c. THere are many things which all Men grant to be and yet we know not what they are that we have a Mind or Soul by which we are incited and stirred up to some actions and restrained from others all men will confess but what that Mind or Soul is which is our Governor and Guide is every whit as difficult to explain as where it is one will tell you it is a certain breath or blast another a certain harmony or proportion another that it is the power or energy of the Divine Substance and a part of it some will have it be nothing else but a certain aerial volatil and subtile matter some say it is an incorporeal or immaterial power that is the power or virtue of something which is not matter and others will have it be nothing but the temper of the Blood or a certain degree of heat which is sensible and vital No wonder therefore if the mind be so much to seek concerning other things when as yet it is so great a stranger to it self P. 296. Quis enim non videt c. WHo sees not that this corporeal or material world is Governed by an incorporeal or immaterial nature and that the whole mass of which the great body of the universe is composed by the same power and virtue of the Divinity by which it was made is also animated and enliven'd is so ordered that the parts of it are useful and serviceable to each other and the whole is preserved in the same state and condition for so many Ages Since therefore it is so plain that the sensible or material world hath need of some foraign assistance to preserve it it cannot be doubted being so imperfect and insufficient as it is but that it also stood in need of being created P. 322. Ita dico Lucili c. SO I say Lucilius there is a Divine Spirit dwelling within us that is a perpetual observer and a faithful remembrancer to us of all our actions and as we treat this Spirit kindly or unkindly so we shall be sure to be treated in like manner by it There is no good man without God P. 334. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 BEfore you act consider what you do And be so wise and to your self so true As to look back each Night upon the day And let no sleep your stolen sence betray Till you have first cast up your daily Score And reckon'd with your self for all before What duty have I miss'd what evil done P 341 342. Clarus ob obscuram c. ADmir'd for hard words by the silly crowd But no wise Man his just applause allow'd For fools by noises and by sounds are led By mystery and Cant and such like trade Let it be true or false 'tis all a case All goes for truth that rumbles with a Grace P. 376. Tu quidem non peccas YOu offend not because you are free from the body you have no passions because nothing is necessary to an immortal nature The Passages above cited were therefore put into English as well because they were so large that they would break the sense too much in the opinion of the English Reader who could not understand them as because those especially of Seneca and Manilius contained so full an account of the ancient Doctrine of the Epecureans and Stoicks concerning the Soul of man and the Nature of God as those of Euripides Lactantius and Pythagoras did likewise serve to confirm the Doctrine of St. Paul which is so strongly backed by Nature and experience concerning the Two principles or natures the one of them free and active the other passive or necessary in Man But now that the English Reader may be no where at a stand it is thought fit for his more ample satisfaction to Translate the other Passages likewise which are to be met with in the Apologetical Vindication before those already Translated and first for that of Ovid P. 53. Recens tellus c. HEaven was but new deliver'd of the Earth Teeming with Seeds of her Etherial Birth When thou blest Son of Japhet wise and bold Didst with spring Water mix the fruitful mold And with hidden art form the enlivened Clods Into the shape of the all ruling Gods And when to Beasts thou gavest a downward look Biddest Man stand up and read the Herald Book Of Heaven where he his pedigree might view And aspire thither whence he downward flew P. 44. Valet Ina summis c. GOd can turn all things upside down Debase the Peer exalt the Clown And give obscurity renown P. 93. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Think when he got you what your Father did That thing alone may serve to quell your pride P. 96. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Full of God Is every Path and every Road The Market the Exchange the Sea the shore He fills them all and is himself still more P. 115. Sicut Grex totus c. As the whole Flock that in the fields do keep Catches the rot from one infected Sheep As Hogs their Swine Pox and their Measle spread And Grapes in Grapes do mutual moldings breed P. 139. Quos perdere c. Whom Heaven destroys it first infatuates P. 184. Horrida Membra c. Armes spik'd with bristles Members shag'd with hair Do a rapacious and fierce mind declare P. 204 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If fate will drive you go along with fate Not vex your self and to no purpose fret For Fate will drive you because Fate is Fate P. 205. Duc me Parens c. Lead me dread Sire Lord of the Milky way Whether thou please I 'le readily obey Or ' gainst my will I 'le sighing run the course For we must do 't if not by choice by force P. 206. Jurent
licet Samothracum c. Let the poor Man swear by the Gods all round From supream Jove to the Gods under ground Yet no Man credit to his Oath will give Who contemnes Thunder with the Gods good leave For no worse plague than Poverty can be He that has that may despise destiny P. 206. Eadem necessitas Deos alligat c. THe same necessity tyes both Gods and Men Divine and Humane things are alike subject to and equally carry'd down by a torrent of Fate impossible to be stemmed as he that made and governed all things he wote those laws of fate by which himself is obliged he commanded but once but he obeys for ever P. 278. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I see what mischiefs my designes attend But too strong Passion does weak reason bend P. 279. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I hear you and I grant 't is true you say But Lust calls loudly and I must obey Ib. Volo equidem c. I Do what I can to live exactly as a wise man should do but I am forced now and then to step aside for I am at best but Flesh and Blood and these throw me violently whether I will or no sometimes upon the coast of Lust and sometimes upon that of anger I grieve for my friends death though I cannot recall him and I fear mine own though I cannot prevent it I am carryed this way and that way as the giddy Whirl-wind of my Passions drive me and I offend rather out of meer necessity than out of deliberate choice or inclination I feel my self tripping and yet I have not power to fix my foot but am forced to yield to the frailty of my Nature which it is impossible for me always to withstand P. 210. Quid est hoc Lucili c. TEll me my Lucilius if thou canst what is' t that makes us look one way while we row another that hurryes us back into the Port again when we were almost got to the end of our Voyage what is it that boiles and works within our Minds and puts our thoughts into a dangerous ferment that will not suffer them to be consistent to themselves or fixed with a wise and steady purpose of mind upon any object or end we waver in our counsells and designes we pursue nothing frankly nothing entirely nothing constantly What other account can possibly be given of such inconstancy as this but that it is the effect of folly lust and passion which are not pleased with any thing for a substantial reason and therefore cannot be pleased with any thing long P. 282. Illud simul cogitemus c. i. e. YOu ought to consider with your self Lucilius that if this universe which is as frail and mortal as your self be yet notwithstanding sustained and upheld by the Providence of God that so we also if we would imitate as we ought to do that care and circumspection of the supream being might prolong the time of our continuance among Men if we would but deny our selves the destructive enjoyment of those bodily pleasures which are the cause to so many of untimely Death P. 283. Imbecilli fluid que c. WE and all things here below are weak and infirm and but of short continuance let us therefore fix our meditations on things above let us contemplate the first Ideas and exemplars of all things formed and swimming in the Aetherial matter and God in the midst of them casting about and considering with himself how to preserve those things by providence and care which of themselves neither are nor can be of an immortal nature because the fluid matter of which they are composed is subject to perpetual flux and dissipation but God by wisdome supplyes the inabilities of nature for all things above continue as they are not because the Aetherial substances are not lyable to change but because they are defended from it by the care and goodness of Goâ—d He is the great artificer of the world the maker and preserver of all things who supplyes what is wanting in the powers of matter by a virtue and sufficiency derived from himself P. 284. Corpusculum hoc c. THis body of ours is but the Gaol and Prison of the Mind it is this that is toss'd and tumbled to and fro upon this it is that torments are iâ—flicted this alone that is subject to diseases but the Mind is sacred and inviolable because composed of an Aetherial substance which is so swift and so subtile that no manner of hold can be fastened upon it P. 284 285. Mobilis inquieta mens THe mind of Man is moveable and unquiet it never stands still but naturally streams it self abroad and shoots it self immediately to an infinite distance wherever there is any real or imaginary object for its contemplation it wanders and is impatient and glad of any thing that hath the appearance of new Which you cannot wonder at if you consider the nature of the Soul for it does not consist of gross and earthy parts but it descends from above out of the Heavenly matter and this is the nature of the Heavenly bodies that they are always in motion wherefore the Soul as beâ—ng made of the Aetherial matter is like that Matter nimble in its motions and is moved in it self and carryed forth to things at tâ—e greatest distance from it by a swift and restless agitation c. P. 285. Nunc me put as c. i. e. YOu think I warrant you that I am speaking of the Stoicks who are of opinion that the soul of a Man who is prest or squeezed to death cannot pass through all together but is dispersed and scattered as the rest of the fluid matter for want of free passage to come away together but you are widely mistaken in your opinion of me and so are the Stoiques in their sentiments of the Soul for as flame cannot be opprest as it cannot be hurt or cut in sunder by any blow or blast but it returns again with greater force and winds it self about that which endeavours to restrain and curb it so it is with the mind which is every whit as subtile and piercing as the flame it cannot be pend up in any place how narrow soever nor stifled and imprisoned within the body but it breaks through all obstacles by means of its subtil and Aetherial nature and as the Thunder and Lightning when they are most fatal either to man or beast yet they pass off without leaving a discernable wound so it is with the soul which is more subtile then fire it passes through the body by the most invissible pores P. 285 286. Nihil est quod non expugnet c. THere is nothing so difficult which diligence and resolution will not conquer the bended armes of massy Oakes may be straitned â—nd crooked Timber yields to the force of heat and stretching out it self at length complyes against nature with the convenience of men How much
more easily is the soul susceptible of any form or shape a substance more soft and flexible then any liquid or fluid body whatsoever For what else is the mind but a concretion of subtile or Aetherial matter disposed after a certain manner and we see by experience that by how much the air or Aether is more thin and subtile then any other body so much the more easily does it yield and give way P. 286. Cum tempus advenerit c. WHen the fatal time shall come when the world about to be born again shall dy then shall the Elements make War together and Stars fall foul on one another and all the matter of the universe being set on fire their order and proportion which we now behold shall be turned into confusion and all things that are shall burn and blaze together in one universal flame and we the happy Souls inhabitants of the clear and spotless Aether when God shall dissolve the fabrick of the World which by his power and wisdome he hath built shall be dissolv'd and dissipated as well as other concretions and as a small accession to the general ruine shall return into our first principles again P. 289. Gaudent profecto c. IT is natural for Heavenly Bodies to be in perpetual motion and it is by a constant and restless agitation that the Aetherial matter preserves it self from being gross and heavy by sticking together as the terrestrial particles are wont to do Ib. Quicquid immortale est c. WHatsoever is immortal never is at a stay and it is by perpetual motion that the Aetherial matter is preserved P. 291. I nunc animum c. GO to now and believe it if you can that the mind of Man which consists of the same sort of volatil and fluid substance of which the Heavenly Bodies are composed is loath to change its condition and to leave this body when yet the nature of God himself who is every way surrounded and cloathed as with a garment by the Aetherial Matter does either preserve it self or at least render its being more pleasant and delightful by the swift motion and perpetual change of the parts of that subtile Matter among each other P. 292. Jam nusquam c. NAture expos'd to our inquiries lyes And God himself is view'd by mortal eyes For how can he that well known substance hide Of which a part does in our selves reside For who can doubt but God in us does dwell God that rules all things and does all things fill Or that our Souls from Heaven do downward fly And ascend thither when their bodyes dy P. 293. Quid mirum c. CAn it seem strange that Men the world should know If the World live in them and through them flow If each Man God in little do comprise Of the same substance but of smaller size For who can doubt but that from Heaven we come Scriptores quà veteris quà sequioris aevi in utroque opere laudati notatique A AMbrosius Anazagoras Aratus Articuli Ecclesiae Anglicanae circa Religionis credenda constituti Augustinus B Basilius Beverovicius Beza Biblia 2d veritatem Hebraicam Exversione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Symmachi Vulgatâ Junii Tremellii ex Hebraeo Latinae factâ Bezae M. S. Evangeliorum in Archivis Academiae Cantabrigiensis asservatus Alexandrium exemplar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eorum M. S. a Grotio laudatus Scholiastes Graecus Romanae editionis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paraphrastae Chaldaei C Calvinus Camero Caninius Cartesius Cleanthes Cucelleus D Drusius E Episcopius Etymologus Euripides G Grotius Glossae veteres H D. Hamond Heraclitus ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesychius Hieronymus Mr. Hobbs Horatius I Jamblichus Josephus Juvenalis K R. D. Kimchi L Lactantius D. Lightfoot Lucretius M Mamertinus Manilius O Ovidius P Pacatus Palaephatus Palladas Paulinus Pelagius Philo Judaeus Phocylides sive quisquis est scriptor carminum aureorum que sub Pythastorae nomine circumferunter Plato Plutarchus Porphyrius Scriptor quaest respon ad calcem Justini S Salmasius Seneca Suidas T Theophylactus D. Tillotson Thucydides V Virgilius Voetius Z Zacharias Chrysopolitanus Abrah Zancth Places of Scripture Cited Vindicated or explained in the APOLOGETICAL VINDICATION GEn. iii 15. ix 34. xvi 12. xviii 23 25. xxv 22 23 30. xxvii 4 40. xxviii 9. c. xxxiii-c xxxv 9 10. Exod. xiv 2 4. xx 5 6. xxxiv 14. Levit. xviii 18. Deut. iv 24. v 9. vi 15. 1 Sam. xvi 14. 2 Sam. xii 8 11 12. xvi 22. xxiv 1 4 10. 1 Kings iv 33. vii 24 25. xxii 19 20. 2 Kings ix 11. 1 Chron. xxi 1. 2 Chron. iv 3. Job i. 1 6 7 8 11 12 20 21 22. ii 1 2 7 9 10. Psalm lxix 27 cxxx 3. cxxxix 7 8. Prov. xvi 4. Esay x. 21 22. xlix 6 lxiii 1 2 3. Dan. 4. explained throughout c. ix 26 27. Hosea xi 1. Nahum i. 2. Matth. ii 15. viii 27 36 37. x. 4 5 6. xi 25. xxiv 24. xxv 31 32 37 38 39 46. xxvi 6 8 31 ad 37 41 47 69 ad 74 75. Mark iii. 18. vi 3 xiv 3. John i. 18. iii. 16 17. vi 71 ix 2. xii 4 5 6. xiii 2 26 27. xviii 10. Acts. i. 13. ii 13 ad 18. vii 55 56. xiii 45 46 47. xxiii 8. xxvi 24 25. Rom. i. 20. ii 14 15. iv 15. vii ad v. 14. ad fin cap. viii 7 9 13 14 16 26 32. ix 3 4 5 6 7 8 11 12 13 14 27 32. x. 1 2 3. xi 6 14 20 25. xii 1 2. 1 Cor. ii 14 15. ix 20. 13. xv 44. xvii 1 2. Gal. i. 8 11 16. iii. 24. iv 22 ad 27. v. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23. vi 1. Ephes ii 4 5 8 9. 2 Thess ii 9. Hebr. ix 22. xii 14. James iii. 15. v. 16. 1 Pet. v. 8. 1 John iii. 4. iv 7 8 9 10 11 19 20 21. Jude verse 19. Places of Scripture Cited Vindicated or explained in Two SERMONS GEnesis vi 2. xi 7. xxx 8. Exodus i. 9 10 11 14 17. ii 11 12 15 23 24. iv 19 21. v. 2. vii 13 22. viii 15 ii 32 34. ix 35. 16 34. xiii 15. Leviticus xxvi 5 6 7 8. Deuteronomy ii 30. xxviii 15 28 29. Judg. vii 22. 1 Sam. ii à . 12 ad 25 34. iv 11. xiii 14. xiv 2 6 12 15 20. xv 11 23 xvi 14. xxiv 6 10. xxvi 12. 2 Samuel i. 13 14 15 16. v. 2 xxiiii 1 9. 1 Kings xi 11 12. xii 15 24. xiii 8 9 14 19. xvi 16 20 30. c. xx c. xxi 2 Chron. xx 22 23. Psal iii. 4 5 6. xci 1 2 3 4 5 6. cv 15 25. Isa vi 10. Dan. iv 27 29 30 31 34 35 36 37. Matth. xii 32. xiii 12. Mark iv 12. Rom. i. 24 25 26 28. ix 17 18 20 22. 1 Cor. xi 30. 1 Thes v. 9. 2 Thes ii 11 12. Hebr. vi 4 5 6. Jam. i. 13 14. 1 John v. 16. Rev. xxii 2. NOTES