with such Sublime Realities or Erroneous Foundations support the Truth of Faith in the Opinion of Doubâ—…ers by giving Consonant and Genuine Explications of it 17. The Third Person Divine Love is call'd 〈…〉 Comforter or Strengthener because nothing more gives our Souls such Strength to resist the Assaults of our Spiritual Enemies break thorow â—ll Difficulties and press forwards vigorously to atâ—ain our True End Eternal Happiness which is â—he Sight of GOD than does an Ardent Love of â—im which Every thing acting as it is is the â—â—culiar Gift of the Holy Ghost who is not only by His Common Essence as are also the rest but also by the Particularity of his Person DIVINE LOVE For the same reason He is call'd a Spiâ—itual Unction because it was customary to Anoint â—hose with Oil who were to exert their Strength 〈…〉 any Encounter or Exercise to give their Limbs greater Force and Agility For the same reason He is call'd Fire which in an Ordinary Metaphor is apply'd to an Ardent Love and thence he came down in Tongues of Fire because Fire is the most Active and Purest Body we have and in regard Love does enflame the Spirits to pursue the Good we affectionately long for For this reason also He is call'd our Spiritual Life because Life consists in Self-moving and nothing moves us so efficaciously as Love which is the proper Act of the Will that Faculty that sets all our Inferiour Powers on work And for the same reason He is called particularly the Spirit because as the Animal Spirits in the Body give us all our Natural Motion so Divine Love his peculiar Name and Nature gives us all our Supernatural Tendency to Heaven so that no External or Interiour Actions we perform do avail us or bring us the least Step nearer our True End Eternal Happiness unless either out of an Immediate or Remote Intention it be done out of that Regard or Intuitus Another reason why He is call'd Spirit which properly signifies Breath is Because Breath and Life are in common speech Equivalent While I breath and while I live having the same signification as have also to Expire and to Die Lastly since Heavenly Love which Divines call Sanctifying Grace is our Supernatural Life which as was said the Peculiar Influence of the Third Person does as it were inspire or breath into our Souls hence He is from this Effect by a Specifical Appellation call'd the HOLY GHOST or Holy Spirit For none can think He is call'd Spirit meerly because He is of a Spiritual Nature since this is an Attribute of the GODHEAD and therefore Common to all the Three Persons nor because He proceeds from the Father and the Son by a kind of Imaginary Action call'd Spiration of which I must for my part confess I can make no Conception nor how it comes to be Transferr'd to GOD. 18. I may perhaps incurr some Censure for denying the Procession of the Holy Ghost is to be explicated by Spiration of which Word many Great Men have made use The best way to clear my self from affecting Singularity is to give my Reasons why I dislike it and submit them to the Judgment of our Peers First Faith as was shewn Preliminary V. must have been deliver'd in such Language as is apt to signify our Natural Notions Secondly Hence tho' it may be allowed to Learned Men in Explicating this Mystery to make use upon occasion of some Term of Art which is current in Schools yet is it utterly Disallowable to use any which has not for its Sense some Natural Notion of Mankind otherwise it will Blunder the Explication instead of Clearing it Thirdly It is agreed and most Consonant to Reason that no Notion taken from Material Beings ought to be Transferr'd to GOD but by the Intervention of Spiritual ones to which they are Metaphosically apply'd in regard He is of a Spiritual and not of a Corporeal Nature Fourthly There can be no Spiritual Notion that respects the Internal Nature of a Spirit but Being Knowledge Will and the Objects of these too last which determin their Internal Operations Fifthly There is none of all these that seems Proper to signify the Procession of Divine Love by Spiration Not Being for That if Compleat Stayes in its self as being the most Absolute Notion nor can it respect any other Notion conceivable in GOD otherwise than as an Object Not Knowledge for that is an Immanent Act and is compleated in this that the Object be such in the Knower as it is in its self whereas Spiration has a Notion of something Transitive to Another Sixthly It has too much of Action in it's Formal Notion which may hazard to breed a Conceit of Efficiency and Effect And lastly Because as apply'd here to signifie a Procession from Father and Son it can have no one Notion in it and therefore it has None For since the Holy Ghost does proceed from them according to their Personalities that is from the Divine Essence as Known and as the Knower of it and there can be no one Notion Common to Thing Known and Knower which are so widely Different being toto genere Disparate and Contradistinct but Being my Dulness cannot comprehend what one Notion the word Spiration can signifie since it cannot be Univocally Apply'd to both nor how it sutes with our Natural Notions we have of Spiritual Natures nor in what manner or for what reason it is Transferr'd to GOD which makes me doubt that meerly the word Spiritus apply'd particularly to the Holy Ghost was the best Ground of this recourse to Spiration and not the Notion of any Virtue or Operation which Nature has given us of a Spiritual Being Notwithstanding I doubt not but these Great Divines had some good meaning in it tho' it colours not with my Thoughts Nay that they meant the same in substance which I do tho' perhaps I do more nicely â—ift the Propriety of Words in handling such a Delicate Point than they did And the same I doubt not may be said of all those Learned Writers who have of late Explicated this Mystery variously of which the Anti-Trinitarians do very frivolously make great Brags and hope to get some Advantage by it I say very frivolously For the Article of Faith it self Abstracts from all Explications and stands Firm on it's own Grounds Divine Revelation tho' both They I and Others should all of us fall short in Explicating it right in every particular Thus much concerning the Names and peculiar Attributes of the Three Persons and the Congruous Reasons why we apply such Attributes to each 19. Notwithstanding all that is said above concerning these Appropriations in the performing Different Effects belonging to the Particular Notion and as it were Genius of each Person as such whenever GOD does any thing ad extra or produces any Effect in His Creatures the Whole Trinity concurs to that Action For since nothing can work but it must have the Being or Essence
truly One Thing or One Ens and that all these Particulars now enumerated are Nothing but meerly our Different Conceptions Considerations or Notions of it taking those words objectively that is indeed the very same Thing it self as diversly conceiv'd consider'd or apprehended So that the Thing gives us the Ground of Verification and our Understanding the Formal Distinction exprest by the Abstractive or Distinctive Particle as to answer the signification of which word nothing is found in the Thing as it is in re or iâ— Nature 33. From what has been Discourst above concerning Power and Act 't is Demonstrable how many Common How many sorts of Entities are Possible to be Created Sorts or Kinds of Entia can be in the Universe or are Possible to be Created For since nothing is Capable to have Existence given it but what 's Determinate that is This or That and the meer Power to be a Thing call'd Matter is utterly â—â—determinate and Act is the Only Determiner of â—â—tentiality or Power and therefore can also have Determination by Virtue of it's own Nature or rather bears Determination in it's very Notion It follows that there can only be Two Sorts of Things Possible to be Created viz. Those which are Compounded of Power and Act that is of Matter and Form which we call BODIES aâ—… Pure Acts which have no Power or Matter iâ— them which we call ANGELS or SPIRITS 34. Hence 't is inferr'd that EXISTENCE iâ— the most Formal and consequenâ—ly Existence is the Ultimate Act of Ens. the Ultimate Act of all otheâ—… whatever and all others Potâ—â—tial in respect of it For sinâ—â— it has been shown § 3 4 and 5. that the Essences of all Creatures whether they be Pâ—… Acts or Compounded of Act and Power do consist in a Possibility or Power to Exist and much more the Improper Essences of their Accidents â—â— Modes which have of themselves not so much as a Power to exist at all but by means â—â— the Ens or Substance on which both their Essenâ—… and Existence does immediately depend It follows that Existence is the most Formal and Ultimate Act as supervening to all Created Essencâ—… Imaginable and that all other Acts comparâ—… to it are but Potential or as it were Dispositiâ—â— to it Wherefore when Angels are call'd Pâ—… Acts 't is to be understood that they are Pure â—â— Free from that Second sort of Power call'd Matter notwithstanding which the Essences of those Pâ—… Acts are but Potential in respect of that First and Purest Act EXISTENCE 35. Corollary VIII Wherefore Existence â—â— more properly call'd Actualitâ— than Act as having no kiâ—… Wherefore Existence is rather to be call'd Actuality than Act. of Potentiality to any farther Act but is the perfect Quintessence as it were of Act â—â— self without the least Alloy or Mixture oâ— Power as becomes the Immediate Effect of GOD our Creatour who is essentially an Infinite Actuality of Being or which is the same Self-Existent as will be demonstrated hereafter 36. Wherefore since it has been Demonstrated â— 4. That the very Essence of all Created Beings consists in the meer Possibility or Power to have Existence and That there is a GOD. therefore they have not Actual Being from themselves it follows that they must have it from Another to whom consequently Existence is Essential that is from the First Being or from GOD. There is therefore a GOD. But of this in my Third Book ADVERTISEMENT I desire it may be remarkt once for all that by the Words Power Act Matter Form Existence and the same may be said of all the Words I shall use hereafter through this whole Treatise â—â—r those I have publisht formerly I do not mean Idea's or Similitudes or any other Conceits found out or made by my own or any other Man's Wit or Fancy but the very Real Thing it self of which and not of Similitudes we intend â—â— speak conceiv'd by us according to such â—â—spects or Considerations Grounded on it and â—â—ly found in it Without which no Solid Disâ—…rse can possibly be made as is shown in my â—â—THOD B. 1. L. 1. and is demonstrated at large in my SOLID PHILOSOPHY Asserted Preliminary First and Second and in my other Writings MEDITATION On the foregoing Chapter 'T IS time my Soul to turn thy Thoughts upon thy self and to reflect what Advancement of Knowledge thou hast gain'd by those Easiest most Common and most Familiar Notions of POWER and ACT. But first consider How Provident thy Generous Maker has been for thee as soon as then wast deliver'd out of the dark Womb of Nothing and how he has assisted and nourisht thee up in thy helpless Infancy Thy Nature was to be Capable of Knowledge and therefore only Knowledge was the Connatural The Method how GOD's Providence gave us our Elements of Knowledge Food which could give thee Growth and Strength and ripen thee to Perfection How wretched then and miserable hadst thou been had not He like a Loving Father taken care thou shouldst not live perpetually in a Dungeon of Spiritual Darkness and comfortless Ignorance To this end â—e planted thee amongst an Infinite Variety of thy Fellow-Creatures Bodily Substances which play'd continually about thee with such Motions as were agreeable to their several Constitutions These being the Manufacture of an Infinitely Wise Creatour could not but retain in them the manifest Prints of the Wisdom of their Divine Artificer which made â—â—â—m fit Instruments to inform thy Empty Understanding and to instruct thy Rudeness But alas thâ—y could not reach or affect thy Nature which was Spiritual All their Operations were perform'd by Local Motion which being Quantitative and Divisible could not be receiv'd in thy Spiritual and Indivisible Essence This had render'd thee consider'd according to thy peculiar Nature hadst thou been a Distinct Thing from all Bodies whatever Insensible of their smartest Impulses and Incapable of Knowing any thing by their most vigorous Impressions Nor hadst thou as being one of the Lowest Class of Knowing Substances any Right or Title to have Actual Knowledge Infus'd into thee gratis at first as had thy Elder-Brothers by Creation thâ— Angels In this forlorn condition wast thou found in the First Instant thou camest into this Material World viz. only Capable of Knowledge and utterly Unable of thy self to gain any or help thy self in the least For a meer Power which was undetermin'd to all or any Act of Knowledge could not alone enable thee to produce any Particular Act which is necessarily This and Determinate But it belongs to Essential and Infinite Goodness not to leave his poor Indigent Creatures destitute but to take order they should have as far as consists with the best Order of the World all the Perfection their Nature is capable to receive Wherefore His Providence wisely order'd thou shouldst have a Material Compart link'd so intimately to thee as to Compound with thee One Ens or Suppositum and thence partake
〈…〉 labour for our own True Good pursue that bestâ—…isht Food which connaturally nourishes our Soul in it's way and comply with the Best Intentions and End of our Creation CHAP. IV. Of the Essence of MAN 1. MAN is One Thing made up or Compounded of a Corporeal and a Spiritual Part which we call BODY and SOUL For were the Body and Soul iâ— MAN is One Thing made up of Soul and Body Man Two Distinct Things those Two Things they being of such Different Natures could not possibly have any Coalition nor any kind of Union 〈…〉 as to make up One Compound more than can 〈…〉 Angel and a Brute Nor could they be in 〈…〉 Manner or according to any Mode of which wâ— have a Notion cemented together Not according to that Mode or Accident call'd QUANTITY the Unity of which kind of Parts is Continuity because the Spiritual Part the Soul is not Quantitative nor can it be thus Continu'd or Joyn'd to the Body Nor consequently according to the Notion of Quality For first Quality supposes tâ—… Thing which it Qualifies already constituted and only superadds some Perfection or Imperfectiâ—… to it's Nature Secondly Because all the Qualities of One of those Parts are Corporeal ones aâ—… all the Qualities of the Other Part are Spiritual that is they are Quantitatiâ—s and Not-Quantitativâ— which can no more unite than a Body and a Spâ—… could Nor according to Relation or to speâ—… more properly according to the Things themselves as they are consider'd to be Relata or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For this Notion is of the Thing it self as it gives us the Ground or Reason of our Relating or Comparing it to Another in such a Respect which presupposes the Things and is so far from giving us a Ground of conceiving them to be One that it obliges us to conceive them as some way or other Two and moreover Relatively Opposite to one another and Opposition cannot be the Formal Reason of Unity And if we take the word Relation not Fundamentally but Formally for the very Act of Referring 't is clearly a Spiritual Mode peculiarly belonging to One part of Man the Soul and therefore for the Reason lately given it cannot unite both those Parts together Nor can they be United according to any of the Four last Predicaments for These as is shown in my METHOD can only belong to Bodies Nor lastly can those Parts were they Two Things be United according to Action and Passion in which the Cartesians â—â—ce this Union for these besides their being Extrinsecal Considerations do most evidently presuppose the Whole Thing or Suppositum only which Acts oâ— Suffers constituted and therefore cannot be the Formal Cause or Reason of constituting that Whole or Compounding those Parts together but are the Exercise of that Essence and 〈…〉 Existence already Constituted such It is left â—â—en that those Two Parts can only be United 〈…〉 make One Compound according to the First Predicament or according to the Notion of Ens Thing or Substance But to be United or which â—…the same made One precisely under the Notion or Respect of Thing is out of the force of the very Words to be One Thing Therefore this Compound of SOUL and BODY call'd MAN is truly and necessarily One Thing 2. Therefore the Soul and Body in Man are only Potential Parts of that Compound Therefore the Soul and Body are here only Potential Parts and neither of them while in the Compound is Actual For it has been already Demonstrated Ch. 1. § 27. that there can be no Actual Parts in any Compound whatever Moreover were they Actual while in the Compound each of them would have it's oâ—â— Act there and consequently it 's own Essence and this not only Distinctly from the Other but Independently of it since every Act in the Line of Substance as both these Parts are determines the Substance to be This fits it for Existence and makes it capable to Subsist alone wherefore each of those Parts when separated would retain it's Act and Essence and exist or actually remain such as it was whereas 't is manifest that a Human Body does not exist or remain so much as a Sensitive or Vegetative Thing but becomes a meeâ— Dead Carkass 3. Therefore neither Part while in the Compound can Act or Operate Alâ—… Therefore Neither Part can Operate Alone For 't is Demonstrable that Whâ—… ever Acts must Be Actually Bâ—… in our case neither Part Is actuaâ—… but are both of them only Potential by § 2. Wheâ—… fore 't is manifest that Neither Part can work Alâ—… but concomitantly with the other that is in all 〈…〉 Operations of Man as he is Man 't is the Wâ—… Compound or that Ens Thing Substantia Priâ—… or Suppâ—sâ—â—um which only can Act or Operâ—… sâ—nce It only Is actually 4. Corollary I. Hence is seen on what Evident Ground that most Useful and Solid Maxim Actiones Which Groundâ— that Excellent Maxim Actiones Passiones sunt Suppositorum Passiones sunt Suppositorum which all seem to admit but Few I fear duly reflect on is built viz. on those most Evident Truths Nothing can Act but what is it self in Act or Is Actually or Nothing can Act in such a manner unless it Bee such and No Parts in any Compound singly consider'd Are Actually With which notwithstanding it well consists that The Whole may act more chiefly and Peculiarly according to This Part than to That as we also experience not only in Man but in every Compound whatever 5. Corollary II. How Useful this Doctrine is to explicate the Incarnation or the Subsistence of Two Natures Hence the Christian Tenet of the Incarnation is Agreeable to Right Reason in One Divine Person and the Different Operations of Christ our Saviour as he is GOD and MAN will easily appear to Reflecters and will more fully be seen when we shall have occasion to show the Conformity which that Fundamental Article of Christian Faith has to the Principles of True Philosophy 6. Tho' the Peculiar and Immediate Form or Act of that Part call'd The Seat of Knowledge be that Spiritual Of the Form or Act of Man as he is Man Part we call The Soul yet the Act or Form of Man as he is Man is the said Spiritual Part together with that Complexion of Accidents in his Body which contribute to fit him for his Primary Operation For since Man is One Thing which has in it both a Corporeal and a Spiritual Nature § 1. and every Thing acts as it is his Operation peculiar to him as he is Man must also be Corporeo-Spiritual and consequently his Total Form which constitutes him such an Individual Acter must likewise partake of both those Natures 7. Corollary III. Hence in every Operation of Man as he is Man the Operations peculiar to the Soul Both â—arts concurr to every Operation of Man as he is Man cannot be produced without the Immediate
Stone and a Tree a Horse and an Eagle a Lizard and a Herring c. Nor is at all to purpose to alledge they are a Compound Thing for this is contrary to many Evident Truths since it has been demonstrated Ch. 1. § 27. that there are no Actual Parts in any Compound whatever Nor can the Parts of Ens joyn to make One Thing otherwise than as one of them is Determinable Potential or has the Notion of Matter the other Determinative of the Other as it 's Form Lastly that Unum or One Thing would be Divisum in se which is against the Nature of Ens. Nor is it to purpose to alledge they are United by their Acting together for this only makes them Coacters such as the Principal Cause and the Instrument uses to be and not One Thing as is clearly shown Preliminary V. § 25. Besides they must Be One Thing ere they can Act as One Thing which as is there shown makes the alledging this for a Reason very Preposterous 38. Corollary XIV From what 's deduced above 't is demonstrated against that every-way-Groundless Opinion That the Pre-existence of Souls is a Senseless Conceit and Impossible of the Pre-existence of Souls Since the Form of an Ens being but a Part of that thing it belongs to and a Part of a Thing not being the Thing it self or the Whole Thing and only the Thing it self being Capable of Existance the Soul which is the Form of Man cannot possibly exist till it informs the Matter and with it makes up that Thing call'd Man 39. Corollary XV. Hence that foppish Opinion of the Transmigration of Souls So is the Pythagorean Transmigration is confuted Since the Form is not Received but in Matter fitted to receive it or Dispos'd for it and with it compounding one Thing which shall have a Primary Operation sutable to the Nature of such a Compound which kind of Disposition can no where be found but in Humane Bodies otherwise every meer Animal and Vegetable might require and therefore have a Rational Soul in them which put there could neither need any Transmigration nor could it be without having two Souls in one Body or Two Forms in the same Matter which would make every such Compound a CHIMERA Whence I am forced to declare that those who talk of GOD's Annexing Reason to the Matter of a Brute bid fair for the Tenet of a Pythagorean Transmigration for to what other end can the starting such a Question or such a wild Supposition tend 40. Corollary XVI Hence is farther shown that to those who ask How the Soul and Body come to be That 't is a Folly to ask how the Soul and Body came to be United United The properest Answer is They were never DISUNITED or TWO A farther reason how they come to be One may be gather'd out of the following Meditation MEDITATION BY this time my Soul we have rais'd our selves by immediate Steps from the Material World our Underling and God's Footstool The Rational Progress and Immediate Steps of our Thoughts hitherto till we are come within Ken of our own Nature Nor can we think we have err'd in that Noble and Necessary Quest There have been no Meandrian Turnings and Windings in our Rational Progress which is the Way we have taken We started first from the Simplest and as we may say Embryo-Notions of POWER and ACT which belong to every Created Being We proceeded next to that sort of Power and Act which compounds the Changeable Nature of BODY We went on to take a view of the Essences of the most Uncompounded Bodies and those of their Simpler Mixts and Demixts till we arriv'd at those most Compounded ones which are Organical such as are Vegetables and Animals divers Parts of which seem to have distinct Natures and Operations of their own But they only seem to have them for out of the Compound they can perform no such Operations at all because those Parts being only Potential or in Power to be Things they are hence of themselves not Actually Things nor capable of Being nor consequently of Acting So that 't is the Compound only that Acts according to such a Part which is somewhat of it because it only Is or is in Act. Lastly We have shewn the Establishment of the Essence of an Animal and that its Primary Operation for which it was ordain'd is like it self meerly Sensitive or Material But must the Climax of BEING stop in that lowest Degree of Entity Base Matter Why it was necessary such a Creature as MAN should be made No surely For how should the Alpha of all Being be the Omega of it too if there were nothing Created here but such a Stupid and Senseless Nature as Body which is utterly unable to ascend to him or raise it self towards him and chuse him for its Last End and Final Good And yet how should meer Matter rise to that vastly higher Story of Being call'd Spiritual or how should it arrive to a next Neighbourhood with an Angel They seem rather Contradictory and in the highest manner Opposite The one is of its own Nature Divifible the other Indivisible The one is a Pure Act the other is meerly Potential being made of Matter which depresses it's Compart while here to a Potential State also The Order of Beings which is the Product of God's Creative Wisdom could not but be contriv'd with all the Beauty of the most exact Harmony which consists in fitting one Thing to another It must then arise by Immediate Degrees otherwise it would not be Compacted but Shatter'd And it had been too great a Leap and had left too wide a Chasm in the Frame of the Creation to ascend or rather skip from meer Matter to a Pure Spirit But what cannot Infinite Wisdom By what means GOD's Infinite Wisdom contriv'd the Union of the Soul and Body in one Thing contrive without either perverting or straining the Proportions of Order or Violating the Natures of Body or Spirit either Wherefore to make the Contexture of Beings Close and not intersticed by Flaws Gaps or Incoherences Divine Providence which disposes all things sweetly order'd there should be some Dispositions in Matter which requir'd to be indu'd with such a Form as was beyond the Power of Matter to produce 〈◊〉 have educed out of it viz. Such as was of a Spiritual Nature tho' of the lowest size to perform with its Assistance Operations beyond the Power of Matter to compass alone that is with a Faculty of Reasoning which partakes in some sort â—â—th Natures or with a Power both of Knowing 〈◊〉 also of Succession in Acquiring or Using that Knowledge Those Dispositions being laid in Matter 〈◊〉 â—â—llow'd necessarily that a Form of a Spiritual Naâ—â—re would be in it For to an Infinite Being streamâ—…enerously his Gifts from his Exuberant Source of â—…ss there needs no more to receive and have the Effects of his Bounty but to be Dispos'd for them or
every Step our Soul takes towards Knowledge and the same discourse holds as to our Acquiring Virtue and only beseems some Heathen who had but Half-Lights of a DEITY The Progress and Conduct of every Act of ours towards both it's Immediate and it 's Ultimate End and Perfection do all of them spring from the Giver of every Good and perfect Gift as well as the Beginning of it This Soveraign Cause is as well in Natural as Supernatural Effects Principium Rector Dux Semita Terminus idem Nay every least Manner of Action as far as it is Good as well as the Action it self is not only Determin'd but Proportion'd to it's Proper End by his Universal Superintendency Therefore Right Reason and True Philosophy as well as St. Paul's Sublime Faith and Divinity do oblige us to catechize and ask our selves Quid â—abes quod non accepisti Quod si accepisti quid gloriaris quasi non acceperis 'T is Vain and False Philosophy then and not the True one which begets that miscall'd Science which does inflare or puff â—â—â—n up with a self-assuming Pride Philosophy were â—â—â— Philosophy did it not bring us to True Science â—â—â— Science would not be Science did it not refund â—â—â—â—cts into their Genuine Causes and consequently â—â—â—ry Action of ours as far as it is Good and not Defective into that Supreme and First Cause in whom we live move and have our Being Hence also is seen how powerfully True Science conduces to â—ake Men Virtuous For by seeing thus evidently â—â—r Total Dependence on GOD and how little we â—â—â— do of our selves it reads us a Solid and most effectual Lecture of Profound Humility which is the Ground of all Virtue and the Basis of all our Spiritual Building At least I say we have thro' God's Assistance gain'd by our former Discourse a Certain tho' something Confus'd Knowledge of what That we ought to comply with the Designs of our Great Cretour and by what means this may be best accomplisht we are as to our Particulars and a Clear Discernment of what Kind we are viz an Intelligent and Rational Being Let us follow then and comply with what we undoubtedly know Let us not degenerate from our Nature and then we may be sure we shall not wrong our Creation nor offend our Great Creatour Let us cultivate â—â—â— Reason and extirpate it's Enemy Passion Let us love Truth our Best Natural Perfection and pursue it by making use of those Means which are most Proper to attain it To do this as we ought let us not precipitate our Assent rashly but warily and wisely suspend till Self-evidence of our Principles and Evidence of our Deductions appear only which can secure our Steps from stumbling into Errour While we take this way we may hope in the same good Providence which has led us on hitherto to grow fit to comprehend Higher Truths till we ascend by those Gradual Approaches as by the Stepâ— of Jacob's Ladder to reach Heaven and attain the Blissful Ssght of Him who is TRUTH it self which only can satisfie fully our Inquisitive and infinitely Capacious Understanding CHAP. VI. some Preliminaries fore-lay'd in order to Demonstrate the Immortality of the SOUL 1. THO' Man be but One 1. Preliminary Thing as was prov'd Chap. 4. § 1. and Ch. 5. § 20. â—â—r we cannot but make Diverse We cannot but have different Conceptions of the Parts of Man Conceptions of Him as he is Man according to those Different Naâ—â—â—es or Parts found in him call'd â—â—â—l and Body This needs no farther Proof it being granted by all insomuch as some will â—â—eds make them Two Distinct Things And is â—â—â—her Prov'd For since as has been demonâ—â—rated above the Soul is the Form or ACT of the Body and we cannot but have Different Notions or Conceptions of ACT and POWER it follows that we cannot but have Different Notions or Conceptions of the Soul and the Body 2. Preliminary II. Whence follows that we may and must have Different Notions or Conceptions of every Operation of Man as â—â— is Man For since every And consequently of every Operation of his as he is Man Man tho' One Thing yet has two Different Natures in him of which he consists and every Thing is that of which it consists and Operates or Acts as it is it follows that every Operation of Man as well as Himself is of vastly Different Natures and partakes of both and consequently we can and are oblig'd to have Diverse Conceptions of every such Operation for the same Reason for which we must have Diverse Conceptions of those Natures themselves that is we can find somewhat in such Operations that is Proper or Peculiar to One of those Natures and not Proper or Peculiar to the Other Hence I proceed Closer to my Main Thesis to be demonstrated in my next Chapter viz. 3. If we can find by Evident Reflexion that there is somewhat in the Operations which Man has according That we must examin whether there be anything in Man according to his Soul which is above Quantity or Matter his Soul that is above the Nature of Matter or above Quantity which is the Common Affection of all Corporeal Nature and therefore that is Indivisible or which is the same Indissoluble or Incorruptible it must follow demonstratively that then that Part of Man call'd his Soul is Immaterial Incorruptible or Immortal In order to Demonstrate which we proceed with our Preliminaries 4. Preliminary III. There are Three Distinct Operations of Man according to his Soul as 't is Intellective or That there are Three Distinct Operations of Man as he is Intellective Knowing viz. Simple Apprehension Iudging and Discoursing This I think is granted by all and is easily prov'd For we must first Lay hold of that which we are to work upon or take into out Mind that of which we are to Iudge or Discourse that is have a Notion of it for otherwise we should Iudge and Discourse of we know not what Wherefore that Operation call'd Simple Apprehension or the having the Notion of the Thing in our Mind is clearly Antecedent to the other Two and consequently Distinct from them Again Discoursing does clearly presuppose some Iudgments already had and Assented to ere we can Deduce any thing out of them by Discourse since we must necessarily Iudge our Premisses True ere we can hope to derive their Truth to another Proposition or Deduce any thing out of them by our Reason which manifests a perfect Distinction between the Operations of Discoursing and Iudging 'T is therefore Evident that there are Three Distinct Operations of Man according to that Part call'd the Soul as 't is Intellective or Knowing call'd Simple Apprehension Iudging and Discoursing 5. Preliminary IV. The Notion of Created Ens or Thing Abstracts from or is Indifferent to Existence and Non-Existence The Notion of Ens or Thing is Indifferent to Actual Being or Not-Being and a
Concomitant to the First Existence of Bodies that 't is a Contradiction they should be together in Duration or at once For Existence it having â—â— parts is Indivisible in Duration or without part after part whereas 't is Essential to Motion to be part after part or Successive So that 't is equally Contradictory that Existence should not be all at once as 't is that Motion should be all at once so far is the Later from being Consequent or Concomitant to the Former 5. This is farther Demonstrated from the Nature of Causality by this Argument No Effect can proceed As is also Demonstrated from the Nature of all Causality immediately from a Cause which is of a Nature diametrically Opposite to such an Effect V. g. Not-being cannot produce Being Light cannot produce Darkness not can that which is essentially â—â—â— immediately produce Cold. But Motion which is essentially Successive or which is the same perpetually Changing is diametrically Opposite to the Nature of GOD whose Essence is Unchangeable Existence Therefore Motion cannot be produced by GOD as it's Immediate Cause Wherefore since by our former Discourse the â—â—â— Motion of Bodies could not have been immediately produced either by any meer Body â—oâ— by a Human Soul nor yet by GOD it is 〈◊〉 that it could only be caus'd by a Pure Act â—â— an Angel See Method to Science Pag. 299. â—â—â—â—â—s 4. Ideae Cartesianae P. 44. § 31. and Railâ—â—â— Defeated § 43. where this Demonstration is â—â— large put down and prest home What I â—â—â—tend for here is that the Contrary Tenet â—â—erthrows all Likeness of the Cause and Effect â—â—d all Causality and therefore all Connexion of Proper Causes with their Proper Effects and Vice Versâ that is it quite destroys all Possibility of Science and Demonstration Notwithstanding 't is Granted that GOD is the Mediate Remote or Principal Cause of Motion as giving Second Causes both the Power to move Bodies and Pre-moving or Determining them to move them 6. Every more perfect Ens contains or includes in it the Nature of the less perfect Thus as was said the Every more perfect Ens includes in it the Nature of the less perfect Nature of a Mixt or Compound Body having diverse Elements in it and therefore having more of the Nature of Body than a Simple Body or any one Element has includes in it the Nature or Essence of a Simple Body Thus and for the same reason a Vegetative Mixt has more of the Nature of a Mixt in it than a meerly-Mixt such as are Pebbles Clay Gold or such like Thus Sensitive Things include in them the Nature of a Vegetable and every Rational Animal includes in it the Nature of a meer Sensitive Thing or an Animal All which are Evident because the Perfecter Ens has in it the Notion or Nature of the Imperfecter and superadds something to it So that to deny the force of this Demonstration or the Truth it demonstrates is the same Folly as to deny that what has more in it of any Kind does not contain in it what 's Less of the same Kind or that what 's a Whole in respect of the other is not more than a Part of it or which is the same that a Whole does not contain or include it's Parts And that they include them Essentsally is most Evident to all Logicians and granted by all while they acknowledge those Later or less perfect Notions to be essentially predicated of the former in regard they superadd to them nothing that 's Positive 7. Wherefore for the same Reason Every Pure Act Spirit or Angel includes in it self one way or And therefore Pure Acts contain in them the Nature of Body other the whole Nature of Body For since Ens is adequately divided into Pure Acts or Spirit and into those Entities whose Essences are alloy'd with Power and Potentiality as are Bodies which are compounded of Matter and Form and these two Species are constituted as by it's Intrinsecal Differences by partaking â—â—â—e and less of Ens their Genus and that which is more in any Kind or Respect includes what 's Less in the same respect as a Yard in Quantity contains an Inch which is Less under that Notion or a Lesser Quantity Hence it follows demonstratively that the self-same Discourse must equally hold in the Species of Ens as it does in those of Quantity now mention'd or in the Species of any other Genus and consequently that a Pure Act or Spirit must include some way or other the whole Nature of Body which has less of the Nature of Ens in it than had the other 8. Wherefore the very Essences of all Natural Bodies are really and truly contain'd Which since it cannot be done by the manner of Quantity they must contain them by the way of Knowledge in the Knowledge of an Angel and not their Ideas or Similitudes only For since it is granted that Angels they being Pure Acts are of an Indivisible Nature or void of Quantity the Essences of Bodies which by § 7. are one way or other contain'd or included in an Angel cannot be included in it Quantitatively after the manner a Vessel contains Liquâ—ur or as a Bigger Box contains a Lesser Wherefore it must be said that those Lesser Essences of Body are contain'd in the Superiour Essence of an Angel Indivisibly or after the manner of a Spirit that is Knowingly or as Objects of their Knowing Power which was the Point to be Demonstrated 9. Wherefore he who denies that the very Essences of Bodies are in the Understanding of an Angel or in Therefore the very Essences of Bodies are in a Spiritual Understanding and not Idea's or Similitudes only any Spiritual Nature and affirms that only the Similitudes of them are there may as well say the Essences or Natures of Simple Bodies are not in Mixts or that the Essences of meer Vegetatives are not in Sensitive Things or Animals or that the Essence of an Animal is not really in a Rational Thing or a Man but Likenesses only which is both against the Sentiments of all Logicians in the world who do acknowledge that the Former are Essential Predicates of the Later and not Accidental ones which could not with Truth be said unless the Essences themselves from which the Denomination of Essential is taken were really in them Nay it is moreover against the Definitions of these Later in which those Former are found I add against the Sense of all Mankind too who reflect upon what they say Whence those Ideists who hold the contrary Opinion are desir'd to take notice that our Argument here is drawn from the Notion of the Thing as it is a Thing or â—â—â—tance and from the Nature of the Species of â—â— as such and not from the Qualities or Relations of them from whence their Likeness or Unâ—â—â—ness is taken Which clinches the force of our demonstration drawn from Logick and Metaphysicks and will forestall and
Ens in their whole Extent as do Metaphysicians But with this difference which renders them Unparallel that our Science is employ'd about Abstract Notions of the Thing that is about the Thing consider'd in such an Abstracted or Common Respect without descending to the Under-Kinds or to the Individuums under it whereas the Intuitive Knowledge of an Angel as not being made by way of Abstract or Inadequate Conceptions comprehends in one Act or at once the Individualities of all those Things from which We abstract one Common Notion and all that belongs to them Whence when we said that the Generical Notion common to all Angels is to be Cognoscitive it is to be understood of an Intuitive Cognoscitiveness or such a one as we have describ'd above by which they are distinguisht from the Inferiour or Narrower Degree of Knowingness peculiar to the Soul in this State and even in some respect as she is found in her State of Separation 18. The same is evinced by Reason For since the Object speciâ—ies the Act and the Excellency of the Act Which makes them fit to superintend the Administration of a Larger Province argues a more excellent Faculty or Power and consequently a more Excellent Degree of the Essence or Nature of the Acter and since Bonum I add Verum this being the Best and most Connatural Good of a Knowing Creature quò Communius eò Divinius It follows that the Essence of those Angels are more Excellent and Noble who have a more Comprehensive and Larger Knowledge of more Universal Objects at once or by one Act whence it comes that since Reflexion or Deliberation can have no place in Pure Acts but are contrary to their Nature they are fitted for the Overseeing more-Common Goods or to preside over the Spiritual Good of Provinces Kingdoms or great Nations of People 19. Corollary VII That which gives greater force to this Doctrine is the Consonancy it has to the How Consonant this is to those Passages of the Holy Scripture which speak of such Operations of Angels Sacred Scripture Where Daniel Ch. 10. we read of the Angel of the Kingdom of Persia withstanding that particular Angel in likelihood Gabriel who presided over the Iews till Michael who was Higher in Dignity than the former being Chief Patron and Defender of the Jewish Church then as he is held to be of the Christian Church now over-power'd his Inclination by his more Soveraign Influence Where also we read of the Angel who was Prince or Super-intendent over the Greeks divers of which sort if not all were Archangels Whereas 't is generally held and is Consonant to Reason That the Angel-Guardians of Particular or Individual Persons are of the Lowest and least-Cognoscitive Quire of meer Angels Thus far concerning the Essence and Internall Operations of Angels We proceed now to their External Operation or their Action upon other Things 20. An Angel cannot operate upon another Angel so as to make it otherwise than it was For since that An Angel cannot operate upon another Angel so as to change it Operation must work some new Effect in it and this requires some Passive Principle in the Subject rendring it Mutable which Principle we call Matter And Angels they being Pure Acts have not that sort of Power call'd Matter in them it follows that an Angel cannot thus operate upon another Angel nor for the same reason upon a Soul while 't is Separate 21. Wherefore all such External Operation of an Angel can be only upon Bodies For since an Angel can neither Wherefore all it 's External Operation so as to work a Change in another thing can only be upon Bodies thus operate upon that is alter another Angel nor a Separated Soul because they are Pure Acts much less GOD who is an Infinitely Pure Act and essentially Immutable and there is no other Subject imaginable it follows that the External Operation of Angels must either be exercis'd on Bodies or on Nothing 22. An Angel can operate upon Material Entititles or on Body For since the Being of an Angel is Superiour An Angel can thus operate upon Material Entities or Bodies to the Nature of Body and consequently it 's Faculty or Power of Acting is Superiour to whatever is in Body that can resist it's Activity Also since being a Pure Act it 's Nature is Active Wherefore seeing on the other side Matter is easily or rather essentially Passive and there can want no Application of such an Agent to such a Patient because an Angel has the Natures or Essences nay the Existences of Bodies and all that can belong to them intimately joyn'd to their Understanding by Knowledge of them 'T is Evident that there are all the Requisites imaginable put for their Operating upon Body and producing some Effect in it which was not in it before that is of Changing it Wherefore an Angel has Power to Operate this upon Body or Material Nature Nor is there any Disproportion between the Motion which the Angel works in Bodies and such an Immediate Cause as was shown § 5. is between GOD and such an Effect since as has been shown Method to Science B. I. L. 8. § 2. Motion according to it 's precise Nature or as it superadds to it's Subject is as it were made up of Non-Entities or next to nothing and every Created Being as to what it has of it self is such All the Essential Distinction between Creatures and consequently their Formal Constitution being only such and such Limitations of Being or more and less that is thus much and no more of Entity 23. Advertisement Let it be noted that what 〈…〉 intend to evince here is conâ—…'d That we only intend to evince here the An Est of the Operation of an Angel and not the Manner how it is perform'd to the Question An est or â—…o demonstrate that Angels have Power to move Bodily Nature â—…od not to show How or in what â—…articular Manner they work this effect To clear which Point requires a perfect and penetrative Knowledge of the Angelical Nature which is perhaps Unattainable by us in this State 24. Notwithstanding what 's said no One Angel has an Unlimited Power to move or change all the Bodies Yet no one Angel has an Unlimited Power to operate thus on all Bodies whatevee in the World For since the Natures of Spirit and Body are constituted by their Partaking More and Less of Ens and more and less do manisestly signifie only Degrees of the Nature of Ens in Common from whence their Power over another is taken and on which it is entirely and adequately grounded and what exceeds another only in some Degree does only exceed it Finitely Limitedly and in some Proportion It follows that however the whole Angelical Nature or some considerable Part of it may have Power to work upon or alter the whole Mass of Material Beings yet a Single Angel being but one Individual of it and consequently
Finite Ens consists in a Potentiality or a meer Possibility of Existing whereas Existence is the Act that answers to that Power and so is vastly distinguishâ— or Different from it the Power and it 's Proper Act being counterpos'd to one another Add That this has also been demonstrated here § 2. 17. Lemma II. We cannot think or speak of the First Being tho' suppos'd Infinite but by making use of such Philosophers must Discourse of the First Being by sueh Natural Notions as they have Natural Notions and Words as we have This is Self-evident since none can think or speak with Thoughts or Words which he has not 18. Lemma III. Amongst all our Natural Notions that of Existence is moâ—â— Actual and being Pure from all The Notion of Existence is the most Actual of any we havâ— Potentiality in the Line of Being it is deservedly call'd an Actuality or the very Formal and Whole and Sole Nature of Act in that Line This has â—… Demonstrated B. 1. Ch. 1 § 34 35. â—o 〈…〉 the Reader is referred â—… Of all our Natural Notions that â—… that of Existence is the â—…perest and Best we can use And therefâ—râ— the Fittâ—st to 〈…〉 a Pure Actuaâ—â—ty of Being â—â—d glven us by GOD Himself 〈…〉 we speak of a Pure Actuâ—…y of Being or a DEITY This â—…prov'd § 16 17. and is Evident â—â—â—m the Terms For since Ens 〈…〉 who le Latitude abstracts 〈…〉 Corporeal Nature which has that Power call'd â—… and is clearly Antecedent to the Third 〈…〉 of Power since a Capacity of being it self â—â—â— antecede a Capacity of Sustaining or giving 〈…〉 to Accidents and therefore the Potenâ—… which Ens has to it's Act is more Noble 〈…〉 Exalted and more defaecated as it were 〈…〉 those baser and narrower sorts of Power than aâ—y other Wherefore since Existence is the Ultimate Act of Ens in it's whole Latitude it â—ollows that it is the most Abstracted or Purest sort â—â— Act in the Line of Being and therefore is â—…incident with the Notion of Pure Actuality of â—… which is the best Positive Notion we can 〈…〉 of a DEITY And accordingly the True â—… as will be demonstrated shortly the ONLY â—OD Himself who could best express to us 〈…〉 owâ— Divine Essence when Moses Exod. 3. â—… desir'd to know by what Name which sigâ—… his Essence he should call him when he â—â—ould come to speak from Him to the Children of Israel answer'd him Ego sum qui sum I am who AM or I am He who IS and bid him tell tâ—â—m that He who IS has sent me unto you Which â—…inly signifies that all Other Things have only a Potentiality or Possibility of Existing or Being Actually and that 't is Proper and Peculiar to GOD's Nature or Essence which the Name is to express to Be Actually or Exist And that if any Thing else has Being or Exists it partakes or borrows it's Being from Him who only â—â— or whose Essence is that Pure Actuality of Being call'd Existence So that the main Ground of our Metaphysicks particularly that which discourses of the Adorable DEITY is in the main the same Sense given to our hands by GOD Himself which we dilate and on which we descant by our Reason 20. Lemma IV Every Abstract Word which signifies meerly any Form or Act includes in it's Notion the Every Abstract Word comprehends the whole Nature of the Form or Act it signifies without any Limitation whole Nature of the Act imported by that Word without any Limitation For let us take Knowledge Virtue Whiteness or any other such Abstract Word we shall find that none of them either Express Hint or Connotate thus much or such a Portion or Degree of those Acts. Wherefore those Abstract Words involve in them the Whole Nature of those Acts that is without Limitation Moreover were there per impossibile suppos'd Infinite things which had Knowledge Virtue or Whiteness in them they would all partake of the Nature of those Acts and yet it would not be exhausted which shows the word signifies those Acts without Limitation 21. Lemma V. Therefore the Limitation of all Acts must either proceed from the Subject it affects which being Therefore it 's Limitation proceeds either from the Subject or from the Causes that Determine it a Particular or Determinate Ens makes it This and no Other or else from the Causes which determin'd the Act to such or such a Degree of it Hence I Argue 22. Therefore GOD's Existence which is his Essence is Unlimited and Actually Infinite For since his Existence Hence GOD's Essence it self is absolutely Unlimited or Actually Infinite includes the whole Nature of Existence by Lem. IV. nor is it as it is found in Him an Act corresponding to a Potential Essence as it is in Creatures this being against the Nature of a Pure Actuality but is His Proper Name which imports his Essence neither is his Existence limited by any Subject in regard every Subject is a Power to receive advening Acts which is against the Nature of that Essence which is purely Actual Hence it follows that it is it 's own Subject or Self-subsistent Nor Lastly can â— be Limited by the Operation of any Cause which gave him that Act He being the First Cause and incapable to receive anything in regard this implies Passiveness and Potentiality It â—ollows then that his Existence is absolutely Unlimiâ—ed and it being a Pure Actuality actually Infinite 13. Therefore the DEITY is but ONE For â—ere there Two Infinite Existences â—ach of them must necessarily Therefore GOD is but ONE â—â—ve something which the other â—â— not otherwise they would â—re nothing to distinguish them or make them more they being in all respects the Same Therefore if there were two GODs this would limit both of them and make neither of them to be Infinite therefore there can be but One Infinite Existence or One GOD. Again were there Two Self-Existences they would agree in that Common Notion and the Differences that constitute them within that Notion must be more and less of that Common Notion Infinite Existence as has been often prov'd Which is perfect Nonsense Infinity being beyond all Degrees and Incapable of them Besides Differences are necessarily more Actual than the Common Notion they divide but no Notion can be more Actual than Existence much less than Self-existence which is a Pure Actulity therefore since Self-Existence can admit no Differences to divide it 't is impossible it should be more than One. To proceed 24. Corol. I. Hence nothing could be so extravagantly Foolish and void of Common Sense as the Polytheism Hence Polytheism was a most Senseless Absurdity and a flat Contradiction of the Antient Heathens For by making more Gods they did by consequence make them all to be Finite and therefore none of their Essences to be Actual Being but Potential in order to Existence Whence since they could not having no more of their