and Form cloged with the weight of misery and body of corruption as in its Operations and Faculties abstracted from Matter and use of the body which is a more Spiritual and Divine condition and this is the subject of the second Book whether we consider the Soul abstracted from the body in those purer workings of the Intellect the Soul still quickning and remaining in the body or consider it as the body lying in the grave and the Soul totally and really separated from it In another is touched the state of the Soul after death in a body glorified when this corruption shall have put on incorruption and this mortal have put on Immortality wherein as the Body so the Soul is in the highest pitch of bliss and glory that ever it was or can be capable of which is infinite therein being restored to the likeness of his Maker not onely by that Righteousnes Freedom of Wil and clearness of Understanding in which it was first created but in a far more eminent manner resembling his Maker in endless glory bliss and happiness we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is not in a glass darkly but then face to face And this Beatifical Vision of God is also a full Fruition of him who is our summum bonum the final cause of our Creation the Intrinsical end thereof viz. our perfection of state which consists in the full Fruition of God who onely is our summum bonum The first Book then is Natural or Physical the second is Metaphysical the third is Theological Consider we our Souls under the first Notion and as by a ladder whereof this is the first or lower most step we may raise up our selves in an orderly ascent into Heaven till we come to see God not onely as far as is possible to behold him in this Vale of tears and Veil of Flesh but till we come to be transformed into his Image to enjoy and see God even as he is If thou desire Knowledge the study of the Soul is most useful for thee what Science soever thou most affectest or what manner of Person soever thou art Bee'st thou a Philosopher it is necessary for thee for if thou addict thy self to Natural Philosophy and to know the causes of things the Soul is a subject for it it is principium animalium that which gives being to al living creatures so saith Aristotle is it the Mathematical Science which for certainty and plain demonstration thou desirest this thou hast in the Soul the Soul of Man gives this demonstration is it Metaphysicks thou affectest for the Nobleness of the subject therein handled Spirituall and abstracted from matter the Soul of man is spiritual immortal impassible abstracta à materia saith Aristotle so a Metaphysical subject Nay higher yet Art thou a Christian wouldst come to the knowledge and fruition of God the Soul of man runns through the whole body of divinity poynting and leading thee all along through the same Mistake me not I doe not judge it possible by any humane art and Science only to attain to true wisdome by any light of Nature to reach to saving grace or to that true light which lighteneth every man that commeth into the world by the eye of sense to come to the eye of faith I have not so learned Christ yet as Philosophy is said to bee hand-maid to Divinity and the Law a Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ so must the Reasonable soul be judged a necessary instrument towards the attainment of supernatural gifts for as natural Reason without Grace can never find the way to Heaven so Grace is never placed but in the Reasonable soul and proves by the very seat which it hath taken up that the end it hath is to be spiritual eye-water to make Reason see what by Nature it only cannot but never to blemish Reason in that which it can apprehend Grace hinders not the work of Nature wherein it is able to work nor faith blemish the eye of Reason in that which it can see and comprehend and doubtless that is very far even to the eternal power and God-head which makes the very heathens inexcusable where Nature is weak and cannot see Grace affords an helper and instrument to the eye of Reason to bring to its sight those things which for want of due requisites as convenient distance c. it was not of it self able to discern such are all the Mysteries of Divinity as the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity the Hypostatical Union the Incarnation of the Son of God c. all which are supra captum humanum Mans Reason cannot attain unto here Faith comes in and supplies this defect through the prospect of Faith Reason looks and without Reason Faith is useless here Faith perfects Reason and where it is wrong sets it right never undermines it may be above it but not against it nor without it So then is it Grace is it Faith thou seekest thou findest it in Humane Nature in a reasonable Soul This is a gift of God proper to man onely and to no other creature the meer Sensitive creatures have not this gift of Faith their nature is not capable of Faith they are below it this prospect of Faith would nothing avail the eye of Sense The meer Intellectual creatures as Saints and Angels in Heaven they have not need of Faith they are above it their Intuitive intellect needs no glass to see him whom they behold face to face onely to Man this glass is given this glass of Faith to the eye of Reason to make the soul see what by nature it cannot whilst it is veiled and imprisoned in this mortall and fraile body but after death Faith ceaseth then whether in the body or out of the body viz. before the Resurrection whilst the body sleeps or after the Resurrection when the body is raised to glory and both are reconjoyned we shall not need any help of Faih but shall see him even as he is know him even as we are known and be as the Angels in Heaven Reader being too conscious of my own weakness the importunity of my friends prevailed not with mee to make these papers publique till I had received encouragement herein from some more knowing men who took the paines to peruse them and then to return use this account ensuing MOSLEIO suo generoso Pietatis Philosophiae vindici ἘΥΧΆΙΡΕΙΠMUlta voluptate vir mihi charissime scripta tua quae pridiè hujus diei ad me dederas recensui ne dignitati tuae pro necessitudine nostra defuisse viderer quid de instituto tuo sentiam Doctissimo viro tuique amantissimo RUTTERO nostro palam feci omnia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gravia arguta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ita mihi apparent ut Sacramento quod ait Orator contenderim tua esse nec vero quicquam scriptione hac tua video quod non utile sit antiquae
of Grace O my soul thou art called a state of righteousness and justification by Faith which is the gift of God and say not thou with thy self that this gift of God doth not extend to thee for none are excluded that will lay hold on and receive this gift really tendred to all for as by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation so by the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life The righteousness that comes by Christ doth recompence the loss by Adams transgression and the advantage that comes by Christ is much every way for not as the offence so is the gift for judgement is indeed by one offence unto condemnation but the gift is of many offences unto justification Secondly By this O my soul thou art loosened from thy fetters released from imprisonment grave and hell by this thou art renewed in that image of God wherein thou wast created and restored to thy antient right of rule and dominion by this thou comest again to the true definition of a Soul viz. The very perfection and act of a Natural Organical nay more of a Supernatural Organical Body and the beginning of llfe not a Natural onely but Supernatural not Temporal but Eternal also CHAP. IV. Of the Vnity of the Soul Chap. 4. Book 1. THere be three distinct Effects and Operations of the Soul from which we have drawn our Definition above-mentioned viz. Life Sence and Understanding and these have their distinct Powers or Faculties viz. the Vegetative the Sensitive and Intellectual the Vegetative Faculty hath the proper effects of the Vegetative Soul to produce Life the Sensitive hath the property of producing Sense and the Intellectual Faculty the property of the Rational Soul of begetting Understanding of these we purpose to treat distinctly and apart in the next ensuing Chapters by the way we shall say something of the Soul's Unity to prevent some mistakes and errors which have arisen and still may be touching the Soul in its Essence and Powers for when we see and learn these distinct Faculties and operations of the Soul we are easily drawn to conceit there are also three distinct Soules in Man this was the Error of no mean Philosophers Plato of old Averroes Gandavensis Zabarel and others of later daies and accordingly they held that these Souls had their peculiar and distinct places of residence and abode in Man the Vegetative they placed in the Liver the Sensitive in the Heart and the Rational Soul in the Brain but this doth Aristotle every where confute so do the generality of Philosophers after him Scotus Pacius Faber Faventinus and others For man is certainly One and how comes a Trinity of soules in the Unity of a person What is it that unites man and makes him one it must be his soul or his body but not his body that 's clear for first the body is united and preserved by the soul not the soul by the body wherefore we see by experience that when the soul is departed out of the body the body continues not long after but turns to putrifaction Again man is said to be one not in respect of his body but his soul the body which is materia is nothing but in power 't is the Form which actuates and perfects the Form gives being and since ens bonum convertuntur Forma ut dat esse sic etiam dat unitatem Sennertus that which gives Being gives Unity the soul of man gives him his being dat hoc esse the soul of man gives him to be one now if there were three Forms three distinct souls in man every distinct Form must give him a distinct being so man would not be one but three a Monster a tergeminus Gerion an opinion exploded as well in Divinity as Philosophy See Tertullian in lib. de anima But man is but One therefore but one soul in man though distinct in its powers and faculties there is a Trinity of faculties in the Unity of a Reasonable soul the Vegetative is a faculty of the Vegetative soul the Sensitive of the Sensitive and the Intellectual of the Rational soul yet is there not three souls in man but one soul One Individual soul onely in man according to Aristotle which notwithstanding hath dividual and distinct powers and faculties one simple essence which is the Form of man distinguisht into three faculties of Vegetative Sensitive and Intellectual one in respect of its essence three in respect of its faculties Neither are these faculties one before or after another in time but all are Cotemporarie there is no Priority or Posterity in time onely in order amongst them Object Averroes and Zabarel who maintain three souls in man are against this position and quote the words of Aristotle in his Book de gener animal cap. 3. which are these Man first lives the life of Plants then the life of Beasts and afterwards the life of a Man from whence they would infer that one faculty is in time before another and one succeeds another therefore there are so many several and succeeding souls Ans But to this it may be answered That because the soul hath need of Organs and Instruments of the body to work withall and that these Instruments are too weak and litle fit to exercise the noblest Operations of the soul in the first times therefore doth the soul exercise the Operations of Vegetation first because those Organs are first fitted and prepared and afterwards the Operations of Sense and Reason and in this sense is Aristotle to be understood where he saith A man first lives the life of Plants then the life of a Beast and afterwards the life of a Man to wit in the Operations of the soul which are in time one before another the Operations of the Vegetative soul are first then of the Sensitive and lastly of the Rational and that will be granted by reason of the defect and inability in the other Organs which are not so soon fitted for the other faculties to operate yet the faculties of the soul are in one instant of time without any Priority one of another in time and so they continue after the dissolution of the soul and body though the Operations of some of the faculties are perished because the body whose Organs they require are perished the faculties of the soul as well the Sensitive as Intellectual remain and abide with the soul after the death of man although the Intellectual then is onely operative as hath been elsewhere said and as we cannot say and say truly that the Sensitive faculty is perished with the body and the Intellectual only survives and abides with the soul because it only operates no more truly can we affirm that the Vegetative faculty in the first Generation is first in time because it first operates therefore saith Philosophy There is no Priority or Posteriority in the faculties of the soul there are none
with his about this very point of the soules creation I demand of thee O my soul who gave thee thy being since thou hadst it not from eternity thou wast created in time and lately it was that thou hadst not a being certainly it could not be thy parents in the flesh for what is sprung from flesh is flesh but thou art spirit neither did Heaven or Earth or Sun or Stars produce thee for these are corporeal thou incorporeal neither could Angels or Archangels or any other spiritual creature be the authors of thy being for thou of no matter but meerly of nothing wast created and none but a power omnipotent can create a thing out of nothing therefore God onely without any companion or helper with his own hands which are his Wisdom and his Will when it seemed him best did create thee Again a little after Besides the conjunction of soul and body which is a principal part in the making of the humane nature can be made by none but a workman of an infinite power for by what art except divine can the spirit be joyned with the flesh in so close a bond as to become one substance for there is no likeness and proportion 'twixt the flesh and spirit therefore he onely must doe it who onely doth great wonders Consider then O my soul from whence from whom in what manner and into what thou art come First From whence From heaven thou art descended a pilgrim and a stranger here for a time thou art not here to continue and dwell thy country is above thither then aspire from whence thou camest mind not earthly things but seek those things which are above that when this my earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved thou be not pressed down lower with the weight of carnal l sts into the lowermost hell but maist have a building of God a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Secondly From whom From God thou camest thou art the spirit and breath of God in men O then breath again out of man to God whilst thou art in this prison of flesh send out thy hot breathings to God and draw in those cooler breathings of the Spirit from God thy hot sighs and zealous prayers to God his cool and gentle refreshments of love and pity from God that when I shall have payd all my rights of nature unto death and am gone into my silence though my body lie in the dust for a time my spirit may return to God that gave it Thirdly In what manner Not per media naturalia by any ordinary means but immediately and modo extraordinario without any companion without any helper 1 Learn then this O my soul that as God hath used no naturall meanes or secundary causes in the work of thy Creation so thou relie upon none in the work of thy salvation thou maist safely and boldly approach the Throne of grace without the mediation of Saints or Angels there is but one Mediator unto us who is both God and man Christ Jesus 2 Since God hath put nothing betwixt thee and him beware that thou thy self interpose nothing sever not what God hath not disjoyned let not thy sin be a Wall of separation twixt thee and him nor the mists and foggs of Carnall concupisence eclipss the Sun of righteousness from thee from whom thou borrowest all thy light and without whom thou art but Cimmerian darkness Fourthly consider whither thou art come into a Humane body a Humane nature fitted and prepared to receive thee but how not as a Subject but as a Prince thou to rule as a Queen it to obey as a Subject Therfore know this O my soul by the concurrent opinion of all Philosophers man is of a midle nature twixt mortal and immortal twixt terrestrial and caelestial things and some way resembles both participates of both in that man is indued with Vegetative and Sensitive faculties he is like unto brutes and ignobler creatures but in regard of his Intellectual faculty especially that which consists in speculation he is most like unto God twixt these two the Humane nature is sâ—ated and in a kind participates of both in this nature the soul sits as Emp ess if Sense rules here man lives as a beast degenerates into a brute if Reason and understanding rule especially the speculative Intellectual faculty man lives as God suffer not then O suffer not my soul thy vassals and slaves Sense and Appetite those ignobler faculties of thine to rule and reign over thee and so to transform the whole man into the nature of beasts but rule and govern thou by those more noble and Diviner faculties of thine Reason and understanding by which man resembles his Maker is made like unto him Lâ—stly consider O my soâ—l this mysterious conjunction of soul and body to become one man flesh and spirit one substance which cannot be but by a power Divine and thou wilt cease though not humbly to admire yet curiously to search into that sacred Mystery that Article of Christian faith touching the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ he Hypostaticall Union of the two natures in Christ St. Athanasius proves it and explaines it from this Union of the soul and body in one man saying The right faith is this that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God is God and Man God of the substance of the Father begotten before the World and Man of the substance of his Mother born in the World Perfect God and perfect Man of a Reasonable soul and Humane flesh subsisting Equall to the Father as touching his God-head and inferior to the Father touching his Man-hood Who although he be God man yet he is not two but one Christ One not by conversion of the God-head into Nan but by taking the Man-hood into God One altogether not by confusion of substance but by Unity of person For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man so God and man is one Christ The conjunction of soul and body is a secret and hidden thing but the Incarnation of Christ the Union of the God-head and Manhood far more secret for without doubt great is the mystery of godliness God manifested in the flesh and if it be so difficult a matter for man to find out the hidden things of this visible World that none as Solomon saith can comprehend the works thereof from the beginning to the end no not the workings of God within a mans self how shall man attempt to search out those invisible things of Heaven the hidden mysteries the unsearchable things of God therefore if thou beest wise O my soul seek saving knowledge and embrace the wisdom of the Saints which is to fear God and keep his Commandements delight more in supplication and prayer than in vain janglings and disputations in charity that edifies than knowledge that puffs up for this is the way that leads to life the Kingdom of Heaven where shall be
and therefore they likewise hold there are rewards and punishments for souls departed according as they have acted in the flesh be it good or evill Onely they have differed about the state of souls departed in which some have held ridiculous things Touching which we will proceed to shew how far this verity is evidenced to us by Philosophical principles by the light of natural reason The Soul of man after this life remains and abides for ever whole and intire as to its essence for that is simple and undivided as hath been sayd though not as to all its faculties and operations all the faculties of the soul remain not with the soul after the death of man at least the operations in that condition as before and therefore may be said to be perished The Intellectual faculty abides for ever with the soul so is no way mortal but for as much as the Sensitive faculty is organical and cannot work without a body when the body dyes that faculty is sayd to perish but this in respect of the body not in respect of the soul which faculty abides with the soul for ever potentialiter though not actualiter but is idle and cannot work whilst the body sleepeth in the grave and as Aristotle saith An old man had he the eyes of a young man would see as well as a young man so if after death the soul should enter into a body it would doe all the operations which before it did now since all these faculties as to the soul remain though in respect of the body they are sayd to perish it is necessary and that according to the principles of Philosophy that sometime the soul should reassume a body or else these faculties are reserved and kept in vain But because no power or faculty can be in vain Vide Pacim in Arist de anima lib. 3. c. 6. sect 5. â— Et lib. â— c. 10. sect 5. yet that is in vain which is never reduced into act and that Deus natura nihil frustra operantur according to Aristotle and the rule of Philosophy therefore it must needs be confessed that the soul shall sometime come into the body again which Conclusion is confirmed by very good reason for the soul is according to its essence a Form and a Form naturally desires the Matter to which it relates and without the Matter it is but imperfect for nothing is perfect ex sola forma not by Form alone but Matter and form together so that Matter concurs to the perfection of all created compounded substances otherwise death would not be so terrible if all perfection and happiness consisted in the soul Being thus seasoned with these Philosophical verities thou maist more readily assent to those Theological truths of the soul's eternity and immortality thou seest O my soul how near nature rectified and rightly principled leads to Christ what Affinity there is 'twixt Reason and Faith Nature and Grace they thwart not one the other the Truth of Philosophy agrees with the Truth of Divinity and from this Philosocal Principle will I teach thee a Christian Article of the Resurrection of the body and life everlasting For let me argue with thee O my soul in thine own natural principles if the soul be a Form which naturally desires the Matter to which it is the Form and without which it is imperfect if it have Faculties which it cannot exercise without a body and that God and Nature have made nothing in vain therefore the soul must of necessity reassume a body it must either be the same numerical body or another different from what it had before if another then must thou grant a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Transmigration of souls an error of the Pythagoreans and is an impossibility according to the principles of Philosophy because as Aristotle every where affirmeth a determinate Form requires a determinate Matter a specifical Form a specifical Matter and a numerical Form requires the same numerical Matter so the same Individual Soul requires the same Individual Body and if the soul assume the same body then must thou hold the Resurrection of that body which Christian Religion teacheth also CHAP. III. Of the Definition of the Soul Chap. 3. Book 1. ONe and the same thing may be the subject of several Sciences though diversly handled and considered in every one of them and as it is diversly considered so may it diversly be defined Logick is not tied to certain matter but runs generally through all kind of things not standing so much upon the matter Mathematicks handles things abstracted from matter non re sedratione Metaphysicks handles things altogether separated from matter but Physicks handles things not separated from matter at all nec re nec ratione Thus are the Definitions of one and the same thing various according to the several Sciences which treat of it Aristotle puts an example of Anger that being considered in the Physical Science is defined to be A certain motion of the body for some injury received with desire of revenge being in Logick considered it s defined onely A desire of revenge the one expresseth the matter he other not The Soul of man is a subject for all Sciences Philosophical or Theological and therefore admits of several Definitions but for as much as it is not our purpose at present to treat of the soul of man either Theologically as the Image of God in man nor yet Metaphysically as incorporeal spiritual and abstracted from bodily organs in its diviner contemplative intellectual faculties which resembles the nature divine nor yet to handle it onely in its Sensitive parts which resembles the nature of beasts but as it hath assumed humane nature and is the Form of man and so a part of him who is compounded of Matter and Form who is in that respect of a middle nature 'twixt Terrestrial and Celestial 'twixt Mortal and Immortal creatures and participates of both and this nature too we consider not as in the state of integrity in which it was created but in this lapsed degenerate condition it groaneth under since the fall of man and is intombed in a body of weak and sinfull flesh and operates not but by and with the body The subject therefore of this Book is Physical material and inseparable from the body as well in its Affections which we here handle as in its Essence such then must our Definition be for quale est definitum talis esse debâ—s definitio The Definition of the soul The Soul is the act and perfection of the natural organical body having life in power I shall not stay to coment upon the words of this Definition to shew how the soul is an act and perfection which words are Synonima the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comprehending both and is the genus in this Definition and how this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not the second act to wit the Operation and Motion which is the soules
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
who are given to deep and Divine Contemplation of Immaterial and Spiritual Substances can witness so saith Fonseca lib. 2 Metap cap. 1. q. 2. sect 6. lib. 1. cap. 2. q. 3. sect 6. Alluding still to Plato's Imaginary lines of the Soul viz. the Direct and Sphaerical consider O my Soul the use of these with thy self The direct line points to the knowledge of all things here without and beneath thee Phe Sphaerical to all within and above thee That knowledge which is acquired in the direct line is fetcht from Objects External and so hath Sense for its base looking at things External Corporeal Mortal which are all below the Soul of Man And though by the knoâ—ledge of these Externalls wee may come to the notion of Internal things by the knowledge of others to know our selves by sensible Objects to Intelligible Forms whereby our Souls may be represented Yet that knowledge must needs be imperfect confused and very un ertain no Quidditative knowledge of things Spiritual and Immaterial as the Schoolmen call it which is fetcht from effects and not from the Cause from the direct line of External Corporeal and inferior bodies and not from the Sphaerical of Intellectual spirits A straight line is full of imperfection and deformity whereas the Sphaerical is the perfectest fairest and capaciousest of all the rest Sphaera which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek signifies beauty because of all other figures it is the fairest and as it is fairest so it is the perfectest and most Capacious of all the rest and therefore it is the Heavens are in a round and Sphaerical not in a long and straight figure for if the heavens were in the Form and figure of long or direct lines there would be beyond them some place and body or else a Vacuity which argues a deformity an emptiness and imperfection so saith Aristotle in his second Book de caelo and his fourth Chapter Even so in the Soul of Man the Sphaerical line is the fairest perfectest and the most capacious the Circular line reflecting upon it self that eye of the Soul which contemplates it self and hath its Objects Internal that Soul which can see it self in it self and commune with it own heart is undoubtedly the divinest and perfectest and Beautiful of all others For to fetch our knowledge from outward Objects and to bend our studies to know the Heavens Elements and all other Material and Corporeal creatures is that imperfect line beyond which is somthing else or a Vacuity and though thou cast discourse of the Nature of all things here below though thy line of knowledge be drawn from North to South though it extend to all things from the Artick to the Antartick Pole though thou givest thy heart to seek and search after Wisdom as the wise man saith of all things that are done under Heaven of all works under the Sun and yet art ignorant of thy self all is but labour and travel which God hath given to the Children of Men to be exercised therein and without this Circumflex line viz. the Souls self-Inspection and knowledge of it self the end is Vanity and Vexation of Spirit In brief this Circular Sphaerical knowledge and Inspection of the Soul is that Encyclopaedia which comprehends all other Sciences within it Learn then this Platonick Idea and Imaginary Circle O my Soul by which thou maist reflect upon thy self and find thy self in thy self by that Eye of right Reason who fetcheth its knowledge from Internal Objects and Intelligible Forms whose base is Reason lower it looks not nor yet is hurried and tossed about with the Counter-motions of inferior faculties may soar aloft sometimes in Contemplation of Caelum Empyreum where those Divine Immutable and Impaâ—ible Essences which Aristotle speaks of do inhabite the highest Heavens where is the Throne of the most high God and Quire of Innumerable Saints and Angels may in a holy rapture somtimes with St. Paul be caught up to the third Heaven and there learn the secrets of God which is not lawful for Man to reveale may know things happily above Reason above it self but never contrary or below it self This is a Science Metaphysical properly so called which Grace not Nature teacheth a Science Theological a truth not acquired by Humane Art and Industry but by Divine Revelation taught us by the Spirit of God in the Scriptures Stude cognoscere te quia multo melior laudabilior es si te cognoscis quam te neglecto si cognosceres cursum siderum vires herbarum complectiones hominum naturas animalium haberes omnium caelestium terrestrium scientiam St. Bernards Meditations cap. 5. fol. 1054. Frustra cordis oculum erigit ad videndum deum qui nondum idoneus ad videndum seipsum prius enim necesse est ut cognoscas invisibilia spiritus tui quam possis esse idoneus ad cognoscenda invisibilia dei si non potes cognoscere te non praesumas apprehendere ea quae sunt supra te praecipuum principale speculum ad videndum deum est animus rationalis intuens seipsum fol. 3131. And doubtless this Inspection and knowledge of our selves and our own Souls is a Metaphysical Supernatural and Theological Science 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nosce te ipsum is a Divine Lesson so accounted by the Heathens when Graven upon the door of Apollo's Temple 't was feigned to have descended from Jupiter by the knowledge of our Souls wee come to the knowledge of our selves what we were what we are what we shall be by the knowledge of ourselves we come to the Unity of the God-head by it to the Trinity of Persons by it to the Hypostatical Union of the two Natures in Christ by it we are confirmed in the most Mysterious Articles of our Christian Faith by it Gods Essence is represented and lively Portraid look wee into our Souls and God is our Object whose Form we are whose similitude we retain when no other created Form can be given which may represent the Divine Nature as it is in it self God is pleased to Imprint an Intelligible Form of his own Essence upon the Reasonable Soul by which God is United and made known unto us for this is certain Et Suarez Metaphys disp 30. sect 11. part 27. divina essentia unitur intellectui creato beatorum more speciei intelligibilis it is the general opinion of the Schoolmen and other Divines See Fonseca lib. 1 Metaph. Gods Image we are the sacred Histories are express but principally in respect of our Souls let us make man after our own Likeness saith the Text and again God made Man in his own Image in the Image of God created he him Lift up now thy thoughts O my Soul to this thy Divine Exemplar and think how that every perfection of the Image is placed in the Resemblance it hath with its Pattern for though the Pattern should be deformed such as is usually imagined of
Knowledge there can be no Appetite we speak not of that Natural propensity which is given to every thing whereby without any previous knowledge they are inclined and are carried Naturally to their good as the Earth Naturally desires the lowermost place the Matter desires the Form and the like which is called appetitus naturalis or pondus naturae but of that which is given to living creatures and drawn out of the Power of the Soul and is called appetitus elicitus even that Act and Operation of Natural Propensity whereby every Soul that is indowed with knowledge according to that knowledge it hath of any thing is drawn to affect and desire it so that desire or Appetite is a Companion of Knowledge and concomitant and according to the measure of knowledge desire attends in an answerable measure Sensitive knowledge is inferior to Intellectual so is the desire that which follows the Sensitive knowledge is called Appetite that which follows the Intellectual is called Will one follows necessarily the other freely VVill then and Freedom of Will belongs to Intellectual creatures Of their Will whether men or Angels voluntas hominis est libera is a Philosophical rule much more truely may it be verified of the Will of Angels which is far perfecter But how far this Freedom extendeth whether unto all the Acts of Angelical Will or that some Acts are necessary and which those are and whether this Freedom be to all honest and good Acts onely or it extend to wicked also or according to the question propounded by Divines whether Angels considered in their condition have posse peccandi a liberty or Power to sin this cannot be so clearly evidenced by Natural Reason Though divers of the antient Philosophers have gone very far in this point as Plato and Socrates and of your Poets not a few who held that moral evil had place in Angels and that they might do wickedly as freely as men wherupon came the distinction amongst them of good and evil Angels and the evil Angels they called Daemones so that from the Effect and delusions of evâ—l Angels they were induced to believe that some Angels were morally evil and therefore to do evilly was not repugnant to the Nature of Angels Of their External Operaâ—ions 1 Negatively Now concerning the External Act and Operation of Angels to wit their Power and strength in working First Negatively with Aristotle against Plato we affirm the Angels can make no substance nor yet any material alteration of bodies neither by Creation nor by Generation not by Creation out of meer nothing nothing to produce something all things to spring from nothing something to be the Effect of nothing nothing the cause of something Natural Reason knoweth nothing of such Causes or Effects nor is it in the Power of any created substance to create any thing it is onely the work of an omnipotent Power Angels cannot do it Philosophers were ignorant of it nor doth it stand with the rules of our Faith and Christian Religion And as Angels have not the power of Creation so neither have they the Vertue of Generation herein other animate creatures exceed Angelical Nature they can beget their like whereby their Species is preserved in the succeding Individuals Angels have not the seed of Generation not to beget their like nor yet to make any Corporeal substance either by Eduction of Form out of the power of the Matter as Sensitive or Vegetative creatures are produced or by substantial Union and Conjunction of Form with matter as Rational creatures are produced neither can they alter any Matter and fit it for the Form without which praevious alteration of some Pre-existent Matter there can be no Generation no Mutation or motion of matter à non esse ad esse or ab esse ad non esse nor yet in Alteration of Quality in the Matter no such Mutation or motion of substance is ascribed to Angels but an Accidental or Local motion of substances that they have Then Affirmative power they have of moving of bodies by Local motion 2. Possitively And power of assuming bodies by Condensating and Solidating of air when they have occasion and laying it aside and resolving it into the same matter when they please a truth in Divinity as well as Philophy Philosophy teacheth that Angels do move Caelestial bodies the Orbs are moved by them Every Orb hath its proper Intelligence and Angel the primum mobile hath its Angel moving him from East to West the rest have theirs and this Local motion of bodies though never so great exceeds not the Angelical Power And though every Angel moveth according to his Will yet is this Motive Angelical power finite and limited it hath its bounds which it cannot pass though he would being bound by Laws of Divine providence he cannot cause a Vacuum for though he may remove one body from its place he cannot prevent another for coming in the room Thus much of Intellectual Agents is demonstrated by the light of Natural Reason some have endeavoured also to shew the number of these Agents and this from the motion of the Heavens affirming that every Heaven or Orb had its proper Intelligence and so from the number of the Sphaers would gather the number of Intellectual Spirits And that there are as many Angels as Sphaers is not difficult to demonstrate But that there are no more Angels than Sphaers or if there be more how many more cannot be shewed by Natural Reason nor are their certain number defined by Divine Revelation but that there are a multitude more than those which move the Orbs may easily be proved by the light of Reason Aquinas brings many for the proving thereof nor were the Heathen Philosophers ignorant hereof as Aristotle Plato Heraclitus and others And thus much of the Knowledge which the Soul of Man hath of Saints and Angels in this life As for that Knowledge we have of Saints and Angels and of our selves in the Separated estate of the Soul it is not inferior to other abstracted Essences neither in the Power of knowing nor Manner of Operation Angels know themselves and all below them or equal to them with an Essential Quidditative and comprehensive knowledge so shall wee not onely by those general predicates and attributes of Immaterial Intellectual Impatible Immixed Immortal and the like but with a full perfect Intuitive and Comprehensive knowledge of our selves our own Nature and Essence being actually Intelligible and an Adaequate Object to our own Understanding Angels know themselves by their own Substance and God by the same so shall wee the Knowledge they have of all others is per species by Intelligible Forms Innate and Aongenite not imprinted in the mind by any External Sensible Object such manner of Knowledge shall ours be in nothing differing in nothing inferior unto the Angels And though sacred Writ hath been more silent and sparing in the Revelation either of the Creation or of the Nature and
est qui non clauditur loco nusquam non est qui non excluditur loco God is no where because concluded in no place and God is every where because excluded from none 6. God is ens simplex actus purus and this simplicity is sufficiently manifested in holy Writ I am that I am saith God to Moses and again I am hath sent me unto you that is as Doctor Preston hath it a pure Act all being whole entire a simple and Uniform being without parts accidents or any Composition not like to the Creatures for the best of them although they have not a Substantial and Physical simplicity i. e. no◠compounded of Matter and Form nor consisting of Integral parts yet a Metaphysical and Accidental Composition they have and no simplicity for as much as they are compounded of Essence and Existence of Act and Power or of Actions and Qualities which whatsoever it be called cannot he said of God who is a simple and Indivisible Essence whose Essence is his Existence and whose Act is Power Power in God is neither objectiva nor passiva such distinctions are not in God whose Power is purè activa and all that is in God is but one God so do those words impart viz. I am that I am as much as to say whatsoever is in me it is my self in God is nothing but himself nihil in se nisi se habet saith St. Bernard hear him further But God is a Trinity what then do we overthrow Gods Unity by confessing a Trinity no but we confirm the Unity we acknowledge the Father and so the Son and so the Holy Ghost yet not three Gods but one God what means this number and no number as I may so speak For if three how is it not a number And if but one where then is the number But I have saist thou both what I may number and what I may not the Substance is one the Persons are three and what Ridde or Mystery lies in this none at all if we may divide the Persons from the Substance but since these three Persons are that one Substance and that one Substance those three Persons who can deny a number for they are truly Three yet who can call a number that is but truly One Or if thou hast as thou thinkst sufficiently numbred them by professing three what dost thou number Their Natures That 's but one their Essence It 's but one their Substance It 's but one their God-heads It 's but one but thou wilt say I number not these but the Persons which are not that one Nature that one Substance one Essence and that one God-head Thou art a Catholick and maist not profess this The Catholick Faith believeth the properties of the Persons is no other than the Persons themselves and that the Persons are no other than one God one Divine Nature Substance and Supreme Majesty reckon therefore if thou canst either the Persons without the Substance which they are or the properties without the Persons which they are Qui duplici impietate numerum trinitati minuit tribuit unitati Bernard Epist 190. fol. 1581. G. Or if any go about to divide and sever the Persons from the Substance or the Properties from the Persons I know not how the Trinity will own him for a Worshiper wee may therefore acknowledge Three but not to prejudice the Unity and acknowledge One but not to confound the Trinity This is a great Mystery and a sacred if any would know how this Plurality is in Unity or Unity in Plurality I answer it is rashness to search Piety to believe life everlasting to know 7. To these we may add another Attribute appropriate to God by which he is made known unto us in his Word viz his Invisibility where it is expressed as in the place before mentioned To the King Eternal Immortal Invisible and onely wise God no man hath seen God at any time neither indeed can see him with Mortal eye and though this manner of Invisibility be not the proper Attribute of God so doth not sufficiently set forth the Divine perfection being common also to all Spiritual Substances as well the Rational Soul in this life as Souls abstracted and Spirits Intellectual for as much as no Spirit is Visible with Corporeal eyes yet God in a more eminent manner is Invisible There is a twofold sight one of the body another of the mind the light of the body is the Eye the light of the mind Understanding with the bodily eye no Spirits can be seen but with the eye of the mind they are Visible not properly and fully in this life we know not any thing but per species impressas by Intelligible Forms imprinted in our Understanding from some sensible Objects not our own Souls much less those purer Intellectual Natures But the Intellectual Spirits and separated Souls do see themselves and other Created Substances though Superior and so are they Visible with an Intuitive Vision from Innate and Connatural Forms which way notwithstanding God is not Visible to any Created Intellect And thus Invisibility comes to be Appropriate to God alone and not Communicative to any besides no Created Substance can see God as he is in himself by any Natural way of Created Intuitive Vision of the Understanding without the infusion of some other Supernatural Endowments which agrees with the rules of our Faith and of Sacred Writ professing God to be Invisible and to dwell in an unaccessable light Yet may we not otherwise but according to Catholick Faith believe that God is Visible too 1. He is Visible to himself as he is Comprehensible of himself because he is equally Intelligent and Intelligible non minus Intellectivus quam intelligibilis as hath been elsewhere said therefore Visible in respect of himself though Invisible in respect others 2. Visible in respect of others viz. all the blessed Saints and Angels these enjoy a full Fruition and Beatifical Vision of him not a glimse as I may say or some Created brightness and illumination in a glass per aenigma either in the glass of his Creatures as Naturalists with the eye of Reason or in a more Spiritual glass as Christians with an eye of Faith in this Vale of tears may behold him but face to face clearly and as he is in himself Intuitively not in any Natural Created light but by an eye and light of glory unexpressibly Supernatural by which God is pleased to convey Intelligible Forms of his own Essence unto us which Vision is meant and signified by Saint John in his 1. Epistle 3.2 Wee shall see him even as he is viz. in a glorified estate per lumen gloriae by a light of glory unexpressible Of the Knowledge and Will in God CHAP. V. Chap. 5. Book 2. WEE have treated of God and his Attributes which are of the Essence of God we come now to treat of the Knowledge and Will in God as much as
Science of this was Philosophical drawn from the light of Nature Reason teacheth thou art Immortal and capable of everlasting Felicity which consists in the Vision and Contemplation of God thy chiefest good and hast an Innate concreate desire thereto And although the principles of Rational Knowledge are for the most part per se nota so known by their own light as may force an assent yet in as much as God who is thy summum bonum is a light inaccessible such a light as blear-eyed Reason can not behold the full Knowledge of God is not by Rational principle Natural Science is not a scale large enough to contain nor a yard long enough to measure out the true Vertue and full force of this divine Essence but must resolve into principles of a higher nature here thou must run from the principles of Philosophy to the maxims of Divinity here thou must submit thy understanding to the rules and articles of Faith Thy Science of God then is Theological drawn not from the light of Nature but from the revelation of God in the Scriptures the principles of this Theological science are supernatural and resolve not into the grounds of natural reason but into the maxims of divine knowledge supernatural and of this we have just so much light and no more than God hath revealed to us in the Scriptures which is not so full a light as the prime principles of rational Sciences carry along with them to force reason upon the first sight to yeeld unto it such as are these viz. Every whole is greater than a part of the whole and again The same thing cannot be and not be at one and the same time and in one and the same respect These carry a natural light in them clear and evident the Scriptures not so yet such a light as is of force to breed Faith though not to make a perfect Knowledge for though it be life eternal to know God John 17. and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent yet this knowledge is no more than a belief since God requires not a demonstrative knowledge of him here but our Faith in him and such a knowledge as may fit that we walk by faith and not by sight or perfect knowledge for Man having sinned by pride God thought it fittest to humble him at the very root of the tree of knowledge and make him deny his understanding and submit to Faith or hazard his happinesse Faith then is a Christians rule and ground of Science now the evidence of Faith is not so clear as that of Reason tum ratione objecti tum ratione subjecti First Ratione objecti God Faith is the evidence of things not seen Secondly Ratione subjecti the Subject that sees it is but in aegnimate in a glass or dark speech Moreover Faith is an act of the Will primarily and chiefly and not of the Understanding It is not in this Theological Science as in other Sciences where voluntas sequitur dictamen intellectus but contrariwise intellectus sequitur arbitrium voluntatis For Faith is a mixt act of the Will and Understanding and the Will first inclines the Understanding to yeeld full approbation to that whereof it sees not full proof Credere enim est actus intellectus vero assentientis productus ex voluntatis imperio In sent d. 23. q. 2. a. 1. Tho. 2.2 q. 2. a. 2. ad 3 Biel. And again Intellectus credentis determinatur ad unum non per rationem sed per voluntatem And Stapleton contra Whittaker saith Fides actus est non solius intellectus sed etiam voluntatis quae cogi non potest Triplic contra Whittak cap. 6. p. 64 imo magis voluntatis quam intellectus quatenus illa operationis principium est assensum qui propriè actus fidei est sola elicit nec ab intellectu voluntas sed à voluntate intellectus in actu fidei determinatur And though the principles of Faith being concealed from our view and foulded up in the un-revealed counsell of God appear not so evident and manifest unto us as those of Reason yet they are in themselves much more sure and infallible than they for they proceed immediatly from God that heavenly Wisdom which being the fountain and original of ours must needs infinitely precede ours both in nature and excellency And therefore though we be far unable to reach the order of their deductions nor can in this life come to the vision of them yet we yeeld as full and firm consent not only to the articles but to all the things rightly deduced from them as we doe to the most evident principles of natural reason so that thou mayst justly say thy Faith is stronger than thy Reason or Knowledge is because it goes higher and so upon a safer principle than thy Reason or Knowledge can in this life attain unto Hoc intelligendum est ut scientia certior sit certitudine evidentiae fides vero certior firmitate adhaesionis majus lumen in scientia majus robur in fide saith Biel in 3 sent d. 23. q. 3 a. 1. Thus much and more maist thou find couched and excellently handled by the most reverend Father in God William Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury in his book against Fisher pag. 16. And for certainty and assurance in this kind Faith doth not only exceed all certainty that can proceed from any natural Science be it never so demonstrative but in a manner equals the very knowledge by Intuitive Vision in the world to come St Bernard makes it good too in sermonibus Domini Gilleberti super Cantica Canticorum cap. 3. Intelligentia quidem etsi fidem excedit non tamen aliud contuetur quam quod fide continetur in intelligentia quam in fide non major certitudo inest sed serenitas neutra vel errat vel haesitat ubi vel error vel haesitatio est intelligentia non est ubi haesitatio est fides non est et si fides admittere posse videtur errorem non est vera nec Catholica fides sed erronea credulitas Thus are Reason Faith and Vision instrumental and necessary one for another without Reason no Faith without Faith no Vision and this is all the difference amongst them 't is St Bernards still and exquisitely done Fides ut sic dicam veritatem rectam tenet possidet Intelligentia revelatam nudam contuetur Ratio conatur revelare ratio inter fidem intelligentiamque discurrens ad illam se erigit sed ista regit ratio plus aliquid quam credere vult quid aliud conspicere aliud est credere aliud est cernere non tamen aliud quam quod fide concipit conspicere conatur et si nondum sincerè videre potest quibusdam tamen accommodatis experimentis conjicere tentat quae jam solida fide concepit ratio supra fidem conatur fide tamen nititur fide cohibetur in primo devota est in secundo prudens in tertio sobria ut sic dicam fides tenet tuetur ratio intelligentia intuetur bonus iste circuitus in quo mens rationis ductu pervestigando procedit sed à fide non recedit instructa à fide restricta ad fidem Thus have I shewed thee O my Soul thy spiritual progress in the search of thy Felicity this is the circuit and round of the Soul in its Military march to the heavenly Jerusalem in the search of him who is the dearly beloved of my Soul these are the streets it compasseth about bonus quidem rationis circuitus a happy circuit and progress of the Soul doubtless when the Soul prosecutes its felicity by rational disquisition and this search too is bounded and limited by the rules of Faith walking from Faith to Faith or from Faith to Vision and Contemplation till it come to the full fruition of what it so much desireth and loveth And now having brought thee to thy journeys end to thy harbour and haven of joy and bliss I will here sing a Requiem to my soul a nunc dimittis to my Spirit Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation And since the way to this beatitude lies by the gates of Death that there must be a separation of Soul and Body before there be a full Vision and Fruition I doe here desire to set this little house in order and to make this my last Will and Testament where I bequeath my Soul into the hands of God that gave it and my Body to the grave in Christian buriall Earth to Earth Dust to Dust Ashes to Ashes in hope of a joyfull and glorious resurrection unto eternal life through the merits of Christ my Saviour Amen FINIS
art 1. Rationalis anima naturaliter est capax gratiae and in another place habilitas animae ad gratiam consequitur naturam ejus 1 parte q. 48. art 4. And in the same sense St. Augustine de Praedest sanct cap. 5. Posse habere fidem charitatem naturae est fidelium And in this sense as Grace so Glory is seated and is to be found in the Reasonable Soul the Soul is capable of Grace there is a capacity also in the Intellect to the light of glory the clear vision of God the full enjoyment of him though not a Natural properly so called yet an Obediential or a Non-repugnant faculty which power and virtue is not to be found in any other creatures below man Yet is not this ful Intuition and Fruition of the Divine Essence a comprehension of his Infinitie for it is one thing to have a quidditative knowledge of any substance another to comprehend it and therefore though the Soules of the blessed in heaven have this supernatural endowment fully and clearly to behold God yet is it not given to any created Intellect fully to comprehend him because none can understand or perceive his infinite power or attain to the knowledge of all those infinite number of things possible to the making of which his power doth extend To know all the Individual creatures possible to be made omnia quomodocunque possibilia which are infinite or to know but all the thoughts and cogitations of every mans heart which shall or may be is onely proper to God and is not communicable to any created Intellection of Saint or Angel whatsoever wherefore though Created Intellect by divine assistance is able clearly and fully to apprehend the divine nature as it is in it self and that all things any way possible to be necessarily and naturally are in God yet are not all things altogether known which are in his divine Essence quia cognitio omnium omnino quae à deo effici possunt dari non potest sine comprehensione divinae essentiae * Ad argumentum quod deus ut speculum est quod omnia quae fieri possunt in eo resplendet respondet Tho. per 1. q. 12. a. 8. ad 2. quod non est necessarium quod videns speculum omnia in speculo videat nis◠speculū visu suo comprehendat nemo autē deum cumprebendit Of the divine Essence there is a full Intuitive knowledge which being fully seen begets the like knowledge of all created beings all actual existencies of Men Angels c. of their natures differences properties powers and operations which are all in him and flow from him But of all beings possible only which have no real and actual Existence omnia omnino all of these alltogether cannot be seen by any created Intellect by any intuitive Vision or Intellection for such is as hath been said onely proper to God being both a quidditative and a comprehensive knowledg also is that perfection of infinite knowledge than which a perfecter cannot be conceived which to ascribe to any creature is such an implication of contradiction as falls not within the compass of Gods Omnipotency But pass we by the knowledge of all other Existences and proceed in the declaration of that knowledge of God himself which comes by Intuitive Intellection which for the excellency of its object is termed Sapience 3 ibs 3. dis 5. b. Aquinas puts this difference 'twixt Science Intelligence and Sapience viz. that Science and Intelligence relate to the creatures and hath them for object but Sapience onely looks upon God and in that object is delighted Scientia valet ad rerum temporalium rectam administrationem ad bonam inter malos conversationem intelligentia vero ad creatoris creaturarum invisibilium speculationem sapientia vero ad solius aeternae beatitudinis contemplationem delectationem In this knowledge is all our bliss and joy the greatest felicity that Man is capable of for according to the excellency of our knowledge is the greatness of our happiness and delight ever now the excellency of this divine Sapience is manifested First by the Faculty and Power Secondly by the Object suted to that Power Thirdly by the Union of the Object with the Power And lastly by the Means Instrument or Organ of this Union of the Object with the Power First the Power and Faculty of Knowledge is the Intellect or Mind which is far more pure noble high and lively and therefore more apt for knowledge than any or all of the Senses Secondly the Object is God a divine Essence an infinite Being the highest and excellentest of all objects either of Body or Mind because he is summum bonum omne bonum infinitum bonum Truth it self and Goodness it self Thirdly the Union of the Intellect with God in this beatifical Vision is an Union so near and close ut essentia Dei totam mentem videntis penetret mens ipsa in ipsum Deum quasi in mare magnum tota mergatur transformetur Bellar. de aeterna felicitat lib. 4. cap 2. Fourthly the way and means whereby God is thus united to the Underderstanding to this Intuitive Intellection is per lumen gloriae by this is God conveighed to the soules of the blessed and to Angelical spirits and made one with them In this life the Eye of Reason is dark and purblind and cannot behold God but by the light of Faith which is but obscurely per aenigma hereafter the eys of our understanding are opened to see God without this light of Faith but not by its own intellectual light natural and created nor by the light of Faith though it be supernatural but by a light of Glory unexpressibly supernatural in a peculiar way and manner flowing from the very Essence of God as a peerless piece of his own uncreated Glory Lumen gloriae quod Theologi dicunt infundi beatis sicut nulli creaturae esse potest connaturale ita peculiari quodam modo ratione ab essentia Dei fluit tanquam singularis participatio increati luminis ejus This light of Glory as it is the meanes and instrument of conveighing the Object to the Soul the divine Essence to the Mind and Intellect hath God for its proper Object and therefore works not as an Organ or Instrument of any created Intelligence to which it is commensurate and adequate but of an increate and independent Intelligence as a proper instrument of God And now O my Soul art thou come to the Mountain of Nebo to the top of Pisgha where though thou maist though afar off take a view of the promised Land having travelled through the planes of Moab from the deserts of Arabia and Wilderness of Zin from the Rudiments of Philosophie to the Mysteries of Divinity thy burblind eason by the conduct of Faith is in some measure raised to a Revelation and Vision of that Eternal Beatitude which Naturally thou desirest First then thy