knowest my thoughts afar off God is a searcher of the heart and trier of the reins the desires of the soul thoughts of the heart are not hid from him he long before knows all the free and voluntary acts of men and certainly can foretell the Event of every Future Contingent this is by Vertue of that Infinite Knowledge which is proper to God alone Prevision and Prediction of Contingent Effects none is capabel of but God alone and those to whom God is pleased to reveal it and therefore though the Prophets of old have foretold as we may read in holy Writ of many effects of this Nature which most truly and certainly came to pass yet it was not they but God in them foretold them Luk. 1.70 so saith Zacharie in his Benedictus As he spake by the mouth of his Prophets since the World began and St. Peter in his 2. Epist 1.21 Prophesie in old time came not by the Will of men but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost The Devils have formerly spoken in Oracles and taken upon them to foretel such Future Events but this is above the Nature of any Angel a Conjectural Knowledge they may have at the best such as a Mariner by his long Experience may foretel of the Wind the Husbandman of rain the Physician of diseases and the like by which the Devils have presumed to foretel such things to come in which also often they have both deceived themselves and others And where this Knowledge could not be attained wherein they could have no probable conjecture of Future Events they have in Oracles uttered Amphibologiously and in a double meaning that so if the Event proved otherwaies the fault might be imputed to the Misinterpretation and not to the Prediction But a certain Knowledge of a Future Contingent that they have not it is onely proper to God Your Astrologers Genethlialogists Vide Sennertum lib. 2. cap. 2. fol. 34. a b. and other such Diviners who like Gods Apes take upon them to imitate him in such Predictions are here to be derided and rejected as Impostors and deluders of mankind since they pretend not to Divine Revelation and Inspiration of God from whom alone such Effects do come to be certainly known The consideration hereof may make us with the Appostle cry out and say O the depth of the riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God Great is the Lord and great is his Power yea and his Wisdom infinite sapientiae ejus non est numerus Stand thou in Admiration and Adoration of this Knowledge of God O my Soul say with the Prophet David such Knowledge is too wonderful forme O God I cannot attain unto it for of such Knowledge doth the Prophet David there speak viz. of the Knowledge of Future Cogitations saying thou knowest my thoughts afar of not such as there already are but such as shall be hereafter nor such as shall be but such as may not be hereafter also Now the heart of Man is deep and unsearchable profundum inscrutabile saith the Steptuagint and who can know it It is answered I the Lord which search the heart and trie the Reins this makes the Psalmist crie out such knowledge is too wonderfull for me If we but cast in our mind the number of all mankind that have been since the Creation of the World living upon the face of the Earth and add thereto the number of those that are with those that shall be conversant upon the Earth before the Consummation of this Universe and we shall find they will not fall within the number of Arithmetick Millions of Millions and ten thousand times ten thousand are not the one half of them Let us withall cast in our mind the several various thoughts and desires of the heart which this day and night hath passed us thee and me much less the thoughts of every mans particular heart since the beginning of the World throughout the whole course of his life we are not able to recount them yet such is the infiniteness of his Wisdom and Knowledge that God in the Book of his Remembrance hath the number of all with the names of every one that hath been or now are from the beginning of the World to this very instant with a Register of all and every one of their Thoughts Words and Actions of what Nature soever or how secretly soever committed nor onely so but every mans thoughts and imaginations of heart that shall be nay more every thought that may be though it never be fall within the compass and comprehension of this infinit knowledge of God the thoughts which are not in thy heart O my Soul but furthest from thee nay and against thy mind as loathsom to retain are known to God It was not in Hasaels heart to kill his Master to take the strong holds of the Children of Israel and set them on fire to slay the young men with the sword to dash their Children rip up their women with child when he answered the Prophet What is thy Servant a dog that he should do these great things nor was it in Peters heart he was not guilty of such dissimulation to deny his Master when he answered our Saviour though all should forsake thee yet would not I and again though I should die with thee yet will not I deny thee yet these were foretold and so came to pass as they were foretold by that admirable Knowledge of him who searching the hearts and trying the reines seeth not as Man seeth but knoweth the thoughts afar off even such as are not yea and depend upon the Will of Man whether ever they spall be or not Such Knowledge is too wonderful for thee O my Soul thou canst not attain unto it Naural and Divine CONTEMPLATIONS Of the Passions and Faculties Of the Soul of Man In Three Bookes THE THIRD BOOK The Theological part CHAP. I. BUT oh the Trump hath sounded the Earth hath opened her Womb those that slept are awaked the bodies of the dead are raised to life and blessed are they that have died in the Lord. No longer now shall we view the Souls of those departed in their Metaphysical shapes and abstracted Forms every form to its Individual determinate matter and every Soul to its Numerical body the Soul hath quickned and revived the Body the Body is again reunited to the Soul in an Indissoluble Conjugal knot in an everlasting wedlock But since Corruption cannot Inherit Incorruption or Souls Immortal ever dwell in trunks of clay and dust therefore hath the Body cast off her old Garments and changed her attire she was sown a Natural body she is raised a Spiritual body sown in weakness but raised in Power in dishonor but raised in Glory sowen in Corruption but raised in Incorruption that she may for ever dwell with the Incorruptible Soul in Unity There are no jarrings twixt Soul and Body here as in
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
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
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
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
before or after other in the Generation of man See Magirus his Comment in Physicam suam lib. 6. cap. 3. By this Philosophical Verity of the Unity of the soul in the Trinity of faculties maist thou more readily assent O my soul to that Christian and Catholick article of that sacred Mystery of the Unity of the God-head in the Trinity of persons thou art an Embleme of the trine-une-God of one God in essence and three persons in operation one simple essence in three distinct persons Father Son and Holy Ghost thou art one Soul a simple and undivided essence in three divided and distinct powers Vegetative Sensitive and Intellectual and these are three not confounded but so distinct powers that one may not be predicated of another the Vegetative is not the Sensitive or Rational nor the Sensitive the Vegetative or Intellectual faculties nor the Intellectual either Vegetative or Sensual so in the Trinity of persons in one God-head they are all distinct not confounded persons we must not confound the persons nor yet divide the substance so saith Catholick faith the Father is not the Son nor the Holy Ghost St. Athanasius his Creed Licet namque in hac ineffabili incomprehensibili deitatis essentia alter alter id quidem requirentibus proprietatibus personarum sobrie Catholiceque dicatur non tamen ibi est alterum alterum sed sim◠〈…〉 â—um ut nec prejudicium faciat unitati trinitatis confessio nec propri◠〈…〉 â—it exclusioâ— vera assertio veritatis Bernardus Epist 190. fol. 1581. K. paulâ— infra Alius procul dubio pater alius filius quamvis non aliud pater quam filius nam per aliud aliud novit pietas fidei caute inter personarum proprietates individuam essentiae unitatem discernere medium iter tenens regiâ incedere via ut nec declinat ad dextram confundendo personas nec respiciat ad sini tram substantiam dividendo It s truly said saith Ursinus in his Catechism the Father is alius another from the Son and Holy Ghost the Son is alius another from the Father and the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost is alius from the Father and the Son but not truly said the Father is aliud the Son aliud the Holy Ghost aliud for alium esse denotes the diversity of persons but aliud esse the diversity of essence now though the persons in the Trinity be dictinct and the names of Father Son and Holy Ghost are proper names and may not be predicated one of another yet God is a common name because the essence of the deity is common to them all and may be predicated of any of them therefore doth holy Church acknowledge the Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God not as a part of God or the Divine essence for God is indivisible and hath no parts and there is no person in this Trinity but is perfect God and whole God Even so the Soul is a Common name and may be predicated of any of the faculties not as a whole to its parts for the soul is indivisible and hath no parts and there is none of the faculties but is the full and whole soul For as the essence of the soul is indivisible and is whole in the whole and whole in every part of the body so are the powers and faculties of the soul of the same nature for since the powers and faculties of the soul are or at least flow from the very substance of the soul and the substance of the soul is in all and every part of the body it must needs follow that the faculties of the soul are also there intire It is true Anima quae est in toto corpore eadem eisdem quidem est ubique instructa facultatibus in omnibus membris omnia quae sibi propria sunt agendi potentiam habet per certa tamen organa certas actiones perficit videt per oculum audit per aures olfacit per nares Sennartus lib. 6. cap. 1. Tom. 1. the Operations of the soul are not in every part and place of the body because in every part there are not requisite Organs and therefore it s said The faculties of the soul are in every part of the body as to their essence though not as to their Operations See Fab. Favent theor 82. in sine primi capitis Again in this Trinity of persons none is before or after other none is greater or less than the other but the whole three persons are Coeternal together and Coequal so saith Athanasius And thus far may the Soul of man with its faculties in a sort though in a weak and imperfect manner hold the resemblance of God and the blessed Trinity yet maist thou not O my soul but conceive that this sacred Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity in a far more eminent manner excells that of thine nor maist thou with safety too curiously search into this mystery but what in Reason thou canst not apprehend with the Catholick Church adore and believe and the Catholick Faith is this That we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance for there is one perperson of the Father another of the Son and another of the Holy Ghost But the God-head of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all one the glory equal the Majesty Coeternal Such as the Father is such is the Son and such is the Holy Ghost The Father Uncreate the Son Uncreate and the Holy Ghost Uncreate The Father Incomprehensible the Son Incomprehensible and the Holy Ghost Incomprehensible The Father Eternal the Son Eternal and the Holy Ghost Eternal and yet they are not three Eternals but one Eternal as also there are not three Incomprehensibles nor three Uncreated but one Uncreated and one Incomprehensible so likewise the Father is Almighty the Son Almighty and the Holy Ghost Almighty and yet they are not three Almighties but one Almighty so the Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God and yet they are not three Gods but one God so likewise the Father is Lord the Son is Lord and the Holy Ghost Lord and yet not three Lords but one Lord for like as we be compelled by Christian Verity to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord so we are forbidden by the Catholick Religion to say there be three Gods or three Lords the Father is made of none neither created nor begotten the Son is of the Father alone not made nor created but Begotten the Holy Ghost is of the Father and the Son neither made nor created nor begotten but Proceeding so there is one Father not three Fathers one Son not three Sonnes one Holy Ghost not three Holy Ghosts And in this Trinity none is before or after other none is greater or less than another But the whole
in the body and have their Organs in the Brain the Brain is the seat of these Senses The Internal do differ much from the External in the power of operation the operation of the one is more general than the other the External judge only of things present the Internal of things absent as well as present the External judge onely of the differences of their own particular objects the Internal of the difference of every object belonging to every sense And as the Internal are thus distinguisht from the External Senses so are they likewise amongst themselves both in their Situation and Operation and first in their Situation 1 Although they have all of them their Situation in the Brain yet keep they their distinct and several seats in the Brain the Common Sense possesseth the nearest seat of the Brain which lieth in the fore part of the head called Sinciput the Memory keeps the remotest seat which lieth in the hindermost part of the head called Occiput the Phantasie keeps the middle part of the Brain 'twixt them both Thus is the Brain divided into three parts or Ventricles as the Anatomists observe in which there be issues and passages from one part to another which are called Meates through which the vitall spirits pass to and fro Of Common Sense 2 They differ in their Operations the Common Sense gives sense to the External that 's it work we have said heretofore that there is no Sense of the Senses they do not perceive themselves but here we must lay down a contrary position and all this out of the rules of Natural Philosophy quilibet sensus percipit se sentire the Eye doth perceive it self to see the Ear to hear and the like and so the Senses have sense of their objects to reconcile which seeming contradiction we say the External Senses virtute propria of themselves and by their own operation do not perceive themselves yet they doe it by another power and this is by the faculty and operation of the Internal Common Sense whose work alone is to give sense to the External Which Common Sense is all one with the other five not diverse from them one and the same Sense divided into five conjoyned in one the five External being as so many Rivulets arising from one Spring and Fountain viz. one Internal Common Sense and this Internal being like unto the center or point in the Circle it is Aristotles comparison from whence so many lines are drawn out to the circumference which lines are united in one individual point and center in the same manner are the five External Senses drawn from one and again united in one Internal Common Sense the operation therefore of this Sense is to receive perceive distinguish and discern the difference of the different objects presented to the outward Senses and to give sense to the Senses and therefore it is seated in the fore-part of the Brain which part is more moist and so aptest for reception and is nearer to those outward senses whose ayd and assistance they most require and to whom they are nearer related than the rest Of Phantasie The operation of Phantasie is more exactly to weigh and diligently to examine those forms and similitudes received in the Common Sense and this is seated in the middle part of the Brain which is dryer and so more apt for retention Phantasie is the highest faculty of the soul that any brute or irrational creature is capable of and it differeth from Common Sense for Phantasie retains not onely those things which are or were the objects of the External Senses and by them presented to the Internal but those things also which never were nor ever will be the objects of Sense being entiâ rationis non entiâ rei chimaeraes figments of the Brain having no existence in nature only a notionary imaginary existence but extra operationem intellectus nihil no longer any thing than they are in our mind such are the representation of Centaures and other Monsters which Poets and Painters have feigned and painted which are not nor indeed have any existence in nature but are a meer imagination of the Brain so Phantasie may be of such things as fall not within Sense are not subject thereto but otherways it is of the Common Sense But this is by virtue of the Intellectual Phantasie for there is an Intellectual Phantasie as there is an Intellectual Memory which is proper to Man not common with Beasts as hereafter shall be shewed for otherways Phantasie is not without Sense nor is in any but sensitive creatures nor of any objects but what are sensible and fall under sense and therefore it is that new born babes whose External Sensitive faculties in respect of their Organs are too weak to operate at their first production are destitute of Phantasie till such time as fit objects be presented and the Senses made capable to receive and discern them and so be reduced into act till such time I say our Phantasie worketh not therefore Phantasie presupposeth Sense not onely in power in its faculties but in act in its operations Sense then leadeth the way Imagination followeth after for those things we phansie which we formerly have discerned and what we never discerned severally or joyntly we cannot phansie but what we have discerned by Sense asunder we may joyn together in our Phantasie for so we phansie a Golden Mountain a Flying-Horse a Centaure which is part Man part Horse and the like which notwithstanding we never saw nor ever were there such in nature but this I say by virtue of our Intellectual phantasie for such is not in beasts by which we imagine those things joyntly which we never saw but severally and in parts for a Golden Mountain was never seen but because we have seen both Gold and Mountains severally our Intellectual phantasie joyns them together and makes us imagine that joyntly which we never saw nor could see but in sunder Of Memory The Operation of Memory is to lay up as it were in a store-house all those forms so presented judged and examined it is the Store-house and Treasury of all Science therefore Plato held that scientia was nihil aliud quam reminiscentia all our knowledge was but a kind of remembrance and the Poets called Ladie Mnemosyne that is Memory the Mother of the Muses This Sense differeth from the Common sense because it retaineth the forms and similitude of sensible things which are absent as well as present the Common sense retaineth onely the forms of sensibles present it differeth likewise from Phantasie for though Phantasie retain the forms of things absent as well as present and in that regard is called Memoria imperfectior yet Phantasie retaines them without any apprehension or knowledge of time but Memory retains them under the notion of time but this onely of time past not present or to come Not of time present we cannot be sayd to remember things present
are before if by any meanes you can attain to the Resurrection of the Just to that state of life which consists in Beatifical Vision to come which this ensuing Treatise though in much weakness points unto May it lay the way open before you and give you such a tast of the joyes of Heaven as may sharpen your stomach and quicken your appetite but not hasten your progress thither for serus in coelum redeas may you enjoy a long life here and Heaven at the last are the hearty wishes and dayly prayers of Sir Your most devoted friend and servant NICH. MOSLEY TO My loving Brother EDWARD MOSLEY Esquire one of the Commissioners for Administration of Justice in SCOTLAND Brother A Kingdome or Common-wealth is corpus politicum consisting of many and in themselvs disagreeing members but mixt and united in one Civil society by the rules of Morality that which formes and unites this Body is Government without which it would not be a Body but a Chaos rudis indigestaque moles Non bene junctarum discordia semina rerum But rules of Policy and Government are investigable by Reason not by Sense therefore Man only who is animal rationale is properly termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Reasonable Soul of Man runs through the whole Body of practick Philosophy teaching the duty of a good man in Ethicks of a good Master of a Family in Oeconomicks of a good Citizen and Magistrate in Politicks which Duties consist in the exercise of all Moral Virtues especially those four Cardinal ones of Prudence Temperance Fortitude and above all of a Magistrate that of Justice Justice distributive as well as commutative without which no men of old were linked together in a Civil society nor at this day without it can be preserved And though Solomon saw an Evill and that a great one under the Sun an error proceeding from the Rulers who placed ignorance and mean persons in high Thrones when Wisdome and Nobility sate in ipsa abiectione whereby happily Magistracie was brought into contempt and Justice perverted through the weakness or wilfulness of such Juridicials who fall short of the perfection of those Moral Virtues those habits of the Mind which doe compleat a Magistrate yet against such Evill our Lawes have wisely provided That none shall bear any high Office of Magistracie no not the Office of a Justice of Peace in the Countrey but Plus hault meultz vailantz men of the best ranck and qualitie of the best reputation and most substantial as Lambert hath it Such a one may you be in your place and calling whose nurture and education from your youth up hath been in the studies of the Law and in the study of Ethicks as well Ethicae Christianorum as Ethicae Ethnicorum not that Natural onely drawn from the rules of Heathenish Philosophie but from the Fountain of Christian Divinity which will so furnish you with all Intellectual Habits not of Natural Virtues onely acquired ex crebris actionibus assuefactione consuetudine but of Supernatural also infused from above as may render you capable and sufficiently meriting those high employments unto which you are called Hence may you discover the necessity of this noble Science of the Soul even for you whose conversation amongst men is Practical and the Operations of your Soul such too consisting in the excercise of Moral Virtues whose residence is in the Soul the Reasonable Soul is the subject and receptacle of all Virtuous Habits acquired by Nature or infused by Grace Yet is there another noble Science of the Soul whose end is not Action but Contemplation or Speculation of the divine Essence this I presume is your chief study and delight in which you spend those spare houres of retirement are gained from your State-employments If these my poor and weak labours may be any help and furtherance of your meditations in that kind I freely and heartily dedicate them to you and rest Your affectionate Brother NICH. MOSLEY Natural and Divine CONTEMPLATIONS Of the Passions and Faculties Of the Soul of Man In Three Bookes THE SECOND BOOK The Metaphysical part CHAP. I Of the Intellectual faculties of the Soul AFter the discussion of the Vegetative and Sensitive it remaines to treat of the Intellectual faculties of the Soul which are not Organical Corporeal and Inseparable but have their Operations apart and without and so are separable from the body meer Operations of the Rational Soul which acteth without bodily Organs Chap. 1. Book 2. and is of an Immaterial Immortal Nature There are incident to this Soul three powers or faculties viz. VVill Memory and Understanding VVill is distinguisht from Appetite which is a concomitant of Sense and that necessarily being it self a concomitant of Reason and Intellect sed tamen liberè not tied by any necessity to any determinate act Memory is another branch of the Rational Soul and perisheth not with the body remaining as an inseparable companion to all separated substances and abstracted Forms of which two faculties viz. VVill and Memory sufficient hath been formerly said The Intellectual faculty which is the highest and noblest of the Rational Soul is distinguisht first into Agent and Patient The Patient Intellect again is threefold in power in Habit and in Act In Power onely is the intellect in it self and of its own nature for at the first it is nothing else but a meer power or promptitude to receive intelligible Forms and this is to be found in new born babes and Infants who have not yet acquired the act or habit of Understanding but are capable and receptible of Intelligible Forms which Intellect Aristotle compares to the first matter materia prima which is nothing but in power hath no Form but is capable of any And where Aristotle saith intellectus cognoscit omnia we must conceive it in this sense to wit in power for although there be many things wherof we are ignorant yet there is not any thing which our Understanding may not reach unto as for example wee know not the number Stars or the Sands of the Sea but this ignorance is accidental not natural for our intellect is capable of the knowledge of these if any one should but teach us the certain number of them The Intellect in Habit is that which hath received Intelligible Forms even those which it had power to receive but doth not act onely hath power to act and herein the Intellect in habit and Intellect in power do differ for the Intellect in power hath power onely quoad essentiam non quoad operationem but the intelin habit hath power tum quoad essentiam tum quoad operationem A learned man though he be asleep yet hath this Intellect in habit for as much as he hath received and retained those Intelligible Forms which gives him a power to operate and contemplate although he doth not actually know and contemplate he hath the habit though not the act whilst he sleepeth The Intellect Patient in
Essence or yet of the Operations of these Angels and Spirits Intellectual as a Doctrine less useful and necessary for Mans salvation than of the Nature of Man or God yet so much hath it imparted to her Disciples as may evidence by necessary consequence the truth of this Metaphysical Science of Natures Angelical the Fathers and Doctors of the Church having little varied in judgement from the Curiousest Naturalist and Philosopher in this point all concurring in this particular the School of Christ and School of Nature teaching one and the same thing without any grand Variation and dissenting The Creation of Angels though holy-Churches-creed is no where plainly pointed out in holy Writ otherwise than in the first daies Creation under that General notion of Heaven and Earth which may contain the whole host of Heaven so those words Genesis 1.1 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth are by most understood viz. by Heaven not onely it but all things therein contained as Angels and the like whose proper seat is Heaven which may seem to be thus also explicated by St. Paul Col. 1.16 For by him are all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth Visible and Invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions Principalities or Powers viz. four of the Orders of Angels further also by God himself in the 38 Chapter of Job saying where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth when the morning Stars sang together and the Sons of God shouted for joy that is to say the holy Angels who were created together with Heaven and Earth even in the beginning or morning of that first day as some have hence gathered Of all created substances some were created Visible Material Corporeal others were created Invisible Incorporeal Spiritual of their own Nature that the Angels are such created Invisible Incorporeal and Spiritual substances may be gathered out of the word of God David and Paul Prophet and Appostle both terming them Spirits and if Spirits then Invisible by Mortal eye and then Incorporeal at least as unto Humane or other natural body of their own Nature for so our Saviour hath resolved it saying a Spirit hath not flesh and bone as I have And the Schoolmen have decreed and concluded that Angels are meerly Spiritual and Incorporeal substances and no bodies or Corporeal Natures and with them agree the Fathers not a few though Origen and after him Saint Jerome would seem to maintain that Angels as oft as they sinned and fell away were thrust into bodies and there remained as a punishment unto them which opinion is exploded by all both Antient and Modern as savouring of Platonism more than Christianity Yet may we not deny but that Angels have been in bodily shapes and so seen and appeared unto our Fathers of old wherefore we must either grant unto them real bodies or that they did delude and deceive the Patriarches with Phantasms and meer Apparations which is not to be conceived of the holy Angels and therefore St. Bernard put a kind of necessity in it that Angels should have bodies otherwise how could they be ministring Spirits sent out to minister unto them who shall be Heirs of Salvation to men who yet live in the body how shall they perform this Ministerial Function of discoursing of walking and talking of eating and drinking and the like without a body all which notwithstanding Angels have done as sacred Writ accordeth But it may be objected if we do grant unto them true real Visible bodies then must we also grant them all motions and mutations incident to such Bodies to wit of Generation Corruption Augmentation Diminution Altricion alteration then such as may be borne fed and nourished may die may suffer and the like as other corporeall Creatures doe how then are they meerly Spirituall and of an Incorporeall nature To which may be answered First 1 Negatively negatively True humane bodies Angels have not humane nature no spirituall substance ever assumed except the Son of God the second Person in the ever blessed Trinity of whom it is said He took not upon him the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham and by whom it is verified A spirit hath no flesh and bone so no humane or fleshly Bodies are ascribed to Angels 2 Affirmatively Secondly affirmatively True reall bodies they have not newly generate created or begotten but assumed of Air and other Elements so condensate consolidate and contract together as that it may be seen felt touched c. Beyond the very nature of Air such a Body as is not essentiall but accidentall taken up for a time as we do put on our Cloathes and may be dissolved again at pleasure as soon as their Ministery is accomplish'd now such a Body is not subject to those Mutations of Generation Corruption and the like nor may it be said to die to suffer to feel o feed or the like as a humane Body may Thus is the nature of Angels Spirituall not carnall Incorporeall not corporeall and surpasseth the humane Nature in Understanding freedom of Will and externall Operations First in Understanding in regard of that Intuitive Vision they have of God per lumen Gloriae besidâ—s those superexcellent naturall Endowments Intellectual of seeing God per lumen naturae alwayes beholding his Face Vid. Hockers Eccles pol. 1. Sect. 4. fol. 53. as the Text expresseth they are so acquainted with the Mind and Will of God that Irrepercussa mentis acie divinorum judiciorum abyssum intuentur as St. Bernard hath it in comparison of which knowledge Angelicall all ours is but as that of Babes and Sucklings Out of whose Mouth notwithstanding God hath perfected his praise See Mr. Hooker his first book of Eccles pol. Sect. 6. fol. 56. or ordained strength as the Psalmist hath it here on Earth till such time as we grow up to perfect Man-hood to the measure of the fulness of the stature of Christ where shall be given to us little ones an equality of knowledge with the Angels to be like unto them who alwayes behold the Face of their Heavenly Father As touching their Freedom of Will and Power of working the Angelical far surpasseth the Humane Nature Bellarmine puts these differences betwixt them First in the Power and Rule over Bodies The humane Soul can onely move his own Body at his pleasure it cannot move others after the same sort Again the humane Soul moves its own Body upon the Earth in a slow motion step by step it hath not power to bear it upon the Water or elevate it above the Air or carry it whither it pleaseth but the Angels by the Power and Freedom of Will by the meer force of their spirit can lift up mighty Bodies and carry them whither they please Thus did an Angel take up Habacuc and in a short space brought him to Babylon with a Dinner for Daniel and carried him back again into the Land of Palestine Again
Operation of God Begetting and Breathing And these Operations ad intra viz. generandi spirandi in such an Ineffable Incomprehensible manner argues an omnipotency Divine and Power infinite in all the branches of Infinity but unwilling I am to wade too far into this Mysterious point this bottomless Ocean of Gods Internal Workings but rather to view it a far off as it is dispersed into Smaller and Shallower Rivulets and treat of Gods Power in his Works ad extra All things were made of God and without him nothing from the highest Angel to the meanest Worm from the highest Heavens to the profoundest Abysse this Work of Creation is Wonderful and argues an infinite perfection of Power whether we respect the Magnitude Multitude or Variety of things created the Magnitude is seen in the greatness of the Earth who hath measured the bredth of the Earth and the depth of its Abysse saith Ecclesiasticus So great it is that a great part of it lies yet undiscovered yet this Vast Earth being compared to Heaven is but as a point or prick for so have Astrologers observed wherein so many thousand Stars do shine the least whereof is bigger than the Earth the Multitude of things is seen if wee consider but the Sand of the Sea and drops of rain the Multitude of Minerals lie buried in the Earth the several sorts of Grass Herbs Fruits Plants upon the Earth the number of Men Stars and Angels besides the innumerable sorts forms and Individuals of living creatures going creeping swiming flying and the variety of things in this Multiplicity even in every Individual of every kind is wonderful Man from Man differing in shape and feature and one Star differing from another in glory yet all this great Universe with the Infinite number variety of things therein contained to be made of nothing of no preexistent matter yea and in nothing all this in an instant in the twinckling of an eye to be created and as speedily and easily to be dissolved argues an Almighty and omnipotent God Nor are his works less wonderful in that Mysterious but Fundamental point of our belief the Resurrection of the body after so many Revolutions of daies and years being turned to dust and ashes this dust dispersed into the four quarters of the World or turned into other bodies being eaten up of wild Beasts or devoured by men such as Cannibals who feed on mans flesh yet these same bodies Millions of Millions however dispersed or transformed in the twinkling of an eye at the sound of the Trumpet to arise the self-same Soul to be reunited to the self-same body the same Individual Form to reinform the same Numerical matter argues an Omnipotent hand and Almighty Power which God both can and will bring to pass so doth the Catholick Church profess Nor is Gods Almighty Power manifested onely in these created beings which have or shall have a being in Nature real Existencies do not Adaequate Gods Omnipotency but it extends to all kind of beings whatsoever to all Negative and Privative beings as Darkness Blindness and the like quae inhaerent entibus realibus without which they subsist not and so have a being in Nature Formally yet not a Positive but Privative being to all Imaginable beings meer entia rationis which have no being in Nature in any sense but only in the Intellect to all possible things entia possibilia though never Future all things whatsoever are absolutely simply and generally possible to be done In his Book of Gods omâ—â—potency saith Doctor Preston under which those things which never shall come into real being those things which may be but never shall be Contingents possible though never Future are comprehended those things which are impossible with Man are notwithstanding possible with God so saith our Saviour for with God nothing is impossible so said the Angel non erit impossibile a pud deum ullum verbum so is the Original where by verbum significatur id quod mente concipi potest ut factibile saith a Schoolman all that is imaginably possible to be done Non potest facere praeterita ut non fuerint necres dum est ut non fit Suar. Disp 30. and implies not a Contradiction falls with the Omnipotency of God and though God cannot do contradictions though somthing there is that is impossible for God to do as to lie to deny himself to call back yesterday that is to say things that are past that they should not be nor any thing that is whilst it is make it otherwise than it is he cannot make truth fashood and the like yet this is not through a weakness and defect of his Power Lib. 6. Episto 39. for so hath Saint Ambrose resolved it istud impossibile non infirmitatis est sed virtutis ac majestatis it argues the greater perfection of Power even as Infallibity is not the imperfection but perfection of Knowledge and to have no freedom to sin is not an imperfection but perfection of freedom of Will 3. Gods Eternity Gods Eternity and Immortality also is clearly set forth in holy Writ so Saint Paul to the King Eternal Immortal and onely wise God c. But thou wilt happily reply O my Soul that this Attribute appertaineth to thee and therefore not appropriate to God alone who art also of an Immortal Invisible Immaterial Nature as hath been elsewhere proved a simple Essence void of Composition or such matter which is subject to Dissolution Death and Destruction and true it is Patet hic quomodo avum differat à tempore aeternitate à tempore quidem ratione finis quaem tempus habet avum non habet ab aternitate ratione principii quod avum habet aepernitas vero non habet yet know thou a difference twixt Eternity simply so called and that which is improperly so called or betwixt Duration Increate and that which is Create or inter aevum aeternitatem age eternity there was a time when thou wast not and when thou wast thou camest to that being by the pleasure and will of God who can as easily when it pleaseth him reduce thee to nothing again though thou hadst no principles of corruption in thee but God was from everlasting Immortal and remains Immortal to perpetuity and this of Necessity and Intrinscical Nature for it is impossible for him who is the cause of all causes life and being it self and the Fountain both of being and life by any means whatsoever to come to nothing but as he was from Eternity so to continue to Eternity For this Attribute of Gods Eternity is a duration Increate which implies a Negation of all such Created Durations and Permanencies as consist of a continual Succession and flux of time for in Gods duration is no Succession so hath Boetius defined it interminabilis vitae tota simul perfecta possessio where by tota simul is excluded all Succession which
the body do still remain Organicall after this life so as the Soul may exercise all the Powers of her triple life Vegetative Sensitive and Intellectual as she did in her Natural and Physical state according to those several Organs in which the Faculties were resient and peculiarly seated Nourishment Growth and Generation the proper Effects of the Vegetative life accomplish their ends in this life whereunto when they have obtained those Operations cease and the Organs rest from that labour and imployment but since the Senses are Operative in a glorified body for it 's not deprived of Sense I have no reason to think the Soul hath utterly rejected her manner of Operation by bodily Organs declining those old Servants as useless and inconsistent to such a glorified state Eyes Eares Nose Mouth Palat Hands Feet and all to be quite emancipated freed from the service of the glorified body and Soul in their works of that kind but to believe the Senses External and Senses Internal are Organical in Heaven as they were on Earth and subservient to the Soul in their several stations places of residence as Eye Ear Nose Palate Nerves Brain by which the Soul doth exercise its several faculties of Seeing Hearing Smelling Tasting Touching and the rest The eye the Noblest of the External Corporeal Organs offers it self first to our consideration which is not obscurely proved by holy Writ to be usefull and serviceable to those in the state of glory for this the damned in Hell do so far enjoy though to their torment and woe to see Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven and they themselves thrust out But the Saints to their endless joy and comfort have the use of their eyes and sight to see and behold the Splendor and Beauty of their own bodies being changed from vile to glorious after the fashion of Christs most glorious body which exceedeth the brightness of the Sun as the Apostle witnesseth Acts 26.13 What delight and pleasure must it needs be unto the Saints in Heaven to see every part of their body Hands Feet and all issuing forth such raies and beams of light sufficient to dispel all mists and darkness from them without further assistance of Sun Moon Stars or other Luminaries Nor is this Optick faculty of the Eye limited to it own body so as not to be of use to discern other Objects for all the Saints and Servants of God whose bodies are likewise glorified yea and the glorious body of Christ himself Christ the head with all his members are all of them Visible Objects of this Sense I know saith holy Job That my Redeemer lyveth and that he shall stand at the latter day vpon the Earth whom I shall see for my self and my eyes shall behold and not another It is not enough for the eye to behold its own glorifi'd Body shining as the Sun but it beholdeth an infinite number of Suns together no Parelia nor yet in their Eclipss but the glorious company of the Apostles the goodly fellowship of the Prophets the noble Army of Martyrs and the holy Church throughout all the World whose bodies do not onely send forth a glorious shine but every member part and Organ of those bodies are bespangled with the like raies of glory and splendor to the admiration of the beholder Who doubts saith Bishop Hall that these eyes shall see the glorious manhood of our blessed Saviour advanced above all the Powers of Heaven and if one body why not more if our elder brother why no more of our Spiritual Fraternity Certum est Bellar. in praefatione ad librum de aeterna felicitate beatos homines omnes ab omnibus videri sciri inter se familiariter versari ut amicos proximos saith another Doctor so then there is a Communion of Saints in Heaven as well as on Earth a society of bodies Visible one to another Besides the Vision of new Jerusalem apperteins to the glorious Saints to them it is given to see Jerusalem built up with Saphires and Emeruads and pretious Stones the Walls Towers and Battlements with pure Gold the Streets thereof paved with Beril Carbuncle and stones of Ophir and the Citizens thereof singing Hallelujah and saying Praised be God who hath exalted it for ever which was the Prophecie of Tobias and of Isaaih which also Saint John in his Revelation saw together with a new Heaven and a new Earth to wit the Holy City the new Jerusalem descending from God out of Heaven having the glory of God and her light was like unto a stone most pretious even like a Jasper stone clear as Christal it had no need of the of Sun nor the Moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof and the Nations of them that are saved do walk in the light of it Yea we our selves together with the whole Creation do with earnest expectation wait for a Renovation and Melioration of the state of all things at the coming of the day of God wherein the Heavens that now are being on fire shall be dissolved and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat and wee shall as it is promised see new Heavens and new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness as the Apostle Peter hath it 2 Peter 3. Chapter and verse 10. What neither the eye here can see nor the ear can hear nor the heart of Man conceive in their Natural state shall all be Object and Visible to the eye in the state of glory so saith St. Bernard Erit quando iam non dicetur Audi filia vide inclina aurem tuam sed leva potius oculos tuos contemplare quid plane ea modo quae interim quidem etsi non videre adhuc audire tamen credere potes verum etiam quod sicut non videt oculus sic nec auris aâ—divit nec in cor hominis ascendit quod praeparavit deus diligentibus se nimirum tant a capiet oculus resurrectionis quanta nec auaitus nec animus nunc captat these eyes shall behold them and not anothers therefore in another place he addeth nec novos tibi instaurandos pates sed tuos utique restaurandos not that they shall be of another Nature but of another glorie The Ear also is exercised with Variety of sounds and voices both Articulate and Inarticulate the Organs of speech are as intire and perfect yea more in Heaven than on Earth we may not conceive a deficiency in any part there are Guttur Lingua Palatum Quatuor dentes duo labra simul For the bodies of the glorified Saints are true real and lively bodies and perfect in every member even as our blessed Saviour after his Resurrection was manifested to be both by his Conversation and Confabulation with his Apostles and Disciples speaking of many things perteining to the Kingdom of God and by his hearing and answering of questions and further
from his voice from Heaven to St. Paul and his reply to the Quaere of St. Paul Such bodies and bodily Organs for Vocal musick have all the Saints to sing hear Halellujahs sung a great voice was heard of much People in Heaven saying and singing Hallelujah in a most Melodious tune the ditty or ballad whereof was Salvation and Glory and Honor and Power unto the Lord our God There is a ful Quire of Saints thousands of thousands harmoniously canting the praises of the Lord and as full a Chorus with the like affectionate melody again and again ecchoing and resounding the like praises and loving kindness of the Lord. And as the company of singers is great so are the songs and Canticles various though all of them Eucharistical some in Memory of our Creation others in Memory of our Redemption some in triumph of the Holy Martyrs some in joy of Converts and Penitents others in Honor of Chastity and Virginity and those who were not defiled with Women the redeemed from amongst men being the first Fruits unto God and to the Lamb others for the Victory of all Saints over the World the Flesh and the Devil over the Beast and over his Image and over his Mark and over the number of his Name others for the judgements of God inflicted upon the ungodly ones There is sung the song of Moyses and there is sung the song of the Lamb yea there is sung the Psalm of David misericordias domini in aeternum as St. Augustine affirmeth fortasse non solius dei laudes in civitate illa canentur sed etiam tâ—iumphi sanctorum martyrum confessorum praeconia virginum gloria sanctorum omnium contra diabolum victoriae cantibus extollentur haec enim omnia in dei laudes gloriam redundabunt And all these songs and cantons cannot but be wonderous pleasant and delightsom to the ears of all the blessed and glorified Saints of God for which Cause the Ear is Organical and serviceable to the Soul and Body in their state of glory In the next place consider we the Sense of Olfaction and those sweet smeling savours and Odors in the Nostrils of all the Saints to shew that the body is not destitute of an Organ for the exercise of this Sensitive faculty of the Soul no more than of the rest which are so useful to her in this state For though the Scriptures afford not so pregnant proofs for the two Senses of Smelling and Tasting as for the other three yet may we not in reason conceive a total Deprivation or Annihilation of them more than of the rest nor without injury to the Humane Nature to which we attribute so great perfection and integrity of parts in that condition debar her the freedom of exercising any of her faculties other than what argue and favour Corruption which so much tends to the perfection of a Humane body ther 's no Privation of Sight of Hearing or of Touching why then of the other are the Saints Hosmei and are not Goglites if the want of an eye or an ear be such a blemish and imperfection as may not befall a glorified body is not the want of a nose as great a deformity but Odors and Olfaction there is in this state and this Sense hath its Objects of delight as well as the rest Glorified bodieâ— are Odoriferous bodies sending forth most fragrant sents as they are glorious to the eye so are they Aromatical to the smell St. Hierom of the body of St. Hilarion affirmeth after its ten months burial it was found lively fresh and whole tantis fragrans odoribus ut delibutum unguentis putaretur the like doth St. Gregory witness of St. Servulus saying anima exeunte tanta fragrantia odoris aspersa est ut omnes qui illuc aderant inaestimabili suavi ate replerentur and a little after quousque corpus ejus sepulturae traderent ab eorum naribus odoris itlius fragrantia non recessi and Bellarmine hence inferreth the alive bodies of the Saints in Heaven must needs send forth most sweet perfumes when their dead bodies are so Fragrant But above all is the glorious body of our blessed Saviour being perfumed with Mirrh and Frankincense with all powders of the Merchant and whose Garments smell of Mirrh Alloes and Cassia whereupon the Church that Spiritual Spouse cries unto Christ her Head and her Husband melioria sunt ubera tua vino fragrantia unguentis optimis oleum effusum nomen tuum Ideo Adolescentulaedi lexeruntte trahe me post te curremus in odorem unguentorum tuorum thus saith St. Bernard Now if the body of Christ be so Odoriferous it is most propable the Saints are likewise so the Members in a due proportion to their head as in brightness so in sweetness The like probability is of the Sense of Tasting that it should remain in the glorified estate For if the Power of eating then the Sense of tasting but the first is granted then why not the latter adest vescendi potestas abest esuriendi necessitas and so resolves St. Augustine non potestas sed egestas edendi corporibus refurgentium aufertur Lib 13. de civit dei and this puts the difference twixt the Humane Nature Spiritual and Caelestial and the Natural and Terrestrial the one eates necessitatis the other potestatis gratiâ Christ after the Resurrection did eat and drink with his Disciples yet not as his Disciples for refreshment and nourishment non alimentorum indigentiâ sed ea qua hoc poterat popotestate and therefore the Paraphrase of venerable Beda upon those words of our Saviour have you here any thing to eat is worthy our observation Luk. 24 41. Aliter obsorbet aquam terra sitiens aliter solis radius calens illa indigentiâ iste potentiâ manducavit ergo post resurrectionem non quasi cibo indigens sed ut eo modo naturam corporis resurgentis astrueret so glorified bodies may sometimes eat to shew their Power and Freedom but never for hunger or satisfaction of a Natural Appetite or an empty Panch And this Comestion is real and true not a Fictitious and feigned eating of the Angels as that of Raphaels for the bodies which Angels sometimes assume being no Humane lively bodies have not the true and Real faculty of eating though happily of chewing or grinding and swallowing down into the interior parts of the body for a true Comestion is accompanied with a gust or tast which Sense continues to the glorified bodies and hath its recreation and delight as well as the other faculties though not in the Act of eating which they seldom use de sensu gustandi scribunt Theologi non usuros beatos cibis mortalibus sed habituros tamen oblectationem aliquam in eo sensu ne supervac aneus esse videatur futuram tamen oblectationem illam loco statui beaterum immortalium congruentem Bellarmine de aeterna felicitate lib. 4. cap. 8.
As for the Sense of Touching there is no difference amongst Divines nor indeed can be any doubt but that it hath its Operations in this blissful state since the gloried bodies may be felt and touched as all other true and lively bodies may and as our blessed Saviours was after his Resurrection as well Palpable as Visible not miraculously but according to its own Nature handle me saith he and see for a Spirit hath no flesh and blood as you see me have Thus much of the Senses Corporeal External and those parts of the body which are Instrumental and serviceable in the state of glory to the Humane Nature as they were to her in her Natural condition onely with these exceptions and limitations 1. From hence is banisht all sensual lusts and carnal Concupisence the Eye hath no lascivious looks the Ear 's infected with no blasphemous breath or impious sound nor this Sense deflowred with any adulterous touch here is no lust or desire of generation no respect of blood they neither marry nor are given in marriage this grosser acquaintance and pleasure is for the Paradise of Turks not the Heaven of Christians here is as no mariage save betwixt the Lamb and his Spouse the Church so no Matrimonial affections 2. Banish we likewise from hence all Impatibility of Sense sensus non fallitur nec laeditur circa proprium objectum no vehemencie of Object can destroy the Sense in their Natural estate their objects many times confound and wound them too great a light may make a man blind too great a sound may make him deaf we may not long gaze upon the Sun without blemish to our eyes otherwaies here for the Senses are blessed and glorious and so made Impassible and Immortal he who strengthens the Eyes of the Soul with such a measure of light and glory that they may see God face to face and yet not be dasled and confounded with his glory doth also so confirm and strengthen the Eyes of the body that without any hurt or damage to themselves they may behold not one but infinite Suns and Illuminated bodies though in themselves never so glorious 3. All Acts of Necessity are hence excluded the Soul doth not exercise her Sensitive Faculties Necessarily but freely and rules with the body and bodily Organs when she pleaseth and when she pleaseth the Soul rules alone For she hath other waies of Operation out of the body more Excellent and Noble the Senses are Secundary means for acquiring Knowledge not the Primary only subservient and at command of the Soul In the Natural estate the Sensitive Knowledge precedes the Intellectual nihil est in intellectu quod non prius fuit in sense and without Sense there is no intelligence Not so in the Resurrection the Soul knoweth all things as fully and infallibly by Intuitive Vision and Inate Forms at once unico intuitu by one single aspect as by those various multiplyed Forms imprinted from sensible Objects under so many several notions and conceptions the Understanding stands not need of an Eye or an Ear or other bodily Organ to evidence the truth of what it apprehendeth it is not subject to Sense but Sense to it not the Soul to the Body but the Body to the Soul for the Nature of a glorified body is to be Spiritual that is subject to the Spirit not that it hath no flesh and bones but that it is so subject to the Spirit that at the beck and command thereof without any pains and difficultie it moves most swiftly Ascending Descending Coming Going and through every place penetrating as if it were not a body but a Spirit Ad hoc autem quod sit omnino corpus subjectum spiritui requiritur quod omnis actio corporis subdatur spiritus volunâ—ati saith Aquinas and therefore it is in the Power of the Soul to see or hear or the like to use or not to use these bodily Organs when and as often as she pleaseth without which in her Natural condition she could not Operate or reduce all her Faculties into Act. This is the state of that Church that part of Christs Body triumphant whose Organs and Senses are Spiritualiz'd to whom that part of Christs Church militant here doth hold resemblance the like Analogy and proportion bearing every Member one to another they on Earth to those in Heaven as every one beareth to Christ the H ad as the Spiritual Body in Heaven is Organiz'd so is the Organical Body on Earth Spiritualiz'd and hath five Spiritual Senses Senses refreshed with Spiritual Objects This I can assure thee O my Soul being a Member of that Mystical Body whereof Christ is the Head thou art entitled to yea and refreshed with such Sensitive Objects as the Saints in Heaven are refreshed and delighted with Objects for thy Eye thy Ear thy Nose thy Palat thy Hand as Form Sound Odor Sapor Spissitude but these made Spiritual and are so to be received I speak of Christ in the Eucharist who is made the Object of every Sense that the excellencie of the Knowledge of Christ may more fully be evidenced to us from him of whose fulness we all receive Christ is Visible to the Eye Audible to the Ear Sweet and fragrant to the Smel Savory to the Tast to the Nose Palat Hand sensible he is meat to the hungry and drink to the thirstie Angels food and mans repast Christ in the Sacrament is the Object of our Eyes and as real y present here as in Heaven and is as really exhibited to us who spiritually discern him though under other Forms hic ibi veritas sed hic palliata ibi manifesta he is palliated here but unveiled in Heaven here we see him darkly through the instrument of Faith for we walk by Faith and not by sight his real presence is believed our Corporal Eyes do not behold him otherwaies than veiled under those outward signes of bread and wine the eys of our Body seeth the signes the Eye of our Faith the thing signified aliud latet aliud patet what we see is Bread and Wine what we believe is the Body and Blood of Christ what our Souls cannot reach with Corporal Eyes it may discern by an Eye of Faith Faith is a director of the Soul or prospective to the Eyes to bring to their sight such things as are not discernable without in this Vale of tears through the prospect of Faith is Christ Visible to us though the Saints in Heaven have a cleaâ—er Viâ—ion of him seeing him face to face 〈◊〉 as they are seen This is but a glimpse of that beatifical Vision the glorified bodies have of Christ here per aenigma there facie revelata here veiled there revealed unde preciosior dicitur faciei visio quam speculi frequens imaginatio non enim pari omnino jucunditate sumitur cortex sacramenti medulla frumenti fides species memoria praesentia aeternitas tempus speculum vultus
left hand Semblable to which is the rule and Dominion which Impetuous and Implacable flesh usurpeth and excerciseth over the Souls of Mortal men in their Pilgrimage here below leading them Captive to the Law of sin and death This is that miserable Bondage under which the Sons of men in this Vale of â—ars do groan from which Bondage of Corruption and body of sin they wait with earnest expectation to be delivered into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God And not onely they but our selves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the redemption of our bodies not that we should be found naked and our bobodies unclothed but clothed upon that Mortality might be swallowed up of life It is not a change of our bodies but of our Raiment and Vestments which we do look for a Crown of glory for a Crown of thornes the Robes of Righteousness for the Raggs of Sin This change must be inâ—hoate here though compleated hereafter the Foundation must be layed on Earth in Grace but finished in Heaven in Glory the Garments of the Old man laid aside and the Garments of the New man put on the lusts of the flesh mortified the fruits of the Spirit quickned Ephe. 4.22 23 24. We must put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceiptful lusts and be renewed in the Spirit of our mind and we must put on that new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness that we may henceforth serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter For if we live after the flesh wee shall die but if we through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body we shall live Woe is me that I am constrained to live in Mesech to have my habitation in the tents of Kedar my Soul hath long dwelt with them that are Enemies to peace they are daily fighting and troubling it the Body with all its sinful lusts rebel against my Soul and when I labour for Peace they make them ready for Battel they will not have her rule over them whom thou O Lord hast made the Monarch and sole Empress of this little World but attempt by continual Insurrections and Intestine Wars to introduce an Arbitrary Power over an Athenian and Popular Government For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that he would grant me according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned in the inward Man in the spirit of my mind by the might and Power of his Spirit who raised up Jesus from the dead that as he died for my sin and rose again for my justification so I may die to sin and live unto righteousness and being buried with Christ into death by Baptism may walk in newness of life that being planted together in the likeness of his death I may be also in the likness of his Resurrection kowing this that my old man is Crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth I should not sin And though I live and walk in the flesh yet that I may not war after but against the flesh the weapons of my warfare being Spiritual and mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds to the casting down of Imaginations and every high thing that exalts it self against the Knowledge of God and bringing into Captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience of the flesh against the Law of my mind which is onely subject to the Law of God Help me O God so to keep under my body and bring it into subjection that I my self be no a castaway Thy will O Heavenly Father be done on Earth as it is in Heaven and as thou hast praepared an Heaven and fitted the body with all Obsequiousness to serve and the Soul to rule and command with all just Authority and moderation all this in the Resurrection of the body at the last day when Soul and Body meet again in a glorified estate to Possess the Heavenly Mansions so fit and and prepare them here that whilst they are in this Earthly Tabernacle all Schism being abandoned all Rebellion Anathemaâ—ized the heel may not kick against the body or the foot tread upon the head but however it fareth in the body Politick there may be such an orderly subjection in the body Natural that my flesh may be subject not Predominant to my Spirit my Body unto my Soul and both Soul and Body subject unto thee O my God do thou thus set my foot over the threshold of thy Heaven Chap. 2. Book 3. put thou my Soul into this happy condition of an inchoate blessedness so shall I cheerfully spend the remaindâ—r of my daies in a joyful expectation of the full Consummation of my glory Amen Bish Hall his Susurium cum Deo CHAP. II. Of the Organs of the body and the Exercise of the Sensitive faculties of the Soul by them in the state of glory AS the appearance of the Bride newly come from her Chamber in the daies of her Espousals on the Solemnity of her brideale and other Nuptial Rites bedecked and adorned with all the Ornaments both of body and mind that may render her gratious and Amiable in the eyes of her Betrothed or like the Kings Daughter all glorious within and without in clothing of wrought Gold brought into the Kings Palace attended on among the Honorable VVomen by a Train of Virgins that be her fellows Even such is the inward grace and outward Magnificence Pomp and State of the body in the morning of her Resurrection and Ascension from the Chamber of death to be Espoused again to the Soul in an everlast-VVedlock the Bill of Divorcement being cancelled and Nullified by an Act of perpetual Oblivion Her Soporiferous bed of rottenness she thenceforth lotheth and outrunneth leaving behind her load of inward Corruption all waywardness of mind and frowardness of disposition and her Troops of Natural Imperfection Deafness Dumbness Blindless Lameness c. such Sons of sorrow and servants of sin and perdition presume not to approach the marriage Chamber all other her Companions in the flesh that were faithful and serviceable to her and instrumental to the Soul in the Acts of grace are still her attendants and are admitted into the Royal Palace and invested with the Robes of Glory and Immortality as a badge and livery of the glorified Soul whose Servants and Ministers they are Those Organical parts of the body in which the Soul was exercised and without which it could not Operate in which respect the Soul as to such faculties and Operations might be termed Mortal are revived with the body and useful to the Soul in their several Stations I do not I dare not here affirm that all the parts of