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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	evil_a	good_a	indifferent_a	2,973	5	9.5052	5	false

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

reason as that there is a God § 4. That God is immediately present as well in Christ as in all Creatures § 5. That Christ is unchangeable unto Evil and changeable unto Good and so partakes both of Divinity and Creaturality and also of Eternity and Time § 6. That neither Christ nor those that are perfectly united with him are Subject to the Laws of Time inasmuch as it denotes the Destruction of Things § 7. In what sence we are said to depart out of Time and to climb above it into a higher Region ALTHOUGH we have already in the aforegoing Chapter spoken a few things concerning the Son of God who is the First Begotten of all Creatures yet more remains to be said of this matter very necessary for the right understanding of what follows to which purpose we have here designed a peculiar Chapter § 1. BY the Son of God the First Begotten of all Creatures whom we Christians do call by the Name of Jesus Christ according to the Scriptures as is above declared not only is meant his Divinity but also his Humanity in Eternal Union with the Divinity that is as his Heavenly Humanity was united with the Divinity before the World was and so by consequence before he came in the Flesh Of whom the Ancient Cabbalists have delivered many things viz. concerning the Son of God how he was created and of his Existence in the Order of Nature before all Creatures also that all receive Benediction and Sanctification in him and by him whom also in their Writings they call the Heavenly Adam Adam Kadmon or First Man the Great Priest Husband or Spouse of the Church as Philo Judaeus calls the First Begotten Son of God § 2. THIS Son of God the First Begotten of all Creatures to wit this Heavenly Adam and Great Priest as the Jewish Doctors call him is properly a Medium between God and the Creatures And that there is such a Middle Being is as ●●●onstrable as that there is a God wh●r● is meant such a Being which in its own Nature is indeed less than God and yet greater and more excellent than all other Creatures whence also for his Excellency he is properly called the Son of God Concerning this Son of God who is called by the Jews Adam Kadmon more may be seen in Kabbal denudat Tom. 1. Part. 1. p. 28 30. Part. 2. p. 33. following 37 following Part 3. p. 31. unto the 64. p. 37 78 c. And Kabb. denud Tom. 2. Part 2. p. 244. And Tract ult p. 6 7. 26. § 3. IN order to this Demonstration we must first consider the Nature or Being of God the chiesest Being and then the Nature and Essence of Creatures which are to be compared one with another whence this middle Nature will immediately discover it self to us The Nature and Essence of God as is shown in the preceeding Chapters is altogether unchangeable which not only the Holy Scriptures but also the Strength of Reason which God hath indued our Minds with sufficiently declares For if there should be any Mutability in God it must needs tend to some higher degree or measure of Goodness and then he would not be the Chiefest Good which is contradictory for if any thing advances to a greater degree of Goodness this wholly comes to pass by reason of some greater Being of whose Vertue and Influence it doth participate But there is no greater Being than God and so by consequence he is no way meliorated nor can become better than he is much less decrease which would argue an Imperfection therefore it is manifest that God or the Chiefest Being is altogether unchangeable Now seeing the Nature of Creatures is really distinct from the Nature of God so that there are some Attributes of God which are incommunicable to Creatures among which is reckoned Immutability Hence it necessarily follows that Creatures are changeable or else they would be God himself Moreover also daily experience teaches us that Creatures are changeable and do continually vary from one State unto another But there is a two-fold Mutability the one whereof hath a Power in it of changing it self either unto Good or Evil and this is common to all Creatures but not to the First Begotten of all Creatures the other is only a Power to proceed from Goodness to Goodness Here is therefore a three-fold Classis or rank of Beings The First whereof is that which is wholly unchangeable The Second changeable only to Good so that that which in its own Nature is Good may become yet better The Third is that which though it was in its own Nature indeed Good yet could be indifferently changed as well into Good as from Good into Evil. The first and last of these are Extreams and the second is a Natural Medium between them by which the Extreams are united and this Medium partakes of both Extreams and therefore is the most convenient and proper Medium for it partakes of the one Extream viz. Mutability to wit from Good to a greater degree or measure of Goodness and of the other Extream viz. that it is altogether unchangeable from Good into Evil and such a Medium was necessarily required in the very Nature of Things for otherwise there would remain a Chasm or Gap and one Extream would be united with another without a Medium which is impossible and repugnant to the Nature of Things as appears in the whole Course of the Universe By the Immutability of the Messias here we must understand that which is Moral not that which is Natural There be some who object Christ was tempted in vain if he was naturally unchangeable See Matth. 4. 3. 17 18. Chap. 4. 15. There are also more Arguments merely Philosophical of which in Philosophia Kabbal Kabbal denud Tom. 1. Part 3. Dissert 2. Chap. 1. 13. are urged to prove that from the First Beginning there slowed forth only one thing begun and perfected which is also confirmed by the Authority of Ancient and Modern Philosophers together with an Answer to the Objections made on the contrary § 4. THIS Middle Being is not to be understood in so gross a manner as if it stood in a Middle Place between two Extreams as the Trunk of the Body is between the Head and Feet but is a Medium in respect of its Nature as Silver is between Tinn and Gold or Water between Air and Earth which are but gross Comparisons in regard of the thing it self neither can any one suppose the Son to be such a Medium between God and the Creatures as though God was not immediately present in all his Creatures and immediately filled all things for he immediately operates in all things in a proper sence But this is to be understood of that Union and Communion which Creatures have with God so that although God immediately operates in all things yet he uses this Medium as an Instrument by which he co-operates in his Creatures because it is in regard of its

may more clearly demonstrate that every Body is a certain Spirit or Life in its own Nature and that the same is a certain intelligent Principle having knowledge Sense Love Desire Joy and Grief as it is this or that way affected and by consequence hath Activity and Motion per se so that it can remove it self whithersoever it desires to be I say in its own Nature wherein it was originally created and as it shall be again when it shall be reduced to its primitive State and delivered from that Confusion and Vanity to which it is subject by reason of Sin I shall produce these following Reasons Of the Nature of Matter and Spirit more may be seen in Kabbal denud Tom. 1. Part 2. p. 308. unto p. 312. and Tom. 2. Treatise ult pag. 6. 28 29 32. § 1. THE first hereof shall be from the Order of Things before-mentioned which I have already proved to be but Three to wit God the Supreme or Chiefest Christ the Medium or Middle and the Creature the lowest in Order which Creature is but one Essence or Substance as to Nature or Essence as is above demonstrated so that it only differs secundum modos existendi or according to the manners of existence among which one is Corporiety whereof also there are many degrees so that a Thing may more or less approach to or recede from the State and Condition of a Body or a Spirit but because a Spirit between these two is more excellent in the Natural Order of Things and by how much the more a Creature is a Spirit if at least wise it doth not any otherwise degenerate so much the nearer it approaches to God who is the chiefest Spirit Hence a Body may always be more and more Spiritual ad infinitum because God who is the First and Supreme Spirit is Infinite and doth not nor cannot partake of the least Corporiety whence such is the Nature of a Creature unless it degenerates that it always draws nearer and nearer unto God in likeness But because there is no Being which is every way contrary to God Viz. there is no Being which is infinitely and unchangeably Evil as God is infinitely and unchangeably Good nothing infinitely Dark as God is infinitely Light nor any thing infinitely a Body having nothing of Spirit as God is infinitely a Spirit having nothing of Body hence it is manifest that no Creature can become more and more a Body ad infinitum although the same may become more and more a Spirit ad infinitum and nothing can become infinitely more dark though it may become infinitely more light By the same reason nothing can be Evil ad infinitum although it may become more and more Good ad infinitum And so indeed in the very Nature of Things there are limits or bounds to Evil but none unto Good And after the same manner every degree of Sin or Evil hath its Punishment Grief and Chastisement annexed to it in the very Nature of the Thing by which the Evil is again changed into Good which Punishment or Correction though it be not presently perceived of the Creature when it Sins yet is reserved in those very Sins which the same committeth and in its due time will appear and then every Sin will have its Punishment and so the Pain and Chastisement will be felt of the Creature and by that the Creature will be again restored unto its former State of Goodness in which it was created and from which it cannot fall or slide any more because by its great Chastisement it hath acquired a greater Strength and Perfection and so is ascended so far above that indifferency of Will which before it had to Good or Evil that it Wills only that which is Good neither is any more capable to Will any Evil. See Kabbal denud Tom. 2. Tract ult p. 61. § 9. p. 69. § 21. and 70. § 5. ibid. Tract 2. p. 157. And hence may be inferred that all the Creatures of God which heretofore degenerated and fell from their primitive Goodness must after certain periods be converted and restored not only to as good but unto a better State than that was in which they were created For Divine Operation cannot cease And hence it is the Nature of every Creature to be still in Motion and always to change either from Good to Good or from Good into Evil or from Evil again into Good and because it cannot proceed infinitely to Evil for that there is no Infinite Example thereof hence it must necessarily return or slide into Eternal Silence which is contrary to the Nature of it But if it be said it goes into Eternal Torments I Answer If by Eternal thou meanest an Infiniteness of Ages which shall never cease that is impossible because every Pain and Torment excites or stirs up an operating Spirit and Life in every thing which suffers as we observe by continued Experience and Reason teacheth us that of necessity it must be so because through Pain and the enduring thereof every kind of crassitude or grossness in Spirit or Body contracted is attenuated and so the Spirit captivated or detained in that grossness or crassitude is set at Liberty and made more Spiritual and consequently more Active and Operative through suffering Now seeing a Creature cannot proceed infinitely to Evil nor slide down into Inactivity or Silence nor yet also into mere Eternal Passion it incontestably follows that it must at length return unto Good and by how much the greater its Sufferings are so much the sooner shall it return and be restored And so we see how a Thing the same Substance still remaining may be marvellously changed in respect of the manners of its Existence so that a certain Holy and Blessed Spirit or Angel of Light could by his voluntary Action become a Wicked and Cursed Spirit of Darkness which Change or Metamorphosis certainly is as great as if a Spirit were changed into a Body And if it be here demanded Whether those Spirits became more Corporeal by their Transgression than they were in their Primitive State before they fell I answer Yes but because as I have already shown that a Spirit is capable of Corporiety Secundum majus minus or more and less although not infinitely yet in many degrees Hence it is they could remain for many Ages and have nothing of such a Corporeal Crassitude as Things in this visible World have such as are hard Stones or Metals or the Bodies of Men and Women For certainly the Bodies of the worst Spirits have not such a Crassltude as any visible Body and yet all that grossness of visible Bodies came from the Fall of Spirits from their First State And so the Spirits after long and various periods could contract this grossness to themselves although they could not together and at one and the same time fall into an universal grossness so that the whole Body of any fallen Spirit should be in all its parts equally

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

shall find none at all for all his Attributes are living yea Life it self Moreover seeing the Creatures of God so far as they are Creatures ought necessarily in some things to resemble their Creator now I demand in what dead Matter is like unto God If they say again in naked Entity I Answer There is none such in God or his Creatures And so it is a mere non ens or nothing But as touching the other Attributes of Matter viz. Impenetrability Figurability and Mobility certainly none of these have any place in God and so are not of his communicable Attributes but rather Essential Differences or Attributes of Diversity whereby the Creature as such is distinguished from God as also Mutability is of the Number of those differential Attributes whence it cannot be said that Mutability is of the communicable Attributes of God And in like manner Impenetrability Figurability and Mobility do not pertain unto the communicable Attributes of God but to those only in which the Creatures differ from him And seeing dead Matter doth not partake of any of the communicable Attributes of God we must certainly conclude that the same is a mere non ens or nothing a false Fiction or Chimaera and so a thing impossible If they say it hath a Metaphysical Goodness and Truth even as every Being is Good and True Again I demand What is that Goodness and Truth For if it hath no participation with any of the communicable Attributes of God it will be neither Good nor True and so a mere Fiction as before was said Moreover seeing it cannot be said wherein dead Matter doth any way partake of Divine Goodness much less can it be shown how it may be capable always to acquire a greater Perfection ad infinitum which is the Nature of all Creatures viz. to increase and infinitely advance towards a farther Perfection as is before demonstrated But what farther progress in Goodness or Perfection hath a dead Matter Because after it hath suffered Infinite Changes of Motion and Figure it is constrained always to remain dead as before and if Motion and Figure contribute nothing to the receiving of Life then certainly this is made never the better nay is not in the least degree promoted in Goodness For suppose this dead Matter had undergone all Forms and been transmuted into all Kinds of Figures even the most regular and exact What doth this profit this Matter or Body because it wants all Life and Sense So let us suppose the same to have undergone Infinite Kinds of Motion from slowness to swiftness Wherein therefore is it better by the way of its Intrinsecal Melioration For the Argument speaketh of Intrinsecal Melioration which is such a Melioration as the Nature of the Thing it self requireth and which is performed thereby but a mere dead Body or Matter requires no kind of Motion or Figure nor in it self is perfected more by one Motion or Figure than by another for it is alike indifferent to all Motions and Figures whatsoever and by consequence is not perfected or bettered by any of them And then what advantage will it have from all these helps if it always remain a dead and impassible Thing § 3. MY Third Reason is drawn from the great Love and Desire that the Spirits or Souls have towards Bodies and especially towards those with which they are united and in which they have their Habitation But now the Foundation of all Love or Desire whereby one Thing is carried unto another stands in this That either they are of the same Nature and Substance with them or like unto them or both or that one hath its Being from the other whereof we have an Example in all living Creatures which bring forth their young and in like manner also in Men how they love that which is born of them For so also even Wicked Men and Women if they are notextremely perverse and void of Parental Love do Love their Children and cherish them with a Natural Affection the cause whereof certainly is this That their Children are of the same Nature and Substance viz. as though they were Parts of them and if they are like them either in Body Spirit or Manners hereby their Love is the more increased So also we observe that Animals of one Species love one another more than those that are of a different Species whence also Cattle of one Kind feed together Birds of a Kind flock together and Fishes of a Kind swim together and so Men rather converse with Men than with any other Creatures But besides this particular Love there remains yet something of Universal Love in all Creatures one towards another setting aside that great confusion which hath fallen out since by reason of Transgression which certainly must proceed from the same Foundation viz. in regard of their First Substance and Essence they were all one and the same Thing and as it were Parts and Members of one Body Moreover in every Species of Animals we see how the Male and Female Love one another and in all their Propagations which are not Monstrous and contrary to Nature they respect each other and that proceeds not only from the unity of Nature but also by reason of a certain eminent similitude or likeness between them And both these Foundations of Love between a Man and a Woman are expresly mentioned in Genesis but that which Adam spoke concerning his Wife This is Bone of my Bone and Flesh of my Flesh c. pertains unto the Unity of Nature for she was taken out of him and was a part of him and therefore he loved her Moreover also concerning Similitude it is said there was no Help found for him or before his Face as it is in the Hebrew i. e. among all Creatures he saw not his like with whom he would converse until Eve was made for him But there is yet another cause of Love when Beings that love each other are not one Substance but one gave Being to the other and is the proper and real cause thereof And so it is in the case between God and Creatures for he gave to all Being Life and Motion and therefore he loves all Creatures neither can he not love them yea at the same time when he seems to hate and be angry with them this his Anger and what proceeds therefrom viz. Punishments and Judgments turns to their Good because he perceiveth they have need of them So on the contrary the Creatures which have not wholly degenerated and lost all sense of God do love him and this is a certain Divine Law and Instinct which he put in all rational Creatures that they might love him which is the fulfilling of the whole Law But those Creatures which draw most near unto God in similitude or likeness do love him the more and are the more loved of him But if it be thought there is another principal cause of Love to wit Goodness which is the most vehement or powerful